Word of Salvation – Vol. 21 No. 42 – July 1975

The Keys Of The Kingdom

Sermon by Rev. G. I. Williamson, B.D. on Matt.16:19

Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:13-28

Psalter Hymnal: 122; 208; 86:2,3; 193:2,4; 292: 2,3

There is probably no part of the Bible that has been a greater 'bone of contention' than these words in our text.

 (1) Just about everyone agrees that there really are such things as 'keys of the kingdom of heaven.'  They admit that these keys really do exist.

 (2) And just about everybody admits that these keys are essential to the work of God's true Church on earth.  They are willing to grant that with these keys the Church can lock and unlock the Kingdom of heaven to men, and that without them they cannot.

 (3) And there is even general agreement as to the spiritual nature of these keys.  No one that I know of has ever imagined that these were literal and material keys.  They are definitely some kind of spiritual thing which operate in a spiritual way.

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But when we begin to ask Who has these keys ― or What these keys really are ― or What, exactly, they do, there is a sharp disagreement.  And this disagreement is always a result of the fact that people are much more anxious to have the scripture say what they want it to say, than they are to search the scripture, and compare scripture with scripture, to see what it actually does say.  But let us again consider these well-known words of our text, seeking in the light of the scripture as a whole, to arrive at a firm conviction as to the truth concerning these things.

 ― To whom do these keys belong?

 ― What are these keys?

 ― And what, precisely, do they do?

1.  WHO HAS THESE KEYS?

In answer to the first question who has these keys?  I think the words of our text allow but one conclusion.  For when Jesus said, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," he clearly expressed TWO things: he first, and above all, expressed the fact that the keys of the kingdom are his keys; and then, second to that, he expressed the fact that he gives these keys into the hands of his servant according to his own sovereign good pleasure.

And there is nothing difficult to understand about this, if you simply remember that Jesus Christ is a King.  The reason that he has the keys to the Kingdom of heaven, is simply the fact that he himself is the King, And every King, who has a Kingdom, keeps the treasures of that Kingdom safely guarded under lock and key.  But, at the same time, as you know, no King actually keeps these keys on his own person, or in his own hand, at all times.  No, the King has servants for that purpose.  So he will select one or two of his most trusted servants and say, 'to you I am giving these keys to my kingdom, and I want you to see that only those who have a right to enter where my treasures are, are admitted by the power of these keys.'  Now, then, that servant could say, 'I have the keys of this kingdom'.  But at the same time, he knows very well that they are not his own keys at all.  For the moment he tries to use those keys according to his own will, rather than according to the will of the King ― or the moment he becomes careless in the way that he uses those keys they will certainly be taken from him and given to someone else.  For it is always the KING who decides who shall have the keys.

So the first thing that is absolutely clear, in our text, is the fact that the keys of the kingdom always belong to the Lord Jesus Christ in a much more real and fundamental way than they can ever belong to any of his servants.  And no mere man can ever say that these keys are his keys, for as soon as he makes that claim, he becomes an anti-Christ someone who tries to usurp the place of Christ as the King and head of the Church.  That is why we read, in the book of Revelation, "these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth."  Or, in other words, the keys of the kingdom of heaven always belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are never used by anyone except by his sovereign will and authority.

Our text clearly states that our Lord Jesus Christ gave Peter the privilege of administering the keys of the kingdom.  And if this were the only text in all the Bible that said anything about the work of opening and closing the kingdom to men, then there might be some excuse for imagining that this was given to Peter only!  But nothing could be clearer if we compare scripture with scripture than the fact that our Lord also gave this same stewardship to all the other Apostles just as much as he gave it to Peter.  John tells us in his gospel that Jesus said to all the Apostles "whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” In other words, they could lock and unlock the kingdom of heaven just as truly as Peter, for the simple reason that they also were given the privilege of being keepers of the keys of that kingdom.  And if it were not so, how could Paul write in the scripture: "in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing?"

Even more wonderful still, is the fact that the office-bearers of lesser importance and authority than the Apostles, are also given the same privilege in the use of these keys of the kingdom.  You see, the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is far too great, far too vast in its extent, for any one man, or even a small group of men, to administer the keys of the kingdom throughout the reaches of that kingdom.  And so, by the express teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, we see that every local Church which is a true Church of Christ, also has possession of these keys of the kingdom of heaven.  We know this because Jesus said:

“If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.  But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.  And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.  Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them".

Now I think you can see for yourself, that there is absolutely nothing in what Christ said to Peter himself, that goes beyond what he said to even the smallest congregation that is faithful to him.

And I want you to stop and think what this means!  For I am afraid that we too often forget the staggering and stupendous truth of our Lord's teaching.  Perhaps you noticed from the reports in the papers that there was always one man who was within arms-reach of the President of the United States when he travels.  And he always carried with him an unusual looking suitcase.  Now we do not know for sure what was in that case, but it is the supposition of some that it contains some sort of device which can unleash the devastating power of atomic and hydrogen missiles.  In any case it is known that some such means of communication and decision is always kept near the President.  And yet, unless you stop to think about it, you would hardly even think about such a thing.  And it is much the same when it comes to a true Church of Jesus Christ.  It does not look like much either.  And yet, there, in the midst of that humble congregation, are keys that are far more wonderful than those in possession of any ruler in the world.  For these keys open and shut the kingdom of heaven to men!

In other words, if this is a true Church of Jesus Christ, then these same keys that Jesus long ago entrusted to Peter and the other Apostles, are also here right at this moment.  And in the life and work of this Church too, some men are being admitted to the kingdom of heaven while others are being excluded.  And it ought to make us tremble with awe and reverence and it ought to make us feel deep gratitude to God, on the one hand, or great terror of heart, on the other, if we consider the awesome power of those keys!

II.  WHAT ARE THESE KEYS?

But what are these keys?  Well, you notice what the catechism says.  It says that these keys are "the preaching of the holy gospel, and church discipline or excommunication out of the Christian Church.  By these two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and shut against unbelievers." And the proof of this teaching of the catechism, is simply the fact that that is what we actually find in the Bible, as we read of the Apostolic Church.

In the book of Acts we read that when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Church, on the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter began to preach the gospel to the multitude which gathered.  He told them about the saving work of Christ, and then he invited them to enter into the kingdom.  "Repent and be baptized every one of you" he cried "in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."  And then he also went on to warn those who would not believe that they would be left to the wrath and punishment of God.  So there were some who "gladly received his word" and who "were baptized."  In fact, there were some "three thousand souls" who were that day admitted to the Kingdom of heaven.  But there were also others who mocked at all these things.  And they were not admitted to the kingdom of heaven, but were locked out by the divine authority of the word that Peter preached.  So we can clearly see that one of the keys of the kingdom, which Jesus gave to Peter and the Apostles, and indeed to the whole Church, was the preaching of the gospel.  We know that because we read in the Bible itself that this is the way in which Peter locked and unlocked the kingdom.

We can see it even more clearly when we consider the contrast between these humble servants of Christ who preached the gospel in those days, and the religious authorities of the nation of Israel who made such extravagant claims about their own religious authority.  These scribes and Pharisees went around boasting that they were the people who had the power to open and close the kingdom of God.  And we have it on ancient testimony that the reason for it was that they claimed that they had received the power of the keys of the kingdom by a long line of men who stood in visible succession the one to the other all the way back to the time of Moses.  In other words, they said that this power had been handed down to them by a direct line of visible succession.  And we still have those today who base their claim to the power of the keys upon this same doctrinal delusion.  But what did Jesus say to these men?  Well he said this: "woe unto you, lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered."  So we have it on the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, that one of the keys to the kingdom of heaven is the key of knowledge the key of faithful preaching of the truth.  And as soon as any Church ceases to believe, and teach, the truth, they lose the power to open and close the kingdom of heaven no matter how old that Church may be, and no matter how much that Church may claim to have the power of the keys.

The other key of the kingdom is also clearly revealed in the scriptures.  For we also find another way in which the Apostolic Church opened and closed the kingdom to men.  When people had confessed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and had received baptism, they became members of the Church, and they were admitted to the kingdom.  But you do not have to know much about the New Testament to know that the Apostolic Church was a 'far from perfect' Church.  There were divisions in that Church.  There were conflicts.  There were errors.  And there were people who professed their love for the Lord Jesus Christ, only to show after they had been admitted to the Church – that they really did not have the love that they professed.  They were like some of you people, who say 'I do' with a loud voice, and then turn right around and show that you don't!  You don't have any interest in the evening worship service, or the women's missionary circle, or the various bible classes.  You don't try to sacrifice for the cause of Jesus Christ, or win others to his cause!  You just seem to want to have the name of being Reformed Christians without disturbing your indifferent and worldly life in any way!  The only difference is that in the Apostolic Church when these things happened something was done about it.  And the thing that was done about it was that discipline was exercised against those who were doing these things.

Even the Apostles themselves, I might add, were subject to the discipline of the Church.  Take, for example, what Paul writes in his epistle to the Galatians, "When I saw," he writes, "that Peter walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel..  .I said unto Peter before them all: if thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?"  You see, as soon as there was a practical denial of the faith, even on the part of the famous Apostle Peter, there was discipline.  He was called to account for his unfaithfulness to Christ.  And the usual result of this faithful exercise of discipline was not to shut the person out of the kingdom, but rather to keep him in!  That is what happened when Paul rebuked Peter at Antioch.  However, it did sometimes become necessary to shut them out of the kingdom, as in the case of the member of the Church of Corinth, who did not listen to the warnings given by his brethren.  Evidently the people in the Church at Corinth were very reluctant to put this man out of the Church.  I suppose they felt that this was too drastic a thing for them to do, since they too were sinners in the sight of God.  Or else they must have thought that it would be better to have the man in the Church than out of it, for the possible benefit that he might get from hearing the preaching of the word.  But what did the Lord have to say about it?  Well, this is what Paul wrote to the Church of Corinth, under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" he writes "when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved, in the day of the Lord Jesus."  So they were commanded to ex- communicate that unrepentant sinner.  "Know ye not," says the Apostle, "that a little leaven leaventh the whole lump?"

When we do not exercise faithful Church discipline, it is only a question of time before the whole congregation is going to be seriously affected.  When we refuse to do anything about the members who are careless and indifferent, it isn't going to be long before this same attitude of carelessness and indifference spreads to others, and then others, and then others.  And little by little the standards of the whole Church begin to grow lax.  And it is not long before the situation is so bad that there is hardly any cure.  I think it was the famous Scottish minister, Robert McCheyne, who found this out after a rather fruitless ministry.  He preached the truths of the gospel with all his might and main, hoping that it would begin to raise the life and vigour of his congregation which had fallen into a very low state.  But the trouble was that McCheyne was trying to do things in his own way.  Finally, as he sought the reason for his failure in the word of God, he realized that it was because he had never been willing to exercise Church discipline.  But when he saw that that was just as truly one of the keys of the kingdom as the faithful preaching of the word of God and when he determined to be faithful in the exercise of that key just as much as in the exercise of the other key of preaching God sent upon that Church a truly marvellous revival.  And a great reformation began in the Church of Scotland just a little over a century ago.

And one of the most amazing discoveries that McCheyne made, was the fact that this key of Church discipline – just as much as the preaching of the word of God – is not only a key which locks, but also a key which unlocks the kingdom of heaven.  For it often turned out that those who had long paid no heed to the preaching of the word of God, did pay heed to the exercise of discipline.  And that is exactly what happened in the Church at Corinth.  For this man who had refused to listen to a hundred exhortations, suddenly came to his senses when he was excommunicated from the Church.  And in Paul's second Epistle to the Corinthians he had the happy privilege of instructing them that they were now to receive that man again into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

III.  WHAT DO THEY DO?

It really is true, then, that these keys – faithful preaching of the word of God, and the faithful exercise of Church discipline – lock and unlock the kingdom of God to men.  For if we were to translate the words of our text in a literal way this is how it would read: "whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall already have been bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall already have been loosed in heaven."  You see, it is not as if we here on earth do something, and then the Lord in heaven follows our command.  Rather is it the other way around.  It is the Lord in heaven who really does it, and we are only to follow his command.  It is really Christ who says ― by the preaching of his gospel ― "come into my kingdom, or else you will perish in your sins."  And it is really Christ who says by means of faithful discipline – “repent and return to your first ways, or you can have no part with me.”  And it is only when the minister and elders of this particular Church faithfully administer these things according to the will of Jesus Christ as it is revealed in the Bible, that there is a real correspondence between what is being done on earth, and what is already done in heaven!

But remember: as soon as these keys are faithlessly administered, the con- sequences are clear.  Nothing could be plainer from the teaching of the Bible, and the whole history of the Church.  For as soon as any Church begins to neglect either one of these two keys, that Church will very soon discover that Christ has taken away the glory, and removed its candle of light.  I was speaking the other day to a certain minister, and he was telling me how hard it is for him to accomplish anything at all.  He does try to preach the word of God in a faithful way.  But the trouble is that the congregation is ― to use his own words ― about half composed of unregenerate people, and even the session of the Church has within it perhaps even a majority of men who oppose the reformation gospel.  In other words, although he himself will perhaps not admit it, what he was really admitting was that when the Church has put away the key of discipline, it also finds that the other key of the preaching of the word of God seems to fail of its purpose!

And I wonder sometimes if this is not happening to us!  I suppose that some of you will not like for me to say this.  But is it not true that we too are rather lax in discipline?  Is it not true that among us also there are far too many who like the idea of belonging to a faithful Church of Jesus Christ, while at the same time giving evidence that is only too plain that they do not want to be very faithful themselves?  Perhaps we too have begun to go the 'way of all flesh,' as the Church of the 'open door,' but never the Church of the 'closed door'.  But if this is so, it is about time that we think about the message of our text.  For Christ cannot ― and will not ― use a Church which forsakes the use of both of these keys of the kingdom.  And it is still better to have a small church with a vigorous faith, and devoted membership, than to have a large church with a lot of dead branches that bear no spiritual fruit.

So what can you do?  Well, you can pray as you have never prayed before that the ruling elders of this Church will be given the grace that is needed from on high to support the faithful preaching of the word of God with the faithful exercise of the discipline of Christ.  For it is only the Church that has and uses both of these keys, that can ever really bring us into the kingdom of God and of Christ.