Ron Dunn Podcast - The Truth About The Church

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

Ron Dunn speaks on the church from Matthew 16

Now would you open your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 16. The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 16, and I'm going to read verses 13 through 20. Matthew, Chapter 16, verses 13 through 20. This passage is one of the most familiar in the Bible, and at the same time, one of the most important. And its importance is far greater than its familiarity, because in this passage Jesus lays down the very heart and the essence of what he has come to do and what he is doing today. Matthew chapter 16, we'll begin reading with the 13th verse and read through verse 20. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist,

some, Elias, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of a living God. And Jesus answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of a living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed 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. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. Verse 18, "'Thy say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The church has fallen into disrepute in our day. Among a great many people it doesn't have too good of a reputation. And there are a lot of people that are saying

that the Church has seen its day, that it has just swallowed up in the midnight of failure. It's had it. It is no longer an institution. It is no longer valuable. It is no longer of any value whatsoever. And in another decade it will be lost forever on the sea of man's memory. The thing that impresses me as I read the New Testament is that Jesus has a very high opinion of the church. Now, regardless of your opinion of it and regardless of what anybody else thinks of it, Jesus has a very high opinion of the church.

And it means a very great deal to him because in Ephesians chapter 5, the Bible says that Christ loved the church so much that he gave himself for it. Jesus actually died for the church. And here he says, I'm going to build my church. It's my church. I'm going to build it. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, there are many reasons, and some of them very valid, why the church doesn't have too good of a name among a lot of people today. Because when you look at the church as an institution or as an organization,

and when you look at a lot of the people that are associated with the church and you see some organizations that call themselves a church which are not really a church, then it's very easy for a lot of us to come away with this evaluation, the church has seen its day. And I agree with you, some of those organizations and institutions and buildings that go by the name of church have seen their day. As a matter of fact, none of them ever had a day. And if you look simply at what man has done

in a man-made institution and an outward organization and a bunch of brick and mortar, if that's your evaluation, that's all right. But folks, that's not the church. And one of the biggest problems of our day is to separate the church building from the Church. And one of the biggest problems of our day is to separate the Church building from the Church. It's pretty hard to get excited about brick and mortar. I never have really gotten too excited about it. And I'll be honest with you, as we're going into this building program, I'm less excited about it than ever. All of the problems and details and schemes and discussion and almost said cussing, but none of that yet, that goes into putting up what is called a church building, I tell you, I just don't get too excited about

it. And I can understand why people today aren't very excited about giving their loyalty and their allegiance to an organization or to a pile of bricks and mortar. But God never asks that. The word church literally means the church that Jesus is speaking of and the word that he uses, literally means the called out ones, those that have been called out and gathered in.

A church is not a building, and it's not an organization, and it is not a denomination, but a church is a group of people whom God has drawn a circle around and has called, has chosen, has saved by His grace, has called them out of the world, and has gathered them together as His body, as His church. Now, you can be a member of the MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church and not be a member of the Lord's Church.

And this is another reason why it is difficult for some people to get the right attitude about the Church. This is just another reason why it is easy for the world to look at the Church and say, it is of no value, it has absolutely no place, It has seen its day. Because there are many people who are members of denominations, who are members of local churches, who are not really members of the church, the Lord's church, the Lord's body. They have not genuinely been born again. They have not been called out of the world.

As a matter of fact, they're just as much in the world as anybody else. And you look at a lot of church members today, and it would take a magnifying glass and a Watergate investigation committee to find any difference between these people in the church and the people that are in the world. They may be in a local church, but God has not called them out of the world. They are still very much in the world and a part of the world. But the people of whom Jesus is speaking are people who have had a genuine experience of salvation with Christ. They have turned from their sins, repentance towards God, and faith towards Jesus Christ. And there has

occurred in their life a spiritual rebirth, and they have been called out of the world, still living in the world, but not a part of it. And there is a definite and obvious difference between their attitudes and their disposition and their manner of life and the rest of the world. They are different. God has called them out of the world and has gathered them together, and they are His people. They are His people. And one of the big surprises that is going to take place on that soon coming day when Jesus shall come is that a lot of us who thought that people were in the church

were going to find they weren't in the church, really. Because when the Lord comes back, He's going to call His church to Himself, and not every member of MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church will be in that group. Not every member of the Methodist Church will be in that group. Not every member of the Presbyterian Church will be in that group. Because Jesus said in Matthew will be in that group, because Jesus said

in Matthew chapter 7 on that day, many, many, not just a few, but many will come unto me and say, but Lord, look what we've done. We've preached in your name. We've even cast out demons in your name. Now, you figure that out. And we've done miracles in your name. And Jesus will say to them, I never knew you. He didn't say, I used to know you, but you fell from grace. He says, I never knew you. There was never a time when you and I had a personal relationship. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Did you know that a person could preach the gospel, and a person could exercise demons, and a person should exercise demons and a person should work miracles and still be a worker of iniquity if he doesn't know Jesus as Lord and Savior and has not had an experience of grace where he has been born again and has been called out of the world and gathered

into Jesus Christ. Now that's the church he's talking about. You know, there is a church within the church. We have this morning the church. But within this church, and I'm talking about MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, and those of you who are members of other churches, you have your name on church roll, there is the church. But within the church this morning,

there is another church, and that's the true church, the body of Christ, those who genuinely have been saved and called out of the world and have responded to that call in turning their back upon their way of life and gathered to the Lord Jesus Christ. The truth about the church is this, and I want us this morning to take this passage of Scripture and see some very important things concerning the church of the Lord is this. And I want us this morning to take this passage of Scripture and see some

very important things concerning the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Number one, the founder of the church is Christ Himself. The founder of the church is Christ. Now, men may found denominations, and men may start organizations and call it this church and this church, but the church, those who have truly been born again, Jesus is the founder of that church. Notice what he says in the 18th verse, 18 Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. Jesus is the sole architect. He is the master craftsman.

He is the only one who can build a church, whether it's outwardly or inwardly. Jesus is the only one who can build the church. And when men attempt to build a church and they lower the standards of salvation and all they want to do is get more people in the church and they lower the standards of salvation, and all they want to do is get more people in the church and just get bigger and bigger and grow by numbers and leaps and bounds, they will lower the standards of salvation. They will preach a watered-down gospel.

They will not mention repentance. They will just say, Anybody, everybody, come on and turn over a new leaf and sign your name on the dotted line. But I want you to know something. Man is building that church, not Jesus. Not Jesus. Jesus is the one that builds the church. And he comes to a man and through the Spirit convicts him of his lostness and opens his eyes to see himself as a sinner in the eyes of God and sees Jesus as the only solution. And Jesus draws him through the Spirit, Jesus builds the church. He's the only one. Now, this means that the church is a divine organization. It's not human.

It is divine. I love what Van Tavner says about the church. He says, I know the church must be a divine institution because no other institution could have withstood the way we've run it all these years. It has to be divine to have survived. I can't argue with that statement. It is a divine institution. Jesus says, I will build it. I will build it. Now, this means that Jesus is intimately related to the church. He says, I will build it. He says, I am the bridegroom. You're the bride. He has redeemed it. He says, I'm the head. You're the body. Jesus, inseparable from his church. Now, he says, I'm the head. The church is the body. Now, that is extremely important because it means two things. It means, number one, that Christ and the church are inseparable. They are inseparable. Now, while they are not identical, yet they are inseparable.

In other words, a person cannot say that he loves Christ, but he doesn't have any use for the church. That would be like my saying, well, I'm going to take care of my head, but I don't care anything about my body. I'm going to feed my head, but I'm not going to feed the body. I'm going to love the head, but I'm not going to love the body. I'm going to take care of the head, but I'm not going to take care of the body. That would be ridiculous. You cannot love Christ without loving the church, and yet I see a lot of people today who are going around saying that all they care about is Jesus, and they don't care anything about His church and being in His church and being identified with His church. Listen, I don't know what kind of religion they have, but they don't have the religion of the New Testament. Jesus said, I love the church, and I gave myself for it.

He says, it is my bride. Now, can you imagine? Here is a young fellow who has just taken a bride, newlywed. And you say, listen, I'd like to have you come over for dinner tonight. He says, well, I'll ask my wife if she can come. Oh, I know I didn't want her. But we don't like your bride. We don't have any use for her. We like you. We just want you to come.

Now, I want to tell you something. Do you think that fellow would still come? Do you think he would still come if he was any kind of bridegroom at all? Saying, I don't see anything about your bride. We don't want her in our house. She's of no use. She's of no value. But you come, and you're welcome.

Jesus says, I'm the bridegroom. The church is the bride. They are inseparable. This means that Jesus is the measure of our loyalty, the church is the bride. They are inseparable. This means that Jesus is the measure of our loyalty to the church. Jesus is the measure of our loyalty to the church. I wonder, what is the measure of your loyalty to this church, to this local church, to this local manifestation of the body of Christ? What is the motive of your loyalty?

What is the motive of your attendance when the pastor is away, to the people's stray? What is the measure of your loyalty? Somebody wrote a pastor in Washington, D.C. some years ago and said, Will the President be in your services Sunday? And the pastor wrote back and he said, I don't know if the President will be here, but God will be here, and that ought to be enough incentive to get you out. Since Jesus is building the church, since it is His church, His body, His bride, then we are faithful and loyal to the local church,

not because it has a certain pastor, not because it has a certain program, but because it is His church, and Jesus is the measure of our loyalty. And you can tell how strong we are by how faithful we are in season and out of season. That means when it's convenient, when it's not convenient. And the joy of my heart is that on the Sundays that I happen to be away,

that our attendance is still good, and the people come regardless because they know God is going to be here. God is going to be here. He is the founder. Christ is the founder. Now notice, he says, I will build my church. What assurance. Jesus stands in no doubt.

He doesn't say, I'm going to try to build it. He doesn't say, I hope to build it. He says, I will build my church. What assurance! Jesus stands in no doubt. He doesn't say, I'm going to try to build it. He doesn't say, I hope to build it. He says, I will build it. Now, it's significant that when Jesus makes this statement, his ministry is at its darkest hour. You study carefully the life of Jesus, and you'll discover that this particular statement, this prophecy, comes when things look the darkest. His ministry is just falling apart. The people that have followed him because of the miracles and the bread, they have turned away. And Jesus, at this moment, is practically alone.

All that is left are these disciples, and that's not too much to brag about, because they're so weak and so indecisive and so unstable and the multitudes have turned away. His enemies are gathering around him. Jesus can see the gathering star. The cross looms just around the next corner. It's at his darkest hour outwardly and yet he makes the glowing promise.

He says, I am going to build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Since it is His church, since it is His church, you don't have to worry about it. He's going to build it and He'll complete it. The founder of the church is Christ. All right? Number two, the foundation of the church is our confession of Christ. Now, this 18th verse is, well, theologians have spun their wheels in this mud for a long time.

There's been a lot of controversy gathered around this statement. Jesus asked his disciples, what do men think about me? Well, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, some say you preach kind of like Jeremiah. Jesus said, okay, now who do you say that I am? And Simon says, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus said, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. Now, a great many people through the years have said that Peter is the foundation of the church and that Peter is the rock

upon which Jesus Christ built his church. Is that true? I don't believe it is for several reasons. Number one, there is a very important play on words in this verse that you do not see in your English Bible. Jesus says, Now, the word Peter means rock. In John chapter 1, verse 42, when Jesus first met Simon Peter, he says, Thou art Simon, thou shalt be called Cephas,

which is Arimat for meaning stone. In other words, Jesus was saying, someday, Peter, someday, Simon, you're going to qualify for a new name. You're going to do something. You're going to discover something that's going to give you a new name. And one of these days, you will be known as Cephas. The Greek is Peter. Now, here, he comes into that fulfillment. Now, Jesus is saying,

Peter, this is the day I told you about three and a half years ago. I say unto thee, thou art Peter. And upon this rock, I will build my church. And some have said, since the word Peter means rock in Greek, and since Jesus said, upon this rock, I will build my church. And some have said since the word Peter means rock in Greek, and since Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church, that naturally Peter is the foundation of the church.

The only thing wrong with that is that it's wrong. The word Peter and the word rock are two different Greek words. The word translated Peter is Petra. It means a little rock, a stone, a piece of a rock, of rocky nature. The word translated rock is Petra. And it means the rock. It means solid rock, bedrock, the bedrock that rises out of the ground. That is the bedrock, the solid rock. Peter is a chip off of that rock. Two different Greek words. The word rock has a definite article, and literally this is what Jesus is saying, and I say also unto thee that thou art a stone.

And upon this, the bedrock, the solid rock, I will build my church. He's saying, Peter, you're a piece of that rock, but you're not the rock. You're a part of that rock, but you're not the rock. You have the nature of that rock, now that you've confessed me, but you're not the rock. You have the nature of that rock now that you've confessed me, but you're not that rock. You are a little piece of the rock, and upon this, the solid bedrock, I will build my church." I don't think Jesus built His church upon Peter, because a few minutes later Peter contradicted the Lord and Jesus called him the devil. I don't believe that Jesus would build his church upon a man that a few minutes later he addresses as Satan.

A foundation is the strength of your building, and an organization is no stronger than its founder. And I don't think the church will survive if it's built on a man like Peter because a few hours later he denies his Lord with oaths and curses. God is a jealous God. He will not share his glory with anybody. And always in the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, rock is a symbol of deity. It is a symbol of deity. What is the foundation then? If it is not Simon Peter, what is it? Here's what Jesus is saying. Peter has said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Jesus said, Blessed art thou, Simon, son of John. You didn't figure this out yourself. You didn't come to this by human evaluation. You got this by divine revelation. God revealed it. And I say unto you, now you are a little piece of the rock, and upon this, the rock, the rock of what? The rock of the Father revealing to you that I am the Son of God, and you're confessing that. That is the rock upon which Jesus builds the church.

How does Jesus build a church? When somebody comes along and the Father in heaven opens their eyes to see that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah Son of God and they publicly confess I believe Jesus is the Christ the Son of God he becomes a member of the church that's what the church is built upon and nobody who denies the deity and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ is a member of the church you might get into MacArthur Boulevard a thousand different ways. It's easier to join this than it is Las Colinas Country Club and a lot cheaper, too. But I want to tell you something. There's only one way that you can get into the church, the body of Christ, the church, the true church,

and that is through divine revelation. Divine revelation. Divine revelation, not human evaluation. You can't with your own mind and intellect and reason try to figure out and get in that way. Jesus says, Flesh and blood have not revealed it to thee. Now, isn't it interesting that for three and nearly one-half years,

Simon Peter has been with Jesus. He's heard every sermon Jesus preached. He's seen every miracle that Jesus has performed. He has lived with him for three and a half years, but it still takes a breakthrough from heaven, a divine revelation for Peter to know who Jesus is. Three and a half years of study, intimacy, relationship, fellowship, doesn't prove a thing to him.

He sees it in a moment of divine revelation. And that's the work of the Holy Spirit today. As he comes to your heart and convicts you and convinces you, and you begin to see that Jesus Christ is, he is of a truth, who he says he is. I see it. I know it. And I want to tell you something, folks. Once the Father reveals that to you, nothing in heaven or hell or on earth can ever shape you from that belief. And these people who say that they have apostatized, and one time they believed that Jesus was the Christ, now they don't believe it, I want you to know something. They never knew it. They had their parents' faith. They had a hand-me-down religion.

They had a second-hand faith. And they had heard, and so they had believed it because everybody else believed it, but God had never broken through into their lives and shown them that Jesus is who he said he is. And everybody that leaves an evangelical church that believes that Jesus is the Christ and goes off to some cult that says Jesus is just another prophet, just another preacher, they never were saved in the first place. Because once God breaks through into your life and the light of divine revelation shines in your heart, you see that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. You will always know it.

Now, Peter denied it out of fear, but he did not deny it out of unbelief. Divine revelation, personal confession. It's beautiful. Jesus says, what do people think about me? Well, some believe you're John the Baptist come back from the grave. Some think that maybe you're Elijah. And you do preach a little bit like Jeremiah and weep a lot like he did. He said, no, that's good. It's nice for you to know what people think about me, but that won't do it. He said, I want to know what you think about me. But who do you say that I am? It has to be a personal conviction and a personal confession. You know, just by the way here, since when the neighborhood will drop in and visit,

it's very interesting that Jesus is saying here that you don't fit me into human categories. Who do men say that I am? Well, some say that you're John the Baptist, Elias, Jeremiah, you're the best, you're a superstar. Jesus said, No, human categories, fitting me into human categories is insufficient, inadequate. I'm in a category all by myself. And that's what's wrong with the title Jesus Christ Superstar. A superstar is a fellow that excels in a given category. And calling Jesus Christ a superstar simply means that he

is excelling in a category. But that's not true. Jesus is a category by himself. He's not simply better than everybody else in that category. There's nobody else in that category. He's the only one in that category. And when it says in John 3, 16, For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son. The Greek word begotten means his only unique Son. Now, he has many sons.

You're a son if you've been saved. But he is a unique Son. Now, He has many sons. You're a son if you've been saved. But He is a unique Son. There's nobody else like Him. He's a category all by Himself. You don't compare Him to men. You don't compare Him to men. He's not super over somebody else. He is the only one.

And there must be a personal commitment of your life to Jesus. Now, number three, the future of the church, the future of the church is conquest, one of conquest. By the way, I need to back up for just a moment and finish point two. All right? Now I'm going to take a vote. Jesus did not give the name Peter, Rock, to Simon to symbolize Simon's stability. It's not saying, now Simon, you have matured and you have grown

and I'm going to call you a rock because you're like a rock. You're as solid as a rock. Oh no, not at all. Not at all. Why, just a few minutes later he didn't understand a thing. And a few hours later

he denied his Lord. When did Jesus give him that name? After he had confessed Christ. Now, when a man touches the rock, he becomes like the rock. A bride takes the name of her husband. The son bears the image of his father. The slave wears the mark of his master. And the moment that Simon Peter saw Jesus as the Son of God

and confessed it and embraced it, at that moment he became of the same nature. Brother, when you touch the rock which is Jesus Christ and you confess that he is who he says he is, you have imparted to you his own nature. And so you become of the nature. You become a piece of that rock. And the Bible says, and 2 Peter, Peter wrote it himself, and I wonder if this is what he had allusion to,

but 2 Peter chapter 1 says, whereby are given unto us exceeding and great promises that we might become what? Partakers of the divine nature. Partakers of the divine nature. And the moment you confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in your own life, the nature of God himself is important to you. Now, let's get back to number three. What is the future of the church? You say, man, it looks pretty dark to me. I have to laugh, folks. I just, I have to laugh when I hear people and read things, all of these doomsday prophets who speak so much about what they know nothing and say that the church is not going to survive in another decade, the church will be non-existent. You know, you can go back 200 years and read where infidels said that same thing 200 years ago. And I really have to just keep from

laughing out loud when somebody says the church has had it, and in another generation, another 10 years, nobody will even remember it, because they've been saying that for 2,000 years, but it still is around, and it's always going to be around. You can try to burn it with fire, but it stays around. You can drive it underground with persecution, but it's still there. You can try to outlaw it, but it moves across the country and sets up a new country. There's not a thing you can do. And by the way, it seems to grow more the more you fight it. Funny thing, you just can't kill it. You just can't kill it. If you try to kill it, it makes it healthier. If you try to kill it, it makes it healthier. If you try to divide it, it doesn't divide.

It multiplies and spreads. It's always going to be around. Jesus says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, he's saying there, in the first place, of course, that the church will survive. It will survive, no matter what. It has always survived. It always will survive. It will survive no matter what. It has always survived. It always will survive. But it means much more than that, much, much more than that.

And I think I've always heard this passage preached like this, that the church, I'm building it, and no matter what hell does, no matter what the world does, they'll not be able to defeat the church. And the church will survive. But that's not what Jesus is saying. And usually we have a picture of this. world does, they'll not be able to defeat the Church, and the Church will survive. But that's not what Jesus is saying. And usually we have a picture of this. Now just follow me for a minute.

This is usually the picture that is presented to us. Here's the Church, and here's hell. And that's the word, really, Hades. It means the powers of darkness, the powers of death, not simply hell, but the power of death. And here it is, attacking the church, attacking the church, fighting the church, but the church will not surrender. The church will not fold up. The church, always on the defensive, but always surviving. And that's not at all what Jesus is saying. It's not the gates of hell attacking the church. Have you ever seen a city that's gone off to fight a battle that took with it the city

gates? Now, let's suppose that Dallas wanted to attack Fort Worth. And that doesn't take too much imagination. Let's suppose that Dallas wants to attack Fort Worth. Now, would Dallas take the city gates, Dallas city gates with it to fight with? Not at all. Not at all. The picture is not of the church being on the defensive and the, and, and hell attacking the church but not being successful? Not at all. The picture is the church is aggressive and on the offensive and is attacking hell,

and the gates will not be strong against it. They'll have to come down. The church isn't to sit around and huddle together and say, man, I hope we make it through another year, and looking for favorable legislation and maybe a worldly entertainer or two to come along and kind of give us a little respectability and maybe a ministerial discount here and there.

Or if we just hang on tight while we've got the promise of God that we'll make it. That's not what he's saying. You don't get over there in a corner and just stand there and huddle around and know that you're going to survive. It's not passive resistance, folks. It is active antagonism and aggression against the powers of darkness.

Jesus is saying the church is militant and triumphant. It attacks. It attacks. Now, what are the gates of Hades? The word Hades simply means death, the unseen world. There is another Greek word that means hell, the place of punishment, the place of torment. That's not the word that's used here. The word Hades, that means the grave, the death.

And the gate symbolized power, that which confines, that which locks a man in. Now get the picture. Hebrews chapter 2, verses 14 and 15. Listen as I read. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject

to bondage. What is it, does the Bible say, makes men slaves? It's the fear of death, because death is the result of man's sin. And the Bible says the last enemy that shall be put down is what? Death. Man's big enemy is death and everything that goes with it. Every fear, every phobia, every anxiety, every work all flows from that poison fountain of death that is fixed upon every one of us. Now notice what he's saying. He's saying the church, because I give it the keys of the kingdom, which is the power of Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ,

he says the church takes this and it marches out against and it is able to tear down the gates and to deliver men from the bondage of death and hell and sin. It will not just survive. it will be triumphant. It will conquer. Now, there's one last picture I want to paint for you here because we're putting it all together. The word Jesus uses for build, it means to build a house. And then comes the gate he speaks of. All right? In my study this morning, so I could see it more clearly, I drew a picture. I wish I had it with me. But would you just imagine with me a fort like you saw on television last night as you watched the late movie,

the Western? And here's the fort. Let's say it's a walled city. It's a walled city. You know what those walls are? Death. Men are confined, men are enslaved, men are in bondage because of the death that has come through sin. All their lifetimes they have been slaves to fear, to anxiety, to worry, to failure, and last, to die. And they are in that walled city. to fear, to anxiety, to worry, to failure, and last, to die.

And they're in that walled city. They can't get out because the gates have them locked in. Men have lived and died and have never been free. Institutions have been built. Organizations have been built. None of them have ever been able to break through the gates. They've all failed. Jesus says, I have come to build my church.

I'm going to build it right in enemy territory. I'm going to build it right there in the middle of that walled city. And I am going to give it such power and do it with my spirit as well as my life. And it will call out men from that city and preach the gospel and say, come over here and join us. Get with us. We have the answer. We have freedom.

We have liberty. And he says, I'm going to call out people and gather them to myself, and my church will be able to do what nothing else has ever been able to do. We will burst through the gates of that city and bring men into freedom and liberty and emancipation. The future of the church is one of conquest. You say, well, why should we witness? Why should we share?

Why should we call men? Because unless men come to the body of Christ and see Him as Lord and Savior and confess Him and are gathered together as a part of His body, they, all of their lives and throughout eternity, will be confined to death and hell. And there's only one power on the face of this earth that is able to break through the gates to freedom,

break through the gates to freedom and life. He said, My church will do that. And everybody that's a part of it will go out together. And so God says, I'm calling out and I'm gathering in, and My church is going to plow right down through those gates as though they were made out of eggshells. I'm glad I'm a member of the church. I'm glad I'm a part of the Church. I'm glad I'm a part of the Church. I'm glad I'm a chip off the rock, just a stone. So is everybody who confesses Jesus.

I build my Church. He's doing it right now. Right now He's doing it. Right now He's calling out and gathering together. Is He calling you? Is He calling you? He may call you. He may be calling you right now. You feel that tug in your heart? You feel that want to in your heart? You know that you need Jesus. And today you have seen for who He is. God has revealed Jesus to you. You don't believe it now because mom and dad believe it or because the preacher said it, but God himself has taught you and shown you and revealed you that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. And God is calling you, calling you to himself. Will you respond? Will you let him gather your hands?

Dream still. Will you respond? The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.