If you will turn with me in your
Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16. And look with me at verse 13,
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? What a question. What a question. This is a very,
very important question. He said, whom do men say that
I, the son of man, am? Now, I'll tell you this, he already
knew who men said he was. This question is for our learning.
It was for the disciples' benefit, all right? And I must acknowledge
the answer to this question, all of us by nature have a way
too low opinion and view of Jesus, the Son of Man. all of us all
men by nature and all men lost in religion here's what we do
we take him and in our minds we put him on a on a level that
we're also on now we may acknowledge he's better but he's still ultimately
just a man. Look right here what they said.
In verse 14, they said, some say thou art John the Baptist,
some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. We read
this when the works that our Lord was doing, when King Herod
heard of them, he had John the Baptist killed. He had him beheaded
and he said, Well, I think this is John the Baptist, risen from
the dead. He was scared. And the men with him, the other
religious men, they said, well, maybe it's Elijah. Maybe he's
back. Maybe it's one of the prophets.
And these were great men. These were prophets of God. These
were highly esteemed men. Our Lord said, of all men that
are born of women, there's not a risen or greater than John
the Baptist. We're to look up to the prophets, but we're not
to put our Lord on the same playing field as the prophets, because
all these men, Elijah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, they were all
men, sinful men. Our Lord is no mere man. He's not. And this world and
the religion of it do not know that. None of us by nature know
that. None of us by nature know who He really is. It says He came into the world,
the world that He made. It was made by Him. And the very
world He made knew Him not. It said He came unto His own.
His own received Him not. He said no prophet has honor
in his own country. He came here and nobody, you
and me included, wanted anything to do with Him. Just consider
ourselves really quickly. Do we really desire to honor
and glorify Him? Honestly, is that our first instinct?
It's not, sadly. Whom do men say that I am? Well,
unfortunately, we all think he's just another man. Well, I love
here, he goes from saying, whom do men say I am? Look what he
says here in verse 15. He said to his disciples, he
saith unto them, but whom say ye? Let's bring this home. Forget
about what somebody else might think of Him. Whom do you say
that I am? And we must answer this question.
And like I said before, God already knows the answer. He knows exactly
what we think. He knows our every thought. But this is important,
and we're going to see this. Who do we say He is? Do we view
Him like the rest of this world views Him? Well, Jesus, He loves
you, He died for you, He wants you to be saved, wants you to
give Him His heart, wants you to make a decision, decide to
follow Him, wants you to live for Him. Is that what we think?
Honestly, is that who we think He is? Is that what we think
of Him? He wants, He hopes, He tries,
He begs. I'm telling you, based on God's Word, that's not who
He is. And we need to know that. I'm not saying that to prove
I'm right. I want to prove God to be right. I want to speak
on behalf of God's Word, what God declares. He did more than set an example. He is our example. Make no mistake
about it. In everything, He's our example.
But He's more than that. He was a good man, but He was
more than that. He is more than that. Absolutely. He taught us how to live. He
did. He did more than that. You know, someone may say, well,
He showed us how to be saved. He did more than that. He did
more than that. I pray we know that. And if we
don't know it yet, I pray by the time we leave here today,
I pray we'll know who He is and what He's done. He asked His
disciples, whom say ye that I am? Verse 16, And Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, you read about Peter, you
understand Peter, he often said the wrong thing. He often was
more ready to speak than to hear, and more often than not, he didn't
say the right thing. He hit the nail right on the
head here. He said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living
God. It wasn't just who Peter thought
he was. That's who he was. That's who
he really is, the Christ, the Messiah, God's anointed, the
Savior. And notice this, when you say,
who do men say I am? Well, maybe John the Baptist,
maybe Jeremiah, maybe Elijah. You can put all men in one bucket.
Doesn't matter. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's all by himself. He's the one and only Messiah,
the one and only anointed one, the one and only Son of God. And I know we hear this all the
time. He's not merely the Son. He's God the Son. He's no less
God than the Father. He's no less God than the Spirit.
He's God the Son. God in human flesh. And I love
this. Our Lord referred to Himself
in verse 13. He said, I'm the Son of Man.
He's also the Son of God. He's both God and man, 100% both. Amazing. And He's the only one.
I can see Peter saying, Lord, you're no mere man. You're God
Almighty. And that's who He is. And we need to know that. We
need to acknowledge that. I know this world and the religion
of it, under the name Christian, they love to call him Jesus,
and that's his name. That is his earthly name that
was given him from before the world began. But he's more than
Jesus. He's Lord Jesus Christ. I love what Peter said at Pentecost. He said, let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom
you've crucified, both Lord and Christ. Christ. That is who He
is, and we need to know this. Verse 15, Whom do you say that
I am? 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 Bar-Jonah. He said, Peter, you're a blessed
man. Why was Peter a blessed man?
because he knew who the Lord Jesus Christ was. I'm telling
you, this is important. Our Lord didn't ask this question
for no reason. He didn't do anything for no
reason. He asked this question because we need to know. This
is life and death that we know who He is, that we know who God
is. I'm gonna show you three verses.
I'm sure many of you know them, but I wanna look at them. Turn
over with me to John 17. John 17. And while you're turning, I'll
remind you of an account. In John chapter six, some men
had followed the Lord because He filled their belly and they
wanted to take Him and make Him a king. And our Lord started
preaching the gospel to them, saying, no man can come to me
except the Father which has sent me. Draw him. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. He said, except you eat my flesh
and drink my blood, you have no life in you. He said, I am
the bread come down from heaven. They were offended at his sayings. And he turned to his disciples
and he said, will you also go away? They went back, walked
no more with him. They weren't true disciples.
Our Lord said, will you also go away? Here's another time
Peter had a great thing to say. He said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Didn't say where shall we go. He said, who else do we have?
To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And he does, that's who he is.
He said, we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the
son of the living God. This is absolutely vital. See,
Peter and all the disciples and all God's people, our hope isn't
in what we know, but in whom we know. Look here in John 17
verse 3, our Lord is speaking to the Father. He said, Turn
over a few pages to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. We see what Peter said about
the importance of knowing Christ. We see what Christ himself said,
the importance of knowing him. Now let's see what Paul said
in Philippians 3 verse 7. Now mind you, Paul had been lost
in religion all his life, okay? And here's what he had to say
after God saved him. Philippians 3, 7, he said, for whom I've suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ,
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know
him." He said, I've thrown all my religion away, and I just want to know Christ.
All that that was so much gain to me, everything that I put
any stock in, everything I hoped in. By God's grace, I've thrown
it all out, and I'm looking to Christ alone. Look here, verse
10, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and
the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Is that our desire? Can we count everything that
we are, everything that we know, everything that we naturally
trust in and cling to, can we count that all nothing? That
we may know Christ, that we may win Him, that we may be found
robed in the righteousness of Christ, that we might truly have
the faith of Christ. I pray that's our desire, honestly.
And look with me in 2 Peter 3. Here Peter confirms what we're
reading in Matthew 16. 2 Peter 3, last verse, verse
18. The book of 2 Peter, he's given
his dying testimony. The Lord had told him, you're
going to go be with the Lord soon. These were his dying words.
This was his parting word, okay? 2 Peter 3.18, he said, but grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. That was Peter's prayer. That's
my prayer for myself. That's my prayer for us, that
we might first experience God's grace and that we might grow
in it. God's grace is Christ. Grace,
free gift, it's Christ. That we might grow in Him, that
we might be built up in Him, that we might grow in knowledge
of Him who is our life. Look back in our text. You can keep a finger here in
Peter, if you haven't turned yet, we'll be back. Matthew 16, verse 17, Jesus answered and
said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is
in heaven. How did Peter know that Jesus
was the Christ, the Son of the living God? He said, flesh and
blood didn't reveal it to you. He said, my father revealed it
to you. My father, which is in heaven.
Now, not gonna show us for time sake, but back in Matthew chapter
four, we see when our Lord called Peter, when he called him and
his brother to be his disciples. Here they were out fishing, okay,
and I have no idea if they even knew who he was or not. I suspect
they didn't know who he was. Maybe they'd heard of him, Our
Lord comes to where they are, and here's how it happens. He
came to where they were, doing what they wanted to do, living
their life. He came to them and He said,
follow me. Follow me. I'll make you fishers
of men. He came to them. He spoke to
them. He declared something to them
that was certain and sure. And it came to pass, it said
immediately, they left their nets, they left their ship. We
read James and John, they left their father Zebedee in the ship.
The Lord didn't call him. The Lord called them, and they
followed Him. You know what that is? That's
an effectual call. That's not a Jesus that wants
and hopes and tries and begs and pleads. He speaks, and it
comes to pass. He said, follow me, and immediately
they left everything, just like Paul, counted it all done, and
they followed Him. Irresistible grace. And I rejoice
to know that's how it happens. Aren't you glad it ain't dependent
upon us? I'm telling you, I'd mess it up. Every single time
I love what Paul said in Galatians 1. He said when it pleased God
We honestly can't quote this enough. When are you saved when
it pleased God? Who separated me from my mother's
womb? I didn't have anything to do
with it. It happened long before I was born Please God who separated
me from my mother's womb called me by his grace to do what to
reveal Christ in us and reveal His Son in me, that we might
preach what? Not a what, that we might preach
Him. When Christ is revealed to us, we know Him, we hope in
Him, and if we're called to preach, we're gonna preach Him among
the heathen. And Paul said, when he did this,
when it pleased God to come to me, reveal Himself to me, he
said what Peter said. Immediately, I conferred an oath
with flesh and blood. When our Lord told Peter, He said, flesh
and blood had nothing to do with it. It's the work of God and
God alone. The only way we're gonna know
who He really is, I can tell you, but God must reveal Himself
to us. We can see it written so clearly
in His Word that all the scriptures speak of Christ, and yet we won't
know who He is until God gives us faith to believe it, until
God opens our eyes, opens our ears, and opens our hearts to
see Him. And I pray He will. It's my prayer
for us. Now, back in our text here, look at verse 18. And I say also unto thee, our
Lord speaking, he said that thou art Peter, and upon this rock
I will build my church. Now, there's some controversy
to this verse in the realms of religion. Let me ask you this
question. Who is our Lord referring to
right here? Is he referring to Peter? Peter's
name, you can see it in John 1.42. Peter's name means a rock
or a stone. That's what his name literally
means. Is our Lord saying, you're Peter? And upon you, Peter, I'm
gonna build my church. Is that what he's saying? Now,
I must tell you that the Catholic Church takes that to mean exactly
what I just said. They take that to mean that Peter,
that he, boy, he was something and God's gonna build his church
on him. You can look it up. They take Peter to be the first
Pope. The very next verse says, I'll
give the keys of the kingdom of heaven to you, whatsoever
you bind, Whatever you do, Peter, that's what's gonna be. We know that's not what he's
saying. And I'll show it to us. Peter was a sinner saved by God's
grace. That's all he was. That's all
he was. If we read this and we think
God's gonna build his church upon Peter, he's the rock. We
do so erring, not knowing the scriptures. You know, our Lord
has given us so many holy scriptures, and he allows men to rest them,
twist them to their own destruction. I believe Peter's the one that
warned us about that. God has to give us an understanding
of this book. We can't understand it on our
own. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, he said, how can I understand
unless some man should guide me? We must be guided, pointed,
led to Christ, knowledge of him. Peter, he, like the prophets,
Peter, by God's grace, was a reputable man. God used him to preach the
gospel, to save many, to write scriptures in his holy word.
But he was just a man. Just a man God was pleased to
use. I pray we won't look to Peter. Don't look to Peter. Don't
look to Paul. Look to Christ. Peter wasn't
the rock. Paul wasn't the rock. Christ.
Christ is the rock. The declaration that Peter declared,
he declared the rock. Thou art the Christ. Is that what you're hoping in?
Are we hoping in him? And I'll show you this. In 1
Peter chapter two, Peter tells us about who his rock is. 1 Peter
chapter 2 and look at verse 2. First Peter two, verse two, he
said, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word
that you may grow thereby, if so be you have tasted that the
Lord is gracious. Now he's talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse four, to whom coming? I told you, before
he said to whom shall we go? But it's not at one time, well
I went to Christ, I came to Christ. He said to whom coming? How are we gonna grow? Keep coming
to Christ. to whom coming as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
Christ is our living stone. He's our life. Take that to mean
whatever you want that to mean. You can't run as far, you can't
run too far with that. Christ is our living stone. All
our life is in him. He's undesired, disallowed of
men. We wanted nothing to do with
him, but what'd he say? He's chosen of God. and precious."
Oh my. Verse five, you also as lively
stones. See, all God's people are stones.
We're living stones in Him, built on Him. He said, 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 Scripture, behold, I lay in
Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, Precious Isaiah 28 16 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 as made the
head of the corner said we we don't make him Lord We don't
make him king. We don't make him Christ though.
We didn't want him. He is king and He is the head
of the corner, whether we know it or not. Whether we believe
on him or not, verse 8, and he's a stone of stumbling and a rock
of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient
or unbelieving, whereunto also they were appointed. God does
not have to reveal himself to us. We're content to live our
life not knowing who he is, not caring who he is, no regard for
him, no regard for his glory, no regard for his word. Some people believe he's precious.
Peter did. I pray we do, too. David said this, Psalm 18, verse
2, he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and
the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. Is Christ that
to you? Oh, I pray He is to all of us.
I pray He is. The Lord Jesus Christ, Peter
hoped in Him. Peter wasn't his own rock. If
Peter was the rock, he was a poor, pitiful rock, wasn't he? We're
just like Him. We can't trust in ourself. We're
not to put our trust in a man, but in the God-man. Christ, the
Son of God, that's who Peter believed and declared Him to
be. And I love what Peter said right
here. He said, A song we sing declares this glorious truth. Other foundation can no man lay
than that is laid, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he alone
is the rock upon which God will build his church. Now, lastly,
this matter of the church. What is the church? What is God's
church? We know it's not a building.
Right now, we've got two buildings, don't we? Both of these buildings
are just buildings. If God's not here, it's just
another building. The church of God is a people.
It's a people. Well, who are these people that
make up God's church? I want to know this because I
want to be one of them. I pray that I am one of them.
Well, look here in 1 Peter 1. Verse one, Peter tells us who
he's writing to. It says, Peter, an apostle of
Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied.
Well, let's go and read verse 3. He said, Now look at this.
Who is this church of God? It's God's elect. That's what
he said. He said, I'm writing to thee, elect. He said, God
has begotten you again unto a lively hope. What he's saying is, The Church of God is those whom
God the Father chose, those whom the Holy Spirit comes to and
quickens to a revelation and knowledge of Christ, for whom
Christ, the Son of the living God, came and poured out His
precious blood to redeem. That's who the Church of God
is. And I love this too. In verse
1, He referred to them as strangers. Strangers scattered throughout.
And I thought about this. We're strangers to the world.
He said, well, he was a stranger to the world. He said, I'm not
of the world. The world hates me. I'm not of it. He made it,
but he's not from this world. And he said, you're not of the
world. He said, I've chosen you out of the world. After God saves
us, we acknowledge this world's not our home, don't we? We're
strangers here. But not only are we strangers of this world,
we're strangers to one another. How long have we known everybody
in this room? Some longer than others. But
we come, I'm from Danville, Kentucky, tiny little town. Most people
don't know what it is. Some of you from, I think, Louisiana
and Virginia, different states. Strangers to one another until,
all right? We're strangers until God brings
us into the fellowship of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not strangers anymore. We're
fellows in the same ship. and we're strangers scattered
throughout. God's elect are scattered throughout
time. Peter lived a long time ago. He's not a stranger to us,
is he? He's our brother. He's our brother. We're strangers scattered throughout
time, scattered throughout this world, but because of what God
has done to us in calling us to himself, to a knowledge of
Christ, We're not strangers anymore, we have one hope, don't we? Just
one hope. We have one shepherd, don't we?
And one day very soon we're gonna be called home to be with one
fold forever and ever. Back in Matthew 16, verse 18,
I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock
I will build my church. He said, I will build my church. What a glorious declaration.
Not I'm working on it, I might build my church, I will. I love that, that gives me hope.
As one who's looking to Christ, trusting in Christ, he's saying,
I'm gonna have them, I'm gonna have my church. Every day this
earth is spinning, brethren, God's building his church. How's
he doing it? He's revealing Christ to his
elect. That's exactly what he's doing.
That's how God builds his church. Now, Peter wasn't the rock upon
which God would build his church, but Peter was a rock in Christ
whom God was pleased to use to build his church. You know, the
Lord used Peter at the sermon at Pentecost to save 3,000 people. 3,000. What was his message? He declared unto them, that same
Jesus whom you've crucified, God's made him Lord in Christ. He said, you by wicked hands
crucified and slain him. He said, God did this. God purposed
this. And right after that, I don't
know how long it was, but it doesn't appear very long, God
used Peter again to save 5,000 more. Amazing. Amazing. And these strangers scattered
throughout. It says they had all things in common because
they had Christ. Does that make you rejoice? Does
that give you hope? Oh, it does me. It does me. But
as we read this about the Lord using Peter, and as we acknowledge
God uses the preaching of his word, the preaching of Christ
crucified to save and call out his people, we must acknowledge
it's God doing the saving and God alone. Paul put it well. Speaking of preaching the gospel,
God saving his people, that's how he does it. He said, I have
planted. Apollos watered, but God gave
the increase. He said, so then neither is he
that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that
giveth the increase. We can stand here and preach
God's word day and night, but God must give the increase. God must say, let there be light.
for there to be life. And when he does, you're gonna
know, we're gonna believe on him whom God hath sent. All right,
lastly, verse 18, one more time. He said, upon this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. God's not gonna lose one of his
sheep, one whom he loves, one whom he's loved for eternity,
one for whom Christ died, one whom he's purposed to save. The
gates of hell are gonna try. Seriously, we need to know that.
They're going to try. Our Lord said, watch lest you
enter into temptation, beware. Peter, Peter warned us of this
in 1 Peter 5, because he learned by experience. He said, our adversary,
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he
may devour. Now, I'm gonna close with this.
Peter learned that by experience. He learned it by experience.
Down here in verse 23, in Matthew 16, verse 23, our Lord called
Peter, Satan. Look at it. He turned and said
to 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. I thought Peter was blessed.
I thought he was a blessed man. He was. But I'm telling you,
the devil really is seeking whom he may devour. And our Lord told,
what Peter had done here, our Lord had just told him, you can
read about it later. Our Lord had just told him of the things
that he must suffer and how that he must die and how that after
three days he must rise again. And Peter said, be it far from
thee, Lord. Peter rebuked the Lord. I told you, Peter often
said something foolish. But this is to show us the seriousness
of this, the seriousness of knowing Christ and being found in Him,
believing in Him, trusting in Him alone. On another account,
our Lord told Peter, He said this in Luke 22, He said, Satan
hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Satan's
just dying to pluck you out. And if Peter were the rock, If
Peter was his own hope, Satan would have had him. Oh, he would
have had him. But here's the good news for
us. Peter ain't the rock. I'm not the rock. Christ alone
is the rock. Christ alone is our hope. Here's
what the Lord Jesus Christ told Peter when he said, Satan wants
you. He's begging to have you. Here's what he said. He said,
Peter, I've prayed for you. What's your hope, Peter? I prayed
for you, Peter, that your faith fail not. And that's our hope,
isn't it? That's our hope. It's no wonder,
Peter said, in 1 Peter 1, we're kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
Has Christ been revealed to us? Are we trusting in Him? Is He
alone our rock? Praise God upon this rock. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Upon this rock God will build his church
and the gates of hell. Try though they may. Shall not
prevail against it. Amen.