At TPC, we are committed to the reality that Jesus is building his church. Jesus has promised to grow his church. Jesus will inherit the nations. He sends his church out, going forth conquering and to conquer. We are a nation of priestly warriors, given a mission of global conquest that cannot fail.
In Matthew 16, Jesus has a famous exchange with Peter. Peter has just confessed that Jesus is the Christ and then Jesus declares that he will build his church and not even the gates of hell will prevail against her. Sometimes, because we have absorbed pessimistic assumptions about the future from the culture, we get this picture backwards. We tend to think that Jesus is saying that as things get worse, as hell prevails, we can have the comfort of knowing that despite the fact that the church will be a beleaguered institution, she will manage to hang on for dear life to the very end. The church will survive the gates of hell — just barely. The church will driven back by the gates of hell, but the church will not go totally extinct.
But actually that’s backwards. The picture Jesus gives works in a different way. Note that gates are defensive. In this picture of the clash between the church and hell, hell is on the defensive. As the church and hell get locked into battle, hell is on the run. The principalities and powers are put to flight. The church is on the offensive, the church is advancing. The point of Jesus’ promise is totally and deeply optimistic: Not even the gates of hell can withstand the assault of the church. The church is gaining ground. The church is growing. The church is invading hell to set the prisoners free. The church will prevail in her warfare — even the gates of hell will fall before her.
In some contexts, “hell” can be understood as the place where the wicked go after death. But in this passage it’s better understood as the Satanic kingdom of darkness that holds people alive on earth in bondage. Hell is the Satanic domain; all who are are under Satan’s sway belong to hell. Unbeleivers are in hell already in this sense. They live in Satan’s house — a house Jesus promised to plunder now that he has bound the strong man!
The church’s ministry releases people from bondage to Satan. People are being transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light as the church beseiges hell. Through preaching, psalms, and prayer, the church overcomes and conquers the hellish realms. The light of the gospel overcomes and drives out Satan’s lie. Satan’s kingdom will be vanquished. His captives will escape his clutches.
That’s what we are here to do this morning — to take the battering ram of the gospel against the gates of hell so people can be set free. We live in a time when many Christians are discouraged and fearful. But despite what we read in the headlines, there is no reason for discouragement. Yes, there is much that is wrong in our world — we see the cancer of wokeness spreading through the culture, we see sexual chaos and confusion, we see progressivism casting off the “old ways” of God’s law. But we should not be afraid. Our culture is dark, but God’s light is greater. God has promised the church will be successful and victorious in her mission. The nations will be discipled. The nations will be made into Christ’s inheritance. Jesus bought the nations with his blood and he will get what he paid for. We have a sure hope, not just of victory at the last day when Jesus returns, but a hope of victory in history as the church advances, as Christ reclaims the nations, as all the people groups of the earth are discipled.
Nothing can stop the forward march of the church. The Pharisees tried to stop the church by silencing the apostles and they couldn’t do it. The Romans tried to stop the church by throwing Christians to the lions, and they couldn’t do it. The Muslims tried to stop the church with the sword, and they couldn’t do it. Atheists have tried to stop the church, and they couldn’t do it. Communists and Marxists have tried to stop the church, and they couldn’t do it. The woke mob has tired to stop the church, and they couldn’t do it. The LGBTQ activists have tried to stop the church, and they couldn’t do it. The church cannot be stopped. Not even the gates of hell can stop the church or stand in the way of her victorious march.
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