About this sermon
At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his disciples, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ and Peter confesses, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus says he will build his church on this rock, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Peter plays a foundational role as a leader among the apostles, preaching at Pentecost and taking the gospel to the Samaritans and Gentiles, and the church stands on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone. Christ builds his church through his death and resurrection, so even death cannot stop it.
Sermon transcript
Turn with me, not to John 13, as in the bulletin, but to Matthew 16, which is entirely a change by me, and it happened after I sent this text. because I got a sinking feeling that I had preached this here before, and I try to keep a record of what I preach in different churches, and I couldn’t find a record of it, so I decided to err on the side of caution. Somebody can enlighten me later as to whether I preached on foot washing here from John 13 later on. But we want to open up Matthew 16, especially verse 8. We’ll begin reading from verse 13 in Matthew 16. Before we read, let’s look to the Lord in prayer in hopes of gaining His help as we come to His Word. Our Heavenly Father, we are all the poor, the poor in spirit, and we have received a blessing from You, in You, Lord Jesus, as we look to You and as we trust in You and find a way in this fallen world, the way of salvation, A way of life.
And this is all because of your finished work, of your life, of your death, of your glorious resurrection. That we’re able to triumph over the wages of sin. and to have eternal life, which we enjoy to some respect now and we look forward to in the coming glory of the resurrection life we have in Jesus Christ. Something we enjoy not simply as individuals, but as the Church of Christ. So we rejoice on this Lord’s Day that we can come together to worship You with one heart and mind, and to know the sweetness of being together as those who need each other in the body of Christ. Be with us now as we open Your Word. We pray, Holy Spirit, that You would illumine our hearts We pray that we will be directed in the way of truth, and that even in some small way, You will change us.
As we, part of the Bride of Christ, are being prepared, being sanctified by You, Lord Jesus, as You would present to Yourself a glorious Church full of splendor. without spot or wrinkle washed in your blood. We pray all of this in your name, Amen. Matthew 16, beginning in verse 13. Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, some say John the Baptist and others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon, or Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
And I also say to you that you are Peter, And upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And He warned His disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ. From that time, Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to you! But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan!
You are a stumbling block to me. For you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s. This is the Word of God. Suppose I were to ask you earlier this week, this past week, will I see you? in church this coming Lord’s Day.” It was my understanding the Yonches weren’t going to be here, which I always enjoy seeing them. And if I had asked them earlier in the week, will I see you in church this coming Lord’s Day? No, you will not, would have been the reply. And of course, we know when we say, yes, I’ll be there. No, I won’t. that we recognize as Reformed believers that God is sovereign over everything that we plan, and we ought to have the idea, well, whether we say it verbally or not, if the Lord is willing, I’ll be there.
And we often say that, and that’s fine. Sometimes it can be used in a very trite way, but it’s fine to keep that idea in our head and to say, Lord willing, I will be there. Because we know that we have no control over what is going to happen in that day. Remember, as James said to those merchants, he said, we’re going to go to this town or that town, and we’re going to stay there for a year, and we’re going to buy and sell, and we’re going to make a profit. And he tries to reason with them, and he says, look, you have no idea what is going to happen even in the coming day. What is your life? It’s a vapor. It appears for a little while, and then it’s gone. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall do this or that.
And we recognize that. But we know when we come to God’s Word and He says, I will do this or I will do that, He is the Lord willing it. And it will take place. It will happen. It will come to pass. His promises are certain. And so when we come to Matthew 16, 18, and Jesus says, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it, we know it will happen. We know nothing can stop it. That’s what I want us to focus on today, this promise, the certainty of it, to encourage us as the people of God, to encourage this church as part of the body of Christ. Let’s take hope in the certainty of the promise that Jesus will build His church to its completion. Let’s look at this passage as we do that.
As we take hope in the promise that Jesus will build His church to its completion. Jesus asks. We know the background of this. I’m sure a familiar passage to all of you. asking about who the people say that He is. And there were these various answers. You know, some people say, you’re John the Baptist, and others, Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. Well, what about you? He says to His immediate group of disciples. Who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter, and this is going to come into play as we discuss this text in just a little bit, verse 18. He steps forward as he often does. Quick to speak, Peter was. Sometimes getting things right, sometimes getting them wrong, sometimes making commitments without really thinking them through. And we see twice in this passage.
One time he gets it right, and one time he gets it wrong. And he says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are, as Matthew in a very strong way writes to a Jewish audience to verify that Jesus was the promised Messiah to deliver his people, even though they had quite a bit of misunderstanding about that, which Peter obviously does. Jesus, you are the Messiah. You’re not just a prophet. like John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah. You are the Messiah, the sent one of God. He gets it right. And Jesus pronounces a blessing upon him. Simon, you’re blessed. This confession of yours didn’t come from you. It’s been revealed by my Father, but even so, as it’s your confession, you are blessed, as the Father has revealed this to you.” He spoke the truth.
He gets it messed up later, and we’ll talk about that. As he discusses the fact that this confession has been revealed by the Heavenly Father, he goes on to say, and I also say to you, you are Peter. And upon this rock, I will build my church. Now, you pull a bunch of commentaries off the shelf on the Gospel of Matthew, you will see there are different ways of understanding this development. Here you are, Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. Who or what is the rock? And of course, the Roman Catholic Church makes it very clear in their understanding of the passage. Well, Jesus is clearly saying as he uses a play on words for Peter that Peter is the rock, and Jesus is going to build His church on Peter, and this is a manifestation that Peter is the first pope.
Without getting into all the supposed evidence they present for that, that’s their understanding. Could this passage hold up this idea of Peter being the first pope historically? It hasn’t. The evidence just simply isn’t there. And the reformers as they come along, Martin Luther as an example, respond to this. idea of Peter being the first pope as taught in this passage and clearly rejected. And very prevalent is the idea that when he says, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, there are two different Greek words used. Petros and Petra. Peter, Petros, rock, Petra. They’re different words and they mean different things. Petra is a stone or a ledge, a piece of rock. And Petra is a massive rock. And as a result, this massive rock of which Jesus speaks here must refer to Christ.
Well, is that idea present in Scripture? Yes. You go through the Psalms, you’ll see several instances of God being called a rock. Just as David, for example, in Psalm 19 says, May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10, as he speaks about the Israelites in the wilderness, says that the people in the wilderness, in the Exodus, drank from the rock, and he says that spiritual rock, the rock was Christ. So that’s the idea. And others will say, another major interpretation of this passage, well, the rock speaks of Peter’s confession. As the pronouncement is made that this confession of Peter’s brings about a blessing because it’s revealed by the Heavenly Father, it must refer to his confession.
And in both of those ideas, there’s something greater than Peter himself. How are we to understand this? Well, we understand this first in having some sympathy for what happened during the time of the Reformation when the legitimacy of the papal office was being rejected because it just didn’t hold weight with the Scripture and how they would react to this text. But we say, and I’ll talk about it just a little bit, without saying we’re getting this from the Roman Catholic Church, we say that the simplest way to understand this passage is that Jesus is using a play on words. And when He says, You are Peter, which signifies rock, and on this rock I will build my church, he’s speaking about Peter. But that doesn’t mean we have to give way to the idea of the papacy.
And we’re helped to understand this, not just from the context itself, but the easiest way to understand this is Jesus is using a play on words. But it’s also possible, as it is behind this, the language of Aramaic, which Jesus may have been speaking at this point, that the word for rock in Aramaic, which we get, and you know Peter at times called Cephas, there is an Aramaic word, kepha, which is used, it would have been used twice in this sentence, the same exact word would have been used. Clearly, Jesus is referring to Peter. Does this play out as we see the New Testament unfold? Yes, just very quickly, a couple of evidences for this. After Jesus rises from the dead, in John 21, He pulls Peter apart from all the other disciples. Remember, Peter denied Jesus three times in John 21.
He’s restored. Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Peter eventually gets frustrated, but he’s restored in a formal way. And Jesus says, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. Peter is pulled aside apart from all the other disciples in a lead way. When the list of the disciples occurs in Matthew 10, We, or the apostles, we read first Matthew 10 to Peter, and then the other ones are listed. It’s as though Peter is given a lead role. When the church receives its formal birth, not that its roots didn’t extend all the way back into the Old Testament, but when the church receives its formal birth in the Book of Acts, when the Spirit is poured out at Pentecost in fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel in Joel chapter 2, And Peter is the one who had already stood up as the spokesman for the apostles, who preaches, and thousands are converted, and the church is formally established.
It’s Peter who first takes the gospel to the Samaritans, the mixed Jews. It’s Peter that we see in the book of Acts, who first expresses this great openness to the Gentiles, and how the gospel comes to them. Clearly, Peter plays a foundational lead role, not above the other apostles, but a leader among them. So when we come to Ephesians 2.20 and we read about the church being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, The foundation is the apostles and New Testament prophets. Peter’s not above them. The cornerstone is Jesus Christ, we see in that passage, as Peter makes it very clear in 1 Peter 2 that Jesus is the stone of stumbling, and Christians are like living stones. Peter is one among many who has a lead role. So when Jesus says, you are Peter, which signifies rock, and on this rock I will build my church, he’s not somehow establishing the papacy where the Peter has authority over all the other apostles.
But the Peter has a lead role. That’s the simplest way to understand this. And then he says, I will, in the future, build my church. Jesus dies. Well, he predicts it later on. In verse 21, he shows us this. I’m going to die, I’m going to suffer, I’m going to die, and I’m going to rise again from the dead. And, of course, we know that he ascends up into heaven. Pentecost in Acts 2 occurs after Jesus has ascended up into heaven. How can Jesus fulfill the promise to build His Church if He’s not there bodily? Through the Holy Spirit, of course. And that’s what we see in the book of Acts, as the Spirit is poured out and the Church of Jesus Christ is established. The Spirit, not the Pope. The Holy Spirit is the Vicar of Christ.
The Puritans were famous for saying that, like John Owen. The Holy Spirit is the Vicar of Christ. If you’ve never heard that word, V-I-C-A-R, it’s one who comes in the place of someone else. The Pope does not have that role, but the Holy Spirit does. How in the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles, which is really the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles, how is the church built? Through the work of the Spirit in God’s people. Jesus fulfills His promise. And so it’s no wonder that we see in 1 Corinthians 15 as Jesus is referred to as the last Adam. He’s called a life-giving spirit. Or in 2 Corinthians 3, we read the Lord, speaking of Jesus, is that spirit. Not that somehow Jesus turns into the spirit, but that their work is so closely related that the mention of one is the mention of the other.
And so the Holy Spirit comes in the place of Christ to fulfill His work. And as we see in the Gospel of John, He promises that He will not leave His disciples comfortless. He will come again. And in that context, He’s speaking of coming through the Holy Spirit to do His work. That Comforter who would come. That One who would guide the disciples in the way of truth. He will build His church. There’s only one other place in the New Testament that Jesus uses the word church. It’s in the context of discipline. Two chapters from now in Matthew 18. And some people will say, well, Jesus clearly could not be speaking about the church the way Paul would later in his letters. He’s just speaking about the assembly of the people. My answer to that is, why couldn’t he?
Clearly, Jesus knew about the church of which Paul spoke. For example, in Ephesians 5, the greater body of Christ throughout the entire world is bride that he would prepare and sanctify to present to himself in all of its glorious splendor. Why couldn’t he know? As he looks ahead to what would take place in the rest of the New Testament times. Of course he knew. And He promises now, before He dies, He will build it. I mention that because it helps us to understand what He says next. And I like the way the New American Standard words it because it captures the idea. I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. Many translations say, the gates of hell, which has led people to understand this as hell. Jesus is going to overcome hell, and hell cannot stop Him from building its church, the state of torment and eternal damnation.
Is that true? Yes, of course it is. Is that taught here? No, more than likely not. And the idea of the gates of Hades, which refers to the realm of the dead, is what Jesus is speaking of, as if to say, the very powers of death will not keep me from building my church. And why do I say that? Well, because Hades is more than usually in its context, referring simply to the realm of the dead or death. Second, after Jesus shares these things, in verse 21, he starts to tell his disciples, by the way, I’m going to suffer and I’m going to die. And then I’m going to rise again from the dead on the third day.” Well, Peter had made his confession. You’re the Christ! The Son of the living God. Now he gets upset.
Because this is not the type of Messiah that the disciples were looking for in their understanding. They’re looking for the Messiah Jesus would become at His second coming riding in on a white horse to conquer all of His enemies. failing to understand that the way to conquer for Jesus was through suffering and dying. And Peter says, No, Lord! This will not happen to you! You’re not going to die! You’re the Messiah! And of course, Jesus rebukes him, Get behind me, Satan! Whether he was speaking directly to Satan or Peter, you know, there’s this debate. It doesn’t matter. Jesus makes it very clear. This idea that he would not die is of men, not of God. He knew very well. Jesus had to die for sinners to conquer the power of death. and death could not hold him because he never sinned.
He had to rise from the dead. And once he did, he won the victory over death. And so the death itself cannot keep him from building his church. That’s what he’s referring to. Now, you think of this image of gates. And we often don’t think about it. When I go through this passage, even with seminary students, they’re not thinking of this idea. We just don’t really think about it. We have this idea in our head of gates moving towards the church and Jesus, trying to keep it from doing something. But how do we understand gates? Gates are stationary. They either keep something out or they hold something in, right? They don’t move. Well, that’s the idea here. And the best way to understand this, and speaking of the realm of the dead, it refers to the gates that are holding the dead.
Keeping them in. Keeping them from life. So how are we to understand this image? And once you do, it’s glorious. Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Those gates of death. cannot hold back the building of the church because Jesus rose from the dead and the church tramples those gates. Because Jesus has given life, resurrection life, eternal life, and nothing Great hope there is in that. Nothing will keep Jesus from building His church. He will do it. And of course, He’s speaking of the greater body of Christ. Nothing can stop Him. Paul. It makes it clear as it refers to individual Christians within the context of the church in Romans 8. Such a powerful passage. As he runs through a list of heights and depths and anything, nothing, he says in Romans 8.39, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
Nothing can keep Him from what He is going to do. He will build His church. What a great blessing there is to know that. I know there have been struggles here in this church, Grace OPC. This promise is not a promise for Grace OPC directly, as if to say, this church will always be here. That’s not what the promise applies to. I know there’s uncertainty in your future here. There are concerns with what’s going to happen to this congregation. And they’re legitimate. What encouragement can you draw from this that nothing can stop Jesus from building His greater church? To recognize this, what I told Westminster, OPC, and Wember when we were dissolving, and it broke my heart to do it. There is something greater beyond this congregation. As I said to the families on our last Lord’s Day, we’re all going our separate ways now.
But we’re a part of something much greater than this congregation. We are a part of the greater church of Jesus Christ, his body, which is manifested here locally. But we’re a part of that. And if it should be like Westminster, that that would ever happen here, And I don’t know that and I don’t want that. I want this church to always be here. For it to flourish and for people to be added and for a reformed witness to go forward into this community and through Pittsburgh and beyond. But if that should take place, if the dissolve should occur. Take heart. There’s something greater going on as families who have been under the ministry of God’s Word are here and have been blessed and have been a part of Jesus preparing and sanctifying His church in its glorious splendor. you can go forth to be used of Him.
A part of that great building. And here’s the blessing. He is the one building the church. But He uses us. He uses a Peter who denies Him three times to the point of saying, I never knew the man. He uses us as His means. As we see in the book of Acts, to take forth His Word, to perform through the work of the Spirit, to perform this building. What a blessing that we would be considered a part of this. How wonderful is that? We can rejoice in that. We can take hope in that. Remembering. An encouragement. First of all, it does not depend on us. And as the case here for Grace OPC. Do you know what? Whether this congregation continues and is sustained and flourished, which I hope by God’s grace it will be, it doesn’t depend on you.
It depends on Christ. But then the moment I say that’s an encouragement, I also say, be warned! It does not depend on you. In other words, should you be sustained and flourished, that’s no reason to pat yourself on the back like a Nebuchadnezzar and say, look at all the great things we have done. It is by His grace alone that it has occurred. So we’re to be encouraged and warned at the same time in that recognition. It depends on the one who builds the church through His Holy Spirit. But we can rejoice. We’re a part of that mass of people. You ever hear the term, gate crashers, like you got hundreds of people at a concert or a sporting event and they crash the gate. You got this mass of people coming in and the fence gets toppled over.
They say about when that happens about 40 percent of the people get in and 60 percent get kicked out or arrested. Sometimes people lose their lives with that. We are a part of the most glorious gate crashing that has ever occurred. The gates of death will be crashed. We’re not trying to get in. We’re getting out to life. And none of us will be lost. Because of the promise of Jesus, I will build my church. Let us take up in that. Let’s pray. Our Father, we thank You. We thank you for this glorious truth that Jesus will build his church. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that through your death and resurrection, this has been made certain that we’re a part of it and you use us. Holy Spirit, you work in our hearts. You work in us to bring this about.
We pray for this flock here. as a part of something greater, that You will sustain them. You will cause them to prosper. That You will bring Your man to this pulpit to lead these people alongside Pastor Knox. You will do a great work here. Your Word will go forth into this community. beyond in the greater Pittsburgh area and beyond that. You will do a great work by Your grace. And we will take great hope in the certainty of this promise that You will build Your church. Even death itself cannot keep it from happening. And we can rejoice in it. We pray it all in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
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