A Confession, A Cross & A Call

Well for those of you who have not been with us for a while, let me remind you of what we're doing on Wednesday evenings here in the auditorium and our grow class, we're studying the life of Christ. And so we're moving sequentially, chronologically through the Gospels, taking the Gospel account that most fully addresses each event, successfully in our Lord's life. And so what we are finding is we are about a little over two years into his three and a half year ministry. And we're finding that we're at a time when Jesus is stretching, challenging his disciples to grow toward that time when they will be ready to take over. When they will be ready to be fully discipled, ready to lead his work. And so Jesus is pulling away, we call these the withdrawals of Jesus. He's withdrawing from public crowds a lot and spending more time with the 12, a time period in our Lord's ministry called the training of the 12. Jesus is training the 12. What we're going to see tonight is one of those real critical events of Jesus training them. I know I've probably pointed out to several events as being really, you know, benchmark critical events. And there are a lot of them in our Lord's life and ministry. This one is a time when Jesus is going to introduce two new concepts to his disciples and he's really going to stretch them. In fact, he's going to stretch them to where they pull back a little bit and there will be six days of silence of distance between our Lord and the disciples following this event. This is a critical event. Jesus is going to begin introducing very clearly the church and he's going to begin introducing very clearly his death. And both of those events have been kind of foreshadowed, kind of alluded to in vague ways already in the gospel. But now Jesus is, you know, it's time for Jesus to introduce these two things very clearly. The disciples are really going to be stretched at this time. So Jesus takes them away again. And on this occasion, Jesus withdraws to Cessaria, Philippi. We saw that last week, talked about that a little bit where Jesus will take his disciples to a location where he can be alone with them and introduce these mind blowing concepts to them that will really stretch their understanding. In fact, they will not understand either one of these events till after the crucifixion of Christ. They won't understand them fully. Let's take a look again at where Jesus is taking them. If we have them at there of this part of Jesus ministry. Here's the Sea of Galilee. Most of Jesus ministry has been in this location on the north side of the Sea of Galilee using cappernum as his home base. And in recent weeks, Jesus has pulled away from the crowds around the Sea of Galilee, gone all the way up here to Tyre with his disciples, then all the way down here to decapolis for more ministry and training of the 12. And then he made one little foray back over here to Galilee where he was immediately besieged by the Pharisees demanding a sign. And remember Jesus said, I'm not going to give you any more signs. You've already officially rejected me as the Messiah. And so he quickly pulls his disciples back into a boat across the Sea of Galilee to Bethesda. Now on the occasion we're looking at here in Matthew chapter 16 tonight, Jesus takes them 25, 30 miles north to Cessaria, Philippi. Where is found the highest mountain in this part of the world, Mount Herman, a beautiful mountain. And at the base of this mountain was a pagan worship center. Now last week we looked at a video clip that talked about this and showed you some. Let's just show you a few pictures, a couple of pictures this time. At the base of this mountain is this whole complex, which was a pagan worship center. This is what it looks like today. These are the archaeological digs today. The cave or grotto of pan, the god pan half goat, half human, which the Romans and the Greeks worshiped. And then you've also got other areas here. This was a temple to Zeus. This was an area of shrine to pan and hermys. There's another temple over here and all of this area is a pagan worship center heavily concentrated with the Roman and Greek gods. Here's what it would have looked like in Jesus day with the temples actually built in front of this cave, the grotto of pan is this temple of Augustus Caesar. This is the temple to Zeus and there are other worship areas and niches carved into this cave or cliff and so forth. These are the headwaters of one of the tributaries of the Jordan River right there. So this is the area where Jesus has taken them. And you remember if you saw the video clip last week, the teacher was talking about why did Jesus take his disciples to this pagan worship center outside of Jewish territory where Jewish people would feel very uncomfortable with all these temples to the pagan Roman gods. Why did he take them there to teach them? And the answer is in what we're going to see that he teaches them tonight. He introduces the teaching that will introduce the church and his death by asking them to very important questions. Are you ready for these questions and what Jesus is going to teach them? Matthew 16 verse 13. When Jesus came to the region of Cessaria, Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied. They're going to give four replies here. These are just the common reports of who people say Jesus is, the Son of Man. Some say John the Baptist. Why do you think people would say whoever this teacher is, maybe he's John the Baptist. Why do you think they would identify him with John the Baptist? Come on, come on. You know somebody knows. Come on. Why would they say this is John the Baptist? Did he baptize people? Earlier in his ministry, John chapter 3 says that Jesus and his disciples, although it really was his disciples that did the baptizing. Connection maybe through baptism, maybe, what else? Any other thoughts? What? Okay, some may have thought that he was resurrected. John the Baptist was risen from the dead. We have already looked at one person a few weeks ago that definitely thought that. Remember who that was? Herod, right? Herod. King Herod, or the tetraarch actually in this part of the world, was convinced that Jesus, this man he's hearing all these reports about, was John the Baptist raised from the dead and maybe given more power because of that because he had put John the death and Herod was a very suspicious man. So he came to the conclusion that it was John the Baptist, maybe that was being spread around and others were accepting that as well, thinking maybe he was John the Baptist. By the way, this is, this we're talking about the speculation of men. I'm running ahead without giving my friends back. There are any clues as to where we are in the outline. This is the speculation of men that we're talking about now. John the Baptist others say Elijah. Now, why would people say whoever this is? Not sure, but maybe Elijah. Why would they say that? Miracles? Okay. Because of miracles, Elijah was a great miracle working prophet in the Old Testament, wasn't he? In fact, there are three concentrations of miracles in the Bible under Moses, under Elijah and Elijah and in the life of Christ. And so it would be very natural for some people to think maybe that's this is Elijah reincarnated or come back from the dead. It would be a better way to put it. Maybe that's what they were thinking. Any other reasons why they would, they might think Elijah? Prophecy? What prophecy? That Elijah would come to do what? Prepare the way for the Messiah, prepare the way of the Lord? Okay. There were prophecies like that. There would be one who would come and prepare the way of the Lord. Isaiah 40. Elijah would come before the coming of the Lord, Malachi 4. Those prophecies in the Old Testament did for tell that there would be one who would come and prepare the way for the Messiah. And so some people were thinking maybe this is the one who's preparing the way for the Messiah. Maybe he'll Elijah. And then notice the next person, some say he's Jeremiah. Why do you think they would identify him with Jeremiah? It's a little more difficult to maybe get a clue on, but do you have any ideas? His, I'm sorry, Jim. His care? Care? Carrying? Okay. Jeremiah was known as a weeping prophet, wasn't he? He wrote the book of lamentations. He lived in a very difficult time in minister and in time where he was heavily opposed by people in Judah as he was proclaiming their destruction and encouraging them to give into Babylon because God intended to take them captive. He was persecuted. He was, you know, they tried to kill him a couple times. He was arrested, thrown in prison. He went through a lot of difficulty, but he loved his people and he cared for them and he wept over their plight. I think, I think you're on the right track there, Jim. I think because, you know, the Bible talks about Jesus having compassion on the multitudes and seeing that they were like sheep without a shepherd that maybe there was that tie to Jeremiah. There may be another reason there was a Jewish tradition that Jeremiah had hidden the arc of the covenant when the Babylonians came into the temple. I don't think that happened. But there was a Jewish tradition that he had and that Jeremiah would reappear to reproduce, to show where it was and bring out the arc of the covenant when the new temple would be built when Messiah came. So there was that Jewish tradition and maybe some people thought, well, maybe this is Jeremiah come back to reintroduce the temple worship. And then look, others speculation, others said, or one of the prophets, you know, we're not sure we can't peg a particular person, but maybe just one of the prophets. The interesting thing about all of these identifications is that all of them are identified with the coming of the Messiah. John the Baptist is the forerunner. Elijah is to appear before the coming of the Messiah. Jewish tradition said Jeremiah would come and restore the arc of the covenant before the coming of the Messiah. So all of these are identified with the appearing of the Messiah, but all of them come short of identifying him as the actual Messiah. So very interesting, Jesus is saying, what's the common public opinion of who I am and the common public opinion is he's a great man. He ranks right up there with all the great prophets. I mean, there's none that are better. We would put him right up there at the top of the list, but nobody is willing to say he is the Messiah, at least not the common opinion of people. So that the popular opinion is far short of who Jesus really is. No one is willing to say he is the Messiah. All agree. He's a great man, prophet, teacher right up there with the best of the Old Testament, but nobody's willing to take that step to say the Messiah. Now for that reason, I can hardly overestimate the importance of this next question. Verse 15, but what about you? He asked, who do you say I am? I really, I mean, this is one of those tense moments. This is one of those griffing moments in our Lord's life. I mean, we read these passages and we scan through them so quickly and we know the end from the beginning of the story. If you could just for a moment try to imagine that you're there and nobody has answered this question yet and the question is hanging in the air. There's a sense in which the whole future of Jesus ministry rides on the answer to this question. It's that kind of critical intersection in Jesus ministry. The future education of these men, the training of these men, where things will go from here rests on the answer to this question. Okay, the public opinion is this. Who do you say that I am? I don't know how long it took Peter to answer. I don't know how long it was before he was willing to step out and say what he said, but I am convinced if you were there you would have been able to cut the air with a knife. This is such a vital point in our Lord's ministry. And bless his heart. Peter comes through. You know, Peter was kind of the spokesman. He was kind of the outspoken one and there are times when that got him in trouble, but there are times when he rises to the occasion and shines. And this is one of them. Or 16 Simon Peter answered, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. This is the declaration of Peter. Peter makes this amazing declaration. These men have been with Jesus for over two years. They've heard him teach. They have seen him work miracles. They have watched him live. They have listened to him pray to his father. By now they must know who he is. If they don't, then there's a lot that has to happen in this next year and a half. It will be a lot that will need to happen anyway, but this is a critical juncture. So Peter answers, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. This declaration of Peter speaking for all of the 12 is twofold. Notice what he says, first of all, you are the Christ. What does that mean? I know what that means. Messiah. Yes. You are the Christ. Pardon me? There's only one. Yes. You are the Christ, not a Christ, not one of the Christs. You are the Christ Christ, Christos, which was a title. Messiah is the idea. The anointed one is the literal meaning of the word. You are the Messiah. You are the Christ, the anointed one. Now there are still some things that these men do not fully understand. That will become even more apparent in just a few verses. There are still some things they don't understand about his mission, but they are absolutely certain he is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. He is the King. He is the anointed one, the one who would reign on David's throne. They are convinced of that. The religious leaders may reject him, but they know he is the Messiah. Great answer. The rest of the answer is even better. You are the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God. In other words, you are the Messiah. You are the anointed one, but you are not merely a human political leader. You are more than that Christ. You are the Messiah. You will sit on David's throne, but you are more than just a human political. You are the son of the living God. Again, not a son of God, like anyone who may be in a personal relationship with God, not a child of God. You are the unique son of the living God. This is a strong reference to the deity of Christ. You are uniquely the son, an emphatic statement of the deity of Christ, that he was indeed God in human flesh. The son of God is a title for God, God in human flesh. So they see him as the Messiah. They see him as God. What a great, great answer. Public opinion may fall short of that, but in this critical moment Peter comes through with the right answer. The answer which will now pave the way for them to be further instructed, further taught, and Jesus is not going to waste any time. But first of all, we have the explanation of Christ in verse 17. Jesus explains where this answer came from. Verse 17, Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon, Son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my father in heaven. The explanation of Christ as to where this answer came from, it did not come from man. The idea is it did not come through the normal human means of acquiring knowledge. Peter didn't just dream this up. It didn't occur to him in his human reasoning. This was not intuition. He was not won over by persuasive human arguments. This was not because of any brilliant intellect. This did not come from him. But it did come, Jesus says, from the Father. This was revealed to you not by man, but by my father in heaven. Now, what does it mean that God had revealed this? Does it mean that God somehow just zapped him with this supernatural knowledge and all of a sudden, boom, I know. I don't think so. I don't think so. These men had heard Jesus teach for two years. They had heard him speak the word of the living God. They had heard him declare himself to be the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. They had seen the miracles which Jesus carefully instructed them were designed to support and give credentials to the men. They had heard the word of God through the word of the Word, the message of Christ and the supporting miracles that were his credentials to show the message was true. He has shown them in their hearts and minds that he was the Son of God and that he was the Messiah. I believe God still works the same way. As we study his word, as we read here, his word, as we see what Jesus did and the apostles did to give authentication to that message, God opens up our hearts and minds to receive his word. That's how salvation takes place. That's how spiritual growth takes place. It doesn't take place through supernatural injections of power from God just randomly. It doesn't happen that way. Salvation happens as people understand the gospel. As people understand what the Bible says is the way of salvation and God opens up their hearts and minds through his word to receive the Lord Jesus the Savior. Understand they need Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. That's the way we grow too. There is no magic formula for spiritual growth. There are no zaps from heaven that quickly move us to the next level. We grow through God revealing to us through his word, his truth, and we come to understand and we move to the next level of growth. That's how growth happens. That's how spiritual life and spiritual growth happen. The explanation of Christ as to what's happening here is patient working of God's word in our hearts and minds. God uses that to reveal to us who he is, what his plan is. Any questions or comments before we find this next section of the revelation of Christ about the two new truths he's going to share with him? Any questions? Do you want to digress into those small facts that I'm going to do on my mind? Why do people think that they are coming before Christ before Christ came to the right? The Old Testament prophesied there would be one who would come to prepare the way for the Lord which was John the Baptist. Malachi prophesied that John the Baptist would come before the Lord would come and be in his temple. There were evidence in the Old Testament that there would be someone who would come to prepare the way of the Lord and make ready the nation for his people or make ready the people for the coming of Christ. Yes, now the tie-in with Jeremiah probably had to do with the Jewish tradition of he'll produce the Ark of the Covenant so the temple can be rebuilt. That was just Jewish tradition. That has no basis in the Old Testament. Again, that's just conjecture. They may have identified him with Jeremiah because of his known as Man of Sorrows. He was compassionate. He cared for people and Jeremiah was that kind of prophet too? Yes. Malachi 4 specifically says Elijah will come. Malachi 4 says that he will come before the Lord comes. So they were expecting someone to come before Christ. What men are saying is that he's Elijah. He's not Christ. They're thinking that Jesus is Elijah who will come before the Messiah. They're saying he's not the Messiah. I'm not sure if I'm making sense. Well, now we're looking back and we know from our perspective that Elijah, that prophecy may yet be fulfilled in the tribulation time. There's a lot of debate about that. But from their perspective, they're still looking for one to come before the Messiah. And remember Jesus said you have heard that Elijah will come and he has already come in Matthew chapter 11. He says if you would have received Elijah, he would or John the Baptist, I'm sorry. If you would have received John the Baptist, he would have been Elijah. So looking from their perspective, looking toward it, they're still expecting someone like John the Baptist to come and Elijah to come. And from our perspective, we know that it may yet be fulfilled in the future because we're looking back on it. Okay, I think I confused myself on that. I'm not sure what to sort it out and you'll get there. Okay, Holly. It's a great question. Holly is saying that the typically we understand that it's the Holy Spirit that reveals things to us. But here it's saying God the Father does. Is this an Old Testament thing? God the Father and then maybe the Holy Spirit does a New Testament. And I think I think the answer would be both both reveal things to us. Now it is it is particularly the ministry of the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to the apostles so that they can then write it in Scripture. John 14 talks about that John 16 talks about that. First Corinthians 2 talks about that that the Holy Spirit reveals truth to the apostles. Okay, but also in passages like this and others, it is also the Father that reveals truth. And the idea is that the whole Trinity works together in these things just like in creations, just like in salvation. Sometimes it can be said that the Holy Spirit is one revealing. Sometimes it can be said that the Father's revealing. Now from our perspective now, now that we know Jesus is savior, the Holy Spirit is is particularly described in the New Testament as opening up our understanding to the Bible. It's called illumination. He illumines. He opened. He helps us to understand the Scriptures and that is uniquely a role of the Holy Spirit. Although certainly it could just as easily be said, God helps us to understand Jesus helps us to understand. But most often that that work is attributed to the Holy Spirit. But as far as revealing truth, sometimes the Bible says the Father does that. Sometimes the Spirit does it. Okay, any other questions before we get into this revelation of Christ, what he reveals now, new truth. Okay, Jesus then reveals three things here and you've got them in your notes there. First of all, new purpose. He reveals a new purpose in verse 18. And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Now there are three parts of that that I want to deal with, two of which are highly troublesome, highly debated. Down through church history. But let's get the basis of what Jesus is saying first. The centerpiece of what Jesus is saying, forget for a moment about Peter and the rock and on this rock and forget for a moment the gates of Hades. The center of what Jesus is saying is I will build my church. Okay, that's what that's the center of what he's saying. I will build my church. Now think about that for a moment. Jesus has been rejected officially by the Jewish leadership, the Pharisees Matthew 12, we saw it earlier. Jesus has officially been rejected as king over Israel. And so the literal earthly kingdom that he came to set up is not going to be set up. Not now. It will be set up yet in the future. When will that be? When he returns, second coming, he will set up his kingdom. It's called the millennium. It's a thousand year rule of Christ on the earth. There is still a kingdom that will be set up in Israel. And he will rule from David's throne. That will still be done. But that's going to be postponed now. And Jesus now introduces this new work which he's going to build. And he says, I will build still in the future hasn't started yet. And it won't start till the book of Acts. When Jesus as the head of the church takes his place as the head after the ascension sends the Holy Spirit to begin the church. So it's not going to start till then. But he's saying, I will in the future, I will build. I'm going to start this new program. I will build my church. And he declares this new purpose to build his church. Okay. Well, that's the centerpiece of what he's what he's saying. I want to deal with the gates of Hades before we get back to Peter because we won't have time to discuss that when in full. But Jesus says, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. There's been a lot of difference of opinion as to what that means. The NIV does translate it correctly. The gates of Hades, not the gates of hell. The gates of Hades, Hades was the place of the dead. It was the place of departed spirits. When people died, they went to Hades. It was just considered the place of the dead. It's not referring to a specific location. I know that there is a view that Hades was in the earth. And I'm not even going to get into that tonight. That's a whole other theological issue that I don't care to get into right now because we'll take a half hour with that. We don't have it. But let's just do away with the location for a moment. I don't think that's the important thing here. Hades was the place where people went when they died. If that's true, then what is the gate or the gates of Hades? What is a gate? So the way through something, an entrance, okay? If Hades is the place where the departed go, where the dead go, the gate of Hades is the entrance into the place where dead people go. It's death. That's what it's talking about. Death. The entrance to Hades is death. What I believe Jesus is saying is that not even death will thwart my purpose to build my church. Now, it is certainly true that Jesus is saying Satan and all his forces from Hades will not overthrow my church. That's certainly true. But I don't think that's what Jesus is talking about here. He's talking about the entrance into the place of departed spirits or people who have died. The entrance into that place where people go when they die. Death itself, the doorway, the gate to the place where people go when they die. That will not thwart my purpose. So I think Jesus is talking about he's going to introduce in just a moment that he's going to die. So he wants to reinforce. They're going to kill me, but that's not going to thwart my purpose to build my church. Death will not thwart my purpose to build the church. And nobody else's death. Satan's power. The fear that he holds over the human race through death. That will not destroy my purpose to build my church. Now, one of the interesting things about this is again the location. Do you remember when we saw the video last week? We saw that that cave, the grotto of pan, the God pan was considered. And let's go ahead and throw up the picture of that. This opening in the side of the mountain, which led to a cave, was considered by the people, the Roman Greek population who worshipped all these gods. This was considered the gate to the underworld. This was considered the gates of Hades. This was considered the entrance to the underworld where people went when they died. It was considered that way by the Greeks and the Romans. And with this quite possibly, I mean, we don't know the exact location where Jesus was standing, but with this possibly as a backdrop. Jesus is saying. The entrance to the underworld, the entrance to the place where people go when they die, death itself will not overthrow my purpose to build my church. Now, remember again, in just a moment, he's going to introduce to them the fact that he's going to die. So he's preparing them for the fact nothing, including my death, will destroy my purpose to build the church. Now, you see what he's doing? He's stretching his disciples to understand. I'm leaving. I'm dying. You're building the church. I will build my church. Yes, but Ephesians 2 says it's built on the foundation of apostles and prophets. We know from the book of Acts, the apostles and prophets were the ones who started the church. Jesus would build his church, but it would be through them. He's going to die, but even death will not keep the church from being built. Even his death. So very clear and powerful proclamation of Jesus. I will build my church. I'm starting a new program, guys. And I'm going to tell you just a moment. I'm going to die, but even my death will not destroy that. It will not interrupt that at all. The church is going to be built. Now our time is up next week. We'll get to what he meant when he said your Peter and on this rock. I will build my church with three different interpretations of that and we'll see what he means by that. But this is a bold, new revelation of truth from Jesus. I will build my church. Again, there have been a couple of hints of it. Remember Jesus in Matthew 13 gave us the parables of the kingdom. Just hints that I'm going to do something new now that the literal earthly kingdom for the Jews has been rejected. There's a mystery form of the kingdom, but all that was kind of vague. Now he's going to come right out and say what I'm talking about is the church. I'm going to build my church. So it's a bold, new revelation. And we'll talk next week about what the foundation of that is. What he means by Peter. Any any quick questions before the kids run us out of this room? The cave is it when you're talking about that? Is that symbolic? The cave? They were talking about where dead people go. Are they recognizing? Is it heaven and a hell? Or are they saying all people go? In Roman and Greek mythology in pagan mythology, people went to the underworld when they died. Yes, people people went to the underworld. And so this cave is to them symbolic of the inference to the underworld. And Jesus is using it symbolically as a reference, at least a backdrop, you know, a reference to death. The very gates of where people go when they die, the gates of Hades will not frustrate the building of the church. Will not stop the building of the church. Now I'm not saying that Greek and Roman mythology was correct. It wasn't, but that's what they believed. Okay. That is a long question and a long answer too. And the kids are coming. So no, great question. How are the Holy Spirit and the Father distinguished? Are they, is the Holy Spirit spoken out from the Father or sent from the Father? That kind of question. And that gets into the whole concept of the Trinity. We believe there's one God, one God who exists eternally in three equal persons. Now, obviously don't have time to try to explain the Trinity. And nobody can really logically explain the Trinity, but the three persons are equal. It's not like the Father is more God than the Holy Spirit or than the Son. They're equally God. They all have the same attributes. But there is a functional submission in the Bible of the Spirit to both the Son and the Father. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Son and is sent out by the Father and the Son. And there is a functional submission in the Trinity of the Son to the Father as well. But that's only in the carrying out of the plan of redemption. In all aspects of of personhood, they are equal. They have equal power. They are equally God. And so it's not like one's better or more powerful than the other or one kind of goes out from the other. They're all equal, but they have different functions in the carrying out of the plan of redemption. Okay. We better go before we get any more theological trouble here. Okay. Let's pray. Father, thank you for our time and your word tonight. And Lord, this is such a critical and important passage. It's worth taking some time on and we thank you for the opportunity to do this. Thank you, Lord, for our Lord and just how He masterfully taught and prepared. And at the right times stretched the disciples to leap ahead in their knowledge would help us even to learn how to train and teach one another as we look at our Lord's model. And we pray that we'll understand even better ourselves what He was teaching His disciples so that we can be better servants of yours. Thank you that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And may we ever follow Him. We ask in His name, Amen.