I'd like to ask you this morning
to turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 16. The Gospel
according to Matthew chapter 16. Many times in many messages I
have referred to this passage of scripture. Why? because it's the very foundation
of the gospel. Beginning in verse 13, it says,
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 thou
art John the Baptist, some Elijah Elias. And others, Jeremiah,
are one of the prophets. Now friends, who you confess
and believe Christ to be is absolutely a matter of life and death. Was he just a good man that did
some good things? That's what many people think.
Was he just a prophet? And I don't mean to belittle
that office by saying just a prophet. Prophets, though, were merely
men who were greatly used of God. But men, nonetheless. Christ was much more than a prophet.
Like John the Baptist, was he just another crying in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way? Or was he the one who was the
way? the truth and the life. That's the question of all questions. Who do men say that I am? How
you answer this question in your heart distinguishes you as unbelievers
or disciples. For first he asked the question,
he said, who do men say that I am? And then he looked at those
whom he loved and he said, who do you? say that I am. So how you answer this determines,
distinguishes, which of those two categories you fall in. Now, our Lord Himself had said
concerning John the Baptist, He said, Among them that are
born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the
Baptist. But to say that he was John the
Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets, was in
his case to speak low of him. And though he himself was born
of a woman, the one who stands before them asking this question
is God. The Lord, He is God. We just
read that in Psalm 100. And He's the one who formed John
the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah in their mother's womb. All things
were made and created by Him. If you see Christ no more than
just a prophet, regardless of how great a prophet you may consider
Him to be, then you have not seen Him in the fullness of His
glory, and you've not seen Him as the Savior of your soul. This blindness, darkness, and
lack of knowledge and understanding will only bring judgment and
condemnation at the end of your days. The answers that were given
to the disciples clearly show that men and women's natural,
carnal, and worldly knowledge of Christ reveals their condition. They're lost. Ruined. and undone. And asking this question
concerning himself, our Lord, as I said, made a distinction
between two classes of people, named men and disciples. He inquired,
Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And these men formed
their opinion and their judgment of Christ according to flesh
and blood. They answered with nothing more
than carnal reasoning. And more than likely, they said,
Perhaps he's John the Baptist. Perhaps he's Elijah. Perhaps
he's Jeremiah. Perhaps he's one of the prophets
reincarnated. They answered upon natural and
not spiritual ground. They discerned nothing of spiritual
things. Their judgment was that of flesh
and blood. What conclusion did they arrive
at while guided by flesh and blood? The wrong one. The wrong
conclusion. You see, the natural man receiveth
not the things of God, we're told in 1 Corinthians 2.14. They're
foolishness unto him. Foolishness. Neither can he know
them because they're spiritually discerned. Spiritually discerned. That's why it takes a divine
revelation from God before a man or a woman will ever see it.
The difference between the lost and the saved, believers and
unbelievers, is divine revelation given by God alone. In other
words, what do you mean by that? I mean that God makes the difference. That's not hard, is it? God makes
the difference. You don't make the difference.
Don't ever think you make the difference. God makes the difference.
And when God reveals Christ to a man and a woman, there is no
uncertainty when asked who He is. They'll tell you straight
up, He's Christ, the Son of the Living God. God revealed it to
them. Now we can clearly see in the
next three verses the distinguishing grace and revelation that only
God can give. The Bible is just so plain and
so clear on how it was accomplished without any participation whatsoever
by the sinner. All who perish will perish due
to lack of interest or complete rebellion. Verse 15, He saith
unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And I'm sure you've had
people say to you when wanting to know something about you,
can I ask you a personal question? Have you heard anybody ask you
that? Can I ask you a personal question? Who do you say that
Christ is? Who do you say that He is? It
doesn't get any more personal than that. You don't have to
answer. God already knows what your answer
is. It doesn't matter if I know it
or not. And have you answered that urgent question in your
own heart? Has God shown you? Have you come
to the conclusion? The same conclusion that Peter
did, as we'll see in a moment. This was a life and death question
from our Lord. And friends, it still is today. It still is today. And you will
never even see that. That it's a matter of life and
death unless God reveals it to you. How many years did I wander
in the wilderness of this life, didn't care, had no interest,
none. Living for myself, living to
be happy and content, never gave God a second thought. But God,
one day in mercy and grace said, rest that man, resting. bring him before my throne of
judgment. And he said, how do you plead?
And when you stand before God, almighty friends, you're going
to plead correctly. Guilty. And then a preacher told
me about my advocate. As I walked in the Sunday school
room, I heard Desta teaching the young ones about a mediator. That's who I'm talking about.
I'm talking about a mediator. One mediator who stands between
sinful man and a thrice holy God. And He is our salvation. Hold your place and turn over
to Matthew chapter 22. Just a few pages. Let's begin looking at verse
35. Verse 35. Then one of them That certainly means that this
man was a part of the group of the Pharisees because it goes
on to tell us which was a lawyer asked him a question tempting
him. And saying, Master, which is
the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with
all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is likened to
it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. And on these two commandments,
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
On those two hang all the law. I heard someone say not long
ago that it was their goal this year to try to keep all ten of
the commandments. Good luck. I believed in luck. I'd say good luck. You can't
keep two. You can't keep two. I can't keep
to, I can't love God with all my heart, soul, spirit, mind,
unless it's in Christ. And I can't love you as I love
myself. You know why? Because I love
myself way too much. Wrote a little poem one time,
I love myself, I am so grand, when I'm with me I hold my hand. That's about truth, isn't it? The whole of God's moral law
is condensed into one thing. Love! Love! Love for God and love for one
another. And notice what's going on even
while the words are leaving the lips of the Savior. Verse 41. I don't think I'm taking this
out of context, but while the Pharisees were gathered together,
Jesus asked them, and I know that that could mean while they
were all in one place, but I can just picture this in my mind.
The whole time that our Lord is answering the question of
this tempting lawyer, the Pharisees, who I'm sure planted Him in the
crowd to tempt Him, I know they did. They were all huddled together. I can just see them huddled together,
can't you? And they're listening with judgmental ears to His answer. And with piercing eyes of authority
and power, our Lord looks them directly in their eyes and He
asks them in verse 42, What think ye of Christ? What do you think
of Christ? Whose son is he? In other words,
who do you say that I am? Same thing. Who do you say that
I am? Now let me say, I don't believe
for a minute that the Pharisee believed that Jesus was the Christ.
Their discernment could not and did not see past their pride.
Nothing good comes out of Nazareth was their thinking. We know Mary
and Joseph, his parents, and we've seen him in the carpenter's
shop. May we not be too hard on them because I'm afraid we'd
have done the same thing. But I'm not taking up for their
ignorance. He was the Christ and their answer would also reveal
their hearts and seal their predetermined fate as it did those in chapter
16. And then they gave this answer in verse 42. They say unto him, He's the son
of David. He's the son of David. Now here's
an instance where their answer was right, but it was completely
wrong. After the flesh, Christ came
through the lineage of David. So in that sense, they were right.
But to know Him as of the correct lineage will not produce for
you eternal redemption, my friends. To know that He's the son of
David will not save your soul. to trust in him as David's son
would do you no good. Considering him to be a great
prophet, even though he was, God must reveal to you more than
that concerning him." Whose son is he? That's the question. Was
he David's son or was he God's son? The religious, jealous,
contemptuous Pharisees said he is the son of David. And they
saw Him no more than that. And they didn't even confess
that Jesus was Him. They just, speaking of the Christ,
we believe Christ is the Son of David, not Jesus Himself.
And then our Lord does something amazing. You know what He does?
He preaches the Gospel to them. He does. Time and time again,
our gracious Lord gave even the Pharisees opportunity for repentance. This is God, merciful, long-suffering. He saith unto them, How then
doth David in spirit call him Lord? Saying, The Lord said unto
my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. He must be the Christ. He must
be the Son of David according to the flesh, but the Son of
God according to the spirit. And that's what you must see.
Who do men say that I am? What? John the Baptist? Wrong! Elijah? No. Jeremiah? I don't think so. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Living God. If Christ is a mere man, and
only the Son of David according to the flesh, If He doesn't have
any other or higher origin of birth than from Him, how does
David, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God in his writing
in the book of Psalms, call Him Lord? This is the point our Lord
is trying to make to these self-righteous Pharisees. Does this not make
Christ to be more than just His Son? Does this not make Christ
to be one greater than David? One superior in every way? And
look what happens in verse 46. And no man was able to answer
him a word, and neither durst any man from that day forth ask
him any more questions. The word of God will shut men's
mouth. And they'll shut us up to one
thing. The mercy and grace of God Almighty
are to expose our rebellion and wickedness and we'll perish.
But it'll shut your mouth. If you truly hear it and truly
see it. It's men's determined rebellion
and enmity of mind and heart that keeps them from believing
who He really is. Now back in chapter 16, Verse 16, we see the answer of
a sinner who has been truly taught of God. Have you been taught
of God? If so, Peter's answer will be
your answer. And Simon Peter, verse 16, answered
and said, Thou art the Christ. Who do you say that I am? Peter
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Whose son is he, Peter? What
think ye of Christ? I can almost hear Peter, can't
you? But we know from Scripture that he wasn't a bit bashful.
No, I don't think for a minute, and this is just my opinion,
that he made this profession with a calm, quiet voice. The
heart of Christ, the Son of the Living God. No, I believe he
stood up in front of his brethren, And he had heard the answers
that men had given to this question. And he'd been shown and taught
from God on high who this man was. And he had walked with him
and he'd seen things with his own eyes that confirmed all that
God taught him in his heart. And I believe he stood up in
the midst of his brethren and he said with a loud voice of
certainty, Thou art the Christ! You're the Christ! You're the
Son of the Living God. You're not just the Son of David.
After the flesh, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And
again, I ask you here today, I ask you in all sincerity, who
do you say that this man is? Do you profess him to be nothing
than a mortal man? Or do you profess Him to be the
immortal, eternal, immutable Son of God? Your answer? Life
or death. And I pray from the bottom of
my heart that God will not give you any peace at all in your
heart until you face this head on. I pray you leave here if
you don't know Christ disturbed and troubled until God calls
you to bow to who Christ is. Now that doesn't seem very nice.
Let me tell you, that's the best thing in the world that me or
anybody else could do for you. Trouble the Lord. I pray the
Lord trouble you till you see it. Only God can reveal this
to you. It comes, as I said earlier,
only by divine revelation, revelation from God. That is what we mean
when we use that term, divine revelation. It simply means it
was revealed to you by God and God alone. And there are divine
privileges, friend, that go along with this divine revelation.
Look at verse 17. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Peter, Blessed art thou. Eternally blessed, Simon Bar-Jonah,
you are, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven revealed it to you." It's divine
revelation. See what we mean by that? Flesh
and blood can't reveal it. I can proclaim it to you, dear
friends, but I can't reveal it to you. I can't. If I could,
I would. Only God can do that. I can plant
the seed. I can water that planted seed
by the preaching of the Gospel to you, but only God can give
the increase. 1 Corinthians 3. Only God can
make it effectual, effective to your eternal soul. Do you
want to know Christ in a saving way? Then ask. Beg. if you must. God, for He's the only one who
can grant salvation to you. No wonder the beloved John said,
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called the sons of God. Behold what manner
of love. Now read on, verse 18. And I
say 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.
This is one of the earliest places in the New Testament in which
we find any mention of the word church. Our Lord says in verse
18, upon this rock, I will build my church. And it's very significant
that our Lord should connect with the church the right idea
of himself. He's the head, we're the body.
And we've already seen and considered the question which must be put
to everyone who is to become part of God's church today. And
church is not a building. It's just not. Church is a people
who believe and trust in Christ, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ
in which He's head. It's a church body. Whom say
ye that I am? The first question to be put
to anyone who would desire to be a part of this true church
of God is what think ye of Christ whose Son is in you? You can't
be right in the rest until you think rightly of Him. Now, if
I may, I want to clarify something else that's very, very important. And I'll be honest with you,
for many years I misunderstood this. I misunderstood this. When
our Lord says, and I say unto thee, thou art Peter. And upon
this rock, upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it." Never think for a moment
that Christ meant that He would build His church upon Peter.
That's not what He meant. Though the name Peter in the
original language is Petros, and that means rock. This is
where I used to get confused. The name Peter means Petros,
rock, or a stone. It does not mean that Christ
built his church on such a weak little poor rock as Peter. I
can assure you that. And then in the next phrase,
Christ used the Greek word Petra. And I'm not a Greek scholar,
but I know how to use a concordance. And I found this amazing, Petra,
meaning not upon Peter, but upon the divine revelation and profession
of faith in Christ that Peter made. Peter said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And the Lord Jesus said,
That's what I'll build my church on. That's what I'll build my
church on. Oh, and though Peter was living
up to his name and demonstrating himself to be a rock by his profession,
it was his declaration about the Messiah's person that Christ
would build his church. Our Lord was commending Peter
on his accurate statement and profession of him as Christ,
the Son of the Living God. But listen, beloved, most importantly,
he was declaring himself. Christ was declaring himself.
to be the solid rock, the solid rock on which the church was
built. Look at verses 21 through 23.
Now here's another reason I don't believe that God built his church upon Peter. Here we
are, Peter has stood up in the presence of his brethren and
boldly confess that He had been revealed
by the Lord Jesus Christ, that He was the Christ, the Son of
the living God. And here we are in verse 22,
"...and Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him." Rebuke the Lord! "...saying, Be it far from Thee,
Lord, this shall not be unto Thee." Boy, you want to see something
of the fickleness of man? The depravity of man? The sinfulness
of man? He just makes this wonderful
profession, and now he's taking the Lord God Himself aside and
saying, You ain't going to do this. No siree, I'm not going
to let it happen. That's exactly what he's saying.
Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from me,
Lord, this shall not be unto Thee. But he turned and said
unto Peter, get thee behind me safe. Boy, he went from being
the rock to Satan in no time at all. Never put your trust
in a man, dear believer. Put your trust in Christ and
look to him alone. He said, Peter, you savor not
the things that be of God. You savor the things that be
of men. Now let me be brief here. The
things that be of God mean His sufferings and His death, which
were the appointment of God, the counsel of His will, the
provision of His covenant. It was God's purpose for Christ
to die. Peter said, no sir, we're not
going to let it happen. Get thee behind me, Satan. You
don't savor the things that be of God. The things of God were
the things foretold in the prophecies of the Old Testament in which
the glory of His grace and power and justice was concerned. And
what would be the end of the mission of his son in this world?
Christ came in the world to save sinners. How in the world is
he going to do that? He's going to die in their place. It's the only way. Peter said,
it ain't going to happen. Get thee behind me, say. You
don't savor the things that be of God. The things of God were
out of sight and mind and were not regarded by Peter at this
time. He said, you're thinking about
the things of man. He thought of nothing but worldly
grandeur. And all the apostles did. Now,
I'm not just being hard on Peter, you know, we say that about Judas
also, but it's true of all of them. They thought of nothing
but worldly grandeur in the kingdom of the Messiah. He longed, like
the other apostles, to have Christ as a temporal prince to deliver
them from the bondage of the Romans, set up a kingdom on earth,
That's what they thought this whole prophecy of Christ meant.
He loved the thought of the continuance of Christ's natural life for
His own carnal and worldly advantage. And why wouldn't He? He was one
of the main men that had walked with Him all those years. He
would have pleased Him. We're sinners. We're in this
flesh. He'd have worldly advantage. He was greatly under the influence
of a corrupt nature. No wonder Christ said, Get thee
behind me, Satan. For at this time Peter's point
of view favored the will of the wicked one. Christ built his
church upon himself. Friends, he is the sure foundation. He is the chief cornerstone. No natural man can fit that bill
in any way, shape, or form. Now let me close and read you
just a few verses of Matthew 7. Matthew chapter 7. And we'll begin in verse 21. Just read eight verses here. Matthew 7, verse 21. Our Lord is speaking here and
He said, not everyone, not everyone, oh that's a whole message in
itself. Not everyone. That saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven. And many will say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name and we've been your preachers? And in thy name hath cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. And the
Lord Jesus says, And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these savings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man, which did what? Which built his house upon a
rock." That rock is Christ. And the rain descended and the
floods came. Friends, there's going to be
rains of trials and tribulations and floods of heartache and heartbreak. But your house will stand. The
winds of life are going to blow and beat upon your house. And
it fell not. It didn't fall. Why? It was built upon the rock. It
was built upon Christ. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground sinking sand. And everyone, verse 26, that
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, should be
likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house, and it fell. It fell. And great, great was the fall
of it. Great was the fall of it. And it came to pass when Jesus
had ended these things, the people were astonished at His doctrine,
for He taught them as one having authority. Oh, He did. He did. And not as the scribes. Oh, may the Lord have mercy upon
our souls. Friends, Christ built His church
upon himself, the rock, and it will not fall.