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.
Introduction
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,
The Question of Christ's Identity
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
Christ's Direct Challenge to His Disciples
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
Peter's Confession of the Son of God
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
The Beatitude and Sovereign Grace
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.
The Declaration Concerning the Church
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.
Defining 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.
The Foundation of the Church
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.
Roman Catholic Error on the Foundation
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.
The Protestant Doctrine of Foundation
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
The Builder of the Church
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.
The Triumph of the Church
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.
Application
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.
Closing 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.