Matthew chapter 16, beginning here in verse 13. Matthew 16 and verse 13. When Jesus came unto the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Whom do men say that I, the
Son of Man, am? The Lord Jesus took this title
to Himself, and He was born of a woman, made under the law,
the Son of Mary. He took our humanity, and taking
our humanity, He took this title to Himself, the Son of Man. This
is what caused the Jews to stumble. Here was a man, a poor man, No
place to lay his head. The foxes have holes and the
birds of the air have nests to get in, but the son of man hath
no place to lay his head. A poor man. living in a country
that, for the most part, was despised, Galilee. Can any good
thing come out of Galilee? Nazareth, a group of people that
was known as uneducated, unschooled people. And here was Jesus of
Nazareth, raised in Galilee, a poor man, the Son of Man, and
yet he professed himself to be the eternal Son of God. This
is why the Jews stumbled. They picked up stones to stone
him because they said, you being a man, maketh yourself God, the
Son of Man. Who do men say that I, the Son
of Man am? Who do men say that I, the Son
of Man am? You and I listen to what people
say concerning the Son of God. We listen to what they say concerning
Jesus Christ. I was watching a documentary
not too long ago, Joe and I was, about Mormonism. And they revealed
the hypocrisy of that, the superstition of it. And they left out the
most important part. We kept waiting for them to get
to the part that was essential. And that is, what do Mormons
think of Christ? What do Mormons think of Jesus
Christ? And that concerns us, doesn't
it? What do men say about the Son of Man? That's the Lord Jesus
asking His disciples that. And they never answered and said,
Lord, we have no idea what they're saying to you. They did know.
Because when they heard His name mentioned, they hung upon that.
That's important to them. It's important to you. You want
to know what men think, what men say concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. I saw a broadcaster the other
night interviewing the First Lady, Laura Bush, and they were
asking her if she was concerned about what some men were saying
about her husband, the negative things that they were saying
about her husband. Of course she is. She tried to
play it off, but of course she's concerned. That's her husband.
She loves him. And the reason you and I are
concerned with what men are saying of the Lord Jesus, He's our husband.
He's our Lord. And we listen, don't we? We listen
to what this world is saying of Him. What do men say about
me? Whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? And in verse 14, they give the
Lord His answer, and they say, and here's some very flattering
things to say of the Lord Jesus Christ, at least as far as their
opinion was concerned. They said, some say that they
are John the Baptist, And some say that you're Elijah, others
say that you're Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Now that
was some pretty flattering compliments. John the Baptist. All these common
people held that John the Baptist was a prophet. That's a compliment
to say this is John the Baptist. Or he's Elijah, or he's Jeremiah. These people speak well of the
prophets. They cut out the words of the
prophet and wrote down scriptures out of Jeremiah and pinned them
on their foreheads and pinned them on their garments. They
highly esteemed these prophets. They told the Lord one day, they
said, if we would have lived in the days of our fathers, we
would have never killed the prophets like they did. They painted, they garnished
the tomb of the prophets. They're dead now, they said.
We respect them. We love them. And they counted
the Lord Jesus to be one of the prophets, Elijah or Jeremiah. That's pretty flattering things
to say about the Lord. The only thing that's matter
with that is just not true. It's just not true. He wasn't
Elijah. He wasn't Jeremiah. You know, men say a lot of things
of Jesus, don't they? You and I hear about Jesus. We
hear about Christ. But here's the test. No matter
how flattering it may sound, is it true? Is it core to Scripture? Whom do men say that I am? Well,
they're saying a lot about you. But is it Scripture? Is it Scripture? Everybody's talking about Jesus,
but is it Scripture? And the last thing they said
here, some say that you're one of the prophets. Well, that's
true, ain't it? That's true. He was one of the
prophets. Moses said a prophet. Shall the
Lord your God rise unto you, like unto me, a prophet. But
you know, here's where they missed, here's where they erred. He's
more than a prophet. He was a prophet, but he's more
than a prophet. They were willing to own Christ
as one great, important person. But if that's as far as men go,
then they don't know Him. They don't know Him. He's the
eternal Son of God in His humanity. I was talking with a Jehovah
Witness the other day. I don't know why, but this particular
Jehovah Witness just got under my skin. I can't get over it
for nothing. But I was standing on the porch talking to him,
and talking to him about the Son of God. And he's talking
about believing in the Son of God. Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. And He's the Creator of the world. That's what he
told me. He's the Creator of the world. Now, that's pretty
important there. And he died on the cross for
our sins. Well, I believe that. I believe
that. And one of the first things he
told me that Jesus Christ is able to give us eternal life.
Well, I believe that. I mean, that's some pretty exalting
things to say about the Son of God. And they're all true. But I asked him this question. I said, do you believe that Jesus
Christ is a creature? Or is he the everlasting Son
of God? He said he's a creature. He's a creature. So a man may
say a lot of flattering things concerning the Son of God, but
what do you really believe about his person? Who he really is? That tells a tale. Well, thank
you, Christ. That's it, isn't it? That's it. Who do men say
that I, the Son of Man, am? Well, Lord, they've got a lot
of flattering things to say about you. A lot of flattering things. But do they believe I'm God?
You've seen me, you've seen the Father. I am my Father and one. And here in verse 15. And he said unto them, but boy,
this is so important. But whom say ye that I am? Whom say ye that I am? Now, he knew this. He knew this. He wasn't asking to get information
from these men. But what he was doing was giving
them opportunity to tell what they knew of him. See, that's
what the Lord does, ain't it? He opens our heart, he gives
us understanding to know him, and then he gives us opportunity
to tell about him. He'll give you faith, and he'll turn right
around and try it. He'll open a verse of scripture
to you and teach you from it, and then give you the opportunity
to tell somebody else what He's taught you. He wouldn't ask you
for information. What think ye? Who do you say
that the Son of Man hath? Whom do men say? Lord, they said
a lot of things. Whom do you say that I am? It's
not enough, now listen to me, it's not enough to see the errors
of false religion, or to know that free will is a heresy. We must know the truth ourselves.
We must know the truth ourselves. See what I'm saying? Oh, they
said, Lord, we know that you're not John the Baptist. Those people
are in great error. We know that you're not Jeremiah.
We know those people are wrong. Yeah, we know that. We know that. But that's not enough, is it?
I believe Catholicism is wrong. Well, I do too. I believe Pentecostalism
is wrong. Well, I do too. I believe free
willism is heresy. I believe that too. A lot of
religions out there that's wrong. I believe that too. But what
do you believe that's right? That's what the Lord Jesus is
asking his disciples. It's easy to get lifted up in
vain confidence concerning what you know to be wrong. But that
won't profit us either, will it? Who do we know that's right? Who do we know that's right? Who do you say that I am? Well,
you need to ask my wife. You need to ask my husband. You
need to ask my pastor. Now, he knows. No, no. Who do you say that I am? Personal
questioning. Personal question. Whom say he
that I am? Our Lord is asking this to a
bunch of uneducated men. Unschooled. Unlearned. And I'll
be honest with you, at this time, they knew very little theology.
Very, very little theology. And yet he put this question
to these ignorant and unlearned men. Who do you say that I am? And if this question could justly
be put to them, then it could be put to me, and it could be
put to you. Who do you say he is? Who do
I say the son of man is? Must be answered, who say ye
that I am? And verse 16, look at this. And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. Now boy, this may seem like a
shallow profession. And if you're just talking about
a mere ascent of the mind, What a man can know from the top of
his head. That is a shallow profession.
It's a useless profession. Because most people are taught
this, and rightfully so, in the Sunday school class. You teach
the kids this, don't you? Who is Jesus? He's the Christ. He's the Son of the Living God.
But probably an overwhelming percent of popular religion today
confess this. They willingly confess this,
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. But Peter's not imitating
what someone told him of Christ. He wasn't explaining all he knew
about Christ. Because he was in the dark concerning
much of what Jesus Christ was going to do. He was professing
from his heart who he knew Jesus of Nazareth to be. That's what
he was professing. Not what he knew, how much he
knew, but who he knew in his heart of hearts. That's all he
professed. That's all he knows to profess. Christ is just about
all he knew. A man may be a theologian. He may be baptized, he may join
the church, and yet not know Christ to be the Son of God.
And yet a man may be an ignorant fisherman, and know very little
of what Christ has done, and yet truly know the Son of God
in his heart of hearts. It doesn't matter how much a
man knows about anything. He may know a lot, and do him
no earthly good in the end. But what matters is this. Do
I know in my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living
God? Do I know Him? This is the beginning,
man. This is not something we learn
down the road somewhere. This is the very foundation.
This is the dover. This is the game. Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress, Christian
was going along the way to the Celestial City, walking along
the way to the Celestial City. And some guy put a ladder up
on the outside of the wall and climbed up and come tumbling
over the wall and got in the way. And he said, the Christian
met me walking with you, for we're both going to the celestial
city. He said, well, you just fell over the wall. You climbed
over the wall. He said, it don't matter how
you get in, as long as you're going to the same place. And
the Christian said, listen, there's a gate back there. There's a
door back there. You've got to get in that gate.
Well, what is that gate? Right here it is, ain't it? Right
here it is. What think ye of Christ? Who
is Christ? Why, He's the Son of the Living
God. That's where we begin, ain't it? That's where we begin. He's the Son of the Living God.
I want to know more about Him. You want to know more about Him.
I want to know more of His ways, His dealings with me, His dealings
with His people, His dealings in Providence. I want to know
more of Him. More about Jesus would I know.
But I've got to know Him. I've got to know Him. Who art
thou? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Now how did Peter know this? Look at this.
The Pharisees didn't know it, the scribes didn't know it, the
priests didn't know it. How did Peter, this poor ignorant
fisherman, know it? It tells us there in verse 17.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah, Simon the son of Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Christ
in blood has nothing to do with Peter's profession. You know,
we often say today that we're shut up. We use that word, we're
shut up to revelation. Because Jesus Christ is in heaven
right now while you and I are here. He's in the bosom of the
Father. That's what John said about it.
He's there in the bosom of the Father. And no man sees Him today. He's one whom we see not. And
yet we have to know Him. And you and I are shut up to
revelation. But it's not just us that's shut
up. The human race has always been shut up to revelation. Even
those who were with the Lord Jesus Christ and walked with
Him and handled Him and looked into His very eyes did not know
who He was, except the Father opened their understanding and
revealed Him to them. You could hear Him preach. You
could watch Him do miracles and still not know who He was if
the Father didn't reveal Him. There in John chapter 6, there
was a group of people there that watched him feed 5,000 people
with just a few loaves of bread and a few fish. And they didn't
know who he was. And he started preaching to them.
I'm the bread that came down from heaven, he said. You eat
of this bread, you shall live forever. The bread that I give
is my flesh. And you know what they said?
Who is this? Is this not the son of Joseph? Don't we know
his dad and his mom? No, you don't. No, you don't. But you can handle him, and listen
to him, and never know him. They will shut up to the same
thing you and I shut up. That's Revelation. We cannot
know the Lord Jesus Christ, except the Father open our understanding,
open our hearts, and reveal the Lord Jesus Christ to us. He sat
there eating with those disciples, and he broke bread, and the scripture
says their eyes were open, and they knew Him. And they knew
Him. Flesh and blood, not revealed.
If you're here this evening and you know the Lord Jesus Christ,
you can say with fear, I know who you are. No matter what others
say about you, I know who you are. You're the Christ. You're
the Son of the Living God. I tell you, you're a blessed
person. You're blessed with God. You've been chosen of God, redeemed
by the Lord Jesus Christ, and heaven awaits you in the end.
You're a blessed person. God has revealed Christ to you.
I know who you are, Lord. You're the Son of the Living
God. And look what he says here in
verse 18. And I say also unto thee that
thou art Peter, The Lord Jesus knew Peter, and Peter knew him.
And upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. Now, upon this rock, now this
is not Peter. The rock is not Peter. Catholicism
has taught for years that this rock is Peter. And not only Peter,
but the successors of Peter. All those popes. And therefore
they think that Peter had the authority, and therefore they
think they have the authority to change scripture. And replace
it with their own commandments, or traditions, or superstitions,
or orders, or writings. Peter, they say, is the rock,
and his successor is the rock. Peter was the head of the church,
and the post are therefore his successor. But that's not what
the Lord Jesus is talking about. This particular rock here that
he's talking about is Peter's profession of the Lord. Peter, who do you say I am? Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Upon this rock I'll
build my church. Upon the revelation of my person
to your heart, your knowledge of me, your knowing me, I'll
build my church. Other people have professed the
very same thing that Peter professed. They professed this very same
thing, and it had nothing to do with Peter. Do you remember
Martha? The Lord was talking to her about
being the resurrection and the life. And he said, Martha, do
you believe me? Do you remember what she said? She said, yeah, Lord, I believe
that you're the Christ. You're the Son of God. She wasn't
talking about Peter, was she? She professed the same thing
he did. You remember when the eunuch was in the desert and
he was reading the book of Isaiah and Philip preached Christ to
him, that he was led as a lamb to the slaughter? And he finished
his message and that eunuch said, can I be baptized? He said, if
you believe with all your heart, you can. And you know what he
said? He said the same thing Peter said to him. And he never
knew Peter as far as we know. It wasn't Peter. It was Peter's
knowledge, the revelation that he had that Jesus Christ was
the Son of God. That's the rock. That's the rock
that he built upon. Upon this rock I'll build my
church. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, he's born of God. He's born of
God. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world. That's what he said. Aren't you
glad that Peter's not the rock? Wouldn't that be scary? Remember
what he said one time? Lord save me, I perish. I don't
know this man. I swear I don't know. Aren't
you glad he's not the rock? Poor Peter, wavering Peter, as
much as we love him, I thank God he's not the rock. He's not
the rock. What about verse 19 then? Look
at that. The Lord Jesus said to him, 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.
It sounds like he's given Peter some authority. Well, he did. He did. But I tell you one thing,
he didn't give Peter the authority to remit sins. Did he? He didn't give Peter the authority
to propagate his opinions. Did he? Do you know what he gave
Peter the authority to do? Do you know the gift he gave
Peter? He gave him the understanding
of the gospel. And he gave him the gift to preach
the gospel. That's what he did in the book of Acts chapter 2.
What a beautiful message that was. He preached where the Holy
Ghost sent them from heaven. That's the key he had. And when Peter said, God has
exalted His Son to be both Lord and Savior, repent every one
of you and be baptized for the remission of sins, that was the
truth. That was the truth. That was
the key of knowledge that the Lord gave Peter. And every time
Peter sat down to write an epistle under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, I tell you that bound fact. You turn over to
1 Peter and 2 Peter, and as you read that, that's the truth. And whatever he says is binding.
You can't go contrary to that and be saved, can you? That's
all he's talking about. Peter, I give you the keys of
knowledge. I'm going to teach you my gospel. I'm going to call
you to preach the gospel. And whatever you say is going
to be the truth when he says it on the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. But I tell you, when the Lord leaves him, you
better not listen to him. You know it. He's just a man.
Paul had to rebuke him. Remember that in Galatians chapter
2? It's only as the Lord was pleased to use him and keep his
hand upon him and anoint him with the Holy Spirit. Look here
in the last portion of verse 18. Look at this. We have three promises here.
I say unto thee that thou art Peter, upon this rock I will
build my church. That's the first one. That's
the first one. Upon this rock I'll build my
church. You and I gather here and we
pray and we're so burdened. We're burdened one for another.
We're burdened for the lost. We pray for them through the
week. We witness to them. We're concerned about them. But
there's one thing that comforts us about this. The Lord knows
who His people are, and He's going to save them. Upon this
rock I will build my church. Peter's gone and the apostles
are gone. Soon you and I are going to be
gone. But you know something? The Lord Jesus is still building
His church. That's His business, ain't it? And I'm content with
that, aren't you? We pray for the lost as they
come here, but I'm content whether the Lord saves them or not. That's
His business saying it. That may sound contradictory.
Why even burden for the man if it says He is able? That's just
the way it is. That's just the way it is. And
I'm confident by this fact that if they're His, if they're His,
He will save them. He's going to get every one of
us here. He's going to build up his church. Upon this rock, I will
build my church. He may use us, and I hope he
does. I really hope he does. Whether
he does or not, he's going to build his church. Here's the
second promise. Hell is going to set itself against
the church. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. What does that promise us? Hell
is against the church. The devil is mad. The devil hates
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's going to do
whatever he can to cause havoc in the church. He's going to
do it. He's going to do it. And thirdly,
here's a precious promise. It shall not prevail. The gates
of hell shall not prevail against my church. Now that's another
comforting prophecy. I believe in a local church.
This is the local church. We've got local churches all
over the place. You and I know several of them. And I believe
in a universal church. There's a local church, and the
Lord Jesus meets with us here. There's a universal church all
over this world that truly belongs to the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here's the sad thing about a local church. It can
so diminish that finally we close the doors and there's nobody
left. All of us are concerned about
that, aren't we? Nobody wants the local church
to diminish in truth, in worship, in dedication, or in numbers.
We want the local church to increase. But I tell you what, you and
I know by experience that there has been some big congregations,
good congregations with good pastors that have suddenly, suddenly
turned from the truth. I was talking with John Mitchell
and he was telling me, John from Indiana, his relatives are from
southern Indiana. And he knows about all of his
relatives. Most of his relatives were primitive
Baptists, back when the old primitive Baptists were good Baptists. And in 1859, down in Samaria,
Indiana, some of his relatives, they started, they congregated
and constituted a church. 1859. And one of his great, great uncles
was the pastor, preacher of the gospel. And they named that church
the, what was the name of it? Regular Predestinated Baptist
Church in Christ. That's the name of it. And John
said the title just about told you what they believed. But he's
got some things that they were good men, good preachers. Had
a good congregation there in the cemetery. Old building still
standing. But you know what it is today?
Pentecostals. Pentecostals. A local church
can fall away, they can change, they can close their doors, they
can tear down the building, and there's no evidence they were
even there. But that's the local church. But the real body of
Christ, the church that's built upon this profession, they are
the Christ, the Son of the living God. Hell will never prevail
against that church will it? That's the promise of Jesus Christ,
never prevail. May God bless this word to your
hearts.