"Binding and Loosing"
In many areas the church is trying to use biblical teaching about binding and loosing as an instrument to deal with something it was not designed to deal with.
Download or email this sermon Taking Scripture Out of Context
In the temptation of Christ recorded in Matthew 4:1-11, Satan twisted Scripture out of context. In Genesis 3:1-7 he did the same with Eve, creating doubts. "Hath God said?" Satan did it with Eve, did it with Adam, even tried to do it with Jesus. How did Jesus respond? The whole argument between Satan and Jesus came from the book of Deuteronomy. Satan quoted from Deuteronomy out of context, and Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy in context. "It is written." "That's right, but it is also written."
Satan laughs at Christians who seek to use Matthew 12:29 out of context. What is the context of "binding the strong man" – Matthew 12:29? The context tells us that the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan: the context is exorcism, casting out demons. This is the closest we come to a description of the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit in the New Testament: not a definition, but an illustration of it. The religious leaders were attributing to Satan that which they knew was of God in order to keep themselves in positions of power, for their own financial and social advantage. They knowingly misused their position to turn people against the truth. The same thing is occurring today where religious leaders are turning others away from the truth. This happens, for example, when they tell people: "Don't read Christianity in Crisis by Dave Hunt", while knowing that book tells the truth.
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Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.