Matthew 16:13-20. From my childhood I've been hearing different opinions about what Jesus meant with this statement, some plausible, others fictitious. To me, the "Rock" Jesus is talking about, is the Father's revelation of Jesus, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus is saying that His church will be built in this revelation. This means that the Father wants to reveal (to impart) His Son to us and our objective as God's children is to know His Son. That's probably the reason Jesus made it very clear in Matthew 7:22-23. This passage confirms what God declared in Hosea 6:6. See that Jesus says they will come and tell Him what they did: They prophesied, they cast out demons and done many wonders, all in the Name of Jesus. We need to answer these questions: Can we expel demons, even in the name of Jesus without His power? The answer is no! Acts 19:13-16. Is it really possible to cast out demons (prophesy, etc) in the Name of Jesus and yet do not know Him? I did cast out demons and prophesied in Jesus' name, and I can assure you that is possible. Why? First and foremost: There is Power in the Name of Jesus; second: If you have the gift you can do it! Then you ask: Did this people really had gifts? The answer if found in Romans 11:29. Many pastors and preachers don't believe that is possible to have the calling and gifts and yet don't know Jesus Christ, i believe it is possible! The best examples I can give you, both in the Old and New Testaments, are Saul the king and Judas Iscariot the apostle. Saul prophesied and was anointed as king. Judas was the only apostle who had a "visible" ministry among Jesus' disciples, he had charge of the money. I personally don't believe that gifts and calling are the "evidence" or "assurance" of salvation, I mean, once receiving them one is automatically saved. I believe they only reveal God's character. Think about this: Couple times the Holy Spirit came upon Saul. 1 Samuel 10:9-12; 1 Samuel 19:24. The Holy Spirit left him. If after all of this you still have any doubt that it is possible to have gifts and calling and be rejected by God, I'll give another passage to think about. Hebrews 6:4-6. See that there's the "enlightenment", the "tasting" of the Holy Spirit, the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and yet there's the "fall away", it means that all of this are not the assurance for salvation! The other question is: Do I lose salvation? I believe we don't lose our salvation, otherwise, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ wouldn't be sufficient, but, we must to pay attention in Jesus' words, as in Matthew 7:20; John 17:3.
Conclusion: We can gain the whole world, even for Jesus Christ and yet lose our soul, if we don't make the knowledge of God our way of living.
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