What Can Stop the Church?, Growing in Grace

Can Satan stop God’s church? No.
Can evil stop God’s church? No.
Can an evil dictator or communist government? No.
Can the action of unbelievers? No.
Can the immorality of a nation? No.
Can unjust or immoral laws? No.
Can government overreach? No.
Can a pandemic? No.

“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” -Matthew 16:18

When you go to bed and want your room dark, do you turn on the “dark” switch? No. There is no way to “turn on” the darkness because darkness cannot overcome light. In order to make it dark, you must turn the lights off. Only by removing the light can there be darkness.

When God’s people are acting in accord with God and his Word, when they are trusting in his Spirit and not in themselves, no matter what the world is doing, God is willing to accomplish his purposes through them. However, when the church stops trusting in God’s power, when she stops depending on the Holy Spirit, when she stops living according to God’s word, then she puts herself in a position where she is no longer under the power and blessing of the Lord. At some point, he will remove her “lampstand from its place” (Rev. 2:5).

God’s people can only crumble from within. It’s not the actions of the unbelievers that will make her lose her power, but she’ll lose her power when she allows immorality in her midst. It’s not corrupt government leaders who will destroy her, for they can’t touch her; instead, it’s unhealthy leadership in the church that will destroy her. It’s not the immoral laws of the nation but rather the unbiblical actions that are allowed within the church that will make her irrelevant. We’ll be stopped when we replace making disciples with gathering crowds, when we water down God’s word and refuse to teach biblical doctrine, and when we trust in man’s techniques more than God’s prescribed methods.

Judgment begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

If we see the church waning in her influence and power, let us not look “out there” for the problems, but let us look within.

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