Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): Are you living the life of victory that the Lord has for you? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: The Lord did not create you, bring you into this world to be a victim of Satan, for you to live a crushed and defeated life. To the contrary, our Lord expects you to reign as we are going to see, not someday in the sweet by and by, but right now in the nasty now and now. You are to have victory over Satan in this day and in this age.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the timeless teaching of Pastor and Author Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: Aren't you glad the Lord did not create us to live crushed, defeated lives?

Guest (Male): As we just heard from Pastor Rogers, we were created to reign and live in victory. The Centurion's faith in Luke chapter 7 is an example of strength through kingdom authority. There are four key factors about his faith that can help us utilize this authority in our daily walk with God.

So if you have your Bible, turn to Luke chapter 7 now, as Adrian Rogers begins part one of Strength Through Authority.

Adrian Rogers: Luke chapter 7. And may I tell you again that you could discover no greater truth than the marvelous, wonderful truth of kingdom authority. You could enjoy no greater blessing than to enter into the truth of kingdom authority.

But having said that, we have many and some of them in this church today, who are living defeated lives. Somebody has described our generation this way. We are a needy generation, sick of our conditions, unable to create better, too ignorant to explain life, too shallow to endure it, too bitter to enjoy it, and too weak to overcome it.

I hope that is not you, but it could be you. But it need not be you if you will discover a wonderful truth called kingdom authority.

Now let us look in Luke chapter 7, verse 1. And when He had ended all these sayings in the audience of the people, He entered into Capernaum, and a certain Centurion's servant who was dear unto Him was sick and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto Him the elders of the Jews, beseeching Him that He would come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought Him instantly saying that he was worthy for whom He should do this. For he loveth our nation and he hath built us a synagogue.

Then Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far from the house, the Centurion sent friends to Him saying unto Him, "Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof, wherefore, neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee. But say in a word and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority."

Now I want you to understand this verse is the key verse. "For I also am a man set under authority, having under me, soldiers. And I say unto one, go and he goeth, and to another, come and he cometh, and to my servant, do this, and he doeth it."

When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned Him about and said unto the people that followed Him, "I say unto you that I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."

Now, if Jesus Christ marveled at this man, I mean, absolutely marveled at him. If Jesus Christ was astounded by what this man said, then you ought to take note of it. And if Jesus Christ said of all of the sons of Abraham that He knew, that this man had more faith than any He had met, don't you think you ought to pay attention?

We are dealing with something that is significant. Don't miss that. Don't miss what the Lord Jesus said. I'll read verse 9 again. "When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned him about and said to the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." And they that were sent returning to the house found the servant whole that had been sick.

Now, again, I want to say that Satan, that sinister minister of misinformation, will do all that he can do to keep you from learning the truth of your kingdom authority in the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants to pull the veil of darkness over this truth.

Now, the Lord did not create you, bring you into this world to be a victim of Satan, for you to live a crushed and defeated life. To the contrary, our Lord expects you to reign, as we are going to see, not someday in the sweet by and by, but right now in the nasty now and now. You are to have victory over Satan in this day and in this age.

Now let us back up again. We are talking about the principles of kingdom authority. And remember that when God created Adam and Eve, God created Adam and Eve, put them on earth and the Bible says in the book of Genesis that God told them to have dominion. Dominion. That means they are to reign. They are to rule. They were the king and queen of this earth.

But they disobeyed God. They yielded everything to Satan. They lost their dominion. They lost their crown, rather than having dominion, they became slaves of Satan. They became servants to Satan. And when Adam rebelled against heaven, Adam lost his authority on earth.

And Adam became a slave to Satan, and a child of a slave is a slave also, and therefore all of those who are in Adam became slaves of Satan. But the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth. The last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, won back for us the victory that the first Adam lost, and we were able to sing together as a congregation, "Oh, Victory In Jesus."

Now we need to understand this, because if we do not understand it, no matter how true it may be, it will do us no good whatsoever. There was an emancipation proclamation when Abraham Lincoln set the slaves free in the south. They were free, set free. Thank God for that.

But did you know that many slaves continued on the plantation? Many continued to serve their old master. Why? Two reasons. One, some of them didn't get the news. Secondly, some of them couldn't believe it. It seemed too good to be true.

And I'll tell you there are some people in this world today who have not yet gotten the news of our emancipation in the Lord Jesus Christ and of our kingdom authority. And to others, and some in this place right now, it will seem too good to be true.

Now, we often hear people say, "Oh, the truth will set you free." Well, be careful. The truth doesn't set you free if you don't know the truth. If you don't know it. What did our Lord Jesus say about that? In John 8, verse 31, "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, if you continue in My word, then are ye disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Now what I am trying to do in this series of messages is to help you to know the truth. Now, we are not talking about overcoming Satan in the world to come. We are talking about now where you work this afternoon and tomorrow morning.

You see, we lost it in Adam. We got it back in Christ. Here is a key verse. Put this one in your margin. Romans chapter 5 and verse 17. It sums up everything that I am trying to say. "For by one man's offense, death reigned by one." Who was that one man who offended? Adam. Who took over then? Death.

Death reigned. Because of Adam's offense and because of Adam's sin. Much more, and thank God for that much more now, "They which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." Shall reign in life, not reigning somewhere, but right now. As I say, not just in the sweet by and by.

Now let us look in Luke chapter 7, verse 1. Here is the story. There is 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 is about to die. People came to Jesus and said, "This is a good man. You ought to go over there and help him. Heal his servant."

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 don't, I'm not worthy that you should come under 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."

That is, "I have officers over me. I'm a centurion, but there's a general over me. And over that general is the emperor. I understand that I am under authority. Therefore, I have authority. Therefore, I can say to this servant, go and he goes. I can say to this soldier, come and he comes."

Why? Because "I am under authority." And because "I am under authority," I am over these who are under me. 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 this same kingdom authority. What do we mean by authority? It means the official legal right to act.

Now, we are going to learn four things today about kingdom authority that come out of this text. Okay? And, 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. You have to be under authority to have authority. "I also am a man set under authority." That's what he says there in verse 8. "For I also am a man set under authority." 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. When a policeman comes and knocks on the door, there has been a disturbance. He knocks on the door and the person behind the door may say, "Who is there?" And the policeman will say, "Open the door in the name of the law. In the name of the law."

Know that we are to pray what? In the name of Jesus? "Open the door in the name of the law." Now, what this man is doing is just appealing to a higher authority. Now, he doesn't just come and say, "This is John Jones, would you please open the door?" "Open the door in the name of the law." Well, where does he get this authority? Well, he's a policeman. He has been commissioned.

So behind that badge is the police department of the city. Well, suppose the man doesn't want the police department of the city to interfere with him. Well, behind the police department of the city is the state militia. Well, suppose he won't obey that. Behind that is the National Guard. The forces of the United States, if there comes to be an insurrection. That one man is backed up by incredible authority.

And that's what we need to understand, that that authority comes from above. 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 to 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 have 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, when Jesus ascended, we ascended with Him. And the Bible teaches that we are seated with the Lord Jesus in the heavenlies, far above all principalities and powers. And so therefore, Jesus' victory is our victory.

Understand this, that the authority comes from Jesus. And we are united with Jesus in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, enthronement, and therefore we sing, "Victory In Jesus." Does Jesus have dominion over Satan? Yes. Does Jesus have authority over demons? Yes. Are you in Jesus? Yes. That's the point. It flows from above. If they are subject to Him, they must be subject to us.

Now that doesn't mean that you are somebody important. It's Him. And because of what He has done, because of His victory, then we have victory in the Lord Jesus Christ. 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, "All authority is given unto Me, go ye, therefore." Therefore, because I have this authority and now I am giving you the power of attorney to act for Me.

Here's a great verse. First Peter chapter 3 and verse 22. It speaks of Jesus, "who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him." 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. Look again 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 are 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. And you are looking at a guy by nature is the same way.

I was looking for a parking place a while back and I saw a sign that said, "Don't even think about parking here." I was so full of rebellion, I thought about it. I, I mean, we are 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.

I have often used this illustration. How many of you have ever tried to teach somebody to drive? 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 a 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 are teaching, that young teenager says, "Hey, Dad, don't, 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 are not interested in telling him how to make it go, isn't that right?

And 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