Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe.
Now what's going on here? Jesus is building his church. I will build my church. Church. And the confession by Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
is the doctrinal foundation of the church, which Christ will build. Welcome to the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus asks Peter a crucial question. Who do you say that I am? How would you answer this question?
Today, on the verdict, we're looking at the implications of this important exchange as we answer the question: who is Jesus? and consider the role of the church.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe with today's lesson. Last time we considered the question: who is Jesus? To answer that question, we turn to the pages of Scripture and in particular listen to the dialogue between Jesus and Peter. Many people had different ideas as to who Jesus was, but Jesus wanted to know. what the disciples believed.
Peter gives a glorious answer. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus is a long-awaited Messiah. the one prophesied in the Old Testament scriptures. He's not just a prophet or a miracle worker.
He is the Son of the living God. Today we learn that he is building his church. If we love Christ, we will love His church, which is the very body of Christ. Join me. As we understand who Jesus is and the importance of his church.
Matthew 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 he said, Some say John the Baptist. Others say Elijah. And others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, But who do you say that I am?
Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ. The Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona. for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. But my Father who is in heaven And they tell you.
You are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. 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. Jesus, who is he? Jesus is the Christ The Son of the Living God.
Jesus the Christ The Son of the living God. is building his church. Verse 18 And I tell you. You are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church.
The Greek word for Peter is petros. Small stone. And the word for rock is petra. I tell you, you are Peter Petros. And on this rock, Petra, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Now, clearly. There is a play in words which are missing in our English translation with petros and petra, play in words. But notice what Jesus does not say. Jesus does not say to Peter, you are Peter. Petros, and on you I will build my Church.
Peter He's a great man. He's going to be used mightily by the Lord. This Petros. He's the leader of the apostles. He's the representative of the apostles.
And in that sense, he is foundational to the church. But a church, think of this. A church built on the person of Peter would be a very unstable Church. Could I say it would be a very rocky church? The doctrinal foundation of the church, please hear me, comes from the apostles and the prophets.
But Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. Here is Jesus in Caesarea Philippi. Asking the disciples, who do people say that I am? They give the answers, and then he says, Now, who do you say that I am? The response comes from Peter the spokesman.
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now what's Jesus going to do with these men? They're following him. He's teaching them. Their faith is often shaky.
They sometimes find it very difficult to understand the teaching of Jesus, but He's equipping them, He's molding them. And at the end of Matthew chapter 28. What does he do? He sends them out and says to them, go and make disciples of all the nations. They are going And so these disciples are going.
Into the unbelieving world, and to plant, and to found, and to establish churches of the living God. But there is no question That while the apostles are absolutely essential to the foundation of the church, as the Lord Jesus is commissioning them, that Jesus Himself. Is the builder of the church and the personal foundation of the church. He says, I will build my church. How is he going to do it?
in part by sending out the apostles to preach the gospel.
So Paul says in First Corinthians 3 Verse 11. Talking about the church. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Christ. Jesus. Is Peter instrumental for the foundation of the church?
Yes, so is John.
So are all the apostles. But the personal foundation of the church is our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is He who says, I will build my church. No now this reference This reference to the church, verse 18. If you've got your Bible here, I tell you. You're Peter.
And on this rock, I will build my church. This is the Only occurrence Of this word, church, ecclesia in Greek, is the only occurrence in the Gospels other than in chapter 18. Uh which we'll see in a in a few weeks. What is the church? What is the ecclesia?
It is an assembly of people. The household of God. It's an assembly of people called out from the world to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church, of course, is not a building. And the seven other denomination.
Someone says, well, I came from a Presbyterian church. I came from a Baptist church. I came from a Roman Catholic church. A church in Scripture is not a denomination. It's not some tag that people have put on.
It's not a building. It's not a denomination. It's not an agency. What is the church? The church It's a people of God.
Wonderful. That we are the church. That the Lord Jesus Christ Beginning with these wonderful apostles, stumbling although they were, they go out, they preach the gospel, and so down through. Two millennia. For hundreds and hundreds of years.
Followers of Jesus Christ have obeyed the teaching of our Savior and have continued to spread the gospel.
So that in the grace of God, Someone communicated the gospel to you and me.
Someone brought it to your street.
Someone brought it to your home. And so that wonderful message of salvation in Jesus Christ is embraced for us. that the ecclesia, we are called out. Jesus says, come. Follow A church.
Come join the church. No, come follow me. Yes, I will build my. Church. How wonderful, isn't it?
that we are the people of God, that we are the household of God. And Jesus says, The gates of hell. shall not prevail against it. Hades. You know, there's always opposition to the church.
There is always opposition to the church, and there will be until the Lord Jesus Christ returns for his bride and takes his church, his people, to be forever with himself. But here's the wonderful truth. All of the forces of darkness All of the forces of evil All of the forces of death itself will not and cannot prevent the triumph of the church. I think that's wonderful. People get.
You know people it's very easy to get pessimistic today. And people think of all of the evil going around us and all of the changes. And people say the world is changing. It certainly is changing. But one thing is not changing, that Jesus Christ continues to build his church.
And as a grandfather, that gives me great hope. And that when if the Lord doesn't come and when my grandchildren are my age, Christ will still be building his church. And the very gates of Hades will not overcome it and cannot stop. The onward march. Of the Glorious.
Bride. of Christ.
Now we are privileged. If you're a follower of Christ, here you are. Look around. We are the people. We are the church of the living.
God. We are a local manifestation of the great universal church of Jesus Christ. Who is our head?
Some bishop Some cardinal, some pope.
Some superintendent, no. Our only head is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the head of the church. This is his church. He says in Ephesians 5, 25.
When he tells husbands that we're to love our wives, As Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Our very Saviour gave his life for the church. And we who are part of the church. Need to come. and meet with her brothers and sisters.
if we're able to do so. Verse 19. Another controversial verse. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.
Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. It's an amazing statement, isn't it? that the apostles are given The keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Now, this promise, I say, is given to the apostles, but it continues today. The keys of the kingdom of heaven Are not the keys of supreme authority given to Peter as the first Pope? Absolutely not. Peter did not have all authority over the church. And no man, however gifted, however well educated, No man ever has that authority over the church.
And no man is certainly infallible when he speaks. No the keys. Are representative and a symbol of the authority. Given by our Lord Jesus Christ to the apostles to proclaim the free forgiveness of sins in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, this is not some power that certain people in the church have over the eternal destiny of others. I can't go around saying you're saved, you're not saved, too bad, sorry. The kingdom of God is locked to you, but you are saved. No man, no woman has that authority, no group of men have that authority. The point is this.
The apostles Just think this, it's not all that difficult to grasp. The apostles As they went proclaiming the gospel, In the first century, as we would do now in the 21st century, They're proclaiming The kingdom of God is open to some. and it's closed to others. We do not have the power to forgive sins. In fact, in our Bibles as we saw in Matthew chapter 9.
The Lord Jesus says, but that you may know. That the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. The only one who can forgive your sins. It's not me as a pastor, it's not a priest. Slow.
Pope, no man, no woman can forgive your sins. That only comes from our Lord Jesus Christ. But as his followers, We have the great joy, we have the great privilege as we proclaim the gospel of binding and loosing what God has already bound and loosed. Let me give you a literal translation of verse 19. And some of you have this note as I do.
in the margin or at the bottom of your Bible. Applause, Wendy. Probably we don't have too many grammarians here. But some of you will have heard of a future perfect. We have an example of a future perfect in these verses.
Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. That's the force. Whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. That's it. Responding to the gospel opens the doors into God's Kingdom.
And if some person this morning comes To the food of the cross of Jesus Christ. And confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and opens their heart to the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior. If they do that, we can say, if you've done that, you're saved. We are losing what God already has losed in Heaven. See the same gospel which provides a key to the kingdom of heaven.
closes the kingdom to those who refuse to believe. Just imagine if all of you were pagans. You're hearing the gospel for the first time. And I proclaim the message of the gospel.
Some of you Respond. Others don't. The very message of the gospel Which opens the doors into the kingdom of heaven is the same gospel which closes the door to those who refuse. Here's an example. Be there preaching.
In Acts chapter 4. Talk about a boldness. He's talking to the leaders Acts chapter 4. Verse 5, on the next day the rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Ananias the high priest, Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high priestly family. Do you get this?
You get the point? Here's The top brass of Judaism. and Jerusalem. They're not very happy with what Peter and the Apostles are preaching. Notice what Peter says.
We'll break in verse 10. Let it be known to all of you. and to all the people of Israel. That by the name of Jesus Christ, Know this? Jesus Christ, Christos.
By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you. the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is Salvation and no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
There's the keys of the kingdom. Here is Peter. What's he doing with great boldness? To the very man who had crucified Christ, with great boldness he's saying, This is the one. You rejected him, but he's become the cornerstone.
And there is no other name, there's no other way for salvation. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must. Be saved. To respond is to enter the kingdom of heaven. Is that because Peter himself has the authority to forgive sins?
Absolutely not. He is merely pronouncing on earth What is true in heaven? Similarly, If you reject the message, You are locked out of the kingdom. Is it Peter? who's locking out certain people?
No, it's those who have refused. It's heaven itself is saying that there's no other way, there's no other name, and if you reject Jesus the Christ, you are forever forsaken. The very key that opens the door. is the same key. That closes it.
I go back to my original question. Who is Jesus? That your eternal destiny Hinges on your response. How we regard life, the very meaning of life. Hinges on no response.
So I ask you. Do you know him? Do you know the Christ? Do you know King Jesus? Do you know the Lord?
Have you come to his cross? Do you have the assurance that that key has opened that door. And let you into the kingdom of God because the Lord Jesus Christ is the door. He is the way. He died for your sins.
He rose again. This is what Peter is saying. And if you repent, if you come to him, You will be forever. Saved, have you done that? C.
S. Lewis writes, I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. And if you come to the Lord Jesus, Everything. Yes, everything has changed.
That you're transformed. That now God, the living God, the Son of the Living God, has saved you and indwells you. And so, an understanding of Jesus transforms all of life. Who is Jesus? He's the Christ.
He's the Messiah. He's the king. He's the Son of the living God. There's none like him, nor will there ever be anyone like him. Therefore, know him.
Know him, love him. Worship him. and follow him. Will you do that? Wherever he leads you.
Whatever the cost, whatever it means. To love. and to follow. this wonderful Christ. Who loves you?
and gave himself for you. and who continues. to build his church. With little boys and little girls. Coming to Christ.
older people.
Some who perhaps sitting here You've lived a long life. And you've been quote a church person. And you've gone to church all of your life. But you have never ever yet personally received Christ. into your heart.
Do it. And do it now. Will you pray with me? Father, These verses are so powerful. We feel we're just in there.
Shallows. of the vast ocean of your truth. I mean I highly take it in. But even today Jesus is building. this church, this local church, this local assembly here.
We're humbled by that. Protect us from the enemy. And even now May the doors of heaven be opened. To some little girl. To some man, to some woman, no.
Who says come into my heart? Come into my heart. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Come in today. Come in to stay.
Come into my heart. Lord Jesus. We give you all of the glory. In Christ's wonderful name. Mm-hmm.
This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Again I ask you, who is Jesus? What do you personally believe? Many people today are very critical of the church. And any local church is certainly not perfect.
But Jesus loves the church and gave himself up for her. Of course, the forces of darkness are arrayed against the church. But the church will triumph. Make sure your trust is in the living Christ as your Savior, your King, and Lord. And this Sunday Join with your brothers and sisters in a local church as you worship God and serve together.
Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
