Matthew chapter 16. Over these few weeks together, we have been looking at this single chapter in Matthew's Gospel as really a turning point in Matthew's Gospel, but also a chapter in which The Lord Jesus Christ brings out many themes that are very central to His ministry, themes which I wish to emphasize in some of these last weeks of my ministry among you. And so today we come to the theme of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We find this in Matthew chapter 16 and verses 18 and 19. I remind you last week that the Lord Jesus Christ took his disciples aside to the region of Caesarea Philippi where he asked, who is it that people say that I, the Son of Man, am? And that gave occasion for Peter to make the good confession of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you indeed are the Christ, the Son of the living God. A crucial confession that Peter makes, acknowledging that Jesus is no ordinary man, not even merely a great prophet like John the Baptist. or like Jeremiah, or like Elijah of the Old Testament, but that He is utterly unique as the Messiah and as the Son of the living God. Lord Jesus then follows up those words by saying that flesh and blood had not revealed this to Peter, but rather his Father who is in heaven. It came by God's grace that Peter came to that confession, as it is by God's grace alone that any of us confess Jesus to be the Christ and the Son of God. Well, this brings us now to the words which our Lord Jesus Christ speaks to Peter after this. This is found in verses 18 and 19, so let us now hear these words of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I also say to you that you are Peter, And on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." This ends this reading in God's Word. Let's look once again to him in prayer. Lord our God and Heavenly Father, we love you and we love your church. We pray, O God in heaven, that we would come to love your church even more as a result of this study this morning. O Lord, come be our teacher. Instruct us in the things that we ought to know. Minister to us by your grace. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. One of my great prayers is that as a result of these last years of ministry that I've had among you, that you would be a person who loves the Church of Jesus Christ more than you did before. For indeed, I trust that we have seen over these last years together how crucial the church of Jesus Christ is to Christ's purpose and plan for his people. That the Lord Jesus Christ is king over his church. That it is his body. That it is no mere social institution. It's not a club of man's designing. but rather it is the body of Christ, the church of the living God, the body for which He gave His own life. And we ought to love the church of Jesus Christ. And so here in Matthew chapter 16, as Jesus takes His disciples aside and instructs them in the things which are most important, He looks ahead to that time when because of His death and resurrection, sinners are going to be won to faith in Jesus Christ and the church of Christ is going to be established. And He gives words of crucial instruction about His church to Peter and to the remainder of these disciples. And it's those words that I want us to consider this morning. We can summarize the lesson of these verses in one statement. And the statement is this. It is that Christ builds his church on the foundation that he chooses, making it a stronghold and through it, exercising His authority. Christ builds His church on the foundation He chooses, making it a stronghold, and through it, exercising His authority." Now, if you didn't get that entire statement all at once, it's okay, because those are actually the four points of today's sermon. That's the statement that I want to unpack from these verses out of Matthew 16 with us today. And so the first thing that I want us to see today is indeed the fact that Christ builds his church. Some people think that Jesus never intended to establish the church, that he was a kind of revolutionary preacher and teacher, but that the church was the invention of the apostles some 30 or 40 years later. But to make that kind of statement is to create a tragic disjunction between Christ and his apostles. And when you do that, you also obscure and misunderstand what the work of Jesus Christ really is. Because far from saying that Jesus had no interest in the church, that the church was something foreign to His purposes and plans, we would need to say just the opposite, that in fact, all of Christ's work was done for the sake of His church. that His great aim and goal, that the purpose of Jesus' incarnation, the purpose of His suffering, the purpose of His death on the cross, the purpose of His resurrection to new life, was to save His people, and it was to bring His saved people into one great community of redeemed people that would be possessed by His Spirit, and that would endure forever to the glory and honor of God. That was Jesus' purpose. And this truth, that Jesus was concerned about the church, is a truth that is brought out explicitly in today's passage. Jesus' main thought in these two verses is this. It is the thought, I will build my church. I will build my church. Now, in using that particular word, the word church, the Greek word ekklesia, it's a word that wasn't new with Jesus. The word itself means assembly, or the called out ones. And in the Greek Old Testament, that word ekklesia was frequently used to describe Israel. In fact, even in Acts chapter 7 and verse 38, Stephen describes Old Testament Israel literally as the ecclesia or church in the wilderness. And so Old Testament Israel indeed was the church. And so Jesus sees His community now as the same as that Old Testament remnant, but no longer defined by the national boundaries of Israel, but rather defined around Himself. He calls it here, My Church. How radical that possessive pronoun is. What a statement Jesus is making by this. That the church, which was used of the people of God in the Old Testament, Christ now says, it is mine. It belongs to me. But how true that statement is. That in every sense of the word, the church belongs to Jesus Christ. Consider these words of J.C. Ryle. Ryle says that it is a church composed of who? Of all who are washed in Christ's blood, clothed in Christ's righteousness, renewed by Christ's Spirit, joined to Christ by faith, and who are epistles of Christ in life. It is a church of which every member is baptized with the Holy Ghost, and is really and truly holy. It is a church which is one body, that all who belong to it are of one heart and one mind, hold the same truths, and believe the same doctrines as necessary to salvation. It is a church which has only one head. That head is Jesus Christ Himself. He is the head of the body, Colossians 1 and verse 18. And so in speaking here of the church, he is speaking of those who are truly the children of God. Out of every nation, from every ethnicity, every language group, every background, those who truly belong to God are part of that church which Jesus has died to save. And friends, this church of Jesus Christ is Christ building. That's what he says, I will build my church. This is his great aim, is to build his church. This is his handiwork. It's his masterpiece in the world. You know, great men and women of this world leave their mark on the world, don't they? Some have cities that are named after them. Some build large structures or they paint famous paintings. Yet other people have a theory or an idea that is forever associated with their name. Great men and women leave their mark on this world. Well, what mark has Jesus Christ made on this world? What has Jesus Christ left? Well, He is marked by His church. His church, this is His handiwork. This is His masterpiece. But it's not just some ancient relic. It's not something that you can go and you can visit the ruins of it. You know, something that existed long ago, like many ancient Greek or Roman ruins, or something like that. But rather, His church is an ever-expanding, living community of people whom Jesus Christ, the Master Architect, is continuing to build. that throughout this whole world, the church of Christ is continuing to be built up. How? Well, by people being convicted of their sin and turning in faith to Jesus Christ, experiencing conversion. It is being built through God's people being instructed in the Word of God, ministered to in love by one another, and thus being built up in the faith. Jesus Christ strengthens His church. He never leaves His church. He uses trials even for the good of His church. That throughout the world, the Lord Jesus Christ is currently building up His church. It is His handiwork. He is doing this work. It is His church. And He is building it. Friends, what confidence this gives us. Lord Jesus Christ is active in this world through the building of this church. What confidence this gives us here at Pinehaven Church. You know, the most fundamental thing that can be said about Pinehaven Presbyterian Church is that it belongs to Jesus Christ. Nothing is more fundamental than that. It's not Rob Hill's church. It's not any of your churches. It is Christ's church. It isn't a mere social institution, it's not some kind of club, but rather it is one local branch of Christ's grand and glorious church. It belongs to Him. And it exists because of what Christ has done. He died for it. He has given His Spirit to us. He saves people. He gives us His Word that is spoken to us. He builds us up in the faith. Every aspect of the ministry of the church of Jesus Christ is what it is because of who Christ is. There would be no church apart from Him. It is His church. And He is the master builder of it. So dear friends, we can have this confidence, Christ Jesus is building His church. So that's the first thing that we see. But secondly, we see that He builds it on the foundation that He chooses. The foundation that He chooses. Look with me at the first part of verse 18. After Peter's confession, the Lord Jesus then says to Peter, and I also say to you that you are Peter, And on this rock I will build my church." Now, what is this rock on which the Lord Jesus Christ is building his church? Well, Roman Catholicism uses this verse to justify the papacy. They say that Christ here is making Peter the foundation of the church, that Peter became the Bishop of Rome, And that apostolic authority then is passed down to every bishop of Rome after him, which then gives authority to the Pope. Now, in reaction to some of these excesses of Roman Catholic teaching, many Protestants say, no, no, no, the rock is not Peter in this passage, but rather, the rock is that confession that Peter has just made of Jesus Christ. That's the foundation of the church. It sounds good and there's a lot of truth to that kind of statement and there are good men who would hold that position. But nonetheless, I actually don't think that the text can be taken in that way. I agree rather with D.A. Carson when Carson says that if it were not for Protestant reaction against extremes of Roman Catholic interpretation, it is doubtful whether many would have taken Rock to be anything or anyone other than Peter. In other words, my position, along with the position of many, is that the rock here that's being referred is actually speaking of Peter himself. You are Peter, Petros in the Greek, and on this rock, Petra, and Petros is just masculine, Petra, it's the same word. Essentially, on this rock, I will build my church. And he's speaking here to Peter who has just made this good confession, who has been saved by God's grace, that upon him, in some sense, Upon Him, this church is being built." Now, in what sense is Peter, then, the foundation of the church? That's the key question. Now, notice this. First of all, that nothing in this passage is said of apostolic succession, or of papal infallibility, or of the exclusive authority of the Pope, okay? It takes a giant jump to go from what this passage says to the claims of Roman Catholicism. None of those things are said in this passage. But rather, the idea here is simply, I believe, the same as what's expressed in Ephesians 2 and verse 20. Where in Ephesians 2 and verse 20, it expresses this. It says that we are being built up as fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone." So here it compares the church as a giant temple that is being built up to the Lord, built with a foundation layer of what? Of the apostles and of the prophets. with Christ Himself being the cornerstone. And Ephesians 2.20, and I believe Matthew 16, is simply expressing the fact that the apostles were going to have a foundational role within the early church. Through them, the New Testament Scriptures would be given and written down. They would have the privilege of being the first to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through preaching. They would organize and lead the early church, giving it its shape and direction. And among these early apostles, Peter himself would have a leading role. And so if you read through the first 12 chapters of the book of Acts, which apostle has the leading role among all of them? Well, it's clearly Peter. Peter is the one who preaches on the day of Pentecost. Praetor is the one who is dragged before the Sanhedrin, who is thrown into prison. Peter is the one who announces church discipline with regard to Ananias and Sapphira. Peter is the first to preach the gospel to a Gentile when he goes to Cornelius. Peter's role is crucial. It's a foundational role. No one else shares that role today. It isn't to be repeated. It was a crucial role in the history of the early church. No, it wasn't a role that Peter assumed for himself, but rather it was a task that he as an individual was given and equipped for by Christ himself, in the same way that Christ would give Paul an important role, and he would give many others within the early church an important role. Peter exercises this role as an apostle, but one who would even be the foremost among those apostles within the early church. Now what I think this teaches us is not only does the church today need to be built upon the foundation of the apostolic authority, we need to stay close to the apostolic scriptures and the apostolic order for the church of Christ. That's what it means to be built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. But I think there's also a lesson in the fact that Christ used Peter, of all people, for this important role. Who is Peter? Peter's a weak man. At times a kind of vacillating man, a broken man, a sinful man. This is the same Peter who will later deny Jesus Christ before a little servant girl. Three times deny Christ. This is the same Peter who, in the next passage, Jesus is going to have to rebuke for what he says. This is impetuous Peter. Peter was no superstar in and of himself. He was a sinner who was saved entirely by God's grace. And yet Christ comes to this broken, sinful man, He looks him in the eye and He says, You are Peter. You are a rock. He wasn't a rock in and of himself, but the Lord was going to use him as an important foundation stone within the early church. He looks at this broken man and he says, you are a rock, and on this rock you are going to be used, in other words, an important role within the church of Jesus Christ. What grace! You see how it elevates the grace of Almighty God. Far from elevating Peter himself, it shows us the greatness of God who uses weak and frail, small vessels for His glory and honor. The same Lord Jesus, who looked at Peter and said those words, is the one who looks at you. And He says your name. And He speaks to you as one who is a sinner, but one who is saved by the grace of God. And He says, I am going to use you. I'm going to use you as a Christian father who has little ones that I've entrusted to your care that you get to speak the gospel of Jesus Christ and teach them the things of Christ from an early age. I'm going to use you as a Christian woman who gets to minister to that other woman who is in need and bring the gospel to bear upon. I'm going to use you as an elder or as a deacon within the church of Jesus Christ, as a Sunday school teacher to instruct children in the way. I'm going to use you, you of all people get to be a servant within the glorious church of Jesus Christ. That's marvelous, friends. That's marvelous. That Christ here is building this church on the foundation of His choosing. Yes, even Peter of all people. Peter of all people gets to be used. You and I get to be used. What a privilege it is to be included within the church. So we see that it is Christ Jesus who is building his church on the foundation that he chooses. Thirdly, that he is making it a stronghold. Making it a stronghold. Look with me at the rest of verse 18. He says, on this rock I will build my church and what? And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. This teaches us, first of all, that the gates of Hades are going to be attacking or set against the church of Jesus Christ. Because the church is Christ-building, it's His masterpiece that He has created for His glory, we can expect that Christ's church is going to come under severe assault from Satan himself. We should know that. We should expect it. I mean, Satan attacked Jesus Christ, did he not? Satan attacked Christ at every point. He attacked Him by persecution. When through Herod, he sought to have all the little baby boys killed, seeking to kill Christ. He attacked Christ through temptation. And Christ was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness and tempted by Satan for 40 days. He attacked Christ by execution, leading The Jewish leaders and the Jewish crowds turn against Jesus thinking, finally we're going to have this one killed. And what happened? At every point where Satan attacked the Lord Jesus, Satan didn't win, but Christ did, and Christ's purposes did. Well, dear friends, as it was for our masters, so it is for those who follow in His steps. The church of Jesus Christ is going to be attacked. John Calvin says this, yet this passage also instructs us that so long as the church shall continue to be a pilgrim on the earth, she will never enjoy rest, but will be exposed to many attacks, for when it is declared that Satan will not conquer, this implies that he will be her constant enemy. So we can be assured of Satan's attack. Well, how does Satan attack the church? Well, primarily through three different means. He attacks the church, first of all, through persecution. 2 Timothy 3, that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And Satan tries to stamp out the church by assaulting it from the outside. This happens in predominantly Muslim nations today. where the church is under violent persecution for its confession of Christ. But in our own country as well, where we are not persecuted now, dear friends, there will likely come a day when the church is persecuted. Many of you know right now the whole issue of the definition of marriage is before our Supreme Court now. We do not know in God's providence What is going to happen? But as the attitude and viewpoint of our culture shifts increasingly to unbiblical views of what marriage is, we as the Church of Christ are going to be called to continue to conform to Scripture's teaching and to stand against the culture. And friends, this already has and will continue in increasing measure to bring the ire and the mockery and the insults of the world upon the church of Christ. There will be intense pressure to conform to the world's standards in this area. So I have no doubt that persecution will first come to the church in the United States through the form of it being accused of being discriminatory, having legal action taken against the church for its faithful adherence to the norms of Scripture. So persecution comes. It will come. But Satan also attacks the church through false teaching. In Acts 20, verses 29-30, the Apostle Paul tells the elders at Ephesus, But after my departure, savage wolves are going to come in among you, not sparing the flock. And also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. There will always be those who will distort the teaching of Scripture, who will teach heresy, and will wrap it up so that it looks attractive, and many will be led astray by it. And this happens in our day. There is not one single Christian doctrine that isn't under attack from somewhere. Whether it's the Trinity, Or the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Or what the atonement of Jesus Christ means. Or the doctrine of justification by faith. All of these central doctrines, and many others, indeed are denied by many. False teaching abounds. And so Satan attacks in that way. Satan also attacks through temptation. Not only persecution and false teaching, but also temptation. Temptation to immorality. fleshly desire, where God's people begin to be led astray to live like the world and according to the world's standards rather than by the norms of Holy Scripture. So there's the danger of temptation as well. But in the midst of Satan's violent attack, what is the promise that is given to us? The promise is simply this, that the gates of Hades will not prevail. It will not prevail. Now this isn't a promise for every single local church or even denomination. There are local churches and denominations that become apostate. They leave the faith. They have been stamped out. They have caved under the pressure of the world. Their lampstands have been taken away in the language of Revelation 2 and 3. That can happen in local churches and in denominations. But the promise that Christ gives here is that Christ will always, always have His true people in the world. And that His cause will not die, but it will triumph in the end. That Christ will have His people. And that the church is going to continue to make assaults on the darkness. That it will advance against the gates of hell. And that the church of Christ will triumph in the end. That is the assurance. That's the promise that we're given. And not to give us confidence. You can just read through some of those last chapters of Revelation. Chapters 17, 18, 19. Chapters like that. Read it sometime and just see what this is saying that's going to happen. It speaks of the beast being destroyed, of Babylon the Great representing this world with all of its worldly desires fallen. It speaks of the false prophet which is going to be cast down. that Antichrist and all others who teach falsely are going to be cast down in the end. And then it speaks ultimately of Satan himself thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone. Every enemy of Christ and His church ultimately being destroyed until you open up to Revelation, next to last chapter of Revelation, Revelation 21, and it says, and then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, And then I, John, saw what? What was the one thing remaining? I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." It's the church of Jesus Christ in its glorified state that will remain when all other kingdoms ultimately have fallen. And friends, this gives us confidence as the church of Jesus Christ. His church will prevail. He will have a people for Himself. Believe it. And live with that confidence. Don't be afraid of Satan. Don't ultimately be afraid of this world. Have confidence in Christ who is building His church. And know that every ounce of labor that you spend for the sake of Christ and for His people is an ounce that is not wasted. Not one, not one ounce wasted. If you are doing it in service to Christ and to His church. And so we see that Christ is building His church. that He is giving it the foundation that He chooses, that He is making it a stronghold. And now, fourth and finally, we see that through it, He is exercising His authority. Through it, He is exercising His authority. Look with me at verse 19. He says to Peter, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. The metaphor of keys refers to both admitting and refusing admission. Now it's important that you realize that these keys are not given to Peter alone because later in Matthew chapter 18 and verse 18, He says to all of his apostles, assuredly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. And there, speaking in the context of church discipline, we can rightly say that those words are given to the leaders of Christ's church, at any time as it rightly exercises Christ's authority within the church. So these keys have to do with admitting and refusing admission. But what does this mean, ultimately? These words kind of scare us at first, don't they? Because what we ask the question, well, is the Lord here giving to Peter And to the rest of the apostles and to the leaders of the church, is He giving them the authority to decide who is admitted and who is not admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven? And the answer to that question is no. No. Ultimately, it is the Lord who saves. It is the Lord who admits into Heaven. Into His Kingdom. What does this mean then? Well, I think we're helped a little bit when we understand that literally, in the original Greek, the verb tenses are in what is called the future perfect. In verse 19, literally it says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven. So it seems to speak here of an action that has already taken place in heaven. That Christ determines the terms in which a person is admitted into that kingdom. But the church itself is given a very important role. The church is to mirror Heaven's actions. And when the Church acts according to Christ's command and Christ's will, its action is done by the authority of God Himself and mirrors that reality of Heaven. Well, in what ways does the Church exercise the keys of the Kingdom? I think primarily in two ways. First of all, through the preaching of the Word. Through the preaching of the Word. I mean, when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2, verses 38 and 39, to repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises to you and to your children and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. What is Peter doing when he is preaching those words? Well, he is announcing Not his own terms for entrance into the kingdom, but he is announcing the terms that have been given by God himself. And so preaching is the way that the church can announce what Christ's terms are for how a person is saved. Through preaching, A preacher can announce that all who repent and look to faith in Christ are going to have their sins forgiven and are going to be reconciled to God. And all who remain impenitent and do not look to faith in Jesus Christ are truly under the judgment and wrath of God for their sins. Friends, every time that a preacher announces that, he is exercising the keys of the kingdom. But the church exercises the keys not only through preaching, but also through church discipline. Also through church discipline. We're not going to turn there now, but 1 Corinthians 5 is an example of church discipline. And the idea being that when a person remains impenitent in their sin, turns away from the living God, what the leaders of the church do, by Christ's authority, is to declare that such a person, because of their impenitence and their continued sinfulness, is no longer a member of the church. They are excommunicated. And the idea is that this is not just the church's declaration, but the church is declaring what appears to be the case with regard to that person's eternal soul. That's what makes excommunication so serious. It's the church's declaration that based on Christ's will, on his revelation, by what we can see as leaders of the church, it appears this person is no Christian at all. And that's serious. You see, it's reflecting or mirroring the verdict of heaven itself. And so in that sense, the church is given the keys of the kingdom. And so the keys aren't some kind of tyrannical authority. by which men are able to determine who is in heaven and who is out. But rather, this notion of the keys shows, as it were, the kindness of God's revelation. That entrance into His kingdom isn't some divine secret that He keeps hidden from us. But rather, through the ministry of His Church, it is declared to us, week by week by week, on the authority of Christ Himself, what it means to be a part of His Kingdom. And so this is God's kindness, God's grace to us, that He says, I have given you the Church, and I have given you ministers. And through the Church, I am going to exercise My authority. Heaven is going to be opened, and as you respond in faith to the preaching of the Word of God, you can be assured of this, that I truly belong to Jesus Christ, that I haven't responded merely to man's Word, but I've responded to the Living Word of the Living God. And so through the church, Christ exercises His authority. And so here we see the church in its splendor and glory. He builds it. He sets it on His foundation. He makes it a stronghold. And then through the Church, He exercises His authority. Isn't the Church a glorious institution? I simply ask you again, do you love the Church of Jesus Christ? Are you committed to it? Can you say with the hymn writer, I love thy kingdom, Lord, the house of thine abode, the church our blessed Redeemer saved with his own precious blood? Do you love the church of Jesus Christ? Let's pray together. Lord, our God in heaven, we thank you for this word that you, Lord Jesus, have given us concerning your church. We pray that we might embrace this teaching, that we might love your church, be committed to it, serve it with all that we are and all that we have. Live for your glory all of our days. Lord, do this we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.