The Confession
Notes
Transcript
I want you to think about confession for a moment. What is confession exactly? It is an admission, especially of guilt or sin. Confession is also a statement of religious belief. When you confess it means that you either agree or promise or you admit to something.
When you look in the bible there are two types of confession that occurs. First, there is the type of confession that most if not all of us have done at least once possibly more in our lifetime and that is confessing that we have sinned and therefore are guilty before God, often confessing a particular sin.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
In this type of confession we agree or acknowledge that we have broken God’s Law. We confess that we justly deserve our punishment. We confess that we have not lived up to God’s standard of holiness.
In the Old Testament the high priest would confess the sins of the whole nation. The nation of Israel was expected to confess when it had rebelled against the Law of God. Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah confessed their nation’s sins, agreeing with God that His punishment of the people was just, yet praying for God’s mercy and deliverance.
Second, individuals confess that God is God and that he rules the world, that He is faithful in showing His love and kindness, and that He has helped His people.
That is what our text is referring to today. If you have your Bibles go with me tot he book of Matthew, chapter 16. This passage is one of my many favorite passages in the Bible. I want to begin reading at verse 13.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
This region that they are in is located about 25 miles north of Bethsaida, on the slopes of Mount Hermon. The city lay in the territory ruled by Philip. The cities name is named after Caesar Tiberius and himself. That is where the name Caesarea Philippi. At this point it is a fairly new city. And it is at this city that Jesus asks the disciples the famous question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
We all ask questions like this. We meet someone new or we see someone in the distance and we ask those around us, “who is that?” Kelly and I go to minister’s conferences and she will ask me who people are. All of us do this.
Go to verse 14.
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
The people of that day looked at scripture and thought Jesus was one of the prophets because of what Deuteronomy 18:18
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.
Herod had thought that Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life, so apparently this rumor was widespread. The people considered him to be Elijah because Elijah had been a great prophet, and one like him was expected to come before the Messiah arrived. Jeremiah may have been considered because, according to Jewish legend, he was “immortal”, his death is not mentioned in Scripture, so, like Elijah, he did not die but was taken to heaven. As were John the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah, Jesus was obviously a spokesman for God. Everyone who heard Him understood that His message carried supernatural authority. However, all of these responses were incorrect.
Then Jesus made the question personal. Look at verse 15.
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
In other words, you guys have been walking with me for the past year or so. You guys know me or at least I hope you know so, what about you? Who do you say that I am?
And Peter the spokesman for the group speaks up in verse 16.
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Peter was saying, “Your the anointed one. You are the Messiah. you are the Christ. You are the Son of the living God. You are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You are Immanuel, God with us. You are the Good Shepherd. You are the Bread of Life. You are Yeshua our Savior.
Peter’s confession wasn’t a head knowledge. It was from his heart. He knew exactly who He was. He had walked with Him and talked with Him. He saw the miracles. He heard the teachings. It was a heart knowledge that made people give the confession. You are the Messiah. You are the Son of the Living God. You are the same yesterday today and forever. You are the 2nd person in the trinity. You are savior and Lord. That didn’t come from a thought. It came from Peter’s heart. He knew who Jesus was.
My question to you today is do you?
Do you know my Jesus? Because I do. I know Him. I’ve made Him by Lord. Have you?
After Peter’s reply, Jesus brings change to Peter’s life that day and the future of the church that was to come. Look at verse 17.
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Jesus was not declaring that he was building His church on Peter, but was saying that on the truth that Peter was confessing He was going to build His church.
In First Peter, Peter describes Jesus as the chief cornerstone.
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—
6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
The church is build upon the rock, Jesus Christ. With Jesus as our cornerstone, we have a solid foundation.
So, let’s look at the church for just a moment. Many of us think of the church as a building, a place we meet. The building is not the church. But the church is the people. The Greek word for church is ekklesia. It refers to a meeting or gathering of a people who are called our and brought together for a purpose. In the New Testament, this group is a congregation or community of God’s people.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,
We come together for worshiping and honoring God. As the church we are called out of the world and into God’s Kingdom. We the church are the temple of God and of the Holy Spirit.
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
We are the body of Christ. We are a living, spiritual organism through which Christ reveals himself and accomplishes his purposes in the world.
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
The church is the bride of Christ.
2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.
The church is a spiritual fellowship. We are a spiritual ministry. We are an army involved in spiritual conflict. We are the pillar and foundation of the truth.
15 if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
The church is both invisible and visible. The church invisible is the entire body of true followers of Christ worldwide, united by a devoted and active faith in Christ. The visible church consists of local congregations made up of faithful followers of Christ who overcome spiritual opposition and will endure to the end.
And the church is built on the solid rock of bold confession and proclamation that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the World.
And Jesus declared, “The gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Hades is the Greek name for the place of departed spirits, or the dead. This refers to Satan and his legion of demons, all the evil forces that will try to come against the church, can’t. Do you here me?
The forces of evil can not break the church that Jesus is the chief cornerstone of. Satan can not stop us from winning souls. There are people out there that are looking for answers. They are searching for answers to all their questions and trust me they are going to look for those answers somewhere.
I read an article the other day that said Generation Z is the most open generation to the church. They want to know the truth. The government isn’t going to give it to them. It’s hard getting the truth from the world, so we the church have to show them the truth. And that is by us being the church that is build on the chief cornerstone.
And Jesus ends this section by telling us that he has given us the keys of the kingdom of heaven. What does that mean? When I took this job, I was given a set of keys. My keys can open any door in this church. I have a key to my office, the main office, the outside doors, I have a key to every place in here. You could say that I have been given the keys to the kingdom, this kingdom.
Jesus is telling Peter and each of us that as believers and members of His church we have been given keys to the kingdom of Heaven. We have been given the authority to bring those that are lost into the kingdom.
We have been given the authority to speak out against sin. We have been given the authority to pray effectively for God’s purposes on earth. We have been given the authority to defeat demonic powers and set spiritual captives free. We have been give the authority to speak about God’s standard of righteousness and the upcoming judgment. We have been given the authority to proclaim the opportunity for forgiveness and spiritual salvation for anyone that turns from their sins and follow Jesus Christ as their savior and lord.
This is the authority that Christ has given you. Now it is time for us to be the church and go and do what He is giving us the authority to do.
You have a responsibility as the church to go and be the church. Each time you leave here, you are going under God’s authority to go and win the world for Jesus Christ. You are essentially a missionary of the Gospel. So go and do it. You go and make disciples like Jesus commanded us to do. You don’t have to bring them to church to disciple them. You can do it at your home. You can bring them to church too, but you don’t have to. You can do it anywhere.
But it is time that the church starts being the church that Jesus gave it the authority to be.
Let’s pray.