The Authority of the Holy Spirit | Part 1

We were meant to have kingdom authority.

Listen to Adrian Rogers. God is not intended for you to live a life of defeat or desperation. You're to have authority over the world, the flesh, and the devil. You're not meant to be the devil's dirty plaything.

You're not meant to be squeezed in and molded in by this world. You are not meant to obey every whim and passion of that old man called the flesh. God has redeemed you to have kingdom authority.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring real truth that never changes. Any Christian who has not discovered the tremendous power of kingdom authority is living beneath his or her privileges. However, pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers said, God will never place you over those things that he means to put under you until you get under those things that he has put over you. Romans Chapter 5 reveals why we should be under the reign of the Holy Spirit. If you have your Bible, turn there now as Adrian Rogers reveals more about the authority of the Holy Spirit.

Be finding please Romans Chapter 5. We're talking today about kingdom authority and the authority of the Holy Spirit. Now, so often we think of the Bible having authority. We certainly know that Jesus as Lord has authority. But we need to think today about how that authority comes to us and it comes to us through the Holy Spirit. And may I say that a church that is not living in and exercising kingdom authority has ceased to be a force and it has become a farce.

A Christian who is not living in and exercising kingdom authority is living beneath his privileges and he is living beneath the dignity that God expects for him to have as he lives with kingdom authority in this life. And as such, he is the heartbreak of heaven. He makes angels weep. He is the mockery of demons.

He is the stumbling block to the lost and a great disappointment to himself. Many people are wondering, why is my Christian life in such shambles? Why don't I have all of this glory, this happiness, this victory that has been spoken of? You see, God is not intended for you to live a life of defeat or desperation. When God saved you, God endowed you with something called kingdom authority. You're to have authority over the world, the flesh and the devil. You're not meant to be the devil's dirty plaything.

You're not meant to be squeezed in and molded in by this world. You are not meant to obey every whim and passion of that old man called the flesh. God has redeemed you. He has saved you. He has equipped you and he has ordained you to have kingdom authority. I can tell you that Satan does not want you to understand the import of this message.

Look, if you will, in verse five. The Bible says, And hope maketh not ashamed. That is, we don't have to live shameful lives because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Now, God gave us the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts, makes known to us the hope, the assurance that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's called the love of God, God's great love, God's mighty love to us.

And then that love through us to others. Now, it's the Holy Spirit of God that mediates that to us. You see, the Holy Spirit of God is the ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible calls him the advocate. Now, Jesus is our advocate before the Father. He represents us before the Father, but the Holy Spirit represents the Lord Jesus to us. The Bible says he'll take the things of Christ and he'll make them known to us. He is the authority for the Lord Jesus on this earth.

He is to be Lord in our lives because he takes the place of Christ in our lives. The Bible says in the book of Galatians where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. That may be translated where the Spirit is Lord.

There's liberty. We only have liberty when we get under the lordship of the Holy Spirit of God. Now, some people have the idea that there is some sort of a conflict between Holy Scripture and the Holy Spirit. Some people say, well, I don't pay much attention to the Bible. I'm just led by the Spirit. And others say, oh, you folks are so foolish, you better get under the authority of the Word because being led by the Spirit can be auto-suggestion and you can just go off the reservation in any direction. The truth of the matter is there's no conflict between the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit is the one who wrote the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit is the one who interprets the Scriptures to us. It's not the Scriptures are the Spirit or the Spirit are the Scriptures. It's the Scriptures and the Spirit as the Holy Spirit of God takes the Scriptures and applies them to us and makes known the will and the way of the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts and in our lives and where the Spirit is Lord. There is liberty. That's what we want, liberty. That's just another way of saying kingdom authority.

Now, fast forward on down to verse 17 and look in verse 17, which is the key verse that we're going to be looking at. For by one man's offense death reigned. Circle the word one. By one man's offense death reigned. Circle the word reigned.

By one man's offense death reigned by one much more. Circle the phrase much more. They which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Christ Jesus. Now, without trying to understand it yet, let me just tell you that the key to everything is found right in this verse.

There are three key words or phrases that are found in this one verse. One is the word one, O-N-E. If you read this chapter, you'll find that that word one is used 11 times. Over and over again, he uses the phrase one, one, one, one, one, one. Got it?

Got it. Then the next thing you'll find is there's another word that is being repeated over and over again is the word reign, R-E-I-G-N. It's talking about authority, ruling, reigning.

And then another phrase that is used over and over again five times is the phrase much more. Now, if you understand that, you're going to understand all that we're talking about today. Now, first of all, let's look at the word reign, R-E-I-G-N. And what we're going to discover is there are two kingdoms. One is a kingdom of darkness and death. The other is a kingdom of light and life. And we're going to find out that everybody here is in one of those kingdoms. If you are in the kingdom of darkness and death, then you are under the subjugation of the world of flesh and the devil.

But if you're in the kingdom of light and life, then Christ is your Lord and liberty is your legacy because you have stepped out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, into the kingdom of God's dear Son. So that's the reason he's using the word reign so many times. He's talking about kingdoms, kingdoms.

Now, the second thing is this. He uses the word one over and over again because he's saying there are two men. One heads one kingdom. One heads another kingdom. One man is Adam, the first man who ever lived. The other man is Jesus. So one man is the head of one kingdom. The other man is the head of another kingdom.

And both of them center in one man. That's the reason he uses the word one so many times. Now, here's the blessed part.

He uses the word much more many times. Now, what is he going to say to us? Are you ready for this? He's going to say to us, listen, that we lost much in Adam, but we gained much more in Jesus. Now, I want us to think what we received from one man, Adam.

Look in verse 19 now. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. One man's disobedience. Who was that one man who disobeyed? His name was Adam. Many were made sinners.

Who is that? Just write in your Bible, me. Don't write Adrian, just put your name there. All right. Many were made sinners. All right, now look again. So by the obedience of one, who is that one? Jesus. Many were made righteous. Now, if you're saved, you can put your name there too.

I've been made righteous. In Adam, we lost it. In Christ, we got much more back than we ever lost in Adam. So what we're going to see is what we lost in Adam, then the legacy that we received in the Lord Jesus, and then how the Holy Spirit of God makes that real in our hearts and in our lives. What did we receive from Adam? What is the legacy of Adam? Now, by the way, let me say this, that you were born in Adam.

I mean, that's your nature. You say, well, I didn't vote for Adam. I didn't have anything to do with Adam.

Of course you did. I mean, if Adam had died before he had any children, would you be here today? No, you see, we are linked to Adam in a very special way. And you know, so many of us have the idea that we are in the image of God.

Well, I want to disabuse you of that idea. You are not in the image of God. Adam was made in the image of God. You are in the image of Adam. The image of God was marred and defaced in Adam. Now, the Bible says God said, let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and He made Adam and Eve. But then Adam and Eve sinned, and then the Bible says that God brought forth a son in his likeness and in his image, in Adam's likeness and in Adam's image.

And that likeness and that image is marred. You see, if you think that we today are in the image of God, look around. You think God is in this shape? I mean, look at everything. This is not the image of God. This is the image of Adam. You see, we've never seen a man as God intended for us to be and as we will be one day when we're made in the likeness of the Lord Jesus.

As the psalmist said, I shall be satisfied when I awaken in thy likeness. Suppose you'd never seen a railroad train in your life. Never seen one. And then let's suppose there is a train that wrecks and there's twisted steel and smoke and steam and just mayhem everywhere and the cars are all tumbled up and the locomotive is upside down and you've never seen a train and I take you and show you the train wreck and I say, there is a railroad train. Question, have you seen a train? Not exactly what you've seen as a train wreck, isn't that right?

Now let's take over here Bernie. Look at him. Do you think that's a man? That's not a man, that's a wreck.

That's a wreck. He's not a man. He is not as God wanted man to be. All creation has been wrecked and the person next to you is a wreck and you are a wreck.

Go look in the mirror. Now folks, we are in the image of Adam. Now let me show you what we lost in Adam in Romans chapter five. Let me show you what Adam gave to us. He gave us weakness rather than power.

Look in verse six. For when we were yet without strength, let's just stop there. Without Jesus, we're without strength. You say, well I have strength. We're not talking about physical strength. You say, well I've got money. We're not talking about financial strength. You say, well I'm smart. We're not talking about intellectual strength.

You say, well I have a sound mind. We're not talking about emotional strength. We're talking about spiritual strength. You do not have spiritual strength to be what God wants you to be and to do what God wants you to do. You can try as much as you want, but you do not have what it takes, nor do I in Adam. We've lost that strength and in the place of it, we have been given spiritual weakness.

You may have the power to do you think as you want, but you don't have the power to do as you ought without the Lord Jesus. So what did I get from Adam? I got weakness from Adam because I am without strength. Now what else did I get from Adam? I got ungodliness rather than godliness.

Look if you will again in verse six. For when we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. Now what did God make Adam to be? Godly, like God. What did sin make him?

Ungodly, unlike God. Now folks, you know the problem with many of us? We are measuring ourselves by the wrong measure. We say, well, I'm better than those folks down there at that church.

Well what's that got to do with it? Somebody says I'm just as good as those folks down there at that church. I'm looking for a man honest enough to say I'm just as bad as those folks down there at that church.

I mean, after all, the church is nothing but a society of sinners who finally realized it and banded themselves together to do something about it. Isn't that right? We measure ourselves by ourselves. We say, well, I think I'm all right.

What's that got to do with it? The Bible says you are those who measure yourselves by yourselves, you're not wise. But the worst thing we do, we find some old hypocrite and we stretch ourselves out in the gutter alongside of him and say I'm a little longer than he is.

We measure ourselves by people who are inferior to us and therefore think that we're all right. But God's standard is godliness. Do you know what sin is? Let me give you a definition of sin. Romans 3 verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The distance between the glory of God and where we are right now, that's sin.

That's sin. We have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What did we get from Adam? We got a weakness from Adam. What did we get from Adam? We got ungodliness, ungodlikeness in Adam.

Doesn't mean we're bank robbers. It just simply means that we have come short of the glory of God. Now let me tell you a third thing that we got from Adam. We got sinfulness rather than righteousness. Look, if you will, in verses seven and eight. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God committeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Now we sit in church many times dressed up with Bibles in our hands, hymnals by our side, and we look so good. But friend, in Adam we're sinners. We're sinners.

The Bible says sin is the transgression of the law. Now you may not think that you're a sinner, but you are a sinner. Is there anybody here who would say, I have not sinned?

Well, let me ask you a question. Is there anybody here who has ever told a lie, whether it's white lie, black, or technicolor, ever in your life, ever one time, ever told a lie? Is there anybody here who has ever taken anything that did not belong to you?

Whether it was a toy out of your neighbor's yard when you were a child, whether you cheated in school and took an answer off somebody else's paper, carried materials home from the job, whether you did not pay your proper taxes, whether you stole some money off your mama's dresser, or whether you robbed a bank. You know what we have here today? We have a congregation of liars and thieves. Isn't that right?

Yeah. That's kind of funny when we do it that way, but it's really not funny. Because, you see, a man is not a liar because he tells lies. Because he's a liar. A man is not a thief because he steals.

He steals because he's a thief. Now some, of course, are terrible thieves and terrible liars. Others maybe are not in that category.

But we're not talking about degree. We're talking about kind. The Bible says that we are sinners.

And the Bible says, Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, the same is guilty of all. What did we gain from Adam? We gained weakness from Adam. What did we gain from Adam? We gained ungodliness from Adam, righteousness between us and the glory of God. What did we gain from Adam? We gained sinfulness from Adam rather than righteousness. Let me tell you what else we gained from Adam. We gained wrath from Adam rather than approval. Look in verse 9. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Did you know what we are when we're in Adam? We're under the wrath of God. The wrath of God. You know, people don't like to hear about the wrath of God.

Somehow if a preacher preaches on the wrath of God, that preacher is supposed not to be preaching as he ought to preach. We're supposed to tell everybody that God is love. Well, God is love.

He's perfect love, infinite love. And the Bible says that God comenteth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But this verse also speaks of the wrath of God, doesn't it? If you preach the love of God to the exclusion of the wrath of God, you've not preached the whole truth.

And when you preach part of the truth, that part of the truth becomes an untruth if you don't preach the whole truth. Now, there's a wrath of God. Some people have the idea that God is going to overlook our sins. He will not.

He's a holy God. Some people have the idea that we'll be reincarnated. We'll get another chance.

You will not. It's the point of the man wants to die and after this, the judgment. Some people have the idea that God is going to save everybody, sort of universalism. He is not.

He is not. The Bible says that if a man dies without Christ, he is forever eternally lost. And there are only two categories of people in the world, the saved and the lost.

The Bible does not teach universalism. Some people think, well, when I die, I'll just annihilate. I'll just go back to the ground. I rot. I decay. I evaporate. I'm no longer.

Oh, no. The Bible teaches that you live forever and ever and ever and ever. And God sent me here to tell you, and I want to say it as plainly, as straightly, as lovingly as I can, in Adam, you're under the wrath of God and if you die without Jesus, you'll die and go to hell.

Now, I'm not saying that to be smart, delicate. I'm certainly not saying that to be cruel. Sometimes we get the idea that if a preacher preaches about hell, he's cruel.

The preacher who does not warn people to flee from hell is a cruel man because he's not telling people the truth. What did we receive from Adam? We received a weakness from Adam. What did we receive from Adam?

We received ungodliness from Adam. What did we receive from Adam? We received, folks, a sinfulness from Adam. What did we receive from Adam? We received wrath from Adam. And what did we receive from Adam?

We received warfare from Adam. Look, if you will, here in this same passage of Scripture in verse 10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.

Just look at the word enemies. Do you know what you are if you're not a child of God? You're an enemy of God.

You say, now, wait a minute. I am not a Christian, but I'm not an enemy of God. Well, yes, you are. If you're an Adam, you're an enemy of God. Jesus said, Matthew chapter 12 and verse 30, he that is not with me is against me. And he that gathers not with me scatters abroad. You cannot be neutral. Not to be for Christ is to be out and out against the Lord Jesus. You see, if you are in another kingdom, then you are guilty of high treason against heaven's king. High treason is a capital crime. So don't get the idea that you can be neutral.

You cannot. If you're in the kingdom of darkness, you are in opposition to the kingdom of light. Jesus said, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad. Either you're for Christ or you're against Christ, either you're working for Christ or you're working against the Lord Jesus, and you are not neutral. What you are when you are an Adam is you are an individual with a clenched fist in the face of God. Now, you may not understand that, but the Bible says that we are enemies.

So put it down, big, plain, and straight. In Adam, we're in trouble. Isn't that right? I mean, by one man, we're in trouble.

I know what you're thinking. You're saying, now, pastor, that is not fair. That is not just. Why should I be in all of that difficulty because of Adam? I mean, I didn't vote for him.

I didn't choose him. Is that fair? Is that just? Friend, not only is it fair, it is wonderful. You better thank God for it. It shows that God not only is just, but He is kind.

Why? Well, number one, if Adam hadn't have sinned, you would have anyway. If you'd been put to the same test, you would have sinned. And number two, you've already sinned, so don't worry about Adam sinned.

You've got enough of your own to take care of, right? But here's the good part. Because we can be condemned by one man, we can also be saved by one man.

See, that's it. Thank God that he deals with that one man. Thank God because of one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. But verse 19, by one man's obedience, by one man's obedience to the Lord Jesus, many are made righteous.

Thank God that those who are in Adam, one man, can also be in Christ, one man. And coming up tomorrow, the important conclusion of this message from Adrian Rogers. Maybe today you have questions about who Jesus is, about what He means to you, how to receive the forgiveness He's offering you right now. Go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio. You'll find resources and materials there that will answer questions you may have about your faith.

Again, lwf.org slash radio, and click the tab at the top that says Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title, The Authority of the Holy Spirit. This message is also part of the insightful series, The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority, where that complete collection, all nine powerful messages, call 1-877-LOVEGOD, or you can go online to order at lwf.org slash radio, or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Thanks for studying in God's Word with us today. Be sure to sign up for our daily heartbeat emails.

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Listen to this. I've been listening to Dr. Rogers for a long time. The Lord surely is speaking through his messages today. Well, we love to hear how these messages have inspired your daily walk with God, and as a way to say thank you for your support right now, we want to send you the book, The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority. If your spiritual life needs a booster shot, you can't go wrong with a powerful work by Adrienne Rogers. If your spiritual life needs major resources, life needs major renovation, Pastor Rogers also has that covered. Prepare to dig into your Bible and experience the most life-changing power in the universe. Request the book when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD. Again, mention the title, The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority, 1-877-LOVEGOD, or give online at lwf.org slash radio.