"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 Who Has the Keys?
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: "I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie - behold, I will make them to come and bow down at your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth. I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, in order that no one take your crown (Rev. 3: 7-11).
Philadelphia was a good church with little power; not like the big churches today which are run by world-famous, rich, influential men, who are all after more power. The Lord Jesus Christ put before the church at Philadelphia an open door, which no one can shut, because they had little power. These were faithful Christians making up one of the best churches; it was not a flaky church. He told them, "You have no power; I have to open the door for you". Jesus has those keys. He never gave them to anyone else.
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall take place after these things. As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches" (Rev. 1:17-20).
"The living One has.the keys of death and Hades" (Rev. 1:18). Jesus has the keys to death and Hades. Jesus has the power to say who goes to hell and who does not. The Pope claims that he has the keys. He does not. Only Christ Jesus has the keys for that.
Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered (Lk.11:52).
The Pharisees were misusing their knowledge of the Scriptures to create a power base for themselves, politically and financially. They were holding the power of death and hell over people, much like the Popes of the middle ages and some hyper-Pentecostals today.
This is Page 12 of 30
Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.