Participants: Pr. Stephen Bohr
Series Code: MMJ
Program Code: MMJ000006
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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. |
Revised 2015-04-13