Sermon
delivered on November 2nd, 2014
By: Pastor Greg Hocson
Text: Matthew 16:13-19
During this time our Lord had been in
the public ministry and had been laboring for two and a half years. He had
preached His sermon on the Mount. He had healed the lame, blind, mute, crippled
and raised the dead Lazarus many others ....
Matthew 15:30 And great
multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb,
maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them:
He had fed the five thousand (Matthew
15:32-39) and because of the miracles and the bread they ate many were
attracted to Him and followed Him. But when our Lord identified Himself as the
Son of God and the very Christ, many of them rejected His claims and went away.
Then Jesus asked His disciples,
"Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?"
As you walk down the streets of
Jerusalem, as you go to the synagogue, as you go to the temple, as you go to
the market place, as you engage with your community, what do you hear people
say when they talk about me? What do people say and think and believe about me?
The answer of the disciples was not
encouraging...
14: And they said, Some
say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one
of the prophets.
After all the preaching, the
miracles, and mighty works, "Some don't believe you are the Christ. Others don't even know who you
are. Some say that Thou art John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."
But our Lord Jesus Christ was not
discouraged. He was not depressed. He was calm and confident! We will see in
this conversation with His disciples, how our Lord tried to encourage and
comfort them and then inform them of His mission.
So our Lord turn to His disciples and
asked them and what about you, whom do you say that I am?
15: He saith unto them,
But whom say ye that I am? 16: And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God.
We know that sometimes Peter speaks
without thinking and get himself into trouble, but in this instance, Peter was
right on.
17: And Jesus answered
and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath
not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
There are those who say that
Christianity in America is dying. We are becoming more and more a secular
society and churches are emptying out and they have statistics to prove it.
Others say that the Church age is
over. Church is irrelevant. They say that Christians should abandon the visible
local churches because the Spirit of God is no longer in the church.
But in this account we will see how
the Lord shows how all these teachings are false and blasphemy against the Word
of God and against Son of God.
18: And I say also unto
thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
After a not so encouraging answer
from the disciples regarding what people think and say about Jesus, our Lord
Jesus Christ gave an encouraging and confident statement....
18: ... I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
I love this statement from our Lord?
Because I can sense confidence, strength and certainty in these words. This
statement is what gave me confidence and still is, as we set out to plant GTBBC
here in Murrieta. This verse is my confidence, my mission, my goal, and my
prayer.
I am asking our Lord to do it. I am
asking Him to do for people what I cannot do. I cannot save anybody. I cannot
grow anybody. I cannot establish a church.
These words of Jesus Christ are
tremendous words of comfort and encouragement. To those who love the church and
know what the church represents on earth and who are aware of all that is
against it, we need to hear these words of Jesus.
I - What is Christ's
Mission?
18: ... I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Christ declares Peter and the other
disciples what is the heart of His mission. We know the reason why He came into
the world is to seek and to save the wandering lost sheep. But here, He tells
Peter that His intention is not for these saved sheep to live isolated lives.
His purpose for searching them out and saving them, is that they will be drawn
close to Himself and that they would be drawn close to one another, bounded
together in this amazing community called the Church. His plan after they are
saved is to gather them and to bring them into a community of believers called
the Church where He could shepherd them.
This reminds me of the Psalm 23,
where David said, The Lord is my shepherd ...
I am a sheep I need a shepherd.
The Lord who made us knows that. He
knows that we cannot live our lives as Christians in isolation. We need to be
part of the assembly of believers called the Church, where we could be
constantly be nourished, instructed, encouraged,
rebuked and corrected when we drift away, comforted when we are in the midst of dark valley.
II - Who owns the
Church?
18: ... I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
I love it. He did not say I am going
to build your church, nor did He say, I will help you build your church. No! I
will build My church!
It is Christ's church. It is His
sheep. It is His lambs. It belongs to Him. It is His idea. It is His plan. It
is His purpose. It is His authority.
In the Old Testament, when Solomon
built the Temple, the first thing he did was to obtain from God, directions how
to build the Temple. Solomon maybe exceeding wise, but he was not wise enough
to come up with the blueprint and plan how to build the Temple. He must obtain
the pattern and plan from God as Moses did when he build the Tabernacle in the
wilderness.
We, like Solomon must carry out,
implement those plans. We are not to tamper or rewrite the plans nor redraw the
blueprints.
III - Where is Christ
Going to Build His Church?
18: ... I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Christ will build His church in the
midst of Satan's domain. He will build it right in the middle of Satan's
territory.
He will gather a people who have been
captives of Satan. Christ will rescue the captives of Satan in Satan's
territory and then build His church in the midst of the enemy's territory.
IV - Who is going to
stop Him?
18: ... I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Christ will build His church right at
the center where Satan holds his captives and nobody is stopping Christ. He is
not asking for permission. He is going to build His church and even the gates
of hell is not stopping Him.
Our Lord did not say the gates of
Heaven will not prevail against the power and forces of Satan. It is not Satan
that is on the offensive but the Church is. The gates of Hell will not prevail
against the attack of Christ's church. That is what the Church is called to do.
Christ's did not call us just to survive. We are not just trying to hold the fort. We are not just to sit on the
premises. We
are deployed. We are to move on. We are to advance. That's what mission is. It
is the advancement of Christ's church in the power of Christ's name and for His
glory.
We are to take the Gospel on the
offensive and we are to attack the gates of Hell with confidence that the
Gospel will prevail. People will be saved. Satan will be frustrated.
It is time to get into the offensive.
Go forward! March into the stronghold.
Christ is building His church for His
name's sake. Hell will try to stop Him but even hell will fail because He is
God and there is no other.
Hell and the Devil will fail, not
because of you and me but because of Jesus Christ. Because of the power that raised
Him up from the dead is in us.
Therefore Church do not be afraid or
do not be dismayed by reason of that great enemy, for the battle is not yours
but the Lord's.
The Church is not going away
Religion may be dying but the church
is not dying. The church is alive. The church will continue to exist as long as
God is God.
As long as Jesus Christ is alive the
church is not going away. As long as He has the power and authority both in
heaven and on earth.
V - How is Christ going
to build His church?
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. 19: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20: Teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world. Amen.
So if Christ owns the Church and He
is the Builder then we don't have to do anything, right? Wrong! It is true that Jesus is the owner of the Church, He
is the builder of the church but in these passages He talks to the disciples
about their part in this great work of building the Church. We get to be part
in that great work that Jesus had been doing for 2000+ years. We are co-laborers with Him as He
builds His church.
This is an amazing thing because,
just think who we are and what we were!
Psalm 8:1 O LORD our
Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above
the heavens. 2: Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained
strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the
avenger.
We were formerly captives of Satan
but now rescued from Satan's domain. We used to walk in darkness but are now we
walk in the light. We were once blind but now we see. We who once lived for
solely themselves but now counted not their lives dear unto themselves. Those
who knew not the Lord but now knows and loves the Lord.
19: 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.
VI - Closing thoughts
Time is short. A time is coming where
no man can work. But time is not yet up! God is still working. God still has
mission. And He is inviting us to be part of that mission. God has honored us
by inviting us to be a part of what He is trying to do on this earth.
The Gospel is to be proclaimed while
it is day because the night is coming where no man can work. So it is time for
us to be about what God had commission us to do.
"I will build My church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
That is our confidence. Let us labor,
then, dependently and faithfully. Let us stick close to the church in our
lives.
Stick close to the church. Center
your life in the church. Insist upon the preaching of the truth. Cherish the
church. Give yourself for the church. Christ died for the church. The church is
precious to Christ.
Psalms 92:12 The
righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. 13: Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in
the courts of our God. 14: They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they
shall be fat and flourishing; 15: To shew that the Lord is upright: he is my
rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
The church is where Christ manifest
His glory and presence. It is the pillar of truth. It is where He blesses His
people.
It is not enough that we say we love
the gospel and we love Jesus but we must demonstrate our love for Jesus by engagement
in a local church. The local church is what God is doing during this time. And
we love Him by loving His flock even if His flock is flawed and we know it will
be. But there is coming a day that Christ will present His Bride the Church,
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26: That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27: That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.