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Now let's open our Bibles together to the Gospel of Matthew and the 16th chapter.

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Our theme today is, Who do you say that I am?

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Hundreds of millions of people have celebrated the Christmas holiday.

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It's sad to say most of them have probably done so in ignorance, not understanding the

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person of the babe in the manger.

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My son's kindergarten class put on a Christmas program this last week, and in the program

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there was only one song actually that dealt with the religious aspect of Christmas, and

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it was entitled, Mary Had a Baby.

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In fact, the baby was not even named.

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It is perhaps ironic that in a time when more people than ever before in history are participating

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in Christmas celebrations, most of them would likely answer the question in the Christmas

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Carol, who is this in yonder stall, by simply stating, I'm really not sure.

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The question as to the true identity of this one whose birth we have remembered is one

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which he himself posed to his own disciples on an occasion.

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That is found in our text in Matthew 16, beginning in verse 13.

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Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he began asking his disciples saying,

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Who do people say that the Son of Man is?

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And they said, Some say John the Baptist, and others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah,

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or one of the prophets.

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He said to them, But who do you say that I am?

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And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

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And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you Simon, Bar Jonah, Son of Jonah, because

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flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father who is in heaven.

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And I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the

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gates of Hades shall not overpower it.

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I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall bind on earth

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shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

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You will notice that even in that day there was a difference of opinion among the multitudes

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as to the identity of the Son of Man, Jesus there by that title referring to himself.

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There were some who were of the opinion that he was John the Baptist raised from the dead,

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for Herod had slain him by this point.

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They thought that he was resurrected and was ministering once more, that in fact seemed

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to be Herod's opinion.

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There were others who said, No, this is actually Elijah.

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Look at the miracles that he does.

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Still others said, I believe that he is Jeremiah, but consider the compassionate heart, the

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tears that he sheds.

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He must be Jeremiah.

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Others had varying opinions that he was one or another of their prophets of old.

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Likewise today there are various opinions as to the identity of this babe in the manger.

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Some would say, Well, to me he became a great prophet.

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Others would say, To me he is a wonderful moral example to follow in my life.

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Others who are more plugged into current kinds of things would say, Well, to me he is a man

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in whom the God consciousness has been fully developed.

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When you come right down to it though, it is not so important as to who people think

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Jesus is.

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The important thing is, Who is he in truth?

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Jesus asked his disciples, Who do you say that I am?

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Peter responded for the rest of them, which was not uncommon.

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And he said, You are the Christ.

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Using that term he was drawing upon an Old Testament picture.

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You are the Messiah, he was saying.

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Now that was not the first time that thought had come to Peter.

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In fact when he was introduced to Jesus by his brother, his brother said to him, This

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is the Messiah.

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So this was not an uncommon thought to Peter.

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It had undoubtedly been in his mind for these months and years that he had followed Jesus.

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But you see he was looking at Messiah the way most of the people were looking at Messiah

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in that day.

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Messiah was to come as a political deliverer from the oppression of Rome.

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They saw nothing particularly supernatural about him, but he was to be their deliverer,

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their rescuer politically.

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This is the Messiah.

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And yet as he performed his miracles, even his disciples had to respond on occasion,

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what manner of man is this?

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That even the wind and the sea obey him.

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They did not fully understand at that point who he was.

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And now after this time with them, Jesus turns to them as a group and says, Who am I?

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Who do you say that I am?

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And now with conviction, now with understanding, Peter says on behalf of them all, You are

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the Christ, but you didn't stop there.

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You said the Son of the living God.

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You see he understood now Messiah was more than a political deliverer.

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In fact Messiah was deity.

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For Peter's response was an assertion of the deity of Jesus Christ.

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You are the full expression, he is saying, of the living God in humanity.

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Notice that Jesus did not rebuke him.

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Rather Jesus accepted Peter's response because his answer was correct.

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What we are looking at here in this response is essential truth.

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One cannot claim to be a biblical Christian and to deny what Jesus accepts here about

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himself, that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

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To the Jews of old the Christ would come to fulfill three offices.

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He would come as prophet, the one who would reveal God.

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He would come as priest, the one who would represent man before God.

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He would come as king, the one who would rule over the nation and over the earth.

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Jesus Christ accepted that title, Messiah, the Son of the living God.

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That is essential truth for one to be called a biblical Christian.

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If you know that truth, you know more than most people who are in the world today.

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Our text reveals several facts about this truth of who Jesus is.

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The first fact is this.

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This truth, that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, is the source of joy.

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This truth, my friend, is the source of joy.

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After saying what he did to Peter, and then Peter's response, Jesus then answers Peter

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with these words in verse 17, blessed, blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah.

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The word blessed means happy or fulfilled.

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It is not happiness based upon pleasant circumstances.

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But rather it is an untouchable, inner state of being.

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It embraces the thoughts of peace, contentment, and joy.

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Jesus says to Peter, blessed are you, Peter, joyful and contented are you, because of this

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truth that you have understood.

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This term, blessed, is one that is in fact used of God himself.

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Blessed be God, says the Scriptures.

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Therefore anyone who is blessed has to be in right relationship to the eternal blessed

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God.

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The truth of who Jesus Christ is, is the source of this blessedness and this joy.

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One cannot be fooled with joy and be ignorant of the fact, the truth, that Jesus is the

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Christ, the Son of the living God.

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There is no blessedness apart from that truth.

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Peter understood it.

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He was rightly related to God because of this truth and he is blessed, he is joyful.

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Knowing who Jesus is becomes then the portal to salvation.

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One must have that understanding in order to be saved.

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One must know who Jesus Christ is in order to believe on him for the salvation of his

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soul and once he has extended that faith to the Christ, the Son of the living God, he

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then can truly be said to be blessed.

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Not only is this truth the source of joy, but secondly this truth is a gift of grace.

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The knowledge of who Jesus is was not apprehended by Peter using his human intelligence, but

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was rather the result of God's enlightenment as Peter watched and heard what Jesus said

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and did.

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God revealed this to Peter.

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Jesus said flesh and blood did not expose this truth to you Peter, but my Father who

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is in heaven, this is a work of God in Peter's heart that he came to understand who Jesus

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is.

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Remember the Pharisees and Sadducees saw some of the same things, heard some of the same

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things as Peter and the disciples, but they did not believe.

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They did not accept him as the Christ, the Son of the living God.

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Peter did.

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It is the gift of the grace of God that he did.

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Turn back with me a couple of pages in Matthew to chapter 11 and look at these words of

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our Lord in verse 25.

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At that time Jesus answered and said, I praise thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

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that thou dost hide these things from the wise and intelligent and disreveal them to

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babes.

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What are these things that Jesus speaks about?

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What are the things about who he is as the king, the things about the kingdom that he

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came to offer the Jewish people?

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He says, I thank you God that you hid these things from the wise and intelligent, but

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you reveal them to babes.

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Does that seem like strange language to you?

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He goes on to say, yes Father, for thus it was well pleasing and dyesight.

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All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except

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the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son

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wills to reveal him.

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As the Son revealed the Father, so the Father revealed the Son.

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And that revelation is given not on the basis of human merit and worth, but on the basis

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of divine favor.

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To reveal to some, to conceal from others is the prerogative of the sovereign God, the

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Lord of heaven and earth.

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And when God reveals his Son to some and conceals his Son from others, that is always done with

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perfect justice.

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God is never unjust, he is never unfair, but always with perfect justice.

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He reveals and he conceals.

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Now from whom does God conceal this truth?

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Well, Jesus says it is the wise and intelligent that has nothing to do with IQ.

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Jesus is referring here to those who were self-sufficient, self-wise, those who had no

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real need of him in their opinion, those who were wise in their own eyes.

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He's talking primarily in the context here of the religious leaders of that day who had

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no use for him, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and others.

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The truth of who he was was therefore concealed from them.

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But to babes, it was revealed, who are the babes?

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Well, this has nothing to do with one's age or one's maturity level, but rather it has

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to do with those who are dependents, those who are receptive to being taught, those who

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have childlike faith to believe, to those the Father is pleased to reveal the person of

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his Son.

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If you today understand the truth that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God,

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please understand that that knowledge came to you not because you are so clever, nor

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because somehow you are worthy of having that knowledge for millions died without it, but

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you have that knowledge because of the grace of God who has revealed that truth to you.

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You know it as a gift from God.

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This truth is the source of joy.

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This truth is a gift of grace and anytime anyone comes to understand that Jesus is the

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Christ, the Son of the living God, that is a gift, my friend, a gift of grace.

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The third fact that I see here regarding this truth is that it is the foundation of the

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church.

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Jesus here uses the term church for the very first time.

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It is not used with its full meaning as we use it today.

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It was used here in a very simple, undeveloped sense.

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But nonetheless, our Lord says, I will build my church on this rock.

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We'll talk about that in a moment.

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Notice that he puts that in the future.

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I will build.

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Signifying the fact that he was not then building the church.

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He does not say, upon this rock I am building my church.

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He is saying I will build my church.

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Why?

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Because at the time that he was speaking these words, he was still in his program with Israel,

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still dealing with Israel, still offering to Israel the kingdom.

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But eventually at his crucifixion, Israel rejected that kingdom.

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And they were set in a shelf for this time, set aside in the sovereign purpose of God.

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And on the day of Pentecost, Jesus Christ began to build the church that here he predicts.

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And he is building it yet today, folks, with living stones, people like you and me who believe

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on him, who come by grace to an understanding of who he is and what he has done for us.

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Today he is building his church.

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But then he said, I will build my church.

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And notice it is his church, his unique congregation.

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It is a church he has purpose to build.

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And let me tell you that all in heaven, earth or in hell cannot keep him from that purpose.

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He will one day consummate the construction of his church.

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He will do it.

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He says, I will build my church.

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But notice that he says, I will build my church on this rock.

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Jesus says, and I say to you that you are Peter.

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And upon this rock, I will build my church.

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Jesus was not here naming Peter for the first time, not at all.

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In fact, the first time he met him, he used that term of him.

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When Jesus spoke these words, he was probably speaking Aramaic.

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And so when he said it, it came out this way, and I say to you that you are Cephas, and

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upon this Cephas, I will build my church.

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However, when the Holy Spirit tells us to record those words of our Lord, he tells us to record

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them in the Greek language which Matthew used.

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And these words are recorded inerently.

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They are recorded just the way that God wanted them to be recorded by inspiration.

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So that when these words are written now in the Greek language, this is the way God wants

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us to hear them.

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And I say to you that you are Petros.

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And upon this Petra, I will build my church.

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There is a play on words that the Holy Spirit built into that statement.

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There is a purpose for that.

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We will get to it.

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He says you are Petros.

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You are Peter.

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Not an uncommon name.

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You are the Rockman.

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That is what it means.

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Peter was probably a macho kind of person, a rough fisherman.

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You are Petros.

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The word Petros refers to a stone, the kind of a stone you can pick up and throw.

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But then Jesus says, and upon this Petra, changing the word to a feminine form, upon

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this Petra, I will build my church.

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Here it does not refer to a stone, but the word Petra refers to a massive rock, a layer

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of rock, such as you would use for the foundation of a large building.

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And so Jesus is saying here, upon this massive rock, not Petros, Peter, but upon this Petra,

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this massive foundation, I will build my church.

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Now what did Jesus have in mind?

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Well, good Bible teachers have a difference of opinion here, but it seems to me that the

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best explanation in the context is that he is talking about the truth that Peter has

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just spoken.

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He is saying, upon this truth that I am the Christ, the Son of the living God, I will

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build my church.

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Do not Paul say something almost the same in 1 Corinthians 311?

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And no other foundation can any man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

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And so I say to you that this truth, that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God,

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is the foundation of the church.

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The church is founded upon the truth of his person, who he is.

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And he goes on to say, the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.

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The King James Version put it, the gates of hell shall not overcome it, leading some

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to think that it's talking here about Satan and his armies attacking the church and being

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unable to overcome the church.

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Now certainly Satan is attacking the church and he is unable to overcome the church, however

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that is not what this verse is saying.

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The term here is not hell, in our sense of that term, the place of suffering.

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That's the term Hades, Hades, which refers to the place of the dead or to death.

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So Jesus is saying, I will build my church and the gates of death shall not overcome

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it.

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But what does he mean by that?

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I think he answers the question in verse 21.

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Matthew was on to record, from that time Jesus Christ began to show his disciples that he

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must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes

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and be killed and be raised up on the third day.

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Jesus was just now beginning to tell his disciples that he was going to die.

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Then part of his prophecy that he was going to build the church, Jesus wanted his disciples

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to understand from the very first word of the church that death, his own death, would

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not keep him from his purpose.

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That in fact he would go through the gates of death and on the third day he would come

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back through those gates victorious.

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He would conquer death and as death's conqueror would go on to build his church.

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And today he is seeing Revelation 118 holding the keys to death and Hades.

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He was its master and its conqueror and as such he builds his church and he has for 2,000

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years.

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And those generations that have preceded ours likewise have marched through the gates of

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death.

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Now there are enemies of the gospel in the world who think that that ends it.

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If you can just kill the Christians, send them through the gates of Hades, that's the

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end of the church.

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Not so, because you see one day every single believer who has gone through those gates

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like the Savior is going to come back out those gates resurrected and glorified like

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the Savior himself.

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And one day our Lord is going together together our believers in this age at one place at

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one time and the church will be consummated despite the gates of Hades.

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The gates of Hades will not overcome the church that is founded upon this truth that he is

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the Christ, the Son of the living God, the living God.

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And now there is another important truth that we want to look at in our text.

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Another fact whether about this truth, this truth is the source of joy, this truth is

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the gift of grace, this truth is the foundation of the church, and finally this truth is for

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all people without distinction.

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It is for all people.

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He is the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, but his saving work is not for the Jews only,

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beloved, it is for the whole world.

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He was the crucified risen Messiah, with redeemed people from every tribe, people and nation

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upon the earth.

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It is a truth for all people.

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Say, where do you see that here, what he says to Peter?

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Verse 19, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall

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bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

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Now that verse has been an interesting one through centuries, let me tell you.

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Is Jesus here talking about priestly absolution from sins?

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Does a priest have the authority to forgive sins?

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According to the Bible, God alone can forgive sins.

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That's not what he's talking about here.

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Did Jesus give to Peter the authority to be his successor, and do then be followed with

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the succession of men who would stand as pope over the church, who had the keys to the kingdom

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of heaven?

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Is that what he's saying?

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No, not at all.

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Does Peter stand before the pearly gates to let people into heaven like some of the jokes

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that are usually poor in taste?

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Say, is that what Peter is doing?

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Because he has the keys to the kingdom of heaven?

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Is it that heaven?

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What is the kingdom of heaven?

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You have to look out in the context of Matthew.

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The kingdom of heaven in Matthew simply means the rule of the heavens over the earth.

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See, the Jewish people on that day, Jesus offered the kingdom of heaven.

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Is it the hand, he said?

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And had the Jewish people believed on him, the kingdom would have come, but they didn't.

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Is the kingdom then non-existent today?

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No.

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Matthew tells us in the 13th chapter that the kingdom of heaven in this age takes on a different

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form.

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It's not an outward kingdom.

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It is not a political kingdom.

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It is an inner kingdom, a spiritual kingdom, over the hearts of men and women.

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It is in a mystery form, a hidden form, in this age.

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Another way to put it is the kingdom of heaven is the sphere of Christian profession.

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And when Peter was given the keys, what it means was he was given the authority to unlock

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to people, the sphere to believe in Christ, to professing in him.

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It was the authority to open the door.

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The keys are not used to lock the door, to shut people out, to exclude them.

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But the keys are used to open the doors, to make the way open.

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Peter and all of the disciples were to exercise that authority.

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In verse 19, I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, this plural.

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I will give you, he says, as a group.

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But in a special sense to Peter as the leader of leaders, he is giving the authority to

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do this.

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Now, did Peter ever do it?

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What is he talking about?

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From our perspective, having the history of the early church, we can go back to the book

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of Acts and see exactly how Peter used these keys.

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For example, in Acts chapter 2, Peter employed these keys, as it were, when he stood before

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the Jewish people there at the temple and he proclaimed to them their Christ whom they

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had crucified, whom God raised from the dead.

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He proclaims Christ to them and opens the door to the Jewish people, the sphere to Christian

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profession that they might believe on their Christ.

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And many did believe on him that day, on that first day of the church when Jesus began to

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build it and they were added into the church.

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And then you turn over a few pages to Acts chapter 8 and Philip goes down to, or goes

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to Samaria and he preaches the gospel.

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And Peter, in a delegation from Jerusalem arrived.

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And Peter then explains to them again the gospel and they believe and the Holy Spirit

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comes upon them.

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What's happening here?

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The door is being opened now to half-breed, geo- Gentile, the Samaritans.

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The door is open to another group, you see, by Peter coming and proclaiming the gospel

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to them.

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The Holy Spirit comes upon them.

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They are incorporated into the church.

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And you flip over a couple of more pages to chapter 10 of Acts.

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You come to a Gentile, a God-fearing Gentile, but a Gentile.

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And he prays to God and God says, Cornelius, you send a Joppa and you ask for Peter.

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And tell him to come.

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And so he sent a delegation and while the delegation was on the way, God was preparing

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Peter this terribly prejudice Jew.

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Through a vision, God explained to Peter that he was not to call Gentiles unclean anymore.

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And Peter was pondering what that vision meant when there was an octador and he was summoned

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by the people from Cornelius' house and he went to Caesarea to where Cornelius lived.

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And he began to praise to Cornelius now a Gentile, the first Gentile to hear.

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He proclaimed to Gentile, to this Gentile, the gospel of Jesus Christ, that he is the

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Christ, the Son of the living God, crucified, buried, raised again.

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And before Peter can even give the invitation, Cornelius believes and suddenly the Holy Spirit

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comes upon him.

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What's happened?

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To another whole group of people, Gentiles.

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The gospel has been extended, the doors are open now for Gentiles.

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So you see the point of what Jesus said to Peter here, I give to you the keys to the

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kingdom of heaven, was that he was going to open the doors to eventually everyone on the

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earth.

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Jew, half Jew, non Jew, could share in the Jewish Messiah and the salvation that he came

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to bring.

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Our way of application and extension, there's a sense in which you and I today employ the

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keys as it were when we share the gospel with someone, someone who is ignorant of who he

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is, who when they hear what child is this, have to say, I don't know.

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When you and I share that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God who died for them

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and rose again, we're opening the doors it were for them, that they also might believe

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in him and be saved.

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This truth, beloved, is for all people without distinction.

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There is none who cannot hear and believe except those who have no creature, proclamer

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or witness to share that news with them.

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That's why we need to be busy in extending the gospel message to the ends of the earth,

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because this truth is for all people.

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There's no question in the world that is more crucial than this one that we have looked

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at today, who do you say that I am?

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But frankly, there is a lot of confusion as to how that might be answered in the world.

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Why is that?

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Why is there so much confusion?

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Why was there confusion in that day as to who Jesus was?

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I think at least for three reasons there is confusion today.

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In the first place, because the sinner's mind is darkened.

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In this chapter 4 tells us that the thinking process of the unregenerate man is naturally

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futile, it's empty, it doesn't go anywhere.

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Because his mind is darkened, his sin has darkened it so that he cannot see and understand

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who Jesus is.

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But secondly, we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 that Satan is busy at work blinding the

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minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus

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Christ should shine to them.

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And so not only is there the natural blindness of the human heart, but there is a supernatural

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blindness cast upon the unconverted that they might not see who Christ is, that he

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is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and be saved from their sin.

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But there is a third possibility as to why there is confusion in the world, and that

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is that there is an unclear picture of who he is presented to the world.

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What I mean is that the Jesus which the world sees as painted not on the pages of the Bible,

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but on the pages of the lives of Christians.

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You are the only Bible that many people read.

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The only Jesus they know to study is the one whom they see lived out in your life.

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And so I come to this thought-provoking question to me.

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How would my friends answer Jesus if he were to say to them, who am I?

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If all of the knowledge they had was based upon what they have seen in my life and heard

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from me, how would your friends answer Jesus if he were to say to them, who do you say

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that I am?

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And immediately in their minds they reference back to the only knowledge they have, knowledge

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from you, from watching you and listening to you.

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Could they say you are the Christ, the Son of the living God?

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Oh, I pray that our lives would paint a true picture as to who Jesus is.

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Jesus' question still searches the hearts of men and women today.

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There is the thoughtful question, who do you say that I am?

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My friend, your eternity in mind rests upon the answer that comes from our heart.

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Notice I said our heart, not our mind.

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We have to have more than a head or intellectual understanding of who he is, that there must

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be that heart knowledge that not only says you are the Christ, the Son of the living

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God, but my faith is in you.

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I rely upon you for my salvation.

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Understand that that's the reason that he came and died, was raised again, the reason

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he lives today, that he might save those that will come to him.

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The story was told of a little girl just three years old who asked her mother, Mommy, what

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is Christmas?

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And so the mother sat the little girl down and explained that Christmas is Jesus' birthday.

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And then the little girl said, then why do we not give a present to Jesus if it's his

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birthday?

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And so the mother tried to explain the tradition of exchanging Christmas gifts, whereas an

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expression of love for each other, and that seemed to satisfy the little girl.

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And it didn't come up again until Christmas Eve, when a sleepy little toddler three years

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old placed a crudely packaged gift under the tree on her way to bed.

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And she explained to her mother, this is a gift for Jesus, a birthday gift for him.

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And I know that he's going to open it during the night while I'm asleep.

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Well, I put the mother into a real position because she didn't want the little girl to

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wake up and find that Jesus hadn't opened her package.

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And so after the little girl was asleep, the mother went to the tree and took out the

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package and opened it, took off the top of the box and looked in, and it was empty.

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She left the wrappings in the box there, opened, and the next morning the little girl got up

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and was absolutely elated to find that her package had been opened during the night.

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The little girl said, or the mother said to the little girl, but honey, what was in your

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package for Jesus?

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And she said, mommy, there was a box full of love.

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And she said, let's pray.