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.