WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.320 Matthew sixteen verses thirteen through nineteen, the word of God says this. 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:13.439 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he was asking his disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:20.480 And they said, Some say John the Baptist, and others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:23.839 And he said to them, But who do you say I am? 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:29.760 Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:38.479 And Jesus said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:47.359 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:57.359 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:06.400 You know it's fascinating that not everything that bears the name church is indeed a church. 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:08.239 Have you noticed that? 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:16.319 In fact, the Belgic Confession, which I doubt many of you have been reading this week, but I have, it has this very interesting line in it. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:22.319 It says, All sects which are in the world take for themselves the name of the church. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:33.680 In other words, any group that gathers together that wants some kind of religious legitimacy calls themselves a church, regardless of the content of what happens inside their building. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:36.640 And of course, we see this played out in the world. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:48.400 Everything from the Roman Catholic Church to the Mormons, who the largest sect of the Mormons is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:52.079 I can assure you that neither are a real church. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:59.680 Our own evangelical society features everything from multi-campus churches, multi-site churches. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:02.239 Let's pretend this isn't happening right now. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.560 I've even heard of internet churches. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:08.560 You can go to church on the internet. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:14.960 In fact, I have been to a real live, actual cowboy church before. 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:16.639 Can I get an amen? 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:18.719 Or at least a yeehaw. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:23.759 We have made the word church so appealing that it's been co-opted. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:26.560 There are now atheist churches. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:28.240 Atheist churches. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:32.800 In fact, in Los Angeles, some of the atheist churches sponsor the litter cleanup on the highways. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:34.159 It's phenomenal. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:37.280 There's nature churches, a church that meets out in nature. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:44.879 Google even led me to a wizard church, which a few clicks revealed is actually a fan club for Harry Potter. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:50.159 And of course, the danger with this concept of church is obvious. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:54.639 If everything is a church, then nothing is a church. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:03:06.000 That seems like an irrelevant question for us now, but October is upon us, and we celebrate the Reformation, October 31st, Reformation Day. 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:11.680 I understand that one of the driving questions of the Protestant Reformation is exactly the question that's on your screen. 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:13.759 What is a true church? 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:34.080 Because when Luther began the Reformation and Calvin followed along in Geneva along with all the Anabaptists throughout Europe, Menos Simmons and others with Zwingli and Zurich, the main accusation lobbed against them was that by leaving the Catholic Church, they're becoming ecclesiastical hobos. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:35.280 They're becoming homeless. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:37.439 They have no other church in which to go. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:40.639 If you walk away from the Catholic Church, then you don't have a church. 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:44.800 That was the objection levied against the Reformers. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:50.240 It was not an objection based upon the substance of what they were doing. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:53.360 It wasn't a theological response to the Protestant Reformation. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:55.840 They weren't arguing with the Reformers on the merits. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:05.199 I mean, some Catholics were, but the by and large, the majority response to the Reformation was not you're wrong about the doctrine, but it was you have no church now. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:08.080 By leaving the Catholic Church, where do you go? 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:09.120 Who is your church? 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:10.159 What is your church? 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:13.039 There were not Protestant church buildings around. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:18.639 And it's very fascinating reading in church history how the Protestants answered that question. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:23.439 They did not answer it by saying, hey, we have an alternative to the Catholic Church. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:27.759 We're going to build a different kind of church that will be an option for you. 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:30.800 It will be a, you know, so you could choose between the two churches. 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:32.720 That was not their response. 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:40.639 By and large, their response was to say that the Catholic Church is not a church at all. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:47.759 It may have the word church in its name, but it is not a church, which is a very bombastic thing to say. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:50.879 Some of you might be filling out white cards right now. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:57.199 It's confrontational, it's not politically correct to say that the Catholic Church is no church at all. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:05.040 But to say that, it requires you to have some kind of functioning definition of what is a true church. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:13.120 If you're going to eliminate things and say this, although it has the name church is not a church, that may have a nice steeple, but it's not a church. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:17.519 That might have the word church in its URL, but that does not make it a church. 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:20.160 What is a church then? 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:28.000 That's an inherently Protestant question to after all, the Catholic Church would allege that they are the true church. 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:29.680 They are the only church. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:34.079 And we respond with no, because a true church must have X, Y, and Z. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:42.720 And if you understand what makes a true church, it will eliminate everything from the Latter-day Saints to the Church of Scientology. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:45.759 They really call themselves a church. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:47.199 It's incredible. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:51.279 The key passage for this in understanding what a church is is Matthew 16. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:53.519 It is the passage we just read. 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:57.199 And of course, you can focus on verse 18. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:02.879 I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:08.000 We've been in Matthew 8 for many months, and now Matthew 9 for the last few months. 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:17.920 So we might lose sight of the big picture here, but the big picture in the Gospel of Matthew is that this right here in Matthew 16 is the first use of the word church. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:22.160 This is the first New Testament description of the church. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:29.759 Matthew is the first gospel written, and here is the first use in this first gospel of the word church. 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:34.000 The word church was not described earlier in the book of Matthew. 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:35.600 We've learned about the gospel. 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:37.839 We've seen the prophecy of the death of Christ. 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:43.839 We've learned that Jesus will be a friend to sinners and tax collectors, but we have not seen an introduction to the church. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.639 The Lord has saved that until here, Matthew 16. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:53.600 He's up at the very edge of Israel at Caesarea Philippi, the place where Israel's land runs out. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:07:02.079 The place where the cow god was erected by the pagan kings of Israel to mark the northernmost border of Israel. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:05.439 Beyond this place was just pagan land. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:17.759 This is the place where Jesus gathers his disciples, and he's going to begin his long march across the entire nation of Israel, all the way down to the Sea of Galilee, along the Jordan River, and then up into Jerusalem. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:23.199 And he begins that march by asking his disciples, Who do you think that I am? 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:27.120 And the disciples rattle off some wrong answers. 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:31.600 John the Baptist, which is a ridiculous answer, I might point out. 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:34.399 I mean, they'd lived in a world without photographs. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:40.879 Nevertheless, there were probably tens of thousands of people that saw Jesus and John the Baptist in the same place at the same time. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:43.600 So it is a ridiculous assumption. 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:48.480 Some say that you're Elijah, because of course he had been carried away. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:56.240 Others Jeremiah, perhaps the most profit uh passionate of Israel's prophets, or any of the prophets. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:01.360 And Jesus cuts through the noise and cuts through the nonsense and says, Who do you say that I am? 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:06.160 And this becomes in many ways the climax of Jesus' ministry here. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:09.920 If there could be a climax before the resurrection and the cross, this would be it. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:16.879 And it is here where the disciples who have been in many ways half-witted and not seeing the full picture all kinds of times. 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:22.720 I mean, they're I mean, they're barring Jesus from doing the essential parts of his ministry, nay, moments ago. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:24.160 And we'll return to that again. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:28.079 I mean, this is this is not the all-star lineup of Christianity here. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:32.240 But at this point, they get it right. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:37.600 You are the Christ, Peter says, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:47.120 And Jesus takes that response and parries it into a description of what his church will be like. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:50.639 This is going to be the disciples' first lesson on the church. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:54.559 They will get another one in a few minutes, Matthew 18. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:09:04.399 Jesus is going to go up on the mountain in 17 and be transfigured, and he's going to come back down, still in Caesarea Philippi, and describe to them the way the church will work. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:07.840 But for now, he introduces them to what the church will be like. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:12.879 He's going to describe, even in this little introduction here, some essential elements of the true church. 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:15.679 I'm going to give you four of them this morning. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.960 The first is that the true church has the right Lord. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:21.360 The true church has the right Lord. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:23.679 And by the way, I'm going to choose four. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:29.679 You can get as many as I don't know, seven or eight elements of the true church out of just this little description here. 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:30.639 I'm choosing four. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:32.960 These are the four that are in most confessions. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:47.440 Most Protestant confessions, from the Westminster Confession to the London Baptist Confession, to the Synods of Dort to the Heidelberg Catechism, they all essentially have these same components of what a true church is, which is more than incidental. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:52.559 It's revealing the fact that this was a very critical question to the first Protestants. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:10:02.639 It was a very critical question to those who broke away from the Catholic Church to be able to clearly define what it was they're doing there, that they're not making a social club. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:04.639 The church is not a social club. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:06.960 It's not a gathering even of like-minded people. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:10.559 It is something that is being built by Jesus Christ Himself. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:15.360 There are lots of false churches, but there's only one true church, and that's where we'll begin. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:18.559 The first mark of the true church is the right Lord. 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:22.000 You see this in verse 18. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:28.240 I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:30.799 The church belongs to Jesus Christ. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:33.519 Lord is a fancy word, of course, it's ascribed to God. 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:38.080 It means the sovereign over the universe, but it is, of course, a play on the words. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:45.519 We are doos of Christ, we're doing of Christ, we're the servants of Jesus Christ and are slaves of Christ, and slaves have a Lord. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:56.399 The word Lord was used by the Jewish people to refer to God, who is the Lord of heaven and earth, but Jesus uses it for himself to refer to himself as the Lord of the church. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:59.600 It's a word that was commonly used for the master of slaves. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:08.240 And so by Jesus using this word, he is revealing himself to be God and then claiming that he has authority over his church. 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:13.759 Now you see it a little bit in verse 16 that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:20.320 And now Jesus is claiming that his Messiahship gives him the authority to exercise over the church. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:22.960 He will be in charge of the church. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:26.480 He is the builder of the church, he says in verse 18. 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:28.960 He is the one who is building it. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:31.440 We are not building the church. 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:34.559 Our current construction project, notwithstanding. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:39.039 The church does not belong to us, it belongs to Jesus. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.120 It is his church. 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:50.240 It always makes me uncomfortable even when somebody asks me a question like, What time are the services at your church? 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:52.480 That pronoun stumbles me a little bit. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:55.120 I know what they mean. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:12:00.480 I mean it's my neighbor might be asking me on the way out the door in the morning, hey, what time does your church start? 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:04.000 It's not the time for a little Bible study in Matthew 16. 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:05.919 Normally because I'm running late. 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:09.759 My church starts, and I don't even say that. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:12.799 I say Emmanuel starts at or, you know, eight o'clock. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:13.919 That's what time we start. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.440 But just that phrase, your church, does it stumble you when you hear it? 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:18.240 Maybe not. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:19.519 Maybe I'm overly sensitive. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:20.720 It stumbles me. 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:28.879 But it's too cumbersome to say it's actually not my church, it's the church of Jesus Christ, of which I'm privileged to be a small part. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:31.919 But it starts at 8 o'clock. 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:36.240 Understand that the church is Jesus'. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:38.240 You can call it your church. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:44.399 I'm glad for you to say it's your church if you're exercising ownership of it and you're exercising stewardship of your gifts here. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:50.720 As long as every time you say the phrase, oh, this is my church or this is your church, that you have a little asterisk next to it. 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:55.519 In your mind, there's a footnote that says, It's actually the church that belongs to Jesus. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:01.840 The church will be here after I die, and it was here before I was born. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:03.519 And that's one of the things I love about Emmanuel. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:06.559 All 5 years of Emmanuel Bible Church, how old is it? 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:08.480 55 years, something like that. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:12.320 I was having breakfast with some pastors yesterday. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:17.840 I was the only pastor at the table that was not the founding pastor of their church. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:19.600 And I loved that. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:24.320 I know I just said the phrase their church, but you've got the footnote underneath it, right? 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:34.080 You know, and it sounds weird to say, oh, look at our the glorious history of our church, all 55 years old of it. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:41.120 You know, understand that the lineage of the true church didn't start with Emmanuel Bible Church meeting in Robinson High School. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:46.159 The lineage of Emmanuel Bible Church goes all the way back to the Protestant Reformation. 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:56.720 It goes all the way back from that to the forerunners of the Reformation, it goes all the way back to the saints scattered in India and Africa, holding on to the essentials of a true church. 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:03.360 It goes all the way back to the apostles, it goes all the way back to the upper room, it goes back to Acts chapter 2. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:05.440 That's where the church began. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:11.840 And that is the group of people that recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ, that He is the Lord. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:16.799 Any place that doesn't acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ is not a church. 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:29.519 Any gathering of people that doesn't recognize that Jesus Christ is indeed the sovereign Lord of the universe, they might have a nice club, they might have Bibles in their hands, they might have Jesus fish on their cars, but they are not a church. 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:35.679 The essential foundation of the church is that Jesus Christ is the Lord. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:39.759 And that's what Jesus means when he responds to Peter. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:52.879 And this is the confession, the Peter's confession, that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Messiah, that he is the Son of the living God. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:56.320 That is the foundation upon which the church will be built. 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:01.840 Only Jesus is the head of the church. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:05.200 Only Jesus, not the Queen of England. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:06.960 She's not the head of the church. 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:07.919 Not the Pope. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:10.159 The Pope is not the head of the church. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:14.639 The church doesn't belong to the head elder, whoever is rotating through the elder board. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:16.480 It certainly doesn't belong to the pastor. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:19.440 The church belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:24.080 You see in this that the right Lord entails Trinitarianism. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:29.279 Jesus himself describes eternity in this passage, that he is the Son of His Father. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:30.559 There is the Heavenly Father. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:32.879 He is the eternally begotten Lord. 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:36.159 He has always been Lord, even in eternity past. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:37.200 He's always been the Son. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:39.120 There was never a time when the Son was not. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:41.200 He is eternally begotten of the Father. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:43.840 Peter himself even confesses this. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:46.000 Jesus identifies it. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:50.399 It wasn't revealed to you, but my Father, the one who is the eternal Father, He is always the Father. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:57.919 Remember, if there was ever a time when Jesus wasn't the Son, then that means there was a time when the Father wasn't Father, because fathers have sons. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:02.320 My Father who is in heaven, he is the one who revealed this. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:05.919 It speaks to the eternality of the Trinity. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:12.000 It speaks to the immediacy of the Trinity, that the Holy Spirit is in the world revealing this truth to people. 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:14.720 The Father is the one who sends. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:17.600 The Father is the one who plans in that sense redemption. 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:18.480 He sends his son. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:22.960 The Son is the one who comes and dies on the cross and will be the Lord of the church. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:27.919 And the Spirit is the one who comes and builds the church by drawing people to it. 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.039 That's Peter's, the whole point of Peter's answer. 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:35.519 And Jesus tells him, I believe me, Peter, you did not figure this out in verse 17. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:36.399 I know you, Peter. 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:38.320 You didn't figure this out on your own. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:40.960 This certainly comes from my Father. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:42.879 It is revealed not by flesh and blood. 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:46.000 It is the Spirit who reveals this in the church, sent by the Father. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:52.639 1 Corinthians 2, verse 13, Paul says, We impart in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:56.480 We interpret spiritual truths to people who are spiritual. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:02.480 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for their folly to him. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:06.720 He's not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:11.279 This lets you know that the church, the true church, is not built on human reasoning. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:18.480 It's not designed to appeal to man's fallen senses, because man's fallen senses are always wrong. 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:25.680 So Jesus tells Peter that in light of his declaration that Christ is the Messiah, something supernatural has obviously just occurred. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:30.400 The Holy Spirit is at work, the Father is at work, the Son, the Redeemer, is in their presence. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:32.079 This will be the nature of the church. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:33.599 A true church is Trinitarian. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:39.440 Anything that is not Trinitarian and does not confess Jesus as Lord is not a real church. 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:45.519 And of course, because Jesus is the Lord of heaven and earth, he is the Lord of eternity. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:48.079 Death will not shut the church down. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:53.839 He says in verse 18, I will build my church in the gates of Hades, or the gates of hell will not overpower it. 00:17:55.039 --> 00:18:02.160 There's much said about the gates being defensive, and so the church is going on the offensive here, and I think some of that could be overstated. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:06.960 I mean, I take in this word picture, the gates of hell, you go through the gates to get to a place. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:09.759 You go through the gates of death to get to death. 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:10.640 That's the idea. 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:13.839 And Jesus says the gates of death will not defeat the church. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:15.759 In other words, the church is eternal. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:18.880 You can die and you can still be part of the church. 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:23.839 And if death can't kill you, can anything kill you? 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:26.799 If death doesn't defeat you, nothing can defeat you. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:30.160 The worst the world can do is kill you and they still lose. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:34.640 The church will conquer even life and death itself. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:38.480 And of course, you see this in the resurrection. 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:40.960 Jesus is our resurrected Lord. 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:46.319 Any church that doesn't acknowledge the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, of course, is not a true church. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:56.240 Any church that doesn't acknowledge the Trinity is not a true church, and any church that doesn't acknowledge Jesus as the Lord and the head of the church is not a true church. 00:18:56.960 --> 00:18:58.559 Well, a true church has the right Lord. 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:01.119 Secondly, a true church has the right gospel. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:04.960 It has the right Lord, and a true church has the right gospel. 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:11.119 Jesus says in verse 18, You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:14.319 Now he's obviously making a pun with Peter's name. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:18.559 In Greek the word for rock is Petrus, and in Greek Peter's name is Petros. 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:23.200 So Jesus is saying, You are Petros, and upon this Petros I will build my church. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:26.079 So what is the Petros? 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:28.960 Upon what rock is Jesus going to build his church? 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:31.359 And the answer is twofold, of course. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:32.640 Peter is the rock. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:35.599 It was his confession that lays the foundation of this. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:39.200 Peter is going to be the preacher that builds the first churches. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:42.880 He is the one preaching the sermon in Acts chapter 2 on Pentecost. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:45.680 The church is launched on the back of Peter's ministry. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:47.680 He is the one that carries it. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:55.839 Despite all of his incompetence in the gospels, he becomes the leader of the church until James is installed as kind of the head elder, so to speak. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:01.200 Peter is the one who clearly in the book of Acts, the first half of it, launches the church into the world. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:05.359 But what gives Peter his authority and his power? 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:07.920 Nothing intrinsic in his office. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:08.960 It's not hereditary. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:11.119 It's not something he passes on to those underneath him. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:13.519 Peter had passed it on in his own lifetime, by the way. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:16.640 By Acts 15, Peter was no longer leading the church. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:22.480 What gave Peter his initial preeminence was this confession here in Matthew 16. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:27.119 The real foundation of the church, of course, is not Peter. 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:28.720 It's the confession of Jesus Christ. 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:30.160 It is the gospel. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:33.759 And that's what Jesus is indicating here. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:39.119 He doesn't tell Peter you're the rock that I'm going to build a church on because Jesus could never pass up a good pun. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:44.880 Although, as a pastor, I like pastor jokes, and so I'm drawn to that aspect of it. 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:55.599 But it's not that Jesus was being punny, it was that he identifies here in Peter that his confession is the legitimate, essential element of the church. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:01.519 The confession of Jesus as the Messiah is how the true church advances in the world. 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:03.039 The church is built. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:04.240 Notice what Jesus says. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:08.000 Upon this rock, this confession, I will build my church. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:11.119 So how do you build upon the foundation? 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:13.119 You build one rock at a time. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:21.200 You lay the foundation, which is Peter's apostolic ministry through his confession of Jesus Christ as the Savior and as the Lord of the church. 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:27.440 You then build on that foundation one person at a time, one salvation at a time. 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:32.319 The church goes forward into the world and is built one confession at a time. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:40.000 The church will grow as others echo Peter, as others hear the works of Jesus and they say, Behold, the true Son of God. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:44.079 This is the doctrine of personal conversion. 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:52.240 Any group that does not believe in the doctrine of personal conversion is not a church. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:22:05.119 The hallmark of the church, beyond having the right Lord, is that you come to a saving relationship with That right, Lord, through the right gospel, through individual conversion. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:08.640 You are not born into the church. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:15.119 You are not joining the church by giving, by works. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:21.519 The only way you enter the church is through your own personal conversion to Jesus Christ. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.480 Now everybody in the world is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, whether or not they like it. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:29.119 Jesus is the Lord of every human soul. 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:33.200 It's just that most of the world doesn't acknowledge it and won't recognize it. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:47.519 The church is for those who through personal conversion, the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, whose eyes are open, whose souls go from death to life, their eyes go from blindness to sight, their ears go from deaf to hearing the word of God. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:49.519 They're born again, is the phrase. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:52.799 The church is those who are born again. 00:22:53.440 --> 00:23:01.599 And it happens individually, one person at a time, as individuals confess Christ and trust him as their savior. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.480 A true church is people that do just that. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:08.960 And a church that fails to preach the gospel is not a true church. 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:12.400 The gospel, of course, is that Jesus does die for sins. 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:16.880 That's what it means, that he is the Messiah in Peter's confession, that he will be the Savior. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:19.359 He will be the one that the Father bruises. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:22.640 He will be the one that is crushed by the Father for our iniquity. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:24.720 He does bear our sins. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:28.160 He is the true Savior of the world. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:30.240 He is the king from the line of David. 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:32.400 He is the man from the line of Adam. 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:34.319 He is God in human flesh. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:39.279 This is the gospel that he led a sinless life and died on the cross for our sins. 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:44.319 Resurrected on the third day because you cannot kill the Lord of life. 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:47.519 And there's no other gospel than that. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:49.839 There's no other way for salvation other than that. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:53.200 There's no other good news to offer the world other than that. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:59.519 And a church that doesn't preach this gospel is not a true church. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:02.559 And the gospel here in this case includes the concept of judgment. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:03.599 Look at verse 19. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:05.759 I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:09.440 Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:12.799 This is speaking of eternal judgment, eternal damnation. 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:19.279 Sins that are really, in a sense, sealed on people in this life will be carried over into eternity. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:24.559 And Jesus repeats the same phrase in Matthew 18, by the way, to make it very clear what he's talking about. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:30.000 That there are those who refuse to repent of their sins, and they have the judgment of hell on them. 00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:38.559 And so a group of people that does not believe in eternal life is not a church, and a group of people that does not believe in the reality of hell is not a church. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:42.559 Any group that denies hell ceases to be a church. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:50.880 Jesus here makes it clear in verse 19 that the belief in eternal hell is an essential part of what it means to be a church. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:25:01.359 And of course, if you have a real gospel with a real Lord and a real hell and a real Savior, then there is no room for personal improvement in the church. 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:05.119 The church cannot be a club that is about advancing a political agenda. 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:07.039 It can't be a self-help group. 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:09.680 It can't be offering you six ways to get your life together. 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:15.039 The church only has one way to help you get your life together, and that's through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:25.119 There's no room for a gospel of personal improvement in the church because the church can only be built through personal conversion and salvation. 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:30.240 The church advances into the world in hand-to-hand combat, one at a time. 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:33.440 The church does not advance into the world by nuclear war. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:37.519 We don't carpet bomb places. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:44.000 We grow our ranks individually, one person at a time, beginning with who Jesus is. 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:48.640 He's the Messiah and He's righteous, and ending with who we are, sinners and aliens. 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:51.519 And what bridges verse 18 and 19? 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:53.200 The message of Jesus Christ. 00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:57.759 Or as verse 20 says, that he is the Savior, He is the Messiah. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:04.079 When one person gives their life to the Lord of the church, the church is advanced, the angels rejoice, and there is joy in heaven. 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:06.240 That's how the church advances over the world. 00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:14.400 I used to have painted on my wall when I lived in Albuquerque my own personal life motto, which was taking over the world one person at a time. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:16.160 Sounds arrogant now. 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:19.599 I confess, but I stand by the heart behind it. 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:24.079 The gospel advances into the world one person at a time. 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:26.319 The third mark of a true church. 00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:30.400 A true church has the right Lord, the right gospel, and thirdly, the right ordinances. 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:44.960 And as I mentioned earlier, the nuts and bolts of the church are not described here in Matthew 16, although Jesus goes more in depth in Matthew 18, but he saves the full fleshing out of what the church will be for the book of Acts and the pastoral epistles. 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:56.319 But you see, as the church comes into existence, the church will have elders, the church will have deacons, and that's all described, and you see it in the book of Acts, and then in 1 Timothy and Titus. 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:02.240 It's an essential part of the church having the right elders and deacons having those offices. 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:08.079 You know, a group of people meeting together with Bibles and the gospel that doesn't have elders is, again, not a church. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:11.279 It may be a 501c3, but it's not a church. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:13.920 But I don't want to spend too much time on that this morning. 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:16.880 I want to focus this morning because we'll take the Lord's table in a second. 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:21.359 A true church practices only these ordinances, communion and baptism. 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:28.079 That's what the Lord gave us to really bind us together and mark our unity in the church. 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:31.279 Everybody who's a member of the church has been baptized. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:34.160 Every single member of the church has been baptized. 00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:37.279 There's one Lord, there's one faith, there's one baptism. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:39.759 You're baptized by the Spirit when you're saved. 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:45.680 You're baptized in water to be a public demonstration of your physical and personal union to the church. 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:50.079 You're not baptized to earn your salvation. 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:52.240 You're not baptized in order to get saved. 00:27:52.400 --> 00:28:02.480 And this is where the Protestants really, you know, kicked into gear when it came to the confrontation with the Catholics, because the Catholics, of course, taught that there were seven sacraments and that they were all essential for salvation. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:06.240 This is why you had to go to a Catholic church, because they had the sacraments. 00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:09.519 If you wanted to be saved, you needed to avail yourself of them. 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:12.000 There was no salvation apart from them. 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:16.480 And so you went to the church in order to take the Mass. 00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:19.039 You went to the church in order to baptize your children. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:20.880 You went to the church in order to be married. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:22.799 You had to do those things in the church. 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:31.039 And the Protestants stepped back and said, Whoa, if you practice any of those things, saying you need them for salvation, you are not a church. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:36.480 Because a true church does not dispense things in order for you to be saved. 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:42.799 A true church celebrates baptism and celebrates communion with those who already are saved. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:46.880 By taking communion, you're confessing your salvation. 00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:48.799 You're breaking the same bread. 00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:57.759 This is why we take communion as a church and not as Bible studies or as families or as home groups or on retreats, because it's something you do when the church is together. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:00.559 This is why we do baptism at the church. 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:02.880 It marks our union with the church. 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:11.119 Now, if you do, you know, if you got baptized at an Iwana retreat or something like that, or if you take communion with a Bible study retreat, that's not a big deal. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:14.960 But you're understanding that by taking it there, you're taking it because you're part of this church. 00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:17.279 You're not making your own church out in the hills somewhere. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:18.720 Because we have a different word for that. 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:20.799 Cult, I think, is the word for that. 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:26.400 But baptism and communion are given as marks of the church. 00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:30.960 And you cannot be saved by taking them. 00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:34.880 Once you teach that, you cease to be a church. 00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:38.960 And to understand that, you really do need this fourth point here. 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:44.880 A true church has the right Lord, the right gospel, the right ordinances, and it has the right membership. 00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:46.240 It has the right membership. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:47.440 And this is what I mean by that. 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:49.039 It's from verse 19. 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:53.920 People who refuse to repent from their sins stand condemned. 00:29:54.160 --> 00:30:00.559 And people who do believe the gospel are added to the church, have their sins forgiven. 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:08.079 And the church can with confidence and authority say that if you believe the gospel, your sins are loosed from you. 00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:10.400 You are forgiven of your sins. 00:30:10.640 --> 00:30:13.119 The church can declare that with confidence. 00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:20.799