Now let's open our Bibles together to the Gospel of Matthew and the 16th chapter. Our theme today is, Who do you say that I am? Hundreds of millions of people have celebrated the Christmas holiday. It's sad to say most of them have probably done so in ignorance, not understanding the person of the babe in the manger.
My son's kindergarten class put on a Christmas program this last week, and in the program there was only one song actually that dealt with the religious aspect of Christmas, and it was entitled, Mary Had a Baby. In fact, the baby was not even named.
It is perhaps ironic that in a time when more people than ever before in history are participating in Christmas celebrations, most of them would likely answer the question in the Christmas Carol, who is this in yonder stall, by simply stating, I'm really not sure. The question as to the true identity of this one whose birth we have remembered is one which he himself posed to his own disciples on an occasion. That is found in our text in 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, but 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, Bar Jonah, Son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father who is in heaven. And I 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.
You will notice that even in that day there was a difference of opinion among the multitudes as to the identity of the Son of Man, Jesus there by that title referring to himself. There were some who were of the opinion that he was John the Baptist raised from the dead, for Herod had slain him by this point. They thought that he was resurrected and was ministering once more, that in fact seemed to be Herod's opinion. There were others who said, No, this is actually Elijah.
Look at the miracles that he does. Still others said, I believe that he is Jeremiah, but consider the compassionate heart, the tears that he sheds. He must be Jeremiah. Others had varying opinions that he was one or another of their prophets of old. Likewise today there are various opinions as to the identity of this babe in the manger. Some would say, Well, to me he became a great prophet. Others would say, To me he is a wonderful moral example to follow in my life.
Others who are more plugged into current kinds of things would say, Well, to me he is a man in whom the God consciousness has been fully developed. When you come right down to it though, it is not so important as to who people think Jesus is. The important thing is, Who is he in truth? Jesus asked his disciples, Who do you say that I am? Peter responded for the rest of them, which was not uncommon. And he said, You are the Christ. Using that term he was drawing upon an Old Testament picture.
You are the Messiah, he was saying. Now that was not the first time that thought had come to Peter. In fact when he was introduced to Jesus by his brother, his brother said to him, This is the Messiah. So this was not an uncommon thought to Peter. It had undoubtedly been in his mind for these months and years that he had followed Jesus. But you see he was looking at Messiah the way most of the people were looking at Messiah in that day.
Messiah was to come as a political deliverer from the oppression of Rome. They saw nothing particularly supernatural about him, but he was to be their deliverer, their rescuer politically. This is the Messiah. And yet as he performed his miracles, even his disciples had to respond on occasion, what manner of man is this? That even the wind and the sea obey him. They did not fully understand at that point who he was.
And now after this time with them, Jesus turns to them as a group and says, Who am I? Who do you say that I am? And now with conviction, now with understanding, Peter says on behalf of them all, You are the Christ, but you didn't stop there. You said the Son of the living God. You see he understood now Messiah was more than a political deliverer. In fact Messiah was deity. For Peter's response was an assertion of the deity of Jesus Christ.
You are the full expression, he is saying, of the living God in humanity. Notice that Jesus did not rebuke him. Rather Jesus accepted Peter's response because his answer was correct. What we are looking at here in this response is essential truth. One cannot claim to be a biblical Christian and to deny what Jesus accepts here about himself, that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God. To the Jews of old the Christ would come to fulfill three offices.
He would come as prophet, the one who would reveal God. He would come as priest, the one who would represent man before God. He would come as king, the one who would rule over the nation and over the earth. Jesus Christ accepted that title, Messiah, the Son of the living God. That is essential truth for one to be called a biblical Christian. If you know that truth, you know more than most people who are in the world today. Our text reveals several facts about this truth of who Jesus is.
The first fact is this. This truth, that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, is the source of joy. This truth, my friend, is the source of joy. After saying what he did to Peter, and then Peter's response, Jesus then answers Peter with these words in verse 17, blessed, blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. The word blessed means happy or fulfilled. It is not happiness based upon pleasant circumstances. But rather it is an untouchable, inner state of being.
It embraces the thoughts of peace, contentment, and joy. Jesus says to Peter, blessed are you, Peter, joyful and contented are you, because of this truth that you have understood. This term, blessed, is one that is in fact used of God himself. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, says the Scriptures. Therefore anyone who is blessed has to be in right relationship to the eternal blessed God.
The truth of who Jesus Christ is, is the source of this blessedness and this joy. One cannot be fooled with joy and be ignorant of the fact, the truth, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. There is no blessedness apart from that truth. Peter understood it. He was rightly related to God because of this truth and he is blessed, he is joyful. Knowing who Jesus is becomes then the portal to salvation. One must have that understanding in order to be saved.
One must know who Jesus Christ is in order to believe on him for the salvation of his soul and once he has extended that faith to the Christ, the Son of the living God, he then can truly be said to be blessed. Not only is this truth the source of joy, but secondly this truth is a gift of grace. The knowledge of who Jesus is was not apprehended by Peter using his human intelligence, but was rather the result of God's enlightenment as Peter watched and heard what Jesus said and did.
God revealed this to Peter. Jesus said flesh and blood did not expose this truth to you Peter, but my Father who is in heaven, this is a work of God in Peter's heart that he came to understand who Jesus is. Remember the Pharisees and Sadducees saw some of the same things, heard some of the same things as Peter and the disciples, but they did not believe. They did not accept him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter did. It is the gift of the grace of God that he did.
Turn back with me a couple of pages in Matthew to chapter 11 and look at these words of our Lord in verse 25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I praise thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou dost hide these things from the wise and intelligent and disreveal them to babes. What are these things that Jesus speaks about? What are the things about who he is as the king, the things about the kingdom that he came to offer the Jewish people?
He says, I thank you God that you hid these things from the wise and intelligent, but you reveal them to babes. Does that seem like strange language to you? He goes on to say, yes Father, for thus it was well pleasing and dyesight. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him. As the Son revealed the Father, so the Father revealed the Son.
And that revelation is given not on the basis of human merit and worth, but on the basis of divine favor. To reveal to some, to conceal from others is the prerogative of the sovereign God, the Lord of heaven and earth. And when God reveals his Son to some and conceals his Son from others, that is always done with perfect justice. God is never unjust, he is never unfair, but always with perfect justice. He reveals and he conceals. Now from whom does God conceal this truth?
Well, Jesus says it is the wise and intelligent that has nothing to do with IQ. Jesus is referring here to those who were self-sufficient, self-wise, those who had no real need of him in their opinion, those who were wise in their own eyes. He's talking primarily in the context here of the religious leaders of that day who had no use for him, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and others. The truth of who he was was therefore concealed from them. But to babes, it was revealed, who are the babes?
Well, this has nothing to do with one's age or one's maturity level, but rather it has to do with those who are dependents, those who are receptive to being taught, those who have childlike faith to believe, to those the Father is pleased to reveal the person of his Son.
If you today understand the truth that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, please understand that that knowledge came to you not because you are so clever, nor because somehow you are worthy of having that knowledge for millions died without it, but you have that knowledge because of the grace of God who has revealed that truth to you. You know it as a gift from God. This truth is the source of joy.
This truth is a gift of grace and anytime anyone comes to understand that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that is a gift, my friend, a gift of grace. The third fact that I see here regarding this truth is that it is the foundation of the church. Jesus here uses the term church for the very first time. It is not used with its full meaning as we use it today. It was used here in a very simple, undeveloped sense. But nonetheless, our Lord says, I will build my church on this rock.
We'll talk about that in a moment. Notice that he puts that in the future. I will build. Signifying the fact that he was not then building the church. He does not say, upon this rock I am building my church. He is saying I will build my church. Why? Because at the time that he was speaking these words, he was still in his program with Israel, still dealing with Israel, still offering to Israel the kingdom. But eventually at his crucifixion, Israel rejected that kingdom.
And they were set in a shelf for this time, set aside in the sovereign purpose of God. And on the day of Pentecost, Jesus Christ began to build the church that here he predicts. And he is building it yet today, folks, with living stones, people like you and me who believe on him, who come by grace to an understanding of who he is and what he has done for us. Today he is building his church. But then he said, I will build my church. And notice it is his church, his unique congregation.
It is a church he has purpose to build. And let me tell you that all in heaven, earth or in hell cannot keep him from that purpose. He will one day consummate the construction of his church. He will do it. He says, I will build my church. But notice that he says, I will build my church on this rock. Jesus says, and I say to you that you are Peter. And upon this rock, I will build my church. Jesus was not here naming Peter for the first time, not at all.
In fact, the first time he met him, he used that term of him. When Jesus spoke these words, he was probably speaking Aramaic. And so when he said it, it came out this way, and I say to you that you are Cephas, and upon this Cephas, I will build my church. However, when the Holy Spirit tells us to record those words of our Lord, he tells us to record them in the Greek language which Matthew used. And these words are recorded inerently.
They are recorded just the way that God wanted them to be recorded by inspiration. So that when these words are written now in the Greek language, this is the way God wants us to hear them. And I say to you that you are Petros. And upon this Petra, I will build my church. There is a play on words that the Holy Spirit built into that statement. There is a purpose for that. We will get to it. He says you are Petros. You are Peter. Not an uncommon name. You are the Rockman. That is what it means.
Peter was probably a macho kind of person, a rough fisherman. You are Petros. The word Petros refers to a stone, the kind of a stone you can pick up and throw. But then Jesus says, and upon this Petra, changing the word to a feminine form, upon this Petra, I will build my church. Here it does not refer to a stone, but the word Petra refers to a massive rock, a layer of rock, such as you would use for the foundation of a large building.
And so Jesus is saying here, upon this massive rock, not Petros, Peter, but upon this Petra, this massive foundation, I will build my church. Now what did Jesus have in mind? Well, good Bible teachers have a difference of opinion here, but it seems to me that the best explanation in the context is that he is talking about the truth that Peter has just spoken. He is saying, upon this truth that I am the Christ, the Son of the living God, I will build my church.
Do not Paul say something almost the same in 1 Corinthians 311? And no other foundation can any man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And so I say to you that this truth, that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, is the foundation of the church. The church is founded upon the truth of his person, who he is. And he goes on to say, the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.
The King James Version put it, the gates of hell shall not overcome it, leading some to think that it's talking here about Satan and his armies attacking the church and being unable to overcome the church. Now certainly Satan is attacking the church and he is unable to overcome the church, however that is not what this verse is saying. The term here is not hell, in our sense of that term, the place of suffering. That's the term Hades, Hades, which refers to the place of the dead or to death.
So Jesus is saying, I will build my church and the gates of death shall not overcome it. But what does he mean by that? I think he answers the question in verse 21. Matthew was on to record, 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. Jesus was just now beginning to tell his disciples that he was going to die.
Then part of his prophecy that he was going to build the church, Jesus wanted his disciples to understand from the very first word of the church that death, his own death, would not keep him from his purpose. That in fact he would go through the gates of death and on the third day he would come back through those gates victorious. He would conquer death and as death's conqueror would go on to build his church. And today he is seeing Revelation 118 holding the keys to death and Hades.
He was its master and its conqueror and as such he builds his church and he has for 2,000 years. And those generations that have preceded ours likewise have marched through the gates of death. Now there are enemies of the gospel in the world who think that that ends it. If you can just kill the Christians, send them through the gates of Hades, that's the end of the church.
Not so, because you see one day every single believer who has gone through those gates like the Savior is going to come back out those gates resurrected and glorified like the Savior himself. And one day our Lord is going together together our believers in this age at one place at one time and the church will be consummated despite the gates of Hades. The gates of Hades will not overcome the church that is founded upon this truth that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the living God.
And now there is another important truth that we want to look at in our text. Another fact whether about this truth, this truth is the source of joy, this truth is the gift of grace, this truth is the foundation of the church, and finally this truth is for all people without distinction. It is for all people. He is the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, but his saving work is not for the Jews only, beloved, it is for the whole world.
He was the crucified risen Messiah, with redeemed people from every tribe, people and nation upon the earth. It is a truth for all people. Say, where do you see that here, what he says to Peter? Verse 19, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now that verse has been an interesting one through centuries, let me tell you.
Is Jesus here talking about priestly absolution from sins? Does a priest have the authority to forgive sins? According to the Bible, God alone can forgive sins. That's not what he's talking about here. Did Jesus give to Peter the authority to be his successor, and do then be followed with the succession of men who would stand as pope over the church, who had the keys to the kingdom of heaven? Is that what he's saying? No, not at all.
Does Peter stand before the pearly gates to let people into heaven like some of the jokes that are usually poor in taste? Say, is that what Peter is doing? Because he has the keys to the kingdom of heaven? Is it that heaven? What is the kingdom of heaven? You have to look out in the context of Matthew. The kingdom of heaven in Matthew simply means the rule of the heavens over the earth. See, the Jewish people on that day, Jesus offered the kingdom of heaven. Is it the hand, he said?
And had the Jewish people believed on him, the kingdom would have come, but they didn't. Is the kingdom then non-existent today? No. Matthew tells us in the 13th chapter that the kingdom of heaven in this age takes on a different form. It's not an outward kingdom. It is not a political kingdom. It is an inner kingdom, a spiritual kingdom, over the hearts of men and women. It is in a mystery form, a hidden form, in this age.
Another way to put it is the kingdom of heaven is the sphere of Christian profession. And when Peter was given the keys, what it means was he was given the authority to unlock to people, the sphere to believe in Christ, to professing in him. It was the authority to open the door. The keys are not used to lock the door, to shut people out, to exclude them. But the keys are used to open the doors, to make the way open. Peter and all of the disciples were to exercise that authority.
In verse 19, I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, this plural. I will give you, he says, as a group. But in a special sense to Peter as the leader of leaders, he is giving the authority to do this. Now, did Peter ever do it? What is he talking about? From our perspective, having the history of the early church, we can go back to the book of Acts and see exactly how Peter used these keys.
For example, in Acts chapter 2, Peter employed these keys, as it were, when he stood before the Jewish people there at the temple and he proclaimed to them their Christ whom they had crucified, whom God raised from the dead. He proclaims Christ to them and opens the door to the Jewish people, the sphere to Christian profession that they might believe on their Christ.
And many did believe on him that day, on that first day of the church when Jesus began to build it and they were added into the church. And then you turn over a few pages to Acts chapter 8 and Philip goes down to, or goes to Samaria and he preaches the gospel. And Peter, in a delegation from Jerusalem arrived. And Peter then explains to them again the gospel and they believe and the Holy Spirit comes upon them. What's happening here?
The door is being opened now to half-breed, geo- Gentile, the Samaritans. The door is open to another group, you see, by Peter coming and proclaiming the gospel to them. The Holy Spirit comes upon them. They are incorporated into the church. And you flip over a couple of more pages to chapter 10 of Acts. You come to a Gentile, a God-fearing Gentile, but a Gentile. And he prays to God and God says, Cornelius, you send a Joppa and you ask for Peter. And tell him to come.
And so he sent a delegation and while the delegation was on the way, God was preparing Peter this terribly prejudice Jew. Through a vision, God explained to Peter that he was not to call Gentiles unclean anymore. And Peter was pondering what that vision meant when there was an octador and he was summoned by the people from Cornelius' house and he went to Caesarea to where Cornelius lived. And he began to praise to Cornelius now a Gentile, the first Gentile to hear.
He proclaimed to Gentile, to this Gentile, the gospel of Jesus Christ, that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, crucified, buried, raised again. And before Peter can even give the invitation, Cornelius believes and suddenly the Holy Spirit comes upon him. What's happened? To another whole group of people, Gentiles. The gospel has been extended, the doors are open now for Gentiles.
So you see the point of what Jesus said to Peter here, I give to you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, was that he was going to open the doors to eventually everyone on the earth. Jew, half Jew, non Jew, could share in the Jewish Messiah and the salvation that he came to bring.
Our way of application and extension, there's a sense in which you and I today employ the keys as it were when we share the gospel with someone, someone who is ignorant of who he is, who when they hear what child is this, have to say, I don't know. When you and I share that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God who died for them and rose again, we're opening the doors it were for them, that they also might believe in him and be saved.
This truth, beloved, is for all people without distinction. There is none who cannot hear and believe except those who have no creature, proclamer or witness to share that news with them. That's why we need to be busy in extending the gospel message to the ends of the earth, because this truth is for all people. There's no question in the world that is more crucial than this one that we have looked at today, who do you say that I am?
But frankly, there is a lot of confusion as to how that might be answered in the world. Why is that? Why is there so much confusion? Why was there confusion in that day as to who Jesus was? I think at least for three reasons there is confusion today. In the first place, because the sinner's mind is darkened. In this chapter 4 tells us that the thinking process of the unregenerate man is naturally futile, it's empty, it doesn't go anywhere.
Because his mind is darkened, his sin has darkened it so that he cannot see and understand who Jesus is. But secondly, we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 that Satan is busy at work blinding the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ should shine to them.
And so not only is there the natural blindness of the human heart, but there is a supernatural blindness cast upon the unconverted that they might not see who Christ is, that he is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and be saved from their sin. But there is a third possibility as to why there is confusion in the world, and that is that there is an unclear picture of who he is presented to the world.
What I mean is that the Jesus which the world sees as painted not on the pages of the Bible, but on the pages of the lives of Christians. You are the only Bible that many people read. The only Jesus they know to study is the one whom they see lived out in your life. And so I come to this thought-provoking question to me. How would my friends answer Jesus if he were to say to them, who am I?
If all of the knowledge they had was based upon what they have seen in my life and heard from me, how would your friends answer Jesus if he were to say to them, who do you say that I am? And immediately in their minds they reference back to the only knowledge they have, knowledge from you, from watching you and listening to you. Could they say you are the Christ, the Son of the living God? Oh, I pray that our lives would paint a true picture as to who Jesus is.
Jesus' question still searches the hearts of men and women today. There is the thoughtful question, who do you say that I am? My friend, your eternity in mind rests upon the answer that comes from our heart. Notice I said our heart, not our mind. We have to have more than a head or intellectual understanding of who he is, that there must be that heart knowledge that not only says you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, but my faith is in you. I rely upon you for my salvation.
Understand that that's the reason that he came and died, was raised again, the reason he lives today, that he might save those that will come to him. The story was told of a little girl just three years old who asked her mother, Mommy, what is Christmas? And so the mother sat the little girl down and explained that Christmas is Jesus' birthday. And then the little girl said, then why do we not give a present to Jesus if it's his birthday?
And so the mother tried to explain the tradition of exchanging Christmas gifts, whereas an expression of love for each other, and that seemed to satisfy the little girl. And it didn't come up again until Christmas Eve, when a sleepy little toddler three years old placed a crudely packaged gift under the tree on her way to bed. And she explained to her mother, this is a gift for Jesus, a birthday gift for him. And I know that he's going to open it during the night while I'm asleep.
Well, I put the mother into a real position because she didn't want the little girl to wake up and find that Jesus hadn't opened her package. And so after the little girl was asleep, the mother went to the tree and took out the package and opened it, took off the top of the box and looked in, and it was empty. She left the wrappings in the box there, opened, and the next morning the little girl got up and was absolutely elated to find that her package had been opened during the night.
The little girl said, or the mother said to the little girl, but honey, what was in your package for Jesus? And she said, mommy, there was a box full of love. And she said, let's pray.