“…I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it”
This statement by Jesus, in context, is a response to Peter’s confession of Him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, there in Matthew 16:16 A proper exegesis of this passage would have to include the whole passage, from verse 13 through 20. And there is much to be said from this account of Jesus’ challenging question, put to His disciples.
But this one phrase we study today is so powerful, that it stands easily on its own as one that the church of the 21st century cannot afford to ignore, and the Christian of the 21st century cannot afford to be ignorant of.
So we will lower the glass on this one phrase today, searching carefully to detect what it is saying to the church, and to the individual who claims to follow Christ.
May God, by His Holy Spirit, both convict and bless our hearts with His truth, spoken out of His own mouth and then inspired by His Spirit to be recorded for us who hear it today.
YOU ARE THE CHURCH
Jesus said, “I will build My church”; and as was already pointed out, the foundation He referred to on which He would build this church was the truth of who He really is. The Anointed One of the Living God; indeed, His very Son. No less. Not Elijah. Not Moses. Not one of the great prophets. But the Promised One. The One spoken of in the Garden of Eden, who would crush the serpent’s head.
The church is built up on settled conviction and assurance in the hearts of His people, that He is the Christ and the Savior of the world.
So what is the church? It is you. It is every man woman and child in history, from beginning to end, who come by faith and place their trust in Christ’s shed blood for salvation, and His resurrection for life. If that describes you, then you are the church.
Jesus said, “the gates of Hades” would not prevail against the church.
One commentator gave this application to this verse:
and the gates of hell—“of Hades,” or, the unseen world; meaning, the gates of Death: in other words, “It shall never perish.” Some explain it of “the assaults of the powers of darkness”; but though that expresses a glorious truth, probably the former is the sense here. - Robert Jamieson
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Let me translate that just a little for you. This author is saying that since reference to the gates of a city imply its strength, and the strength of Hades is death, then what Jesus is saying is that He will build His church, and death, the power of Hell, shall not be feared by the church because it cannot prevail over her.
Now there is some validity to that application. In Hebrews 2:14,15 it is revealed to us that Christ took on flesh so that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
So in that sense, the power that Hades has over men is broken, when one believes the gospel, enters into the family of God and no longer fears death because he now has eternal life.
But I would maintain that the stronger emphasis here implied, is that you and I, Christians, are to assail the gates of Hades.
This becomes more clear if you keep it in the context of the passage and see that Jesus goes on talking about kingdom keys, and binding and letting loose, etcetera.
This kind of language speaks of action; more specifically, military action.
Christian, the church in our culture and in our time, has largely neglected and/or forgotten its commission. Now I’m not talking about missions here. When I use the word ‘commission’, I’m not referring to the Great Commission and Matthew 28:18-20.
To a very large degree, we in the church have fallen prey to the mindset that our duty is to send out missionaries, support them financially, and while doing that, go about our programs and functions in the church, and that’s Christianity.
As though our whole purpose as Christians is to maintain the church. Keep it running smoothly, think up new things to do in the community, seek out new methods of teaching and new modes of worship so people don’t get bored and go elsewhere…
This can be likened to the U.S. Marine Corps, enlisting and training troops so they can go out by platoons, set up little camps, and exist solely for guarding and maintaining those camps. This is not the purpose of the USMC, and it is not the purpose of the church.
In his book, “Let The Nations Be Glad”, John Piper observes very succinctly, that ‘life is war’. He says,
“If we know truth, it is for a belt in the armor. If we have righteousness, we must wear it as a breastplate. If we cherish the gospel of peace, it must become a soldier’s footwear. If we love resting in the promises of God, that faith must be fastened on our left arm as a shield against flaming arrows. If we delight in our salvation, we must fit it securely on our head as a helmet. If we love the word of God as sweeter than honey, we must make the honey a sword. Virtually every ‘civilian’ blessing in the Christian life is conscripted for the war. There is not a warfare part of life and a non-warfare part. Life is war.” “LET THE NATIONS BE GLAD” J. Piper, Baker, 1993
Christians, you are the church, and the church is to be moving forward against the powers of Hades in this world.
Now we can get very bogged down and discouraged, if we have the wrong idea about what sort of war this is we’re supposed to be fighting, and how. So let’s clarify some things.
YOUR WEAPONS ARE NOT OF THE FLESH
First of all, you may be very relieved to know that the weapons you are expected to use in this war are not physical.
Paul said, “…the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,” II Cor 10:3,4
This should come as very encouraging news to you; but you should also see that it removes the validity of a lot of objections. A lot of excuses for inactivity. If the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit, that means that you are not too young or too old, too weak or too small; and it also means that you are not big enough or strong enough on your own.
As the prophet wrote, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts Zech 4:6
So your weapons are spiritual. That means, Christian, that you can fight this battle as a soldier on active duty and in the field, even if physically you are weak, infirm, crippled, blind, in prison, over 70, under 17, male, female, rich, poor, I hope you get the message; there is no physical condition or set of circumstances that can disqualify you for active duty in the service of the Lord.
Then what would those weapons be, that we would carry into an assault against the gates of Hades?
1. Prayer
2. Faith at work
Let’s look closer at these two weapons against the powers of darkness.
PRAYER: Here I am not talking about prayer for creature comforts, or for deliverance from trials.
I believe the blame for the problem goes to the leadership of the church over at least the past generation; but people have been trained and programmed to think that prayer is for asking God to fix our owies, give us a pretty day for taking our sons fishing, or anything else that categorically fits under the subtitle ’self-serving’.
That is not the prayer that is to be used in battle. Christians, our prayers should be first and foremost, praise and worship to the glory of God. When we have worshiped Him and given honor to His name, then our prayers should turn intercessory, and we should be praying things that further the Kingdom and thereby continue to bring glory to His name.
More workers for the harvest. Accurate and unadulterated teaching of the whole counsel of God from our pulpits. Hearts softened and made ready to hear the gospel message and respond in faith. Men and women of God who will boldly live for Christ in a Christ-hating world, and spend themselves in His service in these final days.
The list can go on. In assailing the gates of Hades, believers in Christ, the first weapon is prayer that has as its focus, the glory of God and the furtherance of the Kingdom.
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
The other weapon, FAITH: and I said, Faith at work. It should be made very clear here, that I am not just talking about mental assent to some expounded facts. I don’t mean a general kind of hopefulness, like someone might mean when they say, “I have faith that one day all men will live in peace.”
I don’t mean the kind of faith that says, “I believe Jesus died for my sins”, but then just sits and warms the occasional pew as though mental assent is enough.
The kind of faith that is useful as a weapon in our warfare, is the kind that when prayer says, “Lord send out workers into the harvest”, continues the plea with, “…and if it is your will, let me be one of the workers”!
Someone said, “Be careful what you pray for; you might be part of the answer”.
“Give me a divine appointment today, Lord. Be preparing someone’s heart to hear of you, and lead me to them”.
“Lord, I’ve been praying for this person or that; give me grace and boldness today as I go to them with the gospel”
“Lord, I have a decision to make at work, that is the difference between honoring you, or making money. Be with me today and help me bring Christ into that situation”
“Lord, I am here in this bed and I can hardly lift my head from the pillow. So I’m going to just worship you here, Lord, and You bring to mind the people and the needs that You want me to pray for.”
Again, we could go on and on. Faith that works. Faith that manifests itself in loving, Godly action. Faith that assails the gates of Hell and turns back death.
Go in confidence, believer. Gird up your loins, embolden and encourage yourself with the knowledge that since your weapons are spiritual they do not require your expertise to be effective, and charge into the fray!
Although you should be diligently studying your Bible, and not depending on your Pastor to teach you everything; and even if you haven’t been a Christian very long, if you’re a Christian at all, He can use you. And when you are with Him in the Spirit and in prayer, He can use you mightily. Furthermore, you will gain immediate benefits. Because prayer and praise from the heart builds faith stronger, like exercise does the muscles.
HE WILL BUILD HIS CHURCH
As you go about your spiritual duties now, remember that He said, “I will build My church”
This is also one of the areas we often fail to understand clearly, and the result is discouraged congregations, burned out ministers, disillusioned workers, and a lot of failed projects.
Ray Stedman said, “Human effort is needed, but human effort is never enough.”
Jesus said, “I will build My church” The two places we go wrong, is thinking it’s our church, and that we are building it.
Then we start a drive of some sort, or an outreach program of some kind, and it doesn’t take long, seeing no real results, for people to start drifting away from it; shirking their duties in it; quitting it; and three years later there are stacks of dusty, yellowing brochures, button pins with clever sayings, and bags of stale candy sitting in an office closet, and no one really remembers where they came from.
Jesus said that He would build His church, and the only way we can offer any effective help at all, is to stay toned and sharpened with prayer and working faith, so that we will stay spiritually tuned and able to discern where He is moving, and follow.
He told His disciples “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5) and He meant what He said. Not some things, not very little; nothing.
Not too long ago I had the opportunity to address this topic in our Hebrews study. We were in chapter 4 discussing God’s works and His rest, and we went momentarily to Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.”
Here I pointed out, and I will again today, that when Jesus says He will build His church, we can take that to mean the universal church, the local church body, but also the individual.
Christian, you are an important part of the organism that is the church, the body of Christ. You are the church. Stop striving, thinking you have to make something of yourself in order to be a ‘good Christian’, and rest in the fact that Jesus paid it all. You are His, bought with a price, and He has set about the work of transforming you into His image. Pray and study, but know that He will build His church; and that includes you.
CONCLUSION:
Allow me to summarize what has already been said, and then bring this to the only conclusion that we may.
Christ declared that He would build His church, and that the gates of Hades would not overcome it. Prevail against it.
We recognize very clearly from scriptural content that we are the church. That is, every person in history who is born from above, filled with His Spirit, adopted into His eternal family by faith. That’s us. The church that He has built and is building.
The building will only end when the last person is saved, and we won’t know that until it’s over. Furthermore, not only does His church continue to be built in numbers, but each individual continues to be built in maturity of faith and holiness.
That’s what we call ‘sanctification’.
Next point made; life is war. The Christian, each and every one still on this earth, is living in enemy territory, and is in a war. Now, sloth and inactivity and neglect do not mean that the Christian is not in a war. It only means he is ignorant of the fact that he is on dangerous ground, and that puts him in great danger.
It’s like walking through a beautiful meadow, smelling the flowers and enjoying the springtime breezes, unaware that there are land mines planted all over the pasture, and guns are pointed at him from the bushes at the tree line.
The Christian is in a spiritual war. Truthfully, the war itself has already been won. But there are cleanup battles to be fought.
So the Christian, you and I, my friends and family, needs to be aware of and trained in the use of, our spiritual weapons for use in this war. Prayer, and working faith.
Ok, that’s the summary. Now here is the only conclusion that makes sense.
We are in the final days of earth, and lines drawn are becoming more distinct; some of them, drawn right down the middle of the church.
That’s right, believers. The enemy even has his claws in the church. That’s why some denominations are ordaining sexual perverts to ministry. It is why many are leaving the basics of the faith, and refusing to acknowledge or preach them as truth any longer.
I’m talking about the virgin birth, the shed blood of Christ, and His imminent second coming.
So not only are we in enemy territory, he has his minions mixing among us disguised as family; but they are not.
Now let me make this very clear. The people themselves are not our enemy. Satan loves to have us looking at the sexual perverts and the atheists, and the apostates and seeing them as our enemy. But they are not.
And the church goes wrong and gets bogged down in the enemy’s trap, when she focuses her attentions and efforts on trying to legislate morality and change the minds of the unbelieving about their lifestyles and worldly values.
Satan likes that, you see, because there’s no eternal value in that, and even if we stop them from their evil deeds, he still owns them. And, of course, while we’re waging this war in the flesh, we’re neglecting our real duty, which is spiritual.
So I want us to finish up today, sharpening our focus on what we’re really all about, and deciding what we’re going to do about it.
You see, Christians, if non-Christians are not our enemies, but we are in a war, and if it is a spiritual war, then that means that our real enemies are spiritual.
Listen now: they can’t do anything to us. We belong to God and He has promised to keep us. Peter said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” I Peter 1:3-5
Well Clark, if they can’t do anything to us, then what is this war? Why do we fight?
I’m here to tell you why. Because we’re God’s Marine Corp! Don’t you get it? Just like the American military, in all it’s branches, exists to protect us and our freedom, and sometimes go and fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, just like we are presently doing in Iraq, …
…we, Christians, are here to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves! Those who are dead in trespasses and sins. Listen to Ephesians 2:1,2
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”
People there is a spirit working in them, and they are helpless. They think they hate us, but really they hate Christ in us. But it is them He came to save, and it is them He now sends us to.
Now I’m not saying that all of us should be out in the highways and byways calling them in. We all have different ministries and different capabilities.
What I am saying, is that we are all called to wage war in this spiritual conflict, and each of us had better be using whatever capabilities we have been given, because we’re going to be called into account.
Christians, let me leave you with a challenge today, and I implore you to take it seriously to the Lord in prayer, and don’t turn a cold heart or a deaf ear to it.
C.S. Lewis makes reference to John Donne’s poem, “What if this Present Were the World’s Last Night?”
And he makes this point:
“A moralist will tell you that the personal triumph of an athlete or of a girl at a ball is transitory; the point is to remember that an empire or a civilization is also transitory. All achievements and triumphs, in so far as they are merely this-worldly achievements and triumphs, will come to nothing in the end. Most scientists here join hands with the theologians; the earth will not always be habitable. … The difference is that whereas the scientists expect only a slow decay from within, we reckon with sudden interruption from without - at any moment. “What if this present were the world’s last night?”” “FERN-SEED AND ELEPHANTS And other essays on Christianity” Fontana/Collins, 1975
Church, you who are being built up in your holy faith by a Builder who has promised to do so, and has sent you out against the very gates of Hades,…
…When you pray for a soul, or tell the gospel to someone, or otherwise obey the leading of the Holy Spirit and act in prayer and faith according to that leading, you are defeating death in someone else. You are fighting for them, and you are their champion. Remember, the battle is spiritual. You’re only expected to use your spiritual weapons and God will bring down the gates and kill death for many.
But I put this question to you. If you had it on good authority… if Jesus appeared here today, on this platform, and said, “Christians, this present is the world’s last night. Tomorrow’s dawn will accompany the trumpet blast.” If you could know that today was the last day for all, how would you spend it?
Is there someone you would go to? Is there some bit of ministry you would do? Perhaps something God has laid on your heart in times past but you’ve continued to ignore His call? A prayer you need to pray? An act of faith you need to step out and accomplish? A show of obedience He’s been expecting from you?
I don’t know and can’t answer for you. Only you can, with an honest heart before God.
But here is my challenge. Whatever it is, I challenge you to do it today.
Today. This afternoon. Because church, this present could be the world’s last night, for many!
We have gates to assail!
