The Son of the Immortal God and His Invincible Church

We're in Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

! Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

! Heavenly Father, I come to this pulpit this morning with a gaping hole, a gaping hole, a sense of impotence.

Because I realize that unless you open the eyes of the blind, unless you illuminate the eyes of people's hearts, they cannot see you in your glory.

So Lord, I plead that we begin with prayer.

That you would, by your Holy Spirit, open the eyes of our hearts to behold the glory and the grace of Jesus Christ, your Son.

Fill us with faith and hope and love as we cling to your word.

Speak to us from your word as you always do.

They might be built up as the people of God.

The invincible church of Christ, against which the gates of Hades cannot prevail.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Please stand if we are able to honor God together as we read from his word.

Matthew chapter 16, verses 1 to 20.

Matthew 16:1–20

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

He answered them,

When it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red.

And in the morning, it will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

So he left them and departed.

When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread.

Jesus said to them,

Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

And they began discussing it among themselves, saying,

We brought no bread.

But Jesus, aware of this, said,

Oh, you of little faith,

Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?

Do you not yet perceive?

Do you not remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you gathered?

Or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many baskets you gathered?

How is it that you failed to understand that I did not speak about bread?

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread,

but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi,

he asked his disciples,

Who do people say that the Son of Man is?

And they said,

Some say John the Baptist,

Others say Elijah,

And others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

He said to them,

But who do you say that I am?

Simon Peter replied,

You are the Christ,

the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered 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 tell you,

you are Peter,

and on this rock I will build my church,

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,

and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,

and whatever you lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Then he strictly charged the disciples,

tell no one that he was the Christ.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

Throughout the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,

Jesus asks many questions.

In fact, he asks over 300 questions

throughout the course of the Gospels.

Far more frequently than the times that other people ask him questions.

This was Jesus' way of engaging people

and of teaching people,

of asking thought-provoking questions

and challenging their assumptions

and shedding light and exposing people's hearts

and revealing the eternal truths of God.

But of all the questions that Jesus asked,

the one that he asks in this passage,

Matthew 16, 15,

is the most significant one.

Who do you say that I am?

Life or death?

Heaven or hell?

Our eternal destiny hangs on,

in the balance of the way we respond to that one question.

Jesus has been called many things

throughout the Gospel of Matthew.

People have addressed him

with the Messianic title of Son of David.

The demons have called out,

saying, Son of God.

Even the disciples themselves,

in days' confusion,

after seeing Jesus walk on the water,

have declared,

you are truly the Son of God.

And here in this passage,

once and for all,

Jesus settles all the questions,

all the debate,

and declares who he is.

Who is Jesus?

And his answer is this,

he is the Son of the immortal God

who builds his invincible church.

Jesus is the Son of the immortal God

who builds his invincible church.

And we're going to first talk about

how Jesus warns us,

beware of the leaven of the false teaching

of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And secondly,

we're going to talk about

how we ought to share the bread of life,

which is Jesus Christ.

After a powerful ministry among the Gentiles,

at the end of chapter 15,

Jesus crossed back over

to the Jewish territory of Magadan.

And then immediately,

he is met with skeptical Jewish leaders,

the antagonistic Sadducees and the Pharisees.

He says that they came,

and to test him,

they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees

were the two dominant ideological groups

in the first century Judaism.

They together made up the Sanhedrin,

which is the highest ruling body

in the Jewish community.

It's the highest ruling religious body

and political body as well.

And the Sanhedrin was in cahoots with the Romans.

They argue,

the Sadducees in particular,

argue that there's no resurrection,

nor angel, nor spirit,

while the Pharisees believed in all those things.

So the Sadducees and Pharisees,

actually on many counts,

were at odds with each other.

The Pharisees were like the religious conservatives,

the constitutional originalists,

who wanted the people to return to the Bible.

The Sadducees were kind of the liberals of their day.

However, in this instance,

these two rival factions

make common cause

to oppose a single foe in Jesus Christ.

So it's not good news

that the Pharisees and the Sadducees

have joined up here to test Jesus.

We know that they're not trying to

ask a sincere question.

They're trying to trip him up

because that's the way the word test is used

whenever the Jewish leaders come to test him.

This is a bipartisan inquisition

into Jesus' teaching and ministry.

And they demand from him

that Jesus show them a sign from heaven.

If this were the first time

that these Jewish leaders encountered Jesus

or heard of Jesus,

maybe we'll think that that's a genuine request.

But the request rings hollow

in light of what we've observed so far

in the previous two chapters.

In Matthew 14, 9,

Jesus specifically looks up to heaven, he says,

and then prays over the five loaves of bread.

And then he goes on to feed 5,000 men

besides women and children on top of that

with that five loaves of bread.

Is that not a sign from heaven?

And then in Matthew 15,

Jesus repeats that miracle among the Gentiles.

The 4,000 Gentiles.

And then sandwiched between

those two multiplication miracles

are two summary statements

of Jesus' ministry among the Jews first

and then Jesus' ministry among the Gentiles,

both of which tell us that

they brought all kinds of sick and ill

and demonized people.

And at the touch of his hand,

they were all healed.

People came and they wanted to just touch

the fringe of Jesus' garment

knowing that they would be healed.

And they were.

And in the summary of Jesus' ministry

among the Gentiles in Matthew 15,

he says that the mute speak,

the crippled are healthy,

the lame walk in the blind see.

Are these not signs from heaven?

And yet Pharisees and Sadducees

ask for another sign.

And Jesus perceptively and rightly refuses.

The scribes and the Pharisees

in previous chapters had asked for a sign also.

And Jesus responded to them

in a very similar way.

Here there's a little bit of a meteorological,

a metaphor here.

When it is evening, you say,

it will be fair weather,

for the sky is red.

And in the morning, it will be stormy today,

for the sky is red and threatening.

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky,

but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

There's a rhyme that ancient mariners used often.

It goes like this.

Red sky at night, sailors delight.

Red sky at morning, sailors warning.

I am, I'm a no, I'm no weather scientist,

but I know how to search for things on Google.

And when the air is highly, highly pressured,

and it traps dust and particles,

and that filters apparently,

that filters out blue light,

so that all you see is the red and the orange hues

of a red sky.

And that kind of high-pressured air apparently is good.

But it creates fair weather,

because as the dense, stable air sinks down,

it traps moisture.

It dissipates clouds.

It inhibits cloud formation.

And because weather systems,

and I just learned this,

that generally they move from west to east,

if a red sunset means that where the sun is setting,

in the west, there is good weather.

And because weather systems travel from west to east,

that means the weather,

good weather is coming toward you.

It's ahead.

However, if you,

if you, a red sunrise is what you see,

then that means where the sun is rising in the east

is already behind you.

It's past you.

That good weather system has passed you,

so that means there's likely bad weather coming.

It's interesting that the same red sky,

depending on your orientation toward it,

which direction you are facing it,

could mean fair weather or foul weather.

Likewise, it is your orientation toward Jesus Christ,

the Son of God,

whether you come to Him in faith or unbelief,

that determines whether you have peace with God or wrath.

You face the wrath of God.

As it says in Matthew 3, 11 to 12,

those who turn to Jesus in faith

are baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire.

That represents God's gracious, powerful presence

indwelling His people,

the Holy Spirit and fire.

But those who reject Jesus, it says,

will be burned with unquenchable fire.

It's the same fire of God,

but it could mean God's gracious presence with His people

or the fiery wrath,

unquenchable flames of judgment.

These Pharisees and Sadducees knew how to interpret the appearance of the sky,

but they could not interpret the signs of the times.

They didn't know how to interpret and understand

what Jesus was doing and who He was.

They did not understand that He was the Messiah,

the Christ,

the Son of the living God.

And that's the question that Jesus poses to us this morning.

Who do you say that I am?

Jesus says in verse 4,

an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign,

but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

Jesus did, as I mentioned in the previous weeks,

perform signs sometimes to help people,

to prove His messianic identity.

And He did that for those who genuinely sought Him

and wanted to humbly put their trust in Him.

But He consistently refuses to indulge the testing of people

who question Him out of pride and unbelief

and evil and adulterous generation.

To such people, there is no sign that will suffice

because their questions do not stem from a heart of faith

that's seeking understanding,

but rather from an evil and adulterous heart.

So even though throughout the Gospels,

Jesus performs many spectacular miracles

that defy the laws of nature,

there are people who always stubbornly persist

in their unbelief.

And this is why, in this case,

Jesus refuses their demand for a sign.

Instead, Jesus points to a singular, decisive sign

that should be sufficient for all of us,

and that's the sign of Jonah

that Andrew preached on some weeks ago.

Matthew 12, 40-41,

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights

in the belly of the great fish,

so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights

in the heart of the earth.

The sign of Jonah is the death and resurrection of Jesus,

that Jesus died for the sins of His people,

He was buried in the heart of the earth,

and on the third day,

He was raised to new life for our justification.

That's the sign that God has provided,

and no more will be given.

That's the sign that you must reckon with and believe.

He says in verse 4,

So He left them and departed.

Because these Jewish leaders persist in their unbelief,

this is the end of Jesus' mission in Galilee.

Now He will resolutely set His direction toward Jerusalem

and toward His crucifixion and resurrection,

after which He will resume His ministry to the Galileans.

After their departure,

Jesus says to His disciples in verse 6,

Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

They had just had a confrontation

with the Pharisees and the Sadducees,

and Jesus is clearly warning them

about them and their teaching,

as Matthew explains in verse 12.

But Jesus' disciples are kind of clueless at this moment.

They don't understand.

They had forgotten to pack bread for their journey.

And so they think Jesus is talking about that.

Oh, I think Jesus knows that we forgot bread.

We need to go get bread somewhere.

But He says,

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

I don't know, maybe they have a bakery somewhere.

Be careful.

Be careful.

Let's not make sure to get the wrong leavened bread.

Honestly, it's a little hard to see

how they could possibly misunderstand this.

And Jesus shares my disbelief in verse 11.

How is it that you fail to understand

that I did not speak about bread?

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Both the word understand and the word bread

have been recurring themes in the preceding chapters.

The word understand, if you might recall,

if you're with us in the parables of the kingdom in chapter 13,

in the parables of the sower,

it contrasts the seeds that bear fruit

versus the seeds that do not bear fruit.

The seeds that do not bear fruit

are those who hear the word but do not understand.

But the seeds that bear fruit are those who hear the word

and understand and bear fruit up to a hundredfold.

Jesus twice says in this passage

that his disciples did not understand.

The word perceive in verse 9 is the same word,

just translated differently, understand, as in verse 11.

Do you not yet perceive?

Even the 12 disciples do not understand,

apart from Jesus' kind explanations,

but with some help from Jesus,

it says in verse 12 that they finally understood

that Jesus was not talking about bread,

but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Jesus reminds them of the multiplication of bread

and the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 Jews

with five loaves of bread

and 4,000 Gentiles with seven loaves of bread,

that Jesus is the bread of life sent by God from heaven

to nourish the people of God,

both Jews and Gentiles, unto eternal life.

They've seen all that.

The disciples have been witnesses to all that.

The history-making, the world-changing,

people-saving, and kingdom-coming event

is unfolding right in front of their eyes,

and yet they worry about bread.

Do you see the absurdity of that?

Even at a basic logical level,

not understanding all that about who Jesus is,

like Jesus just fed 5,000 people

with five loaves of bread.

Do you think that you forgot bread

and now Jesus is like, oh no.

You forgot bread.

Now we're not going to have anything to eat.

How could you?

Come on.

Of course not.

Jesus chides the disciples in verse 8,

oh you of little faith,

why are you discussing among yourselves

the fact that you don't have no bread?

This ammunition, oh you of little faith,

is one we've seen earlier on in the Sermon on the Mount

in Matthew 6, 25 to 34,

and I think Jesus is intentionally invoking what he taught.

There, he says in there,

do not worry about your life,

what you will eat or drink,

or what you will wear.

Do not worry,

because he says,

look at the birds of the air.

Do not sow or reap or store away in barns,

and yet your heavenly father feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable than they?

Can any of you by worrying

add a single hour to your life?

And why do you worry about clothes?

Look at the lilies of the field

and how they grow.

Not even Solomon, king of Israel,

not even Solomon in all his splendor

was dressed like one of these.

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field,

which is here today

and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,

will he not much more clothe you,

you of little faith?

That's the exact same phrase,

oh you of little faith.

So do not worry,

saying what shall we eat

or what shall we drink

or what shall we wear,

for the Gentiles run after all these things.

And your heavenly father knows that you need them,

but instead seek first his kingdom

and its righteousness

and all these things will be added to you as well.

How often,

even though our heavenly father has promised

to provide for all of our needs,

do we worry about what we will eat?

And no matter how much we worry

and no matter how much we plan our days

and plan our budgets,

we cannot extend the length of our lives

by a single hour.

We will die exactly when God appointed for us to die.

But why does this happen to us?

Why do we worry?

Like why do the disworldly

and temporal concerns of money

and things and food and drink and clothes,

why do they feel so real

and so imminent and urgent

that we forget and lose sight

of these spiritual eternal realities?

Two failures, Jesus says,

account for this in verse nine.

One, a failure to remember.

Two, a failure to perceive.

First, we fixate on what we do not have

and we worry

because we do not remember

the five loaves for the 5,000.

So if you're worried about something

in your life today,

then take time to remember

how God has provided for you,

how God has come through for you

time and time again.

And secondly, there's a failure to perceive.

We get tunnel vision

because if we fail to perceive

that God is who he says he is,

we're so fixated on the bread

that we forgot to pack,

the bread that we're worried

we might not have,

that we forget

that Jesus is the bread of life

who gives eternal life

and that he is with us

and indwells us by his spirit.

We do not perceive

that the creator of the heavens

and the earth

is our heavenly father

who provides for us.

So let me ask you,

has your life recently been consumed

by your earning and spending

and saving the food you eat

and the clothes you wear?

Have the mundane realities of life

taken up the entirety of your vision

so that you are losing sight

of eternal realities,

of your heavenly perspective,

of seeking first the kingdom of God

and its righteousness?

Are you aware today

of what God is doing

in and through you

and in and through your neighbors

and your friends,

what God is doing

in and through your children?

Are you aware of these realities?

The bread that the disciples

forgot to pack

was the last thing

on Jesus' mind.

Instead, he was warning them

about the leaven

of the false teaching

of the Pharisees

and the Sadducees.

Leaven sometimes is used

in a positive metaphor

throughout the gospel.

We saw that in chapter 13,

but here it's clearly being used

in a negative way.

Leaven is fermented dough

from an old batch

of fermented bread,

like the way people

in our church make sourdough bread.

And you combine

that leftover batch

that you've set aside

with the new batch

and then it leavens

the entire batch

of new bread.

However,

this is an ingenious way

to save

and to continue the process,

especially when you don't

have yeast.

But if the leaven

that you're using

is contaminated,

it will also spread

contamination

through the entire batch

of bread.

The Pharisees

and the Sadducees

settled skepticism.

Their rejection

of Jesus

as the Christ,

the son of the living God,

is like leaven

contaminated

with bad bacteria

that spreads

through the entire bread.

Jesus' warning

about leaven

gets picked up

later by Apostle Paul

in two separate occasions

in the New Testament.

And these passages

helpfully illustrate

the two ways

that leaven

can taint

the bread of Jesus Christ,

the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

The first kind of leaven

is lawlessness.

When writing

to the Corinthian church

that's tolerating

sexual immorality

among their own members,

Paul commands them

in 1 Corinthians 5,

6-9,

Do you not know

that a little leaven

leavens the whole lump?

Cleanse out the old leaven

that you may be a new lump

as you really are unleavened.

For Christ,

our Passover lamb,

has been sacrificed.

Do not associate

with sexually immoral people.

Sin is like

an infectious disease.

It never stays put.

It always spreads.

It grows worse

if you leave it unattended,

if you do not repent of it

and turn from it.

This is why

we must decisively remove

everything that caused us to sin.

That's why Jesus

is so emphatic

in the Sermon on the Mount.

If your right eye causes you to sin,

gouge it out

and throw it away.

He's not saying literally

gouge out your eye.

He's saying remove decisively

the cause of sin

in your life.

This is why

we cannot tolerate

unrepentant sin

within the church of Christ.

As A.W. Tozer once wrote,

the vague and tenuous hope

that God is too kind

to punish the ungodly

has become

a deadly opiate

for the consciences

of millions.

Tolerating

unrepentant sin

out of so-called kindness

is a denial

of the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

God took sin

so seriously

He didn't just

say,

oh, that's fine.

Forget about it.

He sent His own Son,

His only Son,

Jesus Christ,

to die

to pay the penalty

for our sins.

That's how seriously

God took sin

and who are we

to look at sin

and just wink the eye

and say,

yeah,

no big deal.

No need for repentance.

That's a dangerous leaven

that contaminates

the gospel of Jesus Christ

with does not give life.

The second kind of leaven

is legalism.

Writing to the Galatian church

who had been deceived

by the Judaizers

into thinking

that Gentile converts

to Christianity

must get circumcised

and keep the Old Testament law

in order to be saved.

Paul says in Galatians 5,

for freedom Christ

has set us free.

Therefore,

do not let yourself,

do not submit again

to the yoke of slavery

if you accept circumcision.

circumcision,

this is what Paul says,

Christ will be

of no advantage

to you.

I testify again

to every man

who accepts circumcision

that he is obligated

to keep the whole law.

You are severed

from Christ.

You who would be

justified by the law,

you have fallen

away from grace.

Our little leaven

leavens the whole lump,

he says.

Anyone who suggests

that faith in Jesus Christ alone

is insufficient

for our salvation.

Anyone who denies

what we were just singing earlier

of the all-sufficient

merit of Jesus Christ

applied to us.

Anyone who adds

to the requirements

of the gospel

and suggests

that your standing

with God

does not depend solely

on what Christ

has accomplished for you.

No, no, no.

It depends on

your works,

your good deeds,

your performance.

That is a dangerous leaven

that corrupts

and spoils

the bread of life.

As a church of Christ,

we must guard

against these leavens

of false teaching.

The church of the living God,

it says in 1 Timothy 3.15,

is meant to be a pillar

and a buttress

of the truth.

That's one of the purposes

of the church.

We exist to uphold

and uplift

the truth of the gospel

of Jesus Christ

and that's why

we have to be vigilant

and beware of the leavens

of false teaching.

Not because we enjoy

being censorious,

contrarian,

and pointing fingers,

and correcting people.

No, but because

the gospel of Jesus Christ

is that precious.

Because apart from it,

there is no salvation.

We must guard it.

And that's now the point

that Jesus turns to

in the second half

of the passage.

He talks about

the bread of life

that should be declared,

that should be shared.

He asks his disciples

in verse 13,

who do people say

that the Son of Man is?

The Son of Man

is Jesus' preferred way

of referring to himself.

I think for a number

of reasons.

Two main reasons.

One, because of its allusion

to Daniel 7, 13 to 14.

But secondly,

because it was

an ambiguous enough title

that was not used

widely at the time.

So it's kind of

an empty shell almost.

It's not theologically loaded

like terms that the Jews

already used

like the Son of David.

So Jesus could kind of

supply the content,

the theological content

for that phrase.

And define who he is

and what the messianic mission is.

Obviously, it's not clear enough

what the Son of Man is

because people are saying

and debating

and speculating

who do people say

that the Son of Man is.

The disciples reply,

some say John the Baptist,

others say Elijah,

and others Jeremiah

or one of the prophets.

Remember a few chapters ago,

Herod Antipas'

kind of fanciful speculation,

Jesus doing so many miracles,

he conjectures that,

oh, this must be

John the Baptist

raised from the dead

because miraculous powers

are working in him.

Herod Antipas beheaded John

and now he's afraid

that Jesus is John the Baptist

resurrected.

Some people were saying

that about him.

The disciples,

some people thought

that he was Elijah.

There were expectations

of Elijah returning,

not only because he was

one of the most powerful

prophets of the Old Testament,

but also because he did not

die a natural death.

He was translated directly

to heaven by God.

And so because of the prophecy

of Malachi 4 or 5,

which prophesied

that God would send again

the prophet Elijah

before he himself

comes to save his people,

there was this feverish expectation

trying to find out

who this Elijah might be.

And so some people thought

Jesus was Elijah.

Still others thought

that Jesus was Jeremiah

or one of the prophets.

Prophet Jeremiah incurred

the wrath of his own people

by prophesying

of the downfall of Judah

and the destruction

of the temple of Jerusalem.

And Jesus does the same thing.

He denounces the Jewish leaders

in chapters 21 to 23

and then he prophesies

of the destruction

of the temple of Jerusalem

in chapter 24.

So he fits this pattern

of Jeremiah's ministry.

And because Deuteronomy 18, 15

prophesied that God

would raise up

another end time prophet

like Moses, he says,

there were many

prophetic expectations.

Maybe it would be a Jeremiah.

Maybe it would be another prophet

that will come.

So many speculations.

All that to say,

the crowd's estimation of Jesus

is not bad, right?

These are all good people.

All good godly people.

I mean, they could have

compared Jesus to Janus and Jambres,

the court magicians

of Pharaoh in Exodus.

No, they don't compare him.

They compare him to Elijah,

Jeremiah, John the Baptist,

whom Jesus himself said

is that there's no one

born of woman greater

than John the Baptist.

John the Baptist

is the greatest man

that lived under the Old Covenant.

This is a high estimation of Jesus,

but it's not high enough.

as we see in Jesus' response.

And that's true

in our day and age as well.

You are not likely

to meet people

throughout the world

that hate Jesus

and denounce Jesus.

Muslims believe that Jesus

was one of the highest ranked

and most beloved prophets.

the Sikhs believe that Jesus

was a high ranked holy man.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe

that Jesus is the highest

of all God's creatures.

Christian scientists believe

that Jesus was the first human

to manifest fully

the truth of Christian science.

Some political theorists

and sociologists believe

that Jesus was a social

and political genius

who revolutionized

and restructured society.

Many Buddhists and atheists

and secular moral theorists

openly declare that Jesus

was a great moral teacher.

These are wonderful,

lofty things

to say about any person.

But when it comes to Jesus

and your estimation of Jesus,

it is not good enough.

It's not high enough.

So Jesus turns to his disciples

because they're the ones

to whom the secrets

of the kingdom

have been revealed.

They've been privy

to Jesus' work

and to his miracles

and to his private explanations

and teachings.

So he expects them

to have a better reply

than the crowds.

And he asks them,

who do you say that I am?

Not what your friends

and family say about Jesus.

Who do you say that I am?

Have you,

if you're here

and you do not yet follow

Jesus Christ as your Lord,

have you open-mindedly,

seriously and honestly

considered and wrestled

with that question?

Who do you say that I am?

And that question was posed

to all of Jesus' disciples,

but Peter alone answers

because he's the leader

and the spokesperson

for the 12 apostles.

That's why he's always listed first

in the list of apostles

throughout the Gospels.

And we've seen him speak

on behalf of the apostles

many times

throughout the Gospel of Matthew.

It's a consistent pattern

throughout all of the Gospels.

This is also the only instance

in the Gospel of Matthew

where we're given Peter's full name,

Simon Peter.

So there's an added degree

of solemnity and formality

to this occasion.

Peter responds,

you are the Christ,

the Son of the living God.

The word Christ,

as I think all of you know,

does not,

it's not Jesus' last name.

It's a title that means

Messiah,

anointed one.

The Jews believe,

in accordance with the prophecies

in the Old Testament,

that God would raise up a king

from the line of David

who would represent him

and return the people of God

to their glory

in the presence of God.

And related to that concept

of Christ, Messiah,

was the idea of the Son of God.

In the covenant that God made

with King David,

he said in 2 Samuel 7, 12-14,

I will raise up your offspring

after you who shall come

from your body.

That's why messianic expectations

didn't expect from the Messiah

to come from the line of David.

And he continues,

I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name

and I will establish the throne

of his kingdom forever.

I will be to him a father

and he shall be to me a son.

So that's fulfilled

in the immediate sense

by King Solomon,

but it waits its ultimate fulfillment

in Jesus Christ.

That's what gets picked up

in Psalm chapter 2,

Psalms 2:7–8

verse 7-8,

where God says concerning

his messianic king,

you are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

That's why the title Christ,

Son of God,

are organically connected

throughout the Gospels.

Jesus' disciples,

if you remember,

have already declared,

kind of in a,

you know,

startled days

after seeing Jesus walk on water,

truly you are the Son of God.

That's when the truth

first dawned on them.

But since then,

they've had time

to ponder that weighty truth.

If that's what that means,

if that's really who Jesus is,

what are all the implications

of this?

So they've had the time

to process that

startling declaration,

and then the truth

is sinking in,

and now this is the formal,

considered answer

to Jesus' question,

who do you say that I am?

And Peter,

as a representative

of the 12,

says,

you are the Christ,

the Son of the living God.

God,

it's an awe-inspiring moment.

It's like a,

it's like a thunderclap

that rips and peels open

the heavens to reveal

who Jesus really is

to all of us.

And I think Son of God

is not merely a metaphor anymore,

a messianic title for,

for a king,

the king of Israel,

king of Judah.

No,

because Jesus said earlier

in Matthew chapter 11,

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

27,

all things have been handed over

to me by my Father.

And no one knows the Son

except the Father,

and no one knows the Father

except the Son,

and anyone to whom

the Son chooses to reveal Him.

who dares to talk like that?

That He has exclusive knowledge

of God the Father?

That He has the authority

to reveal the things

that have been handed over to Him

by His Father?

What manner of man

talks like that?

Who dares to say,

all things have been handed over

to me by my Father?

What do you mean all things?

God the Father is a sovereign ruler

and creator of the heavens

and the earth.

All authority in heaven and earth

resides with Him.

And you're saying,

all things have been handed over

to you by your Father.

This profession of faith

is more than affirming

a metaphor of Jesus

being the Son of God,

a king.

No, He's saying,

you are the Son of the living God.

Like an actual son.

The only begotten Son.

And this profession of faith

elicits an amazing commendation

from Jesus in verse 17.

Blessed are you,

Simon Bar-Jonah,

for flesh and blood

has not revealed this to you,

but my Father

who is in heaven.

Bar-Jonah simply means

it's Aramaic for son of Jonah,

which is Peter's dad's name.

Also rendered John

in other places.

In John 1.42,

he's called John.

John-Jonah,

variations.

And notice that Jesus

doesn't pat Peter on the back

saying,

attaboy.

You know,

I knew you were

the smart one of the bunch.

That's why I made you first one.

No, Jesus says,

for flesh and blood

has not revealed this to you,

but my Father

who is in heaven.

Jesus does not credit Peter

with this realization

by his own brilliant reasoning

and diligent study.

No, this truth

was revealed to him

by God the Father.

It's hard to overstate

the importance of this truth.

Christianity

is a religion

founded on revelation,

something that God himself

has disclosed

and revealed to us.

It is not

a product of human research,

ingenuity,

discovery,

or enlightenment.

enlightenment.

This is why

you can find people

who have PhDs

in Bible and theology

who have not a shred of faith

in the living God.

You don't arrive

at the knowledge of God

by human effort.

That knowledge

must be revealed by God

so that we might receive it.

1 Corinthians 1.14

says,

spiritual truths

are spiritually discerned

and the natural person

apart from the help

of the Spirit

enabling power

of the Holy Spirit

cannot understand

divine revelation.

That calls for a posture

for us

of humility,

of prayerful dependence,

and gratitude

toward God.

We know God

and we can call upon him

as our Heavenly Father

not because of our

superior intelligence

or superior diligence

compared to other people

who search for the truth,

but because God

in his sovereign grace

has revealed himself to us.

we cannot persuade

a single person

in the world

to trust in Jesus Christ

and become a follower

of Christ

with the sheer force

of logic or eloquence.

Not a single one.

Only supernatural revelation

!

makes someone born again

through faith in Jesus Christ.

And then Jesus

follows that up

with this commendation

up with an amazing promise

in verses 18 to 19.

And I tell you,

you are Peter

and on this rock

I will build my church

and the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys

of the kingdom of heaven

and whatever you bind on earth

shall be bound in heaven

and whatever you lose on earth

shall be loosed in heaven.

And these two verses

have been the subject

of much debate

throughout church history.

The Catholic Church

uses this verse

to justify the Roman papacy,

the office of Pope,

and the argument

goes like this.

The name

that Jesus gives

Simon

in this passage,

Peter,

means rock.

Immediately after

renaming Peter,

I know you've seen

the name Peter

before in the Gospels,

but he's already

anticipating this event,

Matthew,

as he writes.

Immediately after

Jesus says,

I tell you,

you are Peter,

Jesus goes on to say,

and on this rock

I will build my church.

Jesus seems to be saying

that he will build

the church on Peter.

Jesus continues

in verse 19,

I will give you

the keys of the kingdom

of heaven

and whatever you bind

on earth

shall be bound in heaven

and whatever you lose

on earth

shall be loosed in heaven.

And here,

that second person

pronoun,

you,

is singular,

meaning Jesus is speaking

individually to Peter.

This is what we call

the power of the keys,

the authority

to include

and to exclude

people from

church membership

and by implication

membership

in the kingdom

of heaven itself.

This is an allusion

to Isaiah 22,

20 to 22,

where God declares

that he will make

Eliakim a steward

of the kingdom

of David

and give him

the key of the house

of David

so that he shall open

and none shall shut

and he shall shut

and none shall open.

That prophecy

is first and foremost

fulfilled by Jesus himself

and that's why

in Revelation 3,

7 to 8,

Jesus says to the church

in Philadelphia,

the words of the Holy One,

the true one,

who has the key of David,

who opens

and no one will shut

and who shuts

and no one opens.

I know your works.

Behold,

I have set before you

an open door

which no one is able

to shut.

So Jesus is the ultimate

and first fulfillment

of that prophecy.

He's the one

who holds ultimately

the key of David.

However,

here Jesus seems

to be delegating

that authority

to Peter.

Now,

I agree

with the Catholics

that Jesus is speaking

to Peter here

and that Peter

is the rock

that Jesus is speaking of.

The name Peter,

I said,

literally means rock

so it's like Jesus saying,

Peter,

sorry,

not Peter,

Simon,

from now on

your name is Rocky

and I built my church

on rock,

on this.

And so,

like,

it comes,

the logical sequence

is really hard to dispute

and there's an unmistakable

reciprocity here too.

Peter says,

you are the Christ,

he declares,

you are the Christ,

the son of the living God

and then Jesus turns to him

and says,

I say,

you are Peter,

you are rock.

Based on that profession

of faith

that you just gave,

I will now build

my church

on you.

So,

Jesus is,

according prominent

authority to Peter

as the leader

of the twelve apostles,

he will be the tip

of the spear,

to use an analogy,

as the kingdom

of heaven advances

in the book

of Acts.

Who is preaching

the gospel

of Jesus Christ

at Pentecost

when the Holy Spirit

first falls upon

the Jews

in Acts chapter 2?

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Peter.

When the Samaritans

first receive

the word of God,

whom do the apostles

of Jerusalem

send to them

so that they might

pray over them

and so that they might

also receive

the Holy Spirit?

Peter

and John.

So,

not just Peter.

When does the Holy Spirit

first fall upon

the Gentiles?

When Peter

goes to the house

of Cornelius the Centurion

and ministers to them

and preaches

the gospel to them.

So,

I heartily affirm

that Peter

is prominent.

He's the tip

of the spear.

He lays the foundation

of the church

of Christ.

With that said,

I disagree

on a number of points

decisively

with the Catholics.

Yes,

Peter does have

a foundational role

but this is a role

that is given

not exclusively

to Peter

but collectively

to the twelve apostles

of Jesus Christ.

Jesus singles out

Peter

because he is

the representative

leader

and the spokesperson

of the twelve.

He's the first

among equals.

But he's not

the only one

who holds this power

of the key

and that is precisely

why the exact

same power

of the keys

is given

to all

of the apostles

and indeed

to the whole church

in Matthew 18.

Speaking of the process

of church discipline

and excommunication

sorry,

I don't know

what just happened.

Jesus says

in Matthew 18

17 to 18

that if a person

who claims

to be a Christian

and persists

in sin

and refuses to repent

we must confront

them one on one

and then if they

don't listen

you bring one

or two others

with you

so that

the testimony

may be established

on the testimony

of two and three

witnesses

and then he says

if they still

refuse to listen

we must tell it

to the church.

I think I have

this passage

to show

and if he refuses

to listen

even to the church

let him be to you

as a Gentile

and a tax collector.

Truly I say to you

whatever you bind

on earth

shall be bound

in heaven.

Whatever you lose

on earth

shall be loosed

in heaven.

Again I say to you

if two of you

agree on earth

about anything

they ask

it will be done

for them

by my father

in heaven.

It's the same

power of the keys

exact same

wording

and phrasing

but this time

the second person

pronoun you

is plural

because Jesus

is speaking

not only to Peter

who holds

exclusively

the power

of the key

but because

all twelve

apostles of Jesus

holds the power

of the key

and by extension

they lay the

foundation of the church

and the church

of Christ

holds the power

of the key.

That's why

in the gathering

of the church

we exercise

church discipline

together

to bind

and to loosen.

This is why

Ephesians 2.20

says that the church

of Christ

is built

on the foundation

of the apostles

and prophets.

This is why

in Revelation 21.14

the heavenly Jerusalem

which represents

the people of God

the church of Christ

is included in that

it says it has

twelve foundations

and on them

were the twelve

names of the twelve

apostles of the land.

The apostles

of Jesus Christ

make up the foundation

layer of the church

of Christ

and every subsequent

generation builds

upon that foundation

and not on another

foundation

and that's why

we speak of

the apostolic deposit

that we hold on to.

Nowhere does it say

in the Bible

or in Matthew

anywhere

that Peter

was the first

pope

or that Peter

will continue

to speak

after his death

through the bishops

of Rome.

Peter's foundation

laying work

is already done.

He does not continue

to function

in that way.

You would think

that if the bishop

of Rome

was intended

by Christ

to occupy

so prominent

a role

in the history

of the church

that you think

that Paul

writing sixteen

chapters

in his letter

to the Romans

would have something

to say about it.

He says nothing.

And when Peter

himself

addresses himself

to the elders

that he's writing

to in 1 Peter 5

1 Peter 5:1

verse 1

he calls himself

not the bishop

of bishops

or the universal bishop

or the pope.

No, he says

I write to you

as a fellow

elder.

It was not

until the fifth

century

when Leo I

argued that

the apostle Peter

continues to speak

through the bishops

of Rome

that the papacy

as we know it

came to exist.

They say that

pope,

the popes

are the vicar

of Christ,

the substitute

of Christ.

until that point

of Leo I

no one ever

claimed that

the bishop

of Rome

is the bishop

of bishops,

the universal bishop.

Sure, Rome

was always a

prominent city.

It was the

former imperial

capital

and because

of their

prominence

they did

have some

preeminence

and outsized

influence

not unlike

the ways

sometimes

large

flagship churches

of certain

denominations

have outsized

influence

and preeminence

among the

churches

that they

are equal

to.

But still

the bishop

of Rome

was still

one of

many bishops.

Sometimes

Christians

find the idea

of having

a single

leader,

a singular

authority

as the head

of the

church of

Christ

appealing.

They think

oh then

maybe we'll

have more

unity.

Maybe

they can

ensure

fidelity

to biblical

teaching

but this

is

demonstrably

false.

It's like

saying that

the United

States

of America

is a

very

united

country

because

we only

have

one

president.

No,

we are

as divided

as ever.

Ideologically

and politically

we're

splintering

in every

direction.

Governmental

unity

does not

equal

doctrinal

unity

or

spiritual

unity.

I can

give you

many

examples

of how

this

has

been

true

throughout

history.

There's

a book

called

Bad

Popes.

You guys

can look

up and

read.

It's a

scholarly

book

that I

think

Catholics

have read

too

so they

know.

Peter is

an important

figure in the

history of the

church and I

affirm that

without

reservation

but this

passage did

not begin

with the

question

who is

Peter?

No,

it began

with the

question

who is

Jesus?

Who do

you say

that I

am?

That's the

more important

question.

In verse

18,

Jesus doesn't

say on

this rock

I will

build

Peter's

church.

No,

he says

on this

rock I

will build

my

church.

Jesus

is the

builder.

Jesus

is the

owner.

And that's

why,

although for

the sake

of convenience

sometimes you

and I

will say

things like,

oh yeah,

Trinity

Cambridge

Church is

my

church.

By that

we simply

mean that

that's the

church to

which we

belong.

Not that

the church

belongs to

me.

No

pastor on

earth,

no bishop

on earth,

and no

pope on

earth can

claim this

is my

church because

Jesus declares

authoritatively

here,

this is my

church.

church,

the church

of Christ.

Church,

of course,

is not

referring to

a building.

It's speaking

of the

people of

God.

The word

church in

Greek means

congregation,

a gathering.

And God

gives us,

the church,

a bracing

assurance in

verse 8,

on this

rock I

will build

my church

and the

gates of

hell shall

not prevail

against it.

I always

wince a little

bit when I

read this

because it

doesn't say

hell in the

original Greek.

If you have

a footnote

in your

ESV Bibles,

you can look

at the

footnote and

it will tell

you that in

the Greek,

it doesn't

say hell,

it says

Hades.

This is an

important

distinction.

There are

two very

different

places.

Hell is

a place

of final

punishment,