Hi there. Welcome to NECF. We're excited to share
today's message with you. Don't go anywhere.
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to enrich your faith. Here's today's sermon.
The title of this message, straight up, is actually
The Believer's Authority in Christ. This message
is actually a continuation of our union with
Christ, but we are keeping it on a different
title, right? So it should be the believer's
authority in Christ. But I'm going to say some
things from where we stopped, right? Where we
stopped on our union with Christ, where we stopped.
I will say some things to build up on that. Then
we get into the believer's authority in Christ.
Okay, so if you listen to the union with Christ,
there's a continuation of it, but we have a title,
a different title, which is the believer's authority
in Christ. And it's intentionally titled like
that. I'm not trying to try to come up with a
different title from, no, no, no. There's a reason
why I titled it the believer's authority in Christ.
In Christ. There's a reason for that. And as
the teaching goes, we will be able to observe.
Why that is. Now let's go to Philemon 6 verse
8. Let's start with that. The believer's authority
in Christ. Philemon 6 from verse 8. Sorry, Philemon
chapter 6. chapter 1, then from verse 6 to 8,
rather. Or we can read from verse 1. Let's read
from verse 1 because we didn't have a Bible reading
this morning. So we'll read from verse 1. Paul,
a prisoner for Christ, and Timothy, our brother.
So fill him on from verse 1. We'll go to 6 and
8. Paul, a prisoner for Christ, and Timothy,
our brother. So fill him on, our beloved fellow
worker. and Afia, our sister, and Akipos, our
fellow soldier, and the church in your house.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always
when I remember you in my prayers because I hear
of your love and of the faith that you have towards
the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. And I
pray that the sharing... of your faith may become
effective, right, for full knowledge of every
good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.
For I have derived more joy and comfort from
your love, my brother, because the hearts of
the saints have been refreshed through you. That's
it. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ
to command you to do what is required, yet for
love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul,
an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ.
I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose
father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly
he was useless to me, but now he is indeed useful
to you and to me. I am sending him back to you,
sending my very heart. Verse 13. I would have
been glad. to keep him with me in order that
he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment
for the gospel. But I prefer to do nothing without
your consent in order that your goodness might
not be by compulsion, but of your own accord.
For this, perhaps, is why he was parted from
you for a while. that you might have him back
forever, no longer as a bondservant, but more
than a bondservant, a beloved brother, especially
to me, but now much more to you, both in the
flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me
your partner, receive him as you would receive
me. And if I have wronged you at all or owes
you anything, if I have wronged you at all or
owes you anything, charge that to my account.
I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will
repay it. to say nothing of your owing me as
even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some
benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart
in Christ. Verse 21. Confident of your obedience,
I write to you, knowing that you will do even
more than I say. At the same time, prepare a
guest room for me, for I am hoping that through
your prayers I will be graciously given to you.
I paraphrase my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus,
sending greetings to you. And so do Mark. So
where do we want to pay attention to in Philemon,
right? Where we want to pay attention to is actually
the aspects, verse 4 to 6. It said, I thank God
always when I remember you in my prayers because
I hear of your love and of your faith. that you
have towards the Lord Jesus and for the saints.
Now, this is similar to Ephesians, right? If
you are very conversant with Ephesians 1, since
the head of your love and your faith towards
the saints, I do not cease to give thanks to
you, remembering in my prayers that the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, right? That
is similar to this, right? That is Ephesians
1 from verse 16. So, it's talking about someone
who is in faith. right? Has faith towards the
Lord Jesus Christ, right? And love towards the
saints. Now, he's saying something immediately
after that. He said that, I pray that the sharing
of your faith may become effective. Can you give
me KJV? Don't use ESV, please. You can stay on
KJV. I would like to have the variant. Just give
me KJV. So that the communication of thy faith
may become effectual by acknowledging of every
good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. So
first, there are people, I mean, Philemon is
someone who has faith, right? He's talking, he's
writing to someone, right? Paul is writing to
Philemon, right? So he's saying that you have
faith. You have faith in Christ. Your love towards
the saints is also something that I acknowledge.
But he not added something to it. He added that
the communication, it means the sharing. Right?
That word communication is the word, the sharing,
the partnership of the faiths of Philemon. Right?
So you can use that and write that, that that
word also means partnership. That word also means
partnership, it also means conversation of faiths.
The word communication is also meaning the walking
out of your faiths. So he acknowledges that Philemon
has faith. And he said that this faith, right?
If you're working of it out, it will take through
something for it to be effective. So he said
the communication of your faith may become effectual
by acknowledging every good thing that is in
your soul. He has faith, but he said Philemon's
faith will become more effective when he is able
to understand. acknowledging every good thing
that he has in Christ Jesus. So we can say that
a believer's faith, because we stopped on faith
as an identity of the believer in the last teaching,
right? We said the believers are called faithful,
right? Paul will write and we'll call some people
faithful servants, right? Fellow prisoners, faithful
believers. So the believers are faithful. Now,
that faith that we have can only become effective,
right? Or becomes more effective when we know
acknowledgement, all that is ours in Christ.
So the sharing of faith, your partnership, also
your partnership with each other, right? So we
partner with each other in faith. We partner
with each other in the kingdom of God, right?
We partner with each other. We work together
for the kingdom, in the kingdom. Now that will
become effective when all of us, putting it in
our context now, we know what is our own in Christ.
What belongs to the believer in Christ. So faith,
right, works according to the knowledge of the
believer. Faith works according to the knowledge
of the believer. Faith works according to the
knowledge of the believer. The believer receives
knowledge through the scriptures. Okay? Faith
works according to the knowledge of the believer
and the believer receives knowledge through the
scriptures. So, it therefore means It therefore
means that if a believer receives a word or receives
a script or picks a scripture and is not well
interpreted, the believer's faith will not be
effectual. Can we say that? That when a believer
is taught the scripture wrongly, he will not
be effective in his faith. Can we say that? Yes.
So the effectiveness therefore comes from accurately
teaching the scripture. The effectiveness of
your faith would come when the scripture is...
So acknowledging all that is yours in Christ
comes by teaching. It's not like you open and
you say, ah, I've seen this one, I convert it,
I receive it. What if what the scripture is saying
there is not for you to be converted? So it means
that you will not be effective. But when there's
a teacher that explains the scripture, then you
are able... To know what is yours in Christ.
Hallelujah. So that is what we have been doing
actually in this church from beginning of this
year. Because we want you to manifest the kingdom
of God. Hallelujah. We want you to manifest the
kingdom of God very well. So we are paying attention
as pastors to explain to you that this is who
you are. This is what you have. This is what
you can do. Or this is what you have to do. So
acknowledging every of the good things you have
in Christ comes by the accurate teaching of the
scripture. And that is why this teaching is coming
to say the believer's authority in Christ. Because
the believer has an authority in Christ. If you
don't know it, you would sit down, right? It's
not an excuse, right? For you, how can I put
it? You're not knowing it, right? would definitely
mean that you will not be different from someone
who does not have it. So if you have an authority,
you don't know that you have the authority, you
will not be different from the person who doesn't
have it. So it means that, let's say, you are
a prince. You are a prince of a particular kingdom
you never knew, right? And we find you in our
midst, right? Or we find you in the society.
We just treat you anyhow. Right? We don't give
you that. Whatever is accorded to that prince
of that kingdom, we probably would not even give
it to you. But the moment you know, we will not
just give it to you, you will begin to act. So
the prince of any kingdom does not just receive
honor from people. He acts out of honor and authority.
So that is how the believer should be. Not that
the devil will be scared of you. You too will
be scared of the devil. All principalities and
power acknowledge you as the child of God. Meanwhile,
you, you are running away from that principalities
and power. Means that you are not exercising
your authority. You are the son of God. You are
the child of God. You grow in God. And therefore,
as you grow in God, as you grow in God, right?
you are able to exercise authority. A believer
is not called to be passive. You must know that.
A believer is not called to be passive. I'm intentionally
explaining this so that when we go to scriptures,
you understand. A believer is not called to be
passive. Like, like, like, like, you know, people
can, I mean, kingdom of God can just reign around
you. No, you are supposed to be active. That
when you see things that are against the kingdom
of God, you are able to rebuke them and put them
under control. Hallelujah. So, you will become
effective in your faith, right? When we are able
to teach you to acknowledge the authority that
you have in Christ. And in that authority, it
is called for you to exercise it. You're supposed
to exercise it. Now, you can write this down.
When we look out, when we look out to the world,
we see faith in Christ and we see ourselves.
When we look into the world, right, we look out
to the world, we see faith in Christ and we see
ourselves in Christ. Right? So when we look to
Christ, we see faith in him and we see ourselves.
So we see Jesus exercising faith. And we see
ourselves doing the same. Hebrews 12 verse 1.
Hebrews 12 verse 1. Can you help me there? Hebrews
12 verse 1. It says, Verse 2. at the right hand
of the throne of God. Look at that word. He said,
no, stay. Looking unto Jesus, the author and
the finisher of our faith. What this simply means
is that the circumference of the faith of the
believer. I already said, the circumference of
Christian faith is Christ. The circumference
of Christian faith is Christ. Outside that is
sin. Unbelief. Right? So, what we say we do as
believers, the faith we have, the circumference
of it, is Christ. So, anything outside Christ
is sin. It's unbelief. So, it therefore means,
right? It therefore means that Christ, we can
say therefore that Christ gave us faith. We can
say Christ gave us faith and we receive that
faith. So we can say Christ gave us faith and
we receive that faith. Now, let me add something.
1 Corinthians 12 verse 9. 1 Corinthians 12 verse
9. Is it to another by the same spirits, to another
the gift of healing, by the same Spirit. Now,
to another by, sorry, to another faith by the
same Spirit, right, is not saying that some people
have a special faith. This is the same faith,
right, given expression as a manifestation of
the things of the Spirit. So, we have already
been told that all that is found here in 1 Corinthians
12 is found in the believer. Do we agree on that?
So, this faith can also be expressed by what?
The believer. Because this faith is also found
in the circumference of Christ. Do we get it?
The gift of faith is also found in the circumference
of Christ. Therefore, it's not like someone else
would give expression to this faith and you as
a believer cannot. Every believer can give expression
to the gift. of faith, just like we can give
expressions of speaking in tongues, prophesying,
healing, and all of that. So every believer has
a spirit of faith in them. Every believer has
the spirit of Christ. Now, what about unbelievers?
There's something we should consider today. What
about people who have not believed, right? How
about people who have not believed? What we do
when we go for evangelism, right, for those who
go for evangelism, let me tell you what you're
doing. what you are doing is not to call out
faith from the person. So when I come to you
and I preach to you and I said, I preach the
death, the resurrection, the burial and the resurrection
of Christ to you, the death, burial and resurrection,
Jesus died and rose again for your sins and he
rose that he might give you eternal life, right?
I'm not telling the person, I'm not trying to...
Call faith out from the person. Because for an
unbeliever, there is no faith inside. Are you
getting it? So you are not calling faith out.
What you are doing is that you are giving them
faith. That's what we do when we go to preach.
The message is the faith, right? You give them
faith. That is why if you go to Acts chapter
2. Let's go to Acts chapter 2. Let me show you.
That after the gospel has been preached, some
people still ask, what shall we do, right? To
be saved. Because from them does not come belief.
So you have to say that believe this message.
You have offered that person faith. I give you
faith by telling you to believe the message.
Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 from verse 36.
It says, let all the house of Israel therefore
know. for certain that God has made him both
Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom he was crucified.
Now, when they heard this, they were caught in
their hearts. Do you see what happened to them?
They were caught in their hearts. They were caught
in their hearts, but that's not faith yet. Now
let's see. They were caught to their hearts and
said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles,
brothers, what shall we do? Did you see that
question? They heard the message. So you cannot
preach to somebody and say, I've preached the
prayer and resurrection of Jesus to you. You
have heard it, you have heard it. You will tell
the person, believe it. That is offering the
person faith. I'll show you from scriptures.
So you don't just tell the person you have faith.
It's not enough to preach it. You must offer
it. What should I do? Believe this thing that
I've told you and you will be saved. So what
did he tell them? He said, Repent and be baptized,
right? Every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you
will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So
he's telling them to believe. Believe this message
that we have presented unto you and you will
be saved. So when we go for evangelism, two things
we do. We explain all Christ has done. Good.
Second, we tell them to believe it. Because out
from within an unbeliever cannot come faith,
except a believer tells the person, believe this
message of God. And when they believe, when they
say, I believe, it means they receive that faith.
So when an unbeliever believes, it means that
they have received the faith you offered to them.
They have received the faith. But when they reject,
because they can reject the message, they can
reject what you offer to them, then when they
reject the gospel, then they stay in unbelief.
Hallelujah. So therefore, one of the ways, right,
coming back to the believer now, I just said
that so that it will help us when we go to teach
and we'll go to preach. Now, one of the ways
a believer gives expression, right, to faith,
right, one of the ways the believer gives expression
to faith, one of the ways the believer walks
out his faith is to exercise authority. One of
the ways by which the believers express this
faith, manifest this faith, is to exercise authority.
So we're going to check this word authority.
We're going to see how authority actually manifests
in the scriptures or how authority has been explained.
Because we read from that song, it says that
there are kings, there are kingdoms, there are
thrones. And the reality is they exist. There
are thrones and there are kingdoms. There's a
kingdom of darkness. The scriptures say, you
have translated us from the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of your beloved son, the kingdom
of lights. So there are kingdoms. It also means
that the devil also has an authority. That's
what it means. He has an authority. So we need
to learn what authority is. We need to learn
what dominion is. So that we can dissociate authority
of the Father, authority of Christ, from the
authority of the King of Darkness. And you can
know, as a believer, what you should exercise.
Okay? So we can know as a believer what we should
do. What we should do? Exercise. Right? Exercise.
Now let's go to Genesis 1. Of course, you should
know that when we are teaching, paying attention
to this kind of a thing. this kind of a teaching,
we will go to Genesis. Genesis 1, verse 18, 26,
and so 28. And to rule over the day and over
the night and to divide the light from darkness
and God saw that it was good. Go to 26. And God
said, let us make man in our own image and likeness
and let him have dominion over the fish of the
sea. and over the fire of the air and over the
cattle and over all the herds and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Right? Over every creeping thing that does what?
Creepeth upon the earth. Next one. And God blessed.
And so God created man in his own image and in
the image of God created him. Male and female
he created he them. Verse 28. And God blessed
them and said, Be fruitful. Now the word dominion
here is actually the word radar. So write it
down. The word dominion here is radar. It's actually
the first exercise or the first expression of
authority. So the word here is rather R -A -D
-A. R -A -D -A. So it means to have authority
over something, actually. That's what it means.
It means to have authority, to have a reign over
something, to have rulership over something,
to exercise dominion over something. It's the
same word that was found in that to rule over
the day, to rule over the night, means to have
dominion, right? Genesis 1 verse 18, to have
dominion over the night. We see that. So what
is happening in Genesis 28? What is happening
in Genesis 28? What is happening there is that
God's intention, right? God's intention is that
after... man is made. Okay, I cannot say after
man. That would not be correct. Let me correct
it. As man is being made in the image of God,
he has authority. Because it's not like after
you say then you now get. It comes with it. It
tells us that salvation right? Comes with authority.
Salvation comes with authority. Please stay on
that scripture. Take it back. Verse 27 had explained
that God will make man in his own image. This
is God's intention, right? This is God's desire.
And 28 says that as man is made in the image
of God, man would have what? Dominion. Man would
have authority. Man would have radar. Genesis
4 verse 1. Genesis 4 verse 1 to 7. Genesis 4
verse 1 to 7. And Adam knew his wife, and she
conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten
a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but
Cain was what? A healer of the ground. And in
the process of time, it came to pass that Cain
brought of the fruit of the ground, and offering
unto the Lord. And Abel also brought of the firstlings
of his flock, and of the fats thereof. had respect
unto Abel and unto his offering. But unto Cain
and to his offering, he had not respect. And
Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth?
Why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest
well, shalt thou not be accepted. And if thou
doest not well, sin lies at the door. And unto
thee... Now, in the context of this, again, is
the context of a man, right? It's the context
of a man. A man that has refused to believe.
Now, we can't go into, I think we've taught this
before in church about what happened between
Abel and Cain. And we said the difference between
them is not the offering of those things, it's
the faith. Okay? The difference between Cain
and Abel is not the offering of the first things
or the fruits of that, but it's faith. You can
see that in the New Testament. So, what was taking
place here is that Cain did not have faith. Right?
He did not have faith. And because he saw the
outcome of the faith of Abel, he was angry. So
he was still without faith. So Cain saw the outcome
of another man's faith and he was angry. So what
did God say? Even in the anger, God said, Sin
is at your door. If you had done good, if you
had believed, sin is at your, you wouldn't be
in this countenance. But sin is at your door.
And God's desire is that Cain would do what?
Would overcome by believing. That word rule over,
right, is the word mashal. It's almost the same
thing as that word radar. It's almost the same
thing. It's just that radar had an additional
meaning. Right? There are some other explanations
for it. But both of them mean to have dominion,
to rule over, to exercise. In fact, in this context,
it says Christ to have dominion. So God's expectation
in the case of Cain is not that Cain will be
lost. It's that Cain, right, would have dominion
over sin. Right? So again, we see that God's
deliverance of Cain, Right? Comes with dominion
over sin. It comes with dominion over unbelief.
So we see that that word is mashal. I think M
-A -S -A -L. Right? M -A -S -A -L. And the other
one is rada. Now from these two contexts, we
are going to check more. Right? From these two
contexts, we would realize that God's intention
for man. And God's authority for man is in the
context of the gospel. It's in the context of
salvation. God's authority for man, God's desire
that man should exercise authority is in the
context of salvation, is in the context of his
deliverance, is in the context of what he wants
to do. Do we get it? So for Adam is that believe,
you will be made in my image and you will have
authority. For Cain is that if you will do good,
if you will believe, that's the good. So if you
will do good, to do good is actually to believe
the message, right? To do good, your countenance
will not be like that. But sin is crushing, but
you would have dominion over it. So we observe
that in these two contexts, what we see is that
God's desire for us. Or for a human to exercise
authority is within the circumference, again,
of the gospel, is within the circumference of
salvation. So it means that any authority that
is outside that will be seen, will be unbelief.
Any authority outside that will be seen and will
be unbelief. Now let me show you another scripture
where God used a nation to communicate this same
thing. Right? So let's go to Deuteronomy 15 verse
6. Deuteronomy 15 verse 6. but thou shalt not
borrow, and thou shalt reign over many nations,
but they shall not reign over thee. The same
word, mashallah radah, appearing there, that
Israel as a nation, what would they do? They
would reign over many nations. Now, if you check
history, and in the settlement of Israel as a
nation, they have never governed other nations.
They have always, have issues with other nations
around them. They have never been able to bring
them, he's not talking about Israel's leadership
here, that Israel will now, okay, he's not talking
about Israel, like the king of Israel, being
the king of the Moabites. No, that's not what
he's talking about here. So what is Israel's
reign over all nations? Who are the all nations?
Now, when they say Israel and other nations,
the word other nations refers to the ungodly.
Okay? It refers to the ungodly. It refers to
nations that don't know God. Right? It refers
to nations that don't believe the message of
God. So what he's saying here is that the activities
of those countries, okay, I'll come back to it.
The activities of those countries, Israel will
renovate. And those countries will not reign
over Israel to mean that to bring Israel to serving
their own God. So Israel will have dominion over
their unbelief, over the activities, over their
idolatry, over their adultery, over all the things
they commit. So Israel will have dominion over
that. Israel will rule. It means they will have
a power, right? To bring forth, to bring down
the kingdom, to establish the kingdom of God
over... the activities of those countries. Do
we get it? Do you remember there was a tribe,
actually, that lied to Israel? I don't know if
you're doing the canonicals. And they began to
live with them, right? That is a country. What
did they do? They gave them rules on how they
should live in Israel, right? And they cannot
do anything outside Israel. That is containing
the activity of that tribe. So, it therefore
means that to rule over would also mean... That
to have dominion over ungodliness, to have dominion
over darkness, to have dominion over sin, over
everything that is outside Christ. So he's not
saying that Israel will produce a governor for
all the countries in the world. He's not saying
that Israel will be a world power. No, he's not
saying that Israel is saying that what those
nations do. Right? You have the capacity to bring
down the activities of darkness. So again, in
the context of salvation, in the context of delivering
a particular nation. All right, so we've seen
these two contexts. Now, there are other contexts
where the word dominion is used. There are other
contexts in which the word dominion is used.
2 Samuel, if you can just write down, 2 Samuel
23, verse 3. 2 Samuel 23, verse 3. In this context,
it is used for leadership, right? So, see, the
God of Israel said, the rock of Israel speak
to me that he that ruleth over men, must be just,
right? Ruling in the fear of God. So here, it's
talking about someone's leadership, right? Practical
leadership within Israel. Practical leadership
within Israel. So the word is used in the context
of practical leadership here, in the context
that we see it. Leviticus 25, verse 43. Leviticus
25, verse 43. These are other contexts where
the word Radha or Mashal is used. Thou shalt
not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear
thy God, right? Shalt not rule over him with
rigor, but thou shalt fear him. So it's talking
about practical leadership here in this Leviticus,
right? Of course, it's related to the believers
as well, but it's talking to Israel about their
servants, about the people that are within their
house, that you will not rule over them with
force. So we see leadership here. Now let's check
one more scripture. One more scripture now. Genesis
37 verse 8. So first we have seen dominion in
the context of the gospel, in the context of
salvation, in the context of having dominion
over all that is outside Christ. Now, let's go
to Genesis 37 verse 8. And his brother said to
him, Shall thou reign over us? Or shall thou
indeed have dominion over us? And they hated
him yet the more for his dreams and for his words.
Now go to Genesis 50 verse 19. Genesis 50 verse
19. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for
I am in the place of God. Next. But as for you,
you taught evil against me, but God meant it
unto good, to bring to pass as it is at its ease
this day, to save much people. Now, what we see
here in the context of Moses, sorry, in the context
of Joseph, is that Joseph, Joseph's brother,
we're expecting, right, that Joseph would rule
over them with rigor, okay? So you've seen in
Leviticus that says don't rule over people with
rigor, right? We've also seen that he that rulets,
rulets with the fear of God, leadership. Now,
in the context of Joseph, something popped up.
Two things popped up. Both salvation and leadership
popped up. So the brothers of Joseph, they took
him and they said, they sought him out and the
whole story cut short. They were found in Egypt.
And Joseph became a picture of a savior to them.
Okay? So because they became a picture of a savior
to them, and Jacob, their father, now died, they
assumed that now that Jacob is dead, this young
man called Joseph will rule over us, would dominate
us, would oppress us. But look at Joseph and
Isaiah in 50. He said, you taught it for evil,
but God taught it for good, to bring to pass,
as it is this day, to save much people alive.
To save much people what? alive. So while some
people think that, oh, what they did will result
to domination over each other, Joseph is saying
that it is unto salvation. It is unto what? It
is unto salvation that people will be saved.
So we see it also in the context because Joseph
was actually the governor of Egypt in this place
at this time, and now he had gained so much influence.
Now let's go to Judges 8, 22 to 23. I'm going
to pick up everything together and explain something.
Judges 8, verse 22 to 23. Next. And Gideon said
unto them, I will not rule over you, neither
shall my son rule over you. The Lord shall do
what? Rule over you. We see the word rule as
a picture here. It's expressed as submission
to God. Right? Dominion here is used as submission
to God. As submission to what? To God. Now let
me quickly... and just pick up three things.
First, we have seen that when it comes to the
dominion, when it comes to authority, it is in
the context of salvation. Have we seen that?
We have seen it in the context of salvation.
We have seen it also in the context of leadership
over other nations. We have seen it also in the
context of domination over the activities of
the ungodly. And now we are seeing it as used
in context towards God as the leadership of God
over a people. So as believers, how from using
the Old Testament context now, how should we
exercise authority? I need to quickly mention
this to say that God has not given the believer
to exercise authority, to exercise dominion,
let me put it that way, over another believer.
I'm going to show us the scripture, right? So
God has not given, the authority that we exercise
is not authority over another believer. It's
not an authority. So you say, I have authority
over you in the context, no, it's not, it doesn't
work like that. Can you help me with these scriptures?
Leviticus 25, 43. Have you read it? Go to, let's
see. Go to Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 5, 15, verse
7 to 11. Deuteronomy 15, verse 7, right? thy
hand from the poor brother. Next. But thou shalt
open thy hand wide and thou shalt surely lend
him sufficiently for his need in that which he
wanted. Beware that there be not a thought in
thy wickedness saying the seventh year and the
year of release is at hand and thy eye be evil
against thy poor brother. Thou shalt give it
him not and he cry unto the Lord against thee
he shall be a sin unto thee. And thou shalt surely
give him, and thy heart shall not be grieved.
And when thou givest unto him, because that for
this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee
in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest
thy hand unto. For the poor shall never cease
out of the land. Therefore I command thee, saying,
Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy brother,
to thy poor, and to thy needy, and to thy land.
The next. And if I brought up an Hebrew, okay,
verse 11. All right, stay in verse 11. Now, if
you read Deuteronomy 15, the reason why God is
saying this, right, is that the Israel would
not oppress each other. That the people of Israel
will not be oppressors. of their own brother.
And you can see what Gideon says. Gideon says,
I will not rule over you, but God will rule over
you, right? It means that God will be the one
you will submit to. Deuteronomy, still in Deuteronomy
15. I'm actually looking for a particular scripture
and I'm sure time is almost up, but I'll share
it subsequently. The scripture says that no man,
like none of you, would have dominion over another.
Right? None of the Israel will have dominion.
That's why Gideon is saying, I'm not going to
have dominion over you. Even when Israel choose
a king to have dominion over them, there was
a warning that this king might oppress Israel.
And therefore God began to say, any king that
will rule in Israel must rule in the fear of
God. So it therefore means that to bring all
this together, that the only... Areas, right?
The areas where believer can exercise authority
over, authority over, are things outside Christ,
not on another believer. Okay? Not on another
believer. A believer can exercise authority upon
ungodliness, kingdom of darkness, ungodly nations,
and this is on the activities of these nations,
as we see. in the case of Israel. A believer
will have dominion over the powers of darkness.
A believer will have dominion over the activities
of the kingdom of darkness. A believer will have
authority found in the context of the gospel
over the kingdom of darkness, and not over another
believer. So you can't say you are casting and
binding your brother. Okay? So we can't say you
are casting and binding a believer. So a believer
is, okay, you want to cast. No, you cast what
you cast. The activities is actually, what you
have dominion over is these activities, these
principalities, this kingdom of darkness. If
you also observe, when Paul was preaching and
the lady that was possessed was actually, trying
to prophesy and making a disturbance. It was
not even, he cut out the activity of darkness
that was in that place. So the goal, right, the
goal of the believer, right, is to exercise authority
and dominion over the things that are found outside
the conferences of Christ. So as believers, we
must always set our hearts to be active, to exercise
this authority. So we can exercise authority
in dark places. We can exercise authority over
unbelief, over idolatry, over ungodliness. Now
the question becomes, are there other authorities?
Are there people that exercise authority outside
this? And do we actually? In quotes, working
for God. Right? In quotes, right? Working for
God in the name of a prophet. Yes. Yes, there
are authorities that we exercise outside the
circumferences of Christ. That is why I'm trying
to establish for us to know that the authority
that the believer should exercise. when it comes
to Christ, is the authority within the circumference
of Christ, within the circumference of what Christ
has done, and over all that is not found in Christ,
over all that is not found in Christ. But not
on another believer, right? Not, you know, exercising
authority on another believer. Not exercising
authority on things that are outside of. Not
exercising authority, right? Exercising authority
over things that are outside Christ. So it therefore
means that what God was offering to Adam, right,
was salvation and authority and a reign. Salvation
and authority and a reign. And that has also
been offered to you. It has been offered to me
since we came into faith. Now that we are in
faith, we have authority. Now let's go to 1 Kings.
Let's go to 1 Kings. I'm just going to use 1
Kings. 1 Kings chapter 17. 1 Kings chapter 17.
Now, most of the time, right, when we are taught
about authority, right, people quickly say, What
about, you know, people talk about Elijah, people
talk about Elisha, and the kind of authority
that they exercise. Now go to 1 Kings chapter
17. Let's read. nor rain this year, except by
thy words. And the word of the Lord came to him,
right? Except by my word, rather, by my word.
And the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
The path from here, turn eastward, and hide thyself
by the brook Cherit, which is in the east of
Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I
have commanded that ravings to feed you. So he
went and did according to the word of the Lord.
He went. and live by the brook of Jared that
is in the east of Jordan. Now two things you
observe here, that there's an authority, right?
There's an authority that the man of God says,
by my word, do we get it? By my word, there shall
be no earth, no rain. So it means that the man
of God is exercising an authority by my word.
The next verse, what did you see? You see the
word of the Lord. Did you see the word of the
Lord? Right? So something was spoken by the man
of God. And there were also instructions that
came from the word of God. Did you see those
two things? So it therefore means that the man
of God exercises authority. The man of God does
what? Exercises what? Now, if you read from verse
8 to verse 16, and you read from verse 17 to
verse 24, you will see that the man of God exercised
authority to bring back a child to life, to make
a divine provision to take place. You will see
that. And you will see that that is salvation.
That's just a picture of God's deliverance. It
was an instruction. So the man of God exercises
by the word of his mouth, he exercised deliverance
in the context of the widow. Now, if you go to
chapter 18, chapter 18, let's go to chapter 18,
verse 36. I'll stop here. Verse 36 to 40. And
at the time of the offering of the oblation,
Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be
known this day that you are God in Israel and
that I am your servant and I have done all these
things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer
me, that these people may know that you are God,
you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned
their hearts back. Then the fire of the Lord...
fell and consumed the bond of rain and the wood
and the stones and the dust and licked up the
water that was in the trench. And when all the
people saw it, they fell on their face and said,
the Lord, he is God and God, he is, right? The
God is. Now, two things you observe here. Elijah
quoted something. The God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac. and the God of Israel. Now, this is
a picture of explaining God's promise. The thing
that connects Abraham, Isaac, and Israel is the
deliverance promise of God. What God will do,
right? What God will do is the same thing that
God provided and presented in Genesis chapter
1. Let us make man in our image. That is God's
promise. Right? Good promise to make people in
his image. Now, you see that he quoted that.
It's the God of promise that keep his promise.
He said, let it be known this day that you are
God and that you have turned their hearts back
to him. Now, you will see that the prayer was
answered and what you see, right, is fire coming
now. But look at verse, look at verse 40. Look
at verse 40. And Elijah said to them, seize the
prophets of Baal. Let not one of them escape.
And they seized them, and Elijah brought them
down to the brook Kishon. And what did he do
there? What did he do there? Was that an instruction
from the voice of the Lord? Was that an instruction
from the voice of the Lord? So he used his authority
in that point, right? So, it therefore means
that we can find some actions, right, that are
outside the circumference of Christ in the actions
of the prophets, in the exercising of the prophets
of the Old Testament. We can find actions, we
can find statements that are outside the context
of the authority of the gospel. in the prophets
of the Old Testament. We can do that. When you
read through, much more when you read through,
you'll find the prophets say, if I be a man of
God, such statements are, you know, are within
what? The authority of the man of God, right?
Within the deliverance plan of God, are we hearing?
Within the deliverance plan of God, we won't
find such a thing. Okay? So, authority of the
believer is exercised within the context of the
gospel, is exercised within the context of salvation,
is exercised within the context of God's deliverance.
So, if you tell someone and you say, because
I'm a child of God, if I curse you, you're outside
Christ already. You're already doing something
outside the circumference of Christ. Say, ah,
we just came down from three days fast. If I
curse you to... See, you are doing things that
are outside the authority that is given to you.
So you are acting on your own authority. Okay?
You are acting. You cannot say, if I curse someone.
No. Because, ah, I've read scriptures. I'm just
coming out from the mountain. If you want to
curse somebody, you are on your own. So the believer
only exercises the authority that is found within
the circumference of the message, the promise,
the salvation of God. Right? That is where our
authority is. Every other place is out of bound.
Hallelujah. So therefore, we can exercise authority
over the kingdom of darkness, over principalities
and power. Right? Because this is giving to us
our salvation. Can we give thanks? Thank you
for listening to today's sermon. Your journey
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