Well, I invite you to turn this morning to the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew chapter 16, and we're continuing our study through the Gospel of Matthew. And today we come to this great section of Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ. So our text this morning is verses 13 through 20. It's such an important section of Scripture. And you'll remember last time that there's a direct tie in this, as I've been trying to show you. There's an ongoing story here. And what was Jesus' great concern last time? It was the leaven of the Sadducees and the Pharisees, which was what? The false doctrine of them.
It's no coincidence then that we would have Jesus very concerned now about our confession, what that means, and what we're saying, and what we believe. So we'll give our attention this morning to the Word of the Lord, beginning at verse 13, found on page 977 of Matthew 16.
"Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ."
And there will end this morning the reading of God's Word.
Well, we come today to a glorious section of Matthew's Gospel. And I think you hear how important this particular section is. It's sort of the center of the book, if you will, what the book has been building to, and one of the most encouraging promises spoken by our Lord in the Gospels about His church. And if we're tying together Great Commission and thinking about the Great Commission, you see how important in our understanding of the Great Commission something like Matthew 16 and the confession that's made here and the promise that's given by our Lord would matter for understanding why we are here and what we are doing.
The very thing that's captured here in the life of Peter showcases the very claim made by our Lord. In other words, he gives a glorious promise: "I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail." That is a powerful statement made by our Lord. That is a remarkable statement made by Christ about the success of the kingdom of God. The success of the church, showcased here and explained for us of what that means and what that looks like.
But Peter illustrates exactly how this will be so. As we've seen in Matthew, it's not that we have to sort of figure this out. The very thing that happens here with Peter illustrates this very truth. That's what Matthew often does. He states a principle. He gives us the principle, but the very thing is being illustrated as it happens.
Well, this is important for us to understand today. We have illustrated in Peter how this success of the church will be achieved. And one of the great challenges of our day, as you know, it just seems like, I mean, I think of John MacArthur saying recently down here: "The church is defeated. We lose. Do we lose? Do we lose?" You can have post-millennial optimism that says we're going to overtake everything. And of course, something like this might be used for that. But down here, do we lose?
And this is something I want to think about a little bit with you today, because it seems that we are losing. It seems that the church is defeated. It seems that nothing very great is happening at all in the kingdom of God. And of course, Jesus explained this for us. He told us this is what the sense would be in the kingdom of God when he gave the parable of the mustard seed. Yeah, it's slow growing. In the end, it'll be a big oak. And in the kingdom there are wheat and there are tares, and there's a lot of difficulty and trouble and trial and difficulty.
And all of that makes us wonder: "Are we a part of anything that's powerful? Are we a part of anything that we're involved with here that really is making a difference?" And today I'd love to change your thinking on that and have you realize that how wonderful it is to be a confessing member of Christ's church. What a blessing it is to be a professing member of Christ's church.
We have this all backwards on where we think the power is. We think it's found in everything else that we think will draw people in. That's not where the power is. We've always looked at this. To value the church, to love the church, to understand how Jesus accomplishes a great success story in this life, in this world, is really what's before us today.
And so we're going to consider this great statement: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail." That's what we're considering today.
So I want you to notice Jesus' concern at the beginning of this section, and then the confession that is made, and then the conquest that he describes. There's your three C's, if you're a note-taker: and concerned, the confession And the conquest. And that's important, because there is something that very much matters to our Lord in this section.
The scene that is before us in Matthew 16 now is strategically set in the context of what just happened. I want you all to watch and beware of the leaven of the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Now, you remember the problem of the disciples. They were only interested in, and they were still confused about the kingdom, but they were only interested in their food. They were worried about what they shall eat and drink using Matthew 6: "Do not worry about these things," said Jesus.
And Jesus was exposing that there were wrong priorities. Remember what he did for them. It's not that these things are unimportant. It's that he said, "I promise to care for you in these things. This is not your concern. You're not to be worried about the things of this life, what you put on, what you eat, the body and clothing, and all these things that the Gentiles worry about. I've got you on this."
But there we saw what it is to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And it was Jesus's priority of saying, "I want you to take seriously this great concern: to beware of the leaven of the doctrine of the scribes and the Pharisees, the Sadducees."
And you see, we looked at this point. Now remember the point in the middle of this: "Oh, you of little faith." Faith is obscured. Faith is weakened when we are living in the worries of the things of this life and not the things that are most important. When we're worried about all these things in life, that's how faith is weakened.
So you see how it ties to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6. "I don't want you worried about these things. I will care for you. That's my commitment to you." Remember all this?
At the heart of what Jesus was concerned about was the false doctrine prevailing in Israel. It was their rejection of who He is that was the heart of it. That was the heart of the leaven. It was their rejection of who had come to them and their roadblocks they were putting up to keep people from coming to Him. This wasn't just a matter of disagreements about the fine points of the law.
Their tradition, their legalism, had the aim of pulling sinners away from Jesus Christ. And the very mission for which He came was to save people from their sins. He is God's only solution to this world to save. It had at its aim, their leaven, a complete rejection of Him as the Son of God. And in this way, leaven was an attempt to leave people in sin.
This is what burdened our Lord. "You're worried about food. You're worried about the cares of this life. I'm worried. I'm concerned about this for you. You have to take this seriously. By pulling people away to self-justification from the only mediator between God and man."
And so it was this setup today that's important, I think, for Jesus in discipleship of His disciples and for us to finally draw out the most important doctrine, if you will, that they must embrace that the entire church will be built upon. Something I add again: the Pharisees were completely assaulting. They weren't assaulting Peter so much. So we know that we'll come back to that in a minute. It was the leaven that Jesus was it was the doctrine Jesus was concerned about.
So whatever he's going to say here, it's the doctrine upon which the church will be built.
So we enter the scene. Jesus comes to this distinct district of Caesarea Philippi. It's a remote place. It's a place that had taken them to the seaport south of Mount Carmel. It was situated next to the majestic Mount Hermon, so that always had snow-capped mountains. So it was a reprieve. It was a beautiful spot that he takes them to. And they arrive at this glorious, glorious place.
And remember, priorities here. What is the question Jesus asks? "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" You'll see that there. "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" This is very important to Him.
They just couldn't draw the conclusion so far on this question. Aside from the other miracles that he was doing, the sea crossing events were moments of great progression but also revelation and sort of indicators as to where the disciples were on this question. Remember in the in the sea events Peter you know, had walked out at one point, and taking his eyes off Christ, he began sinking. But in the first sea event, you remember what they said? And when Jesus was in the boat and sleeping, and finally he got up and I think he was very agitated at that moment. Do you guys really think that this storm is going to take you? This storm is not going to take you out. This is not going to be the end. Stop worrying about this. I'm in complete control of all creation." hushes the whole thing. And their question was, "What sort of man does this? Right? Who in the world does that? He just silenced the sea and the waves."
In the second event, Peter, he comes walking, Jesus comes walking on the water to them, and Peter says, "May I come?" And Jesus says, "Come," and he takes his eyes off Him, and he begins sinking. And by the end of it, you'll remember, they say, "Truly, you are the Son of God." They worshiped Him.
But none of it seems to be setting in. They're still worried about bread in the last scene. How they're going to be cared for. And that's shocking because he's already fed a 5,000 and a 4,000. They still don't get it. It's such an important point on discipleship, I think. Not everything comes at once for people, does it?
I've said this with profession of faith. We make, we look for a credible profession of faith, a credible profession of faith. But you have to give time for people to grow in that. That's important.
Jesus, at times in his training of the disciples and which is what Matthew is capturing for us, his real discipleship, would stop and he would hear as he does. He would ask the most important questions of people. And he does this for his disciples. The most important of questions to push them: "Who do people say that I am?"
The specific is not really just about others here. You'll notice its aim was not really concerned about "who do you say that I am." But notice this. He's drawing this out. You understand this is a very important question for any true disciple, Christ's follower: "Who do you say that he is?"
You see, when we begin to understand what Jesus is doing here and we think about the press of this claim and why he is pushing them on this point, this forces us to a new level of commitment to who you are following, if you understand it, doesn't it? You can't just be loosely connected to this. You can't just cruise in and out on Sundays and come and be loosely connected to it when you're pressed with this kind of question: "Who do you think you're following? Who do you think you're involved with? What do you think this all is?"
You see, it's pushing on this point. It presses us to wrestle with: "Who have I really come to? Who am I really professing if I don't even understand this? And why would knowing Him be so important for the mission? Why would it be?"
You see, this is crucial for Christianity. And they reply, "Well, some say John the Baptist. And others say Elijah. And others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
See, I think this is important because in general, mass confusion remained among the peoples over the identity of Jesus. And isn't that just true today? If you went out and talked and surveyed our neighborhoods and said, "Who do you think of Jesus? Who do you think he is?" You get a variety of answers, but very few would say, I'll come back to it. Among the people he was considered in general to be a good person, a great prophet. But he was not known. He was not understood.
So Jesus comes back at them: "No, no, no, no, no. Who do you who do you say that?" It's so personal, isn't it? "I want to know from you. May be one of the most important questions of all for us in our Christianity: What do you think you're a part of? Who do you really believe He is? What do you think of Him?"
And at this point, we have a grand moment in the Gospel. I think it's the center of the book in all discipleship, in training and discipleship. As you understand what we're aiming for in discipleship, Peter answers: "You are the Christ. The Son of the living God."
This becomes the climax in the book of Matthew. Listen to it. We've heard it. But listen to it: "You are the Messiah. The Son of the living God."
Do you notice Christ is drawing that out? He wants a profession of faith from you. A profession of faith that grows in understanding. Let it not confuse you. To say "Son of God" was not some kind of, as we understand it, biological thing. We get confused about this. We think, "This doesn't make kind of a lot of sense to me. Son of God, that must mean he has some kind of beginning and that he's created." This is how we generally will think of Jesus.
The Jews understood completely what the claim "Son of God" meant. It wasn't confusing for them. They wanted to kill him for this because He, being a man, made himself, now hear me, John 10, Equal with God. They got it. Equal in power, equal in dignity, in essence with the Father. That this being the divine Son of God, unique in every way as God's Son, He took on a humanity, but He is the eternal Son of God.
And Jesus would say things like, "My Father and I have been working all along. My Father and I." Who says that?
Peter was saying here and confessing for a minute: "You are the Christ. You are the one whom all the Scriptures are all about. You are the hope of humanity. You are the one all the law and the prophets looked for. You are truly divine."
What a moment! Have you considered who's come to you, who is speaking to you, and who came to lay down his life for you? This changes everything. There's no longer a loose attachment if this is what I believe in and this is true. There's no longer questions that remain about Him. In other words, that I can question His identity. He's the Son of God. He's the Messiah.
And Peter seems to have had a real moment of finally, now this is so important, understanding this, believing this. It's at this point that Jesus gives us an indication of what really happened here.
"Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah."
Jesus, again, is celebrating a blessedness that's come upon him, not because he figured this out, okay? Nobody just figures this out. Nobody has the ability to just figure this out about Jesus. The blessing is that somebody comes to believe this. It's the evidence of the blessing.
Jesus is saying here: "You have been blessed by God to understand this."
And that's exactly what Jesus follows up with here. Listen: "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. You didn't have this just given to you by people. It's not even Pastor Gordon or a pastor or those, when they teach this, that gives this to somebody. You understand that? It's the Father. The Heavenly Father gives you this to believe about His Son."
Now, I don't know if we appreciate the significance of this. Wrapped up in this is election and the sovereign work of God. But if you have come to believe this about Jesus and professed Him, that is evidence of the Heavenly Father's blessing on your life. I can't underestimate the significance of what I just said. And I don't want you to underestimate the significance of what I just said. It is important.
Jesus loves profession of faith. A profession that knows Him. A profession that believes in Him. That's evidence of God's divine blessing on your life. You can't be a Christian without a profession. You are not a Christian without a profession. And Christ wants it from your mouth and your heart.
This is Romans 10: "Confess in your mouth and believe in your heart about Jesus. You will be saved." Remember what Jesus said? "This is eternal life: that they might know you and the one whom you have sent." He wants you to know Him. To understand Him. That's what Jeremiah said: "This is, don't, God takes delight not in all these other things that people take delight in. You know what God takes delight in? When his people know him and understand him." It's a big deal for him.
You are blessed of God today if you are able to do this. Human abilities didn't give this to you, your intuitions, your great intellects. I mean, if this were based on intellect, you know, I mean, look at Harvard scholars who couldn't understand this. It's His electing work in your life.
Now, the natural default is just to never make a profession like this. That's the natural default. That's why this is so important.
And so notice what Christ says in following up. Now here comes the big verse today: "And I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail."
That is such a beautiful, beautiful statement. A promise.
Now, Roman Catholicism, you're seeing this play out right now, has butchered this verse. And you're seeing the leaven of the Pharisees play out right in front of you. They have given this glory to a pope. And so they took this verse and they built their whole doctrine on it, and they said that Peter is the rock, and they have created the idea that there is an unbroken succession of popes that the church is built upon. That's their whole doctrine. So they've made the pope the head of the church.
Think about that. Would you really get that here? Especially from this guy, Peter?
Jesus has been concerned about what? Doctrine. What you confess. What you believe. It's on that rock. What is that rock? It has everything to do with what Peter just said. From out of Peter's mouth. So Peter's important in this. We don't want to disregard Peter in this. But it's that confession.
Did you notice? It's what he confessed. So that what Christ is saying here is that upon this understanding, upon this profession, upon this creed, my whole church will be built.
What do you understand about the leaven of the Pharisees? They were agents in trying to under undermine His identity and bring in a false doctrine. So so what is what is the success of the kingdom, says Jesus? Let's make sure we understand this then.
What is the success of the kingdom of God? What evidence is the church's success? Is it think about this is it that we take power over all the nations? Is it that the church builds big buildings? Is it that we provide a great amount of entertainment for people through this life? Is it that we become a food bank to the world? Is it that we bring in the kingdom with so much power that it conquers all the Romans and all our enemies in this life?
What is the success of the church?
You ready? It's when one of our young people stands up here and says, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And I will be a follower of him."
Is that too small for you? It's when the adults grow in that. And it's really believed. And people are knowing Christ. That evidences the power and the success of Christ's church.
The success of the church will be seen in this confession, in this profession of the Messiah, that Jesus is the one, the eternal Son of God, who came to redeem his people from their sins.
And did you notice the promise here? "The gates of hell won't prevail against that."
Now understand this: our view of the church is so pathetic, so weak. We don't think anything's going on here. We just think that we're taking it on the chin all the time and there's no real victory for us here. And I'm not advancing some kind of post-millennial triumphalism. But Jesus describes this as a conquest.
We're not on the defensive. Jesus describes hell as backed up here. He describes hell as having a grip on people's lives and bars surround them. And Satan is trying to keep those bars around them. That's what Satan's trying to do. He's just trying to hold on to people with all he has.
What is the gate of hell in Jewish thought? Well, it was it meant the realm of the dead. So Job: "Have the gates of death been revealed to you or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?" Or Isaiah 38: "I said in the middle of my days I must depart. I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years." He's describing the realm of the dead.
It's the whole predicament of the human race. We're under the sentence of death. And the gate of hell here is describing the passageway in this life that people are walking into all the time into the grave into hell
And into judgment that you don't come back out from and I thought, "Well, how could I try to capture this?" Well, I don't know if it was really the intent when the Eagles gave Hotel California: "The last thing I remember, I was running for the door. I had to found the find the passage back to the place i was before relax said the night man. we're programmed to receive, but you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave
Most take that as people trying to get out and escape from hell and come back to the world of the living. Whatever the case, what did Jesus say? "Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many going in."
You know what's happening? People are entering that. We're shadows and dust, headed for the grave, headed for judgment. And you have the church all wrong. I do. It's the body of Christ. And you think it's weak? You think you're losing? You think nothing really glorious is going on here?
Through faith, says Jesus, people are being delivered from this. And we're on the offensive, not Satan.
See, we used to say in basketball: "You can't win a game just playing defense." We've got a really good offense. Our offense is impressive. It's attacking. It's plundering. It's plundering death. It's a victory.
The victory is this: "Whoever believes in me, though he dies, he'll live."
There it is. That's a victory. We prevail.
So to close it out, Jesus ties this directly to the mission: "And I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Here's what Jesus is saying. This is really amazing program. As I take this Gospel to the ends of the earth and think of where it's come today, Escondido. I would say if it got to Escondido, that's an amazing thing.
When this confession is believed, when this profession is made, we have the extraordinary blessing to declare something. Declare something that heaven is saying is true. Now listen, it is not Pastor Gordon. We're declaring something that heaven is saying is true.
When you believe this, when you turn to Christ, when you confess your sins and you believe in Him as the Son of God, the Messiah, to deliver the one God. sent to deliver you from your sins, the true and eternal God. When "You believe that about him, the church declares something. The church declares this. You are a child of heaven and heaven is unlocked for you. You are saved. You are forgiven."
But we have the authority to proclaim something else. If you refuse this truth, if you turn away from Him and reject Him as the Messiah, we declare: "The kingdom of heaven is shut to you and you are in the bars headed right for hell."
John 20: "He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any of them, they are forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness, it is withheld.
See, this is the other side of the message. These are the most holy things. And this is why Heidelberg says: "What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?" We'll close on this.
"The preaching of the holy Gospel and church discipline. By these two, the kingdom of heaven is open to believers and closed to unbelievers."
"How is the kingdom of heaven open and closed?"
"By the preaching of the Gospel according to the command of Christ. The kingdom of heaven is opened when it is proclaimed and publicly testified to each and every believer that God has really forgiven all their sins."
Did you hear that? God has really done this for you. "For the sake of Christ's merits, as often as they by true faith accept the promise of the Gospel, the kingdom of heaven is closed when it is proclaimed and testified to all unbelievers and hypocrites that the wrath of God and eternal condemnation rests on them as long as they do not repent. According to this testimony of the Gospel, God will judge both in this life and in the life to come."
That's the ministry.
Now you see how wonderful the encouragement is in this then? What you believe matters. And you are blessed today by the Father in Heaven if you have come to profess and believe this about Christ. The whole church is built on this truth. Death will not prevail. Life will.
People who believe this, he wants you to know all your sins are forgiven. And to those who don't, yes, heaven is shut to you, so you should repent and believe today while you still hear His voice.
So I close with this question: Do you know who you're following today? You know who you have to do it. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
The bars of death and sin in the grave have been stormed in your life. And you have overcome by the blood of the Lamb when you believe this. And you should celebrate God's blessedness to you. This is wonderful news.
So again, I ask the question: "Who do you say I am?"
No, no, no, no, no, not them. Not them, not them. Who do you say? He looks right at us. Who do you say?
May Peter's confession be our confession, believed unto eternal life. The church will prevail.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this truth and thank you for showing us Your Son and giving us to believe a gift of faith. Help us, for we are weak. May we embrace these truths with confidence, and may we see, Lord, how the victory is won through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Thank you for Him, and thank you that death in the grave is not the victor, but Jesus is, and in Him we have been given eternal life. Bless us with encouragement, and thank you, Lord, for these words to us and this gift in Jesus name. Amen.