Matthew 16, John 17. We are a little bit short on time. I'm going to try not to keep you longer, so we'll see what we can get through today. Some of you who are part of the membership class will recognize this sermon because you probably heard it about 12 weeks ago in that membership class. By the way, we have one more class left for membership and then we have some individuals that will be looking to join the church. So if you're a member, look out for an email or emails that have some salvation testimonies for you to review. Jesus said, I will build my church. He said, I'll build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And with those words, he encapsulated the whole purpose of his incarnation. He walked the earth so he could build his church. He perfectly kept the law so he could build his church. He fulfilled the prophets so that he could build his church. He suffered at the hands of godless men and died so that he could build his church. He bore the wrath of God so that he could build his church. He ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit so that he could build his church. He presently sits at the right hand of the Father and continues the act of work of building his church. It's not an overstatement to say that the church is the centerpiece of Jesus' redemptive work. The ushering in of the new covenant was for the purpose of producing the people of God, who would gather together as the church. The church is the crown jewel of Christ's accomplishments. When he spilt his innocent blood and ratified the new covenant, it was for this purpose, to purchase and to produce the church. Far be it from those who claim to be Christ's to downplay the value or the importance of the gathered church. Jesus' church-building work even continues today. If you want to see Jesus at work, where do you look? Well, you ought to be able to look to the church. But the church is not only the focus of Christ's work on earth, the church is actually the object of Christ's affection on earth as well. Biblically, the church is presented as Jesus' bride. It's presented as Jesus' body. The church is presented as the branches to Jesus' vine. It's presented as the household over which Jesus Christ presides. The church is presented as the sheep of Jesus' flock. The church is presented as the brothers and sisters in Jesus' family. The citizens in Jesus' kingdom. Through these analogies, we learn that the church is owned by Jesus, and loved by Jesus, and cherished by Jesus, and sustained by Jesus, and ruled, and led, and protected by Jesus. As we gather this morning, we are gathering together as this church. Get the sense that the church is important? You get the feeling that if we love Jesus, we should also love what he loves, which is the church? I hope you get that sense. That's the whole premise of what we're gonna look at this morning. We're going to look at Jesus' promise to build His church. All of this, in all honesty, is a build-up to next week's members meeting. I want you to understand, if you're a member of Calvary Baptist Church, the importance for you to take up your authority and your responsibility as members of Jesus' church. That's our goal. So by the end of this sermon and maybe next week, we ought to be able to gain an understanding of both the identity and authority of Jesus Church. So what this does is it flies right in the face of anybody who might say, well, I'm a Christian, but I just want to worship God at home. I just want to live up my faith as an individual. The Bible doesn't know anything like that. The Bible doesn't know anything of a soul, lone wolf Christian just forging his own way and living his own life apart from the community of the church. But look at Matthew 16, verse 15 through 20. We'll get to John 17 in a moment. Jesus says to his disciples, but who do you say that I am? Peter responds, you are the Christ. 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 it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven," remember that, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, 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. So the answer to the question, but who do you say that I am? Peter responds, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. That's an essential confession for anyone who would be a Christian. Peter's confession there was a seminal moment in Christ's earthly ministry. As we're going to see, all of Christ's work with his disciples. daily walking with them, having his interpersonal relationship with them, teaching them, and correcting them, and modeling for them, and praying for them. All of this was for the purpose of eliciting that exact confession from them, that they would get to the point to realize that he's the sent son of God, and they would confess that as personal conviction. We know this because look in John 17, starting at verse 1, This is Jesus' prayer to the Father. This is towards the end of his earthly ministry. And he goes to the Father, and he prays, and he prays, Father, I have accomplished all that you gave me to do. The mission that I came to accomplish, I've accomplished it. What's incredible about this is that Jesus says this prior to the cross. So he came to die. Yes, he did. Absolutely. He came to give his life as a ransom for many. But in this prayer he's saying, Father, I've accomplished all that you've given me to do prior to the cross. So it tells me that we need to pay some attention to what it is that he accomplished and understand that this really encompasses the thrust of the purpose of his earthly ministry. So he prays. Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority, that matters, given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him, and this is eternal life. If you're here this morning and you don't know much about the faith, you don't know much about salvation, it's a pretty important word right here from Jesus. This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. And this is the work that he accomplished. This is the work that he accomplished. Verse six, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, you gave them to me and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I've given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and I've come to know in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me. There it is. That's the goal. Take those whom the father has given you, those disciples, Teach them, preach to them, be an example to them, do miracles before them so that they will understand that you are sent by me, says the Father to Christ. And Christ says, I've done all that, and they now believe. They believe that you sent me. So then he says, I'm praying for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I'm glorified in them. And I'm no longer in the world, but they are in the world. And I'm coming to you, Holy Father. Keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. He's praying for the spiritual unity of those who belong to him. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I've guarded them, and not one of them has been lost, except the Son of Destruction, that's Judas, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. But now I'm coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I've given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I'm not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I'm not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth, Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I've sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth." Now listen, because now Jesus is going to pray for you and me right here. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. All of us this morning have come to faith in Jesus as a product of the preaching, the writing of the apostles. And here Jesus is praying for us. but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you've sent me. The glory that you've given me I've given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me, and love them even as you love me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, that you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you love me may be in them, and I in them. So Jesus prays, mission accomplished. Mission accomplished. All that you've given me to do, Father, I have done. And what was that work? Manifest the name of the Father to his disciples. So they would come to the place to confess that Jesus Christ is the one sent by the Father. To honor the Father, we must honor Christ, and we see it. As Paul would say, we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What was the consequence of Jesus manifesting the name of the Father to the people whom the Father had given them? It says in verse 6, They've kept your word. They've kept your word. And what did Jesus do for those people who kept his word? Verse 8, I've given them the words that you gave me. Jesus is communicating to his disciples all that the Father wants them to know, and how do they respond? Verse 8, they receive the truth. And I've come to know in truth, he says, that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me. And so from this passage, we see the primary purposes of Christ's coming. to receive the people whom the Father gave Him, to teach them, to perform miracles before them, to reveal the nature of the Father to them, to guard them so that they would not be lost. And we learn what the measure of success was of Jesus' earthly ministry, that those whom the Father had given Him would confess that He's come from the Father. and that he received all of his power and authority from the Father. That's exactly the confession that Peter makes in Matthew 16. That's exactly the confession that Peter makes in Matthew 16. So then, when Peter says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, what's happening there is it becomes evidence that Christ's mission is approaching completion. His mission is approaching completion. As we learn in the Gospel of John, it's that very confession which Jesus worked to elicit from those whom the Father had given Him. What's happening here is that Jesus Christ is beginning to forge a foundation for the church that He's going to build. And that's why when he responds to Peter, he can say, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood is not revealed to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And he says to him that upon you I will build my church. The foundation of the confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of God is the foundation upon which the church is built, and the apostles were the first to make that confession. Now, verse 18 of Matthew 16. In response to Peter's confession, Jesus says, I'm going to build my church upon this rock, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now in verse 19, he says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. This is an essential passage for us to understand as we think about our identity as the people of God and as the church. He says to Peter, because you've confessed me as the Christ, the Son of God, I'm going to build my church upon that confession, and part of that church-building work is going to necessitate that you take the keys of the kingdom that I will give you. This is authority, and with that authority, you will be able to bind and you'll be able to loose, and we'll explain that a little bit later. Because Jesus' disciples came to believe that He was the Christ, the Son of God, as direct eyewitnesses of His earthly ministry, and later His crucifixion and His resurrection, thus fulfilling the purpose for which Jesus came, they would become foundational to Jesus' church. These are the first witnesses. Therefore he entrusts them with the keys of the kingdom. The keys of the kingdom, listen, are the essential authority needed to build Jesus' hell-defying church. The essential authority needed to build Jesus' hell-defying church. And Jesus hands those keys over to the apostles. It will become relevant in just a minute to you and I. If you're going to build a building, you need a foundation. And you need a solid foundation. It doesn't matter how wonderful the rest of the building is, if the foundation is weak. What Jesus is doing here is He's building a strong foundation upon the apostles, upon which He's going to build His church. Ephesians 2.19 says, You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Take that personally. built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit." That's an amazing picture of the church, the household of God. So he continues this analogy of household. And what foundation does he say is built upon? The apostles. According to Ephesians 21 and 22, that building work is continuing. He says, in whom you also are being built together. So listen, this morning we have an incredible privilege as the church of Jesus Christ. Maybe in a few weeks, God willing, we're going to see some other people join Calvary Baptist Church. We get to witness people receiving Christ as Savior and Lord, being baptized in His name, being added to the church. What is this? It's evidence that Christ is still working. He's still building the church. Believers collectively, then, are the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles, Jesus being the chief cornerstone. And as this structure is being built, we take a step back, and what Paul says is, when you look at the structure, you know what it looks like? A holy temple to the Lord, the dwelling place of God, the center of worship, the repository of divine truth. This is talking about the church. Not the building, the covenant community. When we gather together collectively as the household of God, as we are doing this morning, this is why we fight so much against consumerism. Why do we leave the Lord's table in the middle of a service? What are visitors going to think when they come in and walk in the back door and music is playing and everybody's got their head bowed, nice clothes? What are unbelievers going to think? I don't want to say who cares because it sounds callous, but what is Sunday morning? This is the gathering of Christ's people, the covenant community coming together as the church. And we love for anybody to come with us and to join with us. But you know what they're observing? They're going to observe Christian worship. We have come to worship Christ, who is Lord of all things to the church. We are a holy temple to the Lord, the dwelling place of God. And this amazing church is built upon the foundation of the apostles. So when Jesus chose to build his church, he prepared the right foundation. His apostles performed miracles before them, set an example before them, as we have already said. When they finally came to the firm conviction that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God, He handed them over the authority. so that the church can be built upon them. The fickle and fearful men who first came to Jesus would become bold proclaimers of the gospel, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the only source of salvation for the sinful world. So with that solid foundation laid, the only thing left for Jesus to do for His church then was to start building. Peter, here's the keys, authority, I'm gonna build my church upon you. So what happened? Well, Christ went to the cross. He gave himself as a substitutionary sacrifice, bore the wrath of God, which we deserved because of our sin. He died as our substitute, was buried, rose three days later, ascended to the Father, and what did he do? He gave the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then indwelt his people, and that church-building work began to flourish. We see this in Acts chapter two. How's our time doing? Not bad. So let's look at Acts 2. You can just glance at it. I'm not going to read the text, but I'm going to explain the text. So if you go to Acts chapter 2, starting in about verse 22 when Peter begins to preach, This is Peter. He's been given the keys of the kingdom, remember. That authority to bind and to loose, that authority necessary to build the church. And that Peter, who had betrayed Jesus not too long before, is now filled with the Holy Spirit and he begins to boldly preach the gospel. This is about 50 days after the crucifixion, the Jewish Feast of Pentecost. 120 disciples are gathered together there in the upper room. They're waiting for the Spirit to descend, just as Jesus had promised. And suddenly the house where they were gathered was filled, the Bible says, with the sound of a mighty rushing wind. All the disciples were filled with the Spirit, and then God grants them a miraculous sign. They speak in languages they had never learned. So all these men coming from other nations could hear the mighty works of God spoken in languages that the speakers had never learned. An amazing, miraculous gift, a product of the Holy Spirit. In verse 14, Peter demands the attention of the crowd, which in and of itself was amazing. Like, Peter, where did you suddenly get this authority from? Not too long ago, you were cowering under the penetrating eyes of a little servant girl around a fire who's accusing you of being a follower of Jesus, and you denied it. And now he stands up and he demands the attention of a crowd of thousands of people and says, give ear to my words. Listen to me, he says. He claims that the miracle the crowds were witnessing was the fulfillment of prophecy from the book of Joel. And then he begins to preach. Verse 22. Jesus of Nazareth, he begins. The idea that Christ would come from Nazareth was a joke to the Jews. It was one of the reasons they claimed to reject Him. This Jesus, he says, was attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst. God gave you clear evidence that Jesus Christ was the sent Son through the miracles, through the signs that He did. It all happened right in your midst. God bore witness to everyone that Jesus was the Christ. No one could legitimately deny this, Peter says. And so he says, as you yourselves know, you know this, you know he did miracles, yet you rejected him. He continues preaching with uncharacteristic boldness. He says in verse 23, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hand of lawless men. Peter makes it clear that although the death of Jesus Christ was in God's plan from the beginning, still those men who were guilty for crucifying him were culpable. They were still guilty, even though this was according to God's ultimate plan. At this point, the seriousness of the crime of the Jews is beginning to settle on them. They realize, some of them, that conviction is beginning to well up inside of them, where it's beginning to become clarified in their minds that Jesus who we rejected was actually the Messiah. Peter continues with relentless authority. He moves on to speak about the resurrection. This Jesus, whom you killed, he says, is alive. God raised him up from the dead, and he's now seated on the throne of David. They mocked him as a king of the Jews, but now he is actually enthroned as the king of all creation. Peter then says something which must have struck like lightning, verse 34. He says, this Jesus whom you have crucified really sits in divine authority upon the throne of David until what? His enemies are made his footstool. Now that's a devastating statement if you have made yourself the enemy of Jesus. If you made yourself the enemy of Jesus and crucified him, and now Peter is preaching and said he's sitting on a throne like a king, and he's gonna sit and he's gonna rule and reign until all of his enemies are his footstool, and you're one of those enemies, you can understand the conviction beginning to develop in his audience. Thousands of Jews stood guilty and exposed. They made them enemies of the meek Messiah, subjecting him to mockery and abuse, and now they find themselves really standing naked and exposed before Jesus, not as the meek Messiah, but as the enthroned king. Does Peter have any evidence of this, that Jesus Christ is risen? Does he have any evidence that the Christ whom they crucified is actually alive? Yeah, he says, "...being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this, that you yourselves are seeing and hearing." The miracle you're seeing right now is evidence that Jesus is alive. The miracles that He performed continue. You ought to be able to recognize that the miraculous power which He wielded is now being wielded by whom? by his followers, by the church. The same spirit which was empowering Peter's powerful sermon was the spirit with which Christ did miracles and preached authoritatively. Peter had the crowd in his authoritative grip and he continued to squeeze Just in case the crowd had not connected all the dots, Peter concludes, let all the house of Israel know. Let all the house of Israel therefore know, verse 36, for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ. He's ruling authority. He's the Christ. He's the Messiah. He is the Savior. And he says, know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom you crucified. The Jews were guilty of killing their own Messiah. The undeniable evidence and continual confirmation from the Father that Jesus was who He claimed to be was before all of them, yet they despised and rejected Jesus. But now they stood accused, exposed, guilty. They were laid bare before the power and authority of the exalted Christ whom they crucified. And then verse 37, it says, and they were cut to the heart. They were cut to the heart. Holy Spirit conviction. There's only one appropriate response to all of this. Some of them convicted, cry out, brothers, what shall we do? We see it now, what should we do? The answer is what? Verse 37, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. If you're here this morning and you're not yet a Christian, that's a right response from you to the gospel as well. Jesus Christ is the perfect Son of God who walked this earth, lived a perfect life, gave himself as a substitutionary sacrifice, bore the wrath of God for our sins, was buried, overcame death because He is the sinless Son of God, is exalted at the right hand of the Father, and now offers salvation to all who would believe in Him. And so the right response to those realities is what? Repent and be baptized. Repent and be baptized. In that moment, Peter and the other disciples were standing at the door of the kingdom of heaven. Remember in our talk about legalism? What did we say about the Pharisees? What did Jesus say about them? They stood at the door of the kingdom of heaven and they slammed it in the faces of any who would enter in. And they weren't even getting in. What's happening here is now Peter and the other disciples seem to be standing at the door of the kingdom of heaven saying, if you want to get in, repent and be baptized. If you want to get in, you must come through Jesus Christ. It seems as if there is an authority shift taking place. Whereas the Jews once stood at that door and frankly slammed it in the face of others, the apostles have come with authority given to them by Jesus and swung the door wide open and said, all can come through Jesus Christ. This is a shift happening in the administration of the kingdom of God on earth. Now it's the church, built upon the foundation of the apostles, who stand at the door of the kingdom of heaven, declaring with authority how individuals can enter in through Christ and Christ alone. can't rely upon ethnicity, religious identity, even personal righteousness, good works. Everyone who would come would have to enter through Christ. Christ is the door. And so Peter proclaims, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus. Well, what happens? Thousands respond. Thousands respond to Peter's sermon. Thousands respond. What did that response look like? Repentance and baptism. We believe that Christ is the Son of God, and He's exalted as Lord, and what? We're going to become His disciples. And so they're baptized in His name. Those new believers recognize what Peter recognized. They made the same confession that Peter made. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. These new believers recognize that Peter and the other apostles did indeed speak for the resurrected Christ. They accepted that they really did have authority. They believed that they had the message of salvation and that they really were standing at the gate of the kingdom of heaven. In that moment, as I said, an incredible shift happened in God's administration of the kingdom of heaven on earth. It's now the disciples, the apostles who held the power and authority over the kingdom of heaven on her. It was they who would have the authority to declare the means of salvation. It was they who had the authority to declare who had and who had not made a confession necessary to enter in. These disciples who were the first to confess Christ as the Son of the living God had become the foundation upon which Jesus would build his church. The thousands whom Jesus added to the church on that day would go on to devote themselves to, Acts 2.42 says what? The apostles' teaching. The apostles' teaching. The church is being built upon the foundation of the apostle. So Jesus' church-building project was well underway and continues till today. The strong foundation that Jesus built upon the apostles has been able to bear thousands of years of addition. And here we are today in 2024 in Canada, and the church is still being built, and it's still being built upon what? The apostolic doctrine upon the apostles. So let's define the church. This is our definition of a church. A church is a group of baptized believers. who regularly gather together in organized assemblies, with a commitment to live out their discipleship together in the context of loving relationships, continuing together in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship and prayer and the practice of the ordinances under the oversight of appointed leadership. There's a universal church. Every believer, you could say, is part of the universal church. But the universal church is designed by God to gather together in local assemblies. A church is a group of baptized believers who regularly gather together in organized assemblies with a commitment to live out their discipleship together in the context of loving relationships, continuing together in the Apostles' Doctrine, Fellowship, Prayer, and the practice of the ordinances under the oversight of appointed leadership. This morning, we can say this gathering here is a church. built upon the foundation of the apostles. As you consider this morning your role, your identity, if you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, his design for you is to be part of a local church. His design for you is to understand the authority and responsibilities that he has given you as an individual, as part of the community of believers, and to take seriously that authority and responsibility, as we're going to see. When you join together with a body of believers, you join an outpost of Jesus' kingdom, which has been built upon the foundation of the apostles, still possessing their apostolic authority. So, although the apostles have all died, We're going to see next, and we're going to end with this thought. We see next, though the apostles have died, the authority of the apostles continue. The authority of the apostles continues. We're not talking about apostolic succession here, as far as ordaining successive generations of apostles. What we're saying is the authority of the apostles continues. In what way? The authority of the apostles continue because Jesus had passed the keys of the kingdom to Peter and the other apostles. And as we're going to see, the apostles then went on to teach and to train the church on how to exercise the authority of those keys. So remember Matthew 16? Jesus says to Peter, upon your confession, I'm granting you or giving you the keys of the kingdom in order to accomplish the work of building the church. With those keys, remember, use those phrases, you'll be able to bind and you'll be able to loose. They'd be able to speak with heavenly authority and to make declarative statements about who was in the kingdom and who was out with heavenly affirmation. The church does not make believers. The church does not create believers. But what the church does is declare with authority what is a proper confession so that I can say to an individual, let me hear your understanding of the gospel. What do you believe about Jesus? And on the basis of your profession, I can say, I believe you are a believer. So I don't think the church has that authority. What do you think we do every time we baptize? Every time we baptize, we baptize on the basis of a profession of faith. That is the church, saying, we accept your confession of faith as a genuine confession of faith, and we affirm that by baptism. You know that we also do that every time we partake in the Lord's table? This morning when we partake together, you know what we're saying? We're saying we affirm one another as continuing in the faith. You know what we do when somebody who claims once to be a believer, but they're no longer living as a believer, and they're removed from the church? We no longer affirm that profession of faith by excluding them from the Lord's table. This is the authority of the church. These are the keys of the kingdom being exercised to bind and to loose. So at Pentecost, when Peter stood and preached, The reason why it appeared as if he was standing at the gate of heaven and declaring who could get in and who could not is because that's exactly what he was doing. When Jesus said to his apostles prior to his ascension in Matthew 28, all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth." And he said, what? Go therefore. Go therefore. And what? Preach. Preach to all nations, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded. What he's saying is, I have all authority, so you go in my authority and you make disciples. The church wields the authority of Christ. by virtue of the exercise of the keys of the kingdom, by making disciples, and authoritatively declaring who is and who is not a disciple. The apostles who became foundational to the church which Jesus would build. The apostles became foundational to the church which Jesus would build. The church was built upon them, and that church was imbued with the same apostolic authority which he had granted the apostles through the keys of the kingdom. How do we know this? Well, we're going to look at one more passage, and I think this is our last passage. Matthew 18. Matthew 18. We don't want to get into the weeds here when it comes to church discipline, but this passage does deal with church discipline. That is, someone who claims to be a believer but who begins to live a life where it's not indicative of genuine faith. The church has authority, basically, to remove an affirmation of that individual's faith and to say, we no longer recognize you as a genuine believer. The church has that authority in Matthew 18, but I want you to listen to the language here. Jesus says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. That's just really good advice. If you're offended by a brother, don't go tell others first. Don't try to gather up your gang and your team to feel self-justified and all of that. Don't do that. Just go tell him alone that you've been offended by them. If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. Mission accomplished. You've gained your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two others along with you. What Jesus is saying, I'm not going to tolerate broken relationships in my church. This is Christ. So he says, take one or two others along with you. This has to escalate. that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, what does he say? Tell it to whom? The church. Tell it to the church. Is this the universal church here? Obviously not. I've been offended by Jared. I'm going to announce it to every believer I can find because they're part of the church. Clearly, this is in the context of the local church. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. You can no longer recognize them as a brother. They have been obstinate. They've been rebellious. They're refusing repentance. They're refusing the authority of the church in their lives. So what? Treat them like an unbeliever. Now, what does it mean to treat somebody like an unbeliever? What did Jesus do for Gentiles? He opened up salvation for Gentiles. What did he do for tax collectors? He called tax collectors to be his disciples, like Matthew, right? How do you treat a Gentile and a tax collector? You treat them as those who are in need of salvation. You don't shun them, right? Christians don't shun, they shouldn't. What this is, you can no longer recognize them as a believer, so there's a call to repentance. There's love, and there's a call to repentance, right? He says, truly I say to you, now listen to the language, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. It's almost like the Bible's really consistent. Whatever you bind will be bound, whatever you loose will be loosed. Where had we heard that language before? Two chapters earlier in Matthew 16. Jesus says to Peter, I'm giving you the keys of the kingdom. You use those keys, that authority, to bind and to loose with heavenly authority and heavenly affirmation. You can declare who is a believer and who is not. Two chapters later, Jesus uses the language of binding and loosing, but it's not the apostles who are binding and loosing here. Who's doing the binding and loosing? It's the church. It's the church. It's the gathered local church. The authority that Jesus gave the apostles through the keys of the kingdom is now exercised by the local church. And there you see it two chapters later. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. That's the idea of bound on earth, bound in heaven, loosed on earth, loosed in heaven. You're saying these things on earth, but you're exercising my authority. You are doing this with my affirmation. So what? When you agree on these things and you exercise my authority, understand that heaven is smiling upon you and you are legitimately exercising divine authority. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. And just a little note, that's not a blessing upon a prayer meeting here. Oh, two or three are gathered together, whatever we ask God's going to give us. The context here is church discipline, the authority of the church in that. The exercise of church discipline in Matthew 18 clearly requires a gathered local church that understands the authority that it has been granted by Jesus Christ through the keys of the kingdom. The exercise of church discipline in Matthew 18 really needs to be carried out by what? A group of baptized believers who regularly gather together in organized assemblies, We're not exercising church discipline upon any and every believer out there. This is within the context of a gathered assembly who have a commitment to live out their discipleship together in the context of loving relationships. That's the only way in which something like Matthew 18 can be carried out is in that context. continuing together in the Apostles' doctrine, fellowship, prayer, and the practice of the ordinances under the oversight of appointed leadership. That's what's required in order to be obedient to the process that Jesus gives us in Matthew 18. Any other arrangement that process laid out in that passage really fails. Matthew 18 is really court-like language there. Verse 16 makes no sense without a gathered assembly to hear the evidence. Tell it to the church, he says, in verse 17. It's ridiculous if it's not the local church that's in view. The collective action of putting an unrepentant individual out of the fellowship makes no sense, unless in some way they can first be identified with the fellowship. Lastly, verse 20 makes it explicit, for where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. This is the gathered church. When a local church built upon the foundation of the apostles gathers together, it possesses the authority and the responsibility of the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Why are you here today? We don't gather together simply to download information. We don't gather together just to sing some songs. We don't gather together as consumers. When we come together as the church, we understand that we are ambassadors of Christ. This church is an outpost of Jesus' kingdom. This church is imbued with authority from God in the form of the keys of the kingdom. And if you're a member of the church, you have that authority. And we say if you have that authority, you have responsibility. You could even look at church membership as somewhat like a job description. You have some stuff to do, right? You and I have some stuff to do because we have authority granted to us from Jesus for that purpose. The gathered church has the authority to stand at the gate of the kingdom of heaven. We don't slam it shut in the face of people, but we swing the door open and say, come, come through Jesus. We have the authority to affirm professions of faith. We do that through baptism. The gathered church has the authority to continually affirm the genuineness of professions of faith. We do that through the Lord's Table. The church has the authority to refuse to continue to affirm professions of faith. We do that through church discipline. Remember, when we say the church, we're not referring to elders. We're not referring to some religious hierarchy. When we say the church, we mean the congregation. that group of baptized believers who regularly gather together and so on. When gathered collectively as one assembly, as a church, we collectively have the authority and the responsibility to exercise the keys of the kingdom. That can be a shocking realization for some, especially in the face of a Christian culture which has remade Christ's church from his very kingdom representatives on earth to some sort of entertainment-laden religious sideshow. As a church, we are ambassadors of the King, administrators of the kingdom of heaven on earth, entrusted with the authority and responsibility to administer the kingdom here while we await the future coming of the King himself. So, I said that we wanted to preach on these topics in the run-up of our members meeting. I'm really laying it on thick here, aren't I? What's going to happen at our members meeting? We're going to offer a suggested addition to our statement of faith. It's the congregation's role, possessing the apostolic authority in the form of the keys of the kingdom, to determine what is a genuine profession of faith and what is not. We believe that that means that the congregation has authority and responsibility to oversee our statement of faith. This is not something where the elders impose upon the congregation a statement of faith. We believe the congregation wields this power and authority, and so what I'm suggesting to you is take up that authority. Take up that authority. Take up your identity as the church built upon the foundation of the apostles. Learn how to exercise your authority as a member. Be obedient in fulfilling your responsibilities as administrator of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Doesn't this give you a far better vision for the church? This idea of just showing up and consuming. Just showing up and being the observer of a show that's put on on the stage to understand that Christ has actually called you to exercise authority and responsibility on His behalf and to be part of His church building work. That's your calling this morning and my calling this morning. If you're here this morning and you're not yet a Christian, Christ died for you so that you would be part of the church. He died for you so that you could be saved. So put your faith in Him as Savior. the only one who can save you from the penalty of your sin, and submit to Him as Lord, the only rightful authority in your life. And you know how you show that faith that you put in Christ as Savior and Lord? Baptism. Baptism. Publicly be baptized in His name, taking His name upon yourself, declaring yourself to be His disciple, and then continue in the faith in where? In the context of the church. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for the church, your wise design for the church, your incredible design for the church. But we recognize that Jesus is active, he's working, he's continuing to build the church, even in a culture which is rebellious against you, even in a culture that has completely lost the plot, which has just become so foolish. In the rebellion against you, they've just become confused, not understanding the purpose for which they're made, and not understanding meaning, not understanding human identity, what it means to be made in your image. And even in the midst of a culture which has gone so wrong in so many ways, your church is thriving. You are building your church. Men and women are still coming to faith in Christ, still being transformed by your grace, still being added to the church. And we just thank you for the privilege of being part of your church and being able to witness the growth of your church. We pray you would help us to recognize our authority and responsibility as church members. Help us have a biblical understanding of what the church is. divest us of any misconceptions we might have about church. Maybe we've come from a different tradition. We've had other teaching when it comes to the church. Maybe we've fallen prey to bad ideas of what the church is. I pray that you would just help us to see through those things and to see what your design is for us. Help us to encourage one another to walk together as the church, exercising this authority, understanding that this is authority that's wielded collectively, that this is something that the body together exercises. So help us to build that community and to continue in that community. And then, Lord, we just pray for any of this morning who are not yet Christians. We pray that they would see their need for Jesus, for salvation from sin. We pray that they would trust Jesus for that salvation, that they would understand Christ as Lord as well, rightful authority in their lives, and that they would respond to the gospel by seeking baptism, declaring their faith in Christ publicly, and their intention to live for Him. We thank you for this, and we pray that you continue to build your church here at Calvary. In Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.