The Church; Its Foundation
Notes
Transcript
Intro; In our last Christian Life Study we started looking at “The Church”.
We looked at the “Universal Church”, that is the body of believers world wide. And the we looked at the “Local Church”, the body of believers in a localized area.
Both are interconnected by one Person, Jesus Christ. The church is made up of all believers in Jesus Christ from the Day of Pentecost [Acts 2] until the return of Christ. The church is the called out assembly of blood washed, born again, Spirit filled baptized believers that Jesus is currently building.
Tonight I want us to look at the first of seven specific attributes of the doctrine of the church; “Its Foundation”
Text; Mt. 16:13-18
Matthew 16:13–18 (NKJV)
When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
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.
Jesus had just been speaking with a group of Pharisees about discerning the signs of the times and their ignorance to who He was. And then Jesus told his disciples to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees”.
The word “leaven’ is almost always associated with sin, evil and hypocrisy in the NT scriptures. In this case Jesus was telling his disciples not to be fooled by the evil, hypocritical righteousness of these sinful religious leaders. They don’t represent God well at all!
1. Who is the Son of Man; 13-14
1. Who is the Son of Man; 13-14
Jesus now asked his disciples who people are saying He, the “Son of Man” is.
Son of Man- Jesus is referred to as the “Son of Man” 82 times in the New Testament. It is the name He used for himself.
It is a title that focuses on the humanity of Jesus
By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
It is a title that focuses on His humility. The Second Person of the Trinity, eternal in nature, left heaven’s glory and took on human flesh, becoming the Son of Man, born in a manger and “despised and rejected by mankind”
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
The replies of the disciples were flattering to say the least. People were identifying Jesus with the greatest prophets of Israel. His teachings were in line with all that they had taught. But as great as those prophets were, none of them could alter the destiny of man!
False professions of who Jesus is was a tragedy then and even now. To be wrong about Jesus is to be damned eternally!
2. Who Am I; 15-17
2. Who Am I; 15-17
Jesus now tests the faith of His disciples by asking them “who do you say that I am?”
Peter replied, “The Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Peter calls Jesus the “Son of God” and not the Son of Man. This is very significant.
Son of God- title of deity. Peter is equating Christ with Jehovah God. Jesus is the same nature as God. He is the Jewish Messiah, the Annointed One they have been promised and waiting for! In Him are fulfilled all the promises of God to the nation.
6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
5 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
6 In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah nor any other prophets could not bring about the promises of God. All they could do is tell about them, not fulfill them! Only Jesus, the Son of God can fulfill the promises of God!
[17] Peter did not make this profession by his own understanding, not by “flesh and blood.” A true understanding of Christ comes only from divine revelation from the Father.
John 6:44 (NKJV)
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
A person can only come to faith in Christ when He is revealed to you by the Father and through the wooing power of the Holy Spirit. Only then will you realize you are a sinner in need of His salvation!
3. The Church, Its Foundation; 18
3. The Church, Its Foundation; 18
The foundation of the church is not Peter, but Christ Jesus.
Jesus was saying that Peter was accurate in his statement about Him and that He is the foundation of His church!
16 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Let’s focus on the words spoken by Jesus in this verse;
“My church.” The church is Christ’s not man’s because He bought and paid for it with His life!
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
“I will build.” Christ builds the church, not men. Man does not have the ability to save a soul, therefore to try to build the church without Christ is just another man-made club.
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,
5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
“The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Christ Himself protects and preserves the church.
The “gates of hell” refers to death. The Greek word for hell is “hades”, the “sheol” of the Old Testament, the unseen world which refers to death.
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the foundation of the church, but faith in Christ, just as Peter confessed, is the building blocks of the church.
Close;
There’s two trains of thought I want to share in closing;
First, Who you say Jesus is will determine everything about how you follow Him. If you think Jesus was a good teacher, then you will follow Him like you would a good teacher.
If you think Jesus merely had some good ideas, then you will listen to what He says every once in while.
If you think Jesus was a good example, then you will try to follow His example.
However, if you believe that Jesus was and is the promised Messiah who came to the earth to save us from our sins, to conquer sin and death, and to reign and rule over all as Lord, then that changes everything about how you will live.
John 14:15 (NKJV)
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.
Second, It is important for us know what others say and think of Jesus as well;
• determines their destiny
• determines how we are to reach out to them
• determines their reaction to us as we witness to them
• determines to a large degree the morality and justice of our society