John 20:22-23  And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."

We know that Jesus has given two keys for the door of heaven. One key locks the door shut. The other key opens the door. Sometimes, as a Christian, I need the key that locks the door shut to me. I need to see the true severity of my sin. I may think the door is open to me, even though I continue in my sin without any concern for God's Law. This is the binding key. It binds my sin until I turn to Jesus. And it's good for me because it shows me my evil and calls me to faith.

Other times, I need only the key that opens the door to heaven. This is the best and most comforting key. In my guilt and shame, I imagine that the door to heaven is closed to me and will never be opened again. Yet  I confess my sin to Jesus and beg for mercy. And I hear the sweetest sound of heaven's doors swinging open to me in these words, "By the command of Christ, I forgive you all your sins." And I know that when a called pastor of the Church deals with me in this way, it's just as true and certain as if Jesus Himself dealt with me.

This is how my good and faithful pastor Jesus Christ loves me and cares for me. He uses these keys to keep me on the middle road between prideful arrogance and hopeless despair. He walks me down that road of humble and joyful faith into the open doors of heaven.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Matthew 16:19  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland guides visitors through a pirate's life as they drift down a stream on the boat ride. One scene depicts prisoners in jail, calling for a stray dog to come over to their cell. The dog just so happens to be holding the keys to their cell in his teeth. Dangling a bone through the bars of the cell, the prisoners know that the dog possesses the keys that will set them free.

While most people have not been locked behind bars, we have all been in chains that bind us. In Romans 6:17-23, Paul described us as once slaves to sin but now set free because of Jesus. Our sin separates us from God and from others, but Jesus' work of salvation on our behalf opens the prison and sets us captives free, just as the prophet foretold in Isaiah 61.

The power to forgive sins is God's alone, but He entrusted His Church with His authority and power to bind and loosen the sinner's chains, saying, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Perhaps it is because God created us as relational beings that our churches call pastors to hear our confession and, by God's authority and because of Jesus' death on the cross, look us square in the eye to specifically tell us our sins are forgiven and proclaim liberty to the captives.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The day's religion lesson had begun well. Twenty-one third graders eagerly filled a mural paper with all of the sins they could name in preparation for a discussion on forgiveness. They relished the opportunity to write about "bad stuff," and a mad rush of writing ensued. Brightly colored ink spelled out words like lying, cheating, hitting, stealing, swearing, and even murder. The students were then asked to sit down and follow the directions on the board, which read,

          Think back on your day so far. Which of these sins have you committed today? Write

           each one on a sticky note and leave them on your desk until tomorrow.
 

The lesson hit a snag. There was no mad rush to fill the paper this time. Many sat in disbelief, while others flatly refused to comply. Even those who had begun writing sat hunched over, hiding their work with arms, hands, and torsos. One outspoken student shook her head and said, "This is just a little too personal." Directing them to our verse, the teacher pointed out that God promises forgiveness if we confess our sins. She went on to explain that God knows and loves us personally, so we can trust Him to hear our honest confession and forgive our sins.

In the act of confession, God does ask us to get personal. He expects us to be open and honest with Him and to trust that sincere confession leads to forgiveness. Each time we obey, God is quick to pour out His love and grace on the penitent sinner. Whether in private prayer or during a time of corporate Confession and Absolution, we can rest assured that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The day's religion lesson had begun well. Twenty-one third graders eagerly filled a mural paper with all of the sins they could name in preparation for a discussion on forgiveness. They relished the opportunity to write about "bad stuff," and a mad rush of writing ensued. Brightly colored ink spelled out words like lying, cheating, hitting, stealing, swearing, and even murder. The students were then asked to sit down and follow the directions on the board, which read,

          Think back on your day so far. Which of these sins have you committed today? Write

           each one on a sticky note and leave them on your desk until tomorrow.
 

The lesson hit a snag. There was no mad rush to fill the paper this time. Many sat in disbelief, while others flatly refused to comply. Even those who had begun writing sat hunched over, hiding their work with arms, hands, and torsos. One outspoken student shook her head and said, "This is just a little too personal." Directing them to our verse, the teacher pointed out that God promises forgiveness if we confess our sins. She went on to explain that God knows and loves us personally, so we can trust Him to hear our honest confession and forgive our sins.

In the act of confession, God does ask us to get personal. He expects us to be open and honest with Him and to trust that sincere confession leads to forgiveness. Each time we obey, God is quick to pour out His love and grace on the penitent sinner. Whether in private prayer or during a time of corporate Confession and Absolution, we can rest assured that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Romans 6:4  We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

God uses Baptism to wash away your sins. Whatever sins you have - past, present, and even future - were paid for when Jesus died on the cross, and in Baptism His sacrifice is applied to you. His blood covers you. His forgiveness is sufficient - more than sufficient - for you. There is not a sin in the world that Jesus did not pay for, and so there is not a sin in the world that Baptism does not wash away? In Baptism, you therefore die to the person you were - someone who did not love God and who loved him - or herself more than others. In Baptism, you receive the new life of a child of God. You become a co heir with Jesus of everlasting life. The Spirit fills you and moves you. You are a new creation, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, you begin to live as that new creation, that coheir of Jesus, that child of God.

Yet, as you well know, you are not yet the perfect child of God that you will be. There is only one remedy for the conflict between the old, dead, sinful you and the new, living, righteous you. Return to your Baptism. Repent of your sinfulness rather than embrace your sins. Tell God you are sorry. Remember that you are baptized and that your old, sinful self was put to death. And then, enlivened by the forgiveness that God gave you in Baptism, embrace the good works God's Spirit works in you.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

John 3:5  Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

Jesus took a basin, filled it with water, and began washing His disciples' feet. Peter resisted. "That's not for You to do, is it?" Why did Peter give in to Jesus? Jesus had told him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with Me" (John 13:8). At that, Peter wanted a full-blown bath.

Jesus' words in Mark 16 seem less restrictive. Baptized believers will be saved. Unbelievers, not unbaptized, will be condemned. If there is a loophole, it's for the sake of those who have not had the opportunity to receive Baptism in this life. They are not necessarily outside of God's grace in Christ. For everyone else, though, there is no other way to enter the kingdom of God Z(John 3:5). Like Peter, we must join Jesus at the font, where He promises to give us a share with Him (Romans 6:4-5).

Why does Jesus pinpoint Baptism as His saving washing? Above all, He does this for our benefits, that we would know, without a doubt, that when He washes us, He saves us (1 Peter 3:21). He gives what He promises. When we doubt this bath, we, like Peter, resist Jesus and His promised salvation.

Your baptismal certificate states the facts. Witnesses can attest to them. Maybe pictures prove them. There was a moment when Jesus washed you and gave you a share with Him. Faith holds on to Jesus' promises. You have been and will be saved. His promise is most certainly true.

Titus 3:5-8 He saved us....by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy.

God baptizes. He holds you, me, infants, and adults in His arms and baptizes each believer in the water and with His Spirit. This is a miraculous picture! God is not absent, or else, as Luther writes, water would be "mere water" - nice, but not saving. Instead, God is fully present in His Word and with the water to bring salvation, grace, and life to us. He could stay in His heavens and be disconnected from us, but He does not. He could come to us in ways that would have us guessing, "Is that God?" but He does not. Rather, He presents to us one very clear way to saving faith, and so we run, jump, and dance to be a part of it in His Church.

Who are the "theys" that do not listen? We are a;; "theys" to some degree. It is so easy to believe that simple water and the Bible are not enough, particularly when we look around us at a fallen world and inside of us, seeing our own brokenness. We wonder, "Am I savable?" In these times, we rest in the visible picture given to us in Titus 3: "He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior" (v.6). God is active. God pours salvation on us. This is more than enough to save. Paul says the words in Titus are "trustworthy," which means we are meant to repeat it to one another. God pours. God batizes. God saves.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,