The sermon explores the doctrine of the church, focusing on its foundation, builder, victory, and authority. It begins by discussing Matthew 16 and 18, emphasizing that the foundation of the church is the confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. This foundation, laid by the apostles and prophets, with Christ as the cornerstone, is essential for understanding church authority. The sermon argues against the Roman Catholic view that Peter alone is the foundation, instead highlighting that the church is built upon the gospel as revealed by God through His apostles. It further explains that Jesus is the builder and owner of the church, fulfilling ancient promises to Israel and that His church includes all who have believed in Him before and after His coming. The sermon asserts that the church is triumphant because of Christ's resurrection and ascension, and that the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Finally, it addresses the authority of the church, particularly in terms of church discipline and the use of the keys of the kingdom, which involve binding and loosing as a form of spiritual authority exercised by church leaders.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he was asking his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, and others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 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." And then turn just a page or two to the right, Matthew chapter 18, Matthew 18, beginning in verse 15. If your brother sins, Jesus says, go and show him his fault in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. Verse 16.

But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven may God bless the reading of his word amen you may be seated Well, our aim this morning is very simple. We are preparing ourselves for our upcoming preaching series through the book of Titus and as Titus is a pastoral epistle dealing with the church governance, church order, church authority, pastors, Since Titus is dealing with the church, we need to get a little bit of a better grasp on the doctrine of the church.

And so to that end, this morning I'm going to be preaching about the doctrine of the church and how she is to wield her authority. And to aid us in this, I've adopted the outline that dear Dr. Joe Beeke uses in his excellent four-volume work titled Reformed systematic theology. And so this is his outline, and this is what we will cover this morning. Number one, the foundation of the church.

Number two, the builder and owner of the church. Number three, the victory of his church, number four, the authority of the church. Now each of those things that I just said could receive a multitude of sermons each. And just for each one, the foundation, the builder, the victory, the authority of the church, we could spend years. Do you thought Mark was a long series?

Ho ho ho. But for our purposes this morning, we're going to be dealing with those things, but just what Jesus says in Matthew 16 and the end of Matthew 18. So briefly we're going to be covering each of those headings and dealing with what we just read, how those things that we just read influence and instruct us on the foundation, the building, the victory, and the authority of Christ's church. So first, the foundation of the church. The foundation of the church.

What is the foundation of the church? Well, look at verses 13-18 of Matthew chapter 16. If you turn back to Matthew 16, look at verses 13 through 18. What happens in those verses? Jesus begins by asking Peter and the rest of the disciples later to become apostles, who do you say that I am?

And Simon Peter, on behalf of the rest of the apostles, what does he do? He declares, you're the Christ. You are the Son of the living God. He confesses who Jesus is, and it's true. And how does Jesus respond in verse 17?

Look there in verse 17, Jesus blesses Peter. He tells Peter that a revelation like that didn't come from within Peter himself. It came from heaven. It came from outside of Peter. Faith, a confession of the truth, if it is genuine, if it is real, it comes from outside of you.

It comes from God. In Matthew chapter 11 Jesus said that the only way to know the Father is to know the Son. You don't know the Father in heaven without knowing the Son that he sent. And now we're told in Matthew 16 that the only way to know the Son is through the supernatural and sovereign work of the Father. It's just flipped around.

Beloved, salvation is from God. And If you're here this morning and you do not know Christ, but you have just heard in our liturgy of how you must confess your sins, how you are guilty before the thrice holy God, I urge you this morning, hear that in Christ Jesus there is assurance of pardon. And if you are believing upon Christ for the salvation of your sins it is a supernatural work of Almighty God in your heart but if you harden your heart this morning and you will not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ He will keep His promises to you. And the promise is this, you will perish in your sins unless you repent. And there is an eternity in hell for you.

But oh, the good news that He works power, wonder-working power in the blood of His Son, whom He sent, whom these apostles are confessing as Savior and Lord. You can believe. I urge you, while there is yet today, believe upon the Son. And if you believe upon the Sun that is a work that has come from above Jesus blesses Peter Peter's speaking on behalf of the apostles. Jesus blesses the apostles.

And he will bless you. Then in verse 18, this is where I want to get, in verse 18, notice what Jesus says in our passage. Look at verse 18. Jesus says, I also say to you that you are Peter. So Peter's just made this great confession.

And upon this rock, I will build my church. And the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Upon this rock, I will build my church. What's the rock? What's the rock?

What's the foundation upon which Christ will build his church? Who is it? What is it? Well, Roman Catholics will argue that the rock is Peter, whom Jesus makes head of the church as the first bishop of Rome, and that each successor from Peter, each pope after Peter, is the head of the church. That's how Roman Catholicism gets popery, And that's why it was such a big deal to Roman Catholics a month ago when the new pope was chosen.

That's the new Peter. Well, is that true? Is Peter exclusively, and by extension, are his successors exclusively, are they the bishops of Rome, and then are they exclusively the foundation, the rock that the church is built upon, is that true? What does Ephesians chapter 220 tell us? Does anybody remember?

Keep your fingers in Matthew 16, we're gonna go right back, but turn with me to the right, turn with me to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter two, verse 20. It's right after Galatians, and right before Philippians. And if you're in Revelation, you're way too far. Ephesians chapter 2, beginning in verse 20.

In fact, you know what, let's start in verse 19, just to start at the beginning of the sentence. Verse 19 of Ephesians two. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household. Let me pause there for a moment. What's that?

That's the church, the household of God. You're God's household, the church. So what's the church's foundation? Verse 20. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone what's the foundation the Apostles and the prophets and one of the Apostles and the prophets built upon they're built on Jesus the Christ the cornerstone and then at the very end of your Bibles, if you were to go to Revelation 21 verse 14, you don't have to go there, I'll just read it.

It says exactly the same thing. Revelation 21 verse 14 is John beholds a vision of the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven. It's a picture, Revelation is explicit, this is a picture of the Bride of Christ, the Church. John writes that if he sees the Church descending down from heaven, he writes that the walls of the New Jerusalem had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The apostles and the prophets are the foundation stones laid upon the great foundation, Christ the Lamb.

The Lamb is the cornerstone. Jesus the Christ is the head of His church. Christ is all in all. And just to further fill this in for you, if you begin to look at Matthew 16, go back to Matthew 16. Matthew 16 begins with Peter, apostles, What do you say that I am?

And what do they begin with? John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or some other prophet. That's what other people say. Those are the prophets. What have the prophets been confessing the entire time in the Old Testament?

Jesus who is Lord, who is Savior, He's coming. Jesus who is Lord, who is Savior, He's coming. Those are the prophets. And now the apostles, what do they confess throughout the book of Acts? Jesus who is Lord and who is Savior, He came.

Jesus who is Lord and who is Savior he came Jesus who is Lord and who is Savior he came in Jesus the Christ Jacob prophets and the Apostles in Matthew 16 and they are declaring they are confessing Jesus is exactly who he says he is. Jesus is exactly Savior and Lord. And upon that confession, upon the truth that Jesus is the Messiah, the church is built. And so through his apostles who are declaring his gospel the foundations of the church are laid. Which by the way incidentally little side note here, The foundation of the church is the confession of the prophets and the apostles who is They're confessing Jesus Jesus is Jesus is Christ Jesus is Lord Jesus is Savior That's the foundation The foundation is Christ.

They've been declaring that, which means if that's the foundation that the office of the Apostle is laying the foundation, then that office of Prophet and Apostle has ceased. We don't need Apostles anymore, because through them, through the apostles, the foundations of the church were laid. If you know anything about construction, and believe me, I don't know much, but I know this. I do know this. I own a house, Part of it.

You build upon the foundation. The foundation of the church has already been laid. You don't just keep laying foundation. The foundation of the church has been laid in Christ through his apostles, through the prophets, confessing who he is. Christ is the foundation, the confession of his people is the foundation, therefore the office of apostle has ceased to be an office of the church.

The foundation has already been established. Here's how Joe Beeke puts it, and I quote, Christ promised to build his church on the gospel of Jesus Christ revealed by God to and through his apostles. Christ promised to build his church on the gospel of Jesus Christ revealed by God to and through His apostles. The apostles were the rock instrumentally as they functioned to establish the church on Christ by their teaching. Christ is the rock efficaciously and that he alone is the mediator between God and man.

The word of God is the rock cognitively, for in it God provides the objective revelation of Christ by which his church knows and trusts in him." End quote. A lot there. Let me give you the bottom line. Bottom line. The foundation, the head, the rock that The church is ultimately built upon is Jesus and his word.

Jesus and his gospel and his word, his revelation to us was written down and confessed and proclaimed by the prophets and the apostles from Genesis to Revelation. And so the one foundation of the church, the church is one foundation as we sing is Jesus Christ her Lord, revealed herein in His perfect holy writ through the works of the prophets and the apostles. The Bible, this word right here, is the foundation, Jesus Christ and His Word. Which means, contrary to Roman Catholicism, this means, what I'm holding out to you, It means that the Word of Christ, that the teachings of the apostles, the Bible, sola scriptura, the Word of Christ has ultimate authority over the church. The word of Christ has ultimate authority over the church.

And it's not the other way around. It's not that the church has ultimate authority over the scriptures. No, no, no. The church has been built upon the perfect and sufficient word and work of Christ. His gospel is the foundation, he is the gospel, he is the foundation, his work is the foundation which is confessed by the apostles and the prophets here in this book.

Got that? The foundation is not the Church. The Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets confession which all pointed to Jesus the Christ who is the head of the church, the head over all things. You need to get the foundation right. You have to get the foundation right.

The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord, laid down for you by the writings of the prophets and the apostles. Get the foundation right. What happens when you don't get the foundation right? I have built so many towers with my little girls. Haven't we girls?

We've built many towers out of little wooden blocks. Have you ever used those children? Have you ever used those little magnet tiles? If you haven't, come on over. We've got lots.

Seriously, you can come over. And when you use those blocks of magnet tiles have you ever built it on a squishy foundation like a pillow We did this not that long ago, my girls and I. We decided to build a giant tower. It was going to reach to heaven. Kind of like the Tower of Battle.

But it was built on a pillow. What do you think happened to that tower? That's exactly right. We started building. We started getting excited about halfway through our building Fell down was demolished The walls came tumbling down.

I think we yelled timber What happens when your foundation is weak? Everything above the foundation falls down. Destruction happens. You know this children and adults, If you doubt this, ask Justin Riker. He's been around a foundation or two.

Ask anybody who's seen a foundation. What happens when the foundation is compromised? The whole building crashes in. Devastation happens. You know what?

People die. It's horrible. So aren't you glad then beloved children of God that your foundation the foundation of your life the foundation of this church is not built on top of something that is weak or faulty or shifting. But instead this church, the foundation of your life, the foundation of this church, You are built upon the rock of ages. Aren't you glad that your life in this church is built upon that which is not weak, that which is not flimsy, but that which is perfect, inerrant, never failing, and almighty?

Christ in His Word, it's the opposite of squishy and weak. Aren't you glad? I am. And you may be glad this morning too. Because you, you yourself, are not the foundation of your life and the life of this church.

You are not the foundation of your life and the life of this church. You are not the foundation of your life and the life of this church. No, the foundation has already come. It's been laid. In fact, That foundation was laid in a tomb, and our foundation came up out of that tomb.

And he came up out of that tomb incorruptible. A foundation came up out of the tomb that will never erode, never decay, it will never have one crack. It's incorruptible. It's a resurrected foundation. A foundation that will not and cannot crumble for eternity.

You wanna know why? What enemy, what force can erode that which Jesus, who is our foundation, has not already put under his feet when he rose up? Nothing. Nothing. The true Church of God is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

And he has come up from the tomb incorruptible. That's the foundation. That's really good news if you had all listened. But what else does Jesus say in verse 18? Look back in Matthew 16.

What else does he say in verse 18? He says, I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. Who will build the church? Who will build the church? Christ will.

He who is the foundation. He whom the apostles and prophets confess. The builder and the owner of the church is Jesus the Christ. Jesus the Christ. I will build my church.

It's Christ's church. Jesus says, I will build my church. My church. I'm going to quote Dr. Beeke again.

If you have never read anything by Dr. Joe Beeke, we have several of his works in our library. I encourage you to read from him. But Dr. Beeke helps us to understand that when Jesus says that, when Jesus says, I will build my church, that Jesus is announcing the fulfillment of the ancient promises to Israel from all the way at the beginning of Genesis all the way through Malachi.

In Matthew 16, Jesus is announcing the fulfillment of the ancient promises to Israel throughout the Old Testament. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises. And therefore, listen to this, the church is not a parenthesis of God's plan in which he pauses his purposes for Israel. Rather the church is the eschatological Israel, the people of the Messiah, God's new creation. The people in Christ Jesus.

I want you to get this. Christ's church consists of all who believed prior to His coming. And it consists of all who have believed subsequent to His coming. Christ's church consists of all the saints who were hoping in the Messiah post-fall all the way to today. That's the Israel of God.

Christ's church consists of all the people who've been justified by faith in Jesus Christ. For those before the coming of Jesus, their faith was looking forward towards the promised Messiah, The one that had been promised all the way back in Genesis chapter 3. Believing in that Savior to come. The Old Testament Septuagint, it can literally be translated into English that the gathering together of Israel in the Old Testament could be translated church. In the Septuagint, it's the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

Every time in the Septuagint that you get the word assembly of Israel, gathering of Israel, it's the word ecclesia. Do you know what the Greek word for church in the New Testament is? Ekklesia. It's the same word. Christ's Church consists of all the people who've been justified by faith.

Those before the coming of Jesus looking forward towards the Messiah, they were the ecclesia of God. And those after the coming of Jesus, you and I, our faith is looking back to that Messiah who came, and we are justified by faith the same way as those Old Testament saints were, so that we would be a part of the same ecclesia in Jesus Christ. One people of God, one church of God. So when Jesus, who is God, when he says that he will build his church, his ecclesia, bringing it back to Matthew 16. He's talking about God's plan of redemption.

He's talking about a plan that hasn't changed since before the foundations of the world were laid. Jesus is talking about building His church, and His church is not a parenthesis of God's plan in which He just pauses His purposes for Israel. Rather, the church is the eschatological Israel. The church is the people of the Messiah, God's new creation. How did Jesus build His church?

How did He do it? He built it literally with nails. Nails in His hands, and nails through His feet. And Jesus hung on the cross so that the former sins of all who were trusting in the promised Messiah so that all of the Old Testament saints in the Ecclesia, justified by faith, before the coming of Christ, hoping in the coming of Christ, all those hoping in the Messiah, That promised Messiah went to the cross, hung on the cross, endured the wrath of God for the sins of the elect before its coming, so that those sins in the past would no longer be passed over, but dealt with. God the Father poured out His wrath upon Jesus His Son, the penalty for the sins of the elect, for the sins of his church prior to the coming of his Messiah.

And God the Father at the cross poured out his wrath upon Jesus' son for the sins of the elect who believed after his coming just the same. I wonder if you get any of that. Let me try to summarize it again. How did Jesus build his church? He built it literally with nails, going to a cross, propitiating the wrath of God for the elect, taking the curse of sin upon himself, and raising up from the dead, triumphant over all of his enemies, triumphant over all of your enemies, Christian.

He did that. His perfect life, his substitutionary death, his justifying resurrection, all of it done for all the church from Genesis to Revelation. Christ is building His church. It's not a new thing. That should bring you great hope.

He has been building, and now in His death and resurrection, oh my! He's getting after it. Christ is the builder, Christ is the foundation, and Christ in His resurrection and ascension, He has triumphed over sin, over Satan, over hell. He's triumphed even over death. He has triumphed.

And so is it any surprise to you then that the Bible says that His church shall triumph too? It's a glorious truth and it's really what we must examine next. The victory. The victory. The triumph of the church.

Look at the words of Jesus once more in verse 18. I'll read it one more. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it." Now get that. The gates of Hades will not overpower Christ's church upon whom He is the foundation. I want you to think for just a moment about what Jesus is doing with the language here.

What's been the subject of all that He said so far in these verses? Subjects been the church, the church. And what language does he use to describe the church? Building language, foundation language, fortress kind of language. I will build my church.

Its foundation is Christ Jesus, confessed by prophets and apostles. In the next verse, verse 19, Jesus is going to use key languages, the language of keys. We're talking about a fortress here. Two kingdoms that Jesus is speaking of. The kingdom of Christ up against the kingdom of the devil.

The kingdom of life versus the kingdom of death. Two warring kingdoms. Two warring gates. The gate of life and the gate of death. Who wins?

It's totally a Sunday school answer. Christ wins. In fact, Christ has already won. He went down to those gates himself. He was crucified.

Christ Jesus was put to death. He descended into Sheol, the gates of Hades, the gates of death. And yet did those gates stand fast? Could those gates hold Jesus in? For three days we were left wondering.

And After the third day, what was the answer? Could the gates hold Jesus in? Not a chance. God the Father tore them apart for the sake of His Son. The grave could not defeat the King of Kings.

The tomb could not hold the risen one. The gates of death were ripped apart and Jesus was raised. And all who belong to Him, they are raised too. Jesus Christ the Lord, He knows His way out of the grave. That's triumph.

Beloved, do you know what it means that Jesus has been raised? Do you get the significance of God the Father raising Jesus Christ his son up from the grave? Do you know why that's so significant? Because in the resurrection, The promise that Jesus made here in Matthew 16, that the gates of Hades, the gates of death, won't prevail, that promise came true. That promise was made certain.

If the gates of Hades cannot overpower the Christ, how then will those gates overpower His church? They cannot. Friends, the resurrection of Jesus meant that Jesus was exactly who he said he was, and that he had done exactly what he said he had come to do. To save the world, that's John 3.17, and to destroy the works of the devil, 1 John 3.8. The resurrection proved that Jesus was exactly who He said He was and that He had done exactly what He said He'd do.

He'd Redeem the elect, save the world, destroy the works of the devil. He has done so, he is still doing so, through his church. The biblical logic is really simple. And I'm sorry if I'm making it muddled. Here's the simple biblical logic.

If Christ has been triumphant and he has, how much more than his church? That's the logic. Pretty sound. If he's the foundation, If he's the builder, the triumph of the church is then secured. And that's what Ephesians chapter 1 verses 21 through 23 tell us.

If you'd like, you can turn there real quick. I'll read it for you. Ephesians 1 verses 21 through 23. This is what Ephesians tells us. Paul, an apostle, he's been telling us in Ephesians chapter 1, Christ was raised, Christ ascended and is right now at the right hand of God the Father.

And in verse 21, here's what the ascension, the resurrection and ascension of Christ means for you, Christian. Means for you, church. Christ has been raised. He's ascended to the right hand of the Father, verse 21, far above all rule and all authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things, the Father put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." Now that's just glorious.

If you belong to Jesus, if you are a member of His church, there's no power of hell, there's no scheme of man that can pluck you from this Savior's hand ever. And far from that, He tells you, He tells you Christian, He tells you church, He tells you, whom He holds in His almighty grip, put on your armor. Put on your gospel armor. Gird yourselves for battle, because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to this risen and now reigning Christ. So go.

Go And declare the power of God and salvation. Declare that sinners are damned, but that the Savior came to rescue sinners and make them saints at the cost of His body and His blood. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Why? Why?

Because Jesus is Lord. Because Jesus reigns victoriously over all things because He raised up and was ascended. He reigns right now. Don't get it twisted. Do not think that Jesus does not reign right now, but he will one day.

No, he reigns. He said clearly all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. That's why you go. Because I'm Lord. Because I've raised up.

Because I've ascended. And I'm putting every enemy under my feet right now So he said Jesus is trying he triumphed at his cross. He triumphed in his resurrection. He triumphed in his ascension beloved. We go we fight and we win as a church Because our Savior Has gone he has fought and he has won So then will his church we must The gates of Hades the kingdom of Satan the power of death and condemnation, the power of darkness, they cannot overcome the Church of Jesus Christ as it proclaimed his almighty gospel.

So that church, you may sing this hymn, that though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo you. You need not fear, for God hath willed his truth to what? Triumph, triumph through you. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure for lo, his doom is sure.

One little word shall fail. What's the word? That word is Christ, the word made flesh, his gospel. That word above all earthly powers, No thanks to them abideth. Earthly powers are but dust in comparison to the power of the word made flesh.

The spirit and the gifts are ours, the church, through Him who with us is church, sideth. So let goods and kindreds go, this mortal life also the body they may kill. I'll raise up. God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever." Martin Luther wrote those lines.

He understood the triumph of the church. Do you understand the triumph of Christ's church? I want you to notice something in our passage. Jesus did not say, I will try to build my church. You could have said that.

Jesus did not say, I will try to build my church you could have said that Jesus did not say I will try to build my church no what did Jesus say I four letters starts with a W ends with old will I will build my church friends this is a promise of God's almighty Son. His promise to you, to us corporately, as His body. Christ will lead His church to assured victory in her warfare. The gates of death, the gates of hate, the devil itself, they shall not prevail against this church. So that one day the church will so triumph that the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." That's the triumph of the church of Jesus Christ.

That's what the Bible means when it says that in Christ's church, you are more than conquerors. The Bible means what it says. And if you have a system that doesn't allow you to think, well, when it says I'm more than a conqueror at a church, you have a system that presses against that and doesn't let you be an actual conqueror of the church? Don't change the Bible, change the system. Calvin put it this way.

John Calvin wrote, Even if the whole fabric of the world were overthrown, The Church could neither totter nor fall. First, it stands by God's election and it cannot waver or fail any more than His eternal providence can. Second, the Church has in a way been joined to the steadfastness of Christ, who will no more allow his believers to be estranged from him than that his members be rent and torn asunder. And nobody's doing that to Jesus Christ, who was raised up incorruptible. This is amazing.

This is the triumph of the Savior and thus the triumph of His Church which brings us to one final consideration this morning which is the authority of Christ's church. Final thing to consider this morning, the authority of Christ's church. If the church is triumphant, which it is, that means the church has authority that God has given to her to exercise. So what is that authority? How does it play out in the lives of Christ's people?

That's our final question. What's the authority that Christ has given to his church to be triumphant? How does that play out in the lives of his people? Look at verse 19 of Matthew 16. Verse 19.

Jesus has just said, I'll build my church, it will be triumphant, and here's how. 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 lose On earth shall have been loosed in heaven If you talk to anybody on the street there is all kinds of takes on that language Let's just be really simple and really right to the point here. Jesus says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom. Says that to Peter.

Says that to the apostles. And with the keys, what are you going to do with them? You're going to Bind and you're going to loose. What's he talking about? What's he talking about?

Well, I want you to answer that question. I want you to turn just to the right two pages or so. Matthew 18. We just read it at the beginning of the sermon here. Go to Matthew 18, look at verse 15.

Chapter 16, he's saying, I'm going to give you the keys of the kingdom, and with the keys you're going to bind and loose, what's he talking about? Binding loose what? What, what, what, Matthew 18, look in verse 15. If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private. If he listens to you, you've won your brother.

But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every act, every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. What are those verses in Matthew 18 all about so far? This section of verses is all about church membership and church discipline.

That shouldn't be hard to see. Matthew 18 is the classic text for church discipline. Jesus says you are to know who you're responsible for as a church, and for those in your church, Here's the process to win a brother or to win a sister back if they will repent You win them back if they won't repent Here's how you excommunicate a false Christian If they won't turn from their sins and trust to do in Christ. Here's how you put them out. You got it?

It's Matthew 18, it's clear. This is a church discipline passage. Here's how you deal with sin in your midst. That has to influence the way you read the next verse. It's a church discipline passage.

Look at verse 18, the next verse. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven does that sound familiar to you that language that's the exact same language that Jesus used in Matthew 16 that language of binding and loosening Jesus uses that same language in Matthew 16 here in Matthew 18, binding and loosing about what? Church discipline. Church membership, bringing people in, church discipline, putting people out.

Same language in 16 and 18. Binding and loosing. Binding and loosing with what? What does Matthew 16 tell you? You bind and loose with the keys.

The keys of the kingdom. That's what Jesus calls them in Matthew 16 verse 19. You bind and loose with the keys of the kingdom. And the keys of the kingdom, the binding and loosing has to do with church discipline. Letting in, taking out.

What do keys do? Children, what do keys do? Thank you, very good. They unlock doors. They lock and unlock.

Keys open and shut gates, don't they? I was just thinking when I was sermon prepping about the princess bride you know that scene where they're trying to get in to rescue Princess Buttercup and there's the gates closed gates closed and Fezik says give me the keys and the guard will give him the keys and he says, oh sorry, Inigo tells Pheasic, Inigo tear his arms off. He says, oh you mean these keys, right? If you don't know that movie sorry, you should go watch it. Okay, and they get the keys, they unlock, they go in and they rescue the princess okay, that's what a key does opens and shuts gates The same language right gates of Hades.

It's not This is very consistent with the language that Jesus has been using. Keys allow you to bind and loose, get in, get out. It's perfectly fits in with the rest of what Jesus says. How do you get into the church? How are you put out of the church?

Well, the gates are open or the gates are shut? With keys. And in Matthew chapter 18, this language of binding and loosing is used in the context of church membership and church Discipline. So what are the keys of the kingdom? What are the keys?

Well, in a word, the keys are authority. The keys of the kingdom represent authority. The keys of the kingdom are Christ's authority from him delegated to ministers of his church. Jesus says, I will give you the keys. Jesus authorizes under shepherds of his church, pastors, to exercise authority in opening or shutting, in binding or loosing.

How does that happen? How does binding and loosing happen? How does opening the gates and shutting the gates happen? Here's how it happens. The gospel is proclaimed.

People are converted by the power of the gospel. Number one, the gates are opened into the entrance into the local church, the visible church through welcoming repentant, believing among Christ Saints by Baptism. Right there. They're welcomed in through Baptism. Part of the church, we're gonna visibly show you, through baptism.

And then they partake in the Lord's table together. That's one way by opening the gates and welcoming saints in. That's one way we use the keys, the authority of Christ, welcoming saints into the body. Number two, The other way is through shutting the gates. That's excommunication.

Church discipline. Putting out unrepentant sinners, placing them out of the visible church through excommunication. Tell me this. Tell me this. What is the visible sign that a person receives as they enter into membership of the local church?

What's the visible sign? Baptism. Baptism is the visible sign of the covenant of grace. The visible sign that a saint belongs to Christ's church. Matthew 28, go and preach the gospel and baptize them in the name of the triune God.

Throughout the book of Acts, the gospel is preached, sinners repent, They believe upon Christ for salvation. God saves a multitude after multitude after multitude. And each time in Acts it says they're baptized and added to the number of the church. When God does a work within a sinner, they are baptized by His Spirit inwardly. They are made new within, made born again.

They're given a new heart, given the Holy Spirit, they believe and they long to obey. A baptism of the Holy Spirit changes everything. You want to obey. No longer is it a, oh man, the law of God is condemning. Now as a child of God, I love the law of God.

I'm delighted with the law. Everything changes. You're part in that moment of conversion where God makes you born again You are part of the invisible universal Church of Jesus Christ when God converts you When that happens, what is the calling on that life, on your life? When you become a part of the invisible Church, what is the calling? The calling is, obey Christ.

And what has Christ told you to do? Become a member of the visible church. Become a member of His church. And if you doubt that, like, did God, did Jesus, did the Apostles really command me to become a member of a local church? Read all the epistles.

How do almost every single epistle start? To the church in Ephesus, to the church in Philippi. It's baked into the New Testament. Church visible. I know who you are.

You know who the pastors are. You know who you're responsible for. Church membership matters. You did a whole Sunday School lesson on that. Thought about doing it again, but you didn't want it.

Well, maybe you did want it two hours ago. We could have done it. When God saves you, you obey Christ. And Christ says, obey me through entering into local church membership. How?

Through baptism. Through baptism. Through baptism, believers are baptized outwardly as a sign that they belong to the Church of Jesus Christ. Baptism, listen to this, baptism is God visibly declaring to this entire congregation when someone is baptized, hey that one's mine, That one's mine. These children are mine.

God marks out his children, he marks out his covenant members visibly through water baptism. It's a visible entrance into the visible church. That's the gate being wide open, made wide open with the keys. Does that happen just once? Does God Just one time in your life say you're mine You're mine.

Just one time said it saw you get Christian If that was the case, you would be coming up to me every single Lord's Day. Don't me again pastor. Don't me again Please I would say that We don't baptize you again. What do we do together? You get into the entrance into the visible church through baptism, and then every Lord's Day, what do we do?

God says to you, every single Lord's Day, if you're baptized through the Lord's table, he says, you're mine. You're mine. I've marked you out. My body, my blood, given, shed for you. You're mine.

You're at my dinner table. You're at my table. Every Lord's Day is the continual sign of the covenant. The initial sign, outward sign, the continual outward sign of the covenant. That's the gate being opened.

We use the keys of the kingdom. We use the keys of Christ's kingdom. Every Lord's Day here, we open up the gates and remind you, you've been sealed. You've been bound in Christ. Here is proof.

Here is covenant love. Here is covenant promise made manifest for you here at your baptism, here at the table. But if a brother or a sister lives a life inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ and they will not repent they will not turn and instead they bring reproach upon the Church of Jesus Christ by their ungodly living. What does Jesus command His Church to do? What does Jesus command His undershepherds, His pastors to do?

Well Matthew 18 is very clear. As pastors entrusted with the keys, together with the church, we close the gate. We loose. We exercise church discipline. How do we do that?

How do we do that together, church? How do we, as pastors, how do we exercise that key? How do we do church discipline? I need you to get this, because church discipline, sometimes people make it wonky. We exercise the key of the kingdom in church discipline not by stopping the preaching of the gospel to unrepentant sinners.

Those under church discipline need the gospel and we will proclaim it to them until we run out of breath. So if we aren't barring them from hearing the word preached, what does using the keys of the kingdom for church discipline mean? What does that mean? And the answer is really simple, and the answer is entirely historical. You remove them from the covenant table.

You refuse to serve them the Lord's table. You no longer give them the continual sign of the covenant of grace. You take away communion. You shut the gate of entrance to this table and say, no, no, no. This table isn't for you anymore.

Repent and believe and be restored. Come back, and we'll open the gate again. These keys of the kingdom, they are for Christ's church to be administered by Christ's ministers, baptism and the Lord's table. They are given to the church, namely they are given to local church pastors to exercise. And so we close with these two questions.

Perhaps as I've been talking maybe there's some questions that come to your mind when you consider this doctrine of the keys of the kingdom. So question number one, who should baptize you? Should you be baptized by your neighbor at a local swimming pool or in your bathtub? Well, I think the question just should be, well, is your neighbor your pastor? Has your baptizer been set apart by God to exercise the keys of his kingdom?

If not, no. Now, if you have been baptized in the name of the triune God, I wouldn't insist on, you Trust the promises. But now that you know, don't perpetuate that bad theology. You're baptized in the assembly of God's people by a man appointed by God to execute the initial sign of the covenant. God says, here's a key to open up the gates, use it in the church.

Got it? That's question number one. Question number two. When should you participate in communion? When?

When should you do communion together? At weddings? At home? No. You good?

Friends, at home, know. You good? You should participate in communion When your church is assembled, normally on the Lord's Day, in the ecclesia, in the ecclesia with the church, where those who bear the keys of the kingdom, under the authority of Christ, your pastors administer the table for you. To do otherwise is to ignore the word of Jesus Christ that it is to the church and for the church and in the church in the assembly that these things are to take place, the keys of the kingdom are not given to families individually. Not what the text says.

Keys of the kingdom are given to the local ekklesia. Let's do it God's way. Let's do it Christ's way. And if we haven't been doing it God's way, if we've thought too little of communion, we've done communion in half-hazard ways, the blood of Jesus covers our sins. Trust Him, repent of these things, believe.

And let's do it the right way. That's why we do the Lord's table every single Lord's day. We might do this, we might exercise the keys in a way that is fitting. Christ is the foundation of the church, he's the builder of his church, he's the triumph of his church, and so we ought very much to listen to him, don't you think? To do things with the keys that he has given us to do his way.

Our prayer as your pastors is that we would do that faithfully. We would exercise the keys faithfully all the more until the day that he returns. That's your pastor's prayer. And I ask that you pray for us. Those keys are not like these keys.

I like put these keys down all the time in my house, and I forget about them. The keys that Christ has given to Pastor Matthew, and Pastor Dave, and to myself are super heavy. And so pray that your under-shepherds will be able to bear the burden of gladness and faithfulness. And to that end, let's pray together. Father in heaven, we thank you for this year word.

We grant us, pray that you'd grant us the grace to believe it, grant us the grace to hope in your precious and magnificent promises, grant us the grace to obey all that you've commanded. Pray that you'd grant that we, your church, would remain faithful for the sake of your son. It's in his name we pray, amen.