Scripture Reference: Matthew 16:13-25
A London newspaper offered a prize for the best essay on the subject: “What is wrong with the church?” The prize was won by a minister from Wales. He gave this answer: “What is wrong with the church is our failure to realize and wonder at the beauty, the mystery, the glory, and the greatness of the church.”
The church is God’s one redemptive institution placed on this earth. It was to the church that Jesus gave the Great Commission. It is through the church that Jesus brings the message of salvation to the world. It is for the church that Jesus one day will return.
Never forget that the church with all its faults will stand until Jesus comes again. Jesus promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. In essence, the church is invincible!
What causes Christ’s church to prevail and even to be invincible? How has the church been able to stand for nearly two thousand years? Why has Satan with all of his schemes failed to defeat the church? Why have humans been unable to destroy the church? What makes the church invincible?
1. The Transformed Nature of Its Membership
Every member of the church is to be a transformed individual. He or she is to be a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus explained this to His disciples as He was with them at Caesarea Philippi.
Our Lord knew that His days in the flesh were numbered, and He knew some would not understand Him. Was there anyone who recognized Him and who would carry on His work after He ascended to heaven? That was the crucial problem. It involved the very survival of the Christian faith.
In a dramatic scene Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” Here was a homeless, penniless Galilean carpenter with twelve ordinary men. At that very moment, Jesus’ death was being plotted.
Notice where Jesus chose to ask the question. The area was scattered with temples of the ancient Syrian Baal worship. By Caesarea Philippi there arose a great hill. In it was a deep cavern said to be the birthplace of Pan, the Greek god of nature. In Caesarea Philippi, there was a tremendous temple of white marble built to the Roman godhead of Caesar. Jesus stood at the center of Syrian, Greek, and Roman worship. There, of all places, he asked, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter clearly stated the deepest conviction of his soul, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” What a statement! Christ means “the anointed one” and refers to the work Jesus came to do as messianic deliverer. “Son of the living God” has reference to the deity of Jesus. Jesus is God incarnate.
Simon Peter said two glorious things about Jesus: as to His work, he said Jesus is the anointed Messiah. As to His person, Peter stated that Jesus is God come in the flesh.
Even so today, that church is invincible where members have confessed their belief in Jesus Christ as the Messiah who is God! This is the essential work of the church. We preach the gospel, “for it is the power of God to salvation for every one who believes” (Romans 1:16).
The single most important prerequisite for being a member of a local New Testament church is the new birth. The invincible church has a regenerated church membership through faith in Jesus Christ.
Rembrandt could take a piece of canvas, dab his paints on it, and create a beautiful painting. We call that art. Shakespeare could write a sonnet or a play on a sheet of paper. We call that genius. John D. Rockefeller could sign his name at the bottom of a check, and it was worth millions of dollars. We call that capital. A skilled workman can take a piece of metal, shape it, twist it, mold it, and it becomes a thing of usefulness and beauty. We call that craftsmanship. But only God in heaven can take a sinner and make a saint! We call that salvation. The prevailing and invincible church has a transformed membership.
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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