Sunday morning comes. We all, as a habit, get up early, dress up, come to church, and some of you travel from far and come. We gather here, we listen to the sermon, we pray, we sing, we read, we give, we go home. What difference does it make in this world? Is there any reason to be excited? Is there any reason to get serious about anything? Are we doing something important at all, like parliament sessions bringing new policies? And the question comes, what difference does it all make whether we gather or not?
You will be surprised that what we do every Sunday as the church of Jesus Christ is the most important and greatest thing happening in this world and in all eternity. It makes an eternal difference. Gathering in the name of Jesus Christ officially as a constituted church, what we are doing here is very, very important indeed. More important than anything either in a country’s parliament or decisions of the United Nations. In today’s verse 19, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
This verse tells us that as the church of Jesus Christ, what we do impacts the highest eternal heaven, and God has given us the authority to open and shut the doors of heaven to perishing mankind in vanity and sin. After all, that is the most important thing for any man or woman in this world, right? If he looks above everything in this life, what is the most important thing? It is whether you will enter eternal hell or eternal heaven? That brings any meaning to any life… at last, where is he going to spend his life in all eternity? The most important thing… That for every man/woman, whether to enter or to shut heaven’s door, the keys for that are given to us! Can you believe it? Is it amazing? Do you realize how monumentally important the church gathering is! How horribly low thoughts of the church we have… small reasons are enough to miss the church. Until we get this vision of the church, we will really not become true church men, ready to be so committed to the church of Jesus Christ that we give our body, material, and soul.
Just like a beggar whose whole view and attitude changes from the moment he knows he is the son of a rich king in the world and his father gives him a signet ring of authority, so the King of Kings, Lord Jesus Christ, gives his authoritative ring to his church in this passage. This passage reveals the glorious authority we as his church have. Our whole view and attitude about the church should change.
This passage reveals shocking and startling truths about the church. When we grasp it with the Holy Spirit’s help, it should lift our thoughts about the church from the mundane and ordinary to something of great sublimity… and we will see every gathering of the church in Jesus Christ’s name officially, you and I are involved in the greatest work that a man/woman can get involved in on the face of the earth. What an infinite privilege it is to gather as a church in Jesus Christ!
We have seen that this is the first passage in the New Testament talking about the church. Firstly, we saw the blessed confession that every man/woman must make if he is to be part of this church: “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter made it. This is the testimony of the church. Secondly, the Lord said, “I will build my church” on men and women who make such a confession. He gives assurance that such a church no power in the universe can destroy it—the invincibility and permanency of the church of Jesus Christ. Anything may pass away, but Jesus Christ’s church, like a stone uncut by human hands, will grow, grow, and fill the whole world. He royally says, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” There is intimacy (“my church”), certainty (“I will”), and invincibility (“gates of hades shall not prevail over it”).
Today, we will see the great spiritual authority Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, has granted to this church on earth. Verse 19: “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
What are the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven?
He says he will give the “keys.” In Bible times, keys indicate authority. Even in our culture, some years ago, whoever had the keys of a big house, they had all the authority. Ladies would hang it on their hip. Jesus says, “I will give,” meaning it is His authority; he is giving us a “delegated authority.” If you have been entrusted with the “keys” to something, it may not be yours to own or to use as you will; but you can use the authority on their behalf and in their name of the one who gave the keys to you. I have rented out a house… when we make an agreement, I give them the key… It is not their house… they cannot do anything they like. I give the key for them to open and close whenever they want, allow anyone they want. I have given that authority to them based on the agreement we made: they can use the house for residential purposes. That is what keys indicate. It indicates authority.
The key for a small house is something, the keys of a palace are how big, the keys of Vidhana Soudha… how big an authority… the parliament of entire Karnataka, or the keys of Raj Sabha, the central government… By voting we give the key… authority for a party to rule the nation. So important… See what keys Jesus Christ is giving… these keys are for the kingdom of heaven… wow.
In the ancient Near East, kings would have a palace, and in the palace they would have a treasure storeroom where they would keep their gold, silver, pearls, costly stones, all royal treasures. It was an important place. And the king would pick out a trusted servant, call him the treasurer, to whom he would give the key to the storeroom. That was the highest honor the king could bestow. In those days, the servant who had the key would wear it on a chain around his neck so it would be obvious he had authority to the king’s treasure storehouse. He wore it continually as a sign of the authority given to him by the king. He can let you in and keep you out from the treasure house… use the treasures of the house on the King’s behalf.
That’s what’s behind Jesus’ statement when he says, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom.” Jesus, as Lord above everything… with all authority in heaven and earth, he says I will give keys of not some temporary government or kingdom, but the eternal kingdom of heaven. If you grasp how glorious the kingdom of heaven is… you will faint at this verse… trying to imagine… someone says you are given authority over all the presidents and Prime Ministers of the world… they will do what you say… but this is something above that… Do we know what the kingdom of heaven is… what is this verse saying… struggling to grasp… hard to believe…
The Kingdom of Heaven is the key theme of the entire Bible. The entire Old Testament is a preparatory phase for the kingdom. The fulfillment of the kingdom is the New Testament, and the final fullness glorious stage of the kingdom will be revealed in the future. The kingdom that Jesus Himself taught about in great detail in various parables in Chapter 13; that is the redemptive reign of God. It is the greatest eternal infinite treasure for which a man can sell everything he has… the pearl of great price… we should not fill our mind and heart with what we will eat or drink, but seek the kingdom of heaven… we should seek to enter with violence… Lord says here, Peter, I give you keys for that kingdom… wow.
When you have the keys, you possess authority, and with authority, you get great responsibility… you have a great work. Jesus is about to go to the cross, die in our place for our sins, be raised on the third day, and then ascend to His Father—from where He will await the day of His glorious return to receive His church to Himself. He is about to leave His disciples and return to His heavenly home.
It’s as if He turns to Peter and says, “The work of the kingdom has been started; and I’m about to go now. Until I return for you, you—and all of the people who believe on Me because of your testimony—are going to be here while the work of the spread of the kingdom goes on. Here are the keys.“… continue the work…
Think of it! The very keys of the kingdom of heaven! What great authority it is that our Savior and Lord has entrusted to His church on earth!
Do we understand what authority Jesus Christ has…? Jesus had already demonstrated His authority to His disciples. When He taught, the people who heard Him were astonished, “for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:29). He would stand up in a boat in the midst of a storm at sea, and command the storm to be quiet; and His disciples would marvel, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matthew 8:27). Fearsome demons and unclean spirits would shriek in terror and cringe in His presence; crying out, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29).
And if this were not enough, Jesus even spoke plainly, and affirmed His own great authority. He said—just before ascending to the Father, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). Furthermore, the Bible itself teaches us that:
…by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consists. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence (Colossians 1:16-18).
…God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).
In Revelation 1:17-18, in a heavenly vision, in His resurrected glory and majesty, He appears to the apostle John. John was terrified at the glory of our Savior; but Jesus said, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death” (Revelation 1:17-18). What authority! Even over death and hades he now holds full authority over them.
And now, as we find in our passage this morning, He has passed His great authority on to us as His church on earth…
Note this, though he says it to Peter (“I will give you”), Peter was representative of the apostles. When Jesus speaks to Peter, he is speaking to Peter and ultimately to all the apostles. And on them the church is built. In the New Testament, the apostles represent the whole Christian church. So he is not saying this only to Peter and the apostles, He’s ultimately speaking to you and to me as part of his church. Jesus is giving to you and to me the same keys that he gave to Peter… imagine in faith receiving this key… oh, what a weighty key this is…
It is not to everyone. It’s not an authority that just anyone can claim… like all those para-church groups… “no relation to church people… we take the authority…” No. It is given in a context.
First of all, it is an authority that is being passed on to those who have made the profession of faith that Peter made: “Thou art Christ, Son of the living God.” And those who believe and made that confession, he builds them as his church, and gives this authority only to the church that is gathered making that confession… as gathered people of God who believe Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And so, this authority is the privilege of the body of His redeemed saints as a whole—but not to anyone else.
And second, it is an authority that is given to be exercised by the leading of the Holy Spirit and His word, and in connection with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. You notice that Jesus speaks in the future tense—saying, “I will give you the keys…” The keys were not entrusted to His saints until after the Holy Spirit had been placed in them.
Think, for example, of John 20:21-23. In this passage, the resurrected Lord Jesus appears to His disciples and shows Himself to them. He greeted them with the words, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And then, when He had said this, He breathed on them; and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Breathing is a promise of the Holy Spirit—a symbolic “breathing” of the breath of God upon them, that would later be given to them in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after Jesus had ascended to the Father. But notice that the power of the “keys”—the ability to forgive or retain sins—is not theirs until after they had received the Holy Spirit. This is the keys of the kingdom.
Before ascension, Matthew 28:18-20 says: “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
But He didn’t just send them out to be His witnesses right then and there. He told them, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). And it was only after the Holy Spirit came, and filled them with Himself, that Peter and the others were able to—as it were—open the doors with the keys, and proclaim the Good News with such power that multitudes believed.
So, the giving of the keys assumes two things. First, it assumes that those to whom they are being given constitute the assembly of those who confess—with Peter—that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Second, it assumes that those to whom this great authority is given exercise it, not in their own power and wisdom, but in the power and enabling of the Holy Spirit.
But assuming those two conditions, Jesus—the Authoritative One—here delegates the highest possible “kingdom” authority to His saints!
So we have seen what the keys are. Keys indicate the authority given to the church.
How Should the Keys Be Used?
Keys are given to be used.
What is it the authority to do? Verse 19: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
What is it that the church is being authorized to “bind” or “loose”? Jesus speaks in figurative, broad terms, in old language. You’ll notice that Jesus didn’t give just one “key.” I see it as two keys… one to open and one to close. We use a key to open a door and allow someone in or close a door so others don’t get in… allow the right people and stop the wrong people. Wow… You mean you’ve got the keys to the Kingdom of heaven and you can say who’s in and who’s out?” That’s right!
So here, we, as the church on earth, are entrusted with “the keys of the kingdom of heaven”—Christ’s own authority to “bind” and to “loose” on earth according to His will, in His name and as His representatives. So then, what is it that we are thus authorized to “bind” or “loose”?
So much wrong teaching exists… this is what the Roman Catholic Church used to say: Peter and his descendants, the Pope, have all authority. No, it is talking about the church, not any individual man. What does it mean? Very authentically, to be clear… let me show from a catechism…
Heidelberg Catechism… it is also a good one… German, written in the 16th century by reformers… it asks this question:
Lord’s Day 31 Q & A 83 Q. What are the keys of the kingdom? A. 2 things: The preaching of the holy gospel and Christian discipline toward repentance. Both of them open the kingdom of heaven to believers and close it to unbelievers.
Two ways: First, the church is authorized to “bind” or “loose” in the spread of the gospel of the kingdom. Secondly, by church discipline. Not allowing unbelievers in the beginning itself by church discipline and when unbelievers enter and live unholy lives, remove them from the church… Closing it to unbelievers… Opening is gospel preaching, closing is by church discipline.
Q. & A 84 Q. How does preaching the holy gospel open and close the kingdom of heaven? A. According to the command of Christ: The kingdom of heaven is opened by proclaiming and publicly declaring to all believers, each and every one, that, as often as they accept the gospel promise in true faith, God, because of Christ’s merit, truly forgives all their sins. The kingdom of heaven is closed, however, by proclaiming and publicly declaring to unbelievers and hypocrites that, as long as they do not repent, the wrath of God and eternal condemnation rest on them. God’s judgment, both in this life and in the life to come, is based on this gospel testimony.
Keys are used in a figurative language. By preaching of the gospel, we open the doors for sinners to enter the kingdom of heaven. When they accept, we declare their sins forgiven. When they reject, we shut the door saying you will never enter heaven until you repent. That is what the keys of the kingdom mean.
The Lord said to Peter, “I give to you the keys here,” and then after resurrection… Jesus, in His great commission to the church, said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
Jesus told them, “[Y]ou shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). They turned the keys that had been entrusted to them; and they opened the doors for the whole world to hear the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It even went to the Gentiles (Acts 10-11).
And as we study the book of Acts, we find that this is exactly what Peter, and the other apostles, and the rest of the followers of Jesus, did with the authority that was given to them. Peter as an example in chapter 2. When he preached the gospel, what did he do? He opened the doors of the kingdom to 3000 Jews. The same way in Acts 8. He’s preaching again, he opened doors to Samaritans. Then in Acts 10. He’s preaching to Cornelius and his household. He’s opening the door of faith to the Gentiles. So, in the book of Acts in chapters 2, 8, and 10 you have Peter preaching the gospel and opening the door of heaven, first to the Jews, then to the Samaritans, then to the Gentiles. He and the apostles didn’t allow everyone, only those who believed and whose life changed. For others, they closed the door, so they don’t enter… they didn’t allow unbelieving into the church. Also, whenever Peter and other apostles did church discipline and removed people from the church, they closed the door.
Whatever he and the apostles bind or loose will have been bound or loosed so long as he adheres to that divinely revealed in the word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. What’s more, it was an opened door that no one could shut! The authorities and religious leaders of Jerusalem commanded that the disciples stop preaching about Jesus. They tried, later Rome tried all its might to shut the door by persecution, but No one can bind what the church opens—if we will but “turn the keys” of authority that have been granted to us, and ask!
So long as you and I understand this authority and use it—like Peter did, personally and faithfully proclaim that crucial confession that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God”—we can be assured no one can close the door we open and Christ will build his church on the earth that will never perish or fade away.
Let me summarize what I have just said. The keys to the kingdom is the offer of the gospel. Whenever the church preaches the gospel to a person, he believes and repents, and if we follow the word of God, guiding of the Holy Spirit, and we declare him to be saved and take him into membership. You know what is amazing… God binds that in heaven because he is the one who saved him. They are saved. They are born again. They become children of God and you have opened the door for them. Like the treasurer who can open the treasure storehouse and distribute treasures… the church opens the kingdom of God and distributes its treasures to believers…
What if, when we share the gospel, the person doesn’t believe and doesn’t repent? What happens then? We shut them and don’t allow them into membership… Till they are saved… So they are closed. Heaven also closes the door for them.
That’s the significance of what Jesus is saying here. By preaching the gospel, we use this key and open heaven doors for sinners.
Martin Luther and Calvin also said that the preaching of the Word of God represents the keys of the kingdom. Luther said it was the preaching of the Word of God is the key… authority is the word of God, not us. Luther’s great point was that the preaching of the Word should not be restricted to the pastor or to the priest or to any ordained clergy, but that the preaching of the Word belongs to the entire church. What a privilege… each of you when you share the gospel to someone, you use that key and open the door of heaven to perishing sinners.
How is the Door Closed? Church Discipline
Q. How is the kingdom of heaven closed and opened by Christian discipline?
A. According to the command of Christ: Those who, though called Christians, profess unchristian teachings or live unchristian lives, and who after repeated personal and loving admonitions, refuse to abandon their errors and evil ways, and who after being reported to the church, that is, to those ordained by the church for that purpose, fail to respond also to the church’s admonitions—such persons the church excludes from the Christian community by withholding the sacraments from them, and God also excludes them from the kingdom of Christ. Such persons, when promising and demonstrating genuine reform, are received again as members of Christ and of his church.
The church closes the door by church discipline. This is a great spiritual authority that has been entrusted to us—and it is a very sobering one as well. He taught this to us in the only other passage in the Gospels in which He specifically mentions the church. Listen to what He says there; and get a sense of the greatness of the authority He has passed on to us!
“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:15-20).
The apostle Paul once commanded the believers in the Corinthian church to deal with a professing “Christian” in their midst who was engaging in gross sexual immorality. And he called upon them to use their authority and “turn the keys and close the door”! He said,
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:4-5).
Imagine! Jesus has entrusted to the church the authority to declare—based on a professing believer’s hardened unrepentance from sin—that they will not be part of God’s kingdom until they repent, turn from their sin, and become restored to obedience and to faith in Christ! We actually have the authority to remove the protective hand of God from someone, and turn them over to the devil! This is done by removing them from church membership. And then, once they repent, we have also been entrusted with the authority to declare them forgiven! And heaven says “Amen!” to our verdict!
This is obviously a very sobering “key” to turn! It should never be done by the assembly of saints in any way but in accordance with the leading and enabling of the Holy Spirit—and with great thought and prayer together! But clearly, it too is one of “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” that have been entrusted to His church. Given the fact that it is a “binding” and a “loosing” that is ratified in heaven, how terribly foolish it would be to dismiss and reject the church’s use of this delegated authority!
See the glorious authority… we can go into the world and say your sins are bound on you, your sins are loosed from you, your sins are forgiven, your sins are not forgiven, you can do that, you can’t do that? What authority!
Our authority for this comes from the word of God. This authority comes based on the word of God… by preaching the word of God, and based on the word of God, we can declare who are truly inside the kingdom of God and who are outside. We “recognize” believers by preaching the word of God. We know what heaven is approving and disapproving because it is given here in the word of God. We have heaven’s word on the matter. The church can take heaven’s word and make it authoritative in the lives of people.
If a man comes to me, I can say to that person, “Have you received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?” If he says yes and I see evidence in his life, I say then your sins are forgiven, your sins are loosed. I can baptize and take him into membership, and heaven ratifies that. If someone rejects the gospel, I have the authority based on the Word of God to say to that individual your sins are retained, your sins are not forgiven… heaven ratifies… what authority!
See what authority a pastor of a church has… do you understand why the Bible says you should honor and respect the pastor… and be fearful of him? When we preach the word of God and we command, it is not in our own authority but the authority Christ has given us. And it’s why the writer of Hebrews could exhort his readers, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17).
And God has put His church in the world and given His church His Word and authority, and His word is the standard truth by which we can declare who are saved and not saved. We enact heaven’s decisions by the implementation of this Word of God which is authoritative. Oh, how seriously we have to take the church. We’re God’s standard in the world. And we have to say to this world, “You can’t do that.” “Your sins are bound on you.” That’s what heaven says in this Book, and heaven is in agreement with us, it’s already settled there.
So the church is the authority of the world. That’s right. And those who are in the church are authoritative in the world as long as they enforce the Word of the living God revealed to them through the Spirit. And so we have authority. And we don’t worry about what the world says, we’re not going to change our message. We’re not going to compromise.
3. Ratified in Heaven
Amazing! He has also promised to ratify in heaven our decisions on earth. “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Jesus expressed the practical use of this authority in this way: “. . . and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” When Jesus’ authority of the “keys” is rightly used in accordance with His will, there is a direct line connecting what is decreed in the church and what is decreed in heaven. The courts of heaven give approval to the decisions of the church on earth; and will show them to have been just and right on the day of judgment.
Christ is not suggesting that the church commands heaven, but rather that the church ratifies what heaven has already declared. It refers “to the power of judging matters on the basis of the Bible.”
This connection between heaven and the church on earth is even more remarkable when you understand what is actually said in the original language of the text. The grammatical form of these words is difficult to translate into English; but they are such they could be translated, “. . . and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Understood in that way, the actions of the church—in the rightful use of the authority Jesus has given, according to God’s word, and having been a product of the guidance of the Holy Spirit—will be nothing less than a response on earth to the sovereign decrees that were already made in heaven! It suggests action in heaven preceding the action on earth.
John 20: “those sins you forgiven will be forgiven, those who don’t will not be forgiven.” This is a very strong statement, even a more radical statement Jesus is making. He’s upping the ante here. He’s saying when you say to someone, “You are forgiven,” if you do it on the basis of the gospel they are forgiven. If you say to someone, “You are forgiven, past, present and future, because you are a son of God,” and his sins are forgiven. When we declare forgiveness to someone who has believed in the gospel, God says amen from heaven. When we say to someone who has rejected the gospel, “your blood is upon your own head,” God says amen from heaven. It’s true.
Done On Earth, Done In Heaven
What role do we play in the binding and loosing process as it applies to individual sinners? In the first place, only God can forgive sins. No mortal man can ever forgive sins. No one can ever say, “I forgive your sins” or even, “On my own authority, I declare that your sins are forgiven.” To say that would be blasphemy. Keys serve to open and shut, to let in or lock out. It is not that the church can admit people into God’s kingdom but it has the divinely appointed task of declaring upon the authority of God’s Word the conditions and means of forgiveness through Christ and the gospel.
All we can do is to declare God’s forgiveness. When we say to someone, “Good news, your sins are forgiven,” God says, “Amen. That’s right. I already did it.” And when we say to someone, “My friend, you are still under the judgment of God,” God says, “Amen. That’s right. They already were under judgment.” Done in heaven, done on earth. Done on earth, done in heaven.
So in this passage, we have seen the blessed confession, the Lord’s declaration of building his church, the church’s invincibility, and what the key means: it is the church’s authority, and how the church uses that authority—in opening the door by preaching the gospel, and closing by church discipline of not allowing unbelievers and removing nominal believers from the church. Finally, this authority is not physical, but spiritual.
20. Then He Warned the Disciples
20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.
The church of Jesus Christ is a spiritual entity. It is spiritual authority we have. “Then charged He His disciples that they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ.” Now, why did He tell them not to do that?
Why does He later, after his resurrection, give a command: “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”? Why does He say, “don’t tell anybody that I’m Jesus the Christ”? Why? Because the people were looking for a political, economic Messiah. And He says, look, don’t tell them I’m the Christ, their expectations are warped, and all it does is confuse them and put pressure in the wrong area. We are not a political, earthly, economic kingdom. It’s a spiritual reality, and that’s part of the problem. Most of the nation was looking for a Messiah who would be a political revolutionary, a king who would release the nation from Roman domination. Their preference for Barabbas over Jesus demonstrates this reality, for Barabbas was a political zealot who was in jail for rebelling against Rome. Had Jesus declared His messianic office plainly, He would have stoked the fire of rebellion, encouraging the Roman authorities to kill Him before the appointed time. People don’t understand the spiritual dimension.
His Messiahship, they thought, was primarily political, military, economic, and earthly. He said it’s spiritual, it’s spiritual. People will wrongly use it, and moreover, the disciples were also not rightly prepared. Even after the resurrection, he told them, “You wait until the Holy Spirit comes and then you go.”
Oh, what a church Christ is building: a spiritual church, a church with authority, a church with invincibility, a church with a foundation on the revelation of the living God as granted by the Spirit through His apostles and continuing to be built on those who confess the same truth. A church with identity, the sum of all the redeemed of all the ages, a church with intimacy, those who are the personal possessions of Jesus Christ, and a church with certainty—it will be built. He will bring us to glory, will He not? That’s His promise.
Applications
Firstly, all this should make us repent of all low views of the church we had earlier.
Tell me what difference did you think between a church or club membership… what will you tell… frankly… in fact, some are more committed to a club… because of more discipline… we live in a perverted generation… and the church is just a selfish add-on… not “how can I pour my life into the church?” but “what can I get from the church… does it have good preaching, music, children’s school…. Can it help me in any way?” Faithful sacrificial commitment to the church… self-denial… very few of us know what it means… it is because of your low view of the church. Jesus Christ is angry with you for treating the church like that… examine your heart and repent of that…
We must not be conformed to the worldly view, but be transformed in our mind about the church of Jesus Christ. I should be part of a church where Christ’s word is preached and followed… because that is where he builds his church, and I should give myself to be built by that church.
The church that Jesus has bought with His precious blood, the only thing he builds in this world, it is his body… intimately connected to him… Any insult, any neglect I do to the church is directly done to him… only this church has his spiritual authority to bind and loose, open and close heaven’s door, and bestow heavenly treasures and close the door. It may seem small and powerless at times. It may be viewed by the world as insignificant and irrelevant. But the smallest and humblest gathering of followers of Jesus Christ in the most remote third-world country is—in reality—a part of an institution on earth that is more powerful than the mightiest superpower among the nations. Do you have such views of the church?
It is to His church—and to His church alone—that Jesus has given “the keys of the kingdom of heaven”; with the promise that “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
May we learn to faithfully, and confidently, use the authority that Jesus has given us for His glory.
To Whom Much Is Given… much will be expected.
God has placed you in this church… where God reigns supremely… We don’t take seriously our Christian obligations. We don’t take seriously church responsibilities that are all outlined in our constitution… Do you realize it is a covenant you made before God… as a commitment… not like joining a club… like a marriage covenant… the church covenant is lifelong… how important it is for us to re-read the constitution again and renew our commitment to the church… Unless we recognize how glorious the church is… we will not commit to it in fear of God… change that mindset… unless we commit… Christ will not build our church…
Secondly, what encouragement for gospel preaching… and what condemnation for our gospel laziness…
What a privilege it is to have this key to open eternal heaven’s doors to perishing eternal souls…
How foolish to keep this key and allow it to rust… instead of using this key to opening doors for perishing sinners by preaching the gospel. And God has said to you and me, “Don’t just sit here. Don’t just think that you’ve done enough. Don’t just say, ‘Bless me Lord.’ But go out from this place and spread the good news and open the door to heaven to men and women who cannot find their way. When they come in, bid them welcome. If they turn and walk away, warn them lest they die.”
Oh, I have seen and have heard of people… for them the greatest thing in life… is always telling others about the gospel and God’s word… They don’t worry about anything… if they drive in an auto, Uber, carpenter, plumber, housemaid, eat in the hotel, in the hospital, walking in the road, traveling by bus, train… milkman, vegetable man… always telling about Christ… opening the doors… opening the doors… I envy that… I am not like that… and I always want to be like that… we all should desire… Holy Spirit, please mold us… why are we so lazy in the gospel… why other things become so important to us… oh, what a privilege in life… to open doors of the kingdom to every eternal soul we meet… if they come, we declare their sins forgiven. If they reject, in Christ’s authority we declare, “until you repent you will be eternally condemned…”
God has given us the authority to open and shut the doors of heaven. We do that, as John Calvin said, as “porters” of the kingdom of heaven. God gave to his church the keys to unlock the Pearly Gates. It is not about becoming a member of our church or any church… How do we determine who goes to heaven? Have you believed in Jesus Christ and are you clinging to him? If you have and if you are, I’ll see you in heaven. And if not, if you are not trusting in Jesus Christ, I must warn you concerning the reality of hell. That is our task.
The church can boldly declare that apart from faith in Christ alone a person has no place in Christ’s kingdom. The world reacts to such bold authority in our day, criticizing Christians for being “narrow-minded.” The church has a divine commission to go forth declaring the gospel, and with it the promise of Christ’s kingdom.
But sadly… we are not opening these doors… As Christians… we come… We have a good time and we go out and if anybody comes to us, great, we’ll tell them the good news. Okay. But if not, there are other churches. My friends, there are not too many other gospel preaching churches in this neighborhood. That’s one reason God put us here. That’s one reason Jesus gave us the keys. He said, “I’m giving you the keys to the kingdom.” That’s the most important thing in the world for us. He didn’t give the keys to the politicians, NGOs, or corporate systems. He didn’t give the keys to the government. He didn’t give them to Jesus Calls, Jesus Redeems, Campus Crusade. He didn’t even give the keys to the noted scholars from the universities of the world. He gave the keys to the kingdom to us and said, “Now go out from this place and open the door to heaven to the people you meet. When they come in, tell them they are forgiven. If they reject you, warn them of coming judgment. And whether it’s grace or whether it’s judgment, whatever is done on earth in accordance with the gospel, God says it will be done in heaven.”
Do you see how solemnly and seriously the Bible views the church? Oh, how can we remove our careless attitude about the church? Angels are appalled by our carelessness!
Some time back, one team was always winning cricket matches. They interviewed the captain, who said, “What is your secret… you are winning every game without fail?” The captain said, “The reason we don’t lose is because we have determined every game is important.” They have discovered something that some of us have never discovered. Every Sunday here is important. Every Sunday of GRBC is life or death. When we are gathered in Christ’s name and authority… God builds through us… he is opening and closing doors. It’s heaven or hell. It’s light or darkness. It’s the upward path or it’s the downhill slide. Every single Sunday worship is important… it is never routine.
Do you know what I think the bottom line of this message is? God takes us seriously. The Kingdom of Heaven is most precious to God. If I give you the keys to what is most precious to me… let us say I give keys of my new house or new car… whatever is very valuable to me, I’m going to keep my eyes on you day and night until I get my keys back. When God gave the keys of the kingdom to his church he was saying, “I’m giving you something I’m not giving to anyone else in the whole world. Do something with it.” He is watching us day and night to see what we are doing with what he has given us. God takes us seriously. What we are doing here is utterly serious. So we take the keys of the kingdom and we go out these doors and we open heaven to those who come in and we bless them and declare their sins are forgiven, and we warn those who turn away.
I asked myself:
Do we use the keys to close people? Do we take church membership seriously? Do we take church discipline seriously? People who joined the church… but are not living committed to the church… as the constitution outlines… believer’s witness life… it is the duty of a church to discipline them… Revelation Christ says if you don’t take action… I will remove the lampstand… Whenever we take some action on somebody… church people think… “oh so sad… seen as a victim…” No… according to this verse… we have to use the authority to close people who live unrepented, disorderly lives… we need to bring great discipline and order in the church… like the New Testament church… everyone lived in the fear of God… Even when they lied, Ananias and Sapphira fell dead… Something like that should happen… dramatically… God may be doing like in 1 Corinthians… many of you are sick and weak… some dead. We should take church discipline seriously… of closing the door. Not hiding, hiding… for people’s sake, and offending Lord Jesus Christ…
Given how gloriously serious the church and its responsibility are… what if we implement church discipline like this:
- Every member who doesn’t spend half an hour daily in Bible reading and prayer will be suspended from church for 1 month.
- Every member who doesn’t witness to at least 2 people in a week, suspended from church.
- Every church family who doesn’t pray daily for 15 minutes, suspended for 3 months.
- Every member who lives unholy lives in mind or words or actions… unholy thought, bad words, action in the last week, should become sick for another 3 months… Ah… for one lie Ananias and Sapphira died…
You know the first person to put under such discipline will be me… because I was unwell and couldn’t pray or do family prayer… but is my responsibility more important than sickness? Do you see how serious it is… unless we take church discipline and this great responsibility seriously… God will chastise us… let us stop playing church and take the church seriously.
John Calvin offers a fitting summary of this truth:
This is a great honor, that we are God’s messengers to assure the world of its salvation. It is the highest honor conferred on the church, that it is declared to be the embassy of heaven, of mutual reconciliation between God and man (II Cor. 5:20). In a word, it is a wonderful consolation to devout minds to know that the message of salvation brought to them by a poor mortal man is ratified by God. Meanwhile, let the ungodly ridicule, as they may think fit, the doctrine which is preached to them by the command of God. They will one day learn with what truth and seriousness God threatened them by the mouth of men. Finally, let pious teachers, resting on this assurance, encourage themselves and others to defend with boldness the life-giving grace of God, and yet let them not the less boldly thunder against the hardened despisers of their doctrine. (Comments on Matthew 6:19)
What a passage this is…
- Church’s Testimony is: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Everything begins there. We declare and testify openly that Jesus is the God’s promised Messiah from heaven, that he is God’s only-begotten Son, the Savior of the world. It is that testimony which makes us Christian.
- Church’s Foundation—”Upon this rock I will build my church.” The rock, we discovered, is not just Peter and it is not just his testimony, but it is Peter openly confessing Christ to the world. And that testimony is not only Peter confessing, but it is Peter representing all the apostles, who in turn represent all who follow them. They are the Living Foundation Stones, and we who follow them are Living Stones built upon the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ. The church is made up of men and women who personally embraced one revolutionary truth—that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
- We next considered the Church’s Assurance—”The Gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” We learned that death itself cannot defeat it because our Founder defeated death. Though we die, the church rolls on. Satan has the gates, but Jesus has the keys. Therefore, we move triumphantly forward knowing that our work does not depend on us, but on Jesus alone.
- Finally, we have looked at the Church’s Authority—”I will give you the keys of the kingdom.” By preaching the gospel, we open and shut the doors of heaven. To those who believe, we declare their forgiveness on the basis of the gospel. To those who reject our message, we declare that they are still in their sins. When we make those declarations on the basis of the gospel, we are declaring on earth what God has already ratified in heaven.
We have our work cut out for us, don’t we? But we have a clear testimony, a solid foundation, a triumphant assurance, and a heavenly authority. That ought to be enough. Jesus has been building his church for 2,000 years. In Jesus’ name, I invite you to join me as we join him in building his church right here in GRBC.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 