R1624 The Rock, PT.1

Building a foundation on the rock and the pillars of faith that grow in that. Let's open God's Word together with Dr. Don Wilton. In just a moment we're headed to Matthew chapter 16 together, but I want to encourage you to head to our website as well. Jot it down, www.tewonline.org.

A plethora of resources at www.tewonline.org. Now, Dr. Don Wilton. You need to open your Bibles to Matthew and chapter 16. Just have your Bibles ready and then I want to show you a picture. Many of you have been to the nation of Israel.

If you haven't, I'm sure that you've looked at many pictures or seen videos and portrayals. We see a lot of pictures of the nation of Israel. Many of you have been with me.

Many of you will go with me again. So I want you to think about the Sea of Galilee. Everybody fix the Sea of Galilee. Sea of Galilee is Israeli a lake.

Okay, it's a lake. It's a beautiful big lake and it stands in the middle of these mountains and there are towns like Tiberius right there on the Sea of Galilee. And the Sea of Galilee is very magnificent. Alright, you all see the Sea of Galilee. Well, if you go north of the Sea of Galilee, about 25 miles north, way up the mountain, you come to a huge mountain called Mount Hermon.

H-E-R-M-O-N. That's going toward the Syrian and Iraqi border. Alright, so Mount Hermon. Everybody in that region knows about Mount Hermon because you can see Mount Hermon from everywhere.

In fact, it's not uncommon to be in Galilee, in places in Israel, and you can see snow all over Mount Hermon. It's just this huge mountain and when you go up to Mount Hermon, there's a place there called Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi.

Caesarea Philippi is a location. Really, back in many years ago, it was a big community right on the base, looking up on one of the sides of this huge mountain called Mount Hermon. And when you go to Caesarea Philippi, you will stand there and among many other things, these beautiful waterfalls and things, there's a huge hole in the side of the mountain. Some people call it a cave, but it's just this huge, wide, huge hole.

Big gap in the side of the mountain. Let me tell you what happened there. Back in the very early days, this area called Caesarea Philippi was really the center of pagan worship. So, the pagans chose that spot. They loved it in particular because very sadly, back in the third and fourth and fifth centuries, they would offer sacrifices there.

And some of them were pretty, not too very nice at all. I mean, they would offer human sacrifices there and they would throw people into the mouth of this and they would disappear into this cave. It was just terrible.

Can you feel how terrible that is? And it became known as like the gates of hell. It was a place of terror. And what happened there was that the pagans worshipped a god and the god's name was Pan.

P-A-N. The god of Pan. If you are to Google or look up the god of Pan, the god of Pan was half a goat and half a man.

So, you would see a goat body with a man head. That was the god of Pan. He was known as the god of fright.

F-R-I or the god of fear, the god of Pan. It's where we get our word panic. Panic. Panic. Panic.

Fright. People were in fear. This whole presentation around Caesarea Philippi associated with all the paganism and all the angst and the hate and the effort to worship this half man, half goat god of Pan created panic among all the people.

There was nothing they could do about it. And all the worship that went on there was just awful. It was a center of paganism and it represented the world in which people live. So, can you imagine that Jesus chose this spot to tell us something that is so incredible. This is the spot Jesus chose to tell us about the rock. He spoke about the rock.

And when he spoke about the rock, he said, look, I know there's panic everywhere. Your politics is in turmoil. The Romans are after you. Pagans are infiltrating. They're sacrificing. They are hurting each other. People are frightened.

People don't know what to do. But I want to tell you something. When you put your trust in me, I want you to know you're going to stand on the rock. I am immovable. You don't have to panic anymore.

You have nothing more to fear. Can I read this to you? It's right there in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 13. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he turned to his disciples and he said, who do people say that I, the Son of Man, am?

So they replied. They said, oh, well, some say you're John the Baptist and others say you're Elijah. Others say you're Jeremiah, one of the prophets. And he turned to one of his disciples and he said to them, but what about you, he asked? Who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon, Son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man but by my Father in heaven. I will tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This was an invitation that Jesus gave setting before these believers in the most troubling, fearful circumstances. Jesus said, I'm going to give you the rock. I'm going to tell you where you can stand.

I'm going to tell you where to go and I'm going to tell you how you fit into this. This is what Jesus was saying. And he said, I want you to know if you listen and you do, you follow what I'm saying to you, not even the gates of hell will come against you.

You have no more reason to panic, you have no more fear because I'm with you. So let's just take a look at this because it's an unbelievable statement and Jesus chose this spot to make the statement, the church is the rock. The church is the rock. Now, just before I unpack this to you, who is the church? Jesus here divides the church into three parts.

First he talks to Peter, Peter, Peter, the name. Some people claim that what Jesus was saying to Peter was Peter, you are the church. Now, the word there means, Peter, you are a piece of the church. You're a piece of the church. You, like Joe and Phyllis and Susan and Bethany and Don and Jack, every believer, you, Peter, are a piece of the rock. Second thing he was saying is together you partner in the church, gather all of you together. And the third thing he said, I'm the foundation, I'm the one, I'm the head of it all. I'm the head of the church.

Now watch this, folks. The church is the rock. If you were to ask me today, pastor, what shall I do? I'd say make sure you belong to the church. But I want you to listen what Jesus meant by that.

Jesus said, I want you to join the journey. Now, everybody else is going to say, no, no, no. This is the way I'm going to do it.

And there are obvious things. You know, I'm going to secure my financial investment. I'm going to make sure I've got enough social security. I'm going to make sure that I'm well and healthy. I'm going to make sure that my children are capable. I'm going to make sure all of these things are part of the fabric of life. Jesus said, the one thing you must do if you want to stand on a rock, you want to be solid.

You want to be panic free. Be part of my church. So let's look at this. The church is the rock.

Why? Because of the headship of Christ. Because of the headship of Christ. There are so many scripture verses. Psalm 118, 22. The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The cornerstone in the building is the very part of the building upon which everything else depends.

Holds everything together. In Colossians chapter one and verse 18. Jesus Christ is the head of the body. The church, he is the beginning.

The first born from the dead so that he himself will come to have first place in everything. Christ is the head of the church. That's what Jesus was saying to him right here. Peter looked at him and said, you are the Christ.

You're the one. It's all on you. We stand on you. How firm a foundation is Jesus Christ our Lord. The church, the church's one foundation is Jesus Christ our Lord.

Elect from every nation. We come together. The headship of Christ is the greatest statement. It's the greatest joy.

It transcends race, color, ethnicity, gender. It's the church. Jesus gave to us a rock. He said you take the rock away, you're going to squabble about gender until the sun comes down. You're going to be so filled with racial strife, hatred. You're going to fight tooth and nail over politics.

You're going to scramble. You're going to send each other horribly. You're going to cuss one another out.

You're going to get in each other's face. You're going to descend into such unkindness, it's the church. This is not just a Sunday morning happening. This is the foundation. This is the rock. And it's Jesus saying, come on, I invite you to join the journey. The church is the rock because of the headship of Christ, but it's also the rock because of the authority of the word.

The authority of the word. Regardless of trends, what are the trends that go on in any society? The trends are, listen, let's put on a show. People want a show. I want something moving. Action. I want chats. I want to just do something that's got something in it.

Folks, that's why soaping is so critical. Studying God's word together. Reading God's word. Life groups. Word of God.

Talk about ball games and family and it's all about relationships, isn't it? Yes. Yes. Word of God. What about the word of God? A lot of things you can say about the word of God. Jesus was teaching us this.

This is the church. The word of God is truth. You want to know truth?

Right there. The world's search for truth. Number two, it's absolute. It's absolute. It transcends our meetings, discussions. It transcends the discourse of public opinion.

It's so much better than a preacher. It's the word of God. Someone, a wonderful person, wrote to me this week, said, how do I respond to all of these theories going on? Conspiracy theories and this theory and that person says this and this is going to happen.

Got a simple answer. The word of God. Test everything by the word of God. Let's go back to the word of God. Don't be unkind.

No need to be unkind or fob people off. Thank God for great teachers of the word. Thank God for your Sunday school teacher, for your life group leaders, for your pastors, people that get alongside you, moms and dads. Let's teach the word of God.

None of us have a corner on this market. God does. It's His word. Let's go back to His word.

Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with more of today's message in just a moment, but Dr. Wilton wants me to remind you we're not just connecting in this particular broadcast, but 24-7 on our website. Right now, if you go to www.tewonline.org, that's www.tewonline.org, you'll discover many resources, including a new book coming out in just a few weeks called Saturdays with Billy about Dr. Wilton's relationship with Dr. Billy Graham over 25 years.

Again, details are online at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's teaching. Right? It's truth. It's absolute, but it's also sufficient. It is sufficient. The word is sufficient. What does that word sufficient mean in terms of the word of God and the church?

It's very simple. It's sufficient enough in all of its ways to restore through salvation even the most broken life. That's what it means, the sufficiency of God's word. It is sufficient to restore through salvation even the most broken life. It is sufficient.

It is sufficient to give reason to be thankful. All these things, Jesus was standing there in the midst of all this panic. He said, let me tell you something on my word, my church, it's what he's saying. Stand on the rock.

Stand on the rock. The church, the headship of Christ, the authority of the word. It's sufficient to meet every human need. There is not a single human need that this word is not sufficient to meet.

Not a single one. Meet every single human need. It is sufficient to equip every believer for every good work. This word, that's why God says our responsibility in the church is to equip us believers for what? For work of ministry, to do it.

You know what it does? It stops us yapping away and gets us down there and actually doing what we say we believe. That's what it means to be equipped. Otherwise, all you're doing is spewing hot air.

And there's a lot of hot air going around. It means you're a doer of the word. And the sufficiency of Scripture equips every one of us, all believers, to do the work of ministry. The church is the rock. That's what Jesus, here he is standing in the midst of all this obvious panic in this frightful condition.

He chose that spot. Why the church? Because of the headship of Christ, because of the authority of the word, but because of the application of the Spirit.

You know what's happening right now? The Spirit is applying the truth of his word. What does the Spirit do? The Spirit convicts us what of?

Three things. Number one, of sin. The church applies the Spirit. Why the church? Because the Bible says where two or three are gathered in my name, I'm right there in the midst of them.

Guaranteed. The Spirit convicts us of sin, you and I, of sin. Before I walked out here today, I knelt down at my kneeling bench that my good friend, Dr. Huminski, made for me 25 years ago. I knelt at my kneeling bench before I walked out here and I cried to God and I said, Oh God, I'm on my knees here.

There's nobody watching me. I'm in my little office and I'm just asking you, would you forgive me for my sin? Cleanse me.

How can I get up and say anything? The only way that I can be blameless is because you forgive me. The application of the Spirit. He convicts us of sin. He convicts us of righteousness. The word righteousness is right living. You and I got to live Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

What are you facing this week? The church. This is what God does for us in the gathered church, in our life groups.

That's why this is an invitation to join the journey. Convicts us on how to live, convict us of judgment. Why judgment? Because when we become convicted of the reality of God's righteousness, we become convicted of the reality that God cannot in any way tolerate or accept sin. Because, folks, these in a pagan world, you'll hear everywhere, oh, God, God doesn't really mind.

Yes, he does. He's righteous. Wow, you know, that's just a God, you know, you know. How can you say God loves us and say at the same time, God will never send anybody to devil's hell? Bible's clear, folks.

Isn't that how unpopular or popular it might be? We are not the measure of the rightness or the wrongness of the righteousness of God. Who says we decide that?

God has already decided that. The church, this rock, this is a rock, man. This is where we go. Where else would we go?

Where do we go to stand on a rock? Who are you turning to? Who's got the answers? Who's answering our questions? Why don't you put on your TV tomorrow and see if you can find the answer? Who's telling us?

Where are we getting? Question about everything. Jesus said, who do you say I am? Well, you know, I want to know what you say. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Jesus gave to them the three dynamics of the church. He said, on this rock, I will build my church. On this rock, the gates of hell. Why? Because of the headship of Christ and the authority of the word and because of the application of the Spirit.

How about this one? Because of the role of every believer. Because of the role of every believer. When he talked to Peter, he was talking to me. He was talking to you. He was saying to Peter, you're right, Peter. You, like Matthew and Mark and Luke and John.

Like William and like Mary. Every believer, you have me living in you. You have the rock in you. You got me. You are the temple of the living God. This is the church. He was saying you don't only come to church, you are the church. Don't just go to church, be the church.

Because that's who you are. This is the Great Commission. I've been listening to Dr. Don Wilton and when he talks about knowing who you are in the Great Commission, not just going to church but being the church, are you a part of the church? Not just that church you drive by, my church or your church, but the body of Christ. That comes not by walking through a door, not by standing behind stained glass windows or being baptized. It comes from saying yes to Jesus Christ.

Before we get away, closing thoughts from Dr. Don Wilton. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you want to give your life to Jesus Christ or rededicate your life, welcome to the family of God. Dr. Don has some free resources he wants you to have if you'll call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or you can meet us online as well at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org for wonderful resources that will help you grow. And many of you have asked, how can you help us grow the ministry of the encouraging word? Well, it's by becoming what we call an encourager. The promise of spring brings the promise of hope. Where do we find hope? We find hope in Jesus. We want to share this great hope with as many people as possible.

Will you join us? We need your help. Become an encourager today. Call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 to request information on how you can support the work of the encouraging word. The encouraging word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Again, know that we're first and foremost here to encourage you and we'll do it tomorrow with the rest of today's message on The Rock. I hope you'll join us and bring a friend. Between now and then let's stay connected on our website at tewonline.org. The Encouraging Word