Matthew 16, we're going to pick
up with verse 18 this morning. And I wanted to look at this
specifically for our Bible study, because there is something that
I want us to see and know, um, from a learning point of view,
we're going to study the Bible for just a minute, have a Bible
study. And I believe this will be interesting
to you, it was to me. But again, we're picking up with
verse 18 and let's begin reading in verse 13. Matthew 16, verse
13 says, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that I, the son
of man am? And they said, some say thou
art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of
the prophets. He said unto them, but whom say
ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. Verse 18 says, And I say also
unto thee that thou art Peter. And upon this rock I will build
my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples
that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. Now I try to not get hung up
on error. I make the conscious decision
to not get hung up on error. I'm here to declare truth. That's
what I'm here for. I'm here to declare truth. But
this portion of scripture is so misunderstood, I believe it
would be beneficial for me to take just a minute in this Bible
study. to tell us what our Lord is not saying and what this does
not mean. And then I'll tell us what our
Lord is saying. But this portion of scripture is the one that
the Catholic Church used to make up this position, this office
of a Pope. This is where it came from. They
say that the Lord ordained Peter to be the first pope. And the
reason that I want to expose this is because this world is
deceived by this. It is deceived. They say that
this office of being a pope holds special power from God and with
God. Being able to do things on earth,
that are forever bound in heaven. They say, whatever that man does
on earth, that's forever bound in heaven. That's why people
just fall out. If he'll just go like that, oh, just so thankful,
that's forever bound in heaven. They say that he has the ability
to say things that become the infallible word of God. And the
reason they do that is because the Lord did give the apostles,
12 men, The ability to perform miracles. He gave them special
abilities to declare the word of God and to confirm the word
of God. They spoke things. Peter spoke
things. Paul spoke things. And it's the
word of God. It's the infallible word of God.
And they believe that this office that they have come up with holds
the same power and the same authority that were given to the apostles
and they believe that Peter and all of his successors, you know,
in quotes, popes, are the supreme authority to the rest, okay? First of all, Peter was not the
first pope. All right, that's the first point.
Peter was not the first pope. There is no such thing as a pope
with God. There is no such thing. There
are many offices declared and ordained in the scripture and
Pope is not one of them. It's just not there. It doesn't
exist. Popes are man-made and they don't mean anything. They
just don't mean anything. There is nothing in scripture
that supports any of the spiritual claims. As a matter of fact,
we could go scripture to scripture to prove the exact opposite of
what they claim. We could take all of our time,
go into scripture to just, this is what they say, but I'm not
going to do that. We're just not going to do that.
We'll suffice it to say that Popes are nothing but men thinking
they are something when they are nothing. They don't have
the power to do anything on this earth, but sin, just like the
rest of us. They're in the same boat with
the rest of us. So that's the first thing. And I'm trying to
be just clear. I'm not trying to be belligerent
or anything like that. I just want to be clear. But
the first thing is all that mess is hogwash. That's the first
thing. All right. The second thing is
concerning Peter. He was not given a new office
right here. He was not given a new commission. He wasn't even given a new name.
All right, the Lord said, thou art Peter. Okay, he was not given
a new name. A lot of people believe this
is where the Lord changed his name. Cephas, a stone, a rock,
okay? It's not. Turn with me if you
would to John chapter one. Now this is also stated in Matthew
four. We're in Matthew 16, so long
before that is Matthew 4. But there's more detail mentioned
in John chapter 1. Same account. This is Peter's first encounter
with the Lord. Alright, Peter's first encounter
with the Lord. John 1 verse 40. One of the two which heard John
the Baptist speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother. He first findeth his own brother
Simon and saith unto him, we have found the Messiah, which
is being interpreted the Christ, the anointed. And he brought
him to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art
Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation, a stone. First encounter, all right? First
encounter is when the Lord said that. So in Matthew 16, the Lord
was only repeating what he had already said. Go with me back
to Matthew 16. So Popes didn't become a thing,
Peter wasn't commissioned with anything new, and he for sure
wasn't given any authority in himself to bind anything in heaven. He didn't even have the authority
to bind anything on earth. Now I absolutely love, I thank
the Lord for the placement of what we're about to read, okay?
I thank the Lord for placing this account right where he did. Look at verse 21. From that time forth began Jesus
to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem. He's preaching the gospel to
them right here. He must go unto Jerusalem. and suffer many things
of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and
be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began
to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall
not be unto thee. So it wasn't. The Lord didn't
go to the cross. He did not die because Peter
put his foot down and said, you're not going to do this. I'm binding
this right now. No. No. Peter didn't have the authority
to stop that. Do we see how the Lord immediately squashed the
idea that Peter had the ability in himself to bind heavenly things
on this earth? Verse 18, look at it again. The
Lord said, I say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock
I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And I'll give unto thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on
earth. shall be bound in heaven, and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Verse 22, Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying,
Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. Okay,
I'm going to exercise my authority. Verse 23, but the Lord turned
and said unto Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an
offense unto me, for thou savorest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men. Can we see that immediately?
Peter's own word was not his authority. Just like our own
word is not our authority, we have a sure word. We have a word of authority,
but Peter himself is the one who said, and this really became
clear to me in studying this, Peter is the one who said, it's
not man's word. We have a word of authority,
but Peter is the one who said, it's not man's word. It's not
our own. It's his. Turn with me over to second Peter
chapter one. Second Peter 1 verse 13 says. Yea, I think it meet as long
as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in
remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle,
even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Moreover, I will
endeavor that ye may be able, after my decease, to have these
things always in remembrance. He's stressing, I'm not going
to be around for much longer. And I want to remind you of these
things. I want to stress these things to you. Verse 16, for
we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father, honor and glory, When there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased. And this voice, which came from
heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy mount."
Now watch verse 19. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy, more sure than my eyewitness account. We have a
more sure word of prophecy where unto he said, let me remind you,
let me stress this where unto you do well that you take heed
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day
dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. He said, you don't
listen to me. Listen to this. Listen to him. Verse 20, knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. What he's saying is man did not
come up with any of this. He's saying, I did not come up
with any of this. I did not speak what I felt like
saying, and it became the infallible word of God. Verse 20 says, knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. God wrote this. God spoke this. This is God's
word. Hear him. That's what he's saying.
Hear him. So as a recap, This is not what
our Lord was saying, okay? This is not it. He was not saying,
Peter, you're a pope. He was not saying, I'm giving
you a special new office and a special commission to you. He was not saying that. He was
not saying, I'm giving you the authority to bind in heaven whatever
you want to bind in heaven. When he said, Peter, you're a
stone, When he said, Peter, you're a
stone, he wasn't saying, you're the only one. Peter himself is the one who
said, and again, I just adore this. Peter is the one who said,
we're all stones. All of God's people are stones. Look at 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Verse 3, 1 Peter 2 verse 3 says, If so be, you have tasted that
the Lord is gracious to whom coming as unto a living stone,
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. You also as lively stones. are built up a spiritual house
and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone,
elect, precious." Who is that? That's Christ. I lay in Zion
a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe
he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient the stone
which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of
the corner, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to
them which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed. But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that
you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light. which in time past were
not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." That is the
stone that the Lord was talking to Peter about. The chief stone. The stone of stumbling. The rock
of offense. The one who God the Father made
to be the head of the corner, Christ Himself. Jesus the Christ. Let me show you that back in
Matthew 16. Matthew 16, verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do
men say that I, the son of man am? And they said, Some say thou
art John the Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the
prophets. He said unto them, But whom say
ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. And I say unto thee, that thou
art Peter, you're one of my stones. And you're gonna stand firm on
that declaration. That declaration you just said,
Peter, that announcement that you just made, Peter, that I
am the Christ. I'm the Christ. He said, Peter,
you're gonna believe that? You're gonna preach that? And
on that, on that rock, On this rock, on me, that's what he's
saying, on me, the solid rock, the chief cornerstone. I will build my church, verse
18 says, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I'll give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. What
are the keys of the kingdom of heaven? Christ is the key. His gospel is the key. His glory
is the key. His blood is the key. His mercy
is the key. His grace is the key. His finished
work of redemption on the cross of Calvary is the key. He said,
I'm the door. He's also the key. Verse 19 says, I'll give unto
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. You'll go around telling
everybody Christ is, Christ is, it's Christ, it's Christ, it's
Christ. And whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The Lord said, Peter, this message
from this word that you declare here on this earth, it will hold
true for all eternity. Nothing shall prevail against
it. Nothing will prevail against
me, nothing will prevail against my gospel. Not one word shall
ever fail. Peter, and I'm done here, but
Peter, along with the other apostles, again, he did speak and he did
write the word of God. He was given God's word. And we have it now through him,
through the other apostles, we have it now. And it's the word
of the gospel. It's the word of Christ. It's
the word of Christ. It's the word that speaks of
Christ and points men and women to Christ. It's the message of
the glorious news of Christ. It's the declaration of his sovereignty
in salvation. That salvation is of the Lord
and salvation is finished in the Lord. That declaration is
the means that God has chosen to use to bind men to Christ. That message goes out, and through
that message, men are bound to Christ. Right here on this earth,
they are bound to Christ. And that is the very message
that looses men and women from the captivity of sin and death
and hell. They're loosed. They're set free. free from the bondage of sin,
bound to the liberty that's in Christ. The Lord said, Peter,
this message that you're going to preach concerning Christ,
the son of the living God, the message of full redemption and
pardon in him. If my spirit blesses that message
and it sets men and women free, they're going to be free indeed.
That's what he's saying. They're going to be free indeed.
They'll be free on earth. They'll be free in glory for
all eternity. May that be the foundation of
our message. May that be the foundation of
our message. Christ and his finished work.
On Christ the solid rock we stand. All of the ground is sinking
sand. All right, you're dismissed.