In order to emphasize the exceeding greatness of Jesus Christ and his own abject unworthiness in comparison, John the Baptist announced, “One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose” (Luke 3:16). Think about that for a moment. John did not consider himself deserving of even loosening the strap on Jesus’ sandal. How low do you have to view yourself to think something like that? How deep was his respect for Jesus?
Should we not have that same amount of awe and respect today for Jesus? What about that same amount of awe and respect for His teachings? The amazing thing today is that there are a host of religious folks who have deemed themselves “worthy to loose” when it comes to certain matters of doctrine. How troublesome that they believe they are worthy to take such actions against the bindings of Jesus!
Jesus bound marriage to be between one man and one woman, but there are religious folks today, claiming to teach the Bible, who have loosed Jesus’ strap. When Jesus was asked about marriage, He pointed the enquirers to God’s original design. “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” (Matt. 19:4-5). How can someone today possibly deem himself worthy to loose what Jesus has bound and justify homosexuality?
Jesus bound divorce for only one cause (i.e., fornication), but there are religious folks today, claiming to teach the Bible, who have loosed Jesus’ strap. When Jesus was asked about divorce and pressed to allow it for “any reason” (Matt. 19:3), He plainly (and strictly) limited the right to divorce only to the one who “divorces his wife…for fornication” (19:9). How can someone today possibly deem himself worthy to loose what Jesus has bound and justify divorce for any other reason?
Jesus bound baptism for the remission of sins, but there are religious folks today, claiming to teach the Bible, who have loosed Jesus’ strap. Jesus Himself taught that baptism is absolutely essential for one to “be saved” (Mark 16:16), to be made a disciple (Matt. 28:19) and to “enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3-5). How can someone today possibly deem himself worthy to loose what Jesus has bound and justify the salvation of sins prior to and separate from a penitent believer’s immersion?
Jesus said there was no greater man than John the Baptist (Matt. 11:11), a man who refused to loose what Jesus had bound. If we want to receive Jesus’ approval, we must not loose what Jesus has bound (Matt. 24:35; Rev. 22:18-19)!