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Good morning, everyone. It's a blessing to be here and it's even more so not because my wife isn't here, but because she's sick and I'm not sick, and I'm grateful to be able to be able to be up here this morning.
Before we start I just like to Say a word of prayer. I forgot our pastor Mike. I want to pray for him this morning knowing he's preaching and also Pastor Dave who's down at the Cape, so let's just pray father we Are mindful of pastor Dave and pastor Mike as they're Preaching the word this morning pray that you give them great clarity that the word would be preached forcefully and that your people would receive it gratefully.
Father I would pray for the same here that your word would go forth with power and that We might be reminded of new of your goodness to us of your graciousness to us and your love for us in Christ's name.
Amen. Well, I got some really good news in the mail on Thursday and It had nothing to do with car insurance. Although that's the typical buzzword, but I I Opened my mail and it was from my attorney in Los Angeles.
The good news is is that the court? Saw things my way. This is this is all part of me being a deputy sheriff in Los Angeles County. But it's kind of a sobering thing when you read it and the court has decided.
Mr. Cooley that you are 71 disabled and you're and you're thinking well, how can that possibly be good news? Well, the good news is Long term financially that works really well for me. But secondly, you know, I thought I thought in a way it's kind of depressing I was even talking to Mike this week.
I'm going you know what? I'm never gonna be able to play basketball again all these things that I like to do. I'm never gonna be able to do again, but every single day when I get up I am constantly reminded of this good news and that good news is that the body that I have that is Decaying that is falling apart is not the body that I'm gonna be stuck in forever.
I'm gonna get a new body and I'm looking forward to that Lord willing that won't happen this morning. But I have a hope that is imperishable that set aside for me in heaven that will not fade away. And that's where my focus is.
It's not in this world. It's not I'm being able to play basketball. It's not on my little aches and pains. One of the common trends or one of the trends that's really flowing through evangelicalism today is really exemplified by a new book called revolution by George Barna.
Barna is a pollster and a Pop theologian I guess you'd say and he follows trends in the church and what he says today is the church has become Irrelevant the church doesn't matter that if the church doesn't get with it and change the way it's doing things.
It will cease to exist. He says that the future of church is not in the gathering of the Saints like this. He says the future of the church is the Internet. The future of the church is television. The future of the church is anything.
But the gathering together of the Saints on Sunday morning to gather and worship God. Bishop JC Ryle Said this about the church and about the world that we live in he said we live in a world in which all things are passing away.
Kingdoms empires cities institutions families all are liable to change and corruption. One universal law seems to prevail everywhere in all created things. There is a tendency to decay to which I can only say.
Amen. He goes on to say there is something sad and depressing in this. What profit has a man in the labor of his hands? Is there nothing that shall stand? Is there nothing that shall last. Is there nothing that shall endure is?
There nothing of which we can say this shall continue forever. And yet you have the answer to these questions in the words of our text this morning. Please open your Bibles to Matthew 16 verses 13 to 18 where our Lord Jesus Christ Speaks of something that shall continue that will not pass away that is not subject to eternal corruption.
There is one created thing that is an exception to the universal rule. That Bishop Ryle was referring to there is one thing that will never perish and pass away. And that thing is the building founded upon the rock the church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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 Barjona?
Because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father who is in heaven and I also say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.
Now how important is this text how vital is it to understand what Jesus is saying here? Well, may I just say start by saying this that there are more than 1 billion people Who have staked their eternal destiny on their own understanding of this?
We have more than 1 billion people who believe that Peter here is given absolute authority. But this morning I want to draw your attention to what is essentially a pop quiz a Bible study as it were a living Bible study the living Word of God quizzing his disciples and what we will see is that the answer to one of the questions he asked them has far-reaching implications about the church today and tomorrow and Therefore it is important for every one of us to understand what Jesus is saying if Jesus is building the church today.
What are you supposed to do about that? By the end of this discourse in Matthew chapter 16 There should have been no doubt in the disciples minds as to who Jesus was however, we know the story and they did not fully understand his position or His mission.
If they had they wouldn't have fled after his death. Some background about Matthew. Matthew is the first gospel written and even as I studied for this it is hard. And I've said this before it is difficult to find commentaries That say that Matthew is the first gospel written because it's become so Accepted by intellectuals that somehow Matthew copied from Mark and some other sources.
But this was not the position of the early church. It universally taught that Matthew was the first gospel written, which is why Matthew is the first book in the New Testament. That is what the early church always believed and there's no reason to think otherwise.
It was intentionally written. To display to declare Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah and King who would rule over Israel and the world. Matthew's goal is to convince his Jewish primarily Jewish audience that their Messiah Was here their Messiah had come chapters 1 to 10 of Matthew.
Give us the presentation of the king talk about his credentials his qualifications. The fact that he was a descendant of David and he met every single qualification to be the Messiah. Chapters 11 through 28.
However, give us the rejection of the king. They did not receive him as their Messiah in Chapter 16 earlier in this chapter. The Lord had been challenged by a combined company of Pharisees and Sadducees.
Which kind of gives you an idea how much they hated Jesus. Because the Pharisees and the Sadducees weren't like the Lions Club and the Kiwanis. They didn't cooperate. They didn't get together and do things together.
So for them to get together Against Jesus just shows how much they hated him. How much they they saw him as a threat and that's what he did. He threatened the religious status quo. It wasn't enough anymore to be on this treadmill of good works of trying to earn salvation and here we'll see or There's already been an exchange between Jesus and the disciples where they failed to grasp his warning.
About the dangers of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They didn't get it. But our passage opens in Caesarea Philippi, which is in northern Israel about as far north as you can go. It's about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.
It was named Caesarea by Philip the Tetrarch in honor of the Emperor or the Caesar Tiberius and It was known as Caesar Caesarea Philippi to distinguish it from Caesarea. They loved they tried to appease and appeal to the Caesar so much that they'd name out everything after him and build all kinds of Temples to him, but this was a very pagan area it had a temple for the worship of the pagan god Pan it had another temple honoring Caesar and That the area itself had a long history of worshiping Baal of worshiping false gods so there's some irony that Jesus in effect takes his disciples on a Religious retreat right in the middle of all this paganism.
We're gonna get a little time alone because we're gonna go into the heart of this pagan area. So we pick up the text 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?
Now this question is not as general as it seems. He's not asking. You know, what do the Pharisees think? What do the Sadducees think. Who do they think I am because he already knows they're fighting him at every turn.
What he wants to know is What does the typical man on the street think? You guys are interacting with people on an everyday basis. What do you hear because they're gonna say things to you that they're not gonna say to me.
So I want to know what people are saying. You guys have your ears to the ground as it were. What's the what's the word on the street? Who do those people think that I am now the name son of man is used in the Old Testament in several places, but it's used in Ezekiel and Yahweh.
God used that term to kind of remind Ezekiel of who he was. Ezekiel had a lot of great prophecies and when God would talk to me and say Son of man, I mean that kind of put him in check right there to just remind him.
Okay, I am here's God and I am a man. I am a mortal and God constantly put that into him. Daniel also had this applied to him by God and Daniel also used it prophetically to describe the Messiah the future King of Israel.
Jesus applied this title to himself more than any other. In fact, he used it 83 times. To refer to himself in the Gospels alone. So why did he ask this again? Why did he what was his purpose. Didn't the disciples know.
He just wanted to know what these people were thinking. And certainly the disciples appeared to know. If we look back a couple of chapters, I mean think about this if If somebody asked you something, what are the people on the street say?
Who do they say that I am. Maybe your first reaction is I don't know who they say they that you are. But I know who you are. But they don't do that back in Matthew 14 Verses 25 to 33 we read this. And to the fourth watch of the night, which is late in the night.
He came to them walking on the sea talking about Jesus and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea They were frightened saying it is a ghost and they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take courage it is I do not be afraid and Peter answered him and said Lord if it is you command me to come to you on the water and he said come and Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus but seeing the wind he became afraid and Beginning to sink.
He cried out saying Lord save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him. Oh you of little faith. Why did you doubt. And When they got into the boat the wind stopped and those who were in the boat worshipped him saying you are certainly God's Son.
Well, it seems that the The disciples got it. They understood. Did they did they really if they really understood that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh? Then why would they be fighting amongst themselves over who was gonna be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Why all these Difficulties and understanding what he was saying about the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the leaven. They didn't get it fully. But let's go back to our little pop quiz. The disciples started answering verse 14 and they said some say John the Baptist and others Elijah.
But still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets man if this was a fill-in-the-blank quiz, they're having a lot of problems. They don't really know. But they start telling him what people have said.
Was he John the Baptist come back to life? This would have been a difficult prospect considering John the Baptist was beheaded. But they clearly understood they knew that Jesus even the people who thought this was John the Baptist come back to life.
They knew that there was something special something Extraordinary about Jesus as a prophet. He did things that nobody else had done. Miracles that no one could do except for by the power of God. What about Elijah?
They knew that Elijah was supposed to precede the Messiah. Some believed that Elijah himself would come back from the dead and That was because they misunderstood Malachi 4 5. But could Jesus be the one who was paving the way for the conqueror.
For the king that the Jews anticipated. Could he be Jeremiah? Returning back to bring the tent and the Ark of the Covenant and the altar of incense to Israel. Could he be bringing back all the things all the trappings of the old worship?
Well, there was an intertestamental intertestamental myth. That that that's exactly what Elijah would do or I'm sorry what Jeremiah would do. Could he be another prophets back from the dead. Luke 9 19?
Says you don't have to turn there. I'll read it and they answered and said John the Baptist. Others say Elijah. But others that one of the prophets of old has risen again. Clearly the word on the Jewish Street was that Jesus was a very impressive prophet.
He'd done great things. But he was not thought to be the Messiah. He was not thought to be this king who is going to establish his throne. He'd done a lot of great things, but he hadn't gotten rid of the Romans.
He hadn't established a kingdom. He wasn't even talking about politics. I Think in many ways their confusion about who Jesus was reflects the confusion that still exists about Jesus. What do people say about Jesus now?
Who is he I? Heard and many of you probably saw the John MacArthur special where he was on talking about Jesus Christ. And they had an atheist on there who said that Jesus never existed. Beyond the fact that there's plenty of historical evidence for that.
There are a variety of opinions about him. He was a good teacher. He gave us the golden rule. Certainly everybody wants their child to live by the golden rule. That's good teaching. He gave us the Beatitudes so humble.
He was a good man. He was nonviolent. There's a lot to admire about Jesus. He's a wise man a philosopher on par with Buddha Confucius Gandhi and even the Dalai Lama. Jesus is quite a good man a good teacher a wise philosopher.
That's what people say and just as an aside. That's why we have to drive them back to who he was. I once had a man a Muslim man working for me as a trustee in the jail and he said, you know Jesus never claimed that he was God and I took him to John 8 58 and If the verse itself isn't that spectacular he says before Abraham was I am.
But it's the reaction of the crowd. It's the original audience. They listened and they took up stones. Why. Because they understood that what he'd said was I am God. Jesus did claim to be God. There are all that there's all this confusion about it.
But there is no confusion in the Lord's mind. There is no confusion in the Bible. It's very clear, but there was a lot of confusion in his day, too. But enough of this enough of this filling in the blanks enough of this.
Theorizing this man on the street interview thing you ever watch you ever seen one of those men on the street things. It's pretty frightening just as an aside how little people know about the world around them.
But he goes and he directly asked the Disciples, but who do you say that I am and I emphasize the you because that's what he did. Jesus put it right at the front of his question. He says you who do you say that I am?
It's almost like he said well, that's nice. I mean, you know, thanks for the input guys. But what I really want to know the bottom line is you guys are my circle. You guys are the ones I'm pouring my life into.
I need to know what you think now I. You know just keeping in mind this idea of they're surrendered by pagans. There's just this little group of men. They're off by themselves. It's kind of like a retreat like a little classroom like a question-and-answer session.
And I just think. Knowing how I respond in classrooms. I can just imagine. Here's the teacher. He's gonna ask this question. Who do you guys think I am? I Think everybody's kind of looking around. I'm not gonna say what I think, you know you go.
Nobody wants to get that wrong. How embarrassing would that be you get it wrong? You know, it's it's not like oh well. Nice try but thank you or whatever you if you're wrong. You're just way wrong. But Peter doesn't have that problem.
Peter has been described as a man with a foot-shaped mouth and. But you know what? But you know what here he says one of the most profound things ever he answers the question of verse 16. He says and Simon Peter answered and said thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God.
I Think it's interesting here that this is the only time in Matthew's Gospel that he identifies Peter as Simon Peter. It's like he wants to make sure That no matter what anybody else thinks that they identify Peter, right, you know Simon Peter.
This was the guy, you know, nobody else gets credit for this Simon Peter. But the statement this statement is known in Occasionally as the Great Confession we have the Great Commission. This is the Great Confession.
And it wasn't the only time or the first time that he made a similar statement of faith. But this was by far the most full and most complete that he ever said. There are only ten Greek words in this but check this out.
There are four of them four of them are definite articles. So Peter with great precision tells us who he thinks Jesus is he stresses the uniqueness of Jesus Christ with his statement first. He calls him the Christ.
The Greek word is Christos and it means that he is a Jesus was the fulfiller of Israelite expectation of a deliverer. The anointed one the Messiah all those things are bundled into one word in the Old Testament.
There were when we're talking about anointing or anointed one in the Old Testament priests. Prophets and kings were anointed with oil and when they were anointed with oil, they were consecrated they were set aside to the the offices that God had called them to and this Messiah is anointed is consecrated above all others.
He himself embraces all three offices of prophet priest and King. So Peter understood that he got that Jesus Christ was the long-awaited Prophet priest and King the one who would speak the words of God intercede for God's people and rule.
He was the rightful heir of David's throne and Peter got that. While he was obviously clear on that he Probably didn't understand all the implications as his future actions would show. It's only a few verses.
We don't know exactly how much time but it's only a few verses till Jesus says to him get behind me Satan. It's not like Peter had it all nailed down. He had struggles still. But he had a view of Jesus that was far above what other people did.
It was far advanced a lot more than the typical man on the street as the commentator Leon Morris says Peter could not have had or could not have ascribed a higher place to Jesus than he did. Now if Peter had stopped there, that would have been a good day's work.
He would have been a plus Pass that quiz flying, but he also confesses that Jesus is the son of the Living God. Now it's interesting that this wasn't the only time that somebody made that observation.
In Matthew 8 and you don't have to turn there, but there were the two men who were demon-possessed and what did they say? What do we have to do with you son of God? So think about this just by making that profession.
Can we take. Can we take and now I would certainly say Peter was saved. But he was saving an Old Testament thing and I don't want to get into a huge theological discussion, but we don't have. We don't have that.
We're not in the New Testament. We're in the New Testament page wise, but we're not in the New Testament era. We're still living under the Old Testament. How were Old Testament Saints saved? By faith.
But in a faith that pointed toward the cross our faith points back toward it. There's was an anticipatory faith. They trusted God alone for their salvation. But when we think about trusting did these two demon-possessed man Trust Christ when they said we know that you're the son of God.
What have we got to do with you son of God? No, they didn't get that and that same way. I don't think that we can imply From Peter's statement that he fully understood all the theological implications of the statement that he made.
Peter knew though. He knew that we weren't talking about some ordinary prophet. He knew that we weren't talking about some prophet raised from the dead. We were talking about a very special Individual we're talking about the Messiah.
He knew that Jesus had a very special relationship with God himself. But James 2 19 tells us the demons know that too and they tremble they don't believe. So I would say that it's likely. That he didn't understand that Jesus was God.
Think about it. What does he do, you know, even before Jesus rebukes him. Why did Jesus rebuke him because Peter rebuked him said no, you're not gonna go and suffer. I'm not gonna let that happen. You don't talk to God like that if you understand that he's God.
But finally given the setting of Peter's statement there we are in the the land of idolatry this kind of Disneyland of idolatry the idea of Jesus being the son of the Living God Distinguishes him from all the dead gods that all these people are worshiping.
What do they worship the people around their worship gods of stone of wood of metal? That's what they spent all their time doing the dead gods and Isaiah mocked them endlessly for doing that because their gods could not speak could not hear could not do anything and.
Yet this is what the people all around there did but Peter knew better. Peter knew that this was Jesus was someone who had a special relationship with the Living God the one who heard the one who spoke.
The one who acted the one who could do things. Verse 17. And Jesus answered and said to him Blessed are you? Simon bar Jonah because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. But my father who is in heaven and I also say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock and we'll stop right there.
There would certainly seem to be some joy in Jesus response, I mean certainly as God of the universe he knew what was happening, but I got to tell you after all the things that the disciples had done and said there had to be a little bit of Joy, and maybe even a little bit of relief and the fact that somebody was finally dialing in somebody was finally getting all this now Peter or Simon the son of Bard of Jonah, which is what bar Jonah means in Aramaic.
It means son of Jonah, or it could be son of John. I think in some of the other Gospels. It says that and to be blessed Means that he was the privileged recipient of divine favor. It's the same kind of idea that we're going to be saying when Mike gets to the Beatitudes.
Blessed is the man. Blessed is the man the recipient of divine favor. God's blessing is poured out on the people in the Beatitudes and is poured out on Simon because of his statement. He was privileged because this insight was given to him by God.
He says not by flesh and blood. Nobody told you this. Nobody could have told you this. Only God could have told you who I am. Only God could have revealed that this truth to you, but the blessing was not over.
Jesus was going to give him further insight. Now there have been literally oceans of ink spent on whether the rock is Peter's statement. Whether it means that Peter's the first Pope. Whether it means Peter in a non popish Yet uniquely gifted way.
Whether it means The Apostles as a group. Whether it means it's just the content of Peter's statement that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the Living God. Now I've written a paper on this issue, and I'm not handing it out this morning.
But if you want to read that that's fine. I can recommend books on it, but I'm not going to go through and systematically Destroy or promote one view or another? I'll simply summarize it this way that the rock I believe is Jesus.
Based on Matthew's audience who being Jewish Would have related the idea of a rock to Yahweh. They would understand the Old Testament rock. The Savior is pictured as God. The context of Matthew in the New Testament would give considerable weight to Jesus being the rock the foundation stone for the church.
Now certainly Peter was vital To the establishment and growth of the church. God used him mightily. I mean we think about events like Pentecost. He preaches a sermon. I would love to preach a sermon like this one day preach a sermon of 3 ,000 people come to faith.
I think that would be great. I'd like to have 3 ,000 people here something and Then later on 2 ,000 more. I mean Peter is instrumental in The growth of the early church, but that is not What Jesus is talking about in terms of some kind of Papal blessing or something like that, but looking on a verse 18.
I will build my church Jesus says and the gates of Hades Shall not overpower it. The Lord himself Will build the church. He states it emphatically he leaves no doubt about it. It is a future tense and the verb itself carries the idea of construction of literal building.
It's important to note that it is his work the church being built. Jesus Christ is the master builder. He is the one who is constructing. He is the one who's setting up the walls. He's the one who's laid the foundation.
He is the one who's doing the construction of the church and also note it is his church. It's interesting when I was in. When I was in seminary I had this professor used to say this he'd go. Don't you ever say it's my church?
He goes it's the Lord's Church. And I'm just the pastor. And that's right. There is no such thing as the Church of Mike the Church of Steve. We're just men. We're shepherds. We're under shepherds. Christ is the Great Shepherd.
Christ is the The One who's doing the construction? He's doing the work and every single believer belongs to him. Every single believer if you think about it millions billions who knows how many people?
Belong to the church. The church at large past present and future you know when you say billions ago. That's a lot of people. We'll think about it if we think about all the people who have ever lived and the number of people that are saved.
It's a relatively small number, it's a huge number it could be billions. But it's still a small number considering there probably been Countless more billions who will never know Christ. But he bought us.
Jesus Christ bought every single believer. We see that in Acts 20 28. He purchased us with his blood. We are his we are his possession and also note that no power on earth or anywhere else can stop it.
The idea of the gates of Hades. Now there are two basic schools of thought and I'm going to boil this all down and tell you that it doesn't really matter. Let me explain. The gates of Hades is either the great power of death or the spiritual power of Satan and his demonic hordes.
When we think about gates We you know we think hey. We've got a little gate in our backyard and we open it up and if we open it up the dogs will run out. We'll have to go chase him. That'll be bad. But the gates in the Old Testament the idea is they were a symbol of a city strength.
You think well that would be the weak part. Well, it was the weak part, but if you had strong gates. And you had a strong city you wouldn't build you know chain-link walls and throw up this huge fortified gate.
What would be the point in that so you would have? Fortified walls and a super fortified gate that nobody could get through and The gate was literally the seat of power. It's where the The leaders of the local government would meet where the judges would decide cases.
This was like the City Hall and It was so it was the civic center of activity, but it was also The point at which you were most likely to be attacked. So it had to be the strongest point in the city, and if it wasn't you were in big trouble so what we're talking about when we say the gates of Hades is the seat of power the very essence of strength whether it is of Hades itself meaning death meaning the church can never die or whether it is Satan and his hordes meaning Satan and his hordes can never overtake the church either way you look at it what Jesus is saying is there is No power Anywhere in the universe that is going to stop me from building my church.
Nothing is going to do that now. I Have to make an observation at this point personal observation. I Came from a cult or I come from a cult. I Came from one and I come from one that said that shortly after the Apostles died.
Within a very short period of time the truth disappeared from the earth and That for more than 1700 years no one had the truth. Now there are a number of arguments. I could make against This particular church, but the top one I would say is this If they are right then Jesus Christ is a liar.
Jesus said he would build his church and nothing would stop that and yet they say The Apostles died the truth went away the church died and Wasn't resuscitated for 1700 years. That's not the Jesus Christ.
I believe in that's not the Jesus Christ who said that nothing would stop his church. Now is Jesus building his church. I Think so and I think there's ample argument for it from the scripture on top of the argument that we could make here today.
Just in our own lives first. Peter 2 9 Talks about how that Jesus has called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Mark 13 26 and 27. I'll read all this. You don't have to turn there and then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory and Then he will send forth the angels and will gather together his elect from the four winds.
From the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven. He's building his church now. He will build his church in the future. He would build his church right until the very end. Now if Jesus Christ has promised to build his church.
Well, what do we do? What's our role? Are we merely the audience we just step back and go good job Lord. Just keep building that church. No. We are his instruments. Let me give you some of the practical outworking of this.
Ephesians 4 11 and 12 says and he gave some as apostles. Some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers. And here's the part here Jesus. It's talking about in verse 11 talking about Jesus gave some.
This is what Jesus gave to the church. Why verse 12 for the equipping of the Saints? That's you. For the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. He is equipped and is equipping you. Through the teaching of his word to do the building up of the body of Christ.
Believers are to do the work of service the work of ministry. They are to do the building. Does that mean we get the credit? No because Christ is building his church. We do the work. God gets the glory.
And anybody who doesn't think that's fair see me afterwards. How do we do that first in evangelism? The Great Commission is for every believer. Jesus commanded his apostles. He commanded his followers to make disciples.
And you know why he did that he did that on the basis that he had all authority. All authority had been given to him by The Father. And today as we sit here as we stand here Jesus Christ still has all authority.
That hasn't gone anywhere. So his command stands his command to go out there and make disciples of all the nations stands. That is still our job today. How else? Prayer in Acts 16 and 2nd Corinthians 9.
We see the idea of corporate prayer of gathering together to pray corporately. Paul even instructs Timothy about it in 1st Timothy 2. We need to get together and pray. How else gathering together for corporate worship.
Hebrews 10 23 through 25 let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful and. Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some.
But encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near. We don't forsake getting together. Why. Because we need to get together. To stimulate one another to love and good deeds. We get together for the purpose of hearing the word of praying of having fellowship of Moving and pressing one another to love and good deeds.
How else do we build the church by giving. 2nd Corinthians 9 verses 6 and 7 says this now. I know this. I say who he who sows sparingly shall also reap. Sparingly and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.
Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart. Not grudgingly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. Amazing thing is God does not need your money. I once I remember a man In California Who disappeared from church and came back and I said, well, it's good to see you haven't seen you for a while.
He goes. Well, I went off and I did this and I did that and he goes, you know, I was really bothered because I Just really felt like people were looking in my checkbook. I said, well, you don't really get it.
We don't give because we're compelled to give. We don't give because we care about what other people think. We give because it's a blessing to give. God doesn't need us, but he allows us to participate in the building of his kingdom through giving.
If God owns the cattle on Thousand Hills he doesn't need us. He does not need us, but he uses us. How else do we participate in the building of the church by loving and I have several verses I want to read on this because I think this is this is one where we really really can work harder do better.
Hebrews 13 1 let love of the brethren continue. That's a great passage. Let love of the brethren continue. That should be the consistent outlook of the body of Christ love. First Peter 1 22 since you have an obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren.
Fervently love one another from the heart. Take care for one another watch out for one another first John 3 14. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death and can I just say?
You know my wife Has been trying so hard for the last few weeks to get people to come to our house for Thanksgiving. And you know what she's been disappointed. You know why it's because you all are doing such a great job of inviting people over your house.
We're like too late. It's been a real blessing to us to just hear all the plans that people already have. I say good that is good. Let's do better and by the way if you want to come over our house see me afterwards first.
John 3 16 we know Love by this that he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Are you laying down your lives for your brother or sister in Christ? John 13 35 Jesus himself said by this all men all men think go beyond West Boylston beyond Worcester County all men everywhere.
Will know that you are my disciples that you are my followers that you are Christians. If you have love for one another also by serving Galatians 5 13 for you were called to freedom brethren only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another.
Serve one another what are you doing to serve each other to serve the body? We need to admonish and encourage one another 1st Thessalonians 5 14 and we urge you brethren admonish the unruly. Encourage the faint-hearted help the weak be patient with all men.
Maybe that could be our church motto. Admonish the unruly encourage the faint-hearted help the weak be patient with all men. We also need to edify we need to build one another up spiritually. Romans 15 2 says let each of us Please his neighbor and this doesn't mean your next-door neighbor.
It's talking about your brother in Christ for his good to his edification. We need to edify one another build one another up. Now how finally how should we view the church? Ephesians 5 25 Paul writes.
Husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her. Should you love the church less than the master who bought you with at the price of his own blood? He has given you everything Eternal life and everything that you need pertaining to life and godliness.
Each of you have a role to play. What you cannot do biblically is sit it out watch. Be a member of the audience as it were while Jesus builds the church. The church will be built anyway with or without you.
But you forfeit blessing and call the condition of your own heart into question by not Participating by not serving by not loving but not doing all the things that I've I've outlined here this morning.
Everything around us everything in this world is decaying everything is going through entropy to use the scientific word. Certainly our bodies are failing. But there is one thing that will not fail the building of the church of Jesus Christ we have his word on it.
You have the opportunity to work on something that will not decay and it is not a building this building will decay. But the body of Jesus Christ is not this building. It is believers loving serving edifying.
Building up the body. Christ will build his church. Will you serve him? Let's pray our great King high priest prophet our Messiah Lord you have Given us so much and you have promised Lord by your word.
Which cannot be broken? To build your church. You have brought us into your church you have given us blessing after blessing after blessing father by your spirit. Would you work in the heart of each person here to join in the work of?
Building the church not the edifice, but within the body within the people. Would you cause us to love one another more fervently than ever to serve one another? To admonish and encourage one another.
To give with liberality. Father knowing that we are just instruments being used by you. We owe it all to you Lord Jesus Christ Sinners without hope and yet you saved us through your perfect life death resurrection.
Lord giving us the eyes of faith to see you for who you are. Would you build in Bethlehem Bible Church a people who love you and Therefore love the church. I pray in Christ's name. Amen.