The Tenth Epistle.
DATELINE: Sunday, January 7, 2001.
The Right Set of Keys.
By Rev. James R. Bingham
Special to corndancer.com
Posted from Memphis, Tennessee
Matthew 16:19
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Revelation 1:18
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
To open a locked door, you need the right key — if you are an honest man. From Annapolis, Maryland, in America to Zaire in Africa, — anywhere in the universe, on all levels of understanding — it is recognized at a primal level that one cannot open a locked door with the wrong key.
Whether that key is an actual piece of metal or the secret numbers of a combination, it must be rightly aligned to the lock it intends to open. If it isn't, you must turn away — or resort to the tactics of the thief or the barbarian.
We possess and carefully guard the keys that lock away our private spaces and possessions. The house keys we carry with us whenever we lock our doors and venture into the world are intended for our use only, but we all know there are other ways to gain entry.
You see, your house key — the right key — will open your front door, but a criminal, one who is trained and skilled in opening locked doors, can employ a tool kit to do the same thing. There's a problem here, of course: illegal entry. How many of you know that you can't make an illegal entry into God's house?
It's Not Like
A Physical House on Earth.
You might open the door to God's house, but unlike a physical house on earth, you won't be able to cross the threshold when the gates swing open. To enter God's house, to enter into His kingdom, you've got have the right keys so you can enter the right way.
Think about this familiar passage of the 16th chapter of Matthew, where we find Jesus challenging his disciples to tell him about the perceptions of the world, tell him who the people perceive him to be. This is a beautiful story filled with spiritual insight.
As the story goes, the disciples told Jesus that some said he was John The Baptist, others said he was Elijah, or even Jeremiah. Jesus said, Yes, but who do you say that I am? And Peter said, "Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus replied, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven." Jesus said to Peter (Matthew 16:17,18), "Simon Barjona .... thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." (The question has become, what rock? Go to I Peter 2:4-9 for that understanding and let the Holy Spirit lead you.)
The Building of Christ's Church,
Like Your Faith, Is an Ongoing Process.
Pay particular attention to the word "will" because it is important to understand that Jesus did not say, "This is done." He did not say the church had already been built, but said, "I will build my church." Consider this question: "When did He build the church?" The building of Christ's church is an ongoing process, the same type of process we follow to develop our faith. Faith comes by hearing. It is not conclusively based on what you have heard, but by what you continue to hear. Your faith, like the building of the church, is an ongoing process.
Then Jesus said, the very gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. He said "shall not" to emphasize the aspects of his teachings that the disciples were yet to understand. The Lord knew that his closest followers were having problems conceptualizing the spiritual. They were truly what we call baby Christians. In their immaturity, they were not offered the keys to hell and death. Only Jesus holds those keys.
We can't handle hell. We have a hard-enough time handling the face of physical death. In order to handle death and hell, one must be able to master the beginning and the end. We don't know the beginning. We only know what happened "in" the beginning. We don't know the end. No one knows the end but the father, which is in heaven. We can know only when the end is near, but then only if we can recognize the sign of Jonah.
Now let's look at Matthew 16:19. Jesus says, "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shalt be loosed in heaven."
What was Jesus saying? Again, he speaks in future tense: "I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven." The time was not yet. The question is when. Before we answer "when", we must answer "what". What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?
What happens when a man receives the keys to the city? He is given a symbolic invitation to go throughout that city without any restraints as long as he operates within the spirit of the law. Here we find that Jesus is saying, not only to Peter but also to all who will receive the Lord, that they shall be given the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
What are these keys? What is the kingdom of heaven?
The Walk, the Way, the Bountiful Life.
Before you make new keys, you should identify the type of lock you need to open. Normally, you don't build a lock around a key. You build the key based upon the lock. A lock must be sturdy enough to holdfast the door, which is strong enough to secure the entrance to the house. The lock, key, door, and house are linked together. The house is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is the walk, the way, the bountiful life of the Christian.
Look at II Peter 1:3-4:
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Think about the phrase, "life and godliness;" the phrase, "the way to live as gods." What is living as gods? It is life in the kingdom of heaven. Well, what is that? It is the divine nature. The keys enable us to partake of God's divine nature, to live as gods.
Can we pick up the keys and hold them in our hands? The keys of the kingdom are forged from knowledge of Him, Jesus Christ, which is the gospel; the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection, and the second coming. What a truly wonderful set of keys! They open the vaults of knowledge, which gives us good reason to believe. To all who believe, He gives them power to be called the children of God.
This power emanates from our use of the right keys. But wait, what are the right keys? The main key, the master key, is faith. Call it the skeleton key of your faith. With faith we can move mountains. Faith can make the blind see. Faith can make the deaf hear, the dumb talk, the lame walk. Faith can help us see things with clarity and surety because faith is the evidence of things not seen, and the substance of things hoped for.
The Skeleton Key of Faith
Will Give You the Strength
To Make It Through.
The right key, then, is the skeleton key of your faith. When you come face-to-face with seemingly insurmountable odds — when you encounter the ravages of drugs, or think you are facing a bleak tomorrow because your wallet is empty — faith will give you strength to say, "I've got a feeling that everything is going to be all right! I've got the key!"
Let's consider this passage of II Peter 1:5-7:
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
There! Now we have full possession of the right keys. To enter into the kingdom of heaven, you've got to have 'em. No amount of trickery or brute strength will suffice to replace them.
One key, virtue, grounds our actions in morality. Virtue moves us to do the right thing.
Knowledge teaches us to know that we know that we know that the gospel is true. The more we learn, the more we're able to keep on keeping on.
Temperance is the expression of self-control. Temperance makes us hold our tongues. It transforms the fists of anger into the open hands of the peacemaker.
Patience stills us, halts our blind plunge into action so that the hand of God can do its wondrous works around us and upon us.
Godliness inspires us to love one another. By being godly, we apply righteous judgment to the daily affairs of life, not according to the influences of the ways of the world, but through the constant renewing of our minds by knowledge of the spiritual.
Then there is brotherly kindness. It allows us to muster the humility to forgive. People can do some terrible things to us, but brotherly kindness tempers our response to them. We know how to treat everybody right. We learn the value of giving our time to others who are going through travail. We remember that we are all going through something.
Charity is a key that rises above faith. Charity unlocks the windows of heaven. It assures the spirit of gift giving and the tithe, through which we build upon our spiritual foundation.
A Right Nice and Godly Set
Of Keys to the Door of Your Heart.
Put those keys on your chain and you have a right nice and godly set of keys, the Keys to the Kingdom. When can you get yours? Step back and take a long, hard look at yourself. How do you treat others? Listen. Do you hear an answer? Somebody is calling out to you. He's knocking at the door of your heart.
If you pay attention to what you are hearing, then you will know that the answer to all problems is knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Study to show thyself approved. Then confess with your mouth. Say it out loud, that Jesus Christ is the son of the Living God. You shall be saved. You will receive your full set of keys.
Knowledge of the Kingdom will come upon you like a mighty rushing wind, even filling the place where you are. Not only will you be able to loose that which is true and righteous, you also will be able to bind that which is evil.
Listen. Not only will you know how to open the door, you will also know how to lock it. The key turns both ways.
You've Got to Be
Touching and Agreeing.
God requires you to be of one accord with his spirit. You can't enter illegally. You've got to be touching and agreeing. Matthew 18:19 says, "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven."
In our miseducation, we have been taught that two or three makes the church. No! That's not the church, but rather the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
When you come together in Jesus' name, you unlock the Kingdom of Heaven. Then, whatever you ask of Him, it shall be done for you. Why? The answer is revealed in Matthew 18:20. "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." When Jesus is in the midst, all things are possible because you are gifted with the right set of keys.
Now reach into your pocket — reach into your heart. Pull out the keys because the time is near. We are approaching the house, the Kingdom of God.
Thank God
We Are Not Limited by the Physical.
We as a godly people have entered the period known as the Dispensation of the Kingdom. Physically, we won't reach the door because physically, we can travel only part of the way there. As long as we travel part of the way, we will not arrive at our destination. Thank God we are not limited by the physical!
Spiritually, each of us through faith can go all the way. We can go all the way to the door.
Reach into your pocket. Do you have the right keys? Flesh and blood won't give them to you.
Do you have the right keys? Don't look for the keys to your Mercedes, the keys to your hideaway.
Do you have the right keys? Put away the tool kit you've secreted for illegal entry.
Do you have the right keys? You must be properly educated in the ways of accepting The Holy Spirit. Let the Holy Ghost give you the Right Keys for a very special task, the task of a lifetime. It's the simple task of opening the door to the Kingdom Heaven and walking into paradise!
Give God Some Praise!!!
EDITOR'S NOTE: Rev. Bingham
can be reached by E-mail at
jamesrbingham@juno.com.
His phone number in Memphis is
901.785.5691.