Matthew pt. 61 - Who Do You Say That I Am?

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

It was the Alex show while I was gone.

Alex one and Alex 2. Those are faithful brothers.

I love them both. I'm thankful for them.

Matthew 16. We're going to be in verses 13

through 20. Quick reminder, we are almost

certainly in the last six months of Jesus's life at this point.

So you look at all the chapters that are left in Matthew, but

remember things really start to slow down around verse 20 when

we get into Jerusalem and we're spending the whole verse

chapters 21 and 22 and we're really spending that whole last

week, just very slowly, that whole last week of Jesus life in

Jerusalem. So we're very, very close to the

end of his time on earth before his death and burial and then

resurrection. Then of course, his 40 days of

walking on the earth before he ascends into heaven.

So that's the context of where we're at now, chapter 16, verse

13. 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 answered, You're the Christ, the Son of the living

God, And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you Simon Barjona,

for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my

Father, who is in heaven, and I 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 loose on earth shall be loosed

in heaven. Then he strictly charged the

disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

God, we thank you for your powerful word.

We thank you for the anointing that's on your word, the

anointing that comes to destroy the yoke, the bondages, the

slaveries, the lies, the oppressions, and also God.

Not only do you destroy the works of the devil, but you

establish the works of your Kingdom, continue to build your

Kingdom in our hearts and in your church, your collective

church. We're not the church on our own.

We are the church as a body. So we ask that you would

strengthen us as a family, and we also ask that you would

strengthen us as individuals to bring us light and revelation

that would fill us with boldness and Holy Spirit.

I pray that even as the Word of God has preached this morning,

that you would fill us with yourself.

We need to be filled over and over and over with you God.

You're the vine and we're the branches Jesus apart from you we

can do nothing. We need your life in US and

flowing through us. So fill your people, open our

eyes, grant us revelation conviction that will lead to

obedience in Jesus name we thank you Amen.

A famous, famous passage of Scripture where the most

important question is asked and the most important answer is

given. We're going to get into all of

it. There's this passage is pregnant

with a lot. There's a lot here that Jesus

mentions. There's a lot here that we're

going to be able to touch on. It's interesting how it starts.

Jesus is asking his disciples, who do people say that the Son

of Man is? And to clarify really quickly,

he's talking about himself. He's not talking about who do

people say that the Son of Man out there is.

He's saying, hey guys, who do people say that the Son of Man

is? Remember, the Son of Man is a

term, It's Jesus's favorite term for himself that he uses

throughout the Gospels when he describes himself.

And he gets that from Daniel, Daniel Chapter 7, the prophecy

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

about the Messiah. So every time Jesus said Son of

Man, Jesus is saying Messiah, Messiah, Messiah.

It wasn't as veiled as people may think at a surface level

reading. And also it's also not driving

the point home. It's a reference, it's a title.

But it was enough that people could still dismiss it.

They go, oh, maybe he meant something else.

Why? We'll remember in the Psalm we

read this morning, a son of man was mentioned.

Don't put your trusts in the sons of man.

Oh, is that talking about the Messiah?

No, that's talking about Donald Trump.

Yeah, that's talking about our political leaders.

That's talking about all the people we could be tempted to

put our trust in. We want them to rule well, but

our ultimate hope and trust doesn't go in them.

So Jesus is talking about himself to his disciples.

Hey, guys, who do people say that the Son of Man is?

And then the disciples begin to speak, and they leave out the

negative things. You know, some people say that

he's a demon, so they understood Jesus's question of saying, hey,

who do who do people think that I might be on the good side of

things? And we hear some things that

we've already heard before. Some say John the Baptist, or

remember, that's what Herod thought.

He said, Oh no, I killed John the Baptist.

He's come back from the dead and he's going to torment me and

haunt me. Now that was something that

Herod thought. Others still say Elijah and some

others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

So there were all kinds of historical Jewish reasons that

they might have thought that this was taking place.

There was some legend around. Maybe the prophets would be

resurrected. So they were thinking, or maybe

it's just the mantle of Elijah, or maybe it's the mantle and

ministry of Jeremiah coming back.

So in that sense, they're saying they say you're them and they

say you're them and they say that you're them.

It's interesting though that all the answers they come up with

for for who he is because he has been revealing who he is and his

closest disciples. They were saying who he was very

early on. If you'll remember, Andrew goes

and gets his brother Peter and Andrew says, hey, we found the

Messiah. That was day one for Andrew.

So Andrew hears John the Baptist preaching.

He sees John the Baptist when John the Baptist is baptizing.

Remember John the Baptist second cousins with Jesus.

They spent time together, they were raised together.

They both heard these stories of their births.

Very likely that their parents would have been putting all

these important information into them to build up their faith and

the truth of what God had done in their lives.

But one day Jesus comes down to the water and John says, behold

the Lamb of God. And Andrew said, then I'm after

him and he said I found the Messiah.

So for he who has ears to hear, it's been very easy to hear.

For he who has eyes to see, it's been very easy to see.

But for those who won't, they won't.

For those who can't, they can't. But we should emphasize and

clarify. It's not that people have the

inability, it's that they lack the desire.

It's not that God doesn't want to reveal himself.

It's not that God isn't actively revealing himself through Jesus

at all times and all places. But as we've said many times

before, pride is the very thing that keeps people from receiving

what they should be receiving, and it works exactly as the Lord

intended for it to You cannot have Jesus unless you know that

you need Jesus. You can't have him unless you

desperately know that you need him, and if you see him as an

option or as another opportunity, then that's all

he'll ever be to you. Until the day of judgement when

he's fully revealed for who he's always been.

Look at all the answers people come up with.

He's been revealing who he is. He's been calling himself who he

is. But most people were still

calling him something and someone other than who he said

he was. And what people did with Jesus

then, people still do with Jesus now.

He tells people who he is. And people still insist to their

own demise that he's anything and everything other than who he

said he is. CS Lewis gave the the famous

trilemma, as it's been called. He is Lord, He is a liar or he

is a lunatic. If I call myself a scrambled

egg, you have some decisions to make #1 John Michael is a

scrambled egg. That's one option #2 Joe

Michaels not a scrambled egg. He's a liar.

He knows he's not a scrambled egg.

He shouldn't be saying that he's a scrambled egg or #3 Bless his

heart. Joe Michael thinks he's a

scrambled egg. I am a scrambled egg.

I'm lying about it being a scrambled egg.

Or I'm just crazy and I think I am the Lord.

Jesus is Lord, or he's a liar, or he's a crazy person.

You have to pick one and you've got to plant your flag on it.

But you can't just meander around like all world religions

and all worldly perspectives do. The Jewish perspective, he's a

teacher or a rabbi who gained a following, but he was not the

Messiah, wrong. The Muslim perspective, he was a

prophet of God, born of a virgin, but not divine, and not

the Son of God. Wrong.

The Hindu perspective. He was a wise teacher, possibly

an avatar of the divine, similar to other enlightened beings.

Wrong. The Buddhist perspective, he was

a moral teacher who taught compassion but not the exclusive

path to enlightenment. Wrong.

The atheist perspective, he was a historical figure, possibly a

moral philosopher, but not divine.

Wrong the agnostic perspective. A man whose claims and miracles

are uncertain or unknowable. Wrong.

The secular historian perspective.

He was a 1st century Jewish preacher crucified by the Romans

with later legends built around him.

Wrong. In the New Age perspective, he's

a spiritual guide, an ascended master, or an enlightened being

with universal wisdom. Wrong again, Jesus tells them,

and he tells us who he is when he says I am the Son of Man.

So who is Jesus of Nazareth? Daniel Chapter 7 reveals who

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

Jesus is calling himself to be all the time.

And even in this passage Daniel says, and behold, with the

clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of man, and he came

to the Ancient of Days. That's the Father God, and was

presented before him, and to him was given dominion and glory and

a Kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should

serve him. His dominion is an everlasting

dominion which shall not pass away, and his Kingdom one that

shall not be destroyed. Jesus is the Son of man, Jesus

is Lord. This is how Jesus goes around

introducing himself, the Son of man, the Son of man, the Son of

man, the Son of man. Jesus is Lord.

Lord, this is awesome, awesome news.

Keep going here in verse 15. And he said to them, but who do

you say that I am? So some say this and some say

that, some say this and some say that.

All right, but who do you? So the first question wasn't

much of a test. The second question is the test.

It's pass or fail. The same is true for you or I.

And He's setting them up. He's drawing them out.

Remember how we've talked about that before?

Jesus often will say and ask questions why He wants to draw

you nearer. Well, so and so was repelled by

what Jesus did. That wasn't Jesus's intention.

But he is always going to clarify.

He is always going to separate. He always removes the mud from

the water and clarifies this is mud, this is water, this is oil,

this is water. These are sheep and these are

goats. This is light and this is

darkness. This is my Kingdom.

This is the world's Kingdom. And he's doing that for his

disciples. Who do they say?

What do you say? Who do you say that I am?

It's the most important question ever asked, and it will be asked

of each of us. Who do you say that Jesus is?

And who does your life say that Jesus is?

Simon Peter replied you were the Christ, the Son of the living

God. So this is something that Peter

has been believing for a while, but something has shifted today

and Jesus is acknowledging that difference in that distinction.

Have you known anybody or maybe you've even been that person who

you gave mental acknowledgement to, who Christ was, but you

still hadn't had not yet experienced a heart change from

it? I know people like that.

I know I have friends who I love and I'm praying for that the

light of the Kingdom would fully break into their heart and that

the blinders would fully come down because they will even say

I believe the Bible. I know Jesus is who he says he

is. Like they believe all of the

facts of history. Congratulations, so does the

devil. Everybody knows these things to

be true in their heart of hearts.

Why? Because God already reveals

that. And yet that's something

different from the confession that Peter is making on this

day. How do we know that?

Well, because of the way Jesus responds to him.

Jesus answers him and says, blessed are you Simon bar Jonah.

That just means Simon, son of Jonah for flesh and blood has

not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

So Jesus knows that something spiritual has happened for

Peter. When Peter was first invited to

follow Jesus by his brother Andrew, Andrew told Peter, we

have found the Messiah. So this isn't the first moment

that anyone has considered this idea.

But Jesus is emphasizing that God the Father, not Peter's

brother Andrew, brought this revelation to him in a deeper

way. Now, I heard this from them.

I heard this from them. I heard this from them.

Hey, we heard the woman at the well.

She told us this thing that about you.

But now we've seen for ourselves.

Now we have a different level of understanding.

So Jesus saying you've heard things and you've even been with

me. I mean, these guys have healed

people, remember, the disciples have healed the sick.

The disciples have been sent out on missions.

They have driven out demons. They've seen a thing or two.

They've done a thing or two. They're not novices at this

point, but still something different has happened now.

And Jesus is emphasizing that God the Father has brought this

revelation to Peter. He continues in verse 18.

And I tell you, you're Peter. And on this rock I will build my

church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

There's some interesting things happening here.

In this passage, Jesus is using a play on words.

So Peter, the name Peter is a name that Jesus gave to Peter

when he met him. So if you remember, his name was

Simon and he came to Jesus and Jesus said, I'm going to call

you Peter, which actually means rock.

It's a stone, something you would hold in your hand.

It could be a small thing like a piece of gravel.

It could be, you know, something larger in your hand.

But there's a play on words that Jesus is using here.

So he's saying you're, you're the, the Greek word, the Greek

word is petros. So he's saying you are Petros,

you are Peter the rock, but on this, and he doesn't use the

same word here, so he doesn't say you're a rock.

And on this rock, I'll build my church.

He actually says you're Petros. And on this, Petra, I will build

my church. It's two different words.

So in English, I don't pick that up.

I don't recognize what's going on there.

You don't have to be a Greek scholar to dig into any of this.

You just have to know how to read, which is my claim to fame,

of course. So Peter, you're the small rock,

but the Petra that Jesus is referring to is a massive rock.

It's a massive rock formation, even potentially a Cliff, like a

massive Cliff side. Not just a boulder the size of

your truck, but an entire rock formation.

He's saying well done, good job. You answered correctly, Peter,

and upon this, not this Little Rock, upon this Petra, I will

build my church. So then that of course leaves

the question, what is the Petra he's referring to if Peter is

the Petros? Peter, I named you rock.

Well done. You got.

You have revelation from my father.

I know he revealed it to you and I'm pleased with you for that.

But I'm going to build my church.

So what is the Petra he's referring to?

What is this massive rock formation that he's referring

to? Some have said that the math

that the the Petra he's referring to is actually Peter.

And this is for any of you have a Catholic Church background.

This is what the Catholic Church teaches and believes.

They, they believe that at this moment Jesus was initiating the

first Pope as the head of the church.

They believe that Peter is in this moment Pope number one and

every other Pope is going to come out of the out of the

lineage of Peter. This can't be the case though,

and I'll explain it to you really briefly for a couple of

reasons. This cannot be the case because

literally 5 verses from now, Jesus is going to call Peter

Satan. So Peter, the massive pillar of

the entire church, I'm going to build the whole thing on you.

And five verses from now he goes, get behind me, Satan.

Like there'd be a big loss for the first Pope, right?

So is Peter a pillar in the early church?

Undoubtedly, yes. He preaches the sermon on the

day of Pentecost. We're not going to minimize

Peter's role in the early church or the role of the apostles or

the foundation that the apostles laid that we should obey and

walk out. We're thankful for it.

We're not going to belittle it. We're not going to go from 1

extreme to another. But that's one reason we also

see in the book of Acts that James is clearly the leader of

the church in Jerusalem, not Peter.

So Peter actually submits to James.

In addition to that, we see in the book of Acts where Paul

comes and publicly rebukes Peter in front of everyone.

So Peter was in sin. He was it was some racial stuff

going on some preferences with groups or like prideful not want

to be seen with one group and Peter sniffs and out of us or

Paul sniffs and I was like, what are you doing?

This isn't and he rebukes him in front of everybody didn't pull

him aside like, hey, man, let's talk about this puts him on

blast in front of everybody. So those are just a couple of

reasons why we know that. But again, Jesus didn't build

everything on Peter. He's building on something else,

I think. What do you think, what do you

think, Pastor, that he's building on?

What is this Petra, this rock, this awesome and strong

foundation that he's building on?

What do you think he's referring to?

I think, like many do, that Jesus is referring to the very

confession about who Jesus is. That is the thing that Jesus

builds his church on. It is the revelation and the

confession. That's the firm foundation that

Jesus is building on. That is the firm foundation that

he built. That's what you were built on.

That's what I was built on. How do you come into the body of

Christ? It is the revelation of who

Jesus is and then the confession of who Jesus is upon this rock

of revelation and upon this rock of confession of who Christ is.

That is how the church is built. That is how Jesus build the

church. In that very moment.

Peter got revelation and made confession and Jesus said this

is how I build the church through revelation and

confession, through revelation and confession church.

We need revelation and we need confession.

We need revelation and we need confession.

All these things tie in together and I won't be able to do it

justice. The Master did it and he even

did it in a condensed way as he always does.

It takes me a lot longer to say the stuff that Jesus said.

That's why I have to preach for 45 minutes and he could do it in

like 5. But this is all the more reason

why we need one another, is all the more reason why we need to

hear the word of God preached, because the Word of God brings

light and brings revelation. All the more reason why we need

to confess to one another the goodness of God.

A lot of times we think confession, we think exclusively

of confessing sin. That most certainly would be

included. We should confess our sins to

one another. We should confess our joys to

one another. We should confess the gospel to

one another. We should confess the truths of

Scripture to one another. We should sing psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs making melody.

In our hearts to one another, we should exercise and operate in

the gifts of the Spirit with one another.

We need revelation and we need confession.

And this is how Jesus builds his church and builds up his church

together as a body and even individually.

This is how the Lord builds us up through revelation and

through confession. That is the Petra that I believe

Jesus is referring to. Gee, Peter, you're a rock.

But upon this massive, massive thing of the the revelation and

the confession, I'm going to build my church on that.

So it's a just a plain words, the rock and the rock.

Let's keep going. We're in verse 18.

I tell you that you're Peter on this rock.

I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail

against it. I will build my church.

So what is this word church? It's interesting to note that

Jesus didn't just invent a new word right here for for us.

The word church there again, giving you Greek again, the the

word is called ecclesia. So this was already a word in

their language. They already had use for this.

This word, ecclesia just simply means an assembly or a

gathering. That's what Jesus was referring

to. He's saying I'm going to have my

gathering. I'm going to build my gathering

of people. It's a word already in use.

It means an assembly or a gathering of people.

Interestingly, in the New Testament, it's never referring

to a building. It's never referring to a

meeting place. It's always referring to God's

people. There's nothing wrong with

buildings. There's nothing wrong with

meeting places. But This is why it's been

something I've been, I've worked hard to be deliberate with over

the years. I don't think I've been flawless

with it, but I've been deliberate to not reference to

my family or to you as going to church.

I'll say, hey, well, we see you at service.

Hey, we have service in the morning.

Hey, we're going to go worship with the Saints.

Why? Is it because I want to be

annoying and a stickler? I don't mean to be annoying.

I just mean to be accurate and I want to keep shaping people's

view and understanding what the church is.

If this building fell down tomorrow, Salt Church would

still be thriving. So in one day, make no mistake,

I want us to have a beautiful facility that we meet in, but

we're the church and it's our gathering that matters.

And so we're thankful for beautiful cathedrals all

throughout the world. And, and eventually I would love

for us to have our own as well. And anybody a big pipe organ

fan, I would love to just have a massive wall of a pipe organ.

I think they cost millions, but whatever, we'll do it.

You'll play it, I'll play it, I'll take organ lessons.

Just warmth all the air. Just put have to open the

windows to let the thing really fly.

So all those things are good. But Jesus isn't referring to a

building. So he's not saying I'm going to

lay a firm foundation so I can erect a building.

He's saying the foundation of revelation and confession is how

I'll build up the gathering of my people.

This is how Jesus multiplies the body of Christ, and this is how

Jesus strengthens the body of Christ.

This is how someone gets born again.

It's through the revelation of God and in the confession unto

salvation. But it's also how the Saint

who's already born again continues to get strength and

help. God brings me revelation and I

continually confess with my mouth, I love you, Lord, you're

good. This is who you are.

This is what you've done. This is what you said.

Confession and revelation is how he builds his eklesia.

So the Eklesia is also where we get our word.

We talked about ecclesiology and that's just simply means our

understanding of the church or the the God's design or the

study of the church. If we're fancy pants, we could

say it that way, but most of the time we just talk about the

church in practical terms. So Jesus is building his church.

He's establishing his Kingdom. How does he do it?

He does it first through his church, and he is the builder,

thank God. So the gathering of God's people

is an obvious and expected desire for God's people to have.

People should want to gather with the church if they are a

part of the church, there is a malfunction or an injury or a

rebellion or a disobedience. Something is wrong with the

Saint who says, I know and love the Lord and I say, praise the

Lord. Where do you worship?

What body are you connected to? And they say, well, I don't do

any of that stuff. There's a malfunction there.

Do you always know what it is? No, not right off the bat.

Maybe after a few minutes I can surface it.

You know, there's, there's, there's a short list of things

that are pretty typical. I was hurt by the church.

Join the club. Anybody here not hurt by the

church ever. Go on, everybody, raise your

hands. I'd like to know all the people

you know. So that's a common 1 though, you

know, we, we suffer church hurt. OK.

I've suffered all kinds of hurt. I suffered school hurt.

I kept going to school. I suffered.

You know, you ever suffer hurt in public, you know, by the very

people you pay money to at the restaurant?

You ever suffer offense or injury there, Do you?

Do you still eat out at restaurants?

Yeah, me too. You ever suffered church hurt

what you say, right. I don't go to that one anymore.

Well, that's a great point. That is actually a great point.

So to suffer torture doesn't mean you subject yourself to

abuse or injury. It doesn't mean that there there

has to be a it doesn't mean that someone has trust.

But so if if I've been in a place, if I've been in a local

body that was unhealthy and and injuring people, of course I

would counsel you to leave that place and get out of that

circumstance. But not to leave the church, not

to go. We're going to hold up.

You don't know how many people I talk to and I ask questions to

and check on them. They got.

Yeah. Ever since COVID, we haven't

really been back. And I'm going, I try and like

not let my face reveal like the crazy and just like, and just

trying to act like right, right. Totally normal thing to say,

totally normal thing to do. It's not it's not normal and I

wouldn't be loving to play along forever and go of course, of

course you do your own way, your own time, whatever you think.

No, not whatever you think that Glacia is the gathered body of

Jesus people. So if you love Jesus, you're

going to love to obey Jesus while I do obey Jesus.

And then they insert one command that they obey while

disregarding others. Pastor, why you telling us this?

We gathered this morning. I know, but I want you to know

why you gathered. This is not a tradition of man.

This is a command of your Lord. It's good and necessary and

healthy and wholesome to bring revelation, confession, and

obedience to the Lord. This is how He's building His

church. In addition to that, there are a

lot of one another's in the New Testament.

There are many one another commands.

Love one another. Can you do that by yourself?

Honor one another, Can't do that one alone.

Build up one another can't do that one alone.

Bear one another's burdens. Do that at home with YouTube.

We've been doing we've been doing Internet church.

No, you haven't. You've been listening to a

sermon online. I'm glad you listened to a

sermon online. Listen to more sermons online.

Listen to all the sermons online you want, but you haven't been

doing church online because that's an oxymoron.

It's like I've been I've been eating.

I'm a vegetarian, but I love bacon.

You can't. That isn't so.

Listen to sermons online, listen to podcasts, all that.

But you're not doing church online because you don't do

church. Church is the gathering of

Jesus. People bear one another's

burdens, admonish one another, confess your faults to one

another, all the one another's in the New Testament.

I can't do this by myself. I have to do this with you.

I have to be in your presence to love you.

I have to be with you to honor you, have to be with you to

build you up. I have to be with you to bear

your burdens. I have to be with you to

admonish you. I have to be with you to confess

my faults to you, and you have to do the same.

What else do we know about the church?

What else is Jesus revealed through His word about the

church? First Timothy 315 tells us that

the Church of the living God is the household of God and it is a

pillar and foundation of the truth.

We talk often about the different spheres of authority

that the Lord has established in the earth, the church, the

government, and the household. There's overlap Sometimes, you

know, there could be overlap. You know, if I stole a bunch of

money, police could walk in here right now.

That's the government. They could come in and they

could arrest John Michael. What are you doing in the

church? Like we have that we are

fulfilling our jurisdiction. They're within their right to do

that thing. I would have preferred they

picked a different time. Those have been embarrassing for

me. Frankly, I thought you would

laugh at that. It's just a joke.

I'm not stealing money. Everybody's nervous now, but

they were there within their right to do that.

Why? Because that's what the Lord has

established the government for, to punish the evil doer and to

reward the righteous. So that's in their jurisdiction.

And the father and the husband in the household has an

authority that the church doesn't have over over it and

that the government doesn't have over that.

And yet there's still overlap. What is the church's role and

responsibility? The church is the pillar and the

foundation of the truth for the earth.

The church is the interpreter of truth for the earth.

The government is not the interpreter of truth for the

earth. The household and the husband

and father is not the interpreter of truth for the

earth. That authority has been given to

the Church of Jesus Christ. And there's overlap, though,

right? Because you could function in

all three of those fears. You could be a police officer

and you're involved. You're literally the sword of

the Lord. You bear not the sword in vain.

You don't draw that weapon for nothing.

God has given the authority to kill, to take human life.

He's given that to the to the government.

So you might be a police officer who loves the Lord.

So you're a Christian and you're also a husband and father.

So you're involved in all three spheres, aren't you?

So there's overlap and there's ways to walk in wisdom with

these things. But the Church specifically has

the authority to be the pillar and the foundation of the truth.

The Church of Jesus, the gathered Saints who have the

revelation of who He is and confess Him as Lord, are the

pillar and the foundation of truth in the earth.

This is the role of the Church. To be the truth definer and the

truth interpreter, we have to interpret the Scriptures.

The Scriptures are open to interpretation.

Clearly there's some things where it's going, OK, that's a

bit on the nose. And then there are a couple

other things we're going. Seems like there's some

opportunity here. The government does not lecture

the church on what the Scripture means.

Like they attempted to during COVID when they tried to tell us

here's what you're supposed to do.

Dear Christians, you go, ha, ha, ha, nice try.

You're allowed to punish the evil doer.

Well, says who says us. We clarify your role for you.

That's our job. We don't have authority over the

government, but Jesus sure does. And Jesus sure has authority

over the church and Jesus sure has authority over the

household. So the church has a unique role

in that. It speaks to all three with an

authority, but the government has a unique role, like I said,

like the church can't do whatever it wants and without

the government, say hang on a second, that was evil and now we

have jurisdiction or households would make decisions in all

those environments as well. So the church has authority.

The church. Jesus goes on to say, I will

give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven.

Keys always refer to power. Keys always refer to authority.

So here, now Jesus is referring to, again, not Peter, not hey

Peter, everything's built on you.

The one who I'm going to call Satan in just a few verses from

now, the one who's going to submit to James in the early

church, the one who's going to be rebuked by Paul for his sin

in front of everyone, That's not what he's building.

He's not saying, Peter, all authority has been given to you.

He's saying, so I give all authority to the church.

That means the church has the stewardship of God's truth.

The church does not create the truth, but we do interpret the

truth for everyone else. That is our responsibility.

The church speaks for God and declares and interprets His word

and His will. The government does not do that.

The household does not do that. So again, like that's what

whenever the government wants to manipulate Christians who don't

know their Bibles, that's not going to be you.

But when the government wants to manipulate Christians who don't

know their Bibles or or former Christians or non Christians

want to manipulate Christians, they can always grab a verse.

And if you don't know your Bible and you don't understand

authority and who speaks to what and what applies to where and

you don't know what's going on, you can be deceived, you can be

manipulated, you can be confused.

The same thing's happening again right now with the immigration

conversation. So it's, I don't want to confuse

you, but it's hysterically hypocritical and ironic, the

complexity of what's going on in that whole conversation.

First of all, the state has the authority to do with the state

believes is best for the nation. That's real simple.

So the state should enforce, and I don't just mean Virginia, I

mean the the US government. Let's do, let's do a little

lesson here. the US government has authority from King Jesus to

uphold the laws of this nation. And as long as those laws are

wholesome and right, then they can and should be kept.

Ancient Israel had all kinds of immigration laws.

People were allowed to immigrate, but you would also

assimilate. There was a process, and it was

appropriate. Basic stuff here, folks.

I know we're talking common sense.

So do we allow for immigration? Absolutely.

Of course. We want people to escape godless

nations and come into a wholesome place, and we want you

to assimilate properly. No, no, we don't want your

Islam. No, we don't want any of the

craziness that people would want to bring in.

We don't want any of the drugs. We don't want any of the crime.

We want you to come. You want to come to this blessed

nation. Let us tell you why this nation

is blessed. If anything good is here, it's

because of what Christendom has done.

Everywhere the church goes, cultures thrive.

Everywhere, the culture, everywhere Christianity goes

throughout human history, the culture begins to thrive.

Women are freed from oppression, slaves are released from

bondages, laws become better and more wholesome, and people

actually, you legislate morality.

Remember, people say you can't legislate morality.

That's false. That's literally all that you

legislate is morality. You say this is right and this

is wrong, and now we put a law on it and we will punish you.

That's the government's responsibility.

Now what's happening, non Christians or ignorant

Christians or government officials who want to manipulate

Christians are saying that the the same thing that they've said

for like 60 years now. Jesus just love people.

You know, like just the blanket statement with no clarification,

with no context, with no definition.

And they want to imply that you hate immigrants if you want, if

you want lawbreakers to be punished for law breaking,

That's what they want you to imply.

And that's what they want you to feel.

They want the tender conscience Christian, which you and I

should always be. They want the tender conscience

Christian to go, Oh my goodness, you're right.

Jesus did love, I suppose that hey, slow down, slow down,

Christian. Or the reference to the parable,

the Good Samaritan. And they'll say, therefore this

is your neighbor and you're to love your neighbor.

Jesus in the parable, the Good Samaritan Saints was not laying

down immigration policy for nations.

That was not the purpose of the passage.

The purpose of the passage was to show you and I that whoever's

in our closest proximity is the person that I should love and

care for. Because the man said, who's my

neighbor? And Jesus said, let me tell you

a story. And the point was, if you come

across somebody beat up and half dead on the side of the road,

they become your responsibility. Notice he didn't say every

person who suffers anything on the other side of the planet

deserves deeper devotion than the than your family and your

loved ones. There is a right order of loves

and we hold these truths to be self-evident.

I love madly more than I love anybody else on the earth.

Does that mean I hate you? No, no one would be foolish

enough to say that. But in these in these other

conversations regarding immigration, that's what's

implied against you. I don't want you to be naive.

I don't want you to be manipulated.

I want you to have a tender conscience and our hearts can

break for all kinds of complicated situations, but just

know that in the news cycle, all you are going to see is

heartbreaking news stories that are intended to cause you to

wish that the state did not have the authority that who gave it

to it, Jesus to establish laws. Sin creates problems.

Sin creates heartbreak. It is a tragedy.

Many things that will happen, but that's the result of sin.

Justice is the right thing and that is the state's jurisdiction

and the state's responsibility. Oh, that was for free.

It's important that you have understanding on these things.

I don't want you to be manipulated or misled.

We can, we can unpack further anything you want to talk about.

I can withstand any amount of pushback or feedback.

I welcome all of it. But I wanted to throw that in

there for you. So the church clarifies, the

church has authority. The church has the stewardship

of God's truth. The government doesn't have

that. The household doesn't have that,

The church does. The church has no power to make

laws. The church has no power to

punish evil doers. That's the government's job.

The church doesn't raise your kids.

The church doesn't manage your family.

That's the household's job. So we understand the church has

a power and authority to say this is true, this is false,

this is clear, this we've got a lot of opportunity for freedom

here, but that's the church's jurisdiction.

So many people have a low view of the church.

The church has a hospital for the hurting.

Well, that's true, but don't stop there because that wouldn't

give it any authority. It would just be like, I'm here

to help bandage. Well, we are here to help

bandage, but the church has authority.

Authority means power. Everybody say power.

These aren't scary words, folks. These are services.

I'm thankful for the police officer when he's protecting me,

aren't you? I'm thankful he bears the sword

and he doesn't bear it in vain. I'm thankful that he has actual

power to do something, not just well wishes.

And I'm also thankful for the medic who comes to bandage up

the wounds. But the medic is not the same as

the police officer. One has power and authority to

stop something and the church has power and authority as well.

I don't have time when I can unpack all the the the roles of

the church. But the church has power to

what? To excommunicate members if we

were to walk through a church membership process.

If Chris comes to me and he has sin again and I've sinned

against him, he says, hey to Michael, I got to talk to you

about this brother. I want to be restored to you.

Could you, you know, make this right with me and I go, forget

you, Chris. No, Chris now comes to me with

two or three others and they say, hey to Michael, we want to

walk through this with you. We want to see restored and

repentant. And I say no.

Well, there's an escalation process where eventually to save

my soul, not not exclusively to shame me, but there is a healthy

shame there. But to save my soul, you would

excommunicate me from this very body in hopes that I would be

restored. And you would, you would even

forbid to eat with me. And the reason for that is not

to go. We're going to be mean to John

Michael because we hate him. Now, the reason for that is we

love John Michael. He needs to feel the severance

of fellowship. He needs to know that he is now

other. He needs to know he is not

Ecclesia. He needs to know he's not of the

gathered body. And this separation, we pray

will draw him so that he will not be destroyed by the enemy

and that he will not go and and forever be lost.

He said, I've never heard of that before.

I've never seen that. Well, that's because in the

American church, everybody leaves at the very first

conversation. So as soon as Chris comes to me,

goes to Michael, I got a problem.

Go, this is a judgmental church and I'm gone up the road because

they would never do anything like that.

So it's a very unfamiliar thing in the American church.

And anytime I've ever begun that gentle process, which you do

very slowly and very graciously, I can.

People just leave because they're like, who do you think

you are? Which reveals they have a love

you, a church, and they think the church has no authority.

So big biblical ignorance and lack of devotion to Jesus leads

to all kinds of problems. So I just, I just keep hopping

around every time I'm confronted anywhere.

Jim Michael, every time, every time Jim Michael goes to some

new church, I keep running into problems.

And this church stinks and this church stinks and this church

stinks like, hey, Joe Michael, there's a common denominator in

all these churches. It's you stink, John, Good news.

You can be washed. It's OK.

So the church has an authority there as well.

Didn't intend to go in all this, but it's helping you.

Jesus said I will build my church.

Who's who? Does the church belong to Jesus?

That's comforting. Everything belongs to Jesus.

But the church in particular, it doesn't belong to Caesar.

It doesn't belong to the household.

And he will build his church. What a relief.

I don't have to build his church.

I have to shepherd his church. But he is the builder.

He brings the revelation that leads to confession.

You don't have to build his church.

He's building it. You minister faithfully.

You be a witness to what the Lord has done.

That is all that's asked of you. And now we keep going.

It just builds. This thing builds and builds and

builds like a wave that just won't stop.

I gave you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, and whatever

you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Oh, sorry, I go back to 18 and the gates of hell I will build

my church. And the gates of hell will not

prevail against it. Hell will not prevail against

the Church of Jesus. It cannot defend itself against

the Church of Jesus and anything that its gates may open and

release against us, all of those offensive measures will be

defeated. The gathered people of God who

have the revelation of who he is and confess that the church,

they have outlived the Roman Empire.

The church has and will prevail over persecution.

The church has and will prevailed over lukewarmness.

The church has and will prevail over COVID lockdowns.

The church has and will prevail over liberal theology.

The church has and will prevail over anything and everything

that comes against her. The gates of hell will not

prevail against her. Caesarea Philippi was an

interesting place. They were Greek and Roman

culture dominated false Pagan worship everywhere.

So it's very interesting that Jesus took his disciples here

for this particular lesson. We don't really know of any

other reason why he would have taken them here other than for

this thing to happen. So there are Pagan temples all

over the place. They're idols all over the

place. Historians tell us that there

was this cave entrance. That legend locally said that

these were actually the gates of hell.

We don't know for sure if Jesus was standing there.

Seems like it would have been a perfect object lesson for him to

be like boys. And they're like, our parents

would be really upset if they knew we came to Caesarea

Philippi on a field trip with Jesus.

Pagan idols, filth, perversion, wickedness all over the place.

And he's like walking them towards the gates of hell thing.

And then he goes, hey, boys, all this I'm building my church and

the gates of hell won't prevail against it.

He wanted to make it plain he will go anywhere he wants to

because everything belongs to him.

There's nothing off limits to him and there's nothing

intimidating to him. So I teach my boys, you know,

around Halloween horror movies and, you know, commercials for

all kinds of demented and deranged things show up and it's

all supposed to be super scary, super scary, the demonic.

And we just laugh. We go, demons are losers.

Jesus eats demons for breakfast. Demons beg Jesus for mercy.

In the Bible, all the horror movies get it wrong.

You always know in the movie The the Christian, the priest shows

up and this guy's got to get wrecked.

Like he's going to go in the house.

He's gonna like sprinkle some more.

Like stuff's going to fly at him.

Like peanut butter jar is going to come out of the cabinet and

hit him in the head. Like, Oh my goodness, who could?

Who could conquer the evil spirit in this haunted house?

The lightweight stuff, easy work.

The disciples said, Jesus, even the demons obey us in your name.

It's incredible. And Jesus goes, calm down.

It's not a big deal to step on an Ant and kill it.

Don't rejoice because the demons obey.

Rejoice, because your name is written in heaven.

Of course you have authority. I've given you the keys of the

Kingdom, boys, You have the keys over all of this.

You have power over all of this. What I'm building, none of this

can stand. I'm giving you the keys and all

the authority. And later, before his

dissension, he'll go on to tell them, behold, I have given you

authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the

power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

There is power in our God, and He delegates his power to His

church. Not just power to execute

disciplines, power to live free from sin, power to live with

freedom from the bondage of the devil, power to cast out demons,

power to heal the sick, and power to raise the dead.

Verse 20. And we're closing and we're

going to take communion together.

Could you begin to get the elements for us, Chris, verse

20, this one does not apply to you and I then he strictly

charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Why is he doing this? Well, the more the closer he

comes to the end, the more he gets strict with everybody.

He says don't tell anybody, don't tell anybody.

Why? Because he's he is controlling

his timing. Remember he said nobody takes my

life from me. I lay it down.

Nobody takes my life from me. I have the power to lay it down.

I have the power to take it back up again.

So now you and I, we're not silent.

This was a temporary message to the disciples to say, hey,

don't, don't spread this news. Don't be bold with it yet.

That day is coming. He told them first they need to

be filled with the Holy Spirit. These guys who walked with

Jesus, cast out demons, healed the sick, saw him die, saw him

raised from the dead, spent 40 days with him.

His last instruction to them before he flies into the sky was

don't go out and preach it. Why?

We're ready. I've never felt more ready.

Jesus flies up in the sky and says, go, take over the world.

I'm ready. He goes, no, you're not.

Ten days from now I'm going to send the Holy Spirit.

You need power to be my witnesses.

Are you sure? Like I feel equipped.

It wasn't enough. All of their experiences were

not enough. They needed the power of the

Holy Spirit. You and I had some glorious

experiences. I'm sure you got some beautiful

testimonies. Me too.

And I still need a fresh power from the Holy Spirit all the

time. I cannot live off of yesterday's

food. You ate food last week.

Is that still helping you today? No.

You had breakfast. Right now.

You're like, Pastor, I'm looking forward for lunch.

Wrap this thing up. We need fresh manna from the

Lord. We need to be filled with His

Spirit. Guys, could you go ahead and

service the elements? So what message do we share now?

We carry the message boldly and joyfully about Him.

But I want to clarify, it's not only the message that He's the

substitute for sin, but it's also acknowledging His

sovereignty and His right to reign over all.

Because He really is the Son of Man that Daniel prophesied.

And he is coming on the clouds, and of him and of and to him is

given dominion and glory and a Kingdom that all peoples, all

nations, all languages should serve Him.

And his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall

not pass away. And His Kingdom is one that

shall not be destroyed. That is who I say He is.

Is that who you say He is? Church?

Amen. As we receive the elements this

morning, we're going to pray for more revelation of who He is,

and we're going to pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit

again, to be bold witnesses who carry His truth and power.

Then we would tell the whole truth about Christ, the whole

truth, because the whole thing's beautiful.

He is the diamond that you can keep turning and the light hits

in a new way and you see something new.