Jarrel - Baptist Church Perpetuity - Landmark Baptist

(2.) Christ built His church. Wesley, Calvin, Campbell, etc., built theirs. He
built it on a sure foundation. — Isaiah 28:16; Psalm 118:22;
Ephesians 2:20; 2 Timothy 2:19.
(4.) The church and its foundation are indissolubly joined together by undying
love.
(5.) “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” — it “shall never be
destroyed,” but “shall stand forever.” Bengel well says: “The Christian Church
is like a city without walls, and yet the gates of hell, which assail it, shall never
prevail.” “A most magnificent promise.” f29 So say Stier, Adam Clarke, Scott,
Barnes, G.W. Clarke, Bloomfield, Horsley, Vitringa, Olshausen, Doddridge
and Lange, et mul al. Has Christ’s promise failed?
The following are Campbellite concessions:
“The rock is not that against which the unseen is not to prevail; neither has the
church ever become extinct. These we deem gross errors.” f30 Mr. Fanning:
“The church was built upon the rock laid in Zion; that she has withstood the
rough waves of eighteen centuries, and that she will finally triumph over all
the principalities and powers of earth.” f31 David Lipscomb: “God founded a
church that ‘will stand forever;’ that the gates of hell shall not prevail
against.” f32 f33 f28
“True witnesses of Christ never failed from the earth.”
IV. “Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world.” — Matthew 28:18-20.
(1.) Christ here promises His presence.
(2.) His presence is here implied to be the only guarantee of the fulfillment of
the mission, but the sure one.
(3) This promise is to His church. That this is true is evident from the Great
Commission having been committed to only the church. This will hardly be
questioned.
(4.) Christ’s promise is to insure that the nations will be discipled, baptized,
etc. That He has promised to be with His church to guarantee the preservation
of baptism — all things included in the commission — is, therefore, clear.
(5.) Christ promises His presence always, all the days — pasas tas heemeras
— not leaving a single day for apostasy.