Foundation of the Church

Matthew 16:18-20

Matthew 16:13-20, When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar- Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

The ultimate goal of the universe is to glorify God and all things are made by Him and for Him. If God has created man for His own glory, then we should not be surprised to see, as the purpose for all human history, that God should be collecting a redeemed assembly of people who will be forever to the praise of His glory.

That is the theme of history. The reason of human existence. Philosophers, historians through all the history of man have wondered why we exist, have questioned why it is that man is, what is the purpose.

What is the meaning of life?

Why are we here? Where has almost overnight society exploded in lawlessness and crime and riot and murder and the insanity of the drug culture? It’s the result of the philosophy of ignorance concerning the past and hopelessness concerning the future.

All of life results from interaction of pure chance and necessity. Man is utterly alone in the universe’s unfeeling immensity out of which he emerged only by chance, his destiny is nowhere spelled out, nor is his duty. Man is the product of the impersonal plus time plus chance.

We exist for the reason was to glorify God. We are rebels to that reason, and so God, amidst all this rebellious human society, is calling to Himself those who will become the redeemed assembly, who will forever and ever give Him glory. That’s the reason for history.

That’s the purpose of human existence. We are called to glory. We are called, created to give God glory. That’s why the Bible says whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. That’s why it says we are to confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That’s why all we are and have and ever could possibly ultimately be destined for the purpose of glorifying God because God is a worthy God and deserves glory. God has made men who can give Him eternally glory, who can reflect eternally the majesty, splendour, and wonder of His glorious person.

Out of the rebels that populate this world, God is collecting that redeemed community who will be obedient to give Him glory. That is the purpose for life, human life. Christ is history. History is His story.

The maker of history, the people who are the architects of destiny are not the Pharaohs, not the kings, not the Nebuchadnezzars, not the Alexander the Greats, the Caesars, the Napoleons, the Churchills, the Hitlers. They don’t move history!

The architect of history is Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I will continue to build my redeemed people.” That’s the reason for history. If you are not part of the redeemed people, you will be cast into hell forever. You will be removed if you refuse to give God glory. History is His story. That is the only explanation that makes sense.

Jesus is affirming this, but He is not affirming it against a philosophical background like I’ve just done with you. Jesus is affirming it against a very specific religious background, most specifically related to the disciples to whom He speaks. For they had been trained from their earliest years to anticipate the coming of the Messiah. They had been trained that when the Messiah comes, He will reign as King.

Messiah will be the anointed of God. He will deliver His people from the bondage and the oppression which they were under.

• He will bring righteousness.
• He will bring peace.
• He will bring prosperity.
• He will establish the throne of His father David.
• He will reign and rule.
• There will be economic prosperity,
• There will be religious prosperity,
• There will be political prosperity,
• There will be military prosperity.

It will all happen when the Messiah comes! These disciples were reared with that expectation, and then the Messiah came and none of that happened. The people didn’t know who He was. They thought He was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets.

The religious leaders, the Pharisees, the scribes, and the others, hated Him, despised Him, wanted Him dead, mocked Him. They accused Him that He came right out of the pit of hell. He was Satanic. All their expectations were unfulfilled.

Now they were in Caesarea Philippi, it says in verse 13, which is the northeastern-most corner of the land of Palestine.

They are in a kind of exile because things are so hot down in Galilee, they had to retreat to a place of safety and quiet. The whole plan isn’t going the way they had thought it would go. To make it worse, if they think it’s bad up to now, wait until they hear the speech that begins in verse 21 when Jesus starts to tell them He must suffer and die.

Whatever may be left of their hopes after that speech, very difficult to hold onto. That is why Peter says, “Let it not be so, Lord, this shall not be unto thee.” You can’t mean it, Lord, you’re not going to die. He goes on to say, “Yes, I am, get thee behind me, Satan.”

“Not only I Am going to die,” V 24 He says, “you are going to take up your cross.” V 25, “you are going to have to lose your life for my sake.” This whole thing is all about death. Now, during that kind of situation, you can imagine the disciples are going to wonder whether or not they have picked the right person. Whether or not the plan hasn’t been destroyed.

But we notice in verse 16 that they affirm they know who He is, “You are Christ, the Son of the living God.”

But has the plan gone wrong? At this very juncture as Jesus moves into the shadow of the cross only a few months away and the time is drawing to a close that He spent with His disciples, it is at this moment that He reminds them, “I will continue to build my redeemed assembly.”

It is a great confidence statement during what looked like a plan that wasn’t working out. “I will continue to build my church and the gates of Hades shall not be victorious over it.” Now, this is to encourage and strengthen their hearts.

This passage has been the strength and encouragement of many saints through all the years since it was written. Who found themselves in a situation where they wondered whether God was not on the losing end of the battle, whether things were not working out for good but for bad, that has been the confident hope of all of us that Christ continues to gather His redeemed people.

The church of the firstborn, the assembly of the redeemed who forever and ever will be to the praise of His glory. Our Lord gives them that confidence.

V 18-20, When Christ builds a church, what’s it like? 1. The Certain Church. The church that Christ builds is a certain church. “I will build my church.” There is certainty there. The promise and power of God there. It is based on His faithfulness, and we can count on it.

2. Christ the owner. The intimacy of it. “My” church, the personal pronoun, it’s His own personal possession. John 6, “All that the Father gives to me shall come to me.” John 10, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and am known of them.”

Intimacy. One, he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. 3. The identity of the church. He calls it “church,” ekklesia to call out. The word is a general, nontechnical word.

It is used in many ways. It means a group called together for a certain meeting. The Greeks used it of a town meeting, of a meeting of the people of a certain city state to discuss their business. The word ekklesia, for example, appears in Acts 7:38 in reference to Israel. They’re called the ekklesia in the wilderness.

In Acts 19. When the mob at Ephesus rioted, they’re called an ekklesia, a group of people gathered, an assembly broke into a riot. In Hebrews 12:22-24, all the redeemed of all the ages gathered before the throne of God are called the church.

What the Lord is saying is, “I will go on building my redeemed people, collecting my assembly.” The Lord is saying, “I will continue to build my assembled people.” The whole continuity here of all redemptive history. The church is not yet apportioned out as it later will be in the book of Acts and in the epistles.

So, the Lord is building a church with certainty, with intimacy, and with identity. The redeemed people who have come to

God by faith are intimate with Him and His church goes on to its fulfilment. 4. The foundation of the church. What is the foundation of the church the Lord builds? V 18, And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The Lord is going to build His church on a rock. The question we have is what is that rock? The normal language appears to say, “You are Peter”. Peter translated means stone, rock, “and upon this rock, I will build my church.”

So, the very normal and first impression as you look at it is “You are Peter. I am going to build my church on you, Peter.” Catholic View of the Church. They say that this verse means the church is built on Peter.

Therefore, it establishes Peter as the first pope, the first head of the church. Catholic Theology says the pope is crowned with a triple crown, king of heaven, king of earth, and king of hell. He wields two swords, the spiritual and the temporal.

The Lord conferred on Saint Peter the first place of honour and jurisdiction in the government of His whole church. Same spiritual authority has always resided in the popes and bishops of Rome as being the successors of Saint Peter.

Consequently, to be true followers of Christ, all Christians, both among the clergy and laity, must be in communion with the pope of Rome where Peter still rules in the person of his successor. That is Catholic theology, that Peter here is given the papacy and that he established papal succession.

Every pope comes out of the Roman system and sat in Rome supposedly has passed on Petrine authority. It gets confusing sometimes because there were as many as three at one time competing with each other. When there is a pope there who is from the loins of Peter and bears the same authority. Therefore, he speaks authoritatively

the truth of God, and when he speaks ex cathedra, it is as binding as the Bible. Now, that is the papal system, and they get that out of this passage. We don’t want to spend a lot of time arguing against that because it only comes out of the white spaces, not from the words here.

Because it doesn’t say anything about that at all. We don’t even want to dignify such thing by commenting on it out of this passage, lest you should think at all that there’s any hint of it here. Peter cannot be the head of the church, Christ is.

Peter or no earthly individual on his own can hold up the whole church by his authority. Protestants say, and this is a very common interpretation, “You are Peter,” petros, it’s a masculine form of the word, “and upon this rock,” petra different word, different form of the same root, “I will build my church.”

Traditional interpretation has been, “You are petros,” which means stone, “but upon this petra” - it means a rock bed or a rocky mountain.

In other words, “You are a stone, but upon a rocky peak or a rocky mountain, I am going to build my church,” so that the statement is a contrast. “You are a little rock. I am going to build my church on a big rock.” Then in verse 16, the confession of Peter is the rock bed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

So, the Lord is saying, “You are a little rock. Upon that rock bed confession of the reality of my deity, I Am going to build My Church.” Now, that’s fair to do that with the text because there is a difference in those two words.

Another viewpoint.

Ephesians 2:20, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. In Ephesians 2:20, it says the church is built upon the foundation the apostles. In Matthew ¹⁶ it just says Peter.

When Peter spoke, he spoke on behalf of the whole group! Peter spoke the consensus of the group, and when Christ replied to Peter, in a very real sense, He replied to the group.

How do we account for the petra/petros difference? Petros has to be used in the case of Peter because it’s a masculine form and he is a man. Linguistically, we won’t have a problem saying, “You are a rock, and upon that rock, I will build my church.”

Now, if we accept that then the very same thing it says in

Ephesians 2:20, that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles, Peter being representative of them.

When we read the book of Acts, we will find Peter name mentioned 50 times in the first twelve chapters of Acts. The first sermon Peter preached on the day of Pentecost was not just Peter, but it was Peter speaking on behalf of all those who believed.

Acts 2:14, But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.

For they all held to that same message and as a result three thousand were converted. Again, it was through the testimony of Peter that two thousand more were added later to the church in Acts 4.

• It was through the testimony and ministry of Peter that the lame man was healed.
• It was through Peter’s leadership that the election of Matthias took place to replace Judas.
• It was the heroic message of Peter before the Sanhedrin.

Peter was a key person and was acting as a representative of the ministry of all of them. We don’t have a problem with the Lord saying to Peter, “You are the rock, and, on that rock, I will build My church.” The same thing essentially as we saw in Ephesians 2:20.

The key question. In what sense is the church built on the apostles, Peter being the leader of them? The Roman Catholics say it is built on his rank, or his elevation to authority, or his elevation to office, or his elevation to worthiness, or his elevation to some high-level position.

But the Bible does not say that. If it was built on the apostles, it was not built on their but built on their Teaching. When the early church came together, they did not worship the apostles!

Acts 2:42, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

They studied the apostles’ Doctrine and teaching. You are Peter and I can build my church on you as one of the foundation stones because you have affirmed ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ and you didn’t get it from flesh and blood, you got it from my Father who is in heaven.

Since you are the vehicle through whom the Father is revealing His truth, I can build my church on that.” So, the church is built. It is built on those apostles initially who affirmed the divine revelation coming from God and thus laid the foundation that is spoken of in Ephesians 2:20.

So, when we look at Ephesians 2:20 and we see the foundation of the church being the apostles and prophets, it isn’t their rank and it isn’t their office and it isn’t their title, it is the fact

that they laid that foundation because they proclaimed the Word of God, so much so that they themselves were in many ways inseparable from their very message. “All who agree with the confession of Peter are Peters themselves, setting a sure foundation.” Martin Luther.

1 Peter 2:4-5, Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

The Lord is still building His church and putting up those living stones. Jesus is still building His church on those people who affirm the revelation of God about Christ to be true. To look at it another way, a group of people who do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God have no place where Christ can build His church.

If you want to take the view you are a little stone and I will build it on the rock of your confession, or if you want to say you are one with your confession, and you, Peter, can become a foundation because of your confession.

Because you are living by the revelation of God.

Because you are affirming the truth that the Father reveals to you, you are laying that foundation. Either way, you come up with the same thing. The foundation of the church is the revelation of God as given to us through the apostles.

Today we lay down that foundation by establishing God’s Word, we keep it there.

1 Corinthians 3:11, For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:20, you have the apostles’ and prophets’ foundation, here you have Christ the foundation.

There is no contradiction at all. The only reason the apostles and prophets were allowed to be the foundation stones was because they affirmed the reality of Christ as the true foundation. The Lord is collecting all those disciples into that confession, and He says you have said it, Peter, and it’s upon that affirmation of divine revelation about that I am the Son of the living God that I can build my church.

The Lord builds His church on His truth, but always has chosen to reveal His truth through His people so that they become inseparable from that truth. His people are one with Christ. The apostles were so intimately attached to Jesus Christ that in one place Christ is the foundation and, in another place, they are the foundation.

They were so intimately attached with and so true to His Word that in one place His Word is a sure foundation, in another place, the apostles are the foundation. But whether it’s Christ or the apostles or the Word, it’s all saying the same thing because all were inseparably linked.

The Lord is still building His church on people who confess His Word, who confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the deity of Jesus Christ, the Word of God. He is still building the church on the foundation of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of the apostles.

One thing we know here is that He didn’t establish the primacy of Peter.

Matthew 18:1, At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Matthew 16:19, And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

The Catholics say that’s papal authority, the authority to open and close and control. So, if Peter was given the keys to the Kingdom, and the disciples come to Jesus and they say, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom? They wouldn’t ask it if they already knew who it was?

They didn’t have any idea that Peter was being given some papal primacy or they wouldn’t have even asked the question.

You understand what I’m saying? Jesus did not say “You know who it is, it’s Peter, don’t you remember what I said to you the other day?” No.

Matthew 18:2-3, Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven? Whoever humbles himself like a little child.

Jesus didn’t say it is Peter. Whatever was going on in the dialogue in chapter 16 certainly didn’t assign to Peter any great primacy in the Kingdom.

Matthew 20:20-21, Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. 21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” She was asking Jesus would you let James and John be the primary ones in the Kingdom?

This tells us that James and John also never thought Jesus gave any particular primacy to Peter or they wouldn’t have been there asking that question. Neither James nor John nor their mother nor the rest of the disciples nor Jesus Himself ever meant that that should be construed from that passage as all of these indications tell us.

What about Peter?

Did he think he was made pope?

1 Peter 5:1-3, The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and

also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;

• I am just one with all the rest of you guys.
• I am just another witness of the sufferings of Christ, a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
• I am just telling you feed the flock.
• I am being an example to the flock.

Peter goes on to say God resists the proud, gives grace to the humble, so humble yourselves. Peter is not pulling rank. He is saying I am just one like you.

• So, the disciples never perceived Matthew 16 as giving Peter primacy.
• James and John never perceived it that way and they were intimate with Jesus.
• Peter never perceived it that way or he wouldn’t have said what he said in 1 Peter 5.
• The Lord Himself never perceived it that way or He wouldn’t have said the greatest in the Kingdom is anybody who humbles himself like a little child.

We learn that the church is built on the foundation.

The foundation is the doctrine revealed by God through those who were the foundational men, Peter being their leader and representative of the whole of them. 5. The strength of the church. When Christ builds the church, it is invincible.

V 18, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it When an army comes to attack, they don’t carry their gates from their city and throw the gates at the enemy. The gates are not weapons. Gates are used to hold people in like in prison gates, jail gates.

The gates refer to something that’s going to try to keep the church captive.

What is that something? They are the gates of Hades.

What is Hades? Hades simply means the abode of the dead. It’s the same as the word Sheol.

It isn’t talking about the torment of eternal hell. It is simply the term used for the grave. It is never used specifically to speak of the torment of hell, it is the grave, the place of the dead, the realm of the dead, the place where all go when they die.

Death can’t hold in God’s redeemed people! The gates of the grave can’t keep us. That is the heart and soul of everything for the Christian. Victory through the grave, life after death.

John 14:19, “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.

The worst that the devil can do to the church is to do kill it, martyr, kill us.

Hebrews 2:14, Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, He has the power of death. Satan will try to kill Christians, destroy the church, but the gates of Hades can’t hold it in.

You will burst out just like Christ burst out of the grave the third day.

Acts 2:24, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. Peter talking about Jesus Christ whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that He should be held by it.

It wasn’t possible for death to hold Christ, and it isn’t possible for death to hold us.

1 Corinthians 15:55, O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”

The great hope of the Christian. This is a promise of resurrection! A very fitting one because He is just going to talk about the fact that He’s going to die. He is going to be killed. He is going to be raised the third day.

He is going to say to them, men are going to kill you. You are going to have to give up your life. You may lose your life for my sake.

The death coming on their scene, the death of Christ, most of the apostles died as martyrs, with all that anticipation, He is saying to them, “I will be building My church, and the gates of the grave will never hold it in.”

This is the promise of resurrection. Everyone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ leaves this world to enter into God’s glorious world, absent from the body, is instantly Present with the Lord. Far better to depart and be with Jesus Christ.

We wait just the redemption of the body when Jesus returns to take us to be with Him. Our bodies rise out of the grave to be joined with the spirits that are already with Jesus Christ in that glorified form in which we shall give Him praise and glory forever and ever.

Revelation 1:18, I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of [j]Hades and of Death. He has the keys! Jesus destroyed the one who had the power of death. He took the keys and now He unlocks the grave and lets His own out. That’s our hope.

Do you know how important that was to this little group of apostles?

They were going to look back, and the day would come when they would be in the heat of that battle, and the Holy Spirit would fulfil the promise that Jesus made. When the Holy Spirit comes, will bring all things to your remembrance.

Imagine there were times in the midst of their dying for the cause of Jesus Christ when they could hear the echo coming down through their minds of the words of Jesus Christ, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

We see when Jesus builds a church, there is certainty, there is intimacy, there is identity, there is foundation, there is invincibility. 6. The authority of the Church. V 19, And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

This is a great statement, the authority of it. Do you mean you have the authority to say that?

Do you mean Peter was given that authority?

John 20:23, If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Jesus has gone beyond Peter and He’s given all of them authority to say your sins are on you, your sins are off you, your sins bind you, your sins are loosed from you, you are forgiven, you are not forgiven.

Does that mean to tell me He gave those men the right to say that to somebody? Your sins are forgiven, your sins are not forgiven? Right. Jesus tells the church, the whole redeemed assembly.

Matthew 18:17, And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Jesus says that you tell the whole assembly to go to that man and confront him about his sin and tell him he can’t do that. Your sins are bound on you, you are still sinning, you are out of line with God’s Word, you are to repent. Do we have the authority to do that?

Matthew 18:18, Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

• First, Jesus said that to Peter.
• Then Jesus said it to all of them.
• Then Jesus said it to the whole duly constituted assembly of redeemed people.

Can we go into the world and say your sins are bound on you, your sins are loosed from you, your sins are forgiven, your sins are not forgiven? Authority.

Where did we get that authority? Very simple. It is in the Word of God. What are you doing shall have already been done in heaven. How can we know what heaven is approving and disapproving? I have the authority. If a person comes up to me, I can say to that person, “Have you received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?” If

he says yes, I say then your sins are forgiven, your sins are loosed. If someone says to me, “I have never received Jesus Christ,” I have the authority based on the Word of God to say to that individual your sins are retained, your sins are not forgiven.

I have the authority to know that what I said to that individual, heaven has already said because heaven has revealed it right here. That’s that authority. It is not some authority isolated from the Word of God. That’s why the promise of the keys came on the heels of a divine revelation from the Father.

If the Father is giving you the Word based on the revelation of the Father, you have the authority. Peter had that right. The disciples had that right. The church has heaven’s word on the matter. That is why we never compromise the Word of God because it’s the only authority we have.

God has put His church in the world and given His church His Word so that His church can stand as a light, as a standard setting the pattern that is God’s pattern.

We pray that Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven! It can be as we enact heaven’s decisions by the implementation of this Word of God which is authoritative. Church is God’s standard in the world. The church is the authority of the world. That’s right.

Those who are in the church are authoritative in the world as long as they enforce the Word of the living God revealed to them through the Spirit. We are not going to compromise. Our reason to exist in this world is to glorify God and we glorify God when we hold up the standard of His Word!

V 20, Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. Why did He tell them not to do that? Some of us have been waiting for years for a command like that so we could step instantly into obedience because we never tell anybody about it.

How can you square that off with the command later, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature? Why does He say don’t tell anybody that I Am Jesus the Christ?

Because the people were looking for a political economic Messiah. Jesus says don’t tell them I Am the Christ. Their expectations are warped and all it does is confused them and put pressure in the wrong area. We are not a political earthly economic kingdom.

It’s a spiritual reality and that’s part of the problem. People don’t understand the spiritual dimension. His Messiahship, they thought, was primarily political, military, economic, and earthly. He said it’s spiritual! We will not offer any other Jesus than that One who is revealed in the Scripture.

What a church Christ is building, a spiritual church, a church with authority, a church with invincibility, a church with a foundation on the revelation of the living God as granted by the Spirit through His apostles and continuing to be built on those who confess the same truth.

A church with identity, the sum of all the redeemed of all the ages, a church with intimacy, those who are the personal possessions of Jesus Christ, and a church with certainty, it will be built.

He will bring us to glory! His promise.