Our text this evening is found in Matthew chapter 16 verses 13 to 20. And then after this I will read Belgic Confession article number 27. This is the word of the Lord. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you, he asked, Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. Thus far the reading of God's holy and inerrant word. We come now to Belgic Confession, Article 27. I will read this short article. The Catholic Christian Church. We believe and profess one Catholic or universal church, which is a holy congregation of true Christian believers, all expecting their salvation in Jesus Christ, being washed by His blood, sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit. This church has been from the beginning of the world And will be to the end thereof, which is evident from this, that Christ is an eternal king, which without subjects he cannot be. And this holy church is preserved or supported by God against the rage of the whole world, though it sometimes for a while appears very small and in the eyes of men to be reduced to nothing, as during the perilous reign of Ahab the Lord preserved unto him 7,000 men who had not bowed their knees to Baal. Furthermore, this holy church is not confined, bound, or limited to a certain place or to certain persons, but is spread and dispersed over the whole world, And yet, is joined and united with heart and will by the power of faith in one and the same spirit. Let us pray. Our Father, we have heard wonderful things out of thy holy word. We praise you for revealing Christ by promise and shadow in the Old Testament. And we praise you for revealing Christ in the New Testament as the fulfillment of your Old Testament word. We now ask you that you will give us your spirit so that we may understand the fullness of your truth. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Beloved people of God, our confession of faith, the Belty Confession, contains three articles specifically about the church. The first one is what we read, article 27, and we confess what the Bible teaches about how the Lord Jesus Christ is busy gathering for himself a church from the beginning of the world to the end in the unity of the true faith. This first article speaks also about the worldwide, international, multicultural, and trans-age work of Christ. And then in article 28, it then goes on to speak about the biblical injunction to join yourself to this church, to this gathering work of Christ. The Word of God calls us to membership in the Church of God. It is something that is not very popular these days in the evangelical world, membership in the local church. And then we have Article 29 in which we read the scriptural directives for how to discern what a true church is and what is a false church. How are we to distinguish between which church to join and which church not to join? How we know where we ought to go. In its nature, the church belongs to Christ. It is His own assembly, His congregation. We are His congregation. We read in Matthew 16, verse 18, that the Lord Jesus says, On this rock, which is the confession of Peter, that Jesus is the Son of the living God, is the Christ. On this rock, I will build my church. And so, he says, my church. The church belongs to him. It is his precious possession. The English word church comes from a Greek word that means belonging to the Lord or the Lord's or of the Lord. We, the church, belong to the Lord. And thus, the church literally refers to the people of God, Christ's people, the people that belong to Christ. And the people that belong to Christ are scattered throughout the whole world such that Revelation 7.9 says that this people is a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. The church is Catholic. In the Philippines, this word, if we ever recited the Apostles' Creed, we believe in the Holy Catholic Church or the Nicene Creed. We believe in the Holy Apostolic Catholic Church. People will say, wow, you are Catholic? I thought you were evangelical. This is a great misunderstanding. Even today, this word in a Catholic country means something else. Catholic only means throughout the whole world, everywhere, universal. The church is not limited in either time or space. It has been from the beginning of time and will be forever. It is everywhere, spread and dispersed throughout the entire world. The Catholic Church is the assembly of the Son of God. He has been gathering the Church out of the whole human race from the beginning of the world until He returns. And this gathering is through the Holy Spirit and His Holy Word in the unity of the true faith. So this evening, we look at the theme, the Catholic Church of Christ Preserved to the End. First, we will look at the Church's universal, and secondly, we will look at the Church's reserve. The Church is Catholic in two ways. First, it is Catholic with respect to time. And then secondly, we will look at the Catholic, the Church Catholic with respect to space. Even in the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 21, it says, the Son of God has been gathering the Church from the beginning of the world and will do so until the end. This church, the Belgic Confession says, has existed from the beginning of the world and will be to the end. For Christ is an eternal king who cannot be without subjects. So when did the church begin? It began from creation. The Garden of Eden was God's first tabernacle on earth. It was the first temple on earth. God's purpose in the beginning, from the very beginning, for Adam and Eve in the garden, was for them to multiply and spread from the garden to fill the earth. And if they did not sin, they did not fall into sin, the whole earth will be filled with God's people. And so the whole earth would become God's temple. And this is why we read in the Psalms, for example, in the call to worship. We read things like, let the whole earth praise the Lord. Let all the nations praise the Lord. Many Christians think that the church started only on Pentecost Sunday. However, reading the Bible and reading our confessions, Adam and Eve were the first members of God's church. And right after the fall into sin, God began gathering the church that would produce what He promised as the seed of the woman. The Son of God, even in the Old Testament days, was busy gathering for himself a church chosen for everlasting righteousness. From Enoch to Noah and on to Abraham, God was gathering his church out of the whole human race. From Abraham until Christ came, God worked almost exclusively through the family of Abraham, the nation of Israel. So, we see in Exodus 19, before Mount Sinai, when God made a covenant with the nation of Israel, He separated them from the unbelieving world as His holy nation, as His treasured possession, Israel, from Israel. Then God was thinking or was promising that He would spread the gospel of this Savior into the world to all the nations. And so the Savior came from Israel and the Savior would spread into all the nations. And this is what happened at Pentecost when 3,000 people from all nations around the region of Palestine came to believe and have faith in Christ. And after Pentecost, these people, these apostles went out to the whole world from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to the ends of the world. And since Pentecost, Christ has been gathering his church out of all the nations. And Christ will continue doing this until the end. We have his promise in our text that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. As the gospel is preached, the church actually assaults hell itself, plundering the house of Satan, full of unbelievers. We think of this verse usually as Satan attacking the church. And it is true. But this verse says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. And so the church will assault hell itself and plunder all the unbelievers of Satan's kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ will carry on his work of gathering a church from the world until his return. He promised to be with us to the end of the age. And so the church is Catholic with respect to time. It came about from the beginning with Adam and Eve and it will be completed when he returns. Secondly, the church is Catholic with respect not only to time but also to space. The Belty Confession that we read says that the church is not confined or limited to one particular place or certain persons, but is spread and dispersed throughout the entire world. Our Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 21, also says the same thing. The Son of God gathers the church out of the whole human race. out of the whole earth. It is not bound to one particular place in Escondido or in California or in the United States. It is not bound to the Philippines or to Portugal or to Paraguay or Uganda. It is not bound to any denomination or to the Pope itself. It is bound only to whom? To Christ, who is seated on the throne of heaven. He is the only head of the church, no one else. The Lord commanded the church to preach the gospel throughout the whole world, to all the nations. The Bible teaches that Christ came to save whom? To save individuals? Of course, he came to save individuals, but he came to save the world. He came to save a people. He came to redeem a people for God. And this is why the church sends out missionaries and pastors throughout the nations. It's not a well-known fact, but in the early days of the Reformation, John Calvin sent out Protestant missionaries to France and Brazil, far away place of Brazil. Many were martyred in France and most, if not all, the missionaries were also martyred or died of starvation or sickness in Brazil. Christ commissioned these apostles, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, promising to return when the church is completed. The gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. Everyone, all tribes and languages and peoples and nations will be represented on the heavenly Mount Zion on the last day. And this is why many United Reformed churches send missionaries and pastors to other countries. This is why Escondido URC supports missions in Costa Rica and Hawaii, the Philippines, and I'm not sure about Italy. But the mission work of Escondido URC and many other URCs around Canada and U.S. support missions all over the world. Because the church is universal, Catholic in space. Why? What is it that binds the church together? What binds this church with the church around the corner or the church in the Philippines or the church in Costa Rica or in Hawaii? What is it that binds us together? The Belgic Confession says it's true faith. However, it is joined and united with heart and will in one and the same spirit by the power of faith. Ephesians 4 says we are united in one faith, one baptism, one Lord, one spirit. And so this unity is not found in any national organization, ethnic heritage, or a mere person. It is not found in interfaith services that we have. It's very popular today. Every unity not based on the unity of the true faith is a false unity. A unity that binds people of different faiths and Gospels is a false unity. And then it leads to even more false teachings and unbelief. And so we read in 2 John verse 9. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. What is this teaching? This teaching of the Word of God, the true faith that we adhere to. So the church is universal. It is Catholic, first in time and secondly in space. And from the very beginning, the kingdom of Satan has tried to destroy the church. But church, the church has not only survived, it has actually multiplied from the first 3,000 converts from Pentecost. We have now churches all over the whole world. So Christ preserves the church. The holy church is preserved by God against the fury of the whole world, We read in Belgic Confession, Article 27. And so, right from the very beginning, the world, Satan himself, struck out against the church, against Adam and Eve. And then later on, Satan induced Cain to murder Abel. And the world hasn't let up since then. They have always attacked the church. And throughout the Old Testament, we read of the world attacking the church. Egypt enslaved the church. Pharaoh tried to kill Moses on the day as soon as he was born. The tribes around Israel, while they were wandering in the desert, like Amalek. attack them. And in the Belly Confession, Article 27, we read of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel trying to wipe out the true worship of God, the true faith. They wanted the people of God to worship Baal. Haman, in the time of Queen Esther, tried to destroy all the people of God. And when Christ, the head of the church, himself was born, Herod tried to kill him. The book of Acts is a story mostly about the persecution of the church by the Jews and the Romans. And it goes on and on until today. In our day, we know that the goal of many religions like Islam is the death of the church. And unbelievers, homosexuals, atheists, liberals, they work tirelessly to silence the church. Everyone is against the church. But the resistance against the church comes not only from outside, but also it can also come from within the church there are many false teachers within the church we see them on TV every day in the Philippines we see them every day on TV in the newspapers on the radio there are many many cults there are many false gospels like the prosperity gospel Like the Signs and Wonders movement. There are many false churches. There are many liberal churches. There is this interfaith movement. There is oneness Pentecostals. and many parachurches that act like churches. These are false because they do not show the three marks of a true church, which is in another article of the Belgic Confession. One example of this is a big cult in the Philippines. I think this is the biggest one. And the name of his church is the kingdom of heaven, name above every name. And the name of the leader is Apollo Akiboloi. He is a oneness Pentecostal who preaches prosperity gospel. Oneness Pentecostals is the belief that there is no trinity. There is God and God in one person. He believes that God the Father was in heaven and he came down to earth as Jesus. So God the Father came down to earth and he presented himself or manifested himself as Jesus. So there is really no son of God. Jesus is not the son of God. And so who does he teach the son of God is? The son of God is himself. And so you see many, many signs marquee on his church and it will say, Reverend Apollo C. Kiboloi, appointed son of God. So this is one way of attacking the church because there are many, many evangelicals who come flocking to his church. They boast of six million members throughout the whole world. Throughout the history of the world, the world motivated by Satan has been attacking the church from without and from within. And the book of Revelation teaches that this will continue until the return of Christ. The world hates the church because it hates Jesus Christ. Jesus himself warns us, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you, Jesus warned his disciples. And Paul warns us in 2 Timothy 3.12. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And so you experience that. We all experience that. When we live, when we show the world our godly lives, we are persecuted, we are mocked, we are ridiculed. And this will go on until the end of the world. But beloved, the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. For God promises that he will preserve his church. In church history, we read times when it seems that the church is dead or about dead. And the world has succeeded in killing the church. And the Belgic Confession gives us an example during the time of Ahab and Elijah. And so during the time of King Ahab, Elijah was the prophet and he fled because he feared for his life. Because Ahab and the queen wanted to kill him. Because Elijah preached against the worship of Baal, the pagan god. And so, when the prophet Elijah fled to the wilderness, he got depressed. He hid in a cave. He thought that he was the only believer left in Israel. But then God came to him and said to him, Elijah, why are you hiding in this cave? And Elijah said, I have done everything for the sake of the people of God. And I only am left. And they seek my life to take it away. So Elijah was convinced that he was the only one left in Israel who was still worshipping God and that he was going to die. So then God said, no Elijah, I have a church of 7,000 people who have not bowed their knees to Baal. God preserved his church, even against the fury of Jezebel and King Ahab. And he still does that today. We are warned that in the days immediately before Christ's return, there will be terrible apostasy and persecution. We are warned by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2, 3 to 10, for that day will not come until the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception. This man of sin will persecute the church. But even in these terrible times of apostasy and persecution, on the very last days, God will preserve His church. Our small church in the Philippines will be preserved, not only physically, will be preserved from error, will be preserved from persecution because God promised this in His Word. Brothers and sisters in Christ, live according to this Word of God. The Lord will preserve His church through the Word. We will be protected from error through the Word. We cannot preserve ourselves. We have the Word of God. We have the Holy Spirit with us because we don't have much power to contain Satan. But Christ, our King, is almighty. The power in us lies in Christ. Our Father is almighty. We have a powerful gift. We have the gift of prayer. We can pray. We can pray every day. Lord, preserve and increase your church. Pray for the work of God in other lands. Pray for the safety of pastors in hostile nations. God will preserve His church because His church has been washed by the blood of the Lamb. His church has been sealed by the Holy Spirit and this seal cannot be broken. We belong to the Holy Catholic Church, gathered out of this world by the Son of God from the creation of the world until Christ returns. He promised in His Word that He will preserve the Church until He returns. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You and we praise You that you have gathered us from out of this unbelieving world and you have made us righteous and holy through your son Jesus Christ who gave us his own righteousness so that we may be righteous in your sight. Father, we ask that you will continue to protect us and preserve us, protect our faith, Strengthen us daily, sanctify us daily so that we may persevere until your Son Jesus Christ returns. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.