THE KEY POWER OF PREACHING

Sermon by Rev. Steven R. Key

L.D. 31, Q & A 83,84

Scripture: Titus 1, Revelation 3:7-13

Our day is not the first time that wicked men, under the cover of being Christians, so-called, have done much to trouble the church and to hinder good order and holiness among the people of God. When you study the Scriptures you soon see that even in Paul's time, when the gospel flourished in pure doctrine and the church received the preaching of the Word with all readiness of mind, there were, even in the realm of the church, many deceivers and heretics and those who walked ungodly. Nor may we expect any different. For ever since the fall of man there have been in the earth two kinds of people — believers and unbelievers, godly and ungodly, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, elect and reprobate. The Lord Christ, establishing a kingdom according to the election of grace, also preserves that kingdom by that which Scripture calls "the keys of the kingdom." That is the subject of Lord's Day 31 of our Heidelberg Catechism.

We were introduced to the idea of the keys of the kingdom very briefly in the last part of Lord's Day 30. There, with reference to the proper guarding of the Lord's table in the sacrament of communion, the point was made that all those who by confession and life declare themselves unbelieving and ungodly are to be excluded from partaking of the sacrament by the keys of the kingdom of heaven, till they show amendment of life. The question follows very naturally, therefore: "What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?" Question and answer 83 defines those keys. They are the preaching of the holy gospel, and Christian discipline, or excommunication out of the Christian church. By these two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers, and shut against unbelievers. The substance of this Lord's Day lies in the next two questions and answers. There is developed the scriptural idea of these two keys, preaching and Christian discipline. This afternoon, especially from the viewpoint of Titus 1:3 and Revelation 3:7, I call your attention to:

THE KEY POWER OF PREACHING

I. ITS NECESSITY

II. ITS OPERATION

III. ITS EFFECTIVENESS.

I. THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, AND WE CONCENTRATE TODAY ON THAT KEY OF PREACHING, ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR THE SPIRITUAL WELFARE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST.

FIRST OF ALL, THE IDEA OF THE KEYS IS THOROUGHLY SCRIPTURAL.

In Revelation 3:7, Christ announces Himself as the One Who is holy and true, Who has the key of David, as the One Who opens and no man shuts, and who shuts and no man opens. There is a reference there to Isaiah, chapter 22. Let us turn to that chapter a moment and consider the reference. There Jehovah pronounces judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem. They who have looked to themselves and the nations round about them, and who have apostatized from the worship of Jehovah, shall be brought low. The judgments of the nations shall be her judgments. But there is a difference. Zion shall be redeemed through judgment. The Lord leaves for her a promise. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. (And now listen.) And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open" (Isa 22:20-22).

As is evident here, there is reference to a kingdom. And when Christ speaks in Revelation 3, he makes clear that that kingdom is the church of God. The church and the kingdom are the same. That is no new concept in Scripture. You find the same truth set forth clearly in Matthew 16, also in connection with the keys of the kingdom, as well as in many other passages. But we do well to bear that truth in mind, because that is denied by those who would make separation between the Old and New Testaments. The dispensationalists — and that really includes all Baptists — make a separation between the two Testaments. And consequently, many claim that there are two people of God throughout the ages — the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews constitute the kingdom of God and the Gentiles the church of God. But we must understand, over against that error, that the church and kingdom are the same, only bringing a different emphasis. The church emphasizes the organic idea, that Christ is the Head and we are His body, living out of Him by faith. The kingdom emphasizes His rule by grace and His Lordship, as well as the loving service of His members, who are citizens of His kingdom. But as far as the constituents of the church and kingdom are concerned, they are exactly the same. The citizens of the kingdom are characterized by the marks of citizenship set forth in Matthew 5. They are those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, who hunger and thirst after righteousness; they are the merciful, the pure in heart, and so on. They also are members of the church of Jesus Christ, bought by His precious blood. They are the elect.

When we speak of the kingdom of heaven, the implication is that there is another kingdom, a kingdom that was established by the entrance of sin into the world. We must bear in mind always the antithesis that exists in this world. There is a great conflict and warfare between two opposites. I speak now not of the antithesis that exists within our own life and souls. The old man constantly battles the new man and the flesh warreth against the spirit. But I speak now of that broader antithesis between the church and the ungodly, Christ and AntiChrist. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom established by Jesus Christ, is under constant attack by the kingdom of this world. Leading that attack upon God's church is Satan himself, the great red dragon as we read in the Book of Revelation, also called in Scripture the devil, that old serpent. He is Christ's adversary — not in the sense that they are both striving for supremacy. Christ alone is supreme. He needs not strive for supremacy. He is exalted above all and ruler over all. But Satan is Christ's adversary spiritually. The kingdom of this world is ungodly! It is opposed to God and to His Christ and to all that is connected with His name and kingdom. And Satan has many followers and servants.

For that reason the kingdom of heaven needs keys. The kingdom must be safeguarded. Its gates must be shut. There are wolves on the outside, ravening wolves! They are out to destroy you! And they must be kept outside the church. There are also wolves within. They are there by virtue of their birth. It is the will of God that believers bring forth a two-fold seed, that He might show, according to Romans 9, that salvation is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. But for that very reason, how necessary it is to use the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

WHEN YOU CONSIDER REVELATION 3:7 IN THE LIGHT OF ISAIAH 22, IT BECOMES CLEAR THAT THE ESSENCE OF THAT OFFICE OF ELIAKIM WAS REPRESENTED BY THE KEY OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID.

That was, in general, the supervision over David's house. To Eliakim, therefore, was given the power to admit, or to refuse admittance, to the presence of the king. You could never get into the presence of the king, except through the authority of Eliakim's office. Now, let us look at Isaiah 22 once again and notice the distinctiveness of his office.

In the first place, we are to recognize Eliakim as a servant of the Most High God. So Jehovah refers to him as "my servant." He stands in the office of the church which today is recognized as the office of minister or ruling elder. To him is given the keys of the kingdom. Then, let us understand, the power of the keys is not actually placed in his hands, but upon his shoulder. There is significance there that we must not overlook. God in Christ never gives up His authority. Only as a servant does Eliakim exercise the key power. And ultimately his authority rests only in the Word of Jehovah. The same is true today. No minister or elder in the church of Christ has authority by virtue of his office. Any authority he has and all authority he exercises and may exercise is that of the Word of God. God places the keys upon his shoulder, the key of His Word. And the significance of that is seen in this, that the responsibility of governing David's house is to rest as a burden upon Eliakim's shoulders. His position was to manage well the great treasures of grace that belonged to David and his house.

In the second place, I call your attention to the fact, as you read in verse 21, that "he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah." As Jehovah is a Father to all His people, so Eliakim is to be a father to Jerusalem and the house of Judah. In the function of his office is to be seen all the love and tenderness and patience that a Godly father is to have toward his children. Toward the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each one — weak or strong, no matter what he thought of them personally — he was to be a father. Not only is that true in his example and his provision for them; but also with respect to the government and discipline of the house of Judah, he was to show the same love and concern. And finally, we find from Scripture that this office is not made hereditary. God promises the key to Eliakim, but not to his descendants. The office continues. But it is God who calls to that office of his own will and good pleasure those whom He pleases to use as His servants.

When it comes right down to it, therefore, the exercise of the keys of the kingdom is necessary because Christ has instituted it for the well-being of His Church and for the advancement of God's glory. Christ Himself is the fulfillment of that which is prophecied in Isaiah 22. So we read in Revelation 3:7: "These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth." That is Christ. As King of kings, exalted over all, Christ has received power from God to open and shut the kingdom of God. He does so by His Word and Spirit. Christ opens and He shuts. He does so by the preaching of the holy gospel and the key of Christian discipline, which is preaching more narrowly applied.

There is only one who may and can preach the gospel, and that is Christ. He is the sole minister and missionary of His church. He alone may bring and proclaim the gospel, because the gospel is His alone. It is His own death and resurrection that is the heart of the gospel. He can exercise the key of preaching because He has been exalted to the right hand of God, and has received all power and might and authority. And that authority that belongs to Him alone, Christ has delegated to His church. Because He is not here in the flesh to speak to us, Christ chooses men and prepares them and calls them through His church to preach His Word and to represent His Person. So Paul writes in Ephesians 4, that when Christ went up into heaven, He appointed in His church Apostles, and prophets and evangelists, pastors and teachers; "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph 4:12,13).

And so Paul emphasized to Titus the importance of His office and His calling, when he wrote in Titus 1:1-3, "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour." That which Christ commits to His servants is the key of the kingdom which is preaching, preaching of the truth, preaching which is the speech of Christ Himself. So also Paul viewed his apostleship, not as a vain title, not as a meaningless honor; but as a charge to preach the Word of truth, that the elect may be saved, and the salvation which is promised us be heard and embraced.

II. HOW DOES THAT PREACHING OPERATE AS A KEY POWER, I.E., "HOW IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN OPENED AND SHUT BY THE PREACHING OF THE HOLY GOSPEL? THUS: WHEN ACCORDING TO THE COMMAND OF CHRIST, IT IS DECLARED AND PUBLICLY TESTIFIED TO ALL AND EVERY BELIEVER, THAT, WHENEVER THEY RECEIVE THE PROMISE OF THE GOSPEL BY A TRUE FAITH, ALL THEIR SINS ARE REALLY FORGIVEN THEM OF GOD, FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST'S MERITS; AND ON THE CONTRARY, WHEN IT IS DECLARED AND TESTIFIED TO ALL UNBELIEVERS, AND SUCH AS DO NOT SINCERELY REPENT, THAT THEY STAND EXPOSED TO THE WRATH OF GOD, AND ETERNAL CONDEMNATION, SO LONG AS THEY ARE UNCONVERTED: ACCORDING TO WHICH TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPEL, GOD WILL JUDGE THEM, BOTH IN THIS, AND IN THE LIFE TO COME."

WHEN IT COMES TO THE OPERATION OF PREACHING AS A KEY POWER, I WOULD HAVE YOU REMEMBER, FIRST OF ALL, THAT NO MAN IN HIMSELF HAS THE AUTHORITY TO COMMAND ANOTHER SINNER TO REPENT AND BELIEVE.

The Apostle Paul knew that very well. He could understand why preaching is foolishness from every outward point of view. He knew only too well his own sins. Preaching is the authoritative proclamation of the gospel, according to the divine, infallible Scriptures. Preaching is not a lecture. It is not simply an interesting (or boring) discourse. When I preach, then I don't stand here giving you my opinion. I may do that from time to time privately or even in a Bible study society. But I may not give my opinion and present it as preaching. Still less is the preaching a well-meant offer that Christ extends to all in the hope that they will receive it. Preaching is no offer contingent upon the will of the sinner. Such a concept of preaching is contrary to the Scripture and contrary to this Lord's Day.

Let us stand reminded of the fact that when our confessions use the term "offer" in connection with the preaching — such as in Canons, third and fourth heads, Article 9 — the meaning of that word is the meaning that was current in the years that the Canons were written. Then the word "offer" meant simply "to bring to someone, or to present to someone." All Reformed men maintain that Christ is presented in the preaching to everyone who hears. The use of the term "offer" in the confessions gives absolutely no support to the conception of the well-meant offer that floats around today. When it comes to the idea of preaching, the Canons articulate the concept quite well when they say in the second head, article 5, "Moreover, the promise of the gospel is, that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified, shall not perish, but have everlasting life. This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be declared and published to all nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without distinction, to whom God out of his good pleasure sends the gospel." Preaching is the authoritative proclamation of the Word, in which you are commanded to repent and believe.

Preaching is the authoritative proclamation which holds before you the truth of God in all its absolute certainty. When you who believe are told that whenever and every time you receive the promise of the gospel by a true faith, your sins are forgiven you for the sake of Christ's merits, that is the absolute truth, from the very mouth of Christ Himself. If any one sits here as an impenitent sinner, and he is told that he stands exposed to the wrath of God and eternal condemnation, so long as he or she is unconverted, those words are not merely my words. That unrepentant sinner has no right to say, "Pastor Key said that I am going to hell." Christ says it. In the preaching, we all are confronted with the Word of Christ. And when you come here to this sanctuary and plunk yourself down, the question that must burn within you is not: What shall our Pastor say today? The question is: What does Christ say to me?

Now, you might ask: How do I know that Christ is speaking and not you, not a man? The answer

to that question is seen in a comparison with the Word preached and the Word of the Scriptures. I want to emphasize that. There are many people sitting in churches today, and I have seen the same in our own churches and congregation, who cannot discern their eyebrow from their toenail when it comes to spiritual things and the preaching of the Word. The fact is that God in His providence has placed them in this or another particular church and there they sit. If the preaching is sound, they are edified; if not, they don't know the difference. Now, I'll tell you what I do with that. I take that and say to myself, "Pastor, you have a tremendous calling and responsibility to preach the truth. Because you are in a position to lead many astray and should you do that, you stand before the Almighty God to answer for it." May God help me to be faithful.

But you also have a responsibility, every one of you; and that is to search the Scriptures to see whether what you are hearing is indeed the voice of Christ. A minister told me one time, "I have members who will tell me how meaningful my sermon was to them, and later tell me they got a lot out of Robert Schuller too, when they went home. They don't discern the truth from the lie." Do you hear the voice of Christ, beloved? You do not hear the voice of Christ just because a man stands in front of you on Sunday, bearing the title Reverend or Doctor or Professor. The pope would have you believe that Christ speaks through him because he is the successor of the Apostle Peter. Paul teaches us, however, in Titus 1, that his office of Apostle is not a mere title of authority, but a charge committed to him according to the commandment of God our Saviour, and that is to preach His truth purely.

Who, then, are they who are the true successors to the Apostles and the mouthpieces of Christ? They who preach the gospel to us and agree to the faith of God's elect, to use the words of the Apostle — they are the mouthpieces of Christ. Any doctrines that are not from the Scriptures are nothing more than devilish corruptions, which rise up against the authority of the Son of God and the true preaching of the Word. If we shall be sure that what we hear is the voice of Christ, then we must search out the Scriptures, to see what has been the faith of our fathers throughout the ages. Preaching that will be the key power of Christ must not be political; it must not be economic. It must be the proclamation of the Scriptures. Because Christ is revealed in those Scriptures, and because Christ speaks His own Word in your heart and mine only through those Scriptures.

NOW, OF INTEREST IN CONNECTION WITH THE OPERATION OF THE KEY POWER OF PREACHING, IS THE FACT THAT IT IS A KEY POWER WITH RESPECT TO BOTH BELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVERS.

Who are these believers and unbelievers? From one perspective we might say that believers and unbelievers are elect and reprobate. On the one hand, those who believe are elect. That is clear from all Scripture. Faith is a gift that God gives to whom He wills to save. And those who continue in unbelief, says Peter in I Peter 2:9, are those who "stumble at the Word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed." That is reprobation. But that is not the viewpoint of the Catechism here. When it comes to the preaching of the gospel, we do not know who are elect and who are reprobate. We preach the Word promiscuously to elect and reprobate alike. But the operation of that Word preached takes place in the consciousness of everyone who hears. This Word of God proclaimed today in this sanctuary operates in your consciousness and mine. And this preaching reveals in your own consciousness your name — believer or unbeliever. By that name God addresses you. He does not call us in the Scriptures by our natural names. He does not come to me in the Scriptures, nor in the preaching, and say, "Steve Key, I am here to tell you that you are an elect." Nor does He do that apart from the Scriptures in some mystical way, in a dream or vision perhaps.

God calls you and me by our spiritual name, believer or unbeliever. You who believe are those who have been united with Christ by a true and living faith. That means that by the preaching of the Word, you have come to know yourself as a sinner, one shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. God has made clear to you your death in trespasses and sins. God brought you to your knees. And God planted in your heart a desire for Him, for His fellowship and His communion in holiness. To your horror you saw that you can do nothing to save yourself before God. But by God's grace you have been led to the cross of Calvary, where you have heard the wonderful news, the Lord Jesus Christ died for you. Not because He died for everyone did He die also for you. But with His particular and definite atonement and payment for sin, He paid for your sins. You are one of the sheep of His pasture, sought out by Him and taken into His fold according to the election of grace.

And are there any who do not believe? Although in the preaching we address the church organically, let me for sake of illustration speak a moment as if addressing unbelievers. You are rebellious before God. Unbelief, you well know, is a matter of your heart and mind and will. You have no license to sin! You have no right to spit in God's face by your ungodly walk of life! To this point you have refused to believe. That is your sin and condemnation. You have not left your sin, because you love it. You have not turned to Christ because that means you must turn from your evil way! But the Word of God must also be proclaimed to you, and is. You are confronted by the Word of God and of Christ. Oh yes, with the congregation of believers, you who are unbelieving will hear of the love of God; but not the love of God for you. You will hear of God's mercy; but not of God's mercy for you. And therefore there is one word for you — not an offer, not a word of comfort; but a command of the Lord God: Repent and believe. As long as you remain impenitent and unconverted, you stand exposed to the wrath of God, and eternal condemnation. Except you repent, God will judge you, both in this life and in the life to come.

That is how the preaching works in the consciousness of those who believe and those who believe not.

Finally, the operation of preaching as a key power takes place when it proclaimed according to the command of Christ. We must preach according to the command of Christ. There are a number of men who would have preachers who tickle their ears. There are more than a few in our day who have itching ears to hear the doctrines of men, and who, when confronted from the pulpit for their ways of self-seeking and sin, show themselves vehement enemies of that preaching which is according to the command of Christ. There are not a few preachers who seek to be men-pleasers, rather than preachers who dedicate themselves to the hard labors of preaching according to the command of Christ. There are many churches today that have given the back seat to preaching, replacing it with programs of music, and shows of every type. But if preaching shall serve as a key power for the welfare of the church, it must be preaching according to the command of Christ. And it must be received by you with all eagerness and readiness of mind, as the voice of Christ Himself. Christ speaks. Isn't that something? What must He think, if you scorn Him for so-called "more important things?" What must He think, if you reject the Word He sends through His servants? But how blessed when He speaks salvation to His people!

III. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PREACHING OF THE WORD IS UNMATCHED IN ANY SPEECH MADE BY MAN.

THAT IS A COMFORT TO ME AND IT OUGHT TO BE ALSO FOR YOU, BELOVED.

To consider once again the words of the exalted Christ in Revelation 3:7: "These things saith he...that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth." You see, I cannot bind it upon your consciousness that your sins are forgiven you. I cannot give you assurance of your salvation. Not one of you can leave here this morning, saying, "My sins are forgiven, because Pastor Key says so. Neither can I bind the condemnation of God upon your heart, if you are unbelieving and impenitent. Nor is your unbelieving response a result of what I have said. The Lord says, "I open, and no man shuts; and shut, and no man opens." Which is to say, If my preaching of the gospel, and yours as the church of Christ, appears to bear no fruit, that is not for us to worry about. We cannot convert people. Christ Himself opens the door. He does so through the key of preaching. But it is His will with respect to a sinner not to open the door of the kingdom, we can preach all we want to that individual, but our preaching will bear no positive fruit, only hardening.

But there is more to comfort me here than the fact that I do not have to worry about the fruit of this preaching. Christ also gives His faithful church a wonderful promise, a promise that has borne fruit in my salvation and yours who believe. "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." We read of that "open door" in several other passages in the New Testament, and the meaning is clear. In Acts 14:27, II Corinthians 2:12, and wherever the phrase "open door" is used, the "open door" is an effective entrance for the preaching of the gospel into the hearts of men. And when Christ, through the preaching of His Word, opens the door; then no man can shut it. Do you believe? Then Christ has drawn you irresistibly.

THUS THE PREACHING OF THE WORD WORKS AS A SAVOR OF LIFE UNTO LIFE AND A SAVOR OF DEATH UNTO DEATH, AS WE READ IN
II CORINTHIANS 2.

The pure preaching of the Word is always effective. Oh, that does not mean that the church will be purified completely on this earth through the key power of preaching, or even with Christian discipline. Preach the truth, and there are those who will leave. There are those who will stay away, who don't want to hear it. But there are also those who for various carnal reasons will stay, always opposing, always rejecting. Nevertheless, the preaching is always effective in the consciousness of the hearer. You know even today by this preaching whether you are a believer, or an unbeliever, whether the key has opened the door to you or has presently shut it. In your consciousness this key power of preaching never fails.

And because by the preaching of the Word Christ opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens, we must continue in our calling to preach the Word and to hear it preached. The unbelieving may multiply their attacks against the foolishness of preaching. They may pervert the lessons of history and twist the teachings of the stars and the rocks, as they have done and continue to do to the confusion of the people and the denial of God's Word. An apostate church may lead many astray, all within the sovereign purpose of God's will and as a manifestation of His wrath. But she cannot imprison the truth! And she cannot shut the door that Jesus has opened to the feeble messenger of truth who goes forth in His name, and in the secret power of His Spirit. And so powerful and effective is the key power of preaching, that even from among the most violent of the opposition will Christ gather His church. It is powerful to save even you and me.

Receive, then, the Word preached — not only today, but every time it is preached to you. And know, believer, that whenever you receive this gospel by a true faith — and you are called to receive it repeatedly — whenever you receive the promise of the gospel by a true faith, all your sins are really forgiven you of God, for the sake of Christ's merits. Repent and believe. And give God the praise for the powerful and effective application of His gospel to your heart and soul and life.

Amen.

Preached: Randolph PRC 7/6/97 (pm)
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