Good morning. It's good to be
with you all again. If you will turn with me for
our text to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16. Brother Gabe
and folks in Kingsport send their love and greetings. Matthew chapter 16, and look
with me 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? And they said, some say that
thou art John the Baptist. Some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah,
were one of the prophets. This man, Jesus, the son of man,
our Lord asked this question, whom do men say that I am? On that question, we must acknowledge
this fact that God's Word most clearly declares. By nature,
that means as we're born into this world and as we walk in
this flesh, in this life, not a single one of us, not a single
son of Adam, knows who Jesus, the Son of Man, truly is. We don't know Him. Alright? We need to acknowledge that fact.
We do not know Him. And that's manifested here. We're
told, as He walked this earth, who men said he was. Some say
you're John the Baptist, King Herod. When he heard the works
that Jesus performed, we read this. He said, I think it's John
the Baptist, risen from the dead. On other accounts, we read men
truly thought he was Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets.
That's who they thought he was. And I didn't read it, but in
the beginning of this chapter here, some Pharisees and Sadducees,
and those people were religious leaders, alright? Those men confronted
This man Jesus, the Lord Jesus, as they often did, and then the
Lord turned to His disciples and He told them, beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees. Beware. And let me tell you something
about the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees. What they did
was they approached God on the merits of themselves. The leaven,
a little leaven. It's either grace or works. It's
not both. It cannot be both. That's why
the Lord turned to His disciples and He warned them of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees. And I mention this to say this,
some people thought He was a prophet. The religious leaders, now note,
these are leaders, okay? You think of the religious leaders,
we see them on TV, you hear about them, they're popular, they're
famous, they have a name. They didn't even believe Jesus
to be a prophet. I could show you multiple accounts,
I'm not going to, but I'll mention a couple. On one account, in
John chapter 8, I believe, the Lord was talking to them, and
He told them some things that were hard to understand, and
they accused Him of possessing a devil. They accused the Lord
Jesus, Himself, of possessing a devil. On another account,
a poor sinful woman had come into this house where the Lord
was, And she starts crying and showing her love to him. And
this Pharisee is just shocked that he would have anything to
do with her. And he thought this within himself. He thought if
this man were a prophet, if he were a prophet, he would know
what manner of woman this is for she's a sinner. He wouldn't
have anything to do with her because she's a sinner. Didn't
even believe him to be a prophet. How sad. And perhaps this is
the worst account I can recall with the Pharisees. They had
quite the accusation for this man, Jesus. They said, this man
receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Surely a prophet wouldn't do
that, would he? He can't possibly be of God, can he? He receives
sinners. Aren't you thankful he receives
sinners? And I love how that verse still
applies today. It says, he receiveth. Sinners,
he still does. I love the song we sing, Christ
receiveth sinful men. Oh, I'm so thankful. So thankful
to know it. Look at verse 13 again. 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 that
thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one
of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? We need to bring this down to
ourself. Whom say ye that I am? Now, most people will acknowledge
he was a prophet. Most people will acknowledge
he was a good man. He was a great man. Most people
will acknowledge he did wonderful things. He even performed miracles. You know, we read some and said,
never man spake like this man. One thing I hear people say is
he set a good example. Perhaps even he set the best
example. Now, let's make sure we understand. He did all of
these things. He went about doing good everywhere
he went, every single day. But he's more than that. This
man Jesus, he's so much more than these things. Now I know
we live in a world where most people will proudly claim, I
love Jesus. Now listen, most people will
proudly claim, I love Jesus. They love to say it. But on the authority of God's
word, they ultimately believe Jesus, the Son of Man, to be
a failure. This is important. You know, it's one thing to say,
I love Jesus. I hope we do. I really hope and pray we truly
do. And the only reason we're going
to is if He's first loved us and revealed His love to us and
in us. And if He has and if He does,
we're going to love Him. And here's why. His love is effectual.
If Jesus loves somebody and that person is not saved, if he loves
one person, you think of all the multitudes, the billions
of people who've lived and walked this earth. If one single person
whom he's loved winds up in hell, what good is his love? Is it
saving love? No. Not if one perishes whom
he loves. Jesus died for you. If He did,
and I wind up in hell, what good was His death? If He loved me, and He died for
me, and I'm not going to be saved, if it's still ultimately up to
me whether or not I wind up in heaven, then His love, His death,
His person, His work, His blood, everything about Him is worthless.
Does God's Word teach that or not? Not one person whom he loves,
not one person for whom he died, is going to perish. You know
he said in John chapter 10 concerning his sheep, he said, I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. Period. I know people love to throw around
the name Jesus, but we need to understand who He is. Now look
here at verse 15 again. He 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. What he's saying is, you're no
failure. You're no failure. You're the
Christ, the Son of God, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Holy One
of Israel, the Redeemer, the Savior of your people, the Savior
of sinners. He's Lord. That's a good way
to refer to Him. In fact, I prefer to refer to
Him every time as Lord Jesus Christ. He's Lord God Almighty. What did the Scriptures declare?
In Isaiah 9, verse 6, I think. Call His name Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
When the angel came, declared, call His name Jesus. He shall
be great. His name shall be called the
Son of the Highest. He has a kingdom and there's
going to be no end to that kingdom. He shall save His people from
their sins. Another thing I hear said, I
heard it a lot when I was in college, make Him Lord of your
heart. I can't. I honestly, urgently,
earnestly want nothing more than for Him to be Lord of my heart.
I really do. But I don't make Him Lord. God
beat us to it. He doesn't want to be Lord. He's
not hoping to be Lord. Let me read you a verse. Peter
declared this at Pentecost. And mind you, you can read it
yourself in the book of Acts chapter 2. Our Lord used this
message. He uses the preaching of the
gospel to save his people. Call him out. Our Lord used this
message, Peter declared, to save 3,000 people. And then, I believe
a few days later, he used Peter preaching the same message, we
preached the same message, to save 5,000 more. This is a saving
message, and here's what Peter declared. 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. That sounds a lot different than
let Him into your heart, give Him your heart, make Him Lord,
accept Him. Now understand, if He saves us, if He reveals this
to us, we're going to receive Him by the faith He gives us.
We're going to believe on Him. We're going to trust Him as Lord
of our heart. But He's going to rip this old filthy heart
of flesh and sin out and give us a new heart, a heart that
believes God, trusts Christ. Thou art the Christ. And you know, think about this. Think about where He is. This
man Jesus. We all live here and we die,
don't we? The Lord Jesus walked this earth.
He died. You think about that. How could
He die? I'll tell you how. Because he was made sin, and
the soul that sinnetheth shall die. Now he knew no sin. There
was no guile found in his mouth. But as our substitute, our sins
and iniquities were laid on him, and God turned his back on him.
Why hast thou forsaken me, thou art holy. But where is he now? He's on
his throne. He ascended up into glory. He's
seated at the right hand of the Father. He's no mere man. He's the Christ, the Son of the
Living God, God Almighty. That's what He is. Look at verse
17 right here. It says, Now I know we use this
word blessed pretty loosely, right? You get a promotion, oh,
I'm so blessed. You have a family. So blessed.
And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think that's
okay. But we need to know that there's just one thing that makes
a person truly blessed. I mean blessed spiritually. Blessed
before God. Blessed for all eternity. And
it's this. That we know Christ. Can't forget what Paul said in
Philippians 3, can we? Oh, that I might know Him. That
I might win Him. That I might be found in Him.
We must know Him. He said in John 17, our Lord
said, this is life eternal, this is spiritual life, everlasting
life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom Thou hast sent. We have to know Him. Doesn't
matter what else we know, if we don't know Him. Now if we
do know Him, here's what the word bless means, it means well
off, happy, Now again, we may be materially blessed if we have
money and a family and we're happy and things. That's great.
I hope we have these things. But we don't have to have those
things. What we need is to be spiritually blessed. We need
to be spiritually well off. We need to be spiritually happy.
Because one day, this robe of flesh is going to rot and decay
and I'm not going to be here anymore. And the same is so for
you. We need to know Him. I want to
know Him, but more than that, I need to know Him, more than
anything. On the flip side, if we don't
know Him, if we don't have Him, if we're not found in Him, there's
no blessing, there's no life. You know, there's an account
where a rich man died and then Lazarus died. Not the Lazarus,
Martha Mary, not that one, another one, a beggar. And the Lord said
that the rich man died, he was buried, I'm sure he had a nice
big funeral. It said he fared sumptuously every day, wore purple
and fine linen. But it said in torment he lifted
up his eyes in hell. And it said Lazarus, that poor
man, said he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
What was the difference? Well, the rich man was materially
blessed, Lazarus was spiritually blessed. He goes on to say, in your lifetime,
he says, son, remember in your lifetime you received your good
things, and Lazarus received his evil things, but now he's
comforted, and you're tormented. There was nothing for him at
that point. I pray we need him now. Christ died for sinners,
and he saves sinners. Look at verse 17 again. 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 can we know Jesus Christ? I said none of us know Him. None
of us can know Him on our own. How can we know Him? Here's the
only way. He must be revealed to us. Our
Lord called Peter blessed. He said, that's right, I'm the
Christ. But He said, Peter, flesh and
blood didn't reveal it to you. He said, My Father revealed it
to you. My Father which is in heaven. He must be revealed to us. I
want to show you something that our brother just read for us.
Turn back to John chapter 4. This is just a precious account
of a sinner whom God saved. This woman, we read that she
went out to get some water. She had her bucket, she went
out to get some water. And when she walked out to her well that
day, there was a man sitting on that well, weary of his journey.
You know why he was there? He emphasized it when he read
it. He must needs. Go through Samaria. Why? Because
he must be about his father's business. He must be saving his
people. He's going to meet them where they are, and he's going
to reveal themselves to them. Remember he told her, he said,
you go call your husband. Tell him, come here. She said,
I don't have a husband. He said, that's right. You don't.
You've had five, and the one you have now ain't your husband.
And she thought, well, my soul, who are you? And then she showed
her religious side. She had to get a little defensive
and say, well, I've got my religion. He said, woman, you don't know
what you worship. She said, oh, our father's worshiped
in this mound, and you say Jerusalem's the place where we ought to worship.
He said, you don't know what you worship. That's what I'm
talking about. We don't know who Jesus is until he reveals
himself to us. But look here in John 4 verse
25, The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which
is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell
us all things. Now look at this. Jesus saith
unto her, I that speak unto thee am. But he's in italics, it's
not necessary. I am. Who is Jesus the son of man?
Here's who he is. I am. I mentioned the men that
accused him of having a devil. Do you know what made them say
that? He told them before Abraham was, I am. That's what he told
them. Now look, look at the power of
I am being revealed. Verse 27. And upon this came
his disciples, and marveled that he talked with the woman. Yet
no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
The woman then left her waterpot." She forgot why she came. She
didn't even care why she came out there. She went there for physical water.
Forget it. I don't need it. Look at this.
She left her water pot, verse 28, and went her way into the
city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things
that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Well, what happened to her? God
saved her. Christ came to her. Did she come
to Him? Or did He come to her? Was she
just living her life rebelling in sin like we all do, like we
all, that's all we know how to do? Yes. And he came to her where
she was. He knew, he knows everything.
He's God. He knew at this time she's coming
out to get some water. He and his disciples had been
on a journey, so he was weary with his journey. Oh, what a
coincidence, he wound up at this well, Jacob's well. And then
this woman just happened to come out, and he happened to start
up a conversation with her. What do you know? She was saved.
Oh brethren, this was according to God's purpose. He had a lost
sheep there. And you know, I'll point this
out. We always mention her when we come to this text. But if
you read on down, these men that she goes out into the city talking
to, saying, come see this man, a bunch of them believe on him
too. Why did he must needs go through
Samaria? Because He had people there. He had sheep there. Who must hear and your soul live. Why? He saved her. And just like the Apostle Peter,
this woman, we don't even know her name. I love reading all
these accounts in the Scriptures where our Lord saves someone
and doesn't even tell us their name. You know why? Our name is insignificant. Not
to Him. No, not to Him at all. But we're all sinners in the
sight of God. And if we're going to be saved,
we're going to be one in Christ. There's one name, and that's
Jesus Christ. The only name whereby we're going
to be saved, isn't it? What's the name of God's people going
to be? The Lord of Righteousness. His name. Just like Peter, she's a blessed
woman. Notice, I didn't say she was
a blessed woman. She is a blessed woman. Forever and ever. Is not this the Christ? Absolutely
it is. And if He's been revealed to
us, likewise, we're blessed individuals. Now, again, on the contrary,
if we don't know Him, if we leave this place thinking, well, no,
I don't think so. I think He loves everyone, He
died for everyone, He wants me to be saved. You know, last time
we looked at this verse in 2 Peter, the Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but as longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. What do we see? He's talking
about the usward. He's not willing that any of
the usward, the elect whom Peter was writing to, should perish.
But He is willing that the usward should believe on Him. Come to
repentance. Acknowledge, yes, I am a sinner
like He taught that woman. And you're the Christ, the Savior
of sinners like me. Blessed. I pray He has or He
will reveal Himself to us. Nothing more important. Verse
18, back in our text. I'm sorry, let's go back to verse
16. 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, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. Verse 18. And I say also unto
thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church. I'm glad this verse is located
where it is, because we were just told who the rock is. Christ. Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. It's honestly no surprise, but
it is sad nonetheless, that the Catholics take that verse and
the following verse to say that Peter was the first pope. That's a thing, a man-made thing. They do that, erring, not knowing
the scriptures. We're going to look at this,
but Christ is the rock. Peter wasn't the rock upon which God would
build his church. Now, God would use Peter, no doubt. He saved
Peter. He made Peter a disciple, an
apostle. He was going to use him to build his church. But
Peter wasn't the rock upon which God would build his church. Peter
was a sinner like you and me. Peter was a fisherman. Before God saved him, he was
just living his life, sinning like the rest of us. Out there
fishing on a boat with his brother, till the Lord came to him and
saved him like the Lord always does. He comes at last. What
happened with Peter and his brother? The Lord came to them, and he
said, follow me, and immediately they up and left everything and
they followed him. And that's how it works. Peter was just
a sinner saved by the free sovereign grace of God. And the rock was whom Peter declared,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Turn over
with me to 1 Peter 2. I want to look at a few verses
here. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2 verse 2. First Peter 2.2 says, as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow
thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious to
whom coming, he's talking about Christ, as unto a living stone,
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
rock, the living stone. He's disallowed indeed of men.
We didn't want him. We said away with this man, crucify
him. We don't want him. But what about inside of God?
He said he was chosen of God. Precious. We didn't want him. That's all of us. Again, everybody,
I love Jesus. We didn't want him. That's the
Jesus of our imagination that we can hold and carry and do
whatever we want with. The Jesus of the Scriptures,
the Jesus that's on His throne and does whatsoever He's pleased,
has mercy on whom will have mercy, gracious to whom will be gracious.
We didn't want anything to do with Him. And we don't want anything
to do with Him until He reveals Himself to us by the power and
Spirit of God. Isaiah 42, we read, Behold my servant, whom
I uphold, mine elect. This is God the Father speaking.
in whom my soul delighteth." There's only one in whom God's
soul delighteth. It means continually. That's
Christ. Look at verse 5. 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. Only way we're going to be accepted
is by Jesus Christ. Verse 6, Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, this is Isaiah 28, 16, Behold, 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's precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
or unbelieving, The stone which the builders disallowed, the
same is made the head of the corner." That's Christ. Whether
we believe on Him or not, He is the head of the corner. Alright? Look at verse 8, "...and a stone
of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at
the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." Now,
if we stumble when Christ is preached, if we refuse to believe
on Him, we're stumbling on that stumbling stone. Now it says,
whereunto also they were appointed. God doesn't elect men to hell,
but God will let men have what they want sometimes. And if we
don't want Him and we perish without Him, then we will perish
without Him. It's not going to be God's fault,
it's going to be my fault because I didn't want anything to do with Him.
Peter told those men who, when Peter preached that message,
This is that same man you crucified, Jesus. God made him Lord in Christ.
He was preaching to people who were actually there who crucified
him. Like I said, the scribes and the Pharisees, the Sadducees,
the men that hated him, wanted nothing to do with him. They
were the religious leaders, and yet they're the very ones that
crucified him. On multiple accounts, we read
that when our Lord raised Lazarus from the dead, the other Lazarus,
these religious men, they took counsel together how they might
put him to death. The chief priests, the elders read about it in the
accounts where our Lord was being led to the cross. That's who
crucified Him. And yet God has been pleased
to save those very people. Oh, amazing. You know, the worst
thing that could happen to us is for God to let us have our
way. Let us have what we want and die having what we want.
The best thing that could happen to us is for God to stop us dead
in our tracks for Him to come where we are, to say, nope, you're
mine. I'm not willing that you should
perish. Plucked us as a brand from the burning. It's the best
thing that God could ever do for us, is not let us have what
we want, and in fact, give us what we need. You know, as a
kid, and as we grow up, we just want so many things, don't we?
I don't think I'm a kid anymore, not quite. Have a kid of my own. But there comes a time where
we realize what's important. I've got to get up and go to
work. We've got to wash the dishes. We've got to sweep the floor.
We've got to go buy groceries. We've got to cook those groceries.
Or else we're not going to live. We've got to eat. We've got to drink. We've got
to breathe. We've got to do these. When you're
sick, you go to the doctor. The Lord's given us these things.
Brethren, there's one thing we need. That's Christ. unto you therefore which believe."
He's precious. And we're not going to be confounded
having believed on Him. We're not going to be ashamed.
We're not going to be disappointed in the day of judgment with Christ
being all our hope. It's not going to happen because
Christ is all. He's all to the Father. He's
all to His people. Praise the Lord. He was all to
Peter. He was precious to Peter. Pray, He's precious to us. He's
the rock. Another song we sing, the church
is one foundation. That's Christ. That's Christ. Look back in our text. Verse 18, I say also unto thee
that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. God has a church. His church
is His people. Right there in 1 Peter 2 where
we were, verse 9 goes on to say, but you're a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should
show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light. He said in time past you weren't
a people, but now you're a people. You hadn't obtained mercy, but
now you have. His people is His elect. In Ephesians
chapter 1 we read, He chose a people in Christ from the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. He predestinated us, chose us
to be saved to the praise of the glory of His grace in Christ. He did that. He calls us out
of darkness into His marvelous light. He must do it. He reveals
Christ to us and in us. We can't do it. And if God doesn't
do it, we're not going to be saved. Pray, Lord, reveal Yourself
to me. I need Him to reveal Himself
to me right now, because my wicked flesh isn't going to believe
this unless He makes me believe it. He said, Thy people shall
be willing in the day of Thy power. When Thou said, Seek my
face, my heart cried unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek?
When He calls, we follow Him. His grace is irresistible. His
call is effectual. God has His way. Well, you need
to believe on Him. That's right, we do need to believe
on Him. But you know what our Lord said in John chapter 6?
Some men were wanting to work the works of God. What can we
do to work the works of God? Work our way to heaven. He said,
this is the work of God. It's this right here. That you
believe on Him whom God has sent. It's God's work that we believe
on Him. We're commanded to believe on
Him. And if he that believeth not, the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him. And yet, at the same
time, it's the work of God that we believe on Him. And God's
people will believe on Him. He said, I will build my church.
I will build my church. We don't build the church. I can't build myself. All I can
do is sin. I need Christ to be my rock upon
which God builds His church. I mentioned Peter, a sinner saved
by God's grace whom God used to build His church. I mentioned
he used two messages to save 8,000 people. That's a lot of
people. But you know, the saints in glory
is a number no man can number. I love thinking about that because
I'm a numbers guy and I deal with numbers. And to think about
a number no man can number, that includes me. There's going to be a great multitude
in glory. There is right now. We're seated in the heavens with
Him right now. Right now. Verse 18, one more time. 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. What's that mean? It means everyone
God loves is going to be saved. Everyone for whom Christ died
shall be saved. He has redeemed us. He hath saved
us. He hath called us. Had nothing
to do with our work, but His own purpose and grace in Christ
before the world began. We're secure in Him. We did nothing
to save ourselves, and praise God, we can do nothing to unsave
ourselves. We don't keep ourselves. I want
to mention this in closing, something about our brother Peter. Peter
warned us that the gates of hell are going to try. Right here
it says, "...the gates of hell shall not prevail." They're going
to try. Here's what Peter said in 1 Peter 5. He said, "...our
adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour." You know Peter knew that because he experienced
that. Right down here in verse 23 of our text, our Lord had
been telling His disciples, right after this, how that He must
suffer and die and on the third day rise again. And Peter didn't
like that and he rebuked the Lord. It's not a smart thing
to do. The Lord called him Satan. Look
at it, verse 23. He turned and said to Peter,
Get thee behind me, Satan. In another account, our Lord told Peter, He said,
Peter, Satan hath desire to have you. He wants you, that he may
sift you like wheat. Now, if Peter were the rock,
and not just Peter, If we're responsible for our own salvation,
if our hope of being saved has anything to do with us, Satan
would have us. He's a lot stronger than you
and me. You know, people like to boast about, well, Satan's
not welcome in my house. He's probably there. He's a lot stronger than me.
Calls him a roaring lion. I'm a weak, feeble little sheep. Praise God, Peter wasn't his
own rock. I pray we're not our own rock.
Here's Peter's hope. Christ said, Satan wants you,
Peter. He said, but I prayed for you. I prayed for you, Peter, that
your faith fail not. What's your hope? Oh, it's in
him. It's not in me. It's no wonder Peter said this
in his first epistle also. We're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time. Christ was Peter's hope. I pray He's our hope, too. Because
upon this rock, Jesus the Son of Man, 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. Salvation's on the Lord.
Amen. May God bless His Word to our
hearts.