Mary the Mother of Jesus

Peter And The Rock

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. Stephen Bohr

Home

Series Code: MMJ

Program Code: MMJ000006


00:36 Shall we bow our heads for prayer?
00:37 Father in heaven, once again it's a wonderful joy to be here
00:44 to open Your Word and to study the great things that are
00:48 contained therein.
00:49 We ask that as we study that famous passage of Matthew 16
00:54 that Your Holy Spirit will be with us to guide
00:57 us and to teach us.
00:59 And we thank You for hearing our prayer for we ask it
01:03 in the precious name of Your beloved Son Jesus, Amen.
01:07 Probably by now some of you are wondering how the Roman Catholic
01:15 Church can teach these doctrines about Mary if there is no
01:22 Biblical testimony to the effect that Mary was the mother
01:27 of God, that she was born immaculate,
01:31 that she was conceived without sin,
01:36 that she was assumed to heaven, and so on.
01:39 Well the fact is today we are going to study the reason why
01:45 Roman Catholics believe in these teachings even though they are
01:49 not contained even implicitly in Holy Scripture.
01:55 The basis of their belief is founded on a passage that we
02:00 find in Matthew 16.
02:04 Before we read that passage, I would like to share with you
02:08 the Roman Catholic view and interpretation of this passage.
02:12 Basically what they say is that when Jesus ascended to heaven
02:19 He left Peter here on earth as His Vicar, or as His successor.
02:26 When Peter died he then left a successor on the
02:31 throne in his place.
02:33 And this process has continued without interruption until
02:39 the present day Pope Benedict IVI.
02:43 Basically as Christ's representative,
02:47 the Roman Catholic Church believes that the pope has
02:51 the ability, and the power, to preserve, explain,
02:58 and define the Word of God.
03:00 Not only the written word, but also the oral traditions
03:06 that have been passed on from generation to generation.
03:10 As he sits on the cathedra, or the papal throne,
03:15 he chairs church councils.
03:19 He also writes encyclicals and pastoral letters.
03:24 And in this way he defines, and clarifies, and dictates
03:29 many of the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church.
03:33 Many of these things are not found explicitly in the Bible,
03:38 or even implicitly, but they are to be accepted and believed
03:42 because of the position that the pope occupies
03:47 in the divine economy.
03:49 Basically the idea is that when the pope speaks ex cathedra,
03:55 that is when he speaks from his throne,
03:58 his declarations are infallible.
04:01 And what he teaches is to be accepted without question
04:06 by the faithful in the church.
04:08 In other words, his teaching is as if it is the teaching
04:13 of Jesus Christ Himself.
04:16 What he teaches cannot be revised, changed, or abolished
04:22 under any circumstances.
04:24 And what he teaches in the realm of faith and morals,
04:29 that is doctrine and practiced, must be obeyed implicitly
04:33 by the members of the church.
04:35 In this way many of the teachings of the Roman Catholic
04:40 Church have been passed on without the smallest thread of
04:44 evidence from Holy Scripture.
04:47 For example, the idea that Mary is the mother of God,
04:51 the idea that Mary was conceived immaculately,
04:55 the idea that Mary was a perpetual virgin,
04:59 the idea that Mary was assumed to heaven immediately after
05:05 her death, actually three days after her death,
05:07 and her body saw no corruption.
05:10 These teachings are considered to be dogmas of the
05:14 Roman Catholic Church, and they come as a result of this
05:18 process that I have just described.
05:20 There are many other teachings of the Roman Catholic Church
05:23 which fit into this same category, which we're not
05:26 dealing with in this particular series; for example the idea
05:30 of infant baptism, baptism by aspersion,
05:34 that is by sprinkling, purgatory, auricular confession,
05:39 that is confession of your sins to a priest, the use of images,
05:43 the celebration of Lent, and the observance of Sunday
05:47 as the day of rest.
05:48 All of these have come into the church not as a result of what
05:53 Scripture teaches, but as a result of this idea of apostolic
05:59 succession, and the absolute infallible authority
06:03 of the teaching office of the Roman Catholic Church.
06:06 Now you ask, Where do they get this idea from?
06:11 Well, the fact is that the greatest text which is used
06:15 is found in Matthew 16.
06:18 And we want to go there now to Matthew 16, and we're going to
06:22 examine this passage in great detail.
06:26 We will begin at verse 13.
06:29 Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi, which is right outside
06:34 the northern border of Israel, and He was about to ask
06:38 His disciples two great questions.
06:41 Let's notice those questions as we find them,
06:45 beginning in verse 13.
07:11 But Jesus wasn't concerned about what others thought of Him.
07:15 He wanted to know what His disciples thought about Him.
07:18 And so He says in verse 15:
07:26 And then, of course, Peter, who appeared to be the spokesman
07:30 of the disciples, had an immediate answer in verse 16.
07:41 In other words, the Messiah, the anointed One.
07:48 In other words, Peter was saying that Jesus was the Messiah.
07:52 But Peter didn't even understand what He was saying.
07:55 This didn't come from an intuition from his mind,
07:59 it was revealed to him directly by God, because he didn't
08:02 even understand what he was saying.
08:04 Notice verse 17:
08:20 In a few moments we're going to notice that Peter definitely
08:23 did not know what he was talking about.
08:25 He did not know what kind of Messiah Jesus was going to be.
08:29 And then, of course, comes the verse that the Roman Catholic
08:33 Church uses to try and prove what is called the Petrine
08:37 claims of the Roman Catholic Church;
08:39 The idea that Peter was the rock upon which Jesus
08:43 founded His church.
08:45 Lets notice Matthew 16:18.
08:49 And I'm going to interject some remarks as we go along.
08:53 Jesus says:
09:02 Petros
09:09 The Greek word is Petros.
09:12 Now the word petros means a pebble.
09:17 It means a small stone.
09:19 And the word is in masculine gender.
09:22 That's very important to remember.
09:25 It is not feminine gender.
09:27 It is masculine gender.
09:29 In fact it's used to describe the seed that was planted
09:32 in stony places in the parable of the sower.
09:36 So you're talking about small stones.
09:40 In other words Jesus is saying, You, Peter, are a pebble.
09:45 You are a small stone.
09:47 But then Jesus says, And on this rock, actually in the Greek
09:55 it says, on this the rock.
09:57 It has the definite article.
09:59 In other words on this rock, on this petra,
10:04 I will build My church.
10:08 Now the word petra here is in the feminine gender,
10:12 which means that it cannot apply to Peter, because the word
10:15 petros is in the masculine gender,
10:18 and they would have to agree.
10:19 So Jesus is saying, You are Peter.
10:23 You are a small moving stone.
10:26 You are a pebble. But upon this petra I will build My church.
10:33 Now the word petra does not mean small stones.
10:36 It means the solid rock.
10:40 In fact it's used to describe the bedrock upon which the man
10:44 built his house when the winds and the storms came.
10:47 It's also used to describe the tomb of Jesus,
10:51 which was hewn in the rock.
10:55 In other words, you're dealing with solid rock here.
10:58 Jesus is saying, You are Peter.
11:00 You are a pebble, if you please.
11:02 You are this small moving stone.
11:04 But upon this petra I will build My church, and the gates
11:10 of Hades shall not prevail against it.
11:14 Now interestingly Jesus used the same word, petros,
11:20 but in the Aramaic language to describe Peter.
11:23 Notice John 1:42, John 1:42.
11:30 It's the same word, petros, but in a different language.
11:35 It is in Aramaic. It says there:
11:53 That's in Aramaic.
12:01 So Peter was a movable stone, an unstable stone, if you please.
12:07 A small stone. But the church was going to
12:10 be built upon the Rock.
12:13 Now, obviously from this passage, Jesus is pointing at
12:17 Peter, and He saying, You are Peter, but upon this Rock,
12:21 upon Myself, I will build My church.
12:25 Does the Bible corroborate the idea that the Rock represents
12:30 God, and more specifically Jesus? Absolutely!
12:35 By the way, do you know that even the unanimous consent
12:39 of the fathers of the Catholic church do not agree
12:42 on who the rock is?
12:44 Allow me just to mention that Origin, who is one of the early
12:48 church fathers, said that the rock means every
12:51 disciple of Christ.
12:52 Tertullian, another one of the early church fathers said that
12:57 the entire church is meant as the rock upon which
13:01 the church is built.
13:03 Cyprian, he said the entire body of the bishops is the rock.
13:10 Chrysostom said that the rock is the faith which was
13:14 confessed by Peter.
13:16 And even Saint Augustine, one of the greatest theologians
13:19 of the Catholic church said that the rock was not Peter,
13:23 but rather Christ.
13:24 But then he said it must be admitted that there are some
13:27 today who believe that the rock is Peter.
13:30 The question is, What does the Bible teach about the rock?
13:35 Well, you look in vain in Scripture to find one text
13:40 where the rock is spoken of as a human being.
13:44 In fact, notice Deuteronomy 32: 3, 4.
13:48 In Hebrew culture if you said that a man was the rock,
13:51 it would have been blasphemy, because they knew that all
13:55 throughout the Old Testament, the rock represented God.
13:59 Notice Deuteronomy 32:3, 4.
14:02 And, by the way, as you're looking for these verses,
14:05 allow me to say that God is spoken of as the rock also
14:08 in verse 13, verse 15, verse 18, verse 30, verse 31, and verse 37
14:15 of this same chapter. Notice:
14:38 Notice this text says that He is what? He is the Rock,
14:45 Now the New Testament corroborates this idea.
14:49 Notice 1 Corinthians 10:3, 4, 1 Corinthians 10:3, 4.
14:55 Do you remember the water that came forth from the rock?
15:00 Notice how that is interpreted by the apostle Paul.
15:04 We find there all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank
15:11 the same spiritual drink.
15:13 For they drank of that spiritual petra. Interesting!
15:20 They drank from that spiritual petra, or rock,
15:25 that followed them, and that rock was Peter.
15:30 That's not what the text says.
15:32 It says that rock was whom? Christ.
15:35 Now that's the apostle Paul.
15:37 How did Peter understand the rock?
15:38 Did Peter understand himself to be the rock?
15:41 Notice Acts 4:11, 12.
15:44 I think we should let Peter interpret Peter.
15:46 You know, if Peter was the rock he would have told us so.
15:49 But nowhere in the writings of Peter will you find that he
15:53 believed that he was the rock.
15:54 Notice Acts 4:11, 12.
15:57 Here Peter is speaking and he's quoting the Old Testament.
16:01 He says, This is the stone which was rejected by you builders,
16:07 which has become the chief cornerstone.
16:09 He's speaking about Jesus.
16:11 Nor is there salvation in any other: for there is no other
16:16 name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved.
16:21 So he's saying Jesus is the stone that the
16:25 builders rejected.
16:26 And somebody might say, Well, the word stone is used there.
16:29 It's not the word petra, and it's true.
16:31 But it's not petros either.
16:34 It is the word lithos.
16:36 And lithos is many times used synonymously with petra.
16:41 Now allow me to read a text where lithos and petra
16:45 are used synonymously of Jesus.
16:47 Notice 1 Peter 2:6-8, 1 Peter 2:6-8.
16:55 Here we're going to find that lithos and petra
16:58 are used synonymously.
17:00 It says there in 1 Peter 2:6:
17:25 That is that stone.
17:30 That's lithos.
17:38 Once again lithos.
17:43 Petra of offense.
17:46 So do you see that lithos and petra are used to refer to
17:52 Jesus Christ by Peter himself?
17:55 And then he says, They stumble being disobedient to the word
18:00 to which they also were appointed.
18:04 Now somebody might say, but Pastor Bohr, why does Jesus
18:08 say, You are Peter and upon this rock I will build My church?
18:15 Why doesn't he say, Upon Me I will build My church?
18:19 You are Peter and upon Me I will build this church.
18:22 Why does He say, Upon this rock I will build My church?
18:26 Well, because this was an idiom which was used
18:29 in that day and age.
18:30 Allow me to give you a couple examples from other places where
18:34 Jesus is speaking.
18:36 Notice John 2:19 and also verse 21.
18:40 I want you to see that Jesus refers to Himself
18:45 as this rather than Me.
18:49 Notice John 2:19.
19:01 Then the Jews said, It has taken forty-six years to build this
19:06 temple, and you will raise it up in three days?
19:15 Did He refer to the temple of His body as this temple?
19:19 Yes, He did. He could have said, Destroy Me, and in three days
19:23 I will raise it up.
19:24 Notice another example in Matthew 21:42
19:29 as well as verse 44, Matthew 21:42, 44.
19:43 He's referring to Himself.
19:53 And now notice, who is that stone? Jesus, right?
19:57 Notice what He continues saying in verse 44:
20:10 So obviously Jesus refers in this passage to Himself as
20:16 this stone, just like He does this rock in Matthew 16.
20:22 Now what does it mean that the church is built upon the rock?
20:27 Does it mean that it's built on Peter?
20:30 Does it mean that it's built on every human being?
20:33 Actually, it means that it's built on Jesus.
20:37 But it's built on Jesus in what sense?
20:40 That's the big question.
20:41 Well, go with me to Ephesians 2:19-22.
20:45 Obviously Jesus is in heaven, isn't He?
20:49 So in what sense can the earthly church be built upon Jesus?
20:53 Well, as you're looking for the text, allow me to say,
20:57 that the church is built on Jesus in the sense that it is
21:00 built upon the Word of Jesus.
21:03 It's built upon the Word of God.
21:05 Notice Ephesians 2:19-22.
21:26 By the way, that means the Old Testament and the what?
21:29 and the New Testament.
21:31 And, by the way, who's the center of the Old
21:33 and New Testament?
21:34 Let's continue reading.
21:49 What? See this is the church.
22:01 The church is the dwelling place of God.
22:03 Know you not that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit?
22:06 the apostle Paul said to the Corinthian church.
22:08 So upon what is the church built?
22:11 It is built upon the foundation of the apostles, and prophets;
22:14 that is the writings of the Old and New Testament authors,
22:18 and the center of both that keeps them together is who?
22:22 Jesus Christ! Notice also the parable that Jesus gave in
22:26 Matthew 7:24, 26, Matthew 7:24, 26.
22:35 It's speaking about building your house upon the rock,
22:38 and building your house upon the sand.
22:40 And, incidentally, do you know that the apostle Paul,
22:44 in 1 Timothy 3:15 calls the church the house of God?
22:49 So when it says here that the house is built on the rock,
22:54 it means that the what is built on the rock?
22:57 the church is built on the rock.
22:59 And we, of course, individually, we are also temples of the
23:02 Holy Spirit, should also build on what? on the rock.
23:06 Now let's read that passage.
23:08 It begins in verse 24, and, of course, we're only going to
23:11 read 24 and 26. You know this parable.
23:14 Therefore... Listen to this.
23:19 In other words, whoever listens to My word...
23:23 Whoever practices the word.
23:31 What does it mean to build the house on the rock?
23:33 What does it mean to build the church on the rock?
23:35 It means to hear the sayings of Jesus, and to what? to do them.
23:40 You see, Jesus is the Word of God in two senses.
23:43 He is personally the Word of God, but the Bible is
23:46 the written Word of God.
23:47 It's Jesus in written form.
23:49 So to build on Jesus means to build on what?
23:53 It means to build on Holy Scripture,
23:56 which is a revelation of Jesus.
23:59 And then we notice it says in verse 26:
24:12 In other words, if you listen to the words of Jesus,
24:14 and you don't pay any attention to them,
24:16 you're building on the sand.
24:18 If you believe the words of Jesus, and you practice them,
24:21 then you are building upon what? upon the Rock.
24:25 So to build upon the rock means to build upon the Word of God,
24:30 who is Jesus Christ.
24:33 Now it's interesting in this parable you have a reference to
24:37 winds, and you have a reference to floods.
24:41 Do you know that this is an allusion to what later
24:44 John wrote in the book of Revelation.
24:46 He speaks in Revelation 7 about the winds of strife which are
24:49 about to be released upon the world.
24:52 And in chapter 12 he speaks about the persecution of the
24:55 church, by speaking about this serpent who spews water out
24:59 of his mouth to drown the woman by the flood, the Bible says.
25:03 In other words there's a great tribulation that is coming upon
25:06 the world, and only those who hear the words of Jesus
25:10 and obey those words, who are built on the Rock,
25:13 will be able to stand.
25:15 And that includes us individually,
25:17 but it also includes the church corporately.
25:20 Now let's continue our study of this very important verse.
25:25 We've dedicated it a long time to talk about
25:27 the issue of the rock.
25:28 Now lets ask the question, What is meant by this verse when it
25:32 says that upon this Rock we build, and the gates of Hades
25:39 will not prevail against it?
25:42 That is against those who are built upon the Rock.
25:46 Notice 1 Corinthians 15:55.
25:50 Let's take a look at the word Hades for a moment.
25:54 The word Hades actually means the grave.
25:57 Notice 1 Corinthians 15:55.
26:02 Here the apostle Paul is quoting a text from the Old Testament.
26:05 He's quoting the book of Hosea 13:14.
26:09 He says this:
26:20 Do you see that Hades is coupled with death in that verse?
26:23 O death, where is your sting?
26:27 O Hades, where is your victory?
26:30 Now he's getting this quotation from the Old Testament.
26:32 Let's notice Hosea 13:14, Hosea 13:14. It says there:
26:43 God is speaking.
26:47 The word there for grave is Sheol, which is equivalent to
26:53 the word Hades that we just read in the New Testament.
26:55 And so it says:
27:02 Do you see, once again, that to ransom from the power of the
27:08 grave is the same thing as redeeming them from death?
27:11 And then notice:
27:20 And so basically Hades is what?
27:23 It's the place of death.
27:26 It is the place of the grave.
27:28 Now why does Matthew 16 speak about the gates of Hades,
27:35 or the gates of death?
27:36 Simply because the ancients believed that at death you were
27:39 shut in a prison.
27:40 And unless somebody came to unlock the prison,
27:45 you were there indefinitely, forever.
27:47 Let's notice a couple of verses from Scripture that speak about
27:51 death as having gates.
27:53 Notice Psalm 9:13, 14, Psalm 9:13, 14.
28:01 Here the psalmist says:
28:25 Notice that he says that God lifts him up from the what?
28:29 from the gates of death.
28:32 And death is synonymous to Sheol or to Hades,
28:35 to the grave so to speak.
28:37 Now notice Isaiah 38:10, 11.
28:40 Here it doesn't speak about the gates of death,
28:43 it actually speaks about the gates of Sheol.
28:46 The very word, equivalent word in the Old Testament
28:48 to the word Hades in the New Testament.
28:51 It says there in Isaiah 38:10:
29:01 That's the exact Hebrew equivalent to Hades
29:05 in the New Testament.
29:06 Notice, the gates of Hades.
29:15 See what it means to go to the gates of Sheol?
29:17 It means that you're deprived of the remainder of your years,
29:19 because you are what? dead.
29:35 Now immediately we ask the reason.
29:37 Why is it that the gates of death, or the gates of hell,
29:44 will not prevail against the church,
29:47 which is built upon the Rock?
29:49 Why is this? Because the church is built upon Peter? No!
29:53 Because the church is built upon whom?
29:56 The church is built upon Jesus.
29:58 But why will the gates of death, or of the grave,
30:02 not prevail against the church?
30:03 Because the church is built on Jesus.
30:06 The context itself of this passage tells us the reason why.
30:11 You see, in the context, in the succeeding context, we find that
30:17 Peter says to Jesus, when Jesus says, I'm going to Jerusalem.
30:20 I'm going to die. I'm going to resurrect the third day.
30:23 Peter didn't hear the part about the resurrection.
30:25 He says, O no, that's not going to happen to You!
30:27 The Messiah doesn't die.
30:28 The Messiah reigns on the throne in Jerusalem.
30:31 And what does Jesus say to Peter,
30:33 who supposedly was the first Pope?
30:35 He says, Get thee behind Me, what? Get thee behind me Satan.
30:40 Notice that Jesus was saying, I'm going to die,
30:43 and I'm going to what? resurrect.
30:45 In other words, Jesus is saying the gates of the grave,
30:48 the gates of death are not going to what?
30:51 They're not going to prevail against Me; and therefore they
30:56 will not prevail against the church.
30:58 Lest you're wondering about this, in the succeeding context
31:03 of Matthew 16, it's very interesting to find that at
31:07 the last verse of Matthew 16, Jesus says this:
31:24 Isn't that interesting?
31:25 Jesus says there's some of the disciples here who are not
31:28 going to taste death until they see Jesus Christ
31:31 coming in His kingdom.
31:32 Well, the fact is all of those people are dead today.
31:34 So how do you explain this?
31:37 You have to go to chapter 17.
31:39 And in chapter 17 we're told that Jesus was transfigured
31:43 in the sight of His disciples.
31:45 How many of them? three: Peter, James, and John,
31:51 whom Jesus had taken to the top of the mount.
31:53 Those are the some: some of you will not die until you see
31:57 the Son of man coming in His glorious kingdom.
32:01 Now do you know that on the Mount of Transfiguration
32:05 was standing Jesus, transfigured and changed like He will look
32:09 when He comes in power and glory.
32:12 And the Bible says that also there with Jesus
32:15 were Moses and Elijah that came to speak with Jesus.
32:20 It's interesting to notice that Moses died, and according to
32:24 Scripture, I don't have time to get into all of the details,
32:27 according to Scripture, he resurrected.
32:29 Michael the archangel came, according to Jude 9,
32:32 to resurrect Moses and transport him to heaven.
32:36 And, of course, Elijah was taken to heaven in a fiery chariot
32:41 from among the living.
32:42 In other words, on the Mount of Transfiguration
32:44 you had a miniature kingdom.
32:47 You had Jesus as He will appear when He comes in power
32:51 and glory, because He died, but He did not remain dead.
32:55 The gates of death and of the grave did not
32:57 prevail against Him.
32:59 He died and resurrected, and therefore He will come again.
33:02 But notice that the gates of death did not prevail
33:04 against Moses either.
33:06 Moses represents those who die in Christ;
33:09 the dead in Christ shall rise first.
33:11 The gates of death did not prevail against Elijah
33:14 because Elijah was transported to heaven from among the living.
33:17 In other words, the reason why the gates of death,
33:20 and the gates of the grave do not prevail against Jesus,
33:24 or against the church, is because Jesus resurrected,
33:27 and He is going to resurrect His church;
33:30 He's going to resurrect His people.
33:32 In fact, notice Acts 2:27, 31, Acts 2:27, 31.
33:42 And, by the way, I'm going to read this from the
33:45 New International Version, which is the most popular version
33:49 in the Christian church today, because I believe that it
33:52 expresses it more clearly.
33:54 David said about Him, that is about Jesus,
33:58 I saw the Lord always before me.
34:02 Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
34:07 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices.
34:12 My body also will live in hope, because You will not abandon me
34:19 to the grave. By the way, that's the word Hades.
34:23 You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will You let
34:27 Your Holy One see what? see decay.
34:32 In other words, Jesus was not going to stay in the grave.
34:36 He was going to resurrect.
34:37 The gates of death would not prevail against Him.
34:40 And because they would not prevail against Him,
34:42 they would not prevail against His church.
34:44 It wasn't because the church was built on Peter.
34:47 I mean Peter died according to Scripture.
34:50 Jesus said that He was going to stretch out His arms,
34:52 other people were going to stretch out His arms.
34:54 He wasn't going to do it voluntarily.
34:56 In other words, Jesus was saying that He was
34:58 going to be crucified.
34:59 Peter died. He's still in the grave awaiting
35:02 the second coming of Jesus Christ.
35:05 Notice Revelation 1:17, 18.
35:09 You know, it's comforting to know that the gates of death
35:12 have someone who can open those gates with the keys,
35:17 with the key. Notice, Revelation 1:17, 18.
35:22 And here it's speaking about the church. It says there:
35:27 John is seeing Jesus.
35:32 And now notice:
36:00 Who has the keys? Peter, right?
36:03 That's not what the text says.
36:05 The text says that Jesus has the keys of the grave.
36:09 See Jesus went into the grave; He came out of the grave.
36:12 And when He came out of the grave,
36:14 He brought the keys with Him, so that the church,
36:17 the church was not going to fail either.
36:19 Because Jesus is going to open the tombs of those who accept
36:23 Him as Savior and Lord.
36:25 The dead in Christ are going to rise again
36:27 according to Scripture.
36:28 He says, Because I live, you will live also.
36:32 In other words, the center of this passage is not Peter.
36:35 The center of this passage is none other than Jesus Christ.
36:39 Now you say, but Pastor, there's still some things to read about
36:43 this text because in verse 19 we find that Jesus said that
36:49 He was going to give Peter the keys of the kingdom.
36:53 Now let's read that verse.
36:55 Matthew 16:19. And I will give you...
37:01 Now Jesus is speaking to Peter.
37:03 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
37:08 And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.
37:12 And whatever you loose on earth, will be loosed in heaven.
37:16 Now the question is, what are those keys which Jesus gave to
37:21 Peter with which Peter can open the kingdom of heaven?
37:25 Well, there's a very easy Biblical way of explaining this.
37:30 But we have to go back and examine the case of the scribes
37:34 and the Pharisees who, by the way, sat on Moses' cathedra.
37:38 Go with me to Matthew 23:1, 2, Matthew 23:1, 2.
37:56 cathedra. It's the word cathedra in Greek.
38:00 They sit on Moses' throne.
38:02 They sit on Moses' seat.
38:03 Do you know what that means?
38:05 It means that they thought that they had the authority
38:07 and the power to define, and to explain, and to dictate what
38:13 Holy Scripture of that time meant;
38:15 what the Old Testament meant.
38:17 But in those writings they did not find Jesus.
38:20 And therefore instead of opening the kingdom of heaven,
38:24 by not finding Jesus in the Old Testament,
38:27 they were actually shutting the kingdom of heaven.
38:30 Notice what we find in Matthew 23:13, Matthew 23:13.
38:37 Here Jesus continues speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees
38:41 who sit on Moses' seat, who claim to have the absolute
38:44 power and authority to explain Scripture.
38:46 Of course they're explaining it without Jesus,
38:49 and without Jesus there is no life. It says there:
38:58 Now notice this: you what?
39:15 What were the scribes and Pharisees doing who
39:18 sat upon Moses' seat?
39:19 They were shutting the kingdom of heaven to people.
39:23 Now why were they shutting the kingdom of heaven?
39:26 And what were they shutting it with?
39:29 The parallel passage in Luke to this one is very revealing.
39:34 Notice Luke 11:52, Luke 11:52.
39:41 I'm thankful that God gave us more than one gospel.
39:44 Because one gospel explains the other gospel.
39:47 Notice Luke 11:52. Here Jesus says:
40:00 Oh, now we know that they have a key that they use
40:04 to shut the kingdom.
40:07 The reason why the door is shut is because
40:09 they've taken away what?
40:21 So, were they using the key to unlock the kingdom of heaven?
40:26 Absolutely not! They were actually locking themselves
40:31 out and others by not using the key of knowledge to open
40:36 the kingdom of heaven.
40:37 Now let me ask you, What is that key of knowledge?
40:42 Well, there's many texts that I could read about the word
40:45 knowledge in the New Testament, particularly in the gospels,
40:49 but allow me to read one text that deals with the issue of
40:53 knowledge, what knowledge we're talking about.
40:59 Luke 1:76,77, Luke 1:76, 77. It says there:
41:09 Speaking about John the Baptist.
41:19 And now notice.
41:32 What is the knowledge that is imparted by the key?
41:34 It is the knowledge of what? salvation, which opens the door
41:40 to where? to the kingdom of heaven.
41:42 What were the Pharisees doing with that key?
41:45 They were locking the door, because they did not have the
41:50 knowledge of salvation, because they did not see
41:53 Jesus in the word.
41:56 They did not see Jesus in Scripture, in other words.
42:00 Notice John 5:39, 40, John 5:39, 40.
42:10 Jesus indited these leaders and He said:
42:24 You're searching the Scriptures.
42:25 You want to teach people the Scriptures, and you think that
42:29 in them you have eternal life.
42:30 But then He says, These are the Scriptures which testify of Me.
42:35 And then He says in verse 40:
42:46 In other words they were locking with the key of knowledge,
42:51 the kingdom of heaven, because they were not preaching
42:55 the word of God, and especially Jesus as contained where?
43:00 as contained in the word of God, which is what opens
43:04 the kingdom of heaven.
43:06 By the way, notice Acts 14:27, 28, Acts 14:27, 28.
43:16 It says, Now when they had come and gathered the church together
43:22 they reported all that God had done with them.
43:26 And now notice: And that He had what? opened the door of faith
43:34 to whom? to the Gentiles.
43:37 How did they open the door of faith to the Gentiles?
43:40 By what? By the foolishness of preaching.
43:45 How did they open the kingdom of heaven?
43:49 They opened the kingdom of heaven by using the key
43:53 of knowledge to reveal Jesus through preaching,
43:56 and in this way people were able to enter the kingdom of heaven,
44:00 and become citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
44:04 In other words, the key which God gave the Pharisees was that
44:09 through Christ in Scripture, people could come to a knowledge
44:15 of Jesus, and enter the experience of salvation.
44:19 By the way, did the apostle Peter open up the kingdom
44:24 of heaven for a great number of people in Acts 2
44:28 on the Day of Pentecost?
44:29 Oh, yes! 3,000 the Bible says were baptized.
44:32 What did Peter do to open the kingdom?
44:36 Have you ever read that he quoted the Old Testament?
44:38 He quoted several passages from the Old Testament;
44:41 from Psalm, and from Joel.
44:43 And he pointed how these things revealed whom? Jesus.
44:47 And at the end of the story, see he's opening the door of
44:51 salvation through the key of Scripture.
44:54 And at the end the people come to him and they say,
44:58 Well, what do we need to do?
44:59 And Peter says, Well, repent and be baptized, everyone of you,
45:04 for the remission of sins, and you will receive the gift
45:08 of the Holy Spirit.
45:09 And so they were baptized, and 3,000 souls entered
45:13 the door of the kingdom that day; entered the door of the
45:15 church through the preaching of Peter.
45:18 Are you understanding what the key is in this case?
45:23 But you're saying, Now wait a minute, Pastor.
45:24 The passage doesn't say key, the passage says keys.
45:29 Now do you know that in Hebrew and Greek when a word is plural,
45:34 like keys, it means two.
45:36 Let me give you another example.
45:39 Time, times, and the dividing of time.
45:47 How many times is times? two.
45:51 Every scholar agrees that the word times means two times.
45:56 So when it's plural and unqualified, it means two.
46:00 So Jesus is giving Peter two keys.
46:04 Why did He gives the scribes and Pharisees only one key?
46:08 Well, let me explain the reason why.
46:09 How many portions is Scripture composed of?
46:14 It's composed of two.
46:17 Do you know that when the Scriptures is referred to
46:20 it's always a two-some?
46:21 For example, in Revelation you have two witnesses.
46:27 Those two witnesses represent what? the Old and New Testament.
46:33 You have two olive trees; that's the Holy Spirit working
46:36 through the Old and New Testament.
46:38 You have two candlesticks that give light; Thy word is what?
46:44 a light and a lamp it says in Psalm 119:105.
46:51 The sword of the Spirit has how many edges? two,
46:57 and it's the word of God.
46:58 And the church is built upon the writings of whom? the apostles
47:04 and the prophets; Old and New Testament.
47:07 In other words, the Pharisees had only one key.
47:11 Because all they had was what? the Old Testament.
47:16 But God gives, Jesus gives to Peter, the keys, two keys,
47:20 because he has what? he has the Old and he has what?
47:25 and he has the New Testament.
47:27 In other words, he has all of Scripture with which to use
47:31 the keys to open the kingdom through preaching,
47:34 so that people can come in and be saved.
47:37 Now the question is, Did Jesus only give the keys to Peter?
47:42 See the Roman Catholic Church teaches that He gave the keys
47:46 only to Peter, and to his successors.
47:48 Do you know that Jesus actually gave the right to open, to bind,
47:54 and to unbind to all of the disciples.
48:00 Notice Matthew 18:15-18, Matthew 18:15-18.
48:07 So this wasn't exclusively for Peter.
48:10 You're not dealing here with apostolic succession.
48:13 It was given to all of the leaders of the church.
48:16 It says here:
48:59 Is that the same expression we found in Matthew 16? Absolutely!
49:03 But here it is a power not given to a certain individual,
49:06 but which is given to whom? which is given to
49:09 the church at large.
49:11 Now you say, But, Pastor Bohr, it speaks there about
49:15 binding and loosing.
49:17 What does that mean that the keys bind and loose?
49:21 Well, we need to first of all understand the
49:24 tense of the verb.
49:25 You know, when you read the text as it's written,
49:29 it gives you the impression that whatever you bind on earth,
49:32 God is going to immediately bind it in heaven.
49:34 And whatever you loose on earth, God is going to immediately
49:37 loose it in heaven.
49:38 It doesn't reflect, really, the tense of the verb.
49:41 The verb is what you call a perfect tense,
49:46 which is a past action which has repercussions in the present.
49:51 In other words, something happened in the past that allows
49:56 you to bind and to loose.
49:58 Now the question is, what happened in the past that allows
50:03 you to bind and to loose?
50:06 Actually, a perfect should be read in the following way:
50:12 whatever you bind on earth, will have been bound in heaven.
50:18 And whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.
50:24 Let me ask you, when we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ,
50:29 can we tell people that their sins are forgiven,
50:33 and salvation has come to their house? Sure we can.
50:38 Do we bring salvation to them?
50:40 No, but we can declare to them that if they've met the
50:45 conditions, they have become citizens of the kingdom.
50:48 But let me ask you, What was the basis for them becoming
50:52 citizens of the kingdom?
50:53 Did something happen in the past that allowed them to become
50:57 citizens of the kingdom?
50:58 Of course. What was it?
51:00 It was the death of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus.
51:04 See, what we bind has already been bound by Jesus.
51:10 Because He did it in the past.
51:11 It's simply a person accepting the terms and conditions
51:14 of what Jesus did.
51:15 And the same is true with losing.
51:18 In other words, this text is saying that whatever we bind
51:21 on earth, or whatever we loose on earth, has already been done
51:27 in heaven by virtue of what Jesus has done to save
51:31 people in the past.
51:32 When we preach, who do we preach?
51:35 We preach salvation through Jesus.
51:38 Where did Jesus save us?
51:40 He saved us on the cross.
51:41 So presently we're preaching, if people accept the conditions
51:46 of our preaching, can we tell them, Your sins are forgiven
51:51 on the basis of your acceptance of Jesus? Yes.
51:53 If they reject the message, can we tell them,
51:56 Your sins are bound? We certainly can.
51:59 By the way, do you know that the preaching of the gospel
52:02 can either open or shut heaven?
52:06 You say, Well, how's that?
52:07 Let me ask you, When Moses preached to Pharaoh,
52:10 did Pharaoh shut his heart to to heaven?
52:14 He most certainly did.
52:15 The gospel can soften or harden.
52:19 You have feelings, and Agrippa.
52:23 Almost persuadest thou me to be a Christian.
52:26 And Paul had preach a fantastic sermon before.
52:29 What was Paul trying to do?
52:31 He was trying to what?
52:32 He was trying to unlock the kingdom.
52:34 But what did these men do?
52:38 Another one says, I'll call you.
52:40 Go and I'll call you at a convenient time.
52:42 The convenient time never came.
52:44 What was happening?
52:46 The gospel was preached, but the kingdom wasn't opened,
52:49 because they did not accept Jesus as their Savior.
52:52 So are you understanding the tense of the verb
52:54 that is being used here?
52:55 Now, the Roman Catholic Church uses the idea that Jesus
53:01 re-affirmed Peter three times after the resurrection to say,
53:05 See, Peter was special in the sight of Jesus,
53:08 because He said, Feed My Sheep, feed My lambs.
53:11 He didn't say that to anybody else.
53:13 He said that to Peter.
53:14 Well, the fact is folks that the reason why Jesus said to Peter
53:18 three times, Do you love Me, Peter?
53:22 Do you love Me, Peter?
53:26 Feed My lambs, feed My lambs, feed My sheep.
53:31 The reason why it happened three times, the Bible
53:33 makes very, very clear.
53:34 By the way, this is found in John 21:15-17.
53:39 How many times did Peter deny Jesus?
53:43 Go with me to John 13:38, John 13:38.
53:53 Jesus says to Peter.
54:02 So Peter denies Jesus three times,
54:05 and Jesus reinstates him three times.
54:07 Very clear connection between his denial of Jesus,
54:11 and his reinstatement by Jesus.
54:14 And, by the way, that idea that Jesus only said to Peter that he
54:19 was supposed to shepherd the flock is simply
54:21 not true in Scripture.
54:22 Notice 1 Peter 5:1-4, 1 Peter 5:1-4.
54:30 Peter was not the only shepherd.
54:31 Actually all of the elders of the church are called shepherds.
54:35 Notice:
54:45 Notice that Peter doesn't say, I am the Pope. He says:
54:57 Then he says to the elders:
55:01 Is he saying, Feed my sheep?
55:03 Take care of my sheep, Peter, to the elders? Yes.
55:11 By the way, the word overseers, is episkopos, where we get
55:15 the word Episcopal from today.
55:27 In other words, don't be lords.
55:29 Don't rule over them.
55:36 Who is the Chief Shepherd?
55:38 Peter, right? No, it's Jesus.
55:49 Now allow me to make a few closing remarks about Peter.
55:53 Peter was undoubtedly a great apostle.
55:56 He played a very important role at the founding of the Christian
56:00 church and the growth of the early church.
56:02 But allow me to share with you several things about Peter.
56:06 First of all, on the way to Jerusalem, the last trip to
56:10 Jerusalem after Jesus had said to Peter, You are Peter,
56:14 but I am the Rock.
56:15 The disciples are struggling and arguing about who's
56:18 going to be the greatest.
56:19 Listen, if Jesus had said that Peter was the rock, case closed.
56:22 What would they have been fighting about?
56:24 Furthermore, Peter failed.
56:26 The gates of Hades did prevail against him in the garden,
56:30 and in Pilot's court.
56:31 Furthermore, Peter, if he was the first Pope, he was married,
56:35 because he had a mother-in-law.
56:38 You can find that in Matthew 8:14.
56:41 The Catholic church says that Peter was the first person that
56:44 saw Jesus after the resurrection. Not so.
56:47 It was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary's.
56:50 They say that Peter's always mentioned
56:53 first in all the lists.
56:54 Not right. John 1:44 Andrew is mentioned first, and then Peter.
56:59 Galatians 2:7 you have Paul then Peter.
57:02 1 Corinthians 1:12 you have Paul, Apollos, and then Cephas.
57:06 1 Corinthians 9:5 Cephas is last.
57:08 In the first general church council James presided
57:13 in the council.
57:14 In other words, this passage is speaking about Jesus,
57:18 the great Jesus. And the church will not fall because
57:23 it is built on Him.


Home

Revised 2015-04-13