Alright, we're here in Matthew chapter 16, and I think this chapter is probably the favorite
chapter of Catholics.
We've probably all heard them go to Matthew 16 and 18 where they say that, you know, Peter
is the rock, they say, and they believe Peter was the first pope, and ever since then, you
know, there's just been this lineage, and they're the oldest church and everything like
that.
You know, the Catholic Church is not alone in saying that, though, you know, the Orthodox
Church says the same thing, that they're the oldest church, and it all goes from them.
So a lot of people use this same argument, but we're going to look today at seven reasons
why Peter was not the first pope.
Seven reasons why Peter was not the first pope.
And so this is like their one big verse that they like, but throughout the Bible it shows
very clearly that Peter could not have been the first pope.
And I want you to look at Matthew chapter 16, it says in verse 17, and Jesus answered
and said unto them, Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall
be loosed in heaven.
And so Catholics go here, and they say, well, Peter was the rock, and basically they say
the pope on earth is like a godlike character, where he literally speaks on behalf of God,
and everything he says is correct.
He's infallible.
Not that he's sinless, but when he speaks in terms of doctrine, and on authority, he
is infallible.
He's determined the vicar of Christ on earth.
Now anybody who has any knowledge of history of the Catholic Church would know this isn't
the case.
Because the Catholic Church has quite a lot of blood on their hands.
There's a lot of wicked popes that live, a lot of reprobates, you know, I mean probably
just about every pope they've had was a reprobate, but ones where there's just so much evidence
against them where they shame them, and yet people still follow their religion, it blows
your mind.
Now when we sing in church that Christ is the solid rock, you know I always thought
the rock there was referring to the Lord, didn't you?
On Christ the solid rock, I guess the Catholics think that's referring to Peter, but you know
that's ridiculous.
And we'll go here to Matthew 16 later on, turn to Matthew 18, Matthew 18.
Now I apologize for my voice today, man, soul winning is tough work, isn't it?
I got home last night, and then all of a sudden I started to feel like this kind of tickle
in my throat.
I woke up and was like, man, I'm exhausted.
Soul winning is tough work, there's a reason why people don't do it.
But the first reason why Peter could not have been the first pope is this, there is no universal
church.
See, the idea that Peter was the first pope is based on the fact that we're all part of
this universal church, and the Catholic Church is the true church, which means if there's
one true church, there has to be a head to it.
Right?
They say the word Catholic means universal.
I grew up in a United Methodist Church.
Every single week, they would repeat vainly, we believe in the holy Catholic Church, a
United Methodist Church.
They say, now why would they say we believe in the holy Catholic Church?
You'd ask them about it.
You know what they say?
Well, Catholic means universal, right?
All the Protestant churches do the same thing, they vainly repeat it.
And they believe, the Protestants believe that the Catholic Church was the true church,
and they came out of it when the Catholic Church got messed up.
That's what they believe.
That's not what the Bible teaches them.
The Bible is very clear, there is no universal church.
Look, we are not part of the same church as Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, California.
It's a different church.
Look, I mean, they're there in Sacramento, it's a different country, right?
They're hearing different preaching.
Obviously, you know, we're close to them, they're friends, you know, we believe the
same things they do, but it's a different church.
And throughout the Bible, there's various churches, there is no universal church.
Now, Matthew 18 is what it says in verse 15.
Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee
and him alone.
If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of
two or three witnesses every word may be established.
And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church.
But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
And so here's talking about if your brother trespasses against you, and I'm not talking
about he took your seat at church, okay?
It's like, get over it if somebody sat in your seat, it's not that big of a deal.
We're talking about a major trespass, and the truth is, as a church that's together
every single week, we're going to get on each other's nerves sometimes.
That's just the way it is.
Because we're all sinful flesh, we all make mistakes, there's going to be times you're
going to be mad at your brother or sister in Christ.
All of us have been there at times, it's going to happen.
That's just reality.
And the Bible talks about when you have a problem with your brother or sister, you're
supposed to reconcile with them alone.
You don't want everybody at church to know about it, you're not trying to embarrass them.
Your goal is to restore the relationship.
And if they're not going to hear thee, the Bible says bring one or two more.
So once again, you have a small number of people.
That way, you know, if they won't hear thee, they won't reconcile with you, you bring one
or two more people, and they can kind of be an authority to see the matter and see whether
or not you're right, and you can still reconcile it on a small scale.
Now eventually, and let's talk about a big situation, not just something small, but then
eventually you tell it on to the church.
Now think about if we're all part of this universal church, like the Catholics think.
Then basically this would be saying that if your brother trespasses against you, go on
Facebook and tell the entire church out there that so and so did this.
Do you think that's what Jesus is saying?
That your brother trespasses against you, you bring one or two more, and if they won't
hear you, just go door to door, and instead of preaching the gospel, just say, hey, you
know what Brother Franklin did?
Just go around and tell everybody, because according to the Catholics, that's what you
would have to believe.
Because telling on the church, look, there's safe people in every country around the world
except Vatican City.
Look, you'd have a lot of people to tell this message to if you're supposed to tell it on
to the church, and it's talking about a universal church.
That's not what it's talking about, though.
It's talking about an issue in a local church.
Now here's the thing.
People that believe in a universal church, they will tell you the church does not start
till the book of Acts, and the reason why is they cannot answer this passage, because
it's very obvious it's talking about on a small-scale level reconciling with your brother,
and what they'll say is, well, Jesus was just giving us an example, but you know, that's
ridiculous because the Bible uses the word church here, and the church already exists.
Look, they baptized converts.
They went out soul-winning.
How were they not a church?
They collected a tithe, and they sung hymns.
In what way were they not a church, right?
They operated like a church, and Jesus is giving them instructions on how to deal with
things as a church.
Then it says in verse number 18, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven.
So what the Bible says is that if you bind something on earth, it's going to be bound
in heaven.
You know, basically in this context, let's say there's a church that, you know, we're
friends with.
Like, for example, Brother Richard Simes, you know, I've been friends with him for a
long time.
Many of us have met him.
He's a good guy and everything like that, and, you know, they recently kicked somebody
out of their church.
That person is not welcome at this church.
Because it's been bound on earth now, it's bound in heaven, and us as another Bible-believing
church, we're going to honor that.
We're going to believe that he handled the situation correctly, him and Pastor Robertson,
and that person, I've never met him before, they're not welcome at this church.
That's the way it is.
And there's a few people that we had to kick out of this church before this church even
started.
Like, during the April marathon, there's a few weird people that tried to link up with
us and pretend to be like us, and, you know, I let the other pastors that were friends
within the Philippines know that so-and-so, you know, they're not a good person.
One of these people that we saw in there who came soul-winning one day and was there for
the final service, he was mocking and rebuking Pastor Jimenez on Facebook.
So I took a screenshot of it, and I messaged him, and I told him, you know, he wasn't welcome.
Then all of a sudden, it's like a day later, he's like, oh, I'm so sorry, I don't know
what got into me.
And it's just like, well, obviously, you don't believe the same thing as we do if you're
going on there.
Doesn't the Bible say that these bad people, their foolishness is going to be known to
everybody?
I mean, it's amazing when you see that.
But turn to Hebrews 2.
Hebrews 2.
So you see that the church exists at this point, and so there is no universal church.
And the fact that there's no universal church means there's no need to have a head of a
universal church, which means there is no pope, okay?
Obviously, when you have a local church, you have somebody who's the head of that church,
right?
If you want to operate, you need to have organization and structure.
But if there is no universal church, that means there's nobody who's the head of the
church worldwide.
There is no pope.
It says in Hebrews 2, verse 12, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren.
In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Now keep your place in Hebrews, and turn to Psalms 22.
And so in Hebrews 2, 12, it says, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee,
okay?
Now this is a quote from the Old Testament, and what we need to do as Bible-believing
Christians is let the Bible define what we believe and compare spiritual things with
spiritual.
And so this is quoted from the Old Testament.
It's a good idea to go back to the Old Testament to get a better idea of what's going on.
And in Psalms 22, verse 22, it says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst
of the congregation will I praise thee.
Now in Hebrews it says in the midst of the church, in Psalms it says in the midst of
the congregation.
What does that mean?
It means a church is a congregation.
It means you're together as one, you're in the same location, you're a congregation.
So this idea of the universal church doesn't make sense, because by definition of the word
church, it's talking about a congregation.
And look, we're not part of the same congregation.
We're not together with other great Bible-believing Christians around the world.
So we're not part of the same universal church.
Now turn to Hebrews 12.
Now we could say we're part of the same family, because if you're saved, you're a brother
or sister in Christ, you're a son or daughter of God.
So we're part of the same family as people in other churches around the world that are
saved.
We're not part of the same church.
And in Hebrews 12 verses 22 and 23, this is going to be one of the big passages they
try to use to say there's a universal church here in Hebrews 12.
And it says in Hebrews 12 verses 22 and 23,
But here come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem
into an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn
which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect.
So they'll turn here and say, well, wait a minute, all of us that are saved are part
of the same church.
But I want you to notice a few things in verse 23.
One it says to the general assembly.
So once again, they're assembled together, and here's the difference between heaven and
earth.
When we're all in heaven, guess what?
We are assembled together.
So obviously in heaven one day, we're going to all be assembled together, and obviously
the people that have died before, they're assembled together in heaven right now, and
one day we will all be part of the same church, the same assembly, the same congregation will
be singing praise to God up in heaven, but that day's not now.
Us that are here on earth, this is our church.
This is who we're congregated together with.
This is our assembly.
Turn to Acts 16, Acts 16.
Now another thing they try to do to argue, and this is not just the Catholics, it's the
Protestants, the Orthodox, it's INC, it's Angat Ting Da An, it's all the offshoots of
INC, and I mean most religions around the world, they believe in a universal church.
Most Pentecostals believe we're part of the same universal church.
I'm sure there's a lot of Baptists in the Philippines that believe that as well, because
it seems like every heresy of one of the Baptist churches uncovers and believes in it, right?
But that's not what the Bible teaches, and one thing they're going to do is they'll look
at certain verses in the Bible that talk about how people were added to the church, and they'll
say well see, there you go, it's a universal church, but what it's doing is talking about
a specific church, and when it says people are added to the church, it's talking about
a specific local church, and you get people saved and baptized and they join the church.
In Acts 16, verse 5, this is what it says, And so were the churches established in the
faith, and increased in number daily.
So you'll find a lot of verses that talk about people were added to the church, but in verse
5 of 16, it talks about the churches people are added daily.
See, any church that's going out there and preaching the Gospel and being zealous with
soul-willing, I believe God's going to build that church.
I don't think he's talking about one universal church, but any church that's following the
Bible and preaching boldly and going out, winning the loss, God's going to help build
that church.
Now here's the thing, things that build that are successful, they take time.
They don't happen overnight.
You know what grows overnight?
Weeds, right?
I mean when you have a house, and I don't know about that here, but in the US, it's
just like you have weeds growing in your backyard all the time, it's like man, I just plopped
those a couple days ago.
Hey, they grow really quickly, and they're very easily taken away.
Something that's going to last, it takes time.
This church is going to grow, but it's not just going to be skyrocketing.
And you see these churches in the Philippines that have just skyrocketed in their growth,
and I've heard some of the stories, and I don't know enough about it to really name
the name, so I'm not going to do that, but some of these churches I've heard about how
they weren't really doing too much, and they changed a few things, and God blessed them,
and all of a sudden, boom, they tripled in size in one year.
They went from like 100 to 300.
Now I believe it's possible that this church could grow quickly at the beginning, because
more people are going to be hearing about it, but it's not going to just triple every
single year.
If we're tripling every single year, we're doing something wrong.
We're obviously changing something.
Now turn, we'll look at Acts chapter 16, and the first point we saw is just simply this,
that there is no universal church, which means there's just absolutely no need to have a
a pope or a leader of Christians worldwide, and you know, if you've ever watched documentaries,
sometimes I've watched for educational reasons, and they'll talk about how, you know, Peter
was the leader of the early church.
There was no leader of the early church.
Once Jesus Christ was gone, you had a bunch of churches, and they had individual leaders,
but number one is the fact there is no universal church, there's no need for a pope, but number
two is this, Peter was not the first pope because of the fact no man could be the pope.
No man's infallible, because the way the Catholic Church speaks, it's not just that
he's the head like a pastor.
I stand up here and I admit I make mistakes.
I screw up.
I'm sinful.
I mess up every day.
That's not what the Catholic Church teaches, though.
They literally say that the pope is God on earth, basically, the vicar of Christ on earth.
It's like the pope and Mary, and then there's Jesus somewhere, right?
They basically say the pope is sinless and without fault, no man could be the pope like
they believe in.
It says in Acts 16 verses one through three, let's look at Paul the Apostle.
Verse one, then came he to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there,
named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess and believed, but his father
was a Greek.
So Timothy, the implication is, has one person in his family who's saved, but his father's
not saved.
His father's a Greek, and it says in verse two, which was well reported up by the brethren
that were Lystra and Iconium, him would Paul have to go forth with him and took and circumcised
him because of the Jews which ran those quarters, for they knew all that his father was a Greek.
So in order to appease the Jews, Paul has Timothy circumcised.
This is a grown man.
That's pretty embarrassing, isn't it?
I mean, this is a grown man, and he has him circumcised.
Why did he have him circumcised, according to verse three?
Because of the Jews.
Not because of what the Bible says, not because of what scripture says, but because of the
Jews, Paul changes what's right, and I can prove that to you.
Turn to Galatians 2.
Now, obviously, Paul the apostle was a great man, but I'm showing you here very clearly
in Acts 16 that Paul screwed up, and this is not the only time.
Also in the book of Acts, he's told not to go and preach to the Jews, and he chooses
to do it anyway.
He screws up.
And if Paul the apostle would screw up, anybody would.
Right?
I mean, he wrote half the New Testament.
If Paul the apostle would screw up, every man who's in that position is going to screw
up.
Doesn't matter who you are.
Galatians chapter 2, look at verse number one.
Then, 14 years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also.
And I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among
the Gentiles, but probably to them which are of reputation, lest by any means I should
run or had run in vain.
But neither Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
So Titus does not want to be circumcised.
He wasn't circumcised growing up.
He grew up a Greek.
He's a believer.
He doesn't want to be circumcised.
And that because of false brethren unawares brought in who came in privily to spy out
our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.
To whom we gave place by subjection, know not for an hour that the truth of the gospel
might continue with you.
And so this is false brethren who are trying to get him circumcised.
See the world will always try to get you to meet him in the middle.
They always try to get you to change your standards to meet them.
We preach the gospel and everything and the Baptists here, they're just like, well, you
know, can you just change what you believe on repentance?
No we're not going to do that.
And we're not going to water it down and say we believe the same thing.
No we don't.
We believe salvation is a free gift.
We're not going to meet him halfway in the middle.
There's this idea in the Philippines that if you're not Catholic, you're on the same
team.
That's not what I believe.
I believe you're on the same team if you believe the gospel, that it's a free gift, it's eternal
life only in Jesus Christ.
And I'm sorry, but most people in the Philippines don't believe it.
Narrow is the way we see the thumb to life.
Few there be that find it.
One of these Baptist pastors, he said, I don't know when this was, but he said it would be
a great thing, a big victory if all Christians would unite.
And it's like, man, that's what the Antichrist wants.
There you go, Mr. Baptist, you want, you're going to just go in line right with the Antichrist.
That's what he wants.
Bring everybody together.
But God is a God of separation.
You see that throughout the Bible.
Now, obviously when we're talking about churches, you know, I mentioned brother Richard signs,
you know, obviously if we were to look at every single situation, I'm sure we would
run things a little bit differently, but we're willing to agree to disagree.
Why?
Because we believe all the main things.
We believe the same gospel.
We're zealously soul winning.
You know, we believe in the Bible, but we're not going to meet someone in the middle that
believes in complete Harrison.
We're not going to do that.
They believe in a different gospel.
And so here you see that Paul is willing to change his stances.
Now I personally, I'll show you what the Bible says.
I'm not going to make your decisions as a parent, but in terms of circumcision, like
my son, we didn't have circumcised.
Why?
Because that was something in the Old Testament and it says it doesn't profit you at all in
the New Testament.
I know it's become normal, but honestly, if you look back a hundred years, that wasn't
something that was commonly done.
You notice in the last hundred years, everybody just loves the Jews and worships them.
It's a different world now.
You can make your own decisions as a parent.
I'm not saying it's a sin.
It's up to you what you want to do, but you look here at Titus and that's the way I look
at it.
You know, if you're a believer here, you're not required to be circumcised on the eighth
day like they did in the Old Testament.
Now here's the thing about this.
No man is infallible.
And when you look at the history of the Catholic church, boy, they've changed their minds on
so much stuff, haven't they?
Here's a quote from Pope Pius XII in 1950.
There is no conflict between evolution and the Bible.
I don't know what Bible you're reading or not reading, but there's a big conflict between
the Bible and evolution, right?
They changed their mind on creation and evolution.
You know, one thing they've changed their mind on is the LGBT.
Haven't they changed their mind on that?
It's like, you know, Pope Francis, it's just like, you just love the LGBT.
You love the vice-gonders of this world.
I'm sorry, but that's not what the Bible says.
And look, here's the thing.
I believe the Catholic church has always been perverted and weird and wicked, but they at
least on the record would pretend they'd be against it, right?
Kind of like, INC will pretend like they're against all this stuff.
They'll preach like, oh, we're really against the LGBT, when in reality it's just like,
man, there's so much stuff to undercover there.
It's just...
But you know, the Catholic church has changed their mind on all of this stuff.
And one of the big things the Catholic church has changed their mind on, which is going
to tie into the end times, is they've changed their mind on ecumenicalism.
Ecumenicalism basically means where if you're ecumenical, you want everybody to join together
on one team.
Now, the Catholic church used to just kill you if you disagreed with them.
Isn't that the truth?
Not anymore.
They say, man, Orthodox, you know, we love you.
Forget about the Great Schism.
That was like a thousand years ago, a big misunderstanding.
The Protestant church, you know, yeah, let's let bygones be bygones, we'll all join hands
and be together.
And now they want to link up with just non-denominational and all these other people, and they're putting
aside all their differences, and that's what the world's doing, and it's tying together
with the end times.
The Catholic church has changed their mind on so many stances.
It's ridiculous.
And I'm going to show you one at the very end with our last point, which is probably
the biggest thing they changed their stance on.
But you can see that no man is infallible, and we can see through history that the Catholic
priests, the popes, they've changed their mind on tons of stuff.
So none of them fit this idea of the vicar of Christ.
Now turn to Matthew 4, Matthew 4.
And so the first thing we saw is this, there is no universal church.
So there is no need to even have a pope.
The second thing we see is this, that since no man is infallible, no man could ever fit
the position that the Catholic church says of being the pope or the vicar of Christ or
being sinless or speaking on authority of God on earth.
And the third thing we see is this, that Peter rejected man's worship.
In Matthew chapter 4, this is what it says in verses 9 and 10,
And see, Jesus tells Satan, you know, you're only supposed to worship the Lord thy God.
Now what's interesting is that throughout the Bible, Jesus accepts man's worship all
the time, doesn't he?
He says the only one you're supposed to worship is the Lord thy God, and Jesus accepts man's
worship.
You know why that is?
Because he is God.
It's very clear.
He accepts man's worship all the time because he is God, but he says the only person you're
supposed to worship is the Lord thy God.
Now turn to Acts 10, Acts 10.
Now here's this idea, because Peter rejected worship, have you ever seen a pope reject
man's worship?
You've never seen it before.
They love man's worship, and here's the thing, if they were literally the vicar of Christ
on earth, they'd be able to accept worship, because they're literally speaking on behalf
of God.
They're like a God-man.
So if the Catholic Church was right, they kind of would be able to accept worship.
They'd have people just bow down and kiss their toe or whatever, like you see with the
Catholic Church, they were really the vicar of Christ on earth.
But notice what it says in Acts 10, verses 25 and 26.
Peter rejects the worship from Cornelius.
Now Cornelius was a great guy, but Cornelius is doing something that's very fleshly and
carnal because he's worshipping Peter.
Now Peter was a great man, but we shouldn't worship him.
One thing you see when you're part of a church like Verdi Baptist Church, sometimes when
people visit Verdi Baptist Church, they almost kind of look at Pastor Jimenez a little bit
too high as they should, you know what I mean?
And I understand that because I remember a long time ago, the first time I met Pastor
Anderson, I think it was like 2008, I remember I was thinking, man, I wonder, can I dress
like this or is he going to be offended?
Looking back, I'm like, man, that was pretty foolish.
That was ridiculous, right?
But it's very easy to worship a man above what you should.
And Peter here has this situation and he rejects man's worship.
And that's what we always must do if somebody wants to worship us or look up to us is reject
man's worship.
That's what Peter does.
That's not what popes do.
Popes accept in love and they embrace man's worship.
Now turn to Acts 15.
Now it might surprise you, but you know, when Pope John Paul died, I don't know what, 10,
15 years ago or whatever, there was a lot of famous preachers that talked about how
great of a guy he was.
Benny Hinn.
You can talk about him.
He went there for the funeral and talked about how great of a guy the Pope was and they believed
the same thing.
Now that surprises you because you thought he was a Pentecostal that really believed
his speaking in tongues.
But all these leaders, they're just joining together.
They don't care.
They're putting aside all their differences.
The Rick Warrens of the world, these ecumenical people, they just want to join every single
person together.
That's not what the Bible says though.
Now the fourth reason why Peter could not have been the first Pope is simply this, because
on earth, James had authority over Peter.
Look at Acts 15, verse five.
But there rose up certain, this is going to be Peter speaking, we're going to read a lot
of verses here.
But there rose up certain, verse five, Acts 15, verse five, but there rose up certain
of the sect of the Pharisees, which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them
and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
The apostles and elders came together for to consider this matter.
And then there had been much disputing.
Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago
God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe.
God which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Now therefore, why tempt ye, God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which
neither our fathers nor we are able to bear?
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even
as they.
Now Peter is a guy who has a position of some authority, and he's looked at as someone who's
respected, and he's giving his opinion, he's saying great things, and in verse 12, that
all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles
and wonders God had brought among the Gentiles by them.
So Peter gives his opinion, we have Barnabas, we have Paul, we have all these big name people.
Notice verse 13, and after they held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren,
hearken unto me.
Now he keeps talking, go down to verse 19.
Notice what it says, the first four words, wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble
not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God.
See James is like, I've heard everybody's opinion, now I'm going to give the sentence.
Think about it in a court of law.
The judge hears all the opinions, and then he brings forth the sentence that's going
to be carried out.
He makes the final decision.
Why does James make the final decision?
Because he's the pastor of the church.
That's the reason why.
And so if Peter was the first pope, why is it on earth, James says, hey, here's the sentence,
I heard what you said, Peter, but here's what we're going to do.
Why?
Because James had authority at that church over Peter.
James was the pastor of that church.
Now here's the thing, you look at these names, Peter, Barnabas, and Paul, I don't necessarily
think that James is going to get more rewards in heaven.
I don't think he's going to get more rewards in heaven than any of them.
That's my opinion.
We don't really know.
These are all great people.
So you don't necessarily have to be the pastor or the leader to get the most rewards.
You could be in this room and be a zealous soul winner and win far more rewards than
me.
Just because you're not preaching the sermons doesn't mean you can't do something big for
a lot, but it doesn't change the fact that there's one person at a church who makes the
final authority, and at this church, my sentence is.
That's what James says.
That's why when you look at history, the Orthodox Church, around a thousand years ago, I think
it was 1054, they had the great schism between the Catholics and the Orthodox, and the Orthodox
has around 250 million members worldwide.
It's actually a really big church, because pretty much all the Soviet Union, Ethiopia,
Romania, a lot of countries are like, all Orthodox, and they're far more unperceptive
than Catholics.
But they have this argument over which side split from who.
The Orthodox says they were the true religion, and the Catholics split off from them, and
they say we're the oldest religion, and the Catholics say the opposite.
But you know, the Orthodox, you know what they say?
They say, well, James was the leader of the early church.
Most Orthodox churches teach that.
Why?
Because it makes a lot more sense than saying Peter's the first leader.
Now we obviously reject the idea of a pope to begin with, but hey, if there was a pope,
Orthodox, you know, you'd be right.
James was the leader.
He's the one who carries out the sentence.
It's not Peter.
Now Peter gives his opinion, he's obviously high up, but look, James is the one who carries
out the sentence.
Why?
He's the pastor of that church.
Turn to Galatians 2.
Galatians 2.
In preparing this sermon, I remember the first time I heard that preach, Pastor Menace preached
it, and I was like, man, that's awesome.
In Acts 15, it makes it pretty clear that James is the one who's the leader there.
I had never thought about it.
When I was preparing the sermon, I thought of another verse that proved that James had
authority over Peter, though.
A verse that I've read over a million times, you never even think about it, but in Galatians
chapter 2 verse 9, notice what it says.
Galatians 2 verse 9.
And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was
given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should
go into the heathen and nanneth the circumcision.
Notice how James is listed before Cephas for Peter.
Every word of God is in there for a reason.
It's not accidental.
There's a reason why God put the order James, Cephas, and John.
Why?
Because James was the one at that church who did have the final opinion.
And Paul was aware of it when he saw that they seemed to be pillars, and the first one
he lists is James.
Why?
Because James had the authority over Cephas at that church.
So our fourth point was this.
The reason why Peter was not the first pope is simply this.
Because James had authority over Peter in the Bible.
But not only that, another reason why he was not the first pope is because Peter was
rebuked by Paul the apostle in the Bible.
We see that here in Galatians chapter 2 as well.
We just read verse 9 and verse 10.
Only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which I also was forward to
do.
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles.
But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumstance.
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried
away with their dissimulation.
When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said
unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles,
and not as the Jews, why compelest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Here we see Paul rebuking Peter.
Have you ever seen the pope rebuked by a cardinal or a bishop or a priest?
I mean if that ever happens, he's going to be dead the next day, right?
Because the pope has the authority over them.
They'll never speak against the pope publicly.
Now I'm sure privately they speak against the pope all the time, but publicly they won't
do it.
Why?
Because the pope has authority over them.
Paul though here, he rebukes Peter.
Now if Peter was the first pope, because this is after Matthew 16, then why is Paul rebuking
Peter?
It doesn't make any sense whatsoever, does it?
So you see that James has the authority over Peter, and you see that Paul here is rebuking
Peter.
You see very clearly, Peter just simply could not have been the first pope.
Now I want you to turn back to Matthew 16.
Now I believe Peter was one of the greatest men who ever lived, but I'll be honest with
you, I think he is the number one worst choice to say was the pope in the Bible of anyone
who saved.
That's my opinion.
You know why?
Because you never see a saved person screw up more than Peter in the New Testament, right?
It's kind of encouraging because we as soul winners, we can make big mistakes, and you
look at Peter, and he's just accomplishing many great things, and he's just saying a
lot of foolish things as well, right?
Now we were already in Matthew chapter 16.
It's funny because I think God puts us in here like this to make churches like the Catholic
church look foolish.
Because remember in Matthew 16, just a few verses before verse 21, he's being declared
the pope, okay?
Well let's see what happens right after that in verse 21.
From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem
and suffer many things the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised
again the third day.
Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall
not be unto thee.
So Peter is rebuking Jesus, okay?
It's a pretty foolish thing to do.
But he's turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou art an offense
unto me.
For thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
So here Jesus rebukes Peter, and he basically calls him Satan.
He's basically saying he's being influenced by Satan, and he's acting like Satan, but
rebuking the Lord.
I mean, how ridiculous is that that he would do that?
Well, this is right after he just became the pope according to the Catholics.
I mean, it's just like, did you not read a few more verses down below where Peter is
rebuked by the Lord, and that shows that he couldn't have been the first pope?
I mean, it's right after that.
But not only that, let's look at the end of Matthew chapter 16 and starting in Matthew
17 verse 1, okay, Matthew 17 verse 1.
This is still right after Matthew 16 where he supposedly became the first pope.
Verse 1 in Matthew 17, And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother,
and bringeth them up unto a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them, and
his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here.
If thou would let us make here thee three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias, while yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold,
a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased,
hear ye him.
And so Peter says, let's make three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for
you.
Now obviously Moses was a great guy.
My opinion is he's probably the best character in the Old Testament.
That's my opinion, I could be wrong, but here's the thing, he's just a man.
And what Peter is doing in Matthew 17 is he's trying to elevate a man to the level of being
a god, isn't he?
When he says three tabernacles, he's elevating a man to the level of where he's basically
like god on earth, and supposedly, just a few verses earlier, Jesus was elevating Peter
to a level of being god on earth.
Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it, folks?
I mean that's literally why he's being rebuked.
In Matthew 16, they say he's being elevated to a level of the vicar of Christ, basically
god on earth, he speaks on behalf of god, and then just a little while later we see
he's rebuked for doing that exact thing, because we should never elevate man to the level of
being god.
We should never do that.
And it doesn't matter who it is, it doesn't matter how righteous they are, every man is
going to screw up.
Now turn to Matthew 26, Matthew 26.
And so Peter's an interesting character, because he's the guy who gets out of the boat and
walks on the water, but he's also the guy that looks foolish because he's saying.
Now one thing that we can learn from this is that if you're going to accomplish something
for god in your life, you need to take chances.
And see, Peter looked foolish a lot of times, but you know what, in the end, he probably
got more rewards than almost anybody who's ever lived.
And so when you step out on the water and take chances, you're going to make mistakes
a lot of times.
But we have to be willing to take chances in life.
But we do see that Peter makes a lot of mistakes, and in Matthew 26, starting in verse 69,
Now Peter sat without in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast
with Jesus of Galilee.
But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
And when he was gone out into the porch, another made solemn, and said unto them that were
there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
And again, he denied with an oath, I do not know the man, and after a while came unto
him they that stood by and said, Peter, Surely thou also are one of them, for thy speech
betrayeth thee.
Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man, and immediately the cock
grew.
And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow thou shalt
deny me thrice.
And he went out and wept bitterly.
Peter was told this was going to happen, and he didn't believe it.
The natural thing is that all of us believe that we will not back down from defending
God when the pressure is on.
That's what all of us believe.
But the truth is, once the pressure is on, you find out whether or not you're going to
deny him or not.
Now look, Peter's no exception, because Paul backed down when it came to the Jews, sometimes
in the Bible.
So no man, as we said, could ever be this level of being God on earth, because we're
all sinful.
But here's the thing, if Peter was the choice for the pope, I mean, Jesus made a really
bad choice.
I mean, how many times do we see him screw up?
We haven't even covered everything.
We don't have time to show all the times that Peter screwed up in the Bible.
But he clearly wasn't the first pope.
You see, not only did he reject man's worship, which was a good thing, but James was in authority
over him.
Paul rebukes him.
Jesus rebukes him all the time.
There's no need for a pope.
And the last thing we're going to look at, turn to Matthew chapter 8, and the last reason
we're going to look at why Peter could not have been the first pope is simply this.
Peter was a married man, according to the Bible.
In Matthew chapter 8, verses 14 and 15, notice what it says, verse 14, and when Jesus was
coming to Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid and sick of a fever.
So Peter sees his wife's mom sick, and he touched her hand and the fever left her and
she arose and ministered unto them.
We see here very clearly that Peter was a married man.
Now if you study Catholicism, like I said, this was the biggest thing they changed their
doctrines on.
Some popes in history were married.
But once again, it's just like, wait a minute, wasn't the Bible written 2000 years ago?
How can you just change, like 1500 years ago, oh God just changed his mind, it just came
from the pope.
They're now no longer allowed to get married.
That doesn't make any sense.
I mean, if they're not allowed to get married, they're not allowed to get married.
If they are, then they are.
Now notice in the Bible, that to be a pastor, and he's the pastor so to speak, or the bishop
of this whole church, you need to be married, the Bible says, as Blaine lists the husband
of one wife.
Now that's a message that the pastors in the Philippines need to hear, that you need to
be married with kids, which most of them don't seem to get, but that's what the Bible teaches.
But you know, Peter here, Peter was married, and according to the Catholic Church, popes
are not supposed to get married, priests are not supposed to get married.
Now what a weird religion, like where do you come up with this stuff?
But in the Bible, you see that Peter was married, right?
So the seven points that we looked at were this.
Number one, there simply is no universal church, so there's absolutely no need to have a pope
or a leader of this universal church.
Number two is that no man is infallible.
No man could be the pope on earth so to speak.
Number three, we see that Peter rejects the worship of man, which is something you will
never see from a pope.
Number four, we see that James has the authority over Peter.
Number five, we see that Peter is rebuked by Paul.
Number six, that he's rebuked by Jesus.
And number seven, we see that he was married and popes are not supposed to be married.
So what can we learn from this sermon?
Because obviously everybody walked in here today, none of us believe that Peter was the
first pope, right?
All of us know that that's false.
I don't think this is a sermon I preach in America because honestly, you know, it's not
like most people are Catholic.
When you come to a Catholic country, we need to go in depth on these things to be able
to prove, if we ever talk to Catholics, you know, why they're wrong, why they're in error.
Obviously we want to give them the gospel first, but yet we need to be able to show
them what the Bible says of why they're wrong, why it's false.
But what can we learn from a sermon like this?
Even though we reject there being a pope or a leader, you know what you see from churches
across this country and across the world?
They'll look at the Catholic churches being weird and bizarre.
I grew up thinking the Catholic church was bizarre and satanic and weird.
But at the same time, you go to churches where you look at a man like he's your pope.
Now you don't call him the pope.
And isn't that what we see with churches here, where people are elevated to a level of being
like a pope?
Why do people believe in the preacher-rapture?
Is it because the Bible teaches it?
No.
The Bible says after the tribulation.
Why do they believe it?
Well, my pastor taught me that the preacher-rapture is true.
It's like, when you look at your pastor, like he's a pope then.
Because the word of God says that it's after the tribulation, and people believe things
not because it's what the Bible says, but because their Baptist pope taught them that.
Their seminary pope, their seminary leader, their Pentecostal pope, whatever, all these
famous people, they're a bunch of phonies, they're fakes, and they want men to worship
them.
And you see that from leaders of churches around the world and here in the Philippines.
They want men to worship them.
They want to be like a pope over a group of people.
That's what they want.
And they do get people to vainly follow them.
But you know what?
I'm not interested in vain people following me.
I want people that want to be a part of this church because they know the Bible, they believe
in the Bible, they love soul winning, and they want to accomplish something in life.
We're going to stand up and preach against this because it needs to be heard.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing me to be with you.
Thank you.
Amen.