00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
Today in our series, The Keys
of the Kingdom, we're going to consider chapter 2 and chapter
3 of John Cotton's book by that title. And chapter two actually
just gives kind of a brief overview of summary of chapter three and
chapter four. So think of it this way, today
we're gonna consider chapter two and chapter three, and next
week we're gonna consider chapter two and chapter four. Because
again, he summarizes three and four in chapter two, and then
goes to kind of tease those things out. So chapter two today, Cotton
interacts with some historical arguments regarding the keys
of the kingdom. Some of this is really dated to us. Cotton here interacts with Roman
Catholic and medieval arguments and how they define the keys
of the kingdom. And we're not really faced with
those arguments in our day. So I'm not going to spend much
time on this part. If you want to go back and read
chapter 2 on your own, if you want to do more study on that,
it's really brief anyway. Instead, I want to focus on the
positive side of Cotton's argument today. And Cotton argues that
Scripture gives us a framework of faith and order. And that's
essentially two things we're going to consider today, faith
and order. Cotton begins to talk about the key of faith, true
saving knowledge, and how it belongs to all believers, opening
entrance to all believers into the kingdom of heaven. And then
he talks about the key of order. And in classic Puritan style,
he then further defines this as the key of power or the key
of liberty. And this is what he says is given
to the entire congregation. It upholds the authority of the
elders in their rule, in their administering of the sacraments,
and in their discipline. And so in this respect, again,
to kind of just summarize it, Christ gave the keys of the kingdom
to believers, all believers. And he gives the keys of the
kingdom to the whole church, elders and members together,
and he gives the keys of the kingdom to the officers. And
there are different shares of authority in the giving of those
keys and different aspects of that authority that he teases
out, of course, on the basis of Scripture. So Cotton argues
that this restores the liberty and purity to the church that
was lost during the medieval and Roman Catholic periods. We
talked about this a few weeks ago, but just in the respect
that during the medieval times and the rule of the Roman Catholic
Church, there was essentially a kind of tyrannical order and
the people had no power whatsoever, the individual church members,
that is. And Cotton says, this for a long time just opened the
door to great abuse. Not only that, but it went contrary
to the scriptures. So that's kind of the overview
of today. Let's work through this. Here, let us turn to Colossians
chapter two. Let's begin with that. Colossians chapter 2, beginning in verse 5, just reading
verse 5 and 6. Colossians 2.5, for though I
am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see
your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore,
as you receive Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk in Him. And it continues on from there. What Cotton argues is from this
passage, we see the marks of a true church. Notice these two
phrases. Rejoicing to see your good order,
and the firmness of your faith. Good order, firmness of faith. These are the marks of a true
church. These are the marks that we see repeated in other parts
of the New Testament as the characteristics of a true church. So let's think
about what is this key of faith? the firmness of your faith. Here, turn to Luke 11, v. 52. And we will jump around to
a few passages this morning. In Luke 11, 52, Jesus is indicting
the Pharisees and the lawyers. The religious leaders. Because
of how they had abused the people. And he says in verse 52, woe
to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge.
You did not enter yourselves and you hindered those who were
entering. Cotton picks up on this phrase
and equates the firmness of faith in Colossians 2 with this key
of knowledge that Jesus speaks of here in Luke 11. He argues
that they're referring to the same thing. Think of how in the
New Testament, often conversion is spoken of as coming to a knowledge
of the truth. Faith entails knowledge. If we
think about the definition of faith classically, it's knowledge,
assent, and trust. You've got to know what to believe.
You've got to agree to believe it. And you've got to put your
trust in it. That is true faith. Faith always entails true knowledge. So what Cotton says here is this
key of knowledge, this is access, this is power through which one
enters the Kingdom of Heaven. In this passage, the religious
leaders of Jesus' day had taken away that key of knowledge. They
had obscured the truth of God from the people. They had distorted
it. They had twisted it into legalism
and other things. And so they hindered both themselves
and others from entering the kingdom of heaven. So Cotton's
point is that this key of faith, this key of knowledge, is through
which we enter the kingdom of heaven. And this is given to
every believer. It's given to every believer
whether they're part of a church or not. He doesn't want to discount
the ordinary way in which salvation comes, which is through the church
and in the church. But he's just saying, you know,
since the Gospel comes to us individually, and God in Christ
calls all of us to faith and repentance, through faith, every
believer has the power of the keys to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. They have the power of the key
of faith. The key of knowledge. You don't need to go through
a priest You don't need to go through a church. You don't need
to go through your parents. You don't need to go through
a religious official. You don't need to go through
a king. Through faith in Jesus Christ, the gospel call comes
to all of us, all who hear. And Christ, in that call to faith,
when you exercise faith, you exercise the power and right
to the kingdom of heaven. You open the door to the kingdom
of heaven yourself. Individually. This key also, if we think about
the kingdom of heaven, how we defined it two weeks ago as both
the church and the kingdom in heaven, this also grants you
access into the church. Through faith, individual believers
are granted the power to enter into the church. We see that
exercise. We'll see it today with our new
members taking their vows, with those being baptized. We are
going to see, in that sense, they have made a profession of
faith. On the basis of their profession of faith, we have
welcomed them into the church. They, in that sense, have exercised
their right to join the church and to benefit from all of the
benefits, the blessings of the church, through the exercise
of faith The exercise of the key of knowledge. So again, what
Cotton is pointing out, and he's dealing with a context that's
different in our day, but he is pointing out that individual
believers have authority and power. In the context of his
day, individual believers had nothing, they had no rights.
It was all the priesthood, it was all the the religious leaders of the
day, the clergy. It was all the king and the government. And yeah, I mean, if you're just
a lay person, you were essentially nothing. I mean, even in the
Roman Catholic Church, they wouldn't even give you, they still don't,
give you the cup of the Lord's Supper. You're not even worthy
enough to partake of the cup. Cotton is saying part of what
it means to know and believe the Gospel is to exercise your
right in that sense that Christ has given you through faith to
enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This is an access to God. This
is an access into the Kingdom that Jesus Christ died to secure
for you. And the Roman Catholic and medieval
church, with its structure and its priesthoods and such, obscured
this truth and even take it away in many respects. So this is the key of knowledge.
This is the key of faith. Secondly, though, there's also
the key of order. Again, thinking back of how Paul
references that in Colossians 2 when he speaks of their good
order. And here, Cotton says, the key
of order is the power whereby every member of the church walks
orderly himself according to his place in the church, and
he helps his brethren to walk orderly as well. Again, this is something that
we will see manifested, magnified, crystallized, whatever phrase
you want to use, today when we receive members into our church.
You as a church member have the power and liberty to walk orderly,
but you're also called to exercise that power and liberty to help
others do the same. It's a reciprocal relationship. Again, think back of why we're
even studying this topic. Your pastors wanted you to know
and understand your duties as a church member, what Christ
calls you to in the membership of His church. Cotton writes here, every faithful
soul that has received the key of knowledge, the key of faith,
is bound to watch over his neighbor's soul as his very own, and to
admonish him of sin if guilty. This is common Christian love
and charity. And it's an order to which every
faithful Christian is bound to perform. It's not optional. You don't
have the option of just showing up to church and receiving the
ministry of the church as if there are no other obligations
you have in the Christian life and the church is there to serve
you. Cotton is pressing our duty upon
us, but he's also saying this is something, you know, a power
that Christ has given you as a duty, but also for your benefit
and for the benefit of the church. And this is a role that you play
in the church. This is why we have church membership.
We recognize this duty and role. We recognize it. And so it's
like a wedding recognizes the love between a couple and serves
to enforce the mutual vows between the two. Church membership recognizes
the duties, it identifies who we're called to love in this
way, and it kind of seals and publicly, in that sense, publicly
seals the duty relationship we have towards one another in this.
It's why we guard access to the Lord's table as well. We're careful
about who we let in to commune with us because when we commune
with someone in the Lord's table, we are pledging ourselves to
them. We are pledging responsibilities toward them and they to us, which
is why it's a serious thing to abuse the table. You're declaring
in the sacred ordinance something that you're not actually living
out. You're declaring, in that sense, a lie. You have no intention. It's like getting married and
then just walking away. Here, turn to 2 Thessalonians. Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter
3. Our brother and our summer intern,
Chandler Kelly, preached. wonderful sermon on this passage
about a month ago or so. You can find it on our website. 2 Thessalonians 3, 6. Paul writes to the church and
he says, Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, this is a serious and solemn commandment. He invokes
the name of Christ as Lord, as Master, as King. I'm invoking
the name of Christ over you. Command you that you keep away
from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord
with the tradition that you've received from us. Think about this. To whom does
Paul issue this command? to the elders, to the officers,
to the bishops, to the Pope, to the local presbytery, or to
the entire church. Clearly, he issues this, this
command to the entire church, to every member of the church
in Thessalonica. And what is this command that
every member is to abide by? To keep away, to withdraw from
every brother who walks in disorderliness. Again, this is the key of order
that Cotton is defining here. As a member of Christ's church,
you have a responsibility, you have a duty, and you have a power
as well, an authority, to withhold Christian fellowship from the
disorderly. It's a duty that is so serious
that he invokes the name of Christ. Here, think back to what we considered
a few weeks ago from Matthew chapter 18. You all know Matthew
chapter 18, the process of formal church discipline. If a brother
sins against you, go to him in private. If he repents, you've
won. Your brother, it's over. If he
doesn't, you take two or three more with you. If you won't listen,
then you tell it to the church. And if you won't listen to the
entire church, he's to be put out. The fellowship is to be
withdrawn. You are to withdraw from such
a brother. He's to be excommunicated. This, in this sense, speaks to
the very same thing. Each and every one of us in the
church bear the responsibility here Now, while the elders may pronounce
a sentence of excommunication, while the elders may take the
lead in bringing forth the formal charges and establishing the
facts, only the body can enforce the
sentence. Right? I could stand up here
as an elder and say so-and-so is excommunicated, but what if
you continue to fellowship with them? The sentence isn't enforced. It's like the emperor has no
clothes. He can just speak what he wants, but the body itself
is to withdraw. That comes down to the congregation.
Because only the congregation can withdraw from a brother. The elders may fence the table.
They may say, hey, you're not allowed in our worship services.
But again, The elders can say whatever they
want, but the people may not withdraw. This shows that the
responsibility of church discipline is not given to the elders, ultimately. It's not given to the presbytery.
It's not given to the bishops. It's not given to an outside
body. It's given to the local church because only the local
church can truly enforce the sentence. This is congregationalism. We are called to perform these
duties as a church. For another example, turn to
Galatians 6. What do we see in verses 1 and 2 of Galatians 6? Brothers, if anyone is caught
in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore
him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest
you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and
so fulfill the law of Christ." Again, he's talking not to the
elders or the officers, he's talking to the entire church. Brothers. That's speaking to
the entire church. And again, thinking back to a
few weeks ago, and I keep bringing this up because this is our context.
We're not often dealing with Roman Catholic church government. We're often dealing with things
like Presbyterianism on one hand or radical Congregationalism
on the other. In Presbyterianism, it's the
elders that hold the authority to do this. They are responsible
for such things. And we're going to talk about
radical congregationalism next week, where the authority of
the elders is simply, in that sense, completely undermined
as well. Here, we find this balance. It is our duty. If someone falls
into sin and is repentant, we together are to restore him. Just like we together are to
withdraw, we together are to restore. And in future weeks, we're going
to look at 2 Corinthians 2, where we see that's to be by majority
vote. We're not going to look at that
today, but we restore by, that's why we excommunicate, or we welcome
back on the basis of majority vote. Yes, I'm going to argue
that majority vote specification is in Scripture. If someone falls into sin and
they are repentant, we are all together to restore him. And
that's clear that it's referring to every one of us because, you
know, bear one another's burdens. This is a duty that we all have. One another, this is the order
of the local church. This is the exercise of the keys
of the church. To withdraw and to restore, and
in that way, bear the burdens of one another. Again, one expression of this
is in how we will receive members this morning. We heard their
testimony. We voted to receive them. We
are recognizing that it's our duty and responsibility to do
this. It's not just the elders who
say this person is now a member. We all say that and we all affirm
that. Because all of us have the responsibility,
not just the elders, to welcome to give fellowship, to love,
to serve, to encourage, to build up, to admonish, to bear the
burdens. The elders can't do that alone.
The congregation isn't just to sit back and say, well, all the
important stuff of ministry is what the elders do. This is the key of order that's
given to every Christian in the church. This is how we are to
maintain order the order of the faith in the congregation. So to summarize this and bring
it to a conclusion, chapter 2 and chapter 3 argue
that medieval and Roman Catholic theology took away the key of
knowledge in many ways. And it gave this power to the
priests and the bishops and the popes and to other unordained
officials. And they took it away from believing
members. But with Scripture as our guide,
we find a framework of faith and order. The key of faith belongs
to all believers, giving them access into the kingdom of heaven.
Going directly to Christ. You don't have to go through
a church. You don't have to go through a priest. You don't have to go
through a pastor. It's a power of the keys in one respect that's
given to everyone who calls upon the Lord in faith. But also, this key has an aspect
of, excuse me, yeah, so the key of faith, but also the key of
order as well. This is the liberty of the congregation
and the power to receive members, to withdraw from members, to
maintain order in the local congregation. And Cotton argues this is what
restores liberty and purity of the church, and this is what
guards against tyranny and disorder. The last thing I'll say here
is that I found Cotton's closing in chapter 2 to be a little refreshing. Because he basically says, it
doesn't matter what you call the keys, whether you call them
the key of liberty, or the key of rule, or the key of faith,
or the key of order. I kind of breathe a sigh of relief
here, because at times it's kind of hard to keep up with, what
is he calling this key, and why is he calling it this way? He
says, whatever we call the keys, it's really inconsequential to
the fact that Scripture clearly defines and distinguishes these
liberties and these responsibilities and these duties. So he closes
chapter 2 with saying, basically, let us keep Scripture as our
guide. Let us look to how the Scriptures
define our responsibilities to one another and the church and
our role in maintaining the faith and maintaining the order. And
this should be certainly our endeavor and aim as well, to
let scripture be our guide. All right, well with this we
will pick up, actually in two weeks, next week is our prayer
meeting, but in two weeks we'll pick up and jump into chapter
four.
Keys of the Kingdom - 3
Series Keys of the Kingdom
Part 3 of our study of John Cotton's book, "The Keys of the Kingdom." Here, working off of Colossians 2:5-6, we consider the "key" of Faith and the "key" of Order within the church. The key of faith grants direct access to the kingdom of heaven for all believers, and the key of order empowers the congregation to maintain faith, discipline, and mutual responsibility toward one another.
| Sermon ID | 929251718386531 |
| Duration | 25:21 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday School |
| Bible Text | Colossians 2:5-6 |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.