you you Well, we're going to continue with the substance of where we started this morning in the rock. And we're going to deal with today the substance of the birth of Christ, incarnation of God in Christ. We're going to deal with the entropic union. We see God, man, Theos, God, Anthropos, man, the entropic union. God, perfect God and perfect man, as a substance of the incarnation. And as we talked this morning a little bit about the kinsman redeemer, that was an essential, it was a fundamental to the faith. Now we may not need to understand all of that in order to be saved, but we certainly must understand that Jesus, who died upon the cross, was perfect God and perfect man. And the spirit that he gives us is both a spirit of perfect man and perfect God and perfect righteousness in that. So we're going to deal with the confessional issue and what's involved in that confessional statement of Peter as he confesses Christ, confesses Jesus. Now the very fact that We use these terms, I think many Christians today think that Christ is Jesus' last name. And we must remember that Christ is a nomenclature, a title, that connects Jesus to the Messiah of the Old Testament, the anointed one, the appointed one. And it goes all the way back to Genesis 3.15, in God speaking to serpent there, that he would serpent that, through the seed of the woman, he would crush the head of Satan. Satan would bruise the heel of the Messiah, but God would crush the head of Satan, and that is the sting of death. That holds over the wages of sin and death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We bring all of these truths together, and we come to this point of this confessional. where Peter says, thou art the Christ. And Christ honors that. He says, upon this rock, I will build my church. There's overwhelming truth there in that. Let's have a word of prayer and we'll look at this. Again this afternoon, Father, we gather together in your name. We rejoice in all the great truths of your Bible. They overwhelm us. It's difficult to even maintain continuity with them all, Father, because you are so detailed in what you give us. And we pray that this afternoon you'd help us all to understand these great truths and be able to understand the necessity of the confession of Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Now, we start off with your sound and thorough testimony of faith in who Jesus is. was to be the foundation rock upon which the church of Jesus Christ to be built. Now, we have all kinds of so-called churches in the world today, but most of them are not built upon this rock, this concessional. If you don't believe in the deity of Christ, you're not building upon this rock. If you cannot connect the crucifixion to Genesis chapter three, verse 15, you're not building upon this rock. Every doctrine that God gives as it builds upon Genesis 3.15 is building upon this rock, which is Christ, the rock of my salvation. Now certainly Jesus was not going to build his church upon the apostle Peter, right? That's what most of Roman Catholicism at least believes today. Much of Reformed churches do. Jesus is going to build his church upon the common and expected testimony of all true believers that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Matthew 16, 18. So this is the salvation confessional that Jesus is Lord, Jehovah incarnate in human flesh, Romans 10, 9. And this confessional is a foundational truth necessary to the building of any local church. Now let me ask you, as a member of a local church, When people come to join the church and become part of the local church, are you confident that they hold and understand this confessional? Because it is the responsibility of the local church membership to receive members, not the pastor. Now when I examine someone, I examine them for their salvation from testimony, and especially upon this confessional. because this is the foundation upon which the church is built. So this is what we're going to look at to start off with in Matthew chapter 16, starting in verse 13. It says, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea, Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do men, others outside of our group, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Now, the Son of Man is a connection to his humanity. And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist. Some, Elias, others, Jeremiah, Jeremiah, were one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? Remember, people are saying to the disciples who they think Jesus is. And Jesus says, but whom say ye that I am? Okay, when they tell you who they think I am, what do you say back to them? Now, do you think that should be a good measurement for the church today? The world is telling us all kinds of things about who they think Jesus is. But the question says, what do you say? What do you say to them? When they tell you something that they think Jesus did, what do you say? Are you being dogmatic about who I am? Are you telling them who I am? And Simon Peter answered, and he gets it right, right? He says, thou art the Christ. Now that word Christ there is a union term. unifies the God-man Jehovah, Jehovah and the God-man. So it is a theantropic term. God and man united in one. He says, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Do you understand what that means? You should. If you confess Christ as Lord, that is the term to which you are declaring your understanding. And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father, which is in heaven. Otherwise Simon, you got to, you know, Simon Bar-Jonah, you got it right. And I say also unto thee, thou art Peter or Petros, which means a little rock. Now his real name was Simon, right? Son of Jonah. But he also had a surname, a Greek name, which was Peter, which is a Greek word Cephas, which means a little rock. Thou art Peter, a little rock. And upon this rock, which is a different word, the rock of his testimony, I will build my church, not on Peter. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What's he saying? It's because it's founded on the rock. This testimony, you can't move somebody from the basic fundamental commonality of the faith of which all communion rests. As thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And he says, I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whosoever, now that's a gospel, by the way. The keys of the kingdom of heaven, you've got, everybody in this room has. That's a gospel of Jesus Christ and a biblical response to that gospel, Romans chapter 10, one through 13. That's the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whosoever thou shalt bind on her shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on her shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. They weren't supposed to tell people that yet. Why? Because it wasn't time for his crucifixion. As soon as his disciples would begin to declare this, they'd come after Jesus. And it wasn't time yet. He was waiting for what time? The Passover. because he was going to fulfill the Passover in his crucifixion. He was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Wasn't time yet. And so he had to waylay this. And that means for a while, some of this needed to be hidden. So when Peter confessed his belief that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, then Jesus affirms what Peter says by connecting Peter's confession to the prophecy of Isaiah 28, verse 16. Now go over there with me. When Jesus said, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, Matthew 16, 18. He is connecting himself as the promised Messiah to the foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation in Isaiah 28, 16. Because that testifies to the Messiah, it's a messianic prophecy. Isaiah 28, verse 14, wherefore, hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people, which is in Jerusalem. Who ruled them? The kings? Prophets? Mainly the priesthood. They were the ones, and this, of course, is a prophecy that looks forward in time to the Sanhedrin who would have Jesus crucified. So he goes on in verse 15, because you have said we have made a covenant with death and with hell, are we in agreement? When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come onto us. We're going to be safe. We're going to be preserved. We're the Levitical priesthood. We're going to be preserved. That's this whole group that had Jesus crucified. He says, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Now, I don't think that this is what they said, but this is how God saw it, what they were doing. I think they knew in their heart that they were not what God wanted them to be. But somehow they were rationalizing this away and say, well, we're preserving our own heritage by our getting an alignment with the corruption of the Roman Empire. Now verse 16 starts off, therefore, thus sayeth the Lord God. And because of that, he said, because of this, therefore, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation stone. A tridestone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. This is something you can build upon. He that believeth shall not make haste. Now, this is a connection that Christ is connecting the confession of Peter to this last verse. Christ is not going to build his church upon men, even great men like the Apostle Peter. I've known some of the greatest preachers that this century has ever produced, known them well and known them personally. But I would say this, any church that is built upon a man is destined to eventually crumble. What happens when that man is gone and you're built upon that man? I remember the first church we planted, and I thought, well, you know, we can move on here now. I didn't realize that many of the people were there because of a personality. And as soon as the personality was gone, the church began to die. So what's the solution? Bring in another personality? Isn't that what goes on in the calling of a pastor? You have one strong charismatic personality and so you, people like that individual, they become accustomed to him and so you want to get another, you know, character, another charismatic personality and build upon him. Well, what happens when that guy goes? You build a church on Jesus Christ and the doctrines of truth, it doesn't make any difference who sits behind the pulpit. The people are going to love the truth, and they're going to love the God of the truth, and they will, of course, be faithful. Christ wasn't going to build his church upon men, even great men. And although he did use it, he says that the church is built upon the foundation of Christ and the apostles. That's certainly true, but what does he mean, the truth that they taught? The epistle. The gospels and the epistles, that's a foundation of Christ and the apostles. Paul affirmed that Jesus meant a confessional, that he is the Christ, the son of the living God. And this was a foundation Paul laid wherever he started new churches. This was the foundation Paul laid when he started the church at Corinth, clearly stating in 1 Corinthians chapter three, that church is not built upon men. He rebuked them for it. Churches are built upon a foundation of a common confession. He says this in chapter three, beginning in verse one. He says, and I, brethren, could not write unto you as spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. He said, I can't write unto you as spiritually mature people. You're not, you're carnal. You're like babes, like little babies. You can't handle it. So he says, I fed you with milk and not with meat, solid food. He gave him baby food instead of adult food. For hitherto you're not able to bear it. You can't digest the meat. Neither yet now are you able. Why? Because, verse three, four, because you're carnal. For whereas, here's why they are carnal, there is among you envying and strife and division. Now he'll tell us a little bit here what that is all about. He says, are you not carnal and walk as men? Instead of spiritual men, you just walk as carnal men. For while one saith, here's your divisions, I am of Paul. And another, I am of Apollos. Or saying, well, I got discipled by Paul, or I got baptized by Paul and discipled by Paul. And others say, well, I got baptized and discipled by Apollos. And Paul saying to them, well, because of that, you're carnal. You know, that's not the way you ought to see things. What difference does it make who baptized you, who discipled you? Whose truth is it? The guy will give it to you. Every single man I've ever known has stood upon the shoulders of the generation before him. So he goes on, he says, I have planted. Now I'm going to read verse five. Who then is Paul and who is Apollos? Those substances, they're not important. That's not, you know, yeah, they taught the truth, but what are they? They're ministers by whom you believe. That's all they are. even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted the polished water, but God gave the increase. God's the one who brought forth the fruit. So then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither is he that watereth, but God giveth the increase. Christ said, I'm gonna send you forth as sheep to be slaughtered. That's how pastors have to view themselves. I was talking to a young preacher about that one time, and he said, the church is really beating up on me bad. I said, well, quit complaining. I said, just stay by the stuff here. God said he sent you forth to be a sheep of the slaughter. Maybe you'll only last here for three years, or three months, or three days. Who knows? But however it is, do the work you can, and get it done as much as you can, and do it lovingly and kindly the best you can. I held that guy's arms up for three years. His wife finally had a nervous breakdown, and the church kept beating up on him really bad. I have a whole story about that, but I'm not going to tell it. So neither is he that planteth anything, neither of that water, but God it gives the increase. He that planteth and he that watereth are what? Are one. Don't see him any differently. And every one, every man that shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. You know, don't divide yourself over that kind of nonsense. For we are laborers together with God. You're God's husband, you're God's building. I've heard over the years that people will say, well, you know, I was led to Christ by such and such a person or led to Christ by such and such a person. And as if some name, big name preacher who they shared the gospel with them, makes their salvation better or more important than someone else's salvation. And he goes on in verse nine, he says, for we are laborers together with God. That's all the planter in the water is, that's all we all are. But he says then, you hear God's husbandry. The husbandry here is a concept of the animals that are produced, through the caretaker of the herd. The animals that are produced, they're God's. God's husbandry. They're God's building. Ye, personally, the temple of living stones. According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder, what? I have laid the foundation. What is that foundation? The confession that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And another buildeth thereupon. He laid the foundation, he brought people to Christ. But another one came after him, was gonna build upon that foundation, which is the confessional of Jesus Christ. And then he warns, he says, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now, get a picture of building with masonry. They didn't have nice square blocks to go to the block plant and get them all in there all uniform. No, you got rocks of all different shape and they were stacked. And so the foundation was laid, the foundation stone, Jesus, the cornerstone of the church was laid. Now others come along and they are going to build upon that foundation. You should make sure that when you're building upon that, you don't change the confessional foundation. Because the church that's gonna build upon that must be connected to that foundation. Right? You're not building two feet above the foundation, you're building upon the foundation. And that is why churches seldom last faithfully for more than 25 years. It's pretty rare to have a church last longer than 25 years. Why? Because the next guy that comes along isn't building on the same foundation. So the requirement that a faith confession that Christ is the Christ, the son of the living God, is the foundation on which every church is to be built and is a fundamental truth redundant throughout the And to neglect this confession or to fail to explain its necessity, I believe, is the greatest of all failures when it comes to preaching a biblical response to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. It's the grievest of failures. You can be successful in gathering all kinds of numbers, building a large crowd, But when you're not built upon the foundation of the confessional, that thou art the Christ, son of the living God, you are building something that God did not ordain. Ephesians 2.19 is a great text, goes through verse 22. He says, now therefore ye, talking about you Gentiles, are no more strangers, no more, no more strangers and foreigners. That's how the Jews viewed them. They're strangers and foreigners. But, now that you're saved, you're fellow citizens with the saints, the saved Jews, and are of the household of God. And are built upon what? The foundation of the apostles and prophets, but the truth that they taught. Not the men, but the truth that they taught. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. He was the chief cornerstone upon which the apostles and prophets built. What they taught. And that chief cornerstone, verse 21, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. What's that? Little rocks, living rocks now born again, now being shaped and molded to fit upon that foundation to build a living temple of a local church. Now in verse 22, he says, in whom ye are builded together, what? For an habitation of God through the Spirit. We could probably spend the rest of the time here on that verse, but we better move on. The cornerstone that the builders rejected is the cornerstone of the living temple of God constructed of lively stones that are born again in the Spirit of God upon a common confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, if the Jewish Sanhedrin would have accepted Jesus as Messiah, they would have always accepted their own demise. Because they knew that they'd already been rejected of God. Those that refused to accept Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, Messiah means what? Christ means what? Perfect God, perfect man. and confess him as the Christ, the son of the living God, could not be born again and could not be part of the new covenant body of Christ. They couldn't be the church of the firstborn and a living temple, the general assembly that Christ will eventually call out of this world. Peter himself affirmed his understanding that this is what Jesus meant By upon this rock I will build my church in his first epistle. He says this in chapter 2, verse 4. Otherwise, Peter understood that Christ wasn't building the church upon him, but upon what he said, that confession. He says in verse 4, to whom Jesus, coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. The Jewish priest had rejected him. The Roman Empire rejected him. The world rejected him. But God chose him and ordained him, and to God he is perfect. Then he says in verse five, he also, oh, what wonderful words. Let them sink in a little bit. He also has, lively or living stones. Now he was the living stone. Christ was the living stone, that stone which gave life. The one that crushes and the one that saves. He said he also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. It is by his righteousness our offerings are acceptable to God. Jesus who? Christ. God, man. Wherefore also, it is contained in scripture, that's in Isaiah 28, 16 that we just read, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, that's the apostate priesthood of Israel, and those deceived by them, the stone which the builders allow, the same is made the head of the corner. That corner is the confessional of Peter. Upon this rock I will build my church, the cornerstone of Jesus. But to the Jew it was like a stone of stumbling. That's the deity of Christ and the necessity of his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. It was a stone of stumbling. To the Jews they didn't want a humble savior, they wanted a conquering savior. And it was a rock of offense. even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, were unto they were appointed." That's the apostates of Israel. Now these scriptures defining Jesus as a rock upon which all faith is to be built are fundamental to understanding the incarnation and the purpose of that incarnation in theentropic union. God, man, Messiah, Christ, all of those terms, the entropic union of the God-man and the baby born to the Virgin Mary in the city of Bethlehem of Judea. When the wise men came seeking for a king, they understood what they were looking for. They were looking for the God-king. Almost all of the kings of the world at that time thought they were a child of their God. But there was only one that was. And his name is Jesus. The conception and birth of Jesus was a historical moment necessary to the redemption of sinful humans, where at the promised seat of the woman, Genesis 3.15, became our kinsman and redeemer, who lived his short life on earth in the shadow of the cross, on which he would shed his blood and die to propitiate the wrath of God upon sinners. The conception of Jesus is important. The birth of the baby Jesus must not be simply seen as merely a warm and fuzzy moment of human history like it is being presented by people today. I love babies. I love them especially more so when they're not mine anymore. I can hug them and coo them and tickle them and wave goodbye when they take them home. A seven pound poop machine, take it home with you. All of human history in the original Genesis and the new Genesis is bound to the birth of Jesus. Named so because he shall save his people from their sins, Matthew 121. And the responsibility of every person is to study the scriptures to connect all the prophetic dots to all that Jesus is and all that comes to us in his name. And I tell you, that's a study all by itself. I appreciate the fact that in presenting my doctoral dissertation that was in prophecy, And I think understanding prophecy is understanding mainly who Jesus is and what he's doing. Because then the baby born in a manger is more than a child of humble beginnings. He is the God man. destined to crucifixion, destined to burial, destined to resurrection, destined to glorification, destined to become the door, John 7, 10, 7 through 18, for all sinners to be born again into a new Genesis, a new Genesis propagated by a new seed, which is Christ, and offered by grace received through faith. This is the baby Jesus. Can we look at a nativity scene and our minds are just flooded with all of this doctrine, all of this theology, all of these truths? It should put us on our knees. This is what happened in Luke chapter one, verse 26. Do you suppose they really understood what was going on? I think the shepherds did. And that's why the announcement of the birth of Christ went to the shepherds. They were the keepers of the sacrificial lambs. That's the only reason why they would have been around Bethlehem. Otherwise, shepherds weren't allowed to be there close to Jerusalem. It was only sacrificial lambs that they were allowed to shepherd. What were they keeping the sacrificial lambs for? Passover. That's why I believe It was very close to the month of Nisan that Jesus was born, not nearly anywhere near Christmas. The shepherds wouldn't have been there except around the Passover season. He was born around the Passover season and crucified around the Passover season. Is any of that important? The Passover certainly is. But we can understand it. Here comes this announcement, verse 26. Luke chapter one. And in the six months, this is the sixth month after Elizabeth was impregnated and John the Baptist was conceived, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph. Now a spouse means she was engaged. They weren't married yet. but in a spousal was considered to be equal to being married. Although you did not have the privileges, the conjugal privileges of being married yet. That was still forbidden. So to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph. Now that's virgin, not just a young woman. And the virgin's name was Mary. Now the house of David is important because Jesus is born of the genealogy of David. And the angel came in under her and said, hail, thou art highly favored and the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And why does he say this? You realize every woman from Eve forward hoped that she'd be the one who would give birth to the Messiah. Every woman who wanted to give birth believed that she would be the one who would give birth to the God man. And they longed to be that, they longed that. Now Mary was chosen to be that woman, even though she's probably only 13 or 14 years old. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying. Troubled means she didn't understand it. And cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. Otherwise, she's meditating on this and thinking about it, trying to figure out what to talk about. And the angel said unto her, fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God, and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest, And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. You think Mary finally figured out what he was talking about? She was gonna be the one to bear the Messiah. You think she understood The one she was giving birth to was the Christ, son of the living God. Remember the context of what that question that he asked Peter, who do men say that I am? Or ask the disciples, who do men say that I am? And the disciples gave a bunch of responses. And then he says, essentially in response to them, what they're saying, what do you say? It's only Peter that comes out and says, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's my answer to them. When this inquiry is going on and this discussion, this conversation about who Jesus is, what should be our testimony? We should confess with our mouth, the Lord Jesus, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's our responsibility. That's who Jesus is. That is a celebration that we are to be preoccupied with this time of year. Not enough just to read Luke chapter two and read the birth of Christ or the other issues of these things. Now that's important. I think it's good to do that. I've done that with our family for many years. But the important issue here is that we understand who was born, Who lived a life of sinless perfection? Who went to the cross? Who died? Who shed his blood? Who was buried? Who rose again? Who went to heaven in our place, representing us as believers before God the Father? Who's coming back again? of his kingdom, there shall be no end. We'll start, we'll close with the verse we started with today. Psalm 95 verse one. Oh come, let us sing unto the Lord, Jehovah. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Oh, I'm glad that my salvation is not built upon myself. or my works or what I've done for you would crumble immediately. And I'd have to be constantly worrying about, well, tomorrow will I fail? Well, whether something happened tomorrow that would cast me away and cause me to lose, my salvation is built upon the rock, who is Jesus. And every day, even though I fail, every single day, I can return back to that rock. You know him? Who is to know life eternal? How are you born again? That's pretty serious business. What a great opportunity this time of year to teach our children these great truths. Man, every year we get these opportunities. Resurrection Sunday, we get an opportunity to teach our children about the wonders of the resurrection and the future hope that's ours. But this time of year, we get to talk about Jesus. We get to talk about the Christ, the son of the living God. We get to talk to our children about building their lives upon that rock and giving that instruction to them and asking them if they understand. We get a time to sent out Christmas cards with a Bible track in them, hoping that we will be able to explain this to people who need to get saved. Oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Father God, as we close, thank you for the time we've been able to gather this afternoon. Thank you for each one who's been faithful to stay. Lord, we know that Many families will be gathering tonight and tomorrow to celebrate a Christmas of which they have no Christ, and give gifts of which they know not the gift. And I pray, Lord, that you'd work in all of this. Help us to be faithful. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.