I Will Build My Church

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30.

Then for three years, he was a wandering preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held a political office. He never owned a house.

He never traveled more than 200 miles from the place where he was born. He was only 33 when a tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

20 centuries have come and gone. Today, he remains the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this planet so much as that one solitary life. But who is he? Who is Jesus? To the churchgoer, he's a brilliant teacher of the golden rule. To the liberal theologian, he's the embodiment of the best that is in all of us. To the non-Christian, he's a great example of love. To oppressed people, he's the first century freedom fighter. To the theatergoer, he is Jesus Christ's superstar.

To the student, he's a killjoy who stops us having fun. To the salesperson, he's the ultimate motivator. To the new ager, he is the path to enlightenment. But again, I ask, who is he? Who is Jesus? That question, who is Jesus, is the most important question you could ever ask and answer. And to answer that question, who is he? Who is Jesus? We turn to the authentic Jesus, yes to the Jesus of the Bible. In our Scripture today, as we continue our study of Matthew's Gospel, the Lord Jesus is in the north of Israel, a place called Caesarea Philippi.

It's a town which had pagan influences. Today, you can still see the cave where the Greek god Pan was said to be born. Lord willing, as I have the privilege of leading a group to Israel in October, we will go to Caesarea Philippi and we'll see that cave. And it is there, right in the north of Israel, Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus asks his disciples two questions. The first question is, who do people say that the Son of Man is?

And they give various answers. John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Jesus is a prophet, but he's much more than a prophet. But then, Jesus asks the disciples this question, this question I'm asking you, whoever you are. Who do you say that I am? And this question, the central question down through the history of this world, comes to you and me afresh today, who do you say that I am? Who is Jesus?

A very personal question. Let's read our Bibles, Matthew chapter 16, and we're reading from verse 13 in this very, very important passage of Scripture, in a very controversial passage of Scripture, as we will see. 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 they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter 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 I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.

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.

Yes, Jesus is the Messiah, Hebrew term. He is the Christ, Christos in Greek. And Peter, the leader of the twelve, always mentioned first in the list of the disciples. Peter, who is their spokesman, answers Jesus' question, but who do you say that I am? Peter replies, verse 16, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. This is divine revelation, Jesus is telling Peter.

He said, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. This is divine revelation given from heaven to earth that Peter can say, as he looks at Jesus, this man he's followed now for some time, he says you are the Christ, you're the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Now this term Messiah, Christos in Greek, means the anointed one. We saw Jesus at his baptism earlier in the gospel, as the Holy Spirit descends on him in the form of a dove. He's anointed by the Holy Spirit at his baptism.

Peter, in Acts chapter 10, verse 38, says to Cornelius, the pagan centurion, that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. That is, with the arrival of Jesus, the great messianic age has now dawned. The Jewish nation are looking for the Messiah. Israel is looking for a Messiah, a king promised in 2 Samuel 7, a king whose throne shall be established forever. And all of Israel is looking for the Messiah to come. The Messiah, who they think will overthrow the Roman power, will get rid of the Gentile oppression, will liberate the Jewish nation and establish the great messianic kingdom on earth. Messiah's throne, his temple, will be in Jerusalem at the very center of the world. And the realization of Israel's hope of a Messiah, as prophesied in the Old Testament, finds its fulfillment in Jesus. So to the question, who is Jesus? One very good answer would be, he's the long-awaited Redeemer, he's the Savior, he's the King, he's the anointed one. Jesus is the Christ, is the Messiah.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that this man, this historical man, the man who actually lived for 33 to 36 years, that this man, who I believe is the central figure of human history, that he in fact is the Christ, the King, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? If that is true, as I'm saying it is, we owe our total obedience and allegiance to this one. Now in the first century, as we've seen, someone to use the Messiah for their own selfish ends, political power, material benefit, this one can feed you with loaves and fishes, this would be a nice one to follow. Similarly in the 21st century, many want a Christ, many want a Jesus who does what we want Him to do. Who's there to make life more comfortable for us, a Jesus who will help us to fulfill our dreams. Almost blasphemous, isn't it? That we finite human beings, specks in the universe, would want the whole world to revolve around us.

That Jesus is all about helping me get through life. We're going to learn next week, Lord willing, that following this one, following this Jesus, who Peter says is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that this one includes suffering, it includes self-denial and perhaps even death. Yes, these men who stand and who make this magnificent confession as led by their spokesman Peter, some of them are going to be very killed for their faith as they follow the Messiah.

Such is their commitment. See at this point, as we saw last week, the disciples' concept of a Messiah didn't include suffering and death. That wasn't the kind of Messiah they wanted.

They wanted a political figure. Yes, it was wonderful that He could heal, wonderful that He could teach, but they wanted Him to overthrow the powers, the Gentiles and to set up there the very throne of David in a temple there in Jerusalem. But Jesus has explained, as we saw last week, that He must go to Jerusalem, that He must suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, I'm quoting from verse 21, and be killed and on the third day rise again.

That was hard for them, hard for us to think that this one who we are following is going to be a life of suffering, a life of self-denial, a life of possible death. That's what He means to follow Jesus. Who is He? He's the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the anointed one. He is the King. Not only is He the Messiah, as Peter says, you are the Son of the living God.

What a statement. Not just a prophet coming from God, as Islam would say, no, He is the Son of the living God. He is God the Son, the Son of God, and God the Son. We sang about the Trinity in the new song, that this is in Jesus Christ is God incarnate.

The Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. Who are you? You're the Christ.

Who are you? You're the Son of the living God. And we've already heard that supernatural confirmation from heaven when Jesus was baptized. His Father, as He looks at His Son, as His Son comes out of these waters being baptized by John the Baptist, He says, this is my well beloved Son. A couple of weeks as we think of the Transfiguration, Matthew chapter 17, again chapter 17 verse 5, we read a voice from the clouds saying, this is God speaking regarding His Son. This is my beloved Son with whom I am pleased.

Listen to Him. From heaven to earth comes a divine declaration that Jesus is no ordinary man. He's greater than John the Baptist. He's greater than Elijah. He's greater than Jeremiah.

Yes, He is a prophet, but He's more than a prophet. He's the very Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, notice what Jesus then says.

Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, is building His church. Verse 18, the declaration comes from Peter. Jesus says to Peter, you're right.

You didn't get this from someone else. Wasn't that one of the rabbis told you this? No, this revelation came from my Father in heaven. Verse 18, and I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What a statement.

What a statement. The church will be built, Jesus says, on this rock. Now, the meaning of this rock is greatly debated as many of you know. These verses that we read, Matthew 16, verses 13 through 20, is one of the basic texts for the establishment of the Roman Catholic papacy. Roman Catholicism teaches that Peter personally is the rock on which the whole church is built. And in verse 19, Rome would tell us that Jesus promises to give to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven with authority to bind and loose. Peter then, in Roman Catholicism, is seen as being given supreme authority over the entire church. And this authority, down through the ages, has been passed on to the Roman bishops, the popes, who are Peter's divine successors. You may have heard of apostolic succession. So, Rome teaches us that the pope is the vicar of Christ. He is God's representative on earth. Listen to the Roman Catholic Catechism. Listen to their own teaching. The pope, the bishop of Rome, and Peter's successor.

Note that. This is the claim of Rome. The pope, the bishop of Rome, and Peter's successor is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful. For the Roman pontiff, by reason of his office as vicar of Christ, and as pastor, notice this, as pastor of the entire church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church.

A power which he can always exercise unhindered. That's paragraph 882, not the words of John Monroe, the words of the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church. You can notice, you can check it yourself.

Notice what it says. That the pope is the pastor of the entire church. The Catholic Church, Catholic meaning universal. He's the pastor of the entire church and his full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church. What a claim. A power which you can always exercise unhindered.

There you have it. Paragraph 936, the Lord made Saint Peter, notice this, referring here to the very passage we've read, the visible foundation of the church. He entrusted the keys of the church to him, the bishop of the church of Rome, successor to Saint Peter, and his head of the college of bishops, the vicar of Christ, here we have it again, and pastor of the universal church on earth. What a claim. Can I say the verses we read say nothing, incidentally, of the successors of Peter being infallible or having full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church?

What a claim. Think of what the pope is claiming, that he has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole universal church. So if we at Calvary are part of the church, surely we are, that the pope, the bishop of Rome, has full, supreme, and universal power over this church. Is that what Jesus is saying to Peter? We saw last week that Peter is about to be rebuked by Jesus and called Satan. Verse 23, he turned and said to Peter, get behind me Satan, you are a hindrance to me.

Strange, isn't it? If the Roman Catholic Church is right that Peter would get such a rebuke, this man Peter is going to deny Christ, in fact, later in the gospels, as we all know. He's also married, we've met his mother-in-law in chapter 8, and Peter writes as an old man in 1 Peter 5, verse 2, verse 1 rather, when he's writing to the elders, Peter describes himself as a fellow elder, a fellow elder. Now what's going on here? Jesus is building his church.

I will build my church. The Greek word for Peter is petros, small stone, and the word for rock is petra. I think we have the words on the screen there. Petros, Greek word for Peter. Petra, see how similar it is, feminine word. Petros, masculine, petra, feminine. Petra is the word for rock. Some of you have been to Petra in southern Jordan, in the west of Jordan.

I've been there a few times. Why is it called Petra? Because it's huge rock. So notice verse 18, Jesus to Peter, 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.

In Scripture, if you know your Bible, God, not man, is described as a rock. And the confession by Peter, petros, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, is the doctrinal foundation of the church, which Christ will build. Peter is 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, is foundational to the church. So on the great day of Pentecost, as the disciples are filled with the Spirit, we're not surprised that the spokesman, the main preacher on the day of Pentecost is not Thomas or James, it's Peter. He is the preacher on the day of Pentecost. Furthermore, he's the apostle who first brings the gospel to the Gentiles in Acts 10 and verse 11. 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, hear me, comes from the apostles and the prophets. But Jesus Christ, as we sang, is the cornerstone. Now turn to Ephesians chapter 2.

Paul is going to say this. The church is described in various ways in the New Testament, and here in Ephesians 2 verse 19, notice how it's described. So you, he's talking to Gentile Ephesians who have been converted, so you then are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. What's the household of God? The church. Do you realize as we gather together, this is the house of God. You have come into the house of God.

No, not a building, but as we meet as believers in Jesus Christ, this is the house of God, the household of God. Verse 20, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. That's the doctrinal statement. These men came and they preached the gospel, they preached the doctrine that they had received from the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the very foundation of the church, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being 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. Divine revelation, not thought up by Peter, not thought up by Thomas, but revealed by God the Father himself to Peter representing the apostles and the disciples.

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? After his crucifixion, after his resurrection, his priorities ascension, 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 1 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. Now this reference, this reference to the church, verse 18, if you've got your Bible here, I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. This is the only occurrence of this word, church, ecclesia in Greek.

It's the only occurrence in the gospels other than in chapter 18, which we'll see in a few weeks. What is the church? What is the ecclesia? It is an assembly of people, a household of God. It's an assembly of people called out from the world to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I had the privilege of speaking to the middle schoolers on Wednesday night, and they're doing a study of Acts.

And Eric, our youth pastor, has said to me, he gave me a section in Acts chapter 11, where Barnabas goes to the church at Antioch. Now these are middle schoolers, some of them are here. And I asked them a lot of questions. And I want to encourage the parents of middle schoolers.

I told this to Eric. I was so impressed by the quality of the answers of our middle schoolers. These are future leaders of Calvary Church and other churches. And I thought, what a foundation they're being laid, as I asked them questions.

One of the questions, of course, was this. What is the church? We have a sign outside, just a few yards from me, between Ray and Route 51, and it says, Calvary Church.

But what is Calvary Church? Most people I meet would say, oh that is that big building that used to be pink. You know, when they say that pink building, I say you have not been in it for many, many years. No longer the pink church. But they say, well that's that big, big church on Ray Road. That's the big campus you have.

But the middle schoolers, in different ways, they said no. That's not the church. The church. We are the church.

The church is the people of God. And I explained to them, as I would explain to you, that if a bomb dropped on this campus, hopefully when none of us were there, here, but if a bomb dropped on this building and this campus and obliterated it, would Calvary Church still exist? Are you as astute as the middle schoolers?

I'll get middle schoolers to tell you. Of course it would exist. We would no longer meet here, don't know where we would meet, but the church of course is not a building, and it's certainly not a 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 is the people of God.

Isn't that 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 Charlotte. 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 a 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. We saw that in the book of Acts.

For the middle schoolers, do Acts chapter 12. Next week, we'll see the opposition as Herod is putting one of the apostles to death. Opposition in the first century, opposition in the 21st century. 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, privileged to come to what we call Calvary Church. Look around, we are the people of God. 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. I remember when I first came to Calvary 15 years ago, at my first meeting with the elders and the deacons and the pastors there, and someone said to me, you know, the new pastor, I was going to stand and unfold my great strategy, my great vision for Calvary Church. It's kind of rather intimidating when you think, I don't know what I'm going to do.

I come to Charlotte and here I am, and I really don't know anyone other than my wife, and here we are. And I'm standing up and I've got to unfold, as it were, some great vision for the next years of Calvary Church. You know, as pastors we have all these books about visions and strategies, and we go to conferences and we hear it, and we hear it, and new philosophies and new strategies, and it gets very tiresome, at least to me.

And remember then that God gave me the wisdom really to say one thing, and which is this. I don't have a great strategy, but I do know this, that if we do things in accordance with this book, that if we obey the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and do things His way in honor to Him, that He has said, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. And I still say that to you brothers and sisters at Calvary Church.

If we, and I say this particularly to my fellow leaders, if we will humbly continue to do things in accordance with this book, to follow the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ in the gospels, through His apostles, in the epistles, and that if we do things God's way, if we continue our focus on Christ, on the gospel, and the Word of God, that the Lord Jesus, yes, mysteriously in ways that we often don't understand, is building His church. And I saw an example of that in our middle schoolers. And I came away from the middle school time, and it's not often I'm there, I'm not invited too much as a pastor. You know, what can the senior pastor say to middle schoolers, right?

I'm not cool enough normally to get invited to the middle school. But one thing I did understand was this, that these middle schoolers are learning bit by bit this book. And so that when I come as their pastor, and take them through a passage of Scripture, and ask them certain questions, that they've got it right, that we are Christ-centered, that we are God-centered, that our answers are found not in some other book, not in some grand strategy, or vision, or some man-made philosophy, but rather in the Word of God.

I find that so exciting. And I want to say to everyone, and I want to say to those of you who are listening particularly, I trust that we who are followers of Jesus Christ have a high, high regard for the local church of Jesus Christ. And I know some of you who are on live stream, some of you at Facebook have medical conditions, and because of age, and because of medical conditions, you're not able to come here.

I understand that. But I don't understand why some of you stay at home, you can go to the stores, you can go on vacation, and you can live your life as if COVID didn't exist, but when it comes to the Lord's Day, you're sitting at home with a cup of coffee watching by live stream, and you're not here in the assembly of the saints where God calls you to be. So I speak to you, brothers and sisters at home. And when we gather, I trust that you'll be here, that we'll not allow laziness or getting into a very passive way of thinking, and say, well it's very easy and I can watch by live stream.

Yes, you can watch by live stream, but God calls us to meet with our fellow believers, and I tell you here that there is something special, isn't there? That when we gather together, yes in this way, as the people of God, and Pastor Hathaway and other ones come and say, let us worship God, and that we together, yes with our face masks can maybe soon be gone, that we together can praise our great God and Savior, and reverently wait and say, speak Lord for your servants here. Jesus is saying, I will build my church. Love what Christ loves. 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 Savior gave His life for the church, and we who are part of the church need to come and meet with our brothers and sisters if we're able to do so. Now, 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.

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 is not me as a pastor. It's not a priest. It's not a 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.

There are as many, 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 verse. 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 foot 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 loosing what God already has loosed 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 are 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 that were into the kingdom of heaven is the same gospel which closes the door to those who refuse. Here's an example, Peter 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 gather together in Jerusalem with Ananias, the high priest Caiaphas, and John and Alexander, and all who are of the high priestly family.

You get the point? Here's the top brass of Judaism in 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, notice Jesus Christ, Christus, 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 in 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. 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? Do you realize that your eternal destiny hinges on your response?

How we regard life, the very meaning of life hinges on our 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 Son 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 is 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? Whatever He leads you, whatever the cause, 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, yes middle schoolers 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 the shallows of the vast ocean of your truth. I'm going to hardly take it in, but even today here at Calvary, 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 now 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. Amen.