Well, we continue in our Bible
studies of Peter in his journey to becoming an apostle of Christ. In 1 Peter 1, he says, I, Peter,
an apostle of Christ. And we were looking at how our
Lord is leading Peter to that position where he writes that
letter. all the things that he teaches Peter and all of the
disciples and even you and I as he goes through the verses in
Matthew that we are looking at. We're looking into this 16th
chapter of Matthew and in our last study the Lord Jesus taught
that we should beware of the leaven of the teaching or the
doctrine of the Pharisees. There's only two doctrines. There's only two teachings. There's
only two religions. The religion of works. The religion
where man has to do something to help whatever God is of their
imagination. And the religion of grace. Sovereign
grace. Grace that is distributed supplied,
given, shed upon his people by the one who rules all things. Everything, including the will
of men. Why would he rule everything
else there is in creation but leave men to their own will? Especially knowing that men to
their own will has already caused sin in the world, hasn't it? Leaving men to their own will
caused Adam to sin. Adam made the choice, I will
give myself for my wife because she is eaten of the apple. He
went into it eyes wide open knowing exactly what he had done. Therefore throwing all of mankind
into the same deadness that he had been thrown into. They all
have the same doctrine when it comes to the fundamental point
of any religious teaching. You have works and you have grace.
The Holy Scriptures declare salvation is of grace and of grace alone.
In Ephesians 2.8, for by grace are ye saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. You can't get no more clearer
than that. Grace is unmerited favor. You can't buy it. You can't earn
it. It's grace. Peter and the other apostles
were learning to look for these false doctrines, these false
teachers, and to be aware that there are those who were ordained
before time to come into the congregation and to bring another
gospel. And our Lord declares it to be
another gospel. He says there is another Jesus being preached
out there. Not the true and living God,
but another one. One of men's own imagination.
Look out for those. Beware of them. Even though they
are ordained before time to come into the congregation, beware
of them. Keep a watchful eye out for them.
I was talking with one of the brothers this morning about that
very subject. Be diligent. Our Friday night Bible study
is on this very subject. The Galatian church had turned
from salvation through faith. Through faith. Not by faith,
not because of faith, but through faith in believing the truth
of the Lord Jesus Christ is merciful unto whom He will be merciful
to. The Lord is gracious unto those that were chosen in Him
before the world began. Through faith. And they began mixing the works
of the law with the faith in Christ. Men had come into the
Galatian church and said, now you must be circumcised to prove
what your faith is. You must show up on Saturdays. You must walk down the aisle.
You must do this. You must do whatever. You must
be more sanctified. You must stop drinking. You must
stop smoking cigarettes. You must stop cussing. You must
do whatever. Put whatever you want in there. They began mixing the works of
the law with the faith in Christ. And works and grace do not mix. In Romans 11.5, you don't need
to turn there, it says, even so then at this present time
also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And
if by grace of works, then it is of no more
of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be, then it is no more
grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
Folks, we must beware. We must be on the eye. Let us
ever be vigilant when it comes to the grace of our Savior, our
great Lord. But even though the church at
Galatia was turning from this wonderful doctrine of grace,
Paul asserted that there must still be some wheat amongst the
tares. The whole church had not turned
apostate, most of them had, but somewhere in that church there
must have been some wheat along with the tares that had grown
up. And for that reason, he wrote
the letter to the Galatians, a remnant, a few according to
the election of grace. Now let's pick up in Matthew
chapter 16, shall we? Let's begin by looking at 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? The translators got it right
here, folks. The S in son is capitalized. Who? Whom do men say that I,
the son of man, am? Notice our Lord and Savior declares
himself son of man. We know that he had to take on
the form of a man, for this was the only way that he could put
away the sins of his elect. God had to provide Himself to
do what man could not. He had to walk perfectly for
us. Establish a righteousness for
us for we have none of our own. He walked perfectly and fulfilled
the law completely. He is 100% God, yes. But He's
also 100% man. Born of a woman, not of the seed
of Adam, but of the seed of the Spirit, a virgin brought forth
a child, God in the flesh. This was the only way that God
could be just. He had to justify those for whom
His love was set upon before the world was created. When He
wrote the names down of His people in that book that was written
before a star ever twinkled in the sky, Every single name that
was in that book had to be clean and as white as snow as he to
be in the presence of his father. He had to take all of our sins
upon him. Not just one, not just two, but
all. For some of us who are a little
bit older than others, that's a lot of sin. I've been around a little while.
My Lord has taken every sin from the time I took my first breath
till this very moment, and He's taken every sin that I will commit
between now and the time He takes me home. And the only way to do that was
for Him to become a man. For Him to shed perfect blood. for Him who knew no sin to become
sin for me. And for Him to do that, He had
to be the Son of Man, didn't He? The virgin birth is no small
thing at all. It's not what the Catholics want
it to be, because the Catholics want to make Mary the big thing
of that virgin birth. But it is a big thing that God
became a man. That's the big thing of the virgin
birth. That He put His glory behind
for a time and became flesh as we are. This is the only way that God
could be just and that He could justify those for whom His love
was set upon before the world was created. Sin must be punished. He who knew no sin was made sin
that we would be made righteous in Him. The blood of bulls and
blood of goats that all were shed over all those years with
Israel, they paid for nothing. But they were a picture of the
blood of Jesus Christ who would pay that price. And pay it completely. But this man, this One who is
the Son of Man, This one who is asking that very
question, whom do men say that I am? He knew what men say. We're studying what our Lord
is teaching Peter and the other apostles, but we're focused on
Peter. Our Lord already knew the answer
to this question. He wanted Peter to ask himself
that question. He wanted Peter to realize that
the world does not call him the son of man, the world calls him
something like a prophet, a good teacher. Isaiah, isn't that the answer?
And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some
say Elias, others say Jeremias, or one of the prophets, but this
man, This perfect One left His glory and He came to this world
that He would shed His own blood for His people, redeeming them
to the Father. Atonement was made on our behalf.
Not only is He the Son of the Most High, He is flesh and blood,
blood of our blood, bone of our bone. He knows the infirmities
of men. He knows the weaknesses of men.
I know, I know, of course He knows all things. But this is
a knowledge through experience. This is not somebody who's sitting
on their throne way up high who has never had to deal with the
ones that are down in the gutter, but from afar, like a king. This
is a king who became one in the gutter, as we are. Do you understand the little
bit of love that our Lord has for us? when He put away His
glory to become flesh. Wow! That's grace beyond anything
I can imagine. He hungered. He thirsted. His body required rest. God experienced
the very temptations that we have, yet He experienced them
without sin. In John 1.1 it says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made
by Him. Without Him was not a thing made
that was made. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth." Next, I want to let us consider this. His question was,
whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? We could ask this
very question in our world today and we would get the same answer,
or at least something similar to it. as we read in verse 14,
and they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some
say Elias, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Notice
that He is seen by the world as men would see Him. Merely
a man, a prophet, a good teacher. In the 10th verse of John 1,
it says, He was in the world, and the world was made by Him,
and the world knew Him not. Most of the world today have
heard of this man named Jesus. You go to the Muslims who worship
their God, Muhammad, and they have heard of Jesus. But few have heard about the
man named Jesus, the Son of the Living God. The Word of Truth is revealed It's a revealed word. It cannot
be comprehended with the carnal mind. No one who is dead to the
truth can understand it. Can one who is deaf hear? Many heard and saw the great
works of the Lord in the very days that He walked this earth. Yet most could not see what was
right before their very eyes. In John 10, 24, then came the
Jews round about him and said unto him, How longest dost thou
make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. And Jesus answered, and he says, I told you, and
you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of My sheep. And I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. Now look
at verses 15 and 16. And He, our Lord, saith 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
our testimony. Is it not? Christ Jesus is Lord of all.
That's what Peter is saying. Thou art the Son of the living
God. Lord of everything that is. Ruler of all things. Working everything out according
to His counsel, according to His will. We deny that little Jesus that
is spoken of in the world. That one that has done something
and he waits your acceptance. We deny the imaginary gods of
this world who need our help in the works of salvation. We
deny the shameful gods who can't save anything without your permission. We deny those gods because our
God rules the hearts of men and makes us willing in the day of
his power. We come to him by his irresistible
drawing grace, and the only way to know him is by his revealing
grace. Our God uses men to preach his word, but the preacher cannot
speak to the hearts of men. The preacher cannot give life
to a dead man. Only God can give life, and Christ
is the giver of all life. Again in John we read in verse
4 of chapter 1, He in him was life and the life was the light
of men and the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness
comprehended it not. Look at verse 17. 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. Allow me to bring today's study
to a close, and I want to stop here for this study because I
want you to walk away from it thinking about these very things.
Who is your God? Is He the Son of the Living God,
Ruler of all things, or is He just some prophet waiting for you? If He is, the Son of the Living
God to you, then it is because God the Father has revealed Him
to your heart. It's not because of anything
you have done or any man has done, because flesh cannot reveal
these things to us. God the Spirit must reveal these
things to our heart. And I want you to walk away from
this this morning considering how blessed you are. He said, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, Because you know who I am. Because
you know who He is. Blessed are you. God has blessed us with all blessings. When we think about that, is
there anything in this world that should trouble us? I know
it does. I'm flesh. I know. There are
many, many, many things in this world that trouble me. But they sure pale in comparison
to the blessings that my God has given me. The knowledge of
who he is. The desire in my heart to follow
him. The love that I have in my heart
for him because he first loved me. Don Fortner wrote a little
article, or not an article, it's an excerpt out of his book actually,
and he titles it, A Blessed Man. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, speaking to Simon, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. Peter was a truly blessed man. His blessedness
was manifest not in his lifestyle or his freedom from trouble or
from sorrow, but he was blessed in the grace of God he had experienced. As was evident in his confession,
like all who are born of God, he was blessed with spiritual
understanding, He was blessed by divine decree, and He was
distinctively blessed with distinguishing grace. Who can describe the blessedness
of knowing Him? Whom to know aright is eternal
life. As it was in Peter's day, so
it is today, and so it is in every age. The people of this
world, religious and irreligious, have many and varied opinions
of who Christ is. But only one opinion is right.
And that is the opinion that is formed in the heart by divine
teaching and illumination. If we know Him, our Savior says,
flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee. That is to say
that we did not come to know Him on our own, nor mere man
revealed Him to you. We do not know Christ after the
flesh or by human learning. But my Father which is in heaven,
God Himself by His Holy Spirit has revealed Him to us and in
us by the preaching of the Gospel." Oh, what it is to be blessed
by God and to know who the Son of the Living God is, Jesus Christ
our Lord. Next week I'd like to look at
the rest of our Lord's response And to lead you to just a little
bit of what we'll see, verse 18, and 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 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. Consider
that. as we go about our week. And I hope you'll be back next
Sunday to hear the rest of that response.