"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 Lazarus Raised from the Dead
He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go" (Jn.11:44).
This is a perfect picture of what happens in salvation. When I was in Israel, at Bethany, where Lazarus was buried, the Lord showed this to me. It turns out that I wasn't as spiritual as I thought, because George Whitfield was shown the same thing some two hundred years earlier by the Lord. "Remove the stone. Lazarus, come forth. Unbind him, and let him go" (Jn. 11:39,43,44).
This is midrash. When we witness to an unsaved person, the only thing we are doing is rolling away the stone. We are making it possible for them to hear the voice of Jesus. You can witness and witness till you are blue in the face to someone who is unsaved, but until they hear the voice of Jesus it is useless. When we witness, the only thing we are doing is rolling away the stone.
I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one (Jn. 10:14-15,27- 29).
All we can do is roll away the stone; tell the unsaved, and pray. But that is it. There comes a time when you have done all you can. Then it is up to God. Only the Son of Man can call that which is dead unto life.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hearsMy word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live. For just as the Father has life in Him-self, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself (Jn. 5:24-26).
If you are not born again, you are already dead spiritually. Jesus wants to call you from death unto life, to forgive your sins and give you eternal life. Only the Son of Man can call that which is dead unto life. "Lazarus come forth." But when Lazarus came out, Jesus said "You unbind him." What is it that we loose? Discipleship, baptism, counseling. Do you understand? YOU unbind him.
This is the "fellowship of the saints". We all come into the kingdom of God with baggage from the world. When people become Christians, they arrive spiritually oppressed, emotionally bound, with all kinds of problems. They need discipleship.
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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.