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Matthew chapter 16. We'll return 
to our study in the book of Acts next week. We have been studying 
the book of Acts with reference to the church. Today is the day 
we remember the Reformation. 502 years ago on October 31st, 
1517, Martin Luther famously nailed those theses to the castle 
door at Wittenberg. and thus launched officially 
the Protestant Reformation. Now, there were reformers prior 
to Martin Luther. There were persons doing good 
things in terms of church life prior to Luther, but it's a helpful 
date for us to remember. And it's a very significant thing. 
It was the Reformation of the church. The church is the only 
human or earthly agency that continues into the eternal state. There's no civil authority in 
the New Jerusalem. It's obviously a theocratic kingdom. There's no family unit even in 
the eternal state. Jesus says, we'll be like the 
angels, not marrying, not given in marriage. But the church continues. The church militant on earth 
becomes the church triumphant in heaven to come. And so I want 
to focus on this churchly passage in Matthew chapter 16, verses 
13 to 18. But I want to read beginning 
in verse 13 of Matthew 16. 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 Bar-Jonah, 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. And I will give you the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will 
be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed 
in heaven.' Then he commanded his disciples that they should 
tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ. 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. Then Peter 
took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, 
Lord, this shall not happen to you. But he turned and said to 
Peter, get behind me, Satan, you are an offense to me, for 
you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. 
Then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after 
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow 
me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever 
loses his life for my sake will find it. For what profit is it 
to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? 
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of 
Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and 
then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say 
to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death 
till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. Amen. 
Let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for 
the written Word of the living God. We thank You for this declaration 
of our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, concerning the 
building of the Church. How we praise You for this mercy 
that You have given unto us, first and foremost to be saved 
by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and then brought 
together in Christ into a local Church. God, help us to see the 
high premium Scripture places upon the Church, and may we indeed 
treat it with that esteem and that reverence and respect that 
the Lord God calls us unto. We ask, Father, for churches 
in this city that You would bless them, those that preach the truth, 
we pray that they would progress and that they would know the 
presence and the power of God the Holy Spirit as they gather 
together on this Lord's Day. And for the persecuted church, 
the church throughout the earth, we pray that you would bless 
your people, that you would strengthen them with might in the inner 
man, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. 
and that, Father, you would be pleased to bless the preaching 
of the Church to the salvation of sinners from every tribe, 
tongue, people, and nation. And even now, bless our time 
as we look at this passage, forgiving us of all of our sins and transgressions 
and iniquities, and filling us with that Spirit that brings 
illumination to our minds. And we ask this in the name and 
for the glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, 
the church is, as I said, very important in God's redemptive 
plan, and Jesus speaks here to the building of the church. So, 
I want to look first at the question concerning Christ's identity 
in verses 13 to 15. Secondly, the confession made 
by Peter in verses 16 to 17, and then the declaration concerning 
the church in verse 18. Now, it extends, obviously, to 
verse 20, but we're only going to take up this declaration concerning 
the Church in verse 18. And there's going to be some 
anti-Roman Catholic sentiment. The Protestant Reformation was 
a call to reform the Church. It was a protest against the 
abuses of Roman Catholicism. And in our own day and age, unfortunately, 
Protestants are trying to bridge the gap and to to try and have 
affinity with the Roman Catholic institution. Now, I'm not against 
that, provided they abandon their false doctrine, they repent and 
believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they affirm the glorious 
truth of the gospel itself. If they do that, then by all 
means, we ought to have unity. But until such time, we need 
to continue to protest, and we need to always seek, by the grace 
of God, to reform the Church. So as I said, we're going to 
look first at the question concerning Christ's identity. In Matthew's 
Gospel, at this particular point, there are those who are siding 
with Jesus, He's got His disciples, but then there are those who 
are strenuously opposed to Him. And so He asks this question 
in verse 13. He says to His disciples, Who 
do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Now, this is one of 
the favorite designations of our Lord, by our Lord, for Himself. He refers to Himself as Son of 
Man. And interestingly, when you look 
at the Gospel records, when He uses the title Son of Man, probably 
what is being highlighted is His deity. When He uses the title 
Son of God, what is interesting is that most likely what is being 
highlighted is His humanity. But here he says this, who do 
men say that I the son of man am? What is the general consensus 
prevailing out in society at this particular time? And then 
notice what they respond in verse 14. So they said, some say John 
the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the 
prophets. This was the prevailing opinion 
concerning the identity of our Lord Jesus Christ at this particular 
time. And if we think that seems odd, 
there was an expectation of Elijah coming back. Jesus will later 
explain that it was the person of John the Baptist who fulfilled 
that prophecy, but there was this sort of expectation for 
these prophets to come back. And so they answer. But then 
notice what Jesus goes on to say. He now goes from a general 
consensus out there to his disciples in here. And he says, but who 
do you say that I am? See, in many respects, it really 
doesn't matter what Justin Trudeau thinks about Jesus Christ. What 
matters is those in the context of the Church who profess faith 
in Him. Who do you say that Jesus Christ, 
the Son of Man, is? That is the most important question 
any of us will ever be presented with. What think ye of Christ? If you think Christ was just 
the founder of a new religion, just a preacher of ethics and 
morality, just a person that irritated the religious status 
quo in the first century, you're right, but you're not fully right. 
You need to confess that Jesus Christ is the son of the living 
God, consistent with what Simon Peter does in this great confession. And notice that confession of 
Peter in verses 16 and 17. Verse 16, Simon Peter answered 
and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Now 
I would argue that Peter has priority among the disciples. 
He is often the spokesman. He is often the one that answers 
the Lord's direct questioning. And unfortunately, the Roman 
Catholic interpretation of this passage tells us that Peter is 
the rock upon which the church is founded. And from that, they 
then conclude papal infallibility, that Peter was the first pope. 
Now, some Protestants arguing against that will then shrink 
back from highlighting the priority of Peter. He did have priority. He was the spokesman. He does 
answer, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter 
was one first called by Christ to follow him. Peter was named 
as an apostle. To maintain Peter's priority, 
even in light of verses 18 and 19 in our passage, does not feed 
the Roman Catholic view of popery. Spurgeon says, if there had been 
no Romanist to twist this passage, it would have presented no difficulty 
whatsoever to see Peter an equal but having priority, to see him 
being the spokesman, to see him be the one in Acts 2 to stand 
up on the day of Pentecost. True believers have no problem 
with that whatsoever. So I think Spurgeon is right. 
If there had been no Romanistic twist on this, there would have 
been no difficulty. But notice the nature of his 
confession. So Jesus hones in, who do you 
say that I am? And he says, you are the Christ, 
the son of the living God. Now, the meaning Christ simply 
is. Anointed One. It reflects, or 
it's the Greek version of the Hebrew word, Messiah. And both 
Messiah and Christ mean Anointed One. The one anointed by God 
for the purpose of saving His people from their sins. The one 
anointed by God to function as the covenant mediator, to be 
the prophet, the priest, and king. The one anointed by God 
to do all that the Old Testament prophets had foretold concerning 
Him. The Old Testament prophesied 
of one who would come to bring God's kingdom and it would save 
his people from their sins. And so he confesses that thou 
art the Christ, but he doesn't stop there. He says, the Son 
of the living God. Now, I'm going to ask you to 
remember The reading at the outset of scripture. I'd actually love 
to do this right now. What was the psalm that our brother 
Steve wrote? Nobody call out, nobody raise 
your hands, but it was Psalm 132. There's a reason for that. Psalm 132 reflects 2 Samuel 7. We're gonna visit 2 Samuel 7 
later on in the sermon, but it's very important that we at least 
keep those places in our minds because that's the background 
to what Peter is confessing. In 2 Samuel 7, God made a promise 
to David. That David would have a son and 
that son would build a house for God. That son would rule 
and reign over that house forever. That that son was ultimately 
realized in the person and in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
So when Peter confesses, thou art the son of the living God, 
think 2 Samuel 7. When Jesus says, I will build 
my church, think 2 Samuel 7. He is building a house for Yahweh. It is the church of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. It is made up of us, the people 
of God, the living stones who present acceptable worship unto 
the father through the mediation of the son in the power of the 
Holy Spirit. So there's a lot going on here 
in Matthew 16. And when he confesses that you are the son of the living 
God, we've already seen Jesus referred to that. He's referred 
or at least referenced to that in Matthew 2.15, which is a quotation 
of Hosea 11.1. He's announced by the father 
at his baptism, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He is confessed or recognized 
rather, not confessed, but the devil recognizes that he is the 
son of God. The demoniacs recognize that 
he is in fact the son of God. And the apostles as well confess 
in 1433 that he is the son of God. This highlights his unique 
relationship to the father. You are the Christ, the son of 
the living God. Now we are sons of the living 
God by way of adoption. Jesus is the son of the living 
God by way of eternal generation. There's a uniqueness about Christ. 
Whether Peter had all that in his mind at this particular point, 
the rest of scripture evidences it to us. He is unique in redemptive 
history as that link between heaven and earth. And as I said, 
the background, 2 Samuel 7, 5-16, Psalm 2, when the father says 
to the son, ask of me and I will give you the nations for your 
inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. And 
then we see that he refers to God as the living God. Kids, 
have you ever wondered why God is called the living God? Well, 
of course He's alive. Well, that's a contrast with 
the dead and the dumb idols of the heathen around Israel. The 
dead and the dumb idols of the heathen outside of the church 
today. Our God is the living and the 
true God. Remember that mockery of the 
idols in Psalm 115. The psalmist says they have eyes. 
but they can't see. They have ears, but they can't 
hear. They have mouths, but they can't speak. They have noses, 
but they can't smell. That's mockery. They're dead. They're folly. They're manufactured 
items. But our God is in the heavens. 
He does whatever He pleases. This title or this ascription 
to God as the living God is a common Old Testament designation for 
God, especially when contrasting Him with dead idols. And this is a particular region 
where there was much idolatry here in Caesarea Philippi. So that's Peter's lofty confession. Thou art the Christ, the Son 
of the living God. And before we get to the declaration 
concerning the church, notice that Christ pronounces a beatitude 
upon Peter. Not because Peter's a great guy, 
not because Peter has great wisdom, not because Peter has great insight 
into the scriptures, but because Peter has been the recipient 
of great grace. Jesus says, blessed are you, 
Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to 
you. See, this ought to underscore 
for us how important it is for the Holy Spirit to be present 
during the preaching of the Word. See, pastors, preachers, evangelists 
can't trust in the free will of men to come to Christ. Pastors can't trust in your ingenuity 
or in your wisdom or in your competency with the Old Testament 
or even the New Testament scriptures. We're absolutely and positively 
dependent upon the Holy Spirit of the living and true God for 
the ability to discern who Jesus is. Who do men say that I, the 
Son of Man, am? Well, without the Spirit, they'll 
say John the Baptist. Some say Elijah. Some say Jeremiah. Some say one of the prophets. 
But who do you say that I am? You are the Christ, the Son of 
the living God. Blessed are you, Simon Barjon. Again, not because 
you're a great guy. Not that I think he thought he 
was a terrible guy, because he obviously loved him, and he was 
one of his disciples. Dropping down, he does refer 
to him as Satan, so that might go against what I'm saying here, 
but he had a favorable opinion of Simon Peter. But it's not 
that Peter was smart. It was not that Peter was, you 
know, the wise one, the PhD among them. Peter had been the recipient 
of God's grace. You see, brothers and sisters, 
when we gather here for morning and evening worship, if we're 
not doing it in utter dependence upon the Holy Spirit, it's an 
exercise in futility. We are seeking to waken dead 
men from their slumber in our own strength, appealing to their 
own wisdom. We need God the Holy Spirit to 
come down. We need what the prophet says 
in Isaiah 64 1 to take place, rend the heavens and come down. 
And in that particular context, the prophet on behalf of the 
faithful in Israel is lamenting their abysmal condition. In other 
words, God, to fix our situation, rend the heavens and come down. 
We need what we have in Revelation chapter 1. We see Christ in the 
midst of the lampstands. So I hope that the people of 
God in this local church pray before corporate worship that 
the Spirit would come in power so that sinners who come into 
this place dead in their trespasses and sins will make this lofty 
confession of faith concerning Jesus that thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the living God. See, when they do that, we don't 
praise them, we don't say or celebrate them. We praise God 
for His sovereign grace, that which is revealed in Psalm 110, 
where He's able to make men willing in the day of His power. So Jesus 
pronounces beatitude upon Simon Peter because he has been the 
recipient of sovereign grace and enabled to make that confession 
that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now let's 
look finally, thirdly, at the declaration concerning the church. 
Verse 18. He says, 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. Now, 
I wanna do four things with reference to Jesus' statement here concerning 
the establishment of the church. I wanna first define the word 
church. Secondly, look at the foundation 
of the church. Thirdly, note the builder of 
the church. And then finally, the triumph 
of the church. As I think that this is what 
is conveyed to us in verse 18. But in terms of church, the word 
church is derived from the word kuriakon in scripture. Actually, our English word church 
comes from the Scottish kirk, but the word comes from kuriakon, 
which is used twice in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 11, 
it speaks of the Lord's supper. Now the Lord owns the lunch you're 
gonna have today. The Lord has granted you the 
breakfast that you had this morning. The Lord's gonna feed you on 
Thursday night, all things being equal. But there is a supper 
specifically identifiable in scripture called the Lord's. 
It's the word korekan. The only other place where that 
word is used is in Revelation 1.10, where the apostle says 
he was in the spirit on the Lord's day. Does God own Thursday? Yes. Does God own Wednesday? Yes. 
But Sunday is his peculiar possession. So there's the Lord's Supper 
and there's the Lord's Day, and it's relative to that word karyakon. That's where kirk comes from. 
I think the Scots, the Dutch, the Germans use that word kirk. The word translated church, the 
Greek word, is ekklesia. And it's very common to define 
ekklesia this way. It means the called out ones, 
because that's the etymology of the word. Well, that's not 
necessarily the case. The church or the ekklesia in 
the New Testament is related to the Old Testament kahal. It 
was an assembly. It was a convocation. It was 
the group of God's people gathered together. And that's what's in 
view with reference to church. He says, I will build my church. Church in the New Testament doesn't 
refer to the building. Now, I think we do that. I'm 
going to go to church today. That means I'm going to go to 
45592 Wellington Avenue, or I'll see you at the church. I mean, 
common parlance. I'm not saying that everybody 
who does this is wicked and vile and a God-hating rebel and doesn't 
have any concern for the Greek text. I'm not saying that at 
all. You can smile. That was a joke. But when it 
comes to church, it's not the building, it's the people. 1 
Peter chapter 2, we're the living stones, we're the temple of God, 
we're the ones being built by Jesus for that acceptable service 
unto the Father. That's what's in view in terms 
of church. So ecclesia answers to the Old Covenant, Old Testament, 
assembly, convocation, group of God's people gathering together, 
a community of people. France says, the term ecclesia 
never denotes a physical structure in the New Testament, but always 
a community of people. The new temple is not a building 
of literal stones, but consists of living stones, according to 
1 Peter 2 and verse 5. Now in this particular section, 
Jesus is referring to what we would call the universal church, 
from every tribe, tongue, people, nation, from all eras of life, 
from, you know, everybody that is God's elect, make up that 
church, that universal church. Now, the local church is spoken 
of specifically in Matthew 18, in the context of church discipline. 
When Jesus says, tell it to the church, he doesn't mean to every 
single local expression. He means to the particular church 
that you're accountable to, the particular church that you're 
a member of. So the Bible speaks of church both with a local expression 
and then in terms of universal. Here's universal. Here's Jesus' 
testimony, declaration concerning the establishment of the church. 
Now notice, secondly, the foundation. Look at what Jesus says in verse 
18. And I also say to you that you 
are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. Now the name 
Peter is rock. So the Roman Catholic interpretation 
interprets it this way. Peter is the rock. Peter is the 
foundation. Peter is the very superstructure 
of the church itself. And again, they derive from this 
what they call papal infallibility. But that's not what Jesus is 
saying. There's another interpretation that says the rock is Peter's 
confession of faith. When he says, thou art the Christ, 
the son of the living God, that's the rock that Jesus says, I will 
build my church on. J.C. Ryle represents this position. He says, the true meaning of 
the rock in this passage appears to be the truth of our Lord's 
messiahship and divinity, which Peter had just confessed. And 
then the third interpretation, represented well by John Owen 
and the one I subscribe, is that the rock is Christ who Peter 
confessed. It's not just the profession, 
though there's a lot of similarity and overlap between two and three, 
that differs substantially from number one, the Roman Catholic 
view, that Peter's the rock, and that's the foundation upon 
which the church rests. But with reference to this third 
position, the rock is the Christ who Peter confessed. John Owen 
says, it is not the person of Peter who confessed Christ, but 
the person of Christ whom Peter confessed that is the rock on 
which the church is built. So I think that's the way we 
need to understand and the way that we need to see the contrast 
that obtains between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. Their 
foundation stone was Peter. Our foundation stone is the Lord 
Jesus. Now, that is not to say that 
the apostles didn't function in a foundational way. Jesus 
Christ is the chief cornerstone. The apostles were foundational. You see that in the book of Ephesians. 
You see that in the book of Revelation. So this is not a minimization 
of the apostolic ministry. It's not to call into question 
Peter's character or anything like that, but it is to suggest 
that Romanism is absolutely, positively, and utterly wrong 
with reference to the foundation of the Church. It's Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic Church teaches 
that Peter, in his person, was the rock, and this is the justification 
for papal authority, i.e., he and his successors are the popes 
who have supreme authority over Christians on earth. Think about 
that statement. The pope of Rome has supreme 
authority over Christians on earth. Who alone has supreme 
authority over anybody? It ain't the pope. I certainly, 
certainly hope it would never be Francis. I mean, that's a 
terrifying thought to consider. But they say, this is a quote, 
the Pope as Bishop of Rome is the successor of St. Peter and 
therefore the visible head of the church on earth, the vice 
regent of Christ and the supreme ruler of all Christians. That 
is to do great disservice to Christ's declaration in Matthew 
16, 18. On this rock, not Peter, not even a confession about Christ, 
but Christ himself, who is the Messiah, the Son of the living 
God. Now, in terms of Peter, we affirm 
the apostle Peter did occupy a place of priority among the 
disciples. Again, that's not a dispute. We remind the apostle Peter was 
not infallible. That's why I read past our section. When Jesus announces the program 
that he has to engage, when he has to go to Jerusalem, he must 
suffer. What does Peter do? Peter says, may it never be. 
And he says, Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. We see that 
Peter is rebuked by the apostle Paul in Galatians chapter two. 
We see that Peter takes his place under the pastoral leadership 
of James in the Jerusalem church. Peter was not a Pope. Peter was 
an apostle. He had a foundational role in 
the building of the church, but he certainly wasn't infallible. 
Add to that the Roman Catholic insistence that their officers 
not be married. Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law. That means that Peter was married, 
and there is no evidence that Peter ever did go to Rome. I 
mean, the whole thing is built on a foundation of sin, and we 
need to make sure we understand that. We maintain the Lord Jesus 
was not instituting a succession of popes, and we affirm, ultimately, 
that the position of Roman Catholicism is not good exegesis. It is their view of church imposed 
on the scripture. It is what they've already thought. 
It's already what they've developed. And so now they need a text in 
order to support it. You get that, right? It's a big 
difference between exegeting, leading out of the scripture, 
what the meaning, the spirit intended to be there. And there's 
another thing about what's called eisegesis, putting in the meaning 
that we want. Now, I don't doubt we all do 
this from time to time. We see things in the Bible that 
we want to be there, but you can't do that. That's not legit. That is not exegesis. That is 
not leading out of the text what the Spirit intended for us to 
get out of it. It is rather reading into it 
what we already think is there and should be there. Spurgeon 
again says, no unsophisticated reader of his Bible sees any 
trace of potpourri in this passage. Don't mistake Spurgeon when he 
says, no unsophisticated reader. I think he's poking at the academics 
in the Roman church. The unsophisticated, the common 
people, the you and I, when we read this, the last thing we 
conclude is that Peter is the first pope from which there's 
a succession of all other popes. We don't get that, right? It's 
imposed upon the text. So he says no unsophisticated 
reader of his Bible sees any trace of potpourri in this passage. 
He says the wine of Romanism is not to be pressed out of this 
cluster. The wine of Romanism is not to 
be pressed out of this cluster. So that's the Roman Catholic 
view with reference to Matthew 16, 18. It's a big difference, 
isn't it? You see why Martin Luther protested? See why John Calvin protested? 
See why Zwingli protested? See why there was a Protestant 
Reformation? Because they imposed upon persons 
that they must submit to papal authority. They said that the 
Pope at times speaks ex cathedra. That means he speaks in a manner 
that is on par with the word of the living God. See, when 
we talk about Roman Catholicism, it's not just the funny hats, 
it's not just the incense, it's not just all the accouterments 
that we see among them, it's their doctrine that is rotten 
to the core. The doctrine of authority, the 
doctrine of sola scriptura, the doctrine of justification by 
faith alone. To try to brook relationships 
with modern potpourri until there's grand repentance on their part 
is to do a fool's errand. It ought to make us hang our 
heads in shame that Protestants want to try and do this. Again, 
if they come to the table, they renounce people. Basically, they 
have to renounce the Roman Catholic institution and join Protestant 
churches. If they do that, I'm all for 
that. That's a unity or an ecumenicism that I am all about. But to try 
and have that unity or that ecumenicism when they still fundamentally 
oppose justification by faith, when they still subscribe to 
papal infallibility, when they still subscribe to the sorts 
of things that they engage in with Mary as the mediatrix between 
God and men. These things are horrific bits 
of theology, and we cannot have any sort of truck with them. 
It's a terrible, terrible position with reference to ecclesiology. In terms of the Protestant doctrine, 
we affirm the Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Church. 
The texts of Scripture tell us that. But as well, the Lord Jesus 
utilized the apostles to play a fundamental role in this foundation 
also. Turn to Ephesians 2. Just one 
specimen passage, just so we can see this, that a Protestant 
doctrine doesn't jettison the role of the apostles, but rather 
it sees it with reference to Christ's headship and authority. Ephesians 2. 19. Now, therefore, you are no longer 
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints 
and members of the household of God, having been built on 
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself 
being the chief cornerstone. So again, it's not a minimization 
of the role of the apostles, but it's not an exaltation of 
the role of the apostles as the vice-regent of Jesus Christ, 
as the vicar of Christ on the earth. Do you know what the word 
vicar means? Vicar means substitute. When 
they say that the Pope is the vicar, they are saying that he 
represents Christ on earth. Brethren, we have access to Christ 
at any moment, at any time, in any place. We do not need Francis. We do not need Benedict. We do 
not need any of them to garner access to the Father through 
the Son by the Spirit. This was another Reformation 
emphasis by Luther, the priesthood of all believers. See, in a Roman 
Catholic situation, you've got the priesthood that's a step 
up. That's not the way it's supposed to be. There is a priesthood 
of all believers. We all get to draw near to God 
through Christ in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. 
So you see, there's all these emphases that have arisen in 
Romanism that ought to cause Protestants to maintain Protestantism 
and to see the necessity for that reformation that occurred 
502 years ago. to see the necessity that that continues today, unabated, 
when it comes to these cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith. 
We need to maintain our confession of faith, brethren. The Protestants 
should not be afraid to see a priority in the apostle Peter, but he 
should never ascribe to Peter, potpourri, as Romanism has done. Now notice, thirdly, the builder 
of the church. And I suggest this is very encouraging 
and very good news. And then we've bogged down a 
little bit in a bit of church history and Reformation and Protestantism 
and all that stuff. These last two points, everybody 
should be able to grab hold on and get hopefully some encouragement 
from. I will build my church. You ever 
just thank God Almighty that it's Jesus who's building the 
church? Because if he left it up to us, it probably wouldn't 
have happened. How do you get 100 people from various tribes, 
tongues, peoples, and nations, various ages, various socioeconomic 
status, and bring them together and they don't kill each other? 
Well, that's God's work. That's Christ's work. That's 
Jesus building his church. We ought to be very encouraged 
about that. If it were up to men, it would 
have failed. Brethren, we have witnessed the 
church and the history of it getting persecuted. Jesus is 
gonna speak to that in just a moment. We have seen it, murderous rage 
poured out upon it. We have seen defection from within. We've seen heresy. We've seen 
all that sort of stuff we sang of in that blessed hymn by Samuel, 
I think it's Samuel Stone, The Church is One Foundation. We've 
seen all that, but it's still here. The church is still here. Where's the Roman Empire, which 
was the great enemy of the church in the early time of the church? 
They're done. What's happened to any group 
of men that have risen up against the church of the Lord Jesus 
Christ? The church is still here, brethren. Those groups of men 
are not. The church, as I said, is the 
only earthly institution that survives into eternity. I don't 
think that means that as husbands and wives, we won't recognize 
anybody anymore. Sometimes that question comes 
up. Will I remember my wife or will I remember my husband in 
heaven? My answer to that is if we can 
recognize Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when we sit at the marriage 
supper of the Lamb, I'd like to think we would recognize the 
person we shared a bed with for 50 or 60 or 70 years. But there's 
a fundamental discontinuity in terms of our existence in the 
eternal state. We'll be like the angels. We 
won't be given in marriage. And we won't marry. There won't 
be the procreative process. There won't be the need for conjugal 
congress. There won't be the need for the 
sorts of things that are there or that are here now into the 
new Jerusalem. As I said, civil government isn't 
going to make it. And in that, all God's people 
said, amen. But what does exist, what continues on, when we've 
been there 10,000 years bright, shining as the sun, we've no 
less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun, is 
the confession of the Church of Jesus Christ. Brethren, the 
church has fallen on hard times. People think they can go it alone. 
They think they can be mavericks. They think they can be rugged 
individualists and make it to heaven, because after all, the 
church is filled with hypocrites. What better place for a hypocrite 
to be than in the church, where they hear redemptive grace preached, 
where they hear forgiveness of sins offered in the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, where they have a master who does forgive, 
a master who does cleanse with his blood. But there is this 
mindset out there that I don't need the church. That's not the 
mindset of the Scriptures. You are alone if you think that 
you do not need the church. Does that mean all churches are 
wonderful and nothing bad? Churches aren't wonderful. Churches 
aren't mixed with impurity. Churches are not perfect. You've 
met that person that's looking for the perfect church. Well, 
when they find it, it will be imperfect because they're now 
there. There's no such thing as a perfect church. To put that 
expectation upon the New Testament scriptures is to miss the point. But the church is safe. The church 
is the bride of Jesus. The church plays a central role 
in God's redemptive plan and its builder is King Jesus. If 
I managed to build something while my wife was away, she's 
visiting her parents, if I went out into the garage, which is 
her workshop, if you ever see the woodworking tools in our 
garage, it's not mine, it's hers. But let's just say I went out 
there and I made something, a birdhouse, for instance. And she came back 
and she looked at it and didn't pay it any attention whatsoever. 
I'd be highly offended, and I'd probably tell her as much. I 
built that birdhouse. It took me six days. I carved 
it. I did whatever. And you didn't 
even regard it. That's the attitude of persons 
when it comes to the church. Jesus is building the church. Certainly he's active in your 
families, certainly he's active in the civil government, certainly 
he's active in these other various human spheres, but it's specifically 
his church that he ascribes he's building to. And for us to denigrate 
or to treat with contempt or to dismiss the place of the church 
reflects very poorly on our profession of faith. In other words, those 
who profess that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living 
God, they love what He's building. They try to get behind him in 
that process. They don't try to do disservice. 
They don't try to do discord. They don't run in and say, well, 
we've got a chance. No, they get behind the builder. 
They jump on board. They want to assist. They want 
to aid. They want to function the way that Eve does with Adam. 
It's Adam given the cultural mandate to go out and subdue 
the earth. Eve is to be his helper to assist him in that. Well, 
it's the same with reference to the church. It's not us building 
the church. It's the last Adam. It's Jesus 
Christ. We are his bride. We are his 
Eve. We are to assist him and aid 
him in this particular expansion process. We are not to fight 
against him, militate against him, or whine incessantly because 
there's no perfect church. Brethren, it's not out there. 
This is the church militant. We look forward to the church 
triumphant where it will be perfect, where it will not be filled with 
sin and sinners, where it will not be the case that we fight 
against our blessed master. But on earth, we ought to expect 
a degree of that because of our own remaining corruption and 
because of the remaining corruption of our fellows. We have real 
enemies, and Christ then speaks to that as we continue. Notice 
the last statement. He speaks of the triumph of the 
church, but implicit in His statement concerning the triumph of the 
church, He also affirms the hardship facing the church. So let's look 
again at verse 18, 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. Now Hades is probably the two 
compartment place made up of righteous and unrighteous that 
obtains in the intermediate state. When Jesus comes back in glory 
to judge the living and the dead, there will be heaven where the 
righteous go, and there will be hell where the wicked go. 
Right now it's represented by that term Hades. There's a righteous 
place where Christ is, and there's an unrighteous where the devil 
is. So that's probably what he means. Some commentators say, 
no, it just means death. But it's used in conjunction 
with death, death and Hades, twice in the book of Revelation. 
So there are two different things, death and Hades. And Hades refers, 
in this context, I would suggest, to the abode of Satan. It speaks 
to that antipathy that exists between the wicked and the righteous. It speaks to that antithesis 
between the power of darkness and the kingdom of light. So 
when Jesus says, I will build my church and the gates of Hades 
shall not prevail against it, he highlights the triumph of 
the church. Think about what he says. I think 
that today we turn this passage completely on its head and miss 
the point. We understand, and I'm going 
to make this statement in a moment, that the gates of Hades are seeking 
to disrupt the church. That's evident. That's affirmative. Paul says as much in 2 Timothy 
3, all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer 
persecution. But think about the metaphor 
that Jesus uses. He says the gates. of Hades shall 
not prevail against it." What do gates function as? A defense 
mechanism, right? See, the typical interpretation 
is to see the devil and his minions on the offense, and the church 
on the defense. That's not what Jesus is saying. 
Jesus is saying the church is on offense. And the gates of 
Hades are on defense and they're not going to prevail against 
the kingdom of God. Does that make sense? Gates are 
defensive, they're not offensive. Gates don't typically leave their 
spot and go out and initiate warfare. They typically try to 
protect the camp that they are guarding from the warfare that's 
initiated on them. A parallel passage that I think 
makes this clear is Paul in Colossians 1, verses 13 and 14. He says, 
he, the father, has delivered us from the power of darkness 
and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love, in whom 
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. 
So Paul says that as the gospel is preached, as the Holy Spirit 
attends, as persons make that grand confession, thou art the 
Christ, the son of the living God. What's taking place? The 
Lord God Most High is transferring us from that kingdom of darkness 
into the kingdom of the Son of His love. That is an offensive 
mission on the part of the triune God. It's that defense that Jesus 
is speaking to. John Gill says it this way, he 
says that all the infernal principalities and powers, with all their united 
cunning and strength, will never be able to extirpate his gospel, 
to destroy his interest, to demolish his church in general, or ruin 
any one particular soul that is built upon him. That's what 
you're supposed to conclude. The church wins. I know that's 
not popular, I know that's not common, but Christ will see the 
travail of his soul and be satisfied. When you get to the book of Revelation, 
what do you have? Do you have a few stragglers? 
standing there before the throne and before the lamb who sits 
upon the throne. John says, I saw a great multitude 
that no man can number from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. Brethren, this is why the church 
militant should be made up of persons from every tribe, tongue, 
people, and nation. We should have blacks, we should 
have whites, we should have red people, we should have yellow 
people. We should have every type of people because that's 
the way heaven's gonna look. If we can't get along now, we're 
going to be forced to in eternity. And this is what John says, it's 
a great multitude. So the gates of Hades shall not 
prevail against it. Now having said that, the very 
language itself suggests the gates of Hades is going to try. 
The devil is a roaring, goes about like a roaring lion, seeking 
whom he may devour. There is gonna be animosity directed 
to the church. I mean, just look around you. 
My wife says, you better warn our church. There's persecution 
coming. I was studying conspiracy stuff 
in the 90s, and now she's far exceeded me in a way that it's 
surprising to me at times, but I don't think she's wrong. There's 
a concerted effort to extirpate Christianity from society. Yesterday, 
we're holding up signs that say, Choose Life. People come and 
do this, or the other finger upwardly at you. What does that 
mean? If I'm out there with a sign 
that says choose death, people will thumbs up me? People will 
applaud that? Choose death? Really? That's 
where we've gotten? Where there's such minimal regard 
for the beating hearts of babies? There's minimal regard for old 
people in hospitals? Minimal regard for sick people 
in hospitals? Where their lives are counted 
but nothing? Do not make any mistake, brethren. 
This is a concerted effort against the prince of life. The Lord 
Christ told us that the devil is a murderer and a liar from 
the beginning. That's the reality that we face. There is a concerted effort, 
as Gil says, to try and extirpate. That means rid ourselves of these 
notions of Christianity. Will there be opposition? There 
most certainly will be, but there is the triumph of the Church 
that Jesus holds forth. The gates of Hades shall not 
prevail. They may try and for a time may 
seem to be successful, but they're not gonna prevail. Why? Because 
men are building the church? No, because Jesus said, I will 
build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail. Well, in conclusion, I want us 
to remember the identity of the son of man. 2 Samuel 7 is behind 
the passage. 2 Samuel 7 is a huge passage 
in redemptive history. If you're not familiar with 2 
Samuel 7, either read it or come to our church, because we talk 
about it a lot. It's the covenant of the kingdom. It's the covenant 
of the king. It is the reality that from David's 
line, Messiah would come. And intriguingly, in 2 Samuel 
7, It would be. The one who would build this 
house would be God's Son. He would build the house of God, 
according to 2 Samuel 7, verse 13. And you need to appreciate 
what's happening there. In 2 Samuel 7, David has consolidated 
power. David has made Jerusalem the 
political capital, and David has made Jerusalem the religious 
capital. Things are great for David in 
2 Samuel 7. So great that it starts off with 
him musing on his desire to build a house for God. Because David's 
sitting in a palace. He's in a mansion. And he knows 
this and he says, wait a minute, I'm dwelling in a house filled 
with, you know, good stuff and paneling and all that sort of 
thing. And the house of the Lord dwells in a tent. And so David 
wants to build this house for God. God comes to him in this 
Davidic covenant and says, I'm going to build a house from you, 
David, a dynasty. Kings will rise from your loins, 
terminating or fulfilling in one king in particular, the Messiah, 
the Christ, the Son of the living God. He will build a house for 
God. That's what 2 Samuel tells us. He would establish a kingdom 
that would have no end. 2 Samuel 7, 12 and 13. So when we get here to Matthew 
16 and Peter says, you are the Christ, the son of the living 
God, see the connection. He confesses that he's the son 
of the living God. And then the son of the living 
God himself says, I will build my church. I'm the fulfillment 
of 2 Samuel 7. I'm the son of David that is 
going to do this, and the gates of Hades itself will not prevail 
against it. Secondly, we ought to appreciate 
in the passage the triumph and the suffering of the church. 
the triumph and the suffering of the church. The gates of Hades 
shall not prevail against it. We have many promises in the 
Old Testament that God is going to make good on his purpose and 
plan to save that great multitude that no man can number. All the 
way back in Genesis chapter 9, Noah prophesies that there will 
be Gentiles included in the covenant promises of God. We get to the 
New Testament. We've been seeing it in our studies 
in the book of Acts. We see these Gentiles being included in the 
covenant promises of God. Tribe, tongue, people, nation. 
The church is gonna triumph. The promise made to Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob is coming to fruition. The reality of Psalm 
2 is there. Ask of me and I will give you 
the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth 
for your possession. Psalm 110. I thought about that 
psalm as we were singing it, and I thought, how much of our 
Christianity is effeminate? The idea of kings bashing the 
heads of their enemies is so far removed from us because we 
don't even ponder the reality of this altar. That Psalm is 
being fulfilled when persons are delivered from the kingdom 
of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the Son of His 
love. The Messiah is conquering. The Messiah is showing His power, 
His authority, and His glory. That's the triumph that we get 
behind. Not a triumphalism, which teaches it's always going to 
only be good for us. No, but a triumph at the end. 
Christ shall see the travail of his soul and Christ shall 
be satisfied. The triumph of the church is 
sure because of its builder and sustainer, but the persecution 
of the church is sure because of its enemies and their hatred 
for Christ and his church. Think about the enemies, the 
world. You see this? If you're not seeing this, brethren, 
pay attention because it's happening. It's becoming commonplace. What 
are the big deals in the modern mind? It's the climate, let's 
worship the creature rather than the creator, who is God over 
all and blessed forever, and all manner of perversion. These 
are the things that are openly flouted. They're completely contrary 
to the word of God. What should we be concerned about? 
I don't know, justice, righteousness? the enforcement of law, the reality 
that we live in a world governed by a moral governor. I mean, 
have these thoughts escaped us? Is this, you know, all gone by 
the wayside? It's increasingly so. So you've 
got the world, you've got the devil. I think the devil likes 
it when churches gather together and worship God and preach the 
word. No. What happens with the parable 
of the sower? Jesus says, the man goes out, 
he sows the seed, and the birds of the air come down, and they 
take it. Well, Jesus likens the devil to that. But I've often 
said, the birds don't have malicious intent. When birds come and eat 
up your seed, it's not because they hate you. It's because they 
need seed. The devil actually hates you. The devil actually 
hates the church. This is his end game, lest you 
hear and believe that seed that is planted. So we've got the 
world out there at odds with us, we've got the devil, and 
then we have our own remaining corruption. We got all of our 
unbridled babiness and whininess and just the kinds of stuff that 
we do. I mean, again, if Christ didn't 
hold us together, I don't think we would. We would all say, peace 
out. We'd all leave. We'd say, forget 
it. But brethren, we understand that Christ is in this. We take 
seriously the admonition in Ephesians 4 to endeavor to keep the unity 
of the Spirit and the bond of peace. We realize and recognize 
that when I'm in a midst of people, they're going to inevitably sin 
against me, and I'm going to inevitably sin against them. 
Now, this is where it sounds like I'm grossly lowering the 
bar. I like to say it's a bit of realism. It's a dose of reality. There 
is that sense where when you get to know people better, you 
typically sin against them. When they know you better, they 
typically sin against you. It's just the way it is. If I 
were to ask the marrieds here, who do you sin against the most? 
You're probably going to say my beloved wife or my beloved 
husband. They see me with all my warts 
and all my issues and all my problems, and nevertheless, they 
love me. Well, that's what the church 
is supposed to be like. That's how we're supposed to function. 
Not expecting the worst, but not being blown away when somebody 
does sin against us. I mean, come on. It's another 
thing that's grossly lacking in modern culture. I think Ben 
Shapiro recognized this several months ago. There's no forgiveness. Something you did, you know, 
38 years ago, in some strange context, will be used against 
you now. Isn't it wonderful to have an 
advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous, that 
when we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive 
us? Isn't redemptive religion wonderful? Isn't the grace of 
God glorious? Isn't mercy and forgiveness delightful? 
I hope you say yay and amen, but that stuff is going by the 
wayside as well. Calvin said, with reference to 
the suffering, all who are united to Christ and acknowledge Him 
to be Christ and mediator will remain to the end safe from all 
danger. For what is said of the body 
of the church belongs to each of its members. since they are 
one in Christ. Yet, this passage also instructs 
us that so long as the church shall continue to be a pilgrim 
on the earth, she will be exposed to many attacks. For when it 
is declared that Satan will not conquer, this implies that he 
will be her constant enemy. That's something we need to get 
in our heads. That's something we need to settle 
with, but we need to be reminded that the gates of Hades shall 
not prevail against it because Christ is her builder. Well, 
if you are not a believer here this morning, I hope that you'll 
appreciate what the Bible says concerning the church. But even 
more foundational and more fundamental is this confession concerning 
the Lord Jesus, that he is the Christ, the son of the living 
God. You can go to heaven with some defective views of the church. 
I suspect that there's going to be a lot of us in heaven who 
have defective views of the church. But you can't go wrong on Jesus. This is similar to the Shema 
in Deuteronomy 6. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our 
God, the Lord is one. Thou art the Christ, the Son 
of the living God. You don't go to heaven without 
that confession. You don't go to heaven without 
affirming that. You don't go to heaven without 
believing that, without trusting in the Christ, who is the foundation 
upon which the church stands. It is Jesus alone that is necessary 
for salvation. Earlier I said that the church 
functions in a central manner in God's redemptive plan. in 
a central manner, but Jesus is the central manner. Without Jesus, 
there is no salvation. Certainly, I hope everybody here 
this morning has a great appreciation for the church, both its universal 
application and in its local particular expressions like we 
have here in Chilliwack. But you need to understand that 
apart from confessing, believing and confessing that Christ is 
the son of the living God, you will die in your sins. That's 
my emphasis to you today, to look unto Him, to believe on 
Him, and you will have everlasting life. Well, let us close in a 
word of prayer. Father, thank you for this, your 
word. Thank you for the reformation 
that occurred 502 years ago, even prior to that. Thank you 
that you've always had your elect, you've had your blood-bought 
children, you've had those who are concerned for the purity 
of the church and its doctrine and in its practice. And God, 
how we thank you that we have reaped many, many benefits by 
virtue of our connection to this tradition. We ask, Father, that 
this word, the glorious truth of the gospel, would be proclaimed 
all over the earth, and that a multitude today, by the grace 
and power of the Holy Spirit, would confess that Jesus Christ 
is the Son of the living God. And we pray this in his most 
blessed name. Amen.