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You can turn in your Bibles back 
to Matthew 16. Matthew, chapter 16, we noted 
this morning as we introduced the morning meditation, there 
are at least three important things that contribute three 
important things from this text that can contribute to our Christian 
walk and our Christian view. And those three things were, 
first, a proper Christian identification of Jesus. This text lays out 
for us and gloriously discloses to us the proper and right Christian 
identification of our Lord Jesus. Secondly, it contributes to a 
proper reflection upon the divine blessing of a right knowledge 
of Christ. In other words, it draws us to 
and it calls us to reflect upon the glory of having a right knowledge 
of Christ solely and alone by divine bestowing and blessing. And thirdly, and that's what 
we will consider this evening from 1618 or that text in 1618 
contributes to the comfort, the courage and the confidence of 
the church. We'll note that as we move along 
and as we apply the text to ourselves and apply the text to our own 
hearts and to our own goings forth of Christianity in this 
lower world will note the comfort, the courage and the confidence 
of the church. Just a reminder of what we looked at this morning 
from verses 13 to 18. Before we read that text again, 
13 to 17, we noted the questions that are asked by Jesus to his 
disciples, those questions that are asked with a specific purpose 
in mind. Who do men say that I, the son 
of man, am? But who do you say that I am? We noted also the answers that 
were given, Peter and the disciples answering. First off, with the 
ignorant view, Jesus is John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah 
or one of the prophets. And then properly, the view given 
by divine enlightenment, that is that Jesus is the Christ, 
the son of the living God. And lastly, we looked at The 
benediction given by Jesus, pronounced by Jesus to Peter, Jesus making 
sensible, making Peter sensible of his standing and privilege 
of a believer as a believer. To use the words of Matthew Henry, 
I'm going to read Matthew 16, verses 13 to 18, and we're going 
to look at specifically verse 18 this evening. When Jesus came 
into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, 
Who do men say that I, the son of man, am? So they said, Some 
say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of 
the prophets. He said to them, But who do you 
say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, 
You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered 
and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh 
and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is 
in heaven. And I also say to you that you 
are Peter. And on this rock, I will build 
my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Amen. Well, let us again pray. 
God, we thank you for this text. We thank you for your word. We 
thank you for Again, this portion of Scripture that discloses to 
us that right identification of Jesus, our Redeemer, as the 
Christ, the Son of the living God. We thank You of how it speaks 
to the fact that You, according to Your grace and Your mercy, 
enlighten minds and call Christians from darkness to light to behold 
their Savior. We pray that You would help us 
tonight to approach the Scriptures, to seek, of course, by Your Spirit, 
the right interpretation of what it discloses for us. And Lord 
God, help us to avail much of your word as we go into this 
upcoming week seeking to live unto your glory and to testify 
to your gospel. We pray again that the exercise 
of this church in worship now would be unto the praise of your 
grace and of your glorious name. And it's in Christ's name that 
we pray. Amen. Well, just two things by way 
of introduction. First off, quote that at least 
I've often repeated from the pulpit before. And I prefer to 
think that James Russell Lowell had this text in mind, among 
many perhaps, but this text in mind when he gave that wonderful 
defense of missionary work back in the 1800s. There was a gathering 
of a number of well-to-do men at a dinner, and there was a 
discussion around the dinner table about missionary work, 
Christian missionary work around the world. And there were some 
at the table that James Russell Lowell was at that were mocking, 
were ridiculing the missionary work. Why would we bother to 
send people to proclaim a message that is empty of any validity 
or legitimacy? They were mocking Christianity. 
James Russell Lowell voiced his opinion. And he said, and you've 
heard this before, and I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but he said, I 
challenge any skeptic to find one 10 square mile spot on this 
planet where they can live their lives in decency, where they 
can live their lives in honor, where womanhood is revered, where 
old age is honored, where they can educate their children, where 
the gospel of Jesus Christ has not gone first to prepare the 
way. And I exhort them to emigrate 
thither, and there proclaim their unbelief." You see, James Russell 
Lowell knew that Christ would make good upon his promise. I 
will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it. And we stand here today, brethren, 
by virtue of Christ, making good on this promise 2,000 years ago 
to round up. I will build my church and the 
gates of hell will not prevail against it. And so we're going 
to consider this passage this evening by looking at three things. First, the return identification. Secondly, the certain promise. 
And thirdly, the evidence of fulfillment. And first off, the 
return identification. Notice what Jesus says in replying 
to Peter in verse 18. And I also say to you that you 
are Peter. And on this rock, I will build 
my church. Now, some of you may know this, 
but others may not. This text has been a battleground 
of debate. Much ink has been spilled. Much debate has been had over 
that single verse, Matthew 16, 18, between Roman Catholics on 
one side and Protestants, our Protestant brothers and sisters 
on the other side. And the debate comes around the 
meaning of Christ's words here. And I also say to you that you 
are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church. I don't 
want to spend too much time on this, but we do need to dispense 
with the madness and the folly of the Roman Catholic interpretation. 
In Robert Raymond's Systematic Theology, he observes and cites 
the Roman Catholic position by quoting the Baltimore Catechism 
of the Roman Catholic Church. From Matthew 16, 18, the Roman 
Catholics say this, Christ gave special powers in his church 
to St. Peter by making him the head 
of the apostles and the chief teacher and ruler of the entire 
church. Christ did not intend that the 
special power of chief teacher and ruler of the entire church 
should be exercised by St. Peter alone, but intended that 
this power should be passed down to his successor, the pope, the 
bishop of Rome, who is the vicar of Christ on earth and the visible 
head of the church. Now, children, and adults, if 
need be, but children, that is a horrible quote. That quote 
isn't speaking truth. That quote is speaking lies. 
But I quote it to cite what the Roman Catholics say with regards 
to this passage. And it is the practice of so 
many bad religions and bad theological positions to take a pre-existing 
tradition or practice and impose upon the text of scripture that 
particular meaning and understanding. In other words, they come with 
their popes, their historical personages with big red hats, 
and they come to Matthew 16 and 18 and say, there is the proof 
for our system of religion. And they very often cite the 
early church fathers as providing unanimous opinion to the view 
that here Christ is inaugurating the Roman Catholic papacy. But 
the testimony of history is quite different origin. Everyone who 
is like Peter in office or confession, here Christ is speaking of. In 
other words, every disciple of Christ is the rock upon which 
he will build his church. Tertullian, the power given to 
Peter ceased when his ministry and life ended. Cyprian, the 
apostles generally and those who follow in ecclesiastical 
leadership. Others, the faith of Peter's 
confession, and still others, Christ himself is the rock upon 
which the church is built. Throughout the medieval era, 
the Roman Catholics would force this view that we just read, 
that Jesus Christ is here inaugurating the Roman papacy as the rock 
upon which he will build and prosper his church. They allowed 
no other opinion. The reformers come along and 
they rightfully bring to bear the proper meaning of this text, 
which we will now look at. Jesus here in saying, and I also 
say to you that you are Peter and on this rock, I will build 
my church. Jesus is or Jesus in the same 
manner in which Peter identified him responds to Peter. In other 
words, remember, we looked at this this morning. Peter answers. on behalf of the entire apostolate, 
when Jesus asks, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter, verse 
16, answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living 
God. So what Jesus then does after 
the benediction pronounced, after the approbation of the right 
answer, Jesus reciprocates this identification of Peter. And 
I also say to you, that you are Peter. So Jesus is answering 
Peter, just like Peter answered Christ. Peter, in answering Christ's 
question concerning the identity of Jesus, answered using two 
titles. Jesus or Peter didn't answer 
Jesus's question by responding, giving a proper name. In other 
words, Peter replies to Jesus saying, Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the living God. So, Peter answers Christ by giving 
two titles. Jesus answers Peter, not by giving 
a proper name, but by giving a title. You are a rock, and 
on this rock I will build my church. We'll explain that. Jesus, 
after pronouncing that blessing upon Peter, replies in kind by 
declaring or identifying Peter by employing a title. You are 
a rock. Robert Raymond in his systematic 
suggests that Jesus intended to use a title for Peter, not 
Peter's name itself. In other words, you are a rock. 
You said to me, I am the Christ, the son of the living God. Now, 
I also say to you that you are a rock. And on this rock, I will 
build my church. But this is not Jesus declaring 
that Peter is a rock in terms of his personal qualities, but 
insofar as he speaks for God as a confessing apostle, speaking 
the word of God, he is a rock. And Clowney argues that this 
interpretation is demanded by the sequel in the passage which 
follows. Remember, we read that this morning. 
Peter rebukes the Lord Jesus after Jesus announces his intended, 
designed purpose for his messianic investiture, that he would be 
delivered up into wicked hands, killed, raised the third day. 
Peter rebukes him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord. This shall 
not happen to you. And Jesus turned and said to 
Peter, Get behind me, Satan. So you see the comparison here. 
Peter is Satan insofar as he brings the words of the devil 
in seeking to attempt Christ away from performing his messianic 
work. So Peter is then, by analogy, 
a rock by being the mouthpiece of God in speaking rightly concerning 
Christ's identity, Jesus' identity as the Christ, the son of the 
living God. To clarify, or to perhaps speak 
better to this, Clowney continues to say, Here, Jesus calls Peter 
by another name, Satan. Just as Peter had spoken by revelation 
from the Father, He now becomes the mouthpiece of the devil. 
In confessing Jesus to be the Christ, he was the rock. In tempting 
Jesus to refuse the cross, he is Satan. Peter is Satan as he 
speaks for Satan. Peter is the rock as he speaks 
for God." In other words, insofar as Peter proclaims rightly the 
identity of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, he 
is a rock. And by virtue of by virtue of 
the other apostles proclaiming the same, by virtue of any messenger, 
the gospel of Jesus Christ, proclaiming the same, they are speaking in 
that rock-like manner, proclaiming the right truth concerning Jesus 
Christ. To summarize, the significance 
and meaning of the rock upon which the church is to be built 
is seen in Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son 
of the living God, in the divinely granted knowledge of Jesus, as 
Christ and Lord. And isn't that what we see in 
the book of Acts? When we turn to the book of Acts, 
when we turn there, we see this promise being borne out. We see 
Peter, in fact, on the day of Pentecost, proclaiming Jesus 
as the Christ, as the Son of the living God, and commanding 
repentance and belief in His name. We see Christ building 
upon that rock, upon the proclamation, the true and God brought, divinely 
granted proclamation and knowledge of Jesus as the Christ, the son 
of the living God. Moving on then to the certain 
promise. the certain promise, these wonderful 
words of our Savior Jesus Christ. And I also say to you that you 
are Peter. And on this rock, I will build 
my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Based upon Peter's confession, 
based upon Christ's approbation, his approval of it, based upon 
the pronounced blessing, identifying God-wrought revelation, Jesus 
declares this twofold promise. I will build my church and the 
gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. It's a good exercise 
that we can do right now briefly, but that you can also do in your 
own Bible reading time. I don't believe we're thrusting 
anything improper upon the text. When we take, I will build my 
church and we go through the exercise of bringing out the 
significance of its meaning by putting stress on each of the 
words used. I will build my church. You see, 
it is the powerful Christ. It is the majestic Christ. It 
is the perfect Jesus who builds his church. It is not men. It 
is not creatures that build the church of the living God, but 
rather it is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, the redeeming 
King who builds his church. I will build my church. You see, there is certainty to 
this promise. I will build my church. There 
are no maybes. There are no perhapses in Christ's 
promise of building his church. I will build my church in the 
gates of hell. shall not prevail against it. 
I will build my church. I'm not trying to be silly here. 
Hopefully you get the significance and the importance and all the 
facets of this meaning. Christ builds. There is no stagnancy. There is no degradation in the 
foundation and the construction of Christ's glorious edifice, 
the church of the living and true God. But rather, he builds. I will build my church. The glorious 
personal attachment of Jesus Christ to his church. It is his 
church. Jesus Christ can say, it is my 
church. He builds it. He sustains it. 
He is the core. He is the center. He is the sun 
around which all things revolve. He is the one who is the center 
of his church and the one who builds it. And then, of course, 
it's good for us to note The proper interpretation, the proper 
interpretation, but the interpretations before we move on to three points 
here, interpretations of and the gates of Hades shall not 
prevail against it. There are ultimately two approaches 
to how that should be interpreted. The first is, is it is Jesus 
speaking here of Hades or hell on the offensive? or Hades and 
hell on the defensive. And I think Raymond shed some 
good light on this because there are two interpretations. One 
is that this is just speaking of the power of death. In other 
words, the Church will abide forever, Christ will build it, 
and there will be no cessation, no power of death over the continuance 
of the Church. The other view is that the Church 
is on the offensive and the gates of Hades cannot defend against 
the power of Christ and the growth of His Church. Raymond says this, 
Whether this text, the phrase, shall not prevail is to be construed 
in such a way as to make Hades the invading force, will not 
conquer, or to make the church the attacking force, will not 
stand against, is a matter of some debate among commentators. 
Given the facts, one, that gates as part of a wall are therefore 
stationary and not doing the advancing, and two, that the 
church without question is to invade a world peopled with children 
of Satan and take captive every thought to make it obedient to 
Christ, I favor the latter interpretation. So in other words, it is Christ 
building his church, the advance of which Hades cannot prevail 
against. Christ, in time and in history, 
is building his church. He's building his army. Like 
we sang, he's building his soldiers of Christ that will advance his 
message of victory to the uttermost parts of the earth. And though 
she may try, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the 
advancement of our precious and glorious white rider. Moving on then, three points 
under this heading of the certain promise. It is an amazing, first 
off, it is an amazing and bold statement. It's an amazing and 
bold statement. Why? First off, given Christ's 
state of humiliation. Look at who's making this statement. 
Now, by virtue of our standpoint, our vantage point as Christians, 
knowing everything the Bible says about Jesus, it's not that 
much of a bold and amazing statement if you look at it that way. But 
considering who Jesus was before that common populace, before 
those crowds, before the scribes and Pharisees who derided Him, 
who insulted and mocked Him, This is a man born of Mary and 
Joseph under that abiding rumor of adultery. This is Jesus, that 
one who is simply the son of a carpenter born in a feed trough. And yet he makes this bold proclamation, 
this one who has nowhere to place his head. He makes this bold 
proclamation, I will build my church. The gates of hell shall 
not prevail against it. It's an amazing and bold statement, 
given the certainty of his death. He says in verse 23, or the narrative 
says in verse 21, sorry, from that time Jesus began to show 
to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many 
things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed 
and be raised the third day. You see, this Christ making this 
promise would be that bloody massacre upon Calvary's tree. This one is going to build his 
church. A church that the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against. How can this one avail against 
anything? He's sacrificed, he's put to 
death upon a tree for being an insurrectionist, for claiming 
that he is the son of God, putting himself in equality with God. This one put to death is going 
to build his church? That was an offense, that was 
scandalous to the Jews. The Jews cannot endure a suffering 
Messiah, Spurgeon said of the Jews. They wanted the pomp, they 
wanted the majesty, they wanted the royalty of a temporal conqueror 
and redeemer. Jesus comes as one who has nowhere 
to lay his head and as one crucified and bloodied upon Calvary's tree. 
It is a bold and an amazing statement, though we know the rest of the 
story with regards to Christ, his conquering activity, though 
in a state of humility, he gloriously conquers and is victorious. Secondly, 
it is a reality promised in the Old Testament. This is nothing 
new. When Jesus says, I will build my church, the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it. This is a truth that was 
announced in the Old Testament. Not too many Sundays ago, Pastor 
Butler preached from Isaiah 49. We noted that there, didn't we? 
In the Old Covenant, there is a scope of God's redemptive plan 
announced. It is too small of a thing that 
you, my servant, should be given only unto Jacob and Israel, but 
you will be a light unto the Gentiles as well. The scope of 
this promise is given. The promise is given and the 
scope is given in Isaiah 49. The reality of this promise, 
the certainty of it, is announced in the Old Testament and it's 
attached to the death of Jesus. Isaiah 53, by His knowledge, 
My righteous servant will justify many, for He shall bear their 
iniquities. He will justify many. He will 
have an assembly, not of a few, but of many. And this wonderful 
reality, this certain promise of Christ's building of the church 
is indicated as expansive and worldwide according to Psalm 
22. Remember, Psalm 22 is a psalm 
of the cross, striking language in it, striking language, mind 
you, that Christ also quotes from the cross, the beginning 
of the psalm. Some would say also the ending 
of Psalm 22. We have the language of an expansive 
worldwide reality that Christ would build his church. The gates 
of hell shall not prevail against it. Verse 25 of Psalm 22. My praise shall be of you in 
the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those 
who fear him. The poor shall even be satisfied. 
Those who seek him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live 
forever. All the ends of the world shall 
remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nation 
shall worship before you. For the kingdom is the Lord's, 
and he rules over the nations." We read from Daniel 7, 13 and 
14, the outset of worship. The ascended Christ is given 
dominion and power and a kingdom. And what do we see there? His 
is the kingdom that will reign forever and shall not come to 
an end. Jesus Christ will build his church 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Thirdly, 
it is a certainty brought about by specific means. How does Jesus 
Christ, in other words, bring about this promise that he will 
build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
it? Well, first off, Christ does 
not build his church by setting up a hierarchical system ruled 
by men with hats and scarlet vestments. Christ Jesus does 
not build his church by handing out hot dogs and Evian water 
to those who are already well fed. The Lord Jesus Christ does 
not fulfill this promise. He does not build his church 
by putting together Noah's Ark themed bazaars. The Lord Jesus 
Christ does not build his church by putting out and publishing 
videos depicting anthropomorphized rutabagas. The Lord Jesus Christ 
brings about the certainty of this promise first by his perfect 
saving work. That is how Christ first brings 
about this glorious promise. In fact, that's alluded to right 
after this discourse with his disciples. Verse 21, isn't it? 
In other words, that first great act of the ratification of the 
fulfillment of Christ's certain promise is seen in his substitutionary 
sacrificial work upon Calvary Street. To be sure, prior to 
that, his perfect completion and adherence to the Father's 
law in the stead of all those that he dies to save. Christ's 
saving work, the saving work of Jesus Christ, his incarnation, 
his perfect life, his perfect substitutionary sacrificial death 
and his subsequent resurrection. That first certainty or the first 
means by which the certainty of this promise is brought to 
bear. Secondly, Christ brings about the certainty of this promise 
by the sending of heralds to proclaim the victory. He dies 
that perfect death. He rises victoriously the third 
day. And then he sends his heralds 
to proclaim the victory. Kids, perhaps you've read books 
or seen a cartoon where a funny looking man comes into a village 
and blows a trumpet. He blasts the trumpet and he 
rolls down a scroll and he reads some edicts given by a king. 
Well, you see, that's what we have in our Bibles. The king 
does a perfect work of conquest and victory. Jesus does that 
perfect saving work. Then he commissions his heralds, 
his messengers, to go and proclaim the certainty of his victory 
and the glory of his redeeming work. So Christ brings about 
this promise by the saving work that he performs. He brings it 
about by the sending of heralds. Thirdly, he brings it about by 
the Holy Spirit applying the benefits of his work to his people. So the king performs the perfect 
work of conquest. He sends his heralds to proclaim 
the message. He also sends his Holy Spirit 
to work by that proclaimed message to bring dead sinners to life 
in Jesus Christ. He saves, he sends, and he applies 
that perfect work, that perfect saving work, by his spirit. And 
lastly, under the certainty brought about by specific means, Jesus 
brings about this promise by the continued proclamation and 
preaching of the word within the context of his church. In 
other words, to go back to the rock, and I also say to you that 
you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. Remember, 
what is that rock? The God rot. divine knowledge 
given to his people concerning Jesus as the Christ, the son 
of the living God, based on the continual proclamation and preaching 
and ministering of that truth concerning Jesus and all of the 
divinely revealed promises attached to it. Jesus builds his church. The gates of hell will not prevail 
against it. Moving on then thirdly and lastly 
to the certain fulfillment. So we have the promise given, 
and we have the certain fulfillment of it, the evidence of the fulfillment, 
we may say. Consider the book of Acts, because 
therein we find the evidence of the fulfillment of Christ's 
promise, don't we? Jesus makes the promise prior 
to His perfect saving work. He performs His perfect saving 
work. Then He sends His heralds. to 
to to proclaim that message of victory and to expand the message 
of Jesus Christ first in all Jerusalem, then in Judea and 
Samaria, then to the uttermost parts of the earth. We have the 
evidence of the certain fulfillment of Christ's promise in the book 
of Acts. From the day of Pentecost to 
chapter 28, we see the advancement of this Jesus, the advancement 
of this proclamation of him as Christ, as son of the living 
God, given by his heralds and owned by his people. This is 
a blessed site to read time and time again. And the Lord added 
to his church daily those who were being saved. The promise, 
Luke giving the evidence. By the inspiration of the Holy 
Spirit, of the promise being fulfilled, I will build my church. 
Christ does it in time and in history. The gospel writers set 
forth the promise made. Acts discloses to us the promise 
kept. And the epistles republish these 
truths and give exhortations based on them. It's one way to 
look at our New Testament, brothers and sisters. We have the gospel 
writers giving the promise. identifying Jesus as the Christ, 
the son of the living God, and disclosing the true narrative, 
the perfect narrative concerning his perfect work and promise. 
We have Acts written as a narrative of the fulfillment of that certain 
promise. And then we have the epistles 
republishing and expanding upon, amplifying those truths and exhorting 
Christians to live in light of them. wonderful and glorious 
picture that the New Testament gives us of the certain saving 
work of Christ and the certain fulfillment of it. And well, 
I don't commend this as as an evidence because it is the scriptures 
that validate history is the scriptures that that vindicate 
the work of God in history. But does not a perusal of history 
speak to this truth also? Again, we don't take history 
and then validate scripture based on history. Scripture is the 
argument for redemptive history and everything that happens in 
God's universe. But if we, like the Old Testament 
believers, if we like the Israel of the Old Covenant, engage in 
that historical retrospect, do we not see the promise of Christ 
fulfilled in time and in history? One need only examine the time 
when Christ is giving this promise to his disciples. It's a small 
handful of believers. Well, a couple handfuls plus 
two minus one Judas. Sorry for that math. But suffice 
it to say, we have just a small gathering, a small assembly, 
a small beginning embryonic representation of the church. Christ does his 
promised work. He rises again as promised. He 
ascends to the father and he has commissioned his heralds 
to proclaim the victories of he, the king. And then two thousand 
years later, what do we see? Believers in Chilliwack gathered 
at five fifty five p.m. glorying in that Jesus. Who first 
promised, who then did, who then sent, who then applied and who 
then built and is still building. We look back upon the early church. 
No doubt the early church, like perhaps James Russell Lowell, 
had that text in mind as they were being attacked and beaten 
and violated and persecuted by ungodly governments and ungodly 
peoples. Christ will build his church. 
The gates of hell will not prevail against it. We move through church 
history and we find that the many doctrinal heresies that 
arose within the church, no doubt those who valiantly and faithfully 
defended the truth of Jesus Christ, his true deity, his true humanity, 
the Trinity, all those glorious doctrines that we own and love. 
No doubt they knew and they worked from the certainty of this promise 
that Christ will build his church and the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against it. The darkness of the Middle Ages 
comes along. We have a few voices rising up, 
railing against the madness of the mystery religion, of Roman 
Catholicism, of all the superstitions and everything else. It's a dark 
time, but nevertheless, Christ, in the midst of darkness, as 
the sovereign ruler of the nations, he is building his church. The 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Just before the Reformation, 
some wonderful men that rise up as pre-reformers, if you will. 
And one of them was mocked as the goose. If you read some of 
the accounts of church histories as a generation, a couple of 
generations, a hundred years before Luther. But prior to his 
death, he is being mocked by Roman Catholic persecutors. They 
mock him with his name, ha ha ha, you're the goose. And he 
says, I may be a goose. And I'm paraphrasing. But he 
says, I may be a goose, but hereafter, hereafter, the truth shall go 
forth as eagles and falcons with piercing vision. You see, he 
was no divinely owned prophet. He wasn't speaking by some sort 
of direct revelatory knowledge given by God. But what did he 
have? The scriptures. He had the scriptures 
testifying to the certain truth that Jesus will build his church. The gates of hell will not prevail 
against it. Those men to whom he spoke that 
would ultimately martyr him. He would be put to death at the 
hands of wicked men. But the truth would come out, 
wouldn't it? We have the eagles and the falcons 
of piercing vision coming 100 years later, that God-owned and 
God-wrought work of the Protestant Reformation, putting to death 
the madness in dealing with the wicked tentacles of the Roman 
Catholic Church and proclaiming Jesus Christ and salvation by 
free and sovereign grace. We have Christ building his church 
through the ebb and flow of the ages to the praise of his conquest 
and to the praise of the glorious grace of Almighty God. The evidence of the fulfillment 
is seen in what the Scriptures disclose and what the Scriptures 
promise and bear out in time and in history that Christ is 
building His church. The gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it. We opened up the sermon tonight 
by noting that this is unto many things, but it is unto the comfort 
and the courage and the confidence of the church. You see, we are 
not to be a short-sighted folk. were not to be like those brought 
out of bondage in Egypt, who after a day, I might be exaggerating, 
but who after a day said, oh, that we could go back to Egypt 
with the boiling meat and all of the wonderful things we had 
in slavery to our oppressors. We're not to be short-sighted 
when trial and tribulation, when ungodly governments come, when 
society seems to be crumbling all around us. Why? Because we 
have the certainty of Christ's promise. I will build my church 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. How can we 
be so short-sighted to not look back the book of Acts and the 
progress of the gospel? From Jerusalem, from a small 
speck of believers, to Judea and Samaria, to the uttermost 
parts of the earth, thousands believing, thousands laying hold 
of Christ and owning Him as their own. How can we ignore the witness 
of history? How can we ignore the advance 
of Jesus Christ conquering The white rider marching victorious 
with the sword of his mouth protruding, conquering nations to the praise 
of his gospel and to the praise of his glorious finished work 
and the sovereign grace of the Father who commissioned him. 
We need to be encouraged as Christians in this lower world. We are not 
to be short-sighted. We should not be those who say, 
woe is me, and who lament, and who jump under our beds because 
of the Islamic threat. Jesus Christ has promised he 
will build his church. The gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it. He has promised it. He has done 
it. He is continuing it, and he will 
continue to do it until that great end when he delivers his 
church to God the Father and we enter into that blessed state, 
singing the praises of this one who promised, this one who did, 
this one who sent, this one who applied, and this one who continues 
to build throughout the ages. Let's have great comfort in our 
Christ, in the surety of his promises, and live our lives 
in this lower world in light of the sureties of Holy Scripture 
and the finished work of Jesus. Well, let us pray. Heavenly Father, 
we thank you so much for what your word discloses concerning 
our Savior. We just bless your name for the 
fact that the certainty of his promise that he would build his 
church, he will build his church. The gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it. We thank you, Lord God, that 
it is most certainly true that the nations of this world are 
the nations of our God and of his Christ. And we just pray 
that we would find much confidence and courage, much boldness in 
the truths of Holy Scripture as they testify to a sovereign 
God, a conquering Christ. and a victorious church by virtue 
of their union with that Christ. We pray that you'd go with us, 
that you would daily impress upon us the surety of your promises, 
the truths of Holy Scripture, the riches and the excellencies 
of Jesus, that we might live in light of those things and 
seek to proclaim this Jesus to those who are in need of him. 
Go with us now and help us to live to your glory. And it's 
in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.