Turn with me back to Matthew's
Gospel, chapter 16. Several years ago, Pat called
me and asked about having a page on Facebook for Fairmont Grace
Church. And I said, sure, sure. And she asked me would I write
just a mission statement, so to speak, for that page. And I said, it would be an honor
to. It's very brief. I want to share it with you if
you've never seen it. But this is what I wrote. As
is stated on the front of our bulletin, that bulletin you have
in your hand, we preach Christ crucified. We believe to preach
the gospel is to preach Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. We meet together to worship him,
that name which is above every name. Now does that not put a
premium on why we come here? Could anything be more important
in your life than that? If it is, I feel sorry for you.
We meet together to worship in that name which is above every
name and to be instructed and edified by the preaching of the
glorious gospel of the blessed God. That's what Paul called
it in Romans 1. That gospel that concerns God's
Son. Again, I ask you, could anything
be more glorious, more important for believers as pilgrims making
their way through this world? We believe the proclamation of
the gospel is the only means God has ordained for the salvation
of sinners. It is the desire and hope of
this pastor that each time we meet to worship our Redeemer,
our heartfelt prayer will be He must increase, but we must
decrease. Pray that now, would you? May
God make that so today. Those words were the words of
John the Baptist. When the crowds gather around
him and said, are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah? John said,
no. He's coming after me. He must increase, but I must
decrease. I was going to share this article,
just a brief portion of it, by Augustus Toplady a few weeks
ago in the message I brought. I don't think I did. Nevertheless,
listen to this. Mr. Toplady wrote, Notwithstanding,
God's purpose is steadfast as his throne. Notwithstanding,
the whole of Christ's righteousness and redemption is finished and
complete. as a divine and almighty God
can make it. Notwithstanding, I am convinced
that God will always be faithful to every soul whom he has called
out of darkness into his marvelous light. And notwithstanding, none
can pluck the people of Christ from his hands. Still, still,
I am no less satisfied that it must be the filling sense of
all this, that is, a perception wrought in our hearts by the
Holy Ghost that will give you and I the comfort of the Father's
gracious decrees and of the Messiah's finished work. Again, let's pray
that God would allow that this day, that he would do that. Mr. Toplady went on to say, for if
we do not in some degree feel ourselves sinners, and feel that
Christ is precious, I doubt the Spirit of God has ever been savingly
at work upon our souls. May God be pleased, I say again,
to grant to us this day that filling sense that top lady spoke
of, and that's scriptural by the way, and that the heart perception
of His grace in Christ to us and in us. Oh, give us a fresh,
fresh awareness and a corresponding appreciation, my soul, he saved
me. He saved me. What a wonder, what
a wonder. Here in Matthew chapter 16, our
text shall be primarily verse 16, Matthew 16 and 16. The title
of my message is Peter's Confession of Faith. That's also the first
point of the message. Peter's confession of faith.
And second, a question. Is it mine too? Is it mine too? Is what Peter confessed my confession
as well? And the third is this, from verse
17, the blessing that Christ pronounced on Peter's confession. What marvelous, wonderful words. First, Peter's confession of
faith. As I was studying this, preparing to bring a message
to you, and I'm convinced this is the message God gave me, I
thought about a few years ago when a lady, I think she told
me she lived in Childersburg, I've never met her, but she sent
me an email and asked, what does your church believe? What do
you believe? And I emailed her back and said,
the Bible. the Word of God. She emailed
me back and said, well that's good, that's well and good, but
can you tell me just exactly what you believe? What is your
confession of faith? She wanted a statement like the
Philadelphia confession of faith or the Baptist confession of
faith. I don't think I did it at the time. If I had it to do
over, I would have emailed her back and told her exactly what
Peter said. We believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the son of the living God, period. And answered no
more of her questions. If that didn't suffice, if that
wasn't enough, and I guess it wouldn't have been because I've
not met her yet. She's not showed up yet. She
said she was thinking about coming. I guess she's still thinking
about it. It's been about four years. But in Matthew chapter
17, Remember when our Lord took Peter and James and John and
went up to the Mount of Transfiguration. And Peter got drowsy. He got
drowsy. He fell asleep. And he wakes
up and he looks and he sees the Lord Jesus Christ and Elijah
and Moses. And he didn't know what to say.
He got caught sleeping in class, so to speak. And you try to pretend
you really weren't. I've been there and did that.
But Peter just blurted it out. Lord, Lord, Lord, it's good.
It's good. He was embarrassed. It's good that we're here. Let's
make three tabernacles. One for you, and one for Moses,
and one for Elijah. About that time, God spoke and
said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, verse
5. Hear ye him. Not Moses, not Elijah. Moses gave the law, but grace
and truth comes by Jesus Christ. Hear ye him. Elijah was a great
prophet, but all the prophets talked about he that would come,
Jesus Christ. God says, Peter, I tell you again,
hear ye him. And you remember Peter wrote
in his very first epistle, In chapter 3, verse 15, he told
believers, be ready always. Always be ready. And it shouldn't
be a problem for a believer, but he said, be ready always
to every man that should ask you a reason of the hope that's
in you. And he answered that question
here in our text, in this confession of faith. Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Peter's confession is really
remarkable. It is. The more I thought about
it, the more I prepared, the more I studied, I thought, man,
what a confession. What a confession. This confession
put Peter at odds with the rest of the world. Did you know that?
This wasn't just some flippant. Peter didn't say, I made a decision
with Jesus and just went on my merry way. No, no, no, no. He didn't say, I taught it to
a so-called author and said the sinner's prayer. No, no, no,
no. That's not worth remembering.
No, Peter, his confession was, you're the Christ. You're the
son of the living God. And that confession, the truth
of what Peter said, put him at odds with everybody else in his
day. Every unbeliever. Because there were few with Christ. Very few. Christ said, he that
is not with me, believes that I'm the Christ, the son of the
living God, there's no neutral ground here. There's no neutral
ground. No, no, no. If you're not with
me, then you're against me. If you're not bound to me, you're
a rebel. There's no neutral ground there.
You're either with Christ or you're against Christ. There's
no two ways about it. That's exactly what he said.
The majority, when Peter spoke these words, were against Jesus
Christ. when the rulers of his own nation
in Israel, and all the religious authorities in his day, the scribes,
the Pharisees, the Sadducees, man, they were the who's who
in the religious world. The priest, the high priest even,
just about all the people, they opposed Jesus of Nazareth. They hated And finally they said,
crucify him. There's no place for him in our
religion. He just doesn't fit in. Do away
with him. Kill him. But Peter confessed to him. You see why I say that's a remarkable
statement? Peter confessed knowing that
he was swimming against the tide, he yet confessed, you're the
Christ, the Son of the living God, let others say what they
will, I know better, Peter said. Many would gladly, as we read
in verse 15, they would acknowledge Jesus to be a prophet, even a
great prophet, even a resurrected prophet, but not the Son of God. Oh no. The leader said on another
occasion, you being a man make yourself God. As John taught
here one Sunday morning, no, he being God made himself man,
that's to wonder. Peter was at odds and I emphasize
that because I'm telling you right now nothing has changed.
Nothing has changed. It's still so today. People will
accept Jesus, the healer of all my problems, Whether they be
issues with my health, financial problems, relationship problems,
Jesus is my problem solver. He's my fire escape out of hell. He's my doormat to heaven. We see that everywhere. Everywhere. You'd have to live in a cave.
We're confronted with it every day. especially today or what
evidence it is every everyday but especially today Easter Easter
what a prime example of what I'm saying my soul what extravaganzas
goes on today Easter egg hunts and bunnies and skits and plays
and blah blah blah what in the world does that have to do with
the risen Savior nothing nothing what pop What religious entertainment,
what evidence of that which John saw in Revelation chapter 17. We'll not turn there. But in
Revelation 17, the elder showed John this woman sitting on a
horse. Man, she was decked out. I mean,
she was something. Man, she was dressed in scarlet,
had her ring on everything, crown on her head. And John saw her,
and we read there what a startling statement. John said he wondered
with great admiration. Wow! Are you kidding me, John? You? And the angel told John,
don't you know who that is? That's a whore! That's a whore. That's what the scripture says.
She's a whore. She's a picture of man-made religion. John, don't marvel at her. God's
gonna destroy her. That's what religion is. That's
what man-made religion is. It's just a lot of pomp. It appeals
to the eye. It appeals to the natural man.
Any religion that appeals to the natural man, that the lost
man finds appealing, my soul, that in itself tells me it's
got to be wrong. It's got to be wrong. If a rebel
against God accepts it, it's got to be wrong. What more proof
do you need? John, why do you marvel, the
angel said. Why do you marvel? You look at
that dressed up harlot, with the blood of God's saints on
her hands, and you marvel? Another example of this, and
I'll tell you what, you don't have to go far. It's not just
Easter, so to call, every Lord's Day, every day, example after
example. You saw this just about a week
ago, less than a week ago, on the news about that fire In Paris,
France, the Cathedral of Notre Dame. I say dang, but I think
the broadcaster said it's the Cathedral of Notre Dame. It caught fire. Caught fire. That thing was hundreds of years
old. Lester, I think you said you saw that, you and Bobby,
one time. Man, it took hundreds of years to build. Big Catholic
money. Extravaganza. And the announcer
said, but, but, a lot was lost. I heard just yesterday, I think,
they done raised a billion dollars. A billion dollars. People are
protesting in the streets saying, man, we're starving. Why don't
you give us that billion? And they said, that still might
not be enough to restore that place. But the announcer said,
oh, and he was just gushing. The news broadcaster said, but
they saved that glorious, these are his words, they saved that
glorious stained glass. Well, how do you do? Stained
glass. And then in the same broadcast,
the fella said, they saved some holy relics. You know what one
was? I'd never heard this before.
They claimed they had the crown of thorns that Jesus Christ wore. Hello. I'd like to know how they got
that. Oh, I'm sure there's some history of hodgepodge like the
Catholic Church is famous for. The crown of thorns. And the
world says, wow, wow. Oh, isn't that holy? Isn't that
something? They hate God in their heart,
but they say, mm, how about that? The crown of thorns. When I was
in the waiting area of the hospital just a little over a week ago,
Tuesday before last, while Robin was in surgery for three hours,
I picked up a little booklet. It was called Portals of Prayer. You know those things folks lay
around. Portals of Prayer. And I opened
it up. It was a Lutheran publication.
And it said A mealtime prayer. This is word for word what it
said. The children and members of the
household shall go to the table reverently, make the sign of
the cross, fold their hands, and say, they had a prescribed
prayer. Look religious. Look religious. Look holy. and say, it doesn't
matter what the prayer was. It's just a show. It's just a
show. That's all it is. The Christ
that millions profess to worship today is less than what they
said he was in verse 14. Most religious folks, most professing
Christians won't go as far as what they said and call him a
great prophet. No. But if he's not the Christ,
that Peter spoke of, that Peter confessed, if he's not the Christ,
the Son of the living God, any other is a false Christ. Give
him the name if you like, but he's a false Christ. And that's
exactly what the Lord said in this same Gospel of Matthew.
They left the temple one day for the last time, right before
our Lord went to Calvary. For the last time in Matthew
24, they leave the temple, and the disciples said, Lord, you
noticed all these beautiful stones, this building? You didn't overlook
this, did you? They were proud of it. All Jews
were. And the Lord said, I'm telling
you what, the day's coming, there won't be one stone left upon
another that won't be torn down. and he went out to the Mount
of Olives and sat there. And his disciples, of course,
went, and they said, Master, Master, when will these things
be? And what will be the sign of
your coming in the end of the world? Three questions, and our
Lord answered all three in his discourse. But the very first
thing he said, take heed that you don't be deceived. That's
the very first thing. because many false Christs will
arise and deceive many. And he repeated that over and
over throughout his discourse. Be careful, be on your guard,
because a great horror will arise all decked out and people are
going to stand and marvel. Be deceived by her, he said,
even the elect. If it wasn't for me shortening
the days, we'd be deceived. But he won't allow that. He won't
allow that. Let me give you another example,
and we'll move on. Examples of this other Jesus
are easy to find. I mean, we're bombarded with
it every day. I looked at my phone the other
evening, and there's an app there for the news. They'll just give
you the headline. I just glanced at it, several
stories. But this one caught my attention.
I opened it and read it. The headline was this. This was
a quote. That's not my Jesus. Anybody
else see that? It's on the news. That's not
my Jesus. That was the response of a spokesman
for a group of people at a so-called Christian university in Indiana. where Vice President Pence is
supposed to give the commencement address in a few days. They're
protesting. They don't want him to come.
Teachers, faculty, students, there's thousands of them, has
signed this petition. We don't want him here. He doesn't
represent us. We don't like his stance against
the gays. So we don't want him coming.
This is who we want. They said, give us, he was the
mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He's running for president now,
Pete, somebody. We would rather have him. He
better represents our views. He has a husband. He has a husband. He's gay. He's gay. I heard this
man himself say, this Pete, I can't pronounce his last name, running
for Vice President. And I understand that he's getting
more and more popular. He's the poster boy for the Democratic
nomination for the President of the United States. And this
is what he said to Mike Pence, the Vice President. He said,
you don't have a problem with me, These are his words. You've got a problem with my
creator. God made me this way. Live with it, he said. I will tell you what. If that's
true, this book is a lie. If that man's telling the truth,
God's lying. Because God says that's not true. God did not make that man that
way. In Romans chapter 1, it plainly
states that. They changed the glory of God
into a lie, into a lie. And we're told God gave them
up, not unjustly, not unjustly. God said, they want to be left
alone? I'll leave them alone. James
chapter 1, verses 13 through 15, let no man say, when he's
tempted, that he's tempted of God. God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempteth he any man. But a man is tempted when
he's drawn away of his own lust, and when lust hath conceived,
it bring forth sin. It's not God's fault. That's
exactly what Adam did, didn't he? In Genesis chapter 3, when
Adam disobeyed God and fell, fell. fell from God. He fell from the arms of God
into the arms of Satan. And God came. Adam, what have
you done? You remember what Adam did? He
said, God, it's your fault. It's not my fault. I couldn't
help it. The woman you gave me, if you hadn't have given her
to me, this would have never happened. Brothers and sisters
in Christ, I think we should aim to please God rather than
men, don't you? God's honor is more important
than man's. I've got two neighbors that are
lesbians. Don't misunderstand me. I hope that you don't. I
wouldn't mistreat them. I wouldn't be mean to them. I'm kind. I'm courteous. Not long ago,
it was obvious that their lawnmower had broken down. I cut the grass.
I was cutting mine, so I went over and cut theirs. But God
forbid, and God does forbid, that I should give them any indication
about anything I say or do that I approve of their perverted
lifestyle. If I did, that would be a denial
of my God. And I'm more concerned about
His honor than theirs. Let God be true in every man
a liar. Peter's confession. of faith. This is why I always come back
to it. And I didn't digress. No. I said that Peter's confession
put him at odds with the religious world. And your confession of
Jesus Christ put you at odds with this religious world. A son, God says, a son honoreth
his father and a servant his master. If I then be a father,
where is my honor? We're concerned about hurting
someone's feelings than honoring God. And if I be a master, where
is my fear? Sayeth the Lord of hosts unto
you, O priest that despised my name, and you say, where have
we despised you? God says, you offer polluted
bread upon my altar and say, where have we polluted thee?
In that you say the table of the Lord is contemptible, just
contemptible, it doesn't mean anything. It's not important. I don't know everything that
Peter knew or didn't know, but he knew who Jesus Christ was,
didn't he? And he confessed him. That is
why I always come back to this, knowing God. genuine faith. Because as John brought in his
message a couple months ago from 1st John 5 and 12, he that hath
the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. Because I read that God has appointed
a day in which he shall judge the world in absolute righteousness.
Huh? Absolute righteousness. And your pastor, this preacher,
is going to give an account of what he's preached. It's what the book says. I'm
going to stand before God, and so are you. I'll give an account. God give me grace. to be able
to say with Paul, I've not withheld anything from you. I've preached
the whole counsel of God. Therefore, my blood, your blood
is upon your own heads. It's not on mine. Preach, behold
the Lamb of God. Preach, sinner. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Don't trust a false
profession. Don't trust a decision. Peter,
flesh and blood didn't do this for you. My Father which is in
heaven, faith is a miracle. This is what I'm saying. Salvations
of the Lord. Look to Him. He's mighty to save. And He delights to show mercy. You remember when Simeon, that
old man in Jerusalem, was led by the Spirit of God into the
temple of God? And it just so happened, no,
at that very moment, God in his purpose of grace had brought
Mary and Joseph with the baby to the temple to do as the matter
of the law commanded. The same time Simeon comes in
and God whispers to him, reveals to him just like he did Peter
and he said, That's the Christ. Can you just picture that? And
Simeon took him up in his arms and said, Lord, let me die. Let me die. Let me just leave
this world because I've seen your salvation. I've seen your
salvation. That's a picture of faith. It's
not that we embrace five points, we embrace the Savior. The quote
in our bulletin of Don's, doesn't matter whether you're Armenian
or Calvinist, if you don't know Christ, what difference does
it make? I've seen thy salvation. Is Peter's confession mine? That
which Jesus Christ told Peter was the cause, the reason of
his happiness, his blessedness, his everlasting blessing that
would bring Peter to glory was the revelation of Jesus Christ
himself. I know him. I know him. I know that he's the Christ,
the son of the living God. Either I do or I don't. There's no in-between. There's
no halfway house. And what a wonderful blessing
it is. That faith by which a sinner beholds the Lamb of God and is
saved is a miracle of God's amazing grace. It's the gift of God,
not of works, Ephesians 2, lest any man should boast. Oh, the
wonder of that. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah.
Imagine that Simon, son of Jonah. A poor fisherman. Jesus Christ
passed by the mighty and the noble and the elite religious
and revealed himself to a fisherman. My, so what a blessed wonder. I'll tell you something to this
sinner that's even a greater wonder than that. Let me ask you to illustrate
my point. Many of you ever heard of James
Chris? No. That's my father. That was
my father. Not known for anything. Not by
the world. A coal miner. Coal miner. Back
in the mountains of West Virginia, he was a coal miner. Larry Chris, son of James Chris. Jesus Christ revealed himself
to me. My soul would marvel. I'm a child
of the King. However, living faith in that God Almighty
gives is not in a doctrinal point. but in the Lamb of God. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and I shall be saved. In the gospel,
we don't exhort men to come to doctrine. Christ said, come to
me. Come to me and I will give you
rest. Last of all, Christ's blessing
on Peter's confession. Verse 17. We'll wrap this up.
Verse 17 of Matthew 16. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
is not revealed unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. The reason for such blessedness
is not because you're healthy or God wants you wealthy or famous. Excuse me, Mr. Osteen, that's
not the Christ of God. You're blessed because God has
revealed to you, Peter, who I am. What's that worth? How valuable
is that? How precious is that? Let's ask
one sinner, just one sinner. How precious was that? Faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. This man's hanging on a cross.
This dying, guilty thief. And he looks over, and says,
Lord, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Can
you imagine him asking for anything else? Lord, I'd like to be healthy
and wealthy. Man, he's going to stand before
God in a few minutes. Oh, Lord, remember me. He begged
not for money, but for mercy. And to God be the glory. He got
it. The Lord Jesus Christ did for
him more than he ever imagined. Listen, Jesus said unto him,
Verily I say unto you, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Can you imagine, can you imagine
what those words must have sounded like to that dying sinner? How
do they sound to you? I bet If he was called upon to
sing a hymn, he wouldn't do it half asleep, half hearted. He wouldn't just go through the
motions. Can you imagine him singing, there is a fountain
filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners
plunge beneath that blood, lose all their guilty stains. When
this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave,
O, then in a nobler, sweeter song I'll sing his power to save. Oh, how about this? The day you shall be with me
in paradise, that poor, guilty, dying thief, oh, would he not
shout? Down at the cross where my Savior
died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my
heart was the blood applied, Glory, glory to His name. The Lord Jesus Christ said, The
hour is coming, and now is, When the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, And they that hear shall live. Have you heard? Have you seen the Lamb of God? Is Peter's confession your confession? With all the religious commotion,
all the distractions, all the glitter in religion that they
claim is supposed to draw people to Christ, it does the exact
opposite. It keeps them from Christ. Amongst
all that, if you can say and answer the question, who do men
say that I am? Who am I to you? You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God. Then hear the words of Jesus. Thou art a blessed man. Blessed art thou. Take out Simon's
name, child of God, and put in your own. Blessed art thou. Blessed blood has not revealed
this unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. Amen. Amen. Lord bless you.