Strength Through Authority | Part 2

Authority comes from above. Listen closely to the Lord's Word.

And I'm going to tell you this. If you do not learn to be under, you will not be over. Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring the profound truth of the Gospel through the lessons and insights of Adrian Rogers. We know the Lord did not create us to live crushed and defeated, but to reign and live in victory. But the way we receive this strength is through submitting to God's authority. Pastor Rogers said, If you do not know the restraint of the Spirit, you will never know the release of the Spirit. If you cannot operate the spiritual breaks, God will never show you the spiritual accelerator. If you have your Bible, turn now to Luke chapter 7 as Adrian Rogers reveals an example of strength through authority.

Now here's the story. There's a man, a centurion. That means he was an army officer. He had 100 men under his command at his post. He was a very important man in the Roman army. He was a Gentile. And he had a servant that was sick, and he was concerned about his servant. His servant was about to die. People came to Jesus and said, This is a good man.

You ought to go over there and help him. He was serving. So Jesus is going to this man's house, and the man sends out a message. He says, Listen, I didn't feel that I was worthy to come to you.

I'm not worthy that you should come into my roof. But he said, All you have to do is to give the command and my servant will be healed. And then he explained why he said that. He said, For I too, I also am a man set under authority. Simple.

That's the way it works. He was a military man. He understood the way things worked in the military. And when he said that, Jesus marveled. He said, He's got it. He has seen it. He understands it. Why can't even the children of Israel understand this? I haven't seen faith like this in all the land of Israel. He understands kingdom authority.

And Jesus marveled. Now you need to understand today the same kingdom authority. What do we mean by authority?

It means the official legal right to act. Now, we're going to learn four things today about kingdom authority that come out of this text, okay? And I don't want this to be academic.

I want to go beyond academics into your life. Now, first of all, the source of kingdom authority. All authority comes from a higher power.

It comes down. Authority comes from above. Therefore, any authority that you may hold is no better or stronger than the one who is over you.

Because, you see, you have to have someone to back up the authority that you hold. Now, the reason that God's children have authority is because of the Lord that is over them. Now, let me give you another great verse that will help you understand this. First John chapter 4 and verse 17. I'm going to take just a phrase out of that verse.

Don't turn to it, but jot it down. As he is, talking about Jesus, as he is, so are we, now here's the key phrase, in this world. As Jesus is, so are we, because we are in him and he is in us.

This is the doctrine of identification. When he died, he died for us and so we died with him, right? His death had your name on it. He died for you, you died with him. Okay, now secondly, when he rose, you rose with him. You are identified, united with him in resurrection. The Bible says if we've been buried in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Jesus died for us and then Jesus rose for us. He died for us, he gave himself for us, and then he rose to give himself to us.

And so we have resurrection life. Now what we need to understand is this, what the relationship of Jesus Christ to the church truly is. Don't think of the church as a business with Jesus as the president. The church is a body with Jesus as the head.

Do you see the difference? That is, we are organically related to the Lord Jesus Christ. His life is in us. Our authority comes from the Lord Jesus. And that's the reason when Jesus gave the great commission in Matthew 28 and sent us out to spread the gospel, he said, If all authority is given unto me, go ye therefore, because I have this authority and now I am giving you the power of eternity to act for me. First truth, the source of kingdom authority. It flows from above.

It comes from a higher power. Now that brings us to the secret of kingdom authority. That's the second thing, the secret of kingdom authority.

Let's read it in verse 8. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers. I'm under, so I have people under me. Here's the secret. It's very plain.

It's very wonderful. You cannot be over until you are under. You cannot have authority until you get under the authority that is over you.

Now that's so simple, but it's so wonderful. You see, all authority is linked to obedience. Why would a person give you authority to act for him when you're disobedient to him? That's the reason that Satan endeavored to get Adam to disobey.

When Adam disobeyed, he forfeited his authority. Now our generation doesn't like the word authority. We don't like to be under anybody. And many of us dare not realize the vestiges of rebellion that still lurk down in our hearts. We don't want to submit to authority.

I was looking for a parking place a while back, and I saw a sign that said, Don't even think about parking here. When I was so full of rebellion, I thought about it. I mean, we all have that thing in us. We don't want anybody to be over us. But God does not give kingdom authority to rebels.

God does not give kingdom authority to rebels. Let me use this illustration. How many of you have ever tried to teach somebody to drive? A child?

Anybody else? What's the first thing you showed them? Not even the ignition switch. Certainly not the accelerator.

Not how to put it in drive. The very first thing, if you've got an iota modicum of intelligence, the brake. Honey, here's how you make it stop.

Here's how you make it stop. There's the brake. Now, suppose that child that you're teaching, that young teenager says, Hey, Dad, I'm not interested in the brake.

Show me how to make this thing go. I'm not interested in the brake. That is of no importance to me. You just find yourself taking the keys and putting them back in your pocket. Isn't that right? Because you know if that person is not interested in how to make it stop, you're not interested in telling him how to make it go.

Isn't that right? I'm going to tell you this about God the Holy Spirit. If you do not know the restraint of the Spirit, you will never know the release of the Spirit.

If you cannot operate the spiritual brakes, God will never show you the spiritual accelerator. You see, the reason that many people do not have kingdom authority is they have not learned how to be under and therefore they will not be over. Now, God has authority everywhere. There's the authority of the Word of God. Are you under? There's the authority of the Lordship of Christ.

Have you submitted to it? There's the authority of the direction of the Holy Spirit. Do you know it? There's to be authority in the home as we're going to see later on. There's authority in the church. There is authority in the government. There is authority everywhere. When you go to a restaurant, there's authority in that restaurant. I was with some preachers, some friends. It was a convention. We went into a restaurant. We wanted to be together.

You know how preachers like to get together and talk? And we went in the restaurant and there was not enough room for us to get around one table. So I said, well, let's put these two tables together.

A waitress came up and said, Mister, you can't do that. Now, folks, there was no reason I couldn't have done that. It made perfectly good sense. We were not blocking an aisle.

It was good for business. Had I been the manager of the restaurant, I would have certainly acquiesced to that. I knew that waitress didn't understand. And my thought was, oh, yeah, we can do it. That's all right, ma'am. It won't matter.

And to start putting those tables together. You know what God said to me? God said, Adrian, you're a rebel.

She's in charge here. And he was right. And I had to just say, well, we won't do it.

We won't do it. There's authority everywhere. And I'm going to tell you this. If you do not learn to be under, you will not be over.

And I'll give you the best example of this whole thing. And this humbled me when I found out, listen, the Lord Jesus Christ was under authority. What did that man say? He looked at Jesus and he said, I also am a man under authority. You say, well, to whom was Jesus under authority? He was God. But he lived a life on this earth as man. And as a man, he was subject to his Father. John 17, verse 4, I have glorified thee on earth.

I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. That's why Jesus said to his Father. Jesus was in subjection to the Holy Spirit. Luke 4, verse 1, the Bible says, he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. He was subject to the Word of God.

He said the Scriptures cannot be broken. He was subject to his earthly parents. The Lord Jesus was subject to earthly government. Jesus, the King of glory, paid his taxes.

Point, if Jesus Christ is subject to God the Father, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, if Jesus Christ was subject to earthly parents, if Jesus Christ was subject to the government under which he lived and operated, who are we to say nobody's going to tell us what to do? That army officer looked at Jesus Christ and he said, I also am a man under authority. Now, the secret of kingdom authority is plain and clear. You cannot be over unless you're willing to be under.

Got it? All right, now here's the third thing. The scope of kingdom authority. Into what realms does this authority extend? Well, it is to the things of the Spirit of God. You're in Luke 7. Just turn over to Luke chapter 10 and look in verse 19. Well, let's start in verse 18 because I like that.

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and on scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Now, if you have a King James like I'm reading from, the word power is used twice, but they're two different words.

And it may be translated this way. Behold, I give you authority over all the power of the enemy. Now, what is the scope, therefore, of our authority? It is over all the power of the enemy.

Now, we need to be very careful here, and I want you to listen. Listen carefully now because kingdom authority does not need to be refused, but it certainly doesn't need to be confused and it certainly doesn't need to be abused. Now, what is the scope of kingdom authority?

Learn this. When God gave Adam authority over the beast of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, that authority has not yet been given to us. We do not live in the Garden of Eden. Now, potentially, potentially, we gain more in Christ than we ever lost in Adam, but our full inheritance is waiting until Jesus Christ comes again. Adam was given authority over the forces of nature.

You and I are given authority over the power of the enemy because, you see, the dominion over the forces of nature, that will come in the millennium. Hebrews 2, 8 is a key verse here. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. He's talking about man. For in that he put all in subjection under him, that is, under man, he left nothing that is not yet put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. That is, there is a potentiality that is yet to be fulfilled.

There is a not yet. Romans 8, verse 22. The Bible says there, we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now.

Look around. This is not the Garden of Eden. There's desert, disease, destruction, depravity all over the globe. And if you're a child of God, you're not isolated nor insulated from these. Romans 8, verse 23 says, And not only they, but ourselves which also have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of the body. Now, the restoration of nature and the redemption of the body, that's out yonder. We see not yet all things put under him. But in this day and in this age, he says, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy. That is the scope of your kingdom authority.

Now you say, Adrian, why are you just, why are you slowing down here? I'm just trying to help you to understand how it works. You may be Spirit-filled, but don't throw a rock in a hornet's nest. It won't do you any good to be Spirit-filled when those hornets come out of there.

That's what I'm trying to say. When our Lord says he gives you authority, he's talking about spiritual authority. He's not saying that you have authority over microbes, mosquitoes, mildew, or mudslides.

Now why do you have to understand that? Because if the devil cannot keep you from learning this truth, he'll try to corrupt it and pervert it and have you have the idea that if you have spiritual authority, you make it rain. Or if you have spiritual authority, that you can walk in a hospital room and empty it.

No, you can't. We have these joy boys on television who've taken this truth and they have so distorted this truth that they would have you to believe that kingdom authority is the key to Fort Knox and the fountain of youth rolled into one. It's the gospel of cash, Cadillacs, and comfort, but it's not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, Behold, I give you authority over all of the power of the enemy. 2 Peter 1, verse 3, According as his divine power, that is, his divine authority, hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.

Now that's where your authority is. Satan has no power, no authority. Sin has no allurement. Temptation has no power. That the child of God cannot overcome with kingdom authority. That's the scope of it.

Now here's the last thing I want you to notice. The strength of kingdom authority. This man said, Just speak a word and my servant will be healed. Now Jesus obviously had power to heal that you and I may not have unless God gives us that very special gift. But the point that I'm emphasizing right now is that this man who was a centurion was a man of strength. That is, he said, I have those who are under me. Go back again, if you will, and look in verse 8. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers. And I say to one, Go, and he goeth.

Would you like some soldiers to fight for you? And to another, Come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do this and he doeth it. How would you like some spiritual soldiers and some spiritual servants? If you need spiritual soldiers and spiritual servants, you need the strength, then you are going to have to enter into a thing called surrender. Do you know where strength comes from in the Christian life? Surrender.

Surrender. We had the mayor's prayer breakfast. There was a man named Carrie H. Humphreys who was the speaker. Now, who's Carrie Humphreys? He's the president of Cargill North America. At that time, and I don't know what it still may be, it was the largest private holding company in America, perhaps in the world. Now, if you're a businessman, you know that this man was not in the world of business of five or six.

He's a ten. This was Carrie Humphreys. And Carrie Humphreys is a committed Christian. I heard him tell how he gave his life to Jesus Christ. And I heard him testify of the change that came into his life. And then he said this. He said, I do not try to set a fashion statement. He said, I don't emphasize style in the way that I dress. But he said, every morning when I go out, he said, I put a white handkerchief in my pocket.

He said, it's up there right now. He said, that white handkerchief is not there primarily for style. That white handkerchief is there to say something to me. He said, that white handkerchief is a sign of surrender.

And he said this, and I wrote it down. He said, in 1961, I surrendered my all to Jesus Christ. This white handkerchief is a reminder each day that I am His to command. That's a man who has all of these people working under him. That's a man that is a mogul, a magnate in business, but he's also a man who is a humble man who said, I am His to command. Have you said that to Jesus Christ?

Do you mean it? Then if you do, you're going to understand this tremendous strength. You see, there's a difference in authority and power. Authority comes from the office. Power is residual in a person.

Here's an illustration we can all understand, then I'll be finished. Professional football players, they have become monstrous. When I played football in college and high school, I weighed about 185 pounds, and I was one of the bigger men in the backfield.

Today, they wouldn't let me carry the water. These guys are something. I mean, here's a fellow. He is 6'7". He weighs 285 pounds, and he's quick as a cat. And on top of that, he's got a helmet, a face guard, all of his armor all around him.

Good night that big. You could get hurt playing that game. And yet there's another fellow out there. This guy may be 155 pounds. He has no helmet. He has no shoulder pads. He's wearing a shirt with stripes on it. And all he's got is a whistle.

And he says to that guy, you get off the field and go to the showers. Power, authority. See the difference? The guy with the whistle, the guy with the striped shirts, he's the one with the authority. And Jesus says to us, we're the little guy. I give you authority over all the power of the enemy.

He's the big guy. And it's time you and I told him to take a hike. It's time you and I understood the strength of spiritual authority. And maybe as you've listened to this lesson today, you are intrigued with that last sentence. It's time we understood the strength of spiritual authority. You might have further questions about who Jesus is, what he means to you, how to receive the forgiveness he's freely offering right now. Go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio. There you'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith.

Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, request the title Strength Through Authority when you call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD. This message is also part of the insightful series, The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority, where the complete collection, all nine powerful messages, call that number 1-877-LOVE-GOD, or go online to order at lwf.org slash radio, or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183.

Do you understand the source, secret, and scope of your kingdom authority? Have you surrendered to the Holy Spirit? Have you been strengthened by his power? Thank you for joining us for today's study in God's Word, and tune in next time for more timeless truth from Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. Here's a note from a listener we received recently, I just want to inform you that this ministry has been a tremendous blessing in my life. I have learned so much from Dr. Rogers' teachings. They have helped me in a time of need. We love hearing how these messages and the resources we send have served you in your walk with Christ, and encouraged you, maybe comforted you. As a way to say thank you right now for your gift, we would love to send you the book, The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority. This book contains profound and practical insights from Adrian Rogers that will help you recognize the priority, understand the principle, and learn the places of kingdom authority. Request the book when you call with a gift right now at 1-877-LOVEGOD, 1-877-568-3463, or give online at lwf.org slash radio.