We're going to start in Matthew 16 this morning. We're going to be in Matthew 16 tonight as well. There's one big conversation. We're going to break it down into two conversations and look at the first part of that this morning, and then come back tonight, Lord willing, and look at the second part of the conversation. They really do go together, but we're in Matthew chapter number 16. And this morning's message is entitled, why? Or more specifically, why did Jesus start the church? Why did Jesus start the church? And I wonder if you've ever wondered, why did Jesus start the church? Or do we just kind of take for granted that the church always has been? You know, the church hasn't always been. We call this the New Testament or the church age. And Jesus instituted the church and he does that in Matthew chapter number 16. And I want to read verses 13 through 19 this morning. We've got a lot of ground to cover. I'm going to try to move quickly. So you stick with me as we go through these verses together. Verse number 13 of Matthew 16. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, some say thou art John the Baptist, some say Elias or Elijah, others say Jeremias or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered, and he said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, and he said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I shall build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Why did Jesus start the church? Father, thank you for this day and your goodness. I pray that you'll bless this time that we have in your Word, and we've already been blessed by the music. We pray, God, it's been well-pleasing in your sight and ears, and we pray that you will bless this time also, and that the Holy Spirit of God would minister the Word of God to our hearts so that we Respond in the way you would want for us to do, in a way that's pleasing to you, in a way that would bring the most amount of glory to you. Maybe somebody is watching on livestream. Maybe somebody is here and has not yet received Jesus as Savior. We pray that that would be settled this morning. Maybe there are some who are wondering about their place in missions. Maybe that is how much to give or where to go. We ask that your will be accomplished in each life in Jesus' name. Amen. I think we all know this morning that if we were to just kind of take a poll anywhere around the world, even here in Florida, even in Ocala, that there are a lot of thoughts and a lot of opinions on whom Jesus is. If you were to ask somebody and just say, who is Jesus? There would be a lot of answers that you would get. I was wondering about that question, and so I went to trusty Google, because Google knows everything, and so I decided, let's just put it into Google, and I just typed into Google, who is Jesus? In less than half a second, my browser said there were 1,330,000,000 responses. Do you know that at the current population on planet Earth, that means for every six people you meet, they have a different thought about who Jesus is? That's a lot of opinions about who Jesus is. And as we come to the text this morning, the first thing I want us to notice is really, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Because I see in this text, I see in verse number 13 and verse number 14, that there is this confused reasoning in this text, this confused reasoning. And as we come to Matthew chapter number 16, what we have to understand is that Jesus is pretty far along in His earthly ministry, and at this point, the populace has kind of been moving away from Jesus. because he hasn't overthrown the Romans, he hasn't established his kingdom the way they expected him to be. In other words, he's not who they expected him to be. Now, he's the right person, and he's Messiah, but they think that he should be somebody else, should be doing something else, and so Jesus is walking with his followers, and he says to his followers, who do people think that I am? What's the word out there? It's almost as if Jesus is taking a poll. Who do people say that I am? And the place that he asked this question is really important. As we come to Matthew 16, Matthew made sure that you and I would know that they were in Caesarea Philippi. That's an important place because Caesarea Philippi was known as the city of the gods. In this place where Jesus would have asked this question, there is a number of different grottos and a number of different shrines set up to different gods and temples and altars. There's also a place there that would be referred to as the gate of hell. Jesus doesn't, in this text, say gate of hell. He says gates of hell, and we'll address that in a little bit. But this is the backdrop for this question that Jesus asks. He's standing in a very idolatrous place, in a very idolatrous culture, and he's been walking now on the earth and healing people and performing miracles. He's shown himself to be the Messiah, and he takes a little bit of a poll, and he says, hey, fellas, you guys have been following me, but what do the people say? Who do they say that I am? And quite truthfully, the answer's a little disheartening. Because as they come back and they say, well, Jesus, the word is, you might be John the Baptist. The word is, some think that you're Elijah, and some think you're Jeremiah, some think perhaps you are one of the prophets. So as we look at this, we say, you know what, the crowd's moving away from Jesus, but they're not ready to just be done with him completely. And so they see him as a good man, as an important man, but they fall short of understanding that he is the God man. And they are really, as you think about this, have you ever thought everybody they thought Jesus might be was already dead? So they're a little early on the resurrection. And they think, well, maybe you're John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah. And that tells me that when they looked at Jesus, they were okay with putting Jesus on a God shelf somewhere, like a lot of people. Well, Jesus is a good man. Most religions in this world, most religions are okay with saying Jesus is a good man, but they fall short of saying Jesus is the God man. And there's this confused reasoning that we see in this verse. And as we come to this verse, it's so interesting because that's where we are in our culture, in our society. Remember, for every six people you meet, more likely than not, they have a different idea on who Jesus is. You know, I've shared with you a little bit of my testimony along the way in this conference, and I would just tell you this, that if you were to ask me who Jesus was prior to my coming to receive Him as Savior, I can't even say I was raised. It's not true to say that I was raised, because I kind of grew up on my own. My father was gone, my mother was mostly gone. By the time I was in third grade, if I wanted to have clean clothes to wear to school, I had to figure out how to get those and do that myself. If I wanted food, I had to find it on my own. There were times when we, in our house, didn't have any food at all. And so I looked at that mess and I thought, I don't want that. And I turned to religion. And the religion I was involved in was the predominant religion in the Northeast of Connecticut. And so I learned a lot about God and Jesus, but I was confused on who Jesus was. If you would have said to me, who is Jesus? I would have said this, well, he's Jesus Christ. And what I would have meant by that is His first name is Jesus and His last name is Christ. I didn't understand it was a title. I didn't understand it meant He was Messiah. I didn't understand that it meant He's the Savior. I literally thought that His first name was Jesus and His last name was Christ. It wasn't that I was being disrespectful, I simply didn't know. And you know what, I think most people in this world aren't trying to be disrespectful, but they just really don't know because nobody's told them. And as we come to this question of why did Jesus start the church, I think we have to start off and remember there are a lot of people confused on who Jesus is. And Jesus asks His disciples, who do they say I am? And the response is, nobody out there seems to get it right. They are okay with putting you on a God shelf, they're okay with thinking you might even be supernatural, come back from the grave, but they don't understand that you are the Savior, that you are the Messiah, that you are the Christ. So Jesus doesn't really spend much time with that response. He instead turns to his disciples and he says, okay, who do you say that I am? And Peter answers. And so I see a concise reply. So the first one is confused reasoning. And then there's this concise reply. And Simon Peter answered, he said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. You know, most times when Peter gets a speaking part in the Bible, we're expecting him to open his mouth and put his foot in it, right? I mean, that's just kind of what he does. And maybe that's why I identify with Peter very much in the scriptures, because it seems like he's always saying the wrong thing. But this time, Peter gets it right. He nails it. He knows exactly who Jesus is. He says, you are the Christ, you are the Messiah. And when he identifies as a Jewish man, identifying Jesus as the Christ, as the Messiah, what he's saying in modern day language, you're my savior. He has received Jesus as his savior. He understands that. And then he also says this so that we don't miss it. He says, and you're the son of the living God. Not only are you just the son of God, but you are the living God himself in the flesh. You are God with us. You truly are Emmanuel. And as Peter gives that response, Jesus says to him, Simon, you're blessed. Why are you blessed? Because you have this settled, you know this. Because you know that you're saved. And I want us to know this morning, church, that you and I, who know Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, and who would give the right answer to who is Jesus, are truly blessed beyond measure. And the Bible teaches us that with great blessings come great responsibilities. And so we're talking about why did Jesus start the church? Well, we start off in the text and we find that Jesus takes a poll. The vast majority of the public doesn't know who Jesus is. He says to his followers, who do you say I am? They get it right. They know who Jesus is. And Jesus moves on with a compassionate remedy in verse number 18. A compassionate remedy. Jesus stops to tell Peter, you got it right, so that you and I will know that it's the right answer. And then he says this, and I say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This phrase, I will build my church, is such an important phrase. This is the first mention of the church in the Bible. And if you've been around a Bible-believing church for any length of time, if you've had some Bible training, you know that in Bible study, there's a principle that we call the principle of first mention. And what that means simply is this, as you're reading your Bible and God, the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Word to be written, mentions something for the first time, He is laying down the groundwork for that topic moving forward. We get all the foundational information at the first mention. This is the first mention of the church, and that's really important to get a hold of here, because Jesus is mentioning the church for the first time, and He's giving us some really important information. And if you've been around Christianity and churches for a while, then you know also that Matthew 16 is kind of the epicenter for a lot of confusion. because there's a lot of questions that get asked about this text. And it's not my purpose to criticize the questions, except for to say that I think a lot of times, we don't always ask the best questions. We should not only be in the habit of asking questions, but asking the right questions. And you know, the religion in which I grew up, Their great question is, well, upon whom is the church built? Well, the text answers itself, really. There's no confusion, really, if you're just honest with the Bible upon whom the church is built. Remember that Jesus is speaking to Jewish men who understood and probably had vast amounts of the Old Testament memorized. And so when Jesus would have said to them, upon this rock I build my church, they never thought Peter was the rock. Peter didn't even think he was the rock. Everybody understood he was talking about himself. Their minds would have raced to verses like Psalm 18 and verse number 2, the Lord is my rock. Psalm 18 and verse 31, for who is God save the Lord or who is a rock Save our God. Peter, later on in his ministry, is going to confess this in 1 Peter 2 and verse number 6 and 7. Wherefore also it is contained in Scripture, Behold, I lay and sigh on a chief cornerstone, speaking about Jesus, elect precious, and he that believeth on him, not believeth on Peter, but believeth on Jesus, shall not be confounded or confused unto you therefore, which believe he, Jesus, is precious. And so even Peter knew that Jesus wasn't talking about him. That confusion didn't move in until hundreds and hundreds of years later, really. Remember that Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me. And so when Jesus says, I'm going to build the church upon the rock, we know he's talking about himself. It's his church. He purchased it with his own blood, according to Acts chapter number 20. He's the possessor of the church. He's the one who starts the church. So people ask the wrong question, I think. Upon whom? Well, that's really obvious. Just read the Bible. Just read the text. It interprets itself. Jesus is the rock. But then we ask another question, and we really get tied up with this one. Well, when did the church start anyways, Pastor Lonnie? When? I mean, did it start right there? Did it start a little bit later on? Has it already started? Is it going to start after the resurrection? Is it going to start at Pentecost? When? Can I tell you that I don't want to argue when? I really don't. I don't want to argue with you about when, but I do want you to think about this. No life has ever been changed because somebody thinks they figured out when the church started. But lives do get changed because the church gets started. And so a better question than when is why? Why? Think about it this way. How many times have you heard somebody say this? Well, did Jesus really die on Good Friday? Maybe he died on Thursday. Maybe he died a different day. Listen, I don't want to argue with you about when Jesus died. As long as you can agree this, that the scriptures declare that he died, that he spent three days in the grave, that he rose again on a Sunday. Now, however you do the math to make that happen, That's between you and God, and maybe you have a different math system than I do. But I don't want to argue with you about when, because no life has ever been changed because somebody figured out when Jesus died. But I'll tell you what, lives get changed when we start talking about why Jesus died. Why did He die? Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and there's none righteous, no, not one. And so the right question in this text is not when did Jesus start the church, But why? And the why becomes very evident, doesn't it? Where did the conversation start? The conversation started with this. Hey guys. We've been ministering for a while now. I've been performing miracles. I've raised the dead. I've caused the blind to see. And I've given hearing to the deaf and the dumb speak and the lame walk. And I've been doing all these things so that people will understand all the miracles that Jesus did were to be evidence or proof that he was the Messiah. So he says, so what's going on? What's in people's minds? Who do they say I am? And the response is, they're confused. And so what is Jesus' response to their confusion? Let's start a church. Let's start the church. Because that's really where the conversation moves, isn't it? Who do they say I am? They're confused. Who do you say I am? We're not confused. You're Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God. Okay, let's start a church. That's exactly the movement of the conversation as we start from it and go through it. And so as I look at this text, I think the most important thing for me, at least, to take away from it is not when, not upon whom, because when is it really going to change that much and make that much of a difference in people's lives? I'm not saying it's unimportant completely. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to be argumentative this morning. I'm just saying that sometimes the best question is why. And the why is there are, for every six people you meet, that many ideas about who Jesus is. And it is our job, church, to fix that. That's why the church exists. You say, well, I thought the church existed to edify the saints. It does. I thought the church existed so that we could encourage one another and provoke each other to good works. It does. But we have no greater task than making sure that this world is not confused about who Jesus is. We have no greater task than to introduce people to Jesus and give them the correct information for this is who Jesus is. He's the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's come to save you. He's come to seek and to save. And if you will simply put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ, you can be saved as well. We have no greater task, no more important thing that we do than that. Everything else, it's important. But let me ask you a question. If we're not helping people understand who Jesus is, who's gonna sit in the pews so that they can get encouraged and edified? The church will stay empty. And if the church doesn't continue with that mission, then it dwindles and it dies and it fades away. So we have to constantly be out there making sure people know who Jesus is. This is the number one primary most important task of the church. There's no greater task of the church than to make sure that lost people don't remain confused about whom Jesus is. Why would a family move from Tennessee to Alaska. I mean, just personally, I know why I would, because I like cold weather and I don't like warm, wet, humid weather. But honestly, I wouldn't pick up and move to Alaska just for that reason. But if there were people confused about who Jesus was in Alaska, that'd be enough to convince me. Why would a young lady leave beautiful Idaho. I mean, if you've never been to Idaho, you are missing out. It is a beautiful state. And why is a single young lady traveling this country, going from church to church to church to go to a place called Columbia? Because she likes the weather better? Or because people in Columbia are confused? Why a printing press in Venezuela? Well, we heard the other night, our brother said it. Man, people are confused down there about who Jesus is. Why would I leave a good job with the state of Connecticut and move to French-speaking Quebec because I wanted to learn French? Nobody in their right mind wants to learn a second language, not in their adult years. because there are people confused about who Jesus is. This is why we exist. And that moves us to the fourth thing, and I have to do this quickly, so buckle up, because here we go. Get ready for takeoff. Is this how we do it, Wes? I sat in a co-pilot chair with him one time, went through the whole checklist. I wish I could remember it. A coordinated response. If we're gonna make sure people are not confused about whom Jesus is, it's gonna take a coordinated response. And I think it's so interesting that from the very first mention of the church, Jesus is making clear that the local church is to have a global vision and a worldwide outreach with a primary scope of ensuring that people do not remain confused about whom he is. And as Jesus does this, He is using in this text that we have read as we read through verse 18 and 19, he's using language that reminds us of military maneuvers. You think about what he's talking about, keys and gates and war and charging gates and all of this stuff. And he's reminding us that as Christians, we have our marching orders, that we too are in a spiritual war. Read Ephesians 6 sometime, read 2 Timothy 2 and verse number 3 sometime. And Jesus is making clear that the local church has been established to charge the gates plural, of hell with the gospel so that people don't stay confused about whom Jesus is. And as we go through this, I just want us to think a little bit about this conversation that Jesus is having. And he says, and I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He's standing at Caesarea Philippi. There's a bunch of grottoes, there's a bunch of altars, there's a bunch of idols, but there's also there a place that is called the gate, the singular gate of hell. It's symbolic. but there are, according to Jesus, gates, plural, of hell. So there's a large number of these gates, against which they cannot prevail as the church moves forward. Gates through which the Bible and the representatives of local churches should go through and push through in strongholds. When you consider that Satan is the prince of this world, according to John 12, and as believers we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. And you consider that Jesus chose Caesarea Philippi, the city of the gods, as the place to have this conversation. It's not a stretch to conclude that the church is supposed to have a coordinated effort in sending out missionaries who are going to attack these gates, these strongholds, these places where people are kept in the dark and are kept blinded from the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians that if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them who are blind. And so we're supposed to come in with light, let our light shine, and we're gonna have to break through the gates to do that. But are we gonna have to break through the gates? Because what does Jesus say? And I will give you the keys. Huh, I'll give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. I can't do a deep dive into this this morning, but it's interesting that now Jesus is speaking about keys. And these keys were not exclusively given to Peter. All you have to do is go two more chapters in your Bible and find out that what Jesus said to Peter, he said to the church corporately in Matthew chapter 18. I want to focus on this just for a second. Think this through. As you go through the Bible, And you read about gates. Gates are places of authority. They're places of power. All through the Bible, that's what they are, places of authority and power. What do gates do? They keep people locked up. They keep people oftentimes in, right? Sometimes they keep bad stuff out, but also they keep stuff in. They keep people locked up. Jesus said, I'm gonna give you keys. As you read through the Bible, you'll find out that keys are also symbolic of authority and power. Tell you what, go to any maximum security prison in the country, and the guys behind the bars are being kept in, and the guys with the authority and power have the keys. Now, think this through for a second. These keys. What are they? It's interesting to me that when Jesus talks about the power and authority of Satan and the gates of hell, He's talking about things that keep people locked up. When he talks about the gospel, he talks about things that let people free. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. That's what Jesus said. And so as you go through and you read this, there's always this confusion. Oh, what are the keys? And how come I gave them to Peter and so on? Listen, he gave them to the church. And really, by application, here's what I want us to recognize, that when you and I are preaching the gospel, that is the key to set a lost person free. Don't take my word for it. Let me explain it to you as Paul. did as we read in Acts 14 and verse 27. And when they, Paul and Barnabas, were come and gathered the church together at Antioch, they rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had, watch this, opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. I don't think as we study this out, it's a stretch to understand then that when Peter preached at Pentecost, he put the keys to use. It was the gospel. That when later on Paul would go and preach to the Gentiles, he would put the keys to use and open the minds of unbelievers so that they could receive Jesus in the Scales would fall from their eyes and they could see and they would be set free from the captivity that is in sin that they were preaching the gospel. Paul used the keys, Peter used the keys, John used the keys, and the local church today is supposed to use the keys. We're supposed to be sending people off all over this globe to make sure that we're opening up those gates, those blinders, those things that are keeping them captive in sin and in bondage. And so many times, that is how a lost person's life is described. But in Christ, we have been set free. Don't make Matthew 16 harder than it needs to be. That's what religion does. Just a cursory reading and comparing scripture with scripture, we begin to understand why did Jesus start the church? Because people are confused about who he is and he doesn't want that. What does he want? He wants the church to go out and make sure that people aren't confused. How do we do that? Well, we go, church, locally, but we need to go globally. So we partner with missionaries who go as well, and they take the gospel, which is the key to setting people free and giving them the information that they need so that they can hear Who do you think Jesus is? Oh, well, he's Jesus Christ. His first name is Jesus, his last name is Christ. No, no, no, you're a little off on that. You're a little off. Christ is his title, he's Messiah, he's Savior. And if you want to be saved, you can, because whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And I'm so glad that somebody took a Bible one day, opened it up, and showed me. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And they just simply took the keys that were necessary to open up the door of faith in my heart, so I could receive Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. And if you're here today and you're saved, maybe it wasn't Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, maybe it was another verse, the different keys, can I say it that way? That will open up, because why? Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, Romans 10 and verse number 17. And so I think there are a lot of keys in 66 books that can be used to open up a heart that's been locked down from the grace of God. So why did Jesus start the church? Because he doesn't want anybody to be confused about who he is. He came to seek and to save that which is lost. And church, in Ocala, Florida this morning, the statistics say one in six are confused. In Alaska this morning, one in six are confused. In Connecticut, where we have the privilege to pastor, one in six are confused. In Quebec, one in six are confused. I know that probably in Quebec, maybe the statistics say maybe it's higher there and maybe it's lower here, but the bottom line is the average, it just, it plays out. Everywhere you and I go, people are confused about Jesus. Why do we meet this morning? Not so we can sit here behind closed doors, but so that we can go out, give people the gospel, and set them free. That's why we meet this morning. That's why we have a missions conference. That's why Jesus started the church.