direct our attention to the word of God this morning in Matthew chapter 18. Matthew 18, we'll begin reading at verse 15 and read to the end of the chapter. Matthew 18, beginning at verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay thee all. And the lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him an hundred pence. He laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. His fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. Likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. God bless to us the reading of his word, and it's on the basis of that passage and many others that we are instructed in, Lord's Day 31, this morning of the Heidelberg Catechism. Let's read now Lord's Day 31. Questions and Answers 83, 84, and 85. What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven? 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. 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. How is the kingdom of heaven shut and opened by Christian discipline? Thus, when according to the command of Christ those who under the name of Christians maintain doctrines or practices inconsistent therewith, and will not, after having been often brotherly admonished, renounce their errors and wicked course of life, are complained of to the church or to those who are thereunto appointed by the church, and if they despise their admonition, are by them forbidden the use of the sacraments whereby they are excluded from the Christian church and by God himself from the kingdom of Christ. And when they promise and show real amendment, are again received as members of Christ and his church. The truth of this Lord's Day, beloved, is, as is obvious, the subject of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of Christ. Many today view the keys of the kingdom of heaven, especially the key of Christian discipline, negatively. They do not see discipline, for example, as a good thing and as a necessary thing in the church and for the believer. Instead, they consider the key of discipline to be harmful. They are opposed to discipline. And they will say that discipline hurts people. Discipline offends people. Discipline drives people away from the church. Discipline is cruel and harsh and unkind. And so they reject the key of Christian discipline. And they allow anyone and everyone to remain a member in the church in good standing, even if they are openly living and walking in sin. The result of that is rapid decline in the church. Sin is being approved by that church, and sin is being encouraged by such a church. And many evils are present, therefore, and even prevalent in such a church. Members commit sins against the fourth commandment, they break the Sabbath day. Members commit sins against the seventh commandment, guilty of divorce and guilty of remarriage, and even some the sin of homosexuality, and those are just a few examples of the sins that become accepted and prevalent. because the key of Christian discipline is abandoned. What follows from the abandoning of the key of Christian discipline is the abandoning of preaching as a key of the kingdom of heaven. Preaching is watered down. Preaching is made weak and soft and very mild because, after all, you don't want to offend someone who is living and walking in sin. And preaching, it becomes watered down and weak also for this reason, because though a minister may initially in his summons condemn certain sins, if the elders don't follow through with their work in exercising the key of discipline, To those who live and walk openly in those sins and impenitently in those sins, then the minister will water down his preaching and no longer mention those sins. The keys are often viewed very negatively. The reality is, beloved, that the keys of the kingdom of heaven are a great blessing to the church and to every child of God. The keys are given by Christ in order to keep the church, this church, under His blessing pure. The keys are given by Christ to the church in order to keep the members of the church, the members of this church, faithful, and to protect the church and her members from the inroads of sin. Keys to the kingdom of heaven are a blessing because they are a means that Christ uses to make the church a safe place spiritually for us and for our children. So I ask you to consider with me this Lord's Day under the theme, The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Notice the idea of the keys, preaching as the chief key, and then the key of Christian discipline. This Lord's Day, beloved, in speaking about the keys of the kingdom of heaven, touches upon that which is a fundamental characteristic of a reformed church, namely that a reformed church practices reformed church government. Reformed church government is addressed, as we know very well in our church order, but that's not the only place where reformed church government is addressed. It's also addressed in the Belgic Confession of Faith in Articles 30 through 32 of the Belgic Confession. And now here in the Heidelberg Catechism again, the matter of church government is once more addressed. begins in the previous Lord's Day, which speaks of someone being excluded from partaking of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper through the keys of the kingdom of heaven. That's how Lord's Day 30 ends, but now Lord's Day 31 comes back to that and explains in detail this aspect of our church government. When it comes to understanding what scripture teaches about church government, biblical and reformed church government, then we must understand this first of all. The fundamental principle of reformed church government is that Jesus Christ is the head of the church. No man is head of the church. No minister or elder is the head of the church. Though he may have excellent leadership skills, he's not the head. But the head of the church is the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is, as scripture plainly teaches, his body, his bride. And he is the head who directs his body and who rules his body. And as head of the church, Christ appoints office bearers to represent him in the church, ministers, elders, and deacons. And as head of the church, having appointed those office bearers, he gives to those office bearers the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the two keys mentioned in this Lord's Day, the preaching of the gospel and the exercise of Christian discipline. He gives that to the church by giving that to the office bearers that he has appointed in the church. And he calls the church through her office bearers to exercise those keys, to use those keys of preaching and discipline, and to use them on his behalf and in his name. And he gives that duty especially, especially to the elders. He calls them to rule in the church because they represent Christ as king in the church. They must, in the name of Christ and on behalf of Christ, use the keys of the kingdom of heaven to carry out their rule as elders in the church. They carry out that rule not only by Christian discipline, They carry out that rule also by preaching. The elders are not the ones who actually preach, but they operate the key of preaching. And they must faithfully supervise the preacher and supervise the preaching to see to it that the preaching serves as a key of the kingdom of heaven. and they must also be the ones who carry out Christian discipline and faithfully exercise that key too. When, under the Lord's blessing and through the Spirit that qualifies our office bearers, our elders specifically now, to exercise these keys of the kingdom faithfully, then it is Christ who operates the keys of the kingdom of heaven. As he said in Matthew 18, verse 18, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And Christ said that also in Revelation 3 verse 7, when he says this, these things saith he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth, Christ. through the elders, exercises the keys of the kingdom of God. Now all of that is obviously very significant for those who are elders in the church. As we noted, Christ is the one who puts elders into office, and recently two new elders were put into office here by Christ. And he gives elders to the church because the church needs them and needs those elders to exercise the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and he gives, therefore, a weighty calling to the elders in the church. Because basically what Christ says to the elders is, I put into your hands, I put into your authority in the church the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The church needs elders to do that work, and the church needs the elders in the church to do that work well. take seriously their calling to operate the key of Christian discipline and to operate the key of preaching. That for the spiritual protection and good of the church, and that for the spiritual protection and good of the members, the souls of the people of God. but it's also significant, of course, for the members. The members must remember that the elders represent Christ and must show them due respect, submitting to and obeying the word of the elders when the elders bring to them the word of Christ from Scripture, not ignoring the elders, not brushing them aside and simply saying, as we might be tempted sometimes to say, well, that was just so-and-so giving his opinion, giving his ideas, expressing what his personal wishes are, but recognizing and hearing the voice of Christ. Because Christ puts them over us and gives them the keys of the kingdom of heaven for our soul's sakes, for the sake of our salvation. As regards the keys themselves, they are used by Christ through the elders, through the church, to accomplish four things. That's indicated by the Lord's Day in answer 83. By these two, the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and shut against unbelievers. Four things. First of all, the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers in this way, that it lets believers into the kingdom of heaven. Preaching and discipline do that. They open the doors of the kingdom to bring the elect of God into the kingdom. They open up the way of salvation to the kingdom of God. They point the believers, those who are elect to Christ, through whom they have been saved and to whom they belong. And they do this in such a way that the believer knows that he is in the kingdom of God and consciously enjoys the blessings of the kingdom. They let believers in. But secondly, as regards believers, the keys keep them in the kingdom. Preaching and discipline keep believers in the kingdom. Believers are inclined to go out of the kingdom, to leave the church and the kingdom of God. They're tempted by the world, they're tempted to forsake the church to which they belong, and they need to be kept in the kingdom and kept in the manifestation of that kingdom in the church of Christ. And so preaching and discipline serve that purpose in the second place, that when believers stray, when believers are tempted to leave, And when believers perhaps for a time do leave the church and step outside the church and the kingdom of God, then preaching and discipline are a means to bring them back and to keep them in. Then thirdly, the keys function to put unbelievers out of the kingdom. Sometimes there is the carnal seed that is born and raised in the church, or there is the ungodly element that joins the church. They have no right to be in the kingdom. They are not children of God. They do not belong to Christ. They have not been saved by Christ, and that becomes manifest in their lives, manifested in their fruits, and they must be put out of the kingdom and out of the church of God. And they must know and be brought to know they don't belong. to put unbelievers out. But then fourthly, to keep them out too, to keep them out. Sometimes they seek membership, the unbeliever does. He may put on a front of being godly, but the elders either know or learn otherwise. and that person must be kept out of the kingdom of God. Kept out of that kingdom because he doesn't belong to it. Kept out of that kingdom because by his fruits he shows he does not belong to Christ. So those four things, let believers in, second, keep believers in, third, put unbelievers out and forth keep unbelievers out. But in all of that, we must understand and emphasize especially one thing, beloved, and that is that the purpose of the keys is that believers are in the kingdom and unbelievers are outside the kingdom consciously. That is, they know where they belong. The Lord's Day indicates that when it speaks of this being declared and testified to every believer and declared and testified to every unbeliever. The keys are the means that God uses to declare this to believers and unbelievers and to testify this to believers and unbelievers so that they know. They know whether they belong in the kingdom of God and therefore belong to Christ. or they know that they don't belong to the kingdom of God or to Christ. And the keys are used, therefore, to condemn those who don't belong and to comfort those who do. That's what Christ accomplishes through the faithful exercises, exercise and use of the keys of the kingdom in the church. One of those keys is preaching. Preaching is a key of the kingdom of heaven. And that means, beloved, that the preaching of the gospel And the faithful preaching of the Word of God, in addition to being the chief means of grace, as we noted in Lord's Day 25, in addition to that, the preaching is discipline. Preaching is the chief means of grace, Lord's Day 25. Preaching is discipline, Lord's Day 31. We don't often think of preaching that way. When we think of discipline, we usually think simply of the formal discipline work of the elders. We have in mind their duty to admonish the wayward, to visit and discipline those who err in doctrine or err in life, as this Lord's Day mentions. But preaching is also a key. It accomplishes the things that we mentioned earlier, putting unbelievers out and keeping them out, bringing believers in and keeping them in. Preaching disciplines, preaching serves consciously to bring people into or consciously to put people outside the church and the kingdom of God. We might even say that preaching in that regard is the chief key of the kingdom of heaven because it is the main way in which our Lord Jesus Christ opens up the kingdom to believers and the chief way in which Christ shuts the kingdom to unbelievers. And you can understand that if you understand this, beloved, that preaching disciplines in a way that Christian discipline, official discipline worked by the elders, cannot. And that is that the preaching of the Word serves to discipline the whole church, the whole congregation. Everyone hears the word that is preached. Everyone hears the gospel and the warnings of the gospel and the commands of the gospel and the promises of the gospel. And no one can ignore that and no one who comes to God's house and hears the preaching of the word can be unaffected by what is preached. They all hear and they are all addressed, believers and unbelievers. Those who sin outwardly and whose sins the elders are aware of, but also those who sin secretly. who hide their sins, and the elders never know about it. Those who are, as the Lord's Day mentions, hypocrites or insincere members. And so through every faithful sermon and all sound preaching of the Word of God, each one of us here is being disciplined. Our sins are exposed to us, whether those sins be our family sins, our individual sins, or the sins of the church. Through the preaching, we're all called by Christ to repent of our sins and to turn from those sins. Even if it isn't explicitly stated, you must repent, that's certainly implied whenever sin is condemned. And the Spirit works through that and causes that preaching, you could say, to hit home, to humble. to touch our hearts, to convict us of sin, and causes it to bear fruit. And the hearts of those who hear the preaching are either softened or hardened. They are either consciously brought into and assured of their place in the kingdom of God or consciously put out of the kingdom. They are either comforted or condemned. I think you realize that Not all preaching does that. From that point of view, this Lord's Day is instructive concerning what constitutes faithful preaching of the Word of God. And a good reminder to all of us, myself mostly. This is true. Preaching does not serve as a key of the kingdom that disciplines the people of God if sin is not addressed, if sin is not preached, if sin is not mentioned or condemned, if sinners are not in that connection pointed to Christ. If the preaching is soft and weak, if the preaching just makes people feel good about themselves, never uncomfortable because of their sin, it leaves the impression that the kingdom of heaven is open to everyone. Everyone and anyone can be comfortably convinced that he is in the kingdom of heaven through preaching that is soft and mild and never speaks against sin. That sort of preaching does not serve as a key of the kingdom of heaven. The word of God must be faithfully preached. As the catechism says in answer 84, the holy gospel must be preached. And that includes this, that preaching must confront and address sin. Sinners must be shown their sins, their weaknesses, their faults, and they must be pointed to Christ in the preaching of the gospel. And preaching must proclaim, therefore, positively the good news of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ from all our sins. And preaching must include also the call of the gospel that we must repent of our sins and we must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as, therefore, the warnings of God's Word against sin. Repent or else you will perish, the Word of God said. and of course also the promises of the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will find and you will enjoy salvation and the comforts of that salvation. Then preaching will be a power to bring into or else to exclude from the kingdom of Christ. Through that preaching, Christ will say to unbelievers, you have heard the gospel, but that word has not found a place in your heart. You have rejected and ignored the word. Then know this. You don't belong in my kingdom." But against that, Christ will say to believers, you have heard the gospel, and you have been convicted of your sins by the preaching, and you have, by the Spirit, been humbled and led to repent of your sins. The Spirit has shown you that you need me, Christ, and he has worked faith in your hearts that when your sins are exposed to you, you don't despair, but you turn to me for grace and mercy, and you experience by faith forgiveness of all your sins. Christ adds, therefore, you can know and you can be assured that you belong in my kingdom because you belong to me. Preaching of the word, therefore, clearly informs every individual as to which side of the door of the kingdom he belongs. either outside or inside. The other key is Christian discipline itself. The Lord's Day instructs us concerning that and tells us to whom it is applied, first of all. It is applied to one who is in the church. It is applied to someone who goes under the name of Christian. That is, he confesses to be a Christian. He confesses to be a member of the church. It is applied to that individual because, as the catechism says, that individual maintains doctrines or practices that are inconsistent with his or her confession of who he or she is. Confesses to be a Christian, but doesn't live according to that confession. confesses to believe the truths of the Word of God as taught here in this Christian church, but in actuality doesn't believe those truths, holds to or teaches something different. And that person becomes the object of discipline. And that person is disciplined not simply because that person errs in doctrine or in that were the case that someone automatically is disciplined by the elders because they err in doctrine or they err in life, then every one of us here should be under discipline. They are disciplined not simply because they err, but because when they err, and that is pointed out to them, first of all through the preaching, and then if necessary through formal discipline, they refuse to repent. They refuse to turn from the error of their ways, their error in doctrine or their error in life. Discipline is applied really for one sin, the sin of impenitence. Matthew 18 and also the Catechism itself tells us how that discipline is to be applied to such a person. We are reminded in Matthew 18 verse 15 that discipline begins with the members of the church. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. One who errs must be approached first of all by his or her fellow members in the church. And that person is, as the catechism reminds us, to be often brotherly admonished, repeated admonitions and brotherly admonitions. Not the kind of admonition where one comes to the other as though that he or she is almost perfect and that person is a terrible rotten sinner. Not coming to another with a I'm holier than you are attitude. But brotherly admonition means we come to an erring brother humbly. and lovingly we come with a willingness to confess we too are sinners and far, far from perfect. The brother or the sister must be brotherly admonished, and we must never skip this step in Matthew 18 when it comes to private sin. And this step means that when someone sins against us, as Matthew 18, 15 mentions, there's only one person we can talk to about that sin, the person who committed it, not others, not gossiping as we are tempted. We sin seriously if we do so. But speak to the brother, speak to the sister. It can be very difficult, including the next step, as verse 16 speaks about it, of going to the brother or the sister with a witness. But that's the Lord's command. That's what He prescribes for us and requires of us to do. That's His way, the way He works. for the turning of the erring brother or sister, and the restoration of one who is in sin. And then, as Question and Answer 85 and Matthew 18 points out, it does become the work of the elders, but only when The first steps have been followed and the sinner remains impenitent. And then the consistory can take up the matter, of course checking and making sure first of all that those first two steps in Matthew 18 have been followed. Then the elders work with the impenitent to show the individual his or her sin, lovingly admonishing. Again, that phrase, often brotherly admonished, applies to the work of the elders with one who is erring too. And if they continue in sin, various steps of discipline are followed, and if they still continue in sin and still remain impenitent, as we know, that can lead to excommunication. But if at any point there is true repentance, then they are again restored to the church, even as the catechism mentions too. They are again received as members of Christ and His church. There is a crucial question that must be addressed and answered, and that is, what's the purpose of Christian discipline? It needs to be addressed because often the purpose is misunderstood. The purpose is not to get rid of someone. The purpose is not to drive people away. The purpose is not to get people out of the church and get them out of the kingdom of heaven. Sometimes that will be the result. Christ will use it to put unbelievers out, but that's not the purpose that the church has. That's not the purpose that members have when they brotherly admonish each other, and that's not the purpose that the elders have in their work. But the purpose is positive. The purpose of Christian discipline is to save and to rescue someone from his or her sin. That purpose is mentioned here, that we aim at their renouncing their errors and renouncing their wicked course of life. That's the purpose. And we aim at this purpose, too, that they might be again received as members of Christ and his church. That's the purpose. The purpose is and the goal is one's repentance. That's what we hope for, that's what we pray for, and we work lovingly and in a brotherly manner with one who errs with that purpose in mind. We don't aim to separate someone from the church, but we aim to separate someone from his or her sin. Let me say that again, we don't aim to separate them from the church, but we aim to separate them from their sin. Our goal is that they seek and find Christ and are restored to Him and to the enjoyment and the joy of salvation in Him. That's the aim, that's the purpose. And Christ loves His sheep that He has died for, and He disciplines them in order to restore them to Himself in the way of repentance. And if they truly repent, then even if it is the worst sin that you and I can ever think of, Christ forgives, and so must we. That's what Christ makes clear in the remainder of Matthew 18, the parable, when Peter asks, Lord, how many times do I have to forgive my brother? And Peter thought he was being generous by saying seven. And Christ said 70 times seven. There's no count really as Christ's point. And then he speaks the parable to show that as we have been forgiven, so we must forgive one another. So let's be thankful, beloved, for this good, positive purpose of Christ. If ever we are disciplined either by the preaching or by a fellow saint against whom we have sinned, or by the elders of the church. That's an evidence of the love of Christ, His loving concern for our souls, His will for us to turn from sin and to be near to Him, His purpose that we be comforted and that we enjoy His saving grace. I'm thankful too that he has given us the keys to the kingdom of heaven so that through them the church, as we said at the start, the church may be a safe place spiritually for us and for our children. Amen. Father in heaven, we thank thee for Christ's care of His church, thankful for the care He bestows by means of His Word, as well as by means of Christian discipline. May we receive these as from the hands of the head of the church, as provided by Him for our good, the good of our souls, for our salvation. for our enjoyment and assurance of our place in the kingdom of Christ. Comfort our hearts by this word this morning. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.