Let's go back to that passage
that Brother Ron just read to us. I want to talk to you this
evening about the Savior and his church. The Savior and his
church. There's a remarkable confession
made in this portion of scripture. It's made in verse 16. Simon Peter makes a confession,
and I want to read the verses leading up to this. Verse 13,
when Jesus was come 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, Well, some say
that thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, and some Jeremiah,
or one of the other 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. This is
a remarkable confession. It's remarkable because, number
one, it's a confession that put Peter at great odds with nearly
everybody else. This is absolutely different
than the response of the world. didn't know who Jesus of Nazareth
was, and furthermore, didn't care. But especially, this is
at odds with the religious world. All of the religious leaders,
they had their opinions of Jesus of Nazareth, but nobody considered
him to be, as Peter did, the Christ, the Son of the living
God. They considered him to be a false
prophet, Oh, many said he was a good man. Some said he was
a great man. Some said he was a wonderful
miracle worker. Others said he's a very extraordinary
man. But Peter, he makes a confession
that really set the religious leaders, set them in opposition
against himself, and against the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't
it amazing that the leaders of religion, the Sanhedrin, the
Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the high priests, the
chief priests, isn't it amazing that all of them together were
in unity and opposition to Jesus of Nazareth? Don't you find that
to be amazing? These were men who were instructed
by other men, but they weren't instructed by God. Had they been
instructed by God, they would have known whom Jesus of Nazareth
was, that he was, as Peter said, the son of the living God. Reminds
me of the words of the apostle. Paul says this, turn back to
Acts chapter 17 for just a minute. Look at Acts chapter 17, and
here Paul is preaching in Thessalonica. And it says here in Acts 17,
in verse 1, Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and
Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the
Jews. And Paul, as his manner was,
went in under them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the scriptures for three weeks. Now look at verse three,
opening and alleging or giving understanding that Christ must
needs have suffered and risen again from the dead. Now watch
this statement, and that this Jesus, This Jesus whom I preach
unto you is Christ. Many profess to be Christ, many
said they were Christ, but he said this Jesus that I preach
to you, he is Christ. That's a parallel passage with
what Peter says back here in Matthew chapter 16. He's the
Christ, he's the anointed one, the son of the living God. This
is the Christ. And then secondly, consider this
about his confession. This is a confession from a man
of faith, a man of character, a man of commitment, and a man
of zeal. Say what you will about Simon
Peter, and he made a lot of blunders. But I would say this to you,
he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone. Simon Peter
didn't have all of the information we have. He didn't have the entirety
of the written word of God, but he did have the very presence
of the incarnate God. And he believed the Savior. He
followed him. Did he mess up many times? Yes, even in this passage that
Ron read to us. When he rebuked the Savior, when
the Savior mentioned that he must lay down his life, that
he must die, that he must suffer and then be raised again, it's
Simon Peter who pulled him aside and rebuked the master. He opened
his mouth many times when he should have kept it closed. But
still, he's a true follower of our Lord. He was called by the
Savior. He was an apostle of the Lord
Jesus. He's a man of zeal. He's a man
of commitment. He's a man who believed the Savior.
And while others were apparently reluctant to identify Jesus of
Nazareth as being the son of the living God, Simon Peter was
not ashamed. And he spoke up bravely. When
others remained silent, he was glad to voice his opinion and
his feelings on the subject of who Jesus of Nazareth is. He's
the Son of the Living God. And then I'll say this. This
was a confession of great importance. He was looking in the face of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Grasp that, think about that
for just a minute. He's looking eye to eye with
the incarnate God, with the great Jehovah who had clothed his deity
with our humanity. And he confessed that Jesus of
Nazareth, a man who looked like every other man, There wasn't
a glow about him, there wasn't a halo over his head, not at
his birth and not in his life. He looked just like any other
man and yet Simon Peter says, he's the eternal Son of God. And he was looking into the face
of Jehovah. He was looking in the face of
Emmanuel, God with us. making this confession, making
this testimony, acknowledging Him to be the Son of God. This is God who is with us, Simon
Peter is saying. This is the promised Messiah.
Peter is saying that all that the prophets wrote and all that
they preached about concerning the Son of God who would come,
the seed of the woman and lay down His life in the stead of
guilty sinners, He's standing right with us. That's what Peter
said. He confessed the greatness of
our Lord. I don't know how much Peter knew
I don't know how much knowledge he had of the things of God,
but he knew this, he knew who the Lord was. And as you read through the New
Testament, for instance, in the book of Acts, when Philip ministered
to the Ethiopian eunuch, and the eunuch had been reading Isaiah
53, And Philip, led by the Spirit
of God, went out into the desert and spoke to this man concerning
the one of whom he read, this is the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Philip and that Ethiopian eunuch, they rode along in that man's
chariot, and the eunuch stopped his chariot and said, here's
water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And you know what? Listen to what he said. Turn
over here to Acts chapter 8. Look at Acts chapter 8. Acts 8, look at verse 33, 32. Acts 8, 32. It says, the place of the scripture
which the Ethiopian eunuch read was this, he was led as a sheep
to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his sheriff, so opened
he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away, and who shall declare his generation? For his
life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip,
and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this, of
himself, or some other man? And then Philip opened his mouth,
and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him, Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, See, here
is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, he
didn't say, I have accepted Jesus as my personal Savior. He didn't
say, I've had an experience in my heart that this is the Redeemer?"
He didn't say that, though he believed that, I'm sure. But
he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. That's exactly what he said. And he is in essence repeating
what Peter said over in Matthew chapter 16. This is Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. If you believe in your heart
who He really is, that's salvation now. It isn't accepting Jesus
as your personal Savior. People like to say that. I don't
find that in the Word of God. It isn't accepting the blood
that He shed to purchase the redemption of His of sinners,
the redemption of his people. It isn't accepting the blood
because the blood is not even offered to you. The blood was
offered to the justice of God. This man was not ashamed to say,
I believe that Jesus, that Jesus written about in Isaiah chapter
53, I believe he's the son of God. That's what I believe. And
Philip said, well, you can be baptized. you can be baptized. This one is Jehovah, he's Emmanuel. He's the Christ, the promised
Messiah. He's God who came to save his
people from their sins. And in his great confession now,
back here in Matthew chapter 16, in his great confession,
Then the Lord Jesus answered him in verse 17. He said in him,
blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, that just simply means Simon,
son of Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my father, which is in heaven. Know this, to understand and
believe in your heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God, that's not a decision, that's a revelation. It's a revelation
from the Spirit of God. You find out who He really is.
And you can go around saying he's a great miracle worker.
He was an unusual man. He was a kind man. He had love
and compassion in his heart. You can say all of those things
about him, but you really haven't said who he is. He's the son
of the living God. He's God in the flesh. He is
the eternal God who inhabited the ages prior to time being
created. And he came down here. and he's
the son of God. And our Lord says, my father
has greatly blessed you. You see, salvation, it's not
you doing something for God. It's God doing something for
you. It's God revealing the truth
to your heart. It's God revealing who you are
and what you are and that your sins deserve death. And it's
God revealing to you that Jesus Christ, the son of glory came
down here and died in order to save a people from their sins. And this one who died for us
is no one less than the very son of God. And when you bow
in your heart to this one who lived and died for sinners and
rose again in whoever lives, you see who he really is and
you believe him in your heart, that's a blessing. You're blessed
to have the truth revealed to you. The Father greatly blessed
him. Bless Simon Peter before the
world began with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. The Son of God had come to bless
him by his life of perfection, by his death of substitution
and satisfaction. Oh, how blessed! How blessed
Simon Peter was! He's beloved of God. He's going
to be redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. and the
Spirit of God has already wrought a work of grace in the heart
of Simon Peter, thereby enabling him to truthfully say, this is
the Christ, the Son of the living God. A lot of opinions who Jesus of
Nazareth is and was, but only one opinion's right, and that's
the opinion of Scripture. Our Savior said, flesh and blood
didn't reveal this to you. Nobody took Simon Peter back
into an inquiry room. Nobody invited Peter to walk
the aisle and meet with someone in a back room somewhere. And
then he made his decision. A lot of people They don't ask
much more, but a lot of people through the years have asked
me, why don't you give an altar call? And they usually followed
up by saying, you don't give people a chance to be saved.
Well, salvation's not by chance. Salvation's by revelation. My
Father revealed this to you, is what the Savior says. Now
if the Father has to do the revealing by His Holy Spirit through the
preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, then why don't
we just preach the message of redemption and then send people
away believing with confidence that God will do His work in
the hearts of those in whom He's pleased to work. I'm not trying to get a decision
out of you. All I'm endeavoring to do is
just tell the truth. That's all we can do, Alan. Tell
people who God is, sovereign, holy, righteous in all of his
works. Tell people about Jesus Christ,
he is the son of the living God. who came down here not to try
to do something or other, but to save his people from their
sins. How did he do that? By living and dying upon the
cross of Calvary to satisfy God's law and justice. He's gone back
to heaven. And we tell people that the spirit
of God's got to work in the heart. I can't work in your heart. I
might convince you with able arguments, but my convincing
words won't change your heart. That takes the revealing grace
of God. And tonight, just like this morning,
once I finish preaching the message, sing a hymn, go home. I'm confident. I'm confident, number one, in
the Lord's commitment to do His work in appointed sinners. And
number two, I'm confident that the message I preach is the very
message of the Word of God. It's the message of salvation.
It's the message that God uses to reveal the truth to the hearts
of people who are naturally deserving of going to hell. And I leave
it with the Spirit of God. I don't leave it with you. This
is not up to you. If your will has its way, you'll
perish. But God's will, that's the will
that will be done. And if it's God's will that you
live forever, I promise you, you will live forever. Live forever. Our Lord's response
to what Simon Peter said This has been revealed to you by my
Father. And then he says this in verse
18, and I say also unto thee, got something else to say to
you. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock, what rock? Well, not Simon Peter, no matter
what the Papists say. The church isn't built upon Simon
Peter. God used him mightily. And he
was the apostle to the Jews. And God gave him unusual gifts. But he's not the rock upon which
the church is built. Upon this rock, what rock? The
rock of the confession of faith that Peter just made. The church
is built upon the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ. On Christ
the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. He says, thou art Peter and upon
this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. What is the rock? The rock is
Christ Jesus. Turn back to Matthew. Look back
here in Matthew chapter seven. Look at Matthew chapter seven. You remember what we read in
1 Corinthians, for other foundation can no man lay than that which
is laid, which is Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 3, 11. And here in Matthew chapter seven,
our Lord says this in verse 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man which built his house upon a rock. And all of you,
the building of your house is the house of salvation. You're
building on something or somebody. Maybe you're building upon that
experience you had 40 years ago in a little white church out
in the country. Maybe you're building upon that
time that you walked down the aisle and you were crying and
you answered yes to a few questions asked you by the evangelists.
Maybe you're building upon your good works. I've been a good
person all my life. Maybe that's what you're building
on. I don't know. But by the grace of God, some
people build all their hopes on Christ the rock. Wise men do that. You know who
are those that are wise? Those to whom the Father has
revealed the foundation of salvation. So a wise man built his house
upon a rock, and the rain descended, and the floods came. and the
winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it
was founded upon a rock. If all of your hopes are on the
Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, if all of your
hopes for salvation, for heaven, for forgiveness, for righteousness,
if all of your hopes are built upon this rock, no matter what
happens, Let the earth come to nothing. Let the earth be shaken
from pole to pole. You will last forever in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let the rains come. Let the floods
rise up against you. And let the winds blow, the troublesome
winds of trials. disease, sickness, even go all the way to the judgment. I don't bother you, because you
found it on the rock of ages. And then verse 26, and everyone
that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not shall
be likened unto a foolish man. which built this house upon the
sand. You build your house of salvation
on keeping the Ten Commandments. You build your house of salvation
upon your good work, your good deeds, being a charitable person,
being a nice person, being a compassionate person. Build your hopes on your
religion or your decision, your faith, your repentance, your
prayers, your Bible read, your anything. You building on the
sand. And I promise you, the trials
are gonna come. The floods are gonna come. The
winds are gonna blow and beat upon that house. And sooner or
later, it will fall. It may, in your own mind, seem
to last right until your very last breath. But as soon as you die, Here's
what you're going to find out. I was building on sand the whole
time. And all these things beat upon
that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. Oh, my friends, build on the
rock. We used to sing a little chorus
years ago. I'm on the rock, hallelujah.
I'm on the rock to stay. And there I take my stand and
that's where I'm at, I'm on Christ. He's all my confidence, he's
all my hope. I build all my hopes on Christ. Notice this last statement of
the verse, upon this rock I will build my church. Let me just
deal with this just a little bit. A lot of confusion over
the word church. I know this, it is used in the
Bible to describe a local, visible assembly of professed believers
in any given location. A local church exists right here. This is a local church where
you pastor, that's a real local church. The word means a called
together assembly, an assembly called together by God. It's wherever two or three are
gathered together in the name of Christ, believing the gospel,
bowing to the authority of the scriptures, that is a local church. They may not even have a name
for it. This group that I was privileged
to go over and preach to in Honolulu, preaching to them for two weeks,
that's a local church. They don't have a formal building. They don't have a name. But really
it's the church of our Lord Jesus Christ in Honolulu. It's a group called out by God
the Spirit where the glory of God is sought for and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ is proclaimed. A people to whom the gospel of
redeeming grace, of sovereign grace has been made known. such as the church of Jerusalem
in Acts chapter two, and the Lord added to the church, such
as should be saved. A local assembly of called out
believers, called out of the world, called out of false religion,
to hear and believe the true gospel of sovereign grace. And
then secondly, the word church. as it is used in our text here
in Matthew chapter 16, does not refer to any local assembly or
to any particular denomination. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. And I know
there are some people who disagree with me on this. But I believe
that not only is there a local aspect to the word church, there
is the whole body of the elect of God, the whole body of those
redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. from the very
first sinner who was saved by grace to the very last sinner
who will be saved by grace, all of these constitute one great,
large, miraculous church of called out believers. Look here in Ephesians
chapter one. Speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ
in verse 22, God's put all things under His
feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. You see, the church at large
is the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and He's the head. It's
the family of God. It's the redeemed one, it's the
called ones. Of whom it says in Ephesians
3.15, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. So by the inspiration of the
Spirit of God, Paul called all those in heaven and all the saints
of God on earth is one church. It's the body of our Lord Jesus
Christ. from the beginning of the world
to the end of the world. It's the body and spiritual bride
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And let me just give you a few
things and I'll quit. Number one, our Lord says back
here in our text concerning the church, he says, I will build, watch
it, my church. This church has an owner. It
has an owner, my church. Sometimes I hear preachers say,
well, you know, I tell my people back home, I tell my church,
no, this isn't my church. You say, well, it's our church,
isn't it? No, it's really not our church either. It's the Lord's
church. I know we have to have legally,
we have to have some men who are appointed You know, they
can do business on behalf of the church, but this isn't our
church. It's not my church. It's not
your church. If it's the place where the truth
of God is being preached to people, it's the Lord's church. He chose
it in old eternity. He redeemed it. Christ has every
reason to say it's my church, because he bought it. He bought
his people with his blood. And the Spirit of God calls people. It's all of God's elect on earth
and in heaven. It's what I would call the universal
church. And I know there's some who don't
like that kind of terminology. Well, I don't know how else to
say it. It's every child of God of every
age. You remember in John chapter
10, our Lord said that there'd be one. He said, other sheep
I have, which are not of this fold. Could I just put the word
church in there? Not of this local church. He
said, them I will also bring and there shall be one fold. Isn't that church? That's the
way I understand that, Alan, be one church and one shepherd,
one fold and one shepherd. Christ says, my church. Peter,
it's not your church. Jim, it's not your church. It
belongs to the Savior. The church has an owner. All who are chosen in Christ
constitute the church. It's not any one denomination.
It's not Protestant denomination. It's not Baptist denomination.
It's not the Presbyterian denomination. It's the family of God. It's
the elect of God. It's all those who were redeemed
by the blood of Christ. That constitutes the church. All who were justified by Christ. All who were redeemed, regenerated. All who are preserved in Christ.
All who shall be raised in Christ. He's the head, and we're the
body. He said it's my church, and he's
the builder of the church. The church has a builder. You remember what it says in
Hebrews chapter 11 concerning Abraham? He looked for a city
that hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God. I tell you
the city that's got foundation, that's the church. We're built
on a firm foundation. There's one builder. How does
he build the church? Well, he sends out men to whom the truth of the gospel
has been revealed. And those men called to be preachers
of the gospel of God's grace, those men just preach. They tell
people who God is and what sinners are and how it's the Lord Jesus
who shed his blood to save and redeem, to reconcile his people. And the Spirit of God takes that
preached word and he reveals the truth to people's hearts.
It's like the Lord said to Peter, flesh and blood didn't teach
you this. My father taught you this by
his spirit. You heard the effectual call
of the gospel. I like that little simple illustration
illustrating the general call and the particular call. One
of the things that I have found amazing whenever we go to Hawaii,
is there an abundance of chickens, wild chickens. They are everywhere. Believe me. The street we stayed
on, a lot of chickens, they just wander around. They're out there
picking up bugs and whatever else it is that chickens eat.
But you take a mother hen in a chicken lot. And she's going
around pecking all day long, just a general cluck, cluck,
cluck. And the little chicks, you know,
they walking around having a big time. But then Mama hen sees
a hawk approaching. And suddenly that call that she
gives, that little cluck, cluck, It isn't general anymore, it's
specific. It's come here to me. She spreads
out her wings and here come them little chicks. They gather under
her wings and she keeps them safe from the old hawk. You see, the gospel of grace
goes forth. I'm making the general call right
now, come to Christ. Build on the rock. Well, you need to hear that message,
but you won't build on Christ unless that effectual call comes to
you. And then suddenly, things clear
up to you. You say, this is the Savior I
must have. This is the salvation I need
right here. Salvation that is not dependent
upon me in any way, shape, or form. This is the salvation I
need. And that's how he builds his
church. Now does the church have enemies?
Yeah, he says here, the gates of hell, all the false religion
opposes what we do. People have told me before, I
want a little more entertainment. Well, there are a lot of churches
in town and out of town that will gladly accommodate you. What do y'all do here? We gather,
we read the Word of God. We always begin every single
service with the reading of the Word of God. It's been that way
for years and years, ever since this church started. And we sing. We read the word
of God again, we pray, we preach, we sing, we go home. It's really
simple. We have a very simple form of
worship. There's no standing and sitting
and making any kind of bodily gestures and crossing your heart
and making some kind of signs or whoop to do with your, we
don't, we're not into all that. We just preach the gospel and
leave it to the Lord to do with the truth as He will. And I'm fine with that. I'm satisfied
to do that. Gates of hell will prevail. They'll
fuss. They'll say, we don't like what
they do. How come you don't join in with us? We have a national
prayer day. How come y'all don't join in?
Well, because y'all praying to a different God. I don't know
your God. You prayin' to a God that can't
do what he wants to do. I don't wanna have any part of
that. Do you? No, we're not gonna do that. We got enemies. Satan's our enemy.
But the assurance is this, shall not prevail. Our Lord built his
church. That's right. And nobody can
stop him. You can't force Him to work,
and when He works, you can't stop Him. You say, well, I'll
just oppose Him with my free will. Go ahead. Go ahead. You think your will can checkmate
the will of God Almighty? Boy, you have a real high, lofty thinking concerning yourself. We preach his gospel and trust
him to do the work that's needed to do. He will build his church.
And this is our blessed assurance. 255 is the final song for tonight. This is our blessed assurance.
The Lord will do his work. We pray, we call on the Lord
to work with the confidence that he will. 255.