Well, good evening again. Is anybody awake? Good evening.
Anyways, I have the hard job. I get the end here, so if everyone starts fading away, we’ll try to encourage you to be awake.
I don’t know how many of you are aware that this is the thirtieth family conference. We had two family conferences at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland—in 1975 and 1976. I’m getting nods; I’m getting corrected. I knew that. We were married in 1974. That was not a family conference. I better remember that.
Ben was nodding his head. He’s one of the old veterans that’s been here, like me, for all of them. I was a much younger man at twenty-two years old.
Since then, we’ve had twenty-eight here. I do praise the Lord for His mercy in allowing us to gather this way these many years, and do thank the Lord for the way He has spoken to us, the way He has opened His Word to us, and the way He has revealed Himself.
And if that’s not even enough to give thanks about, the fellowship we have had in Christ—the fellowship of brothers and sisters that you’ve met from all over the world—has given you an opportunity for your vision to be enlarged. It has given you an opportunity to see beyond just your little gathering and to see, in a bigger way, what the Lord Jesus has been doing all over the world.
I think the fellowship I have valued above many things these years.
Now let me ask you, if you will, turn to Matthew 16. I would like to just think about these as a few opening remarks, because the brothers will be speaking on these verses. But if you would turn with me to Matthew 16.
Oh, I think of one little announcement. I can’t resist. I had people stopping me about getting in their rooms and opening their doors, and we get all of these kinds of things. These doors are a little funny. They’re a little bit like God’s people: you’ve got to be patient with them, and you’ve got to work with them.
But some people can’t open their doors and can’t lock their doors. Just try; it’s like God’s people. You’ve got to try a little bit different ways, you know. If you can’t lock it, hold up on the handle when you shut it, and maybe it will lock. Or, if that doesn’t work, other things have worked: hold down on the handle. Some people had their keys stuck. Turn the keys a few ways and just work with it, and I think maybe by Thursday you’ll have the hang of it. So that’s one thing that I heard about.
But turn with me, if you will, in Matthew 16. I want you to fight familiarity tonight as we read these verses. They’re so familiar to us that we may pass over things that are very important for us to hear.
Beginning at verse 13. These are verses 13 through 18, from which the theme is taken.
But when Jesus was come into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, He questioned of His disciples, saying,
“Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?”And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and others, again, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
He saith unto them, “But ye, who say ye that I am?”
And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus answered and said unto him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Who is in heaven.”
“And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Now let’s just pray for a moment.
Lord, we know that when we come to Your Word, we are utterly dependent on You. We tell You once again, as it says in John 6, You alone have the words of eternal life.
So, as we are gathered together here this week, and as our brothers will share the burden that is on their hearts, we ask that You would open the eyes of our hearts, that You would enlighten the eyes of our hearts, and You would grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.
Lord, unless You open the eyes, unless You give us revelation, unless You illumine what this Word says and what our brothers have on their hearts, we will not see it. We will just have some sort of mental apprehension of things, and we know, in the days that we live, that will not suffice.
So, Lord, we ask You: open our eyes. Cause us to see as You see, and grant us to hear. For we ask it in Jesus’ lovely name. Amen.
I think most of us know that Matthew 16 is a turning point in the Lord’s ministry, when He begins to focus on the cross. As I meditated on these few verses that we have as the theme for the conference, I noted that there are two questions here, and I’d like for us to focus on those two questions.
I noted also that there are two revelations here. So maybe that will help you think about it and give you a handle as we talk about it just these few moments. There are two questions the Lord asks, and there are two revelations that are given.
The first question the Lord says, in verse 13, is, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?”
And then the Lord Jesus, after they give their answer—that some say You are John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, and others again, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets—asks an even more direct question.
And He says to them, “But you. But you. You are My own. You’re not the world. You’re not just men. Who do you say I am? Do you know Who I am? Do you really know Who I am? But ye, who do you say that I am?”
Now, brothers and sisters, this is the most important question of the universe. This is the most vital question of the whole universe: who do men say that I am? But, more importantly, who do you say that I am?
The most important question is who. We may believe, in our self-centered way, that the most important question is why. We sometimes think the most important question for men to say is, “Why am I here? What is my purpose?”
But when you come to the Lord’s economy, the most important question is who. Brothers and sisters, this is what we need to see. Jesus—to see Who Jesus is—is the most important thing that we can see.
Now, I know that sounds elementary to you folks who are old veterans like Ben. That sounds too kindergarten to you. But this is the most vital question in the whole universe: Who is the Lord Jesus? Do we really see Who the Lord Jesus is?
Now let me tell you: naturally, we can’t see Who the Lord Jesus is. You may have some sort of mental apprehension of Who the Lord is. You may have some biblical understanding of Who the Lord is, but it takes more than that to see Who the Lord is.
Because right away, you see Peter’s answer. And he said:
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And the Lord’s answer to him was:
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah; for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but My Father, Who is in heaven.
This is what it takes to see. It takes living revelation. I want you to know that in Richmond, over and over for these months, we have been praying, “Lord, give us living revelation.”
That’s the only thing that is going to make the difference in this day that we live, in this day that we are entering into, in the things that we will face—maybe in our generation or the generation to follow. The only thing that will count, and the only thing that will get us through, is living revelation of Who the Lord is.
That’s the most important thing. That’s the most vital thing.
This is the revelation of God the Father. He says, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hasn’t revealed this thing to you, but My Father Who is in the heavens has revealed this thing to you.”
Have you ever thought about that? Brothers and sisters, this is the Father’s delight. This is the Father’s heart. This is the closest thing to the Father’s heart: His blessed Son. This is all that He wants to reveal. This is all that He wants to manifest. This is all that He wants to show: Who His beloved Son is.
You remember when the Lord Jesus was baptized. I think you all know the story in Matthew 3. When the Lord came out of the water, the Father couldn’t restrain Himself. You think of that.
That is an unusual circumstance for God the Father to rend the heavens and to speak vocally from the heavens. It is not an everyday occurrence. But at that moment, the Father could no longer restrain Himself.
This was the darling of His heart. And when the Lord Jesus came out of those waters of baptism, and the Holy Spirit fell upon the Lord Jesus in the form of a dove, the Father, Who couldn’t restrain Himself, said:
This is My beloved Son,
In Whom I have My delight.
The most important question and the most important revelation is who. It is Who the Lord Jesus is.
Saints, there is a simple prayer we can pray this week. Let’s pray that God will delight to show us His beloved Son. That’s the living revelation we need.
But just as there are two questions, there are two revelations. God the Father reveals to Peter the most precious thing to God. The Father unveils the darling of His heart. God the Father shows to Peter the most important thing, the most preeminent One.
But then, likewise, there is a second revelation. The Lord Jesus shows what is close to His heart. Because it says later in verse 18, “And I also, Peter.” In other words, the Father doesn’t just have something to say, but the Lord Jesus Himself also has something to reveal to His people.
“And I also, Peter, I say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Now, saints, please follow me. I hope my simple outline is not too simple. There are two questions, and there are two revelations.
The two questions have to do with Who the Lord Jesus is. That’s the most important thing. And the two revelations have to do with what the Father reveals, which is Who the Son is, and what the Son reveals, which is the thing that is close to His heart: His church.
Now, some people might be tempted to say, “Brother, you’re making too much out of the church.” But I don’t think, when it comes to this point—the turning point in the Lord’s ministry—you can say that you are making too much out of the church.
The Lord Jesus, just like the Father, couldn’t contain Himself. The Father said, “This is the darling of My heart.” The Lord Jesus couldn’t contain Himself, and He said, “And I also, Peter, there is something I need to reveal to you.”
It is My church. I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
That’s the second revelation.
Brothers and sisters, these two revelations make up the eternal purpose of God. Now, if there is one thing these thirty conferences have been about, it has been about the eternal purpose of God.
Well, you may not have been in all the planning sessions and all the times of prayer, but it has been said over and over again, as we have met together and sought the Lord together, that we are just not interested in a general Christian conference.
Now, brothers and sisters, don’t take that wrong. We don’t mean we are better. That is not the point. But we have focused for these thirty years upon a single thing, and that single thing is that blessed Lord Jesus.
And that single thing is what comes out of our blessed Lord Jesus from His side: the church of the living God. So these are the two revelations.
Now, we have asked our four brothers to share with us as well. I hope you understand now. I began with two questions. We put this burden in the form of questions, so the brothers were given the titles. I hope they aren’t offended that you brothers have been given titles.
But if you look in your handbook that Jerry pointed out, on the inside cover, I want you just to consider for a moment these few things. There are four questions:
Brothers and sisters, we have to begin with the who. If you begin with anything other than who, you are on the wrong ground to begin with. You begin with Who the Lord Jesus is. That’s the very beginning.
And just as our brother Hosea said, if you don’t begin with the beginning, you’re off course from the very beginning. So we need to begin with Who the builder is. That’s the revelation we need.
Secondly, we need to consider what is being built. In the Lord’s revelation, He said, “I will build My church.” We need to see what He is building.
What is He building? If we don’t see what He is building, we will miss the point. So we have asked our brother Dana if he will share on that.
The third question is: how is it being built? That’s a very important question.
I think there is one answer, at least, and I don’t want to take any of our brother’s thunder. But I think there is one answer to that question when He says, “I will build My church upon this rock.” That’s how it is built.
It’s built upon the immovable foundation of the Lord Jesus. You remember what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:
No other foundation can be laid than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
He alone is the firm foundation. That’s at least part of how it is being built.
Now, I’ve spent my career designing foundations. I know a little bit about foundations—not very much, a little bit. The foundation is the most important thing.
And there are differences in foundations. You can have a shallow foundation, and we read the story in the Gospel about those that built on an unworthy foundation, and how, when the storms come—which surely we will face—and when the rains come—which surely we will face—and the wind blows—which surely we will face—the whole building will crumble.
But if we build upon that foundation which is immovable, that deep foundation, that deep foundation—immovable, solid rock—then nothing can shake this building.
We design some deep foundations. My son is here, and he likes to go down. I don’t know how he does it. But he, like me, is an engineer, and he goes down into those thirty-inch holes in that deep foundation, sometimes a hundred feet in the ground, to check out the solid rock.
I can’t imagine how he does it. But take away this one illustration: that foundation is immovable. That’s how He builds.
And then we come to the fourth question: why is there conflict over the building? And we have asked our brother Lance to share.
I think it is an extraordinary thing that the Lord Jesus, when He first talks about the church, talks about the battle. I think that’s an extraordinary thing.
But in the beginning, when He grants this revelation of this thing that is dearest to His heart, this thing that He gave Himself for—that He might cleanse it, and sanctify it, and wash it with the washing of water by the Word, and present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing—He talked that there would be a battle over this.
Saints, why are we discouraged when we see there is a battle? The battle was predicted. As a matter of fact, a battle was predicted from the outset. He didn’t give them a few years of ease and say, “Oh, by the way, there might be a little issue you need to know.”
From the beginning, He said, “Over this thing, there will be a battle.” A battle of intense proportions, a satanic battle, a battle that comes from the gates of hell.
I wonder, Christians think when there is a little trouble, everything is going wrong. I think if you read this text properly, if there is not a little trouble, nothing is going right. You understand the difference?
If something is being built, there is going to be battle. It is as simple as that. That’s what the Lord Jesus said. If My church is going to be built, there is going to be a battle over it. There is going to be a conflict over it.
And it is not going to be just this little insurgency blowing up a bomb every once in a while. There is going to be the gates of Hades coming against this thing.
Why? Because the Lord is building His eternal house. He is building His church, and the gates of hell will try to prevail.
Now, there is an interesting thing as we close. No greater war has ever been thought of than this. Some of us in this country may think we have seen some great wars—World War I and World War II. I guess there are not many here yet from World War I and World War II. This is the greatest conflict ever.
But never has a greater victory ever been predicted. Isn’t it interesting, brothers and sisters, that the Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church, and the gates of hell”—what if He had left some doubt? What if He had left some questions?
But with this revelation of the thing that is closest to His heart, He said, “I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
I don’t think there was ever a time when a general went into battle and knew the outcome from the start. But, dear saints, we know the outcome. That should encourage us in the Lord. That should strengthen us to go on in spite of the battle.
So this is what we have asked our brother Lance to share.
Let us pray this week that the Lord would grant us this living revelation, that we would see Who the builder really is. This is the most vital question.
Let us also pray that we will see what is being built. You need to know what God is doing and be a part of it.
Let us also pray that we will see how it is being built.
Let me tell you—bear with me just another moment. John Saunders is sharing on this. I’ve been getting weekly updates. I don’t know if he wants me to say this, but I will, and he can deal with me later.
But our brother John Saunders was out flat on his back with a serious back injury just six weeks ago. It looked very doubtful, when we got word, that our brother would even be here. I mean, he was out flat.
I think our brother told me, he said, “Kenny, if I could have surgery right now without anesthesia, I would take it.” And that’s a bold man.
And he was immobilized. The church began to pray, and we prayed, and our brother gained a little strength every day. And each week we got a report.
He would be able to get up. First, he could go downstairs, and then he would be able to walk a little bit. And then, as the weeks went on, he was walking a hundred yards, and then it was two hundred yards, and then it was more than that, and soon it was a mile. And then the last time I talked to you, John, it was two miles. I don’t know; you may be running a marathon by now. I’m not sure.
But the last word, we believed our brother was to be here—and not only that, to stand before us and speak. This is how important the church being built is, we believe.
And we also need to pray that the Lord would open our eyes to the battle. Then we would not be discouraged by the battle, but we would be heartened by He that is on the throne, and we would take strength in the Lord.
And in spite of the opposition, we would overcome and go through, and we would be in that generation that sees the coming of the Lord of glory. That’s what we pray.
So we will ask the brothers and sisters, if you will, to bow your heads, and we want to take a few moments to pray.
Commit these thoughts to the Lord, but more importantly than these thoughts, commit these four brothers to the Lord. They are the ones that will be speaking.
Ask the Lord to use these human vessels to speak to us a living word of revelation. And as Jerry said, when Isaiah received that living revelation, his ministry and his life were forever changed.
That’s the thing we want out of this thirtieth year. That will make all the years worthwhile if that happens.
So let’s bow our heads and pray. Maybe some of you feel led to pray, and then we’ll close and go to registration.