The Strength Of Our Confession

My assignment tonight is Matthew Chapter sixteen, verses thirteen through twenty. We're going to look at really the authority of our confession. You know, many people look at the church as just another organization. But we know that the church is unique. But the question is what makes the church unique? What gives the church its authority. We gather together, we sing, we proclaim truth, we have membership, we perform ceremonies, But none of these things make us unique. People gather together all the time. They gather in stadiums all around the world and exhibit the kind of religious fervor that is almost unparalleled as they worship, I mean cheer four their favorite team. People gather in venues large and small for concerts and sing along until they lose their voices. People go to ted talks or the conferences or conventions lecture halls to hear people talk to them and proclaim truth to them. If you're a university student and you go to class every day to hear somebody give you a message of truth. So again, all these things that we do are things that are done elsewhere. Those are not the things that make us unique, that make us who we are. When it comes to ceremonies. All kinds of institutions have memberships or have ceremonies. Universities have graduation ceremonies, politicians have swearing in ceremonies. So again, not even having ceremonies make us unique. So what is it? What makes us unique? What makes us more important than these other institutions or entities? What makes us more significant? And again, what gives the church its authority? Where does that come from? Because we're arguing that we have an authority that other institutions don't have, that other institutions can't match. What sets us apart? Peter says in First Peter, Chapter two, verses nine and ten. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. That you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. We are a people, a priesthood, a nation. How does that happen? How in the world does that happen? How do we become this royal priesthood? How are we declared a nation? We have no borders, we have no armies, and yet we're a nation. We're not high born, and yet we are a royal priesthood. Not only that, but we are God's people. How do we get to declare that? I mean, how arrogant do you have to be to make those declarations? Who gives us this right? And our text tonight answers that if you look with me, beginning there Matthew sixteen, beginning verse thirteen. First of all, the authority of our confession depends on the accuracy of what we confess. It begins there. Look at verses thirteen fourteen. Now, when Jesus came into the district of Cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. It's very interesting. They're being very kind because what they didn't say was some people say, your bails above would have been completely accurate, by the way, but they didn't say that. They were talking about the people who were claiming to be believers, not necessarily adversaries, and they understand what Jesus is asking here, what he's getting at here? What these people who are debating about who I am, These these people who are on the fringes, these people who would be people of the book if you will. What do these people say? These people who are looking at God's word and trying to interpret and trying to read the signs. What are what are these people saying? And these people believe that Jesus was special, perhaps even supernatural. There's at least a couple of categories of people here. First, these people who believe that he's the forerunner of the Messiah, Jesus. Some people believe that you're the You're the forerunner of the Messiah, John the Baptist Elijah. Some people say that you're you're the return of Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Again, these are lofty things. These are good things, These are important things. If Jesus was any one of these things, he would have been the most significant man of his day. But these beliefs were both wrong and insufficient, and they would not have granted the kind of authority that we're talking about here tonight. If Jesus is just the forerunner of the Messiah. I he's just one of the prophets. Then we don't get to say that that because of what we confess about Jesus, that that we get to be a royal priesthood, that we get to be this this holy nation, that we get to be God's people. People do they believe similarly. Muslims think very highly of Jesus. They believe that he's a prophet. In fact, they believe that he's a virgin born prophet. Mormons think very highly of Jesus, believe that he's deity. Jehovah's witnesses believe that he's a God, a lesser God if you will. Hindus and Buddhists revere his enlightenment and spirituality. Even secularists and atheists will acknowledge that Jesus is one of the most important moral teachers in history. And yet none of these beliefs mean anything, and none of them grant the kind of authority that we're talking about. They're insufficient. Just believing that Jesus is special is not enough. It doesn't get us to where we're talking about. James two nineteen. You believe God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Even the demoniac comes to Jesus and says, well, what do we have to do with you? And acknowledge that he's the son of God, But they're demons. The woman at the well, before she got it right, said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Can you just see Jesus at that moment? Yeah, you could say that. Then later on she says, you know that she believes Messiah is coming. You don't say, but it's insufficient. Just believing or thinking highly of Jesus is not sufficient for this authoritative declaration that we're talking about here. The authority of our confession depends not only upon its accuracy, but it's also rooted in the authority of the one whom we confess. Verse fifteen and sixteen. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the son of the Living God. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. If you believe anything less than that, then your confessionists ultimately meaningless. You are the Christ, the Son of God. The term profession of faith has been sort of stripped of its significance. We throw that term around profession of faith, and usually all we mean is that we've made some sort of mental sent But this profession of faith is significant in that it makes a profession about. Who Jesus is. And it's not just that Jesus is a special or significant person. This confession says that Jesus is the anointed One. This confession says that Jesus is prophet, priest, and king. This confession says that Jesus is the Son of God. In other words, that he is God the Son. That's what this confession is. Deuteronarmy eighteen fifteen. The Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. It is to him that you shall listen. The prophet referred to here is none other than Jesus himself, the Christ, the anointed One. Not only is he a prophet that was foretold, but he's the priest that was foretold, the high priest that was foretold Psalm one ten four. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's who he is. And he is a king, not just a king, but the King of kings Zacharia ninety nine. Rejoice greatly, O, daughter of Zion, shout aloud, O, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation. Is he humble and mounted on a donkey, on a cult the foal of a donkey. Notice this king is righteous and this king has salvation. That's who Jesus is. That's what we confess, and that's why our confession is so significant, and that's why the confessing community is so significant, because we confess rightly about the one who has the authority to make us a kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood, and the people of God. He is the Son of God Matthew eight, twenty eight and twenty nine. And when he came to the other side, the country of the Ghattherian's, two demon possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, what have you to do with us, O, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us? Before the time Matthew twenty seven and fifty four. After the crucifixion, when the centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus saw the earth quake and what took place. They were filled with awe and said, truly, this was the Son of God. That's whom we confess, the one with all authority, with all power. I could go on, but ultimately to summarize it, what do we confess in the apostles creed. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. That is our confession. It has been our confession throughout the ages. It is an accurate confession, and it's rooted in the authority of the one whom we confess. Is why we sing songs like I Hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness on Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. That's what we confess. Again and again we're reminded of the one whom we confess. Who is the Christ, who is the anointed One, who is the Promised One, who is Prophet, priest and King, and who is the Son of God, who is God the Sun. That's what makes this confessing community unique. But not only that, but the authority of our confession comes from the fact that it's supernatural. In its origins Verse seventeen. After Peter makes this confession, Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven, kiss the mocker writes. In continuing his address to Peter, Jesus emphasizes that flesh and blood, that is merely human calculation, cogitation, intuition, or tradition could never have produced in the disciple's heart and mind the insight into the sublime truth that he had just now so gloriously professed. You can't get there from here. You can't be smart enough, wise enough, good enough to get this confession right. This is supernatural. The Second London Baptst Confession, Chapter fourteen, paragraph one. The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts. It is God who does this work. Well, one of all of our favorite theologians, well, I say all of our favorite theologians, he's he's been canceled lately. I think all theologians have officially been canceled. Unless you're like a woke theologian of the last five years, you're you're you're just you're canceled. All the dead theologians are are are canceled. But but Martin Luther one of those canceled dead white theologians that that we used to think highly of. It's the main story. Enrolled in the University of Leipzig in fifteen oh one, received as BA in fifteen oh one or fifteen oh two, his MA in fifteen oh five, ordained in fifteen oh seven, received his PhD in fifteen twelve, and still was lost. And throughout all of his education and for years thereafter, he wrestled with the problem of his own salvation because you cannot be educated enough to make this confession rightly. This confession doesn't come from your intellect. It's supernatural in its origins. God does this work John six forty one to forty four. So the Jews grumbled about him because he said I am the Bread that came down from heaven. They said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say I have come down from heaven? They just did they didn't get it. The most significant religious thinkers of their day, the most educated religious thinkers of their day, they didn't get it. Bread that came down from heaven that Joseph's boy. Jesus answered them, do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. You can't get there from here. This is a supernatural work Ephesians two eight and nine, that we all know and love so well. From our grace. You have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, So that no one may boast. You can't boast in this. Peter can't boast in this, And Jesus makes it clear to Peter and to us that we can't boast in this. You're a blessed man, Simon Barjona. You're not blessed because you're smarter than the rest of these guys. In fact, there are things recorded in the Bible that make it clear at times that you're not. But you're blessed because that confession that you just made is a confession that you can only make rightly by the power of God himself. It's a bit of a lengthy passage, but it bears reading here. First Corinthians one eighteen to twenty five. For the word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning. I will fort Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world, For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believed. For Jews demand signs and Greek seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to the gentiles. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God, foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. It's a supernatural work. We are not who we are because we're smarter, because we're better, because we're less sinful, because we're more righteous. This confession of ours that ushers us in to this royal priesthood, this holy nation, that makes us the people of God. It is not something that is born of our flesh or of our feeble man, but it is a supernatural work of God himself. Finally, the authority of our confession is transcendent in its scope. Look at the last part of this verses eighteen and nineteen, And I tell you you're Peter, And on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. This is an amazing saying, and it has confounded many. But this is where the answer lies. This is what ends answers the question what is it that separates this community? What is it that separates this body? What is it that separates the church and its authority from any other institution, from every other institution. There are institutions that have similar authority but in every instance to a lesser degree, especially when you talk about having the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, especially when you're saying whatever we bind on earth will be bound in Heaven. There is no other institution on earth that has this kind of authority nowhere. The most powerful kingdoms in the history of the world have lacked this kind of authority and always will lack this kind of authority. Princes and potentates do not wield this kind of authority. But the Church wields this authority. And only the Church wields this authority. There's been much debate over the years about where the significance in this text lies. Is it with Peter or or is it with Peter's confession. This play on words. You're Peter, which means rock, and upon this rock I will build my church. You're a pebble, and I'm going to build my church on this rock. Some argue that the emphasis here is on Peter, and this gives rise to align of elite authoritative leaders through the process of apostolic succession. This is Catholicism's argument. However, if it is the confession here that is meant, if the emphasis is on that silevel. Then this gives rise to a line of ordinary people who, like ordinary Peter, can make this extraordinary confession and be ushered into this extraordinary reality. If I believed the former, I'd be wearing a funny robe and a funny hat. So it's safe to say that I do not, that I believe the latter, and I believe. We see this for a number of reasons in a number of ways here in the text. For example, the disciples didn't see it the first way. The disciples didn't see the disciples didn't go away saying, wow, Jesus just made him the pope, because in chapter eighteen, verse one, there's grumbling and the disciples came to Jesus saying, who's the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Now, if chapter sixteen had established Jesus that Peter is the rock upon which the church is going to be built, chapter eighteen makes no sense. Chapter eighteen, verse one, Why do you come to Jesus asking him who's the greatest? If in chapter sixteen it's already been established. Why is there grumbling among the disciples about this? What you don't grumble about this? If there's grumbling, you know like, who's the greatest. They don't. This doesn't even get to Jesus because while they're grumbling, Peter says, hey, remember Cesarea, Philippi, it's me. Jesus obviously didn't mean it this way. In chapter twenty, verses twenty five to twenty eight, Jesus called them to him and said, you know that the rulers of the gentiles lord over them, and they are great ones. Exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you, must be your slave. Even as the son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. That does not sound like Peter's been established as your pope. I would argue that Peter didn't even see it this way. In the book that bears his name, One Peter, Chapter five, the first three verses there make it clear that Peter does not see himself as the pope. He does not see himself as the rock upon which the church is built. He writes, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder, and the witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercise oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. So the disciples don't see Peter as having been made of pope. Jesus makes it clear that Peter hadn't been made a pope, and Peter later makes it clear that he doesn't see himself as having been established as a pope. So it's not Peter, it's this confession. But that still leads us some questions. What about his keys to the kingdom stuff? And what I'm what about this binding and loosing stuff? Because we needed, we need to we need to fix this amen. I my family and I went to visit the church all these years ago when we went to visit the church and in our area, and when we got there, we were a little bit late, and we sat in the back. And as we're sitting in the back, we're sitting back by by the sound, and the sound was kind of acting up, and they're trying to fix the sound, and you know, all of a sudden people get up and start praying and speaking in tongues, and then they start binding the devil, you know, and the sound you know, and all this and they just they, you know, all this kind of stuff is going on. And and so I'm here with my family with my kids in They're like, Dad, What's what's going on? These people really like chasing the devil out of the church. Maybe if they are, we're right behind him. Because here's the thing, you know, Satan. Satan is a finite being. Amen belongs right there. So I just want to ask people, you know, when they're binding the devil, right, like, Satan is a finite being. So first of all, if you're powerful enough to bind the devil, wow. But secondly, if you're binding him this week, do you call all the other churches and tell him we got him? Because if they bound him in that church that night, everybody else's sound system should have been perfect everywhere else in the world. Right. And then here's the deal. If you can bind him, why just for the service. So so so let's let's look at these these two things. This this authority that the Church has these these keys to the Kingdom, And these keys to the Kingdom are understood pretty clearly and have been understood pretty clearly. These keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth have to do with ushering people in to the Kingdom through the proclamation of the Gospel. Heidelberg Catechism, Question eighty four, How is the Kingdom of Heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the Holy Gospel? The answer thus, when according to the command of Christ, it is declared and publicly testified to all and every believer, that whenever they receive the promise of the Gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven them by God for the sake of Christ's merits. And on the contrary, when it is declared and testified to all unbelievers and such as do not sincerely repent that they stand exposed to the wrath of God and eternal condemnation so long as they are unconverted, according to which testimony of the Gospel, God will judge them, both in this and in the life to come. We see it. We see it in the Book of Acts. By the way Peter, who plays a significant part in our text also plays a significant part in the preaching of the Gospel and the Book of Acts and the birth of the New Testament Church. So he is a significant player, no doubt. But what did they do that They declare the Gospel, and they say repent and believe, And then when people repent and believe, they baptize them and declare that these people are entering into the kingdom. Those are the keys ushering you into the kingdom, preaching the Gospel and inviting you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we hear a credible profession of faith, acknowledging that credible profession of faith, and baptizing you in the name of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit, because Jesus tells us to do that, and identifying you with the people of God. And there's a back side of this too, a back door. Question eighty five, How is the Kingdom of Heaven shut and opened by Christian discipline? Thus, when according to the command of Christ, those who under the name of Christian maintain doctrines or practices inconsistent therewith and will not, after being often brotherly admonished, renounce their errors and wicked course of life are complained of to the church or to those who are thereinto appointed by the Church. And if they despise their admonition and by them forbid to use the sacraments, whereby they are excluded from the Christian Church, and by God himself, from the Kingdom of Christ. And when they promise and show real amendment are again received as members of the church. They're the keys being used in binding and loosing. We proclaim the gospel. People believe the gospel. We say, you believe and be saved, and you come in this a credible profession of faith in this baptism. He's one of us, he's part of the Kingdom. Amen. And then there's a denial of that, and it's confronted, and there's a refusal to repent and his excommunication. Now, why am I going to argue that this binding and loosing and uses of the keys for binding and loosing has anything to do with membership in the church will because just a couple of chapters later we see the same language, and it's in that context chapter eighteen of Matthew, beginning at verse fifteen, and this also goes to the idea that Jesus is not saying Peter is the pope. Beginning verse fifteen. If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if it does not listen, take one or two others along with you. That every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the Church, let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector. There's the excommunication. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth should be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth should be loosed in heaven. It's got nothing to do with getting the devil out of your sound system. This is about the church's authority to excommunicate people. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father is in heaven, by my Father who is in heaven. Four we're two or three are gathered in my name there I am among them. In other words, when we're gathered as the church, not when there's an authoritative member of the priesthood by apostolic succession. No, where there is a gathering of believers, where there is a church, where there is a local church, same language used here, and that is the reference. It's amazing. We hear this, and we have we have problems with it, but there's very similar authority in the state. There may be some in here among us tonight who are naturalized citizens who went through a process and took a test and then went and gathered and stood before judge. And some of you, some of you have been there, some of you've seen this. It's moving, it's powerful. And they stand there and they raise their right hand and denounce any other allegiance and proclaim their allegiance to the United States. And then they are declared because of the keys to this kingdom for binding and loosing, they are declared to be citizens. Same thing, different sphere, and you can lose that citizenship too, Amen, or other ceremonies like an adoption ceremony. As an adoptive father, I can tell you it's an amazing thing to go before a judge and go through that ceremony and to raise your hand and have a declaration made. This is your child. And as moving as the citizenship ceremony can be, and as moving as an adoption ceremony can be, they're only significant because they are proximate pictures of this reality, where we can be declared citizens of the Kingdom of God, where we can be declared sons and daughters of God, and members of a kingdom without borders, without rival, and without end. There is no confession as significant as ours, because there is no kingdom as significant as ours, because there is no king as significant as ours. Let's pray, Our Gracious God and King, Father and Heaven. We bow before you, confessing that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Son of God, that he is the Anointed One, the Messiah, Prophet, Priest and King. And we bow before you, humbled and overwhelmed by the reality that this confession that can only be made rightly by your supernatural power working in us, is a confession that ushers up into your kingdom, that makes us a royal priesthood, this holy nation, this kingdom of priests, to our God and Father and the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the one in whom we place our faith and the one whom we confess, for we pray these things, and ask these things, and believe these things, and the matchless name of Jesus Amen