The Church: Attack or Retreat?

The Church: Attack or Retreat?  Lessons from the Past            Kelly Durant 3-3-13

Matthew 16:18 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.   2. Many times we have heard jokes about St. Peter being at the gate of heaven asking questions of those that arrive in order to be allowed into heaven. The premise of these jokes is that Peter decides who gets in and who doesn’t because he holds the keys to heaven and hell. This is a false idea that has been coined for a long time.  All we need to do is look at Revelation to know that it is Jesus who holds the keys of heaven and hell. Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. He also says he gives eternal life in John 10:28.

The verse of today is quite a loaded verse. I could focus in on Peter, or I could focus in on the rock, or what is the church. Or I could highlight how heaven prevails against hell or I could focus in on the gates of hell. Let’s focus first on the gates of hell but just to clear a few things up, Jesus is the rock (the cornerstone as described in Romans 9:31-33) and it is Jesus who has the keys to heaven and hell, not Peter. Keys to the kingdom implies some authority but not totally.

3. In verse 19 Jesus gave to Peter authority to bring into God’s kingdom souls, to preach and win converts forever, but he was not given authority over who governs the eternal death in hell of souls, or who has eternal life. Peter is not heaven and hell’s gate keeper, Jesus is!

 Matt 16:19 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.

4. Peter, and every Christian, has some measure of control over their future in heaven, so that if you bind your sins and live holy on earth, you retain that eternally in heaven. Or if loose and free yourself from sins, when you die, you keep that state of freedom forever. Your role in helping another do the same is your part of bringing on the kingdom of heaven.  Basically it is Revelation 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

Peter’s nickname was Petras; he was as stubborn as a rock at times but also a good student. He had just affirmed that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus with a play of words then makes it clear that God’s people would have a rock foundation for the church, and symbolically Jesus was referred to Himself. Jesus is the rock, the cornerstone. Peter is a rock, but not “the” rock.

5. Jesus example of how the church should be governed was of one in that is in action, one that goes on the attack. In other words hell would be shaking in their boots from all the souls being won for God because of the blitz tactics of the disciples travelling from town to town preaching the “good news” and then escaping on to preach some more somewhere else.

The idea that Jesus had was that hell would be shaking scared of the Christians message being preached in the world to the lost souls who would gladly trade God’s kingdom over the gates of hell but instead today we have many churches shaking scared feeling they are under attack.  They have their doors closed tight not letting in any new members for fear that Satan is going to corrupt them! Christians afraid of the world are happy just to be inside their comfortable rooms on Sunday but the church is not intended to be a barricade of defense; the church must be a front line of offensive in the battle front! Peter won 5,000 not in a building but in the city!

6. Now I want to bring in some geographical information to supplement the historical cultural context of this profound statement from our Lord Jesus that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” To understand this better, return to verse 13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

7. Where was Jesus preaching? At Caesarea Philippi. When we were in the area of Caesarea Philippi in Israel we went just a couple of miles outside the city to an area called the Grotto of Pan. It is an opening to a cave that had the official name of “The Gates of Hell.”  Beginning in the 3rd century B.C., human sacrifices, in particular young virgins, were cast into the cave as offerings to the god Greek god Pan.  The victims were thrown into the cave and they would fall into a drop off inside where they would die crashing on the rocks below inside and then their blood would flow out in the river stream in front. Horrible the practices of these people, right?

This large cave that was the center of pagan worship in the region and Pan, the half-man half-goat god of fright and he was honored in this Satanic manner. He was often depicted playing the flute.  In English we get the "panic" from pan, and of course taking the life of innocents does invoke fear and panic. This town just down the road was known as Panias in antiquity but the name changed in the Arabic language to its modern day name of Banias.

8. Now that I described the area for you, and the customary horrible practices of the people of that region, do you see why Jesus chose the words “Gates of Hell?” He may have been preaching to his disciples very close to that cave, just right outside the city even speaking at the very moment they were practicing their horrific satanic rituals.

The gates of hell are open wide as Jesus stated before, yet narrow is the path that leads to eternal life. If we do not take seriously the destruction of people’s bodies and souls from the erroneous things they worship, then we will never appreciate what salvation, and eternal life, truly means. Jesus gave his disciples, and that applies to all his followers, authority to “storm the forts of darkness and bring them down.” (as we sing in the Salvation Army)

9. It is our task as Christians to expose the evil in the community and those who bring the gates of hell to us and our children! Those who steal and commit fraud, that do  crime in gangs, those who practice witchcraft, or sell drugs, or porn, or pimping prostitutes, these followers of Satan should be angry at us because we are exposing them and preaching Jesus converting the souls of their victims! We must keep on with our prayer marches and evangelism, it is our job! We must keep the attack up! The gates of hell should be trembling!

10. The way this spiritual war works is that either the good is on the attack and winning, or the evil is carrying out the attacks and defeating the good. One is on the offensive, and the other is on the defensive. It is our job to be on the offensive. Sadly, we have seen this country fall into a state of remission; Christians are being corralled into their churches and told to practice their own faith privately without bothering anyone else. Christians as well are made fun of by the media as ignorant radicals! The lies, deceptions, and attacks on Christians are at an all-time high by the liberal press, the liberal colleges, and the liberal government.  

I do not want us to ever be guilty of hiding our faith, of knowing to do good but then be sinning by not doing it! More than ever we must be prepared with an answer to reply to whoever attacks us over our faith.

11. Jesus knew that no one could win a defensive war! When the Jews mixed with the Romans in pre Jesus time in Israel, they later started taking over to the point that the Jews responded defensively too late. They could not do an offensive attack so they closed their selves in in Jerusalem and they barely survived for 2 years until finally the Romans broke in and killed most of them and destroyed the Great Temple that Herod built. Solomon’s temple was destroyed several centuries earlier and now a second time they lose their magnificent temple.

12. Do you recall how Jesus said that no one stone would be left? Matthew 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. That prophecy happened in 70 AD. That was when all of Jerusalem was burned to the ground by the Romans and the Jews in Israel were scattered all over every continent. This was the great diaspora or the dispersing of the Jews throughout all the continents. Only loose stones are there today.

13.But a few Jews and their families escaped in the region and they fled to a high plateau fortress constructed by Herod called Masada and barricaded their selves inside. This was easy to do because there was only one way up and that was by a winding stairway about 20 stories high. How many of you know this story as told by Josephus the historian?

14. Then what happened? Again the Roman pride could not permit any one to rebel and get away with it so Flavius Silva marched from Rome with a regiment of men they and camped out for 3 years at the bottom of the cliff while his army built a ramp and a tower in order to invade the city in 70 AD. The people survived on pigeons and stored grains but when they knew the Romans would come they took a drastic decision the night before the invasion was sure to happen.

The Jewish people had no escape and rather than allowing the children to be slaves, see the women be raped and killed, and the men die by the Roman swords, they all took an oath, as an act of heroism to kill their own selves! There was a mass suicide of 960 people.

15. This tragedy in history in 73 AD proves a point, that if the enemy can surround you and you cannot fight back, then you might end up with no options like the ones in Masada. This is a sad lesson in history and we, as a Christian church, must keep the offensive going. We need leaders, men and women with conviction to always be ready to defend our faith in Jesus.

The Salvation Army started out as a movement taking the church preaching and literature to the streets seeking to save men’s souls. The offensive method worked! The movement preaching near the bars and brothels grew so fast that it is amazing to consider TSA can be found in most all US cities and in most major cities around the world only 150 years later.

16. The challenge today for each of us is how attacking are you? Do others who are unjust and sinful feel intimidated when you are around? Do others know you will speak up and attack the modern day gates of hell?  It takes conviction and courage, but when we are reminded of all of satan’s works, how horribly he loves to destroy lives, then you get the conviction to preach His love and salvation like never before.

When a person visits a SA rehab or shelter, as many of you have, you get reminded of how sin destroys people’s lives, you see 30 year olds appear as 60, you see how people lose all to an addiction, a vice, or a sin. That may not be the case for everyone as some people are victims of circumstances beyond their control but to see others suffering does make you wake up. You can see where satan has attacked and won a victory. It makes you sad, mad, and convicted.

17. And in India and many other countries the child sex slave trade is alive and real for millions, so the destruction of innocent people in reality continues, but just in a different way from how the Greeks and Romans did it. The SA is active there helping many to escape.

Are you going to stand up for your faith no matter what? If you look closely at the lives of the faithless you will see they always leave behind a trail of pain and destruction. Our mission is to save others from their own destructive selves and from others who like satan, try to control and manipulate and own souls for their own selfish gain. We free people to live heavenly lives.

Come now and pray for someone you know is oppressed. Pray to become solid like the rock. Pray to go on the attack and never get yourself on the defensive. The more holiness you have the more power from God. When someone makes fun of your Christian faith and attacks you, do what Jesus did to the hypocrites, he attacked them back! Our faith is worth defending! When you compare our church with so many others like I have seen lately, we live a very blessed life!