TEXT: Matthew 27:1-10
By Bro. Charles Itseghosimhe
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INTRODUCTION
To bind is to fasten with something, fasten with chains, to throw into chains….When someone begs us to intervene on their behalf, sometimes we have to say, “I’m sorry, but my hands are tied! There’s nothing I can do about it.” In this Matt 27 we can observe, how Jesus was prosecuted. He was bound like a common criminal, left in the hands of the chief priests and elders, condemned to die, delivered up to Pilate, that he might execute the sentence they had passed upon him. Are there things we can do that can tie the hands of Jesus such that there’s nothing He can do about us and for us. In this admonition, let’s consider some of the ways in which we can tie the hands of Jesus, keeping Him from doing what He wants to do and is able to do for us.
WE BIND THE HANDS OF JESUS BY REFUSING TO OBEY THE GOSPEL
Despite the fact that men tied Jesus hands, as they usually do with convicted criminals, Jesus was already bound with the bonds of love to man, and of his own undertaking, else He had soon broken these bonds, as Samson did his. We were fettered with the bond of iniquity, held in the cords of our sins. God had bound the yoke of our transgressions upon the neck of the Lord Jesus.
In His Love for Us, Jesus Stretched out His Hands and Died for Our Sins. He pleads with all to take advantage of His suffering by obeying the gospel and receiving the benefits secured at the cross through His death. He doesn’t want us to suffer for the guilt of our own sins. In truth, His invitation is still being offered today ‐ Matthew 11:28‐30 (NKJV) 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” But when one refuses to obey the gospel…the hands of Jesus are bound! No matter how much Jesus wants you to be saved from the consequences of your sins, if you refuse to obey the commands of the gospel, His hands are tied and there is nothing He can do.
H.H. Farmer put it like this: “There can be no question that many people find belief in God difficult because there is in their mind a bias which predisposes them against it”. This built‐in bias is what Stanley Sayers has referred to as “the prejudice of unbelief.” Writing under that title in his book, Optimism in an Age of Peril, he said: “One of the significant and obvious reasons the unbeliever remains an unbeliever is that he likes it that way. In fact, any evidence of any source or to any degree fails to move him from his position if his heart is strongly bent against evidence and toward unbelief.”
Is this True of You? It is if you have not accepted the gospel message and obeying the commands contained there – Mark 16:15, Acts 2:38. If one refuses to obey Jesus and His gospel then one will one day face the righteous indignation of Jesus 2 Thess. 1:7‐9. What about those who obey the gospel, can they be guilty of tying the hands of Jesus? How?
WE BIND THE HANDS OF JESUS BY REFUSING TO BE TRANSFORMED
Christ’s Will Is That We Be Transformed… This transformation involves a renewal of the mind. Our minds are to be renewed until we have developed the mind of Christ. This renewal occurs as we read, study, and meditate upon the Word.
Romans 12:1‐2 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Ephesians 4:20‐24 20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Cf. I Pet. 1:23; 2:2, Philippians 4:8)
But many Christians neglect the instrument by which we can be renewed! Continual obedience to the word of God is itself a renewal of the mind. The word of God has the power to get rid of every corrupt affection and of every prejudice and prepossession, and to lay aside those sins which pervert the judgment and blind the mind. In James 1:21 we are directed to receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save our souls.
As we hear the word of God, we are to receive it—assent to the truths of it—consent to the laws of it; receive it as the stock does the graft; so as that the fruit which is produced may be, not according to the nature of the sour stock, but according to the nature of that word of the gospel which is engrafted into our souls. We must therefore yield ourselves to the word of God, with most submissive, humble, and tractable tempers: this is to receive it with meekness.
Being willing to hear of our faults, and taking it not only patiently, but thankfully, desiring also to be molded and formed by the doctrines and precepts of the gospel. In all our hearing we should aim at the salvation of our souls. It is the design of the word of God to make us wise to salvation; and those who propose any meaner or lower ends to themselves in attending upon it dishonour the gospel and disappoint their souls. We should come to the word of God (both to read it and hear it).
We say that we want to have the mind of Christ but then we allow other things to take precedence in our lives so that we don’t have time for His word, and by so doing we tie the hands of Jesus: we create circumstances which will not allow Jesus to change our hearts through His word. Are We Guilty of This? We are, if we neglect to study the word on our own and apply it! We are, if we fail to take advantage of opportunities to study with others! Hebrews 10:25.
WE BIND THE HANDS OF JESUS BY REFUSING TO PRAY
Jesus Has Become Our “High Priest.” He became man for this purpose. He made it possible for us to approach God’s throne of grace in prayer. When we don’t pray, we express our independence from God. When we don’t pray as we should…Jesus cannot be our High Priest, our intercessor! Figuratively speaking, we have taken His “praying hands” and “bound” them behind His back! Are We Doing This? For here is Jesus who “lives” to intercede for us, but can’t, because of our failure to pray!
WE BIND THE HANDS OF JESUS BY REFUSING TO DO OUR PART IN THE CHURCH
The church is described as the “body of Christ” As His body, we are individually members of one another. As members of one another, we are to care for one another. It is through such “mutual edification” that Christ provides much of His help for the members of His body! But when we fail to do our share, again Jesus is “bound”!
Our physical head can do little if our bodily members fail to follow its leading. Likewise, Jesus could do so much more if only more of the members did their part! Have You Ever Considered it this Way? That by failing to do your part, you “handicap” the body of Christ? That because of your neglect, or apathy, or lukewarmness, either the whole body of Christ suffers, or others are forced to do “double duty” in order to make up the difference?
WE BIND THE HANDS OF JESUS BY REFUSING TO TEACH THE GOSPEL TO THE LOST
Jesus made His disciples to be His “hands” in spreading the gospel by word of mouth and by lifestyles. In every case of conversion recorded in Acts, Jesus used a disciple to tell the good news.Jesus works the same way today! But to the degree that we keep the “good news” to ourselves…and we don’t allow the good news to transform us into God’s light…we have tied the hands of Jesus once again! We hinder Jesus from telling others of His wonderful grace! Are We “Binding the Hands of Jesus” in this Way?
Every day, countless souls die with no hope of eternal life. This need not be, if more would make sharing of the gospel the primary concern in their lives, if more would make the influence of the gospel on their lives be the driving force of the gospel!
CONCLUSION
Why not today resolve to loose the hands of Jesus so that in us and through us He may accomplish His full desire? Which is…to save us, to transform, to use us!
Binding The Hands Of Jesus (Bobby D. Gayton. 2010 ‐ Cartersville church of Christ, Cartersville, GA 30120 U.S.A)
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