Jesus made the promise to us that upon the truth that He is the Son of God, He would establish those whom He had called out.
Matthew 16:18: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
That’s a tall order. He’s promising that hell will not prevail against those who are founded upon the truth that He is the Son of God, the Christ.
There is the norm, in which people think that the gates of hell are coming against us, and the purpose of the church is to “hold out until Jesus comes or until we go to heaven.” That’s garbage. "Gates” do not go after anybody, gates are stationary; gates are meant to protect that which lies behind the gates. Jesus clearly had in mind, here, the concept of an ancient city that had its battlements, its fortifications, and its gates.
The gates of a city, in ancient times, were ways that the residents of the city would entrap the attackers and make it a killing ground. Jesus was telling us that He has sufficient authority against the domain of hell, so that whoever comes against hell in the name of Jesus Christ, by His authority, would overcome the entrapment of hell and would rescue those who were in and behind the walls of hell in the domain of that city, because they had come in the sufficiency of the authority and of power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s not so much that people, when they die, they are going to hell; it’s that they are already lost and if you’re not saved, your position never changes. How did you, if you are saved, how were you saved? The likelihood is that somebody who had the message of Jesus Christ came to you, when you were lost, rescued you, brought you out of that condition through these chambers of the gates of hell and, according to Paul in his letter to the Colossians, “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” And there was not a thing that hell could do about it.
You were rescued by someone who had the sufficient authority and power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, sent by the Lord Jesus to rescue you and the rescue was successful. And it has been successful for uncounted numbers of cases. Why? Because we have the authority of Jesus Christ.
You see, this Scripture from Matthew 16 “And upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”... That is true, it’s factually true, and everyone who is saved, in their lives that Scripture is true. Upon the truth that Jesus is the Lord and Christ, anyone who is captured by hell may be rescued, upon that truth. Now some have perverted this truth to say that Peter is the foundation of the church. That simply is not true because this is an issue of authority. What was it that Peter had confessed? Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
The same Peter in Acts 2, makes the statement that God raised Jesus from the dead and made him to be “both Lord and Christ”. Now what does it mean for Jesus to be “both Lord and Christ”? What’s the difference between being “Lord” and being “Christ”? Here, he says it this way, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” (Acts 2: 32,33)
So, he was explaining to the audience on the day of Pentecost this: “Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Now what’s the distinction between “Lord” and “Christ”?
“Christ” is the word “mashiyach” in the Hebrew, “Messiah” in English, and it means “the anointed one”. God has made him “Lord” and “the anointed one”. “Lord” is the title; “Christ”, the anointed one, is the power by which the title has authority. There is power and then there is authority. “Power” is the ability to do a thing and “authority” is the right to do the thing. It’s sort of the “gun” and the “badge”. The policeman has power because he carries around a gun strapped to his side, or some weapon, but if he uses that power or that weapon outside of the scope of his authority to use it, he may be charged with criminal activity. But if he discharges that weapon or uses that force or power within the scope of the authority that he has been given by the state, and by extension, by the people, then because he has the requisite authority, he may properly use the power.
Jesus has the authority of Lordship; He is Lord of Lords, He is Ruler. But He has the power that comes from being the Christ. God gave Him the title of Lord, therefore the authority, and God gave Him the power with which to act, Christ. So against His enemy, Jesus has all power and Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth.
Now why would the Scriptures say that He has authority in heaven?
Paul identifies the seat of that which opposes Him, as being in heaven. Here he says, in Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, be strong in the Lord (that is within the scope of the Lordship of Christ) and in his mighty power.” There you have it: power and authority. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6: 10-12)
There it is, verse 12. The seat of that which opposes us—who are “the called out”, who are the body of Christ, who are the presence of Christ in the earth, endowed and clothed by the Spirit of God, that which opposes us is the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” It is clearly the demonic; the demonic opposes us. That’s who our enemy is. Our enemy is not flesh and blood. Our enemy is not one political party or another. Our enemy is not one political candidate or another. Our enemy is not one particular human being or another. It’s when we get crossed up on these things we lose our focus and we lose our way. So, we take up battles against humans. We get into the battles against homosexuals; we get into the battle against abortionists. We get into the battle against this and the battle against that. The struggle is not against humans or against what humans are thinking. The struggle is against the demons that put these ideas in humans. If we are going to win the battle, we cannot focus our effort upon the humans who are the unwitting pawns, even if they are willing, in what is a spiritual struggle. This is a struggle against the enemy of God and man, and us, who are the people of God, and therefore the struggle is spiritual.
What is the underlying root of the sin of abortion? It is spiritual. What is the underlying root of the sin of homosexuality? It is spiritual. What is the underlying root under every sin? It is how the enemy of God and man uses humans to wage war against God: that’s the battle. If you miss that, how could we possibly hope to understand spiritual warfare? How could we possibly hope to exercise sufficient power in the realms of mankind against these things? This is where we’ve been misguided. People don’t know what to do because they don’t know what we’re doing. They don’t know what the theater of our conflict is, they don’t know what the definitions of the conflict are; they don’t understand what the war is about. The war is not against flesh and blood. The power that you have from Jesus Christ is meant to be sufficient for your warfare in rescuing people out of the domain of hell and bringing them into the kingdom of God. That’s what Jesus said He would do.
Matthew 16:18: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
That’s a tall order. He’s promising that hell will not prevail against those who are founded upon the truth that He is the Son of God, the Christ.
There is the norm, in which people think that the gates of hell are coming against us, and the purpose of the church is to “hold out until Jesus comes or until we go to heaven.” That’s garbage. "Gates” do not go after anybody, gates are stationary; gates are meant to protect that which lies behind the gates. Jesus clearly had in mind, here, the concept of an ancient city that had its battlements, its fortifications, and its gates.
The gates of a city, in ancient times, were ways that the residents of the city would entrap the attackers and make it a killing ground. Jesus was telling us that He has sufficient authority against the domain of hell, so that whoever comes against hell in the name of Jesus Christ, by His authority, would overcome the entrapment of hell and would rescue those who were in and behind the walls of hell in the domain of that city, because they had come in the sufficiency of the authority and of power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s not so much that people, when they die, they are going to hell; it’s that they are already lost and if you’re not saved, your position never changes. How did you, if you are saved, how were you saved? The likelihood is that somebody who had the message of Jesus Christ came to you, when you were lost, rescued you, brought you out of that condition through these chambers of the gates of hell and, according to Paul in his letter to the Colossians, “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” And there was not a thing that hell could do about it.
You were rescued by someone who had the sufficient authority and power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, sent by the Lord Jesus to rescue you and the rescue was successful. And it has been successful for uncounted numbers of cases. Why? Because we have the authority of Jesus Christ.
You see, this Scripture from Matthew 16 “And upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”... That is true, it’s factually true, and everyone who is saved, in their lives that Scripture is true. Upon the truth that Jesus is the Lord and Christ, anyone who is captured by hell may be rescued, upon that truth. Now some have perverted this truth to say that Peter is the foundation of the church. That simply is not true because this is an issue of authority. What was it that Peter had confessed? Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
The same Peter in Acts 2, makes the statement that God raised Jesus from the dead and made him to be “both Lord and Christ”. Now what does it mean for Jesus to be “both Lord and Christ”? What’s the difference between being “Lord” and being “Christ”? Here, he says it this way, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” (Acts 2: 32,33)
So, he was explaining to the audience on the day of Pentecost this: “Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Now what’s the distinction between “Lord” and “Christ”?
“Christ” is the word “mashiyach” in the Hebrew, “Messiah” in English, and it means “the anointed one”. God has made him “Lord” and “the anointed one”. “Lord” is the title; “Christ”, the anointed one, is the power by which the title has authority. There is power and then there is authority. “Power” is the ability to do a thing and “authority” is the right to do the thing. It’s sort of the “gun” and the “badge”. The policeman has power because he carries around a gun strapped to his side, or some weapon, but if he uses that power or that weapon outside of the scope of his authority to use it, he may be charged with criminal activity. But if he discharges that weapon or uses that force or power within the scope of the authority that he has been given by the state, and by extension, by the people, then because he has the requisite authority, he may properly use the power.
Jesus has the authority of Lordship; He is Lord of Lords, He is Ruler. But He has the power that comes from being the Christ. God gave Him the title of Lord, therefore the authority, and God gave Him the power with which to act, Christ. So against His enemy, Jesus has all power and Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth.
Now why would the Scriptures say that He has authority in heaven?
Paul identifies the seat of that which opposes Him, as being in heaven. Here he says, in Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, be strong in the Lord (that is within the scope of the Lordship of Christ) and in his mighty power.” There you have it: power and authority. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6: 10-12)
There it is, verse 12. The seat of that which opposes us—who are “the called out”, who are the body of Christ, who are the presence of Christ in the earth, endowed and clothed by the Spirit of God, that which opposes us is the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” It is clearly the demonic; the demonic opposes us. That’s who our enemy is. Our enemy is not flesh and blood. Our enemy is not one political party or another. Our enemy is not one political candidate or another. Our enemy is not one particular human being or another. It’s when we get crossed up on these things we lose our focus and we lose our way. So, we take up battles against humans. We get into the battles against homosexuals; we get into the battle against abortionists. We get into the battle against this and the battle against that. The struggle is not against humans or against what humans are thinking. The struggle is against the demons that put these ideas in humans. If we are going to win the battle, we cannot focus our effort upon the humans who are the unwitting pawns, even if they are willing, in what is a spiritual struggle. This is a struggle against the enemy of God and man, and us, who are the people of God, and therefore the struggle is spiritual.
What is the underlying root of the sin of abortion? It is spiritual. What is the underlying root of the sin of homosexuality? It is spiritual. What is the underlying root under every sin? It is how the enemy of God and man uses humans to wage war against God: that’s the battle. If you miss that, how could we possibly hope to understand spiritual warfare? How could we possibly hope to exercise sufficient power in the realms of mankind against these things? This is where we’ve been misguided. People don’t know what to do because they don’t know what we’re doing. They don’t know what the theater of our conflict is, they don’t know what the definitions of the conflict are; they don’t understand what the war is about. The war is not against flesh and blood. The power that you have from Jesus Christ is meant to be sufficient for your warfare in rescuing people out of the domain of hell and bringing them into the kingdom of God. That’s what Jesus said He would do.
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