Binding Up And Letting Loose

Binding up and Letting Loosing

By Rev Stanley Baker

Matthew 16:13-20

During the time of Jesus the caring of keys was a symbol of the delegated power of opening and closing.

The Apostles were given keys of a sort and the power to bind and loose.

Peter loosed the feet of the lame man at the Gate of Beautiful.

Act 3:6

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

Peter unlocked the power of heaven and the lame man walked for the very first time.

And Paul bound the sight of Bar-Jesus

Act 13:11

And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.

Paul called upon the Lord and Bar-Jesus was struck blind

Paul took the key of site and used it in a way that made pagan deputy accept that the Lord Jesus was the Lord and savior.

Can I tell you this morning that when the sprit of the Lord comes into the house and the power starts to flow, all the powers of hell itself have to pay attention.

Isa 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Isa 61:2

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

Let me say like this:

Pro 6:21

Bind them continually upon thine heart

In other word I must preach to about the Cross-and what it stands for

I must preach about the blood and what it is

And I must come into the house of God and tell you that Jesus is on his way

Or I will not be doing what God told me to do.

I have a Key that has been give to me by The Almighty one and I have to use it.

Now, I don’t know about you, but there’s nothing more frustrating for me than to go to unlock a door and find that I haven’t got the key.

So I have a solution to that problem.

You know what it is?

That’s right, I make spares.

They’re not a key ring.

They’re hidden all over the place,

Right where I know where they are,

So that if I misplace these keys,

I’ve got backups.

I’ve got spare keys that I don’t carry on a key ring.

But there’s another set of keys

I don’t’ have them in my pocket,

and they’re not hidden around the house the Church or my truck.

That set of keys is the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus told Peter

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;

whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,

and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven

Jesus gave me and you a set of these keys

The Keys Jesus talked about with Peter were to serve two purposes:

What was bound (or locked up) on earth would be bound in heaven

And that which was loosed (or unlocked) on earth would be loosed in heaven.

And Peter did exactly that with those Keys.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and they began to speak in languages they’d never spoken.

A large crowd gathered to see this new thing… and guess who stands up to preach a sermon?

Peter

3000 people repented of their sins and are baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.

Several days later,

Peter and John are going to the Temple to pray when they meet and heal a crippled man.

Again a large crowd gathers - and guess who stands up to preach?

Peter

And as a result of Peter’s boldness the church grew to more than 5000.

In Acts 10,

Peter is sent by God to the household of a Roman Centurion to preach to him and to a large crowd of Gentiles that had gathered at his home.

Before the day is done Peter - and the 6 friends who came with him - baptized everybody in the audience.

Why did Jesus give the keys to Peter?

Because Peter would use them.

Again and again in the book of Acts, Peter was the “point man”.

Peter opened doors for the crowd at Pentecost