(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Father, I thank You for this evening, and I thank You for Your Word, Dear God. And I just ask that You please be with our hearts, God. Give us an intended heart to Your Word. And I ask that You please be with our paths to God's strength, O Lord. And I feel the mercy of Your God. I love You. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, well, we're there in Matthew chapter number 16. And on Sunday nights, we've been going through a topical series on the life of Peter. Peter is, of course, one of the great apostles in the Bible. And we've been going through his life, and looking at the major stories of his life, and learning from them. And if you remember, we started, this is now our fifth week, and we started with a sermon entitled The Call of Peter. Then we talked about Peter's mother-in-law. We went through that famous passage where Peter launched out into the deep. And then last time we were in the life of Peter, we looked at the great story of Peter walking on water. This evening, what we're going to do is we're going to look at two major conversations that Peter had with Jesus. Really, it seems like it's maybe one conversation with two major aspects to it. And we'll just jump right into it if you notice there in Matthew 16 and verse 13. The conversation begins with Jesus asking a question. He says, when Jesus, the Bible says, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, and I want you to notice the question he asked. He says, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So Jesus asked this question. He's basically asking, what are people saying about me, or what are people saying about him, Jesus? He says, whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And the disciples gave a response, verse 14. And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. So basically, what people were saying about Jesus is that he was some sort of a resurrected prophet from the dead. John the Baptist said, some people think you're John the Baptist, some think you're Elias, some think you're Jeremiah, they think you're one of the prophets. And what's interesting is that generally speaking, the world will always say nice things about Jesus. Isn't that true? They'll always say that he was a good man, he was a good teacher, he was a prophet. But these are not the things that the Bible highlights about Jesus, and these are not the things that will matter in eternity in regards to Jesus. When the question is asked, who do men say that I am, and the answer is given, he's a good man, he's a good teacher, he's a good prophet, that is a good answer, but it's not the right answer in regards to salvation. Now, I want you to notice that Jesus then follows up with a second question, verse 15. He said unto them, but whom say ye that I am? So he first asked, what do men say? What are people saying about me? Now he's looking at his followers and he's saying, but whom say ye that I am? And this is really the question. I mean, this is the question of the ages. What do you believe about Jesus? And here's the truth, what you believe about Jesus will determine where you spend eternity. What you believe about Jesus will determine whether you spend eternity in heaven with God or whether you go to hell, because the misconception that religion has taught us is that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. But the truth is that there is no such thing as good people. The Bible says that there is none that doeth good, no, not one. The Bible says that we are all sinners. And the truth of the matter is this, that people that go to heaven are not any better than the people that go to hell. That people that went to heaven, they were just saved by Jesus and they believed the proper things about Jesus. And people that go to hell, they go to hell because they rejected Christ. See, the question of the ages is this, whom say ye that I am? And if you really believe what Jesus said about himself, you must believe that he is the only way of salvation. Because Jesus said, I am the way, right? He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He said, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. So today our world will say, well, whatever way you go, whatever light you choose, whatever religion you go down, they all roads lead to heaven. Not according to Jesus. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. And here's the truth. If you're going to believe in the Jesus of the Bible, you either need to believe, as Peter is about to state to us, that he is God in the flesh, or you have to believe that he's insane. But you just can't believe that he's a good man. Because Jesus said too much about himself. He asked this question, whom say ye that I am? He's already told them, I am the way, the truth, and life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Later in the book of Acts, we're told that there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Jesus tells, in fact, let's just go there real quickly. Go to John, if you wouldn't mind. You're there in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John chapter number 11. And this is a great passage in scripture. Jesus is at a funeral comforting the sister of Lazarus. John chapter number 11, look at verse 25. The Bible says this. Jesus said unto her, we have another one of those great I am statements. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. So you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to have eternal life. He says, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. But then he asked Mary, again, the question of the ages, believeth thou this? Do you believe this? What do you believe about Jesus? And this is really the question of our lives, is whom say ye that I am? And then, of course, Peter gives the great response. Notice verse 16, if you go back to Matthew 16 and verse number 16. And here's what we learn about Peter. When Peter is up, he is up. And when Peter is down, he is down. And in fact, tonight we're going to see Peter both up and down. And it happens within moments of each other. Matthew 16 and verse 16. And Simon Peter answered and said, because remember, Jesus said, who do men say that I am? And they said, well, some people say you're John the Baptist. Some people say you're Elias. Some people say you're Jeremiah. Some people say you're some sort of a resurrected prophet. Then he says, whom say ye that I am? And notice the response from Peter. Verse 16, and Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, when Peter says this, what does this mean? And what is it? Because to us, this sounds like just biblical terminology, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. But I want you to understand that Peter understood exactly what he was saying by this. The Bible acts as its own dictionary. What does it mean to be the Christ? Or what does that mean? And that's not just a name. It's not like that was his last name, Jesus Christ, right? The word Christ is actually a title. Go to John chapter 1, and we'll see the Bible define this for us. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John chapter 1, and look at verse 41. John chapter 1 and verse 41, the Bible says this. John 1, 41, he first findeth his own brother Simon and saith unto him, we have found the messiahs. Now, the messiah, or the messiahs, that identity, that is someone that was prophesied about all throughout the Old Testament, that there was coming a messiah. There was coming a chosen one. There was coming one that was anointed, that was chosen, and this one would bring salvation. And here we're told, we have found the messiahs, which is being interpreted the Christ. See, when they said Jesus the Christ, or Jesus Christ, they were saying that Jesus is the Savior that was prophesied to come. Jesus is the chosen one. He is the anointed one. He is the one that the prophets have been telling us about that was to come. And I want you to notice, if you go back to Matthew 16, there's two aspects to Peter's answer that he gives. He says, thou art the Christ. And what that just basically means is this, you are the Savior. You are the one that was going to come to save us from our sins. He says, thou art the Christ. But then he says this, the son of the living God. A testament to his position as Savior, but then a testament to his deity, the fact that he is God in the flesh. He says, you're the son of the living God. And sometimes people say, well, Jesus isn't God. He's the son of God. When God has a son, that son is God. When a human has a child, forget what you learned in school as far as evolution. Monkeys don't reproduce humans. Monkeys reproduce monkeys. Humans reproduce humans. And when God has a son, it's God. And Peter says, thou art the Christ. He says, you are the Messiah. You are the chosen one. You're the one that we've been looking for. But he says, even more than that, you're the son of the living God. You are deity. You are God in the flesh. And the Bible tells us that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory as of the glory of the begotten. Now notice in verse 17, and this was the point I'm trying to show you. We see Peter is up. And when I say he's up, I mean he's in the right. He's in the correct, in the Christian life. And we are always right. And we will always be in the up. We will always be on the high place. We will always be in a good place in our Christian life when this can be said of us and what it was said of Peter. Notice verse 17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Barjona. He says, for. Now the word for means because. He says, you're blessed, Simon. And here's why. Because flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee, have not revealed what unto thee, have not revealed that truth, that I am the Christ, the son of the living God. He said, you didn't get that from flesh and blood. You didn't get that from human logic. He says, but my father, which is in heaven. He said, what you learned was not revealed to you by human logic, but it was from above. It was a spiritual truth. You received something from God. And here's what I want you to understand. We are up, we are always going to be up in the Christian life when we believe and we proclaim that which is revealed to us from above. You understand what I just said? When we stand up and we preach the truth of God's word. Do you understand this Bible is given to us by God? The Bible says that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And when we stand up and we say, I believe what this Bible says, and I proclaim what this Bible says, and I understand that this Bible and this truth and this word was not brought to me by human logic. This was not cunningly devised fables that were brought down by man, but it was revealed by God. You and I will always be up, will always be right, will always be blessed when we say that we believe what was given to us by God. But please understand this. It'll always contradict what the world says. Because Jesus says, hey, flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee. And sometimes we teach and preach what this Bible says, and you know what flesh and blood says? They says, well, that can't be right. Flesh and blood says, well, that can't be correct. Flesh and blood says, well, that doesn't make any sense. And here's the thing. It doesn't make any sense because God says my ways are higher than your ways. And my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. Notice verse 18 there, Matthew 16 and verse 18. And I say also unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now I'm not gonna go into details with this. I actually dissected this and we went through this not that long ago. If you weren't here for that and you're interested as to what the Bible is teaching here, you can go on our YouTube channel. We recently put out a video called Was Peter the First Pope? And in that video we went through and explained all of this stuff about the rock and what that's referring to. And I'll just quickly mention to you that the context is about the statement that Peter made. The question is, who do you say that I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus said that truth was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, it was revealed to you by my Father which is in heaven. And that is the context in which Jesus says that thou art Peter and upon this rock, that truth that I am the Christ, the Son of the living God, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And you can look that up and go into detail with that. I'm not gonna spend time on that. We did that not that long ago. Notice verse 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. Then charge he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. Now we're gonna come back to verses 19 and 20 at the end of the sermon. But for now I want you to notice verse 21. And here's the interesting thing. We just got Peter and we just saw Peter give a great answer to a very specific question. Whom do men say that I am? They say, well, they say you're Elias and they say you're Jeremiah and they say you're John the Baptist. Jesus said, but whom say ye that I am? And Peter steps onto the spotlight. He declares the great truth. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus gives him a great pat on the back and says, blessed art thou Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood have not revealed this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. And Peter is up. I mean, Peter, I'm sure he's just, his chest is out and he's just smiling. And maybe some of the other guys are proud of him saying, good job, Peter. Great job, Peter. But I want you to notice what happens as the conversation continues. Verse 21. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Because remember, Jesus is the Christ, right? He's the chosen Messiah. He's going to sacrifice himself for our sins. He's going to suffer in our place to take our sins, to take the punishments of our sin. So Jesus says, great, Peter, I'm glad you get that. I'm glad you understand that. Let me let you in into some of the details. And they begin to explain to them that I must suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. And notice our star, verse 22. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, Jesus, saying, be afar from thee, Lord. This shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. And we see Peter down. I mean, we just went from blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, flesh and blood are not revealed unto you. And just a few verses later, we've got Jesus looking at Peter and saying, get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me, for thou savors not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. And you say, why would God put this in the same passage, in the same context, in the same story, in the same chapter? We got Peter giving us a great answer, and we got Peter giving us a wrong answer. Why would God do this? And he would do this, I think, as an encouragement for you and I, because if you're honest about the Christian life, you'll know that this is what the Christian life is often like. You're up and you're down. I mean, you're up and you're proclaiming the right things and you're saying the right things and you're saying the same, the Lord God. And within verses, you're saying the wrong things and believing the wrong things and proclaiming the wrong things. And Jesus saying, get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense. He says unto me, for thou savoureth not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. And here's what I want you to understand, and I want you to notice this. We are up, we are up when we believe and proclaim the things that are revealed to us by God and not the things that are revealed to us by man. We are down, verse 23, when we begin to believe and proclaim the things, notice verse 23. But he turned and said unto Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense. The word offense, it means a stumbling block. You're trying to trip me up. Thou art an offense unto me, why? Notice what he says, for thou savoureth. The word savoureth means to enjoy the flavor of, right? When you're savoring something, you're really enjoying the flavor. This is what God, what Jesus telling Peter, he's saying, thou savoureth not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. He says, look, and a moment ago, you were declaring that which is not revealed by flesh and blood, and that was good. Now you are declaring the things that are revealed by flesh and blood, and you're not savoring, you're not enjoying the flavor of the things that be of God, but instead, you are savoring those things which be of men. Go to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter number four. 1 Peter chapter number four, and I want to show you what Peter says about this in a letter he writes, of course, later in his life. And look, what Peter is saying is not that different than what you and I hear all the time. Isn't it true? I mean, what is it that he's saying? Jesus just got done saying, I need to suffer. I'm going to suffer. It's the will of God that I suffer. It's better for you all that I suffer. I'm going to go, and I'm going to suffer and receive persecution as a result of following the will of my Father, which is in heaven. And Peter says, far be it from thee. Isn't that what Christians today say? Whenever there's a trial or tribulation, whenever there's something, oh, no, no, no. Christianity is all about prosperity, health, and wealth. You should never go through anything wrong. You should never have any difficulty. Look, I don't know what Bible you're reading, but that's not the Bible that God gave us. And you say, well, why do these prosperity priests, why are there churches all over this country filled with thousands of people in them, and they've got Joe Lowstein or whoever telling them, there's a blessing in your mouth, and you can pray and bring all these great riches and wealth into your life. Why do people like that? Here's why. Because that feels good to our flesh. You understand that? Jesus would say, thou savors not the things that are of God, but you're savoring the things that are of men. Because what do we want to hear? We want to hear that we're going to be healthy, we're going to be wealthy, we're going to be skinny, we're going to be rich, we're going to be this, we're going to be that. But you know what we don't want to hear? We don't want to hear all they that live Godly in Christ Jesus' supper of persecution. We don't want to hear that part. We don't want to hear the fact that God has ordained for us many times to live a life of suffering. Because it is when we suffer that we are the closest to Christ. Are you there in 1 Peter 4? Look at verse 13. Notice what Peter says. It sounds like he learned this lesson. He says this, but rejoice, and as much as ye are partakers of Christ's suffering. See, when we suffer, when you suffer, when I suffer, when we go through hard times and difficult times, we are partaking in Christ's suffering if we are suffering for Christ's sake. He says that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part, he is evil spoken of, but on your part, he is glorified. Notice what he says in verse 15. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on their behalf. And you understand that in order to live the Christian life, it may require us to suffer. It may require us to take certain stands, to believe certain things that are not going to be popular, that people are not going to understand, that people are not going to like. And here's what your flesh will say. Your flesh will say, no, I don't want to hear that. And Jesus will respond to that, get thee behind me, Satan. Here's another lesson we can learn here if you go back to Matthew 16. Another lesson we can learn here from Peter, and it's this, that though we are saved and though we are disciples and followers of God, we can still be influenced by the devil. Now look, saved people cannot be possessed by the devil. The Bible says, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. When you got saved, the Holy Spirit came to dwell inside of you. And as soon as the Holy Spirit came in, whatever devils you might have had came out. You don't have to worry about being possessed by a devil. If you're saved, you don't have to worry about having a devil or demons possess you. But that doesn't mean that you can't be influenced by Satan. Here we have Peter, who just moments ago, Jesus is saying, blessed art thou Simon Barjona. Hey, flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you. I mean, my father, which is in heaven, revealed this to you. I don't know how you got this from my father in heaven, Peter, but you must be connected to God the Father, because you just declared a great truth. And then a few minutes later, a few verses later, get thee behind me, Satan. And here's what I'm telling you. Here's what I'm telling you. The devil can influence the way you think. The devil can influence the things you do. And just because you're getting advice from Peter, you know that good, godly, Christian people can give you terrible advice? I mean, they can give you satanic advice. They can give you things that are just, it's the wrong thing, it's the wrong. And you can say, no, it's Peter, but Peter told me. Peter told me. And Jesus says, hey, you know what? Yeah, a few verses ago, Peter was right. Now Peter is wrong. How do you know the difference? You check it with the word of God. You try the spirits, whether they be of God. Look, it doesn't matter if it's Pastor Jimenez telling you what to do. If I'm telling you something and it goes against what the Bible says, then you just go with the Bible. Because Satan can influence all of us. He can get all of us to think different ways or look at something different or not understand something. And here, Jesus is looking at him and he's saying, get thee behind me, Satan. And honestly, I don't believe that Jesus is looking at Peter and saying, Peter, you're Satan. But definitely, he is stating the fact that Peter is being influenced by Satan. And in fact, I've heard people say this and I think maybe it's right, that this is not so much a rebuke on Peter as it is a protective sort of thing on Peter where Jesus is telling Satan, hey, you know what? You're influencing Peter, Satan. Why don't you just go ahead and get behind me and let me put myself between you and Peter so he can start thinking straight. Because even saved people that have the Holy Spirit of God can make bad decisions and terrible decisions and begin to think things and begin to believe things that are a stumbling block, that are an offense, and they can even begin to believe and teach that to other people. And you need to be careful about not just taking advice from anybody because they're a good, godly Christian person. Because even a good, godly Christian person can be telling you something that's wrong. And this can happen in a moment. I mean, you can go from being filled with the Spirit of God and doing all the right things and in just the next moment, you're just down. You're not living the Christian life. Remember Elijah? We spent several weeks studying the life of Elijah on Sunday night. And what do you see with Elijah? He's up on the mountain, calling down the fire of God, having the false prophets put to death, showing the great power of God and in the next chapter, he's just depressed and asking God to take his life, running from Jezebel. Why? Because look, the Christian life is like that. You ever read the book of Psalms? I mean, read the book of Psalms. Read David writing under the inspiration of Holy Ghost, the book of Psalms. And he's just like, praise God, praise God in the highest God is so great, God is so wonderful. And the next Psalms, he's just like, God, why don't you hear my prayers? Why have you forsaken me? He's just up and down, he's just up and down, he's just up and down. And some of you, that's how you are, up and down. And that's how I am, sometimes I'm up and I'm down and I'm up and I'm down, because look, this is the Christian life. Just understand it. Understand it that when you connect yourself and when you align yourself to the word of God, you'll be up, and as soon as you drift from that, you'll be down. You say, well, what do I do when I'm down? Well, here's what the Bible says, a just man follows seven times to get up again. Just get back up. Just get back up, just realign yourself back to the word of God. I started thinking wrong. I started letting the world influence me the wrong way, I started letting the devil influence me the wrong way, I started listening to Peter, and he was right about this one thing, but he's not right about this other thing, and I need to just get on the word of God. Notice there in Matthew 16, go back to verse 18. Verse 18, the Bible says this, and I say also, and I wanna show you that in verse 18 and in verse 19, there's this focus on Jesus in connection to Peter and in connection to the church, and again, I'm not gonna go back and re-preach the whole rock thing, but notice verse 18. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock, he says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I actually wanna show you something real quickly. Go back to 1 Peter. I meant to tell you to keep your place there, and I don't know that I did that, but go back to 1 Peter if you would. Like I said, I don't wanna go through the whole rock thing again, but I do wanna just show you one thing, because one thing I noticed when we put out that video about is Peter the first pope? We went through the Bible and showed how he wasn't, and one thing that people kept saying is, well, Jesus is called the chief cornerstone, so if Jesus is the stone and Peter's the stone, then couldn't they both be the rock if they're both the stone? Here's the problem with that, if you're there in 1 Peter 2, is that Jesus, in the context when he's called the cornerstone, he's called a rock. 1 Peter 2, six, the Bible says this, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him, believeth on who? On the chief cornerstone, this of course Jesus, shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious. Notice, it's all about Jesus. He laid a chief cornerstone. If you believe on him, you won't be confounded. To us, he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, notice, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and the idea is this, he's giving an illustration of a building, and he's saying there was a chief cornerstone, but they rejected the cornerstone. They didn't want the cornerstone, so what happens when they do that? Verse eight, notice, and a stone of stumbling. He says, when you reject the chief cornerstone, you know what Jesus becomes to you? A stone of stumbling, notice, and a rock of offense. And the point is this, you say, oh, well, Jesus called a stone. So couldn't Peter also be the rock? No, listen to your argument. Jesus called a stone, but Jesus is the only one that's called a rock. You understand that? God is our rock. You say, well, why is Jesus called a stone? Well, look, Jesus called the son of God, but you know that he's also called the son of man? There's an idea with Jesus that he's God who became flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. So in an aspect, he's the same as us in the fact that he's a human like we are. In fact, the Bible even calls him our brother. But of course, he's not like us because of the fact that he is flesh, but he's God in the flesh. He's a stone, but he's the chief cornerstone. And when you reject the chief cornerstone, you know what he becomes to you? A rock of offense. And here's what I'm telling you. What you believe about Jesus will save you or it will condemn you. If you say, oh, well, I think Jesus is a good man. I don't think he's God, but I think he's a good man. I think he's a good prophet. Well, you know what? That that belief is gonna become a stumbling block to you. It'll become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed. Because look, it's not up for debate what you believe about Jesus. You cannot believe, you can't say, because what do the Muslims say? What do the Hindus say? What do all these religious say? Well, we believe that Jesus was a good man, but we don't believe he was God. We think all roads lead to heaven. Here's the thing. Jesus said too much about himself. That's why when he died, it was over, right? We talked about it this morning. When he died, when he was crucified, all the disciples disassembled, all the disciples went on their merry way. They were all as sheep having no shepherd. Why? Because you couldn't continue the movement of Jesus because Jesus said too much about himself. He said, I am the I am. He said, I am the way. He said, I am the truth. He said, I am the light. I am the resurrection. He says, I am the source of all life. And when the source of life dies, you don't keep going. It's done. And that's why the resurrection is so important because it proves, it proves that he was, we said he was. So look, salvation's all dependent on this. What do you believe about Jesus? And what you believe about Jesus will save you or what you believe about Jesus will condemn you. But he's called the rock of offense. And here's the point that I want you to understand. And again, we went into this last week. If you go back to Matthew 16, 18, thou art Peter and upon this rock, the church was founded upon Jesus. The church was not founded upon Peter. It was founded upon Christ. But I want you to notice another thing. Notice verse 18. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock, then he says this, I will build my church. Notice that the church was founded upon Jesus, but also we learn here that the church is built by Jesus. Who is it that builds the church? Jesus. He said, I will build my church. Go to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two, you're there in Matthew. You got Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Acts chapter two. Keep your finger there in Acts. We're gonna leave it and we're gonna come back to it. Acts chapter two. Look at verse 47. Acts 2, 47, the Bible says this, praising God and having faith with all people and the Lord, notice, the Lord added to the church daily. Such as should be saved. For those of us that are in spiritual leadership, that serve as a pastor or whatever, it's a great relief. And in fact, it's very liberating when you understand that it's not my job to build a church. Because if I thought it was my job to get as many people in church as possible, get as many people in church as possible, then I might cut out some of the preaching, right? I might just kind of, well, let's not mention that verse. That's kind of a controversial verse. So let's not go there. But when you realize that, look, my job's not to build a church. Jesus said, he founded the church. He said, I will build the church. The Lord added to the church daily. My job is to proclaim the word of God, to preach the word. I'm just gonna preach what the Bible says and let God deal with the building of the church. Oh, well, you're running about 180, 200 in nine years. What do you think about that? I don't think anything about it. Take it up with Jesus. He said he'll build a church. I'm just trying to be faithful in the preaching. Well, if you didn't preach so much and if you didn't preach so hard and if you didn't go to all those controversial, what, do you really have to go to Romans 1 and Leviticus 20? Do you really have to go to Deuteronomy? Do you really have to go there? Look, it's not my place to build a church. My place to preach the word is my place to try to keep you growing in the Lord, understanding the word of God and getting closer to God. Jesus says, I will build my church. I don't need you. To build it for me, but I want you to notice, secondly, look at verse, if you go back to Matthew 16, look at verse 18. Not only do we see that the church was founded upon Jesus, thou art Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church. Not only do we see that the church is built by Jesus, but we see thirdly that the church is protected by Jesus. Notice verse 18. And I say also unto thee, thou art Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church. Then he says this, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He says, look, Jesus is the one that will protect the church. And do you know that according to this, there has always been a true local church, a true assembly believers in this world, according to Jesus, because Jesus said, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus says, I build the church. He says, I founded the church, I built the church, and I protect the church. The church will be protected by Jesus. And by the way, often I hear this verse preached and the idea is like this. The gates of hell are not gonna prevail against us, so hell's gonna come at us and hell's gonna attack us and we're gonna just endure to the end. And I'm all for that, occupy till he comes and all that. There's something good about enduring and just kind of enduring and doing what you oughta do. But that's not what this verse is talking about. It says the gates of hell shall not prevail against you. When you're talking about a military, and especially during the times of Christ, we're talking 2,000 years ago, you're talking about two armies going at it with each other. You don't have the army on the offense behind the gates. You understand? You don't decide we're gonna go capture a city, let's take our gates and let's charge them with our gates. When it says the gates of hell, the idea is this, we're on the offense, they're on the defense. It's not the gates of heaven that hell is attacking, it's the gates of hell that we're attacking. You understand that? Look, Christianity today is on the defense. Everything's a defense, a defense, let me defend against this, apologetics. You got all these apologetics ministries that let me give you all these apologetics for why they, they're all, you know what, other apologetics is a bunch of apologizing for the Bible. The pastor, are you into apologetics? I don't have nothing to apologize for. I just believe the Bible. I believe it's God's word. I believe it's true. Look, the Bible says that we need to be on the offense, we need to be taking it to them. That's why we go out in the community, knock doors, we bring it to them! Because Jesus said the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. We need to not be on the offense, we need to be on the defense. And that thought, that thought will change, because look, what's the problem with most Christians? At work, at school, with the neighbors, Thanksgiving's coming up soon, at the Thanksgiving party with your family, at the Christmas party with your family. It's always like the world's putting us on the defense and we're always apologizing like, well, you know, I don't drink. Well, you know, no sodomites. And we're always, look, don't, and I'm not saying to have a bad attitude, but don't just say, look, hey, this is what the Bible says. This is what I believe. I'm not ashamed of it. If anything, you ought to be ashamed! The way you live your life, the things you're doing, the way you're raising your kids. Look, we need to just realize that we are standing on the truth. And when we've got the truth of God, we can stand firm. Now look, if you're savoring the things of men, then you ought to worry. And get thee behind me, Satan. But if you're standing on the truth of God's word, we have nothing to apologize for. And we ought to do it in a kind way, in a tactful way, and we understand all those things. But look, we have nothing to apologize for when we are preaching the word of God. Because Jesus said that he would protect the church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Look at verse 19. We saw, number one, that Jesus founded the church upon this rock. We saw, number two, that Jesus will build the church. He said, I will build my church. We saw, number three, that Jesus will protect the church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Notice, fourthly, that the church is tasked to bring people to Jesus. Notice verse 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. Now the Roman Catholic Church has taken, and maybe it feels like I'm picking a lot on the Roman Catholic Church, but this is just a passage that they use a lot. And they've taken this passage and kind of twisted it to teach something that the Bible never meant to be taught. And here's what they'll say. They'll look at Matthew 16, 19. And they'll start by saying, see, the church was founded upon Peter, because Peter is the rock, wrong. And then they'll say, Jesus tells them, I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And they'll say that the Catholic Church holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven. The Catholic Church holds salvation. And whom they decide goes to heaven, goes to heaven. And whom they decide goes to hell, goes to hell. And you may have heard this term being excommunicated. Now sometimes people call, because the Bible teaches that there are certain sins that will get you thrown out of church. There are certain sins that you either need to get right or you need to get out. And sometimes people call that being excommunicated. And I don't have a problem with that. It is obviously cutting off communication with someone. And the purpose is that they might get right with God. But when the Roman Catholic Church says they excommunicate someone, what they mean is they damn them to hell. Because they believe that they have the key to salvation and that they decide who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. So they've got all their rules, and you've got to do certain things, and you've got to take the communion, and you've got to do this, and you've got to do that. And if you do all those things and you get your lost rights read or whatever, you're going to go to heaven. This is not what the Bible teaches. Look, the Bible never put salvation in the hands of a man. The Bible says that whosoever believeth on him. The Bible says that salvation is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul was asked, what must I do to be saved, the answer was, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. So what is this about? What is this saying? Well, notice, again, the context is about the local New Testament church. The church is founded upon Christ, is built by Christ, is protected by Christ. And then we're told that it's tasked to bring people to Christ. It says that 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. Now, here's what's interesting. I'll just give you some of these ideas, and we won't go to these passages. But if you want to write this down, as far as I can tell, there are six references to keys mentioned in scripture. There's the key of the house of David in Isaiah 22 and verse 22, if you want to jot that down, you can look it up later. There's the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which is what we just read in Matthew 16, 19. There is the key of knowledge in Luke 11, 52, which Jesus states that the lawyers took away from the people. Then there's the keys of hell and death in Revelation 1, 18. And then you've got the key of David in Revelation 3 and 7. I believe that this is the same key referenced in Isaiah 22, 22. The key of the house of David is probably the key of David referring to the same thing. And then you've got the key of the bottomless pit in Revelation 9, 1 and Revelation 20 and verse 1. And I think that this is probably the same key as mentioned in Revelation 1, 18, the key of hell and of death and the key of the bottomless pit probably referring to the same thing. But you have here mentioned the key of the kingdom of heaven. So what does this mean? What is this talking about? Well, look, in the Bible, the kingdom of heaven is two things. It's a place, meaning it's heaven. The Bible talks about entering into or being in the kingdom of heaven. But it's also people. The kingdom of heaven is made up of believers. The Bible references in parables, it talks as if the kingdom of heaven is growing. And I do believe that the kingdom of heaven is growing because every time we get somebody saved, it's growing. What's interesting is that the Bible says the kingdom of heaven is growing. The Bible also says that hell is growing. I think these are all references to where people go, heaven or hell, when they die, where they spend eternity. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5, if you're not in Acts, you've got Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians. I believe that this reference to I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven is just another way of talking about soul winning. And here's what he's saying. He has given the responsibility of getting people into heaven to the local New Testament church. Now, the Great Commission is to be carried out through the assembly of believers. You say, well, do you need to go to church to be saved? You don't need to go to church to be saved. But the Great Commission was given, the Great Commission was given to the church to be fulfilled. Because look, the Great Commission can only be fulfilled through a local church. You understand that? Because the Great Commission is not just soul winning. Soul winning is the first part, and it may be the most important part. But to fulfill the Great Commission, we have to get people saved, we have to get them baptized, and we have to get them growing. You have to teach them the Bible. That's done through your local church. And then we motivate and we mobilize them to go out and preach the gospel. So look, how do we fulfill the Great Commission? Through soul winning, that's part of it. How do we do it? Through church planning. Through starting churches all throughout this country, all throughout this world, and letting them evangelize their areas, get people saved, and get people discipled. 2 Corinthians 5, look at verse 18. 2 Corinthians 5, 18, the Bible says this. And all things are of God. And all things are of God, notice, who has reconciled us to himself. God reconciled us to himself. There was a rift between us and God because of our sin. How do you do it? By Jesus Christ. And have given to us, notice, the ministry of reconciliation. So he reconciled us to God, and then he gave us the ministry of reconciliation, verse 19, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. And here, Paul is using these analogies. He's saying God was in Christ because Christ was God in the flesh. God came to man through Christ. He says that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And then he says this, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. You say, well, what does that mean? Well, notice what he says in verse 20. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. He said in the same way that a president or a king would have an ambassador that would represent them on their behalf, that would go to a foreign field and represent the king for them so that that king or that president wouldn't have to go there themselves, the ambassador would go and speak on behalf of that king. He says, you and I are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you, in Christ's name, be reconciled to God. Do you understand that? I love that terminology. That's why some of you get really upset when you're out soul winning. People say, oh, I'm not interested, I'm not interested. You take it real personal. And I understand we ought to love people and we want to get people saved, and I get that. But look, they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting Christ. It's not the gospel of Pastor Jimenez. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we are there as the representation of God, the ambassadors of Christ. And it's as though God did beseech you by us. When we knock the doors and we preach the gospel, when we say, hey, you can be saved and you can believe on Jesus Christ and you can be forgiven of all your sins, it's as if God is preaching through them because he's preaching to them through us. And we pray you in Christ that be reconciled to God. So what does it mean when it says that I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven? What it means is that God has given us the responsibility of bringing people to Christ. And what we have is the way you get into heaven. The key to salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And we can open that door for people and we can say, hey, look, this is how you get saved. And you say, well, how do we do that? Look, how do we let people into the gate of heaven? We do it by charging the gates of hell. I mean, he says, look, he says, I will build my church. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And then he says, 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 loose in heaven. Let me just say this quickly and we'll be done here. At the end of this verse, you see that there is also a blessing attached. There is also a blessing attached to the connection of the local New Testament church. And I'm going to say this, and you may not understand this, and that's fine. You can ask me about it later. I believe that the only way that we can be blessed by God as New Testament Christians is through our connection to a local New Testament church. You say, can I just be a lone ranger out there somewhere and I'm just listening to YouTube sermons and I'm just whatever. And I don't need a church. I don't need a church. No, you need a church because you know what? He told the church, he told the church, I'm giving you the responsibility of the Great Commission. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loose in heaven. And there is a connection to the blessing of God and it comes to the local New Testament church. And you say that to people and they're like, they get upset like, well, what do you think about you? You think we need a local church? Look, Jesus died for the church. He sacrificed himself for the church. He founded the church. He built the church. He's the head of the church. He loves the church. And then you just think you don't need a church. You just think, yeah, that's not for me. That's for everybody else, not for me. No, look, there is a blessing connected. There is a blessing connected to your connection to a local New Testament church. So be faithful to church. So get connected in a church. And if you need proof, and I'm not telling you to do this, don't waste your time doing this, but if you don't believe me, just go and look up all the people that we know of that have been thrown out of local New Testament churches, that have been disciplined out of local New Testament churches. And you'll know what you'll see? A life of failure. I mean, just, and you say, oh, I don't think you say that. OK, well, ask yourself, look at those people and ask yourself, that's what I want my 30-year-old son to grow up to be. I mean, I'd be ashamed and embarrassed. You say, well, how can you say that? Well, you know what? Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loose in heaven. You say, I can't believe you said that. That's what the Bible says. You cannot be blessed in the New Testament Christianity. I didn't say you can't be saved, I didn't say, but there is a connection, there is a blessing that is connected to the local New Testament church, because God has given you a church for you to grow in, for you to fellowship in, for you to be loved in, for you to be connected. God never, God never created you to be isolated or to be an island, we've all been created. For community. And the only community out there is godless and devilish and satanic. But there's a blessing connected to the local church. Let's bow our head to the Bible in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the Bible. And Lord, I just pray you'd help us to just realize what you think about the church and how important you think it is. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to stay connected to it. And to be blessed in our lives to do it. And the truth is, is that there are people all over the place that can say when they got connected to a local church, their lives began to change. Maybe they began to be able to live life the way that God intended it to be lived. And Lord, I just pray you'd help us.