Rumors, Relationships, and a Revelation

I want to talk to you about three things today: rumors, relationships, and a revelation. Before we dive into the heart of what Jesus asks in Matthew 16:13-20, I need to establish something foundational.

The Expectation of Faith

Here's a fact we must keep at the forefront of our minds at all times: the God you serve has an expectation on how you live. Throughout Scripture, you'll find instructions and principles on how believers should believe, live, and behave.

One of those expectations is found in Romans 1:17: "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith." If you are a believer, you should live by faith. The common denominator for all who claim to be disciples of Christ should be our faith.

But here's the problem: when you're looking for faith, often times faith is found in the contradictions of life. Faith doesn't hit you when you've got money. Faith doesn't hit you when you've got it all together—when your marriage is straight, your kids are straight, when you can pay all the bills, when you're clearminded.

Faith is found in the contradiction.

When you come to church and hear one thing, but you've got to live another—that's where faith is found. If we're honest, most of our frustration is because we hear one thing on Sunday and live something else on Monday. You hear, "No weapon formed against you shall be able to prosper," but on Monday, every weapon formed against you seems like it's prospering. You hear, "You are the lender and not the borrower," and then Monday morning, the real lender is calling your phone. You hear, "You are the head and not the tail," but you feel like the tail.

Faith is found in the contradiction. When I hear "no weapon" and then I see a weapon, I'm supposed to grab faith. I'm not supposed to start complaining that the weapons look like they're for me. I'm supposed to grab faith and say, "I know what I'm seeing, but His word said. I know what it seems like, but His word said."

Unfortunately, a lot of us don't like to be in the contradiction, which is why we don't have a lot of faith. We don't have a lot of faith because we don't know we actually need it.

You think your attendance is going to get you to heaven? You can have perfect attendance and still miss God. Because the Bible does not say without attendance it's impossible to please Him. The Bible does not say without giving it's impossible. Without serving it's impossible. No. My Bible says without faith it is impossible. You can't even try to do it.

You need faith for more than just belief. You need faith for revelation.

Faith as the Entrance to Revelation

Faith becomes the entrance to revelation. He creates situations for revelation. Situations don't just happen. Sometimes He creates them. If He is indeed the author and finisher, then some things you're going through, He authorized it. He signed His name on the dotted line.

Sometimes unconsciously we lean on information because we lack the proper revelation of who Jesus really is. Which is why you can hear a bomb message on Sunday morning and by Sunday afternoon you've forgotten it—because we lean on information that somebody else told us simply because we don't have a personal revelation of who He really is.

Revelation is not when I see, but rather when He shows. I can only see when He's showing me. When I'm always seeing, He's not always showing. Why? Because His thoughts are not mine.

We would say, "In order to teach me patience, Lord, just keep me away from everybody and let me deal with stuff alone." But God is saying: You cannot expect a revelation without a test. I'm testing you to see if you can see what I'm showing. I'm testing you to see if you're picking up what I'm putting down.

Setting the Stage: Caesarea Philippi

Now, in Matthew 16:13, Jesus takes His disciples to a very specific place: Caesarea Philippi. It is the epicenter of pagan worship—a place that worshiped Augustus primarily. This was a place of political chaos and oppression, where people had options and widely chose Greek gods as their object of affection. Caesarea Philippi was also known as the gates of Hades—the gates of the underworld.

Jesus could have chosen to have this conversation in the temple. He could have taken them on a nice lunch, taken them to dinner. But no. He chose to take them to the epicenter of pagan worship. He chose this place to ask His disciples about the rumors that might have been circulating about who He was.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the son of man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

He's asking because in Caesarea Philippi, He's not the popular option. He knows this, yet still asks those closest to Him: who do you say I am?

He's not asking, "What do I do?" Because people far from Him know what He does. He's asking, "Who am I?" Because we live in a society full of people, but not everybody in here got activity—everybody got intimacy. In a room full of options, He's simply asking: what has the yeast of the Pharisees done to those people's minds? Who do men say that I am?

From Rumors to Relationship

They start saying rumors: "Some say You're one of the prophets. Some say You're Elijah. Some say You're John the Baptist." But Jesus does not give any energy to anything that's not truth. He dismisses the rumors with ease.

Then comes the real question. He moves from the rumors to checking the validity of their relationship. Verse 15:

"But what about you? Who do you say I am?"

In a region full of options, in a place full of idolatry, who do you say I am? In a city like Atlanta, who do you say I am? In a world full of perversion, who do you say I am? In a world full of greed, who do you say I am? In a world where divorce rates are high, who do you say I am? In a world where people are full of themselves, who do you say I am? In a world full of prosperity gospel, who do you say I am? In a world full of self-help gospel, who do you say I am?

My question today for everyone here is: who do you say He is? In a world full of "have your cake and eat it too." In a world full of don't call me the wrong thing. In a world full of don't step on my toes. In a world full of accommodate me and I'll accommodate you. In a world full of everything antichrist.

Most of us are looking for the antichrist to come in like, "I'm the antichrist." But the antichrist is anything that is not like Christ. Your boyfriend can be antichrist. Your relationship can be antichrist. Your job can be antichrist. Your self-help can be antichrist. Your prosperity can be antichrist. Not saying that it is—I'm just saying it can be.

The Revelation: Peter's Declaration

Something amazing happens. We go from rumors to relationship, and now we reach the climax of the conversation. Simon Peter immediately has an answer. He jumps up and says, "Pick me! I know who You are!"

Simon says, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

Jesus is so blown away that He doesn't say, "That's good, Simon." Instead:

"Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven."

What He's saying is: You didn't get that in a sermon. You didn't get that in a gathering. You must have been on your knees, and my Father saw your hunger and decided to visit you in the quietness of your home. He revealed to you who I really was.

Then Jesus says something profound:

"You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

Notice the shift. He calls him Simon. Then after the revelation, He calls him Peter. He's telling him: when you get a revelation of me, that's when you know who you really are.

Your therapist can't tell you who you are. Your best friend can't tell you who you are. Instagram is lying to you, boo boo. That's not who you are. You don't have to put on for the gram. You don't have to fake. You don't have to front. All you got to do is get a revelation of who He is. When you see Him for who He is, He shows you who you are.

The Keys and the Gates

He says, "Upon this rock I'm going to build my church." And then He says something critical:

"And the gates of hell will not prevail against it."

Wait a minute. Remember where they are? Back in verse 13, the writer tells us they're at Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi was also known as the gates of Hades. So Jesus is saying: "Upon this rock I'm going to build my church, and the gates of Hades won't be able to prevail against it."

He waited till you got to Atlanta to ask you a question. Who do you say I am in a city full of options? In a city full of idol worship? In a city full of everything else going on but me, I need to know: Do you know who I am? Although you are inundated with all these influences every day.

It is upon the rock's revelation that He's going to build His church—not upon Peter the rock. What He's really saying is: You won't be able to swim in Atlanta unless you get a good revelation of who I am. It is only when you get the right revelation of who I am that the gates of hell, wherever you are, will not be able to prevail against you. That means you can walk in a city with principalities and not be shaken. You can walk in a city where options abound and you can still choose Him.

"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

You only get keys when you get revelation. This is why some of you are trying to break yokes, but you can only bend them—you don't have the revelation. This is why some of you are still stuck in relationships you can't get out of—you don't have the revelation. This is why some of you won't sow, won't give, won't serve—you don't have the revelation. You still think it's about you.

When you bind something on earth, He binds it in heaven. Which means if it's bothering you and you ask Him to take it away, He's going to take it away—not just in your lifetime, but forever. And that means what you dealt with, your babies don't have to deal with it. And their babies don't have to deal with it. They ain't got to deal with it because He bound it in heaven.

Then He takes it a step further. Whatever you loose, He doesn't just take stuff away—He also adds. If you loose freedom, your kids are going to be free. If you loose debt cancellation, they won't have debt. When He looses it, it's going to be loosed.

The Silence of the Eleven

But here's what I really came to tell you. The revelation was cool, but what about the silence of the eleven?

The Bible says He asked His disciples. He asked all of you, and there was only one person saying "pick me." My concern is that some of you are the other eleven when He's trying to see who do you say He is. You don't have a revelation.

They all were with Him. They all saw Him do miracles. They all saw Him heal. They all saw Him touch. They all saw Him deliver. They all saw Him provide. They all saw Him come to the rescue. They all saw Him draw crowds. They all saw Him change everything around Him. But only one person could answer the question.

I would like to think we're all Peters. But there's a strong truth. I'm not condemning you. My concern is when you think you have a revelation and you don't. Because if you just don't, we can work with that all day. But if you don't and think you do, now I've got a battle against your self-allegiance to try to prove to you that just because He didn't fix it doesn't mean He forgot about you.

The truth of the matter is revelation is also found at the point of your faith, and faith is found in the contradictions of life.

The Path to Revelation

Get to a place of maturity where you say, "God, don't take me out. Keep me in until I get the revelation." It hurts, but I don't have it yet. It sucks, but I don't have it yet. I'm tired of feeling like this, but I don't have it yet. Keep me in it until I get the revelation. That's grown folk talk.

Because I'm tired of cycles. Cycles are only seasons that you didn't get the revelation. Once you get the revelation, the season changes. When you don't get the revelation, you repeat a cycle.

There's a rumor. There's a relationship. And then there is a revelation of who He is—not just to you, but through you in the earth.

My prayer for everybody under the sound of my voice: please don't leave here the same. You desperately need a revelation of Jesus. You can't honor your husband without that. You can't treat your wife well without that. You can't parent without that.