Last week we used our time together
to consider the revelations of who Christ the Lord is. You'll
recall our Lord said, who do men say that I am? Peter went about And the other
disciples went about declaring, well, some say you're Elias,
some say you're John the Baptist. These are men. Many see him as
no more than a man. And that's why men must do something
to help their imaginary God. They see this man before them,
and they have no idea that he's the true and living God. They
just see him as a man who does good works. Well, that's what
they saw from Elijah. Elijah did good works. John the
Baptist did good works. Jeremiah did good works. And
when they see these men, they see their frailty just as they
see themselves, and they must do something to help their imaginary
God. Their gods are like men, weak,
feeble, untrustworthy, fleshly. Peter saw the Savior for who
He truly is, just as you and I see Him, God in the flesh,
with all power in heaven and in earth. perfect and holy in
all that He does and is. We see Him as the Almighty Creator
of all that is. That's how we can stand on His
promises. We take His promises for surety. When our Lord tells us that He'll
never leave us or forsake us, we know that for a fact. When
He says, all that the Father will give me shall come to me,
we know that as being a fact. It will happen. There's no ifs. There's no maybes with God. If
there wasn't, he wouldn't be God. He'd be just like those
men that the people of the world thought he was. We stand on his promises. Unlike
the maybe gods of this world, the Lord of Glory's word is sure
and it is true. And that surety can only be had
It can only come to one of God's people through the revelation
by the Holy Father. Flesh and blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. We left off considering
our own state of blessedness as ones who have been blessed
with this very same blessing. Not only was Peter blessed by
that, but all of God's children are blessed by that. There's
only one true God. And to know Him, He must be revealed
to the hearts of men. Not the hearts that were born
with, that stony heart that refuses to come to God, who will not
come to God, who thinks the things of God are foolishness, but a
new heart, born again, not of the flesh but of the Spirit. We consider ourselves as ones
who have been blessed with the very blessing that Peter had
been blessed with. Because of His love, we see the Lord Jesus
for who He truly is. He is the Christ, the Son of
the living God. He has loved us with an everlasting
love. We have always been the objects
of His mercy, even when we did not know it. And as we were given
to Him before a star ever twinkled in the sky in the day of His
power, we must be brought to know Him. We must be brought
through the revelation by the Spirit. So now let us consider
the next part of our Lord's response. You'll recall that I mentioned
we're going to look at the next half of that in Matthew. Look at verse 18, if you would
please, of chapter 16. And I say, this is the Lord speaking
once again unto Peter, 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." Now I want you to turn over to
John chapter 1 for just a moment. Hold your place here, Matthew.
We'll come right back to it. But I want to show you why the
Catholic religion declares Peter as this stone that is talking
about that the church will be built on. Are you with me in John chapter
1? Look at verse 42. It would help if I get over there
too, wouldn't it? 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. The Catholics like to take what
we just read over in Matthew, along with this verse right here,
and say, see here, God has shown us that the interpretation of
Peter. He says, I say unto thee, thou art Peter. And upon this
rock. They're saying, OK, this is absolutely
talking about Peter being a rock. Over here in John chapter 1,
we see where the word Petros is interpreted as a stone. It is true that the word Petros
means stone, that's very sure. But knowing what scripture tells
us of sinful mankind, can we truly translate Peter as the
one who the church's foundation is built upon? Can we put our
trust in flesh Would that not be a contradiction to scripture
where we read in Philippians 3, 3, for we are of the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh? Would that not be, if we were
going to put our trust in Peter as being the foundation, the
rock of the church, would we not be in contradiction to those
words in Philippians? This translation in Scripture
is only used once in all of Scripture, and that is right here in John
142. In the almost 200 places the
word Petros is used, it is translated as a name, as for instance, Peter. Nowhere else is Petros referred
to in Scripture as a rock. Yet over and over and over again
we see in scripture where our Lord is the foundation of the
church. He is the cornerstone that the
church is to be built on. He's the cornerstone that was
rejected by men. Don Fortner wrote this, he says,
without question the papist fabrication that Peter was to be the foundation
of the church is ludicrous. To speak of a fallen, sinful,
depraved son of Adam as the foundation upon which God's holy temple
is built is contrary to scripture. Such an exaltation of Peter above
the rest of the apostles would be contrary to the plainest teachings
of our Lord. The rock upon which the church
of God is built is Peter's confession. It's what Peter confessed of.
It's not of Peter himself, but what he said in those very words. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He's the son of the living God.
In Ephesians 2, 20 through 22, it reads, and are built upon
the foundation of the apostle and the prophet, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord. in
whom ye also are built together for an inhabitation of God through
the Spirit. And then in 1 Corinthians we
read in 3.11, for other foundations can no man lay than that is laid
which is Jesus Christ. Christ himself is the rock God
has laid in Zion. You can read about that in Isaiah
28. Peter himself, writing by divine
inspiration, tells us this very thing in 1 Peter 2.6-8. When
the Lord said, upon this rock I will build my church, he was
obviously referring to himself. For he is the rock whom Peter
and all true believers are built by God's saving grace. We read
that in Peter 2 verse 5. Being built on him, being built
on the Lord Jesus Christ, having the Lord Jesus Christ as our
rock. We are safe and secure, and hell
itself can do us no harm." End of quote. Knowing what scripture
says about men, knowing the truth of what we
are in the flesh, I don't know about you, but I put my trust
in Christ. Christ alone is where my hope
lies. I see no other surety to put
my trust in but the Christ, the Son of the
Living God. Notice also what our Lord declares
the church to be built on. He says, my church, back in our
text at verse 18. I will build my church. The word church is the called
ones, called out of darkness, brought into the marvelous light
of who He is, the light of what He has done. He went to that
cross for you and I. Many, many know that Jesus was
sacrificed on the cross, crucified on the cross. Many know, even
the Muslims declare that Jesus Christ was a prophet who lived
in the world and was put on the cross, crucified. but very few. Many are called, but few are
chosen. Many few know the light of what He has done. He has saved
us from all of our sins. Not just one or two, but all.
We can't go to heaven and be with God, folks, if we have one
sin that we have to answer for. God could have nothing to do
with us if there was one thing that we had to answer for. Everything
about us had to be covered on that cross. And we know this because He has
revealed this to us. Doesn't that magnify His grace
to you? I've said this before, but it's
like a diamond on a black sheet. That diamond, you stare at it,
it just grows, it just grows. When we stare at the mercy and
the grace our Lord has for us, does it not just grow? and grow
and grow until soon we don't see any more of the blackness.
We don't see any more of that dark sheet. All we see is the
glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We who are called out of darkness
are brought into the marvelous light of where He is now. How could I go through this world Here we are, two days in a row,
and somebody has come into our lives and shot up the people
around us for no cause. Here we are in this world where
a disease can take a loved one just like that. I don't know about you folks,
but my heart breaks for my dear sister Cheryl. I would do anything to take that
pain from her right now. But I know that my Lord is on
His throne working it all out for us. And although it is so
extremely sad to think of what she must be feeling, I still believe the Lord Jesus. Amen. Do we not lay heavily upon these
very words? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and in Him that cometh to me I will no eyes
cast out. He declares to have sheep that are His, and He says,
My sheep hear My voice. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against He who is God who has the keys to all things." What a blessing you and I have. Because we remember a time when
we were walking in that world of darkness not knowing the Christ
that we know now. We remember a time when the Lord
allowed us to continue in that darkness. We remember the time, some of
us like it was yesterday. What a blessing to know who the
Lord Jesus Christ is. Look at verse 19. 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. J.C. Ryle wrote this. He said,
as the Old Testament priests declared with authority whose
leprosy was cleansed, so the apostles were appointed
to declare with authority and to pronounce whose sins were
given. Gospel preaching is the keys
to the heaven. The keys are points that open
the door. A familiar set of verses we read
quite often, Romans 10, 13, "...for whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved." Well, then how shall they call
on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things. Notice the Lord says, and I will
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Godly living and practical godliness
are important points to learn, but they do not save the soul.
We do not measure salvation through the flesh. We measure salvation
in our Savior. When he said, it is finished,
it is finished. Salvation is of the Lord. And
the gates of hell shall not succeed against it. The apostles would
be sent out to preach the gospel, but not yet. The Lord's time
had not come. After the Lord's resurrection,
he would tell his disciples to wait upon the Holy Spirit for
what to do. But now he says, tell no one. Read verse 20. Then
charged his disciples that they should tell no man that he was
Jesus the Christ. The time was not come yet for
God's preachers to declare his gospel, for it was not complete
yet. He still had the work his father
had sent him to do. He still had places that He must
go through. Remember we read not too long
ago, He said, I must go through Samaria. He must come through
rescue. He must go through wherever His
children are that they would hear the gospel preached. But the Lord had not gone to
the cross yet. The gospel was not complete. Christ had to go to the cross.
It was what the Father had sent Him to do. Redemption must be
made before it could be called good news. And the God the Father
trusted His Son that He would complete the sacrifice of Himself
that He might be the just and the justifier of His people.
And God the Son did always that which pleased the Father. He
came to do his father's will. We sang the song, we praise thee,
O God, for the son of thy love, for Jesus who died and has now
gone above, hallelujah, thine the glory. That's what this message
is all about. This is what Peter and the rest
of the apostles and you and I are learning today in looking at
this scripture. We're learning that, hallelujah,
thine the glory. We're continuing to learn that
it's not of our flesh. There's nothing in us that we
can give. It is Him that we look to for all things, including
salvation, especially salvation. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Amen. Morning, John. Hello. We're a
little short on people today, but we just finished up today's
Bible study. I'm glad I'm here. Stand with me, please, and I'll
lead us in prayer.