Understanding Authority

Luke 7:1-10

Intro: All of us live under some kind of authority. God designed life to be lived that way. We live in a world today where nobody wants any authority over them. They want to be their own authority. We see lawlessness abounding all over the world and especially in America because of rebellion against authority. There is little respect even for God’s authority anymore because of the great falling away that the bible tells us about. There is a story in these scriptures today of one who understood authority and used it to his advantage.

I. The importance of authority. Luke 7:1-3 (NKJV) ¹ Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. ²  And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. ³  So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant.

a. Society cannot exist without authority. Romans 13:1-3 (NKJV) ¹  Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. ²  Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. ³  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. God’s kingdom also can’t exist without authority.

b. There is an order of authority. The officer had heard about Jesus, so he certainly knew of Jesus ‘healing power. He sent a request for healing to Jesus apparently because he understood and believed Jesus was sent from God and acted under His authority.

c. The centurion recognized God’s total authority over all and everything. Luke 7:4-5 (NKJV) ⁴  And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, ⁵  "for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue." He had rejected all the Roman gods of his time. He was a God fearing man and showed interest in the Jewish synagogue and worship of God. He had built God’s people a synagogue. The centurion understood the importance of God’s authority over all! He recognized that Jesus had been sent by God to this earth with power no one else had.

II. We must learn to humble ourselves under God’s authority. Luke 7:6-7 (NKJV) ⁶  Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. ⁷  Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.

a. The centurion humbled himself. He felt he was not worthy for Jesus to come under his roof. Many today have an elevated view of themselves and their importance. They think God and society owes them something. God hates pride! Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. [ Proverbs 16:18]

b. The centurion understood and believed in Jesus’ authority. Luke 7:8 (NKJV)
⁸  For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

1. He was a man under another’s authority and he was also in authority over others.

He took orders from his superiors and gave orders to those under his authority. He knew how Jesus’ authority worked over spiritual matters. He knew he needed an authority that was greater than his own or any other authority. He understood that Jesus was over every other authority in this world and in the spiritual realm. Ps. 33:9 says “When God created everything, He spoke and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast.”

III. Faith that amazes Jesus. Luke 7:9 (NKJV) ⁹  When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, "I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!"

a. Jesus was amazed (He marveled) at this man’s faith in Him and His authority.

The Jews who had been looking for Jesus couldn’t see him for who he was, the One sent of God with all authority, yet this Gentile did. Jesus was amazed and exclaimed to the crowd that he had not seen faith like this in all the land of Israel. This did not mean that no one in Israel had faith, but not to this extent. Without the benefit of really knowing the Old Testament Scriptures and learning from esteemed Jewish leaders, this Gentile man understood from what he had heard the need to depend totally on Jesus’ authority and power. He knew, without a doubt, that Jesus could do what seemed impossible. He didn’t question Jesus’ power and authority. Such faith both astonished and pleased Jesus.

IV. Amazing faith in Jesus’ authority and power brings results. Luke 7:10 (NKJV) ¹⁰  And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.

A. Because of this man’s understanding and belief in the power and authority of Jesus, he was rewarded for his amazing faith. Where is your faith level in God’s supreme authority over your situation and circumstance?

Conclusion: When we exercise faith in Jesus’ supreme authority as this Roman centurion did, we will receive a like reward. There is no partiality with God.

What do you need to trust Christ for? 1 Peter 5:7 says “Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you.” Only Believe and receive. Don’t carry that burden any longer. Look to Jesus and trust in His authority over all and everything!

Invitation: God in His authority says a person must personally know His Son Jesus as their Savior to enter His Kingdom. This means confessing and repenting of your sins and asking Jesus to forgive and save you from Hell. If you have never done this, now is the time. He will give you assurance of your home in Heaven.

HOW TO RELEASE GOD’S POWER IN OUR LIVES

Intro: All Christians need to release God’s power in their lives because we can’t live the victorious life God intends for us to live without His power working in us.

I. PRAYER RELEASES GOD’S POWER IN OUR LIVES. Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We need God’s mercy and grace to help us live in His power. WE MUST BE IN CONSTANT COMMUNICATION WITH OUR HEAVENLY FATHER. WE WILL NEVER LIVE IN GOD’S KINGDOM POWER UNTIL WE SPEND SOME TIME COMMUNICATING WITH HIM. PRAYER SHOWS THAT WE DON’T HAVE DEAD FAITH, BUT THAT WE HAVE ACTIVE FAITH THAT’S SINCERE ABOUT LIVING IN ALL GOD’S POWER THAT’S AVAILABLE TO US. James 4:2b “You have not because you ask not.” If we want God’s power released in our lives we must ask for it in earnest prayer. We must pray to be filled with His Spirit. As we live in step with His Spirit God releases His power in our lives. WE MUST HAVE AN EARNEST DESIRE FOR GOD’S KINGDOM TO COME AND HIS WILL BE DONE IN OUR LIVES AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!

2. Worship releases God’s power in our lives. Worship is paying reverent honor and respect to God. a. True Worship is the means by which God makes Himself known in our lives. John 4:23-24 ²³  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  Worship of God can be done only through Jesus who expresses God’s invisible nature. He does this by the Holy Spirit who releases to a believer the power of God. Where true worship is, God’s presence will be made known. Our hearts are the ground in which the decision is made to give God His rightful place in our lives. When we decide to worship God in Spirit and truth, His power and rule is established in us so we can live victorious over Satan and sin. Spirit worship involves the person’s awareness that God has planted in him or her His Spirit. God indwells believers—that is where true worship takes place. Our body can be anywhere, yet worship occurs as our attention and praise are turned toward God. We need to consciously focus on God when we are in a house of worship because we easily assume that our presence in church is all that we need in order to worship. We can usually remember how long the worship service lasted, but can we remember exactly when we actually worshiped the Lord?
When we worship in spirit, we allow God’s Spirit to become active in our lives by submitting to His will for right living, witnessing, giving, and breaking up the strongholds of sin in our lives. We through submission to the Spirit’s power cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. [2 Cor. 10:5] To worship in truth means sincere and pure worship without hypocrisy.

3. READING GOD’S WORD ON A DAILY BASIS RELEASES GOD’S POWER IN OUR LIVES. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Whenever we allow the word of God to work in our lives, it is effectual in power. The Holy Spirit takes God’s word and makes it alive in us. The Spirit through God’s word, sanctifies us and delivers us from the slavery of sin and Satan, renewing us both inwardly and outwardly, and comforting, strengthening, and establishing our hearts.  [2 Peter 1:3-4] ³ His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
⁴ by God’s glory and virtue [excellence] we have been given exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Conclusion: PRAYER, WORSHIP AND READING GOD’S WORD WILL HELP US LIVE IN HIS KINGDOM POWER. WHEN WE PUT PRAYER, WORSHIP AND THE WORD OF GOD IN OUR MIND AND HEART IT BECOMES A LIVING POWER WITHIN OUR BEING. THE HOLY SPIRIT USES GOD’S WORD TO ACCOMPLISH HIS WILL IN OUR LIVES. THE SPIRIT TAKES THE WORD AND TRANSFORMS US. THEN WE BEGIN TO LIVE IN THE KINGDOM POWER THAT HE INTENDS FOR US TO DO. HE WANTS US TO BE OVERCOMERS IN THIS LIFE. WE WILL HAVE TRIALS AND TESTS, BUT GOD’S WORD TELLS US THAT HE WILL BE WITH US THROUGH WHATEVER WE FACE. THEN WE WILL GO THROUGH THEM IN A VICTORIOUS WAY JUST AS JESUS DID.

INVITATION: IF YOU HAVE NEVER RECEIVED JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR, YOU HAVE NO POWER OPERATING IN YOUR LIFE AND YOU ARE HEADED FOR HELL, BUT YOU CAN CHANGE THAT RIGHT NOW IF YOU CHOOSE TO DO SO. JUST CONFESS YOUR SINS TO JESUS, THEN ASK HIM TO FORGIVE YOU AND INVITE HIM INTO YOUR HEART. ASK HIM TO GIVE YOU ETERNAL LIFE. THEN YOU CAN BEGIN TO LIVE IN GOD’S KINGDOM POWER AND WHEN YOUR TIME COMES TO LEAVE THIS EARTH YOU WILL BE IN HIS HEAVENLY KINGDOM FOREVER.

God's Supreme Spokesperson

Hebrews 1:1-4 (NKJV)
¹ God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,  ² has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;  ³ who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,  ⁴ having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Jesus Christ is the supreme spokesman of God. This is the first reason why He is superior to the prophets. Note the glorious truth: God has spoken to man. He is not as most people think, far off in the distance, someplace in outer space, so far away that He is unconcerned with what is happening to man and his world. The very opposite is true: God is concerned with our lives, with the trials and trouble, sin and evil, suffering and disease, death and decay—with all that happens to us. Therefore, God has spoken to us; He has given us the wonderful words of life and of deliverance. He has told us exactly how to conquer the trials and temptations, the corruption and death of this world. God speaks to mankind, and we find Him speaking thru God's Word? If God is really not far off in the distance someplace—if God has really spoken to man, then we must read and find out what God is saying to us in His Word and heed it. For His Word we find out about everlasting life and how to have victory over all the evil and trials and corruption and death of this life.
God has delivered His word to us in two different ways:

1.  First, God's Word came thru the prophets. In ancient times God spoke to man by His prophets, that is, by persons whom He had chosen to proclaim His Word to the world. Who are these persons? They are the men and women of the Old Testament Scriptures. But note a significant fact: God spoke through the prophets..."at various times": that is, in many separate revelations, at many different times and in various ways.

What does this mean? No man could possibly receive and understand or explain the whole revelation of God. God and the truth of God is too big for any one man. Therefore, God had to make many revelations to many different people, and He had to use many different ways to speak to men. No man could ever contain or share the whole revelation of God.

For God spoke to his prophets in many different ways. But the point to see is this: each prophet could present only a part of God's revelation. No one of them could present the whole revelation of God. The full revelation of God is not found in the prophets. Where is it found then?

This brings us to the second point In Hebrews 1:2 God's Word, His full revelation, is found in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. "In these last days [God has] spoken to us by His Son." This is the most astounding truth imaginable! For God could send no greater messenger with His Word than to send His very own Son. And this is the astounding declaration of this passage: God has sent His Son to proclaim His Word to men.

Before Christ, no man could fully grasp or understand God, and no man could fully proclaim the Word of God. Men could understand only a part or fragment of God. But now God's very own Son has come to earth and revealed God, proclaiming all that God is. It is Jesus Himself who is the revelation of God. He embodies the Word of God. In fact, He is the Word of God. [John 1:1] Verse 14 says He [Jesus] became flesh and dwelt among us. Everything that God ever wanted to say to man is said in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the perfect expression of God's mind. Everything that man needs to know about God and the conquest of life with all its trials, corruption, and death is seen in Jesus Christ. Jesus has the truth about God and mankind.

3)  Jesus Christ is superior to all the prophets; He alone is the supreme revelation of God. As great as the Old Testament prophets were, they were not above God's Son. There can be no greater spokesman than that of God's own Son. That’s why we can not believe what other religions tell us about Jesus or God, no matter what they say. If they deny the Deity of Jesus Christ, or try to tell us He is not the only way to God, then they are false prophets and we should have nothing to do with them or their teaching.

[A] Because God has appointed Jesus heir of all things, Isaiah 9:6-7 (NKJV) ⁶ For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

[B] Through Jesus God also made the worlds; (Col. 1:16) "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him."

1 Corinthians 8:6 For us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

[C] 3 For Jesus is the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, What does glory mean? It means all the brightness of God—all the brilliance, radiance, splendor, and light of God's Being. It means that God's very presence—in all of His light and purity—dwells among us in the person of Jesus Christ. It meant that in Christ "dwells all the fulness [glory] of God" (Col. 2:9). Men could look at Jesus Christ and see the glory of God in Him—the very light and radiance of God's Being.

The word "image" means substance. Jesus Christ is the very substance, the very Being, Person, and embodiment of God.

[D] Jesus upholds all things by the word of His power, God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is controlling the world and moving it forward to a climactic moment of renewal and recreation—what the Bible calls the great day of redemption. And note how He is holding it together: by the power of His Word. He simply speaks and the laws that hold the world together are set in motion.

[E] Jesus by Himself purged our sins, [John3:16 & 14:6]

[F] Hebrews 1:3b Jesus has sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Philippians 2:9-11 (NKJV)
⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
INVITATION: God by His Son is speaking to everyone of you right now and Jesus asks “Do you know Me?” “Have you trusted me for your salvation?” If not, I offer you eternal life. If you will repent of your sins and ask Me to forgive you of all your wrong doing I will save you now. What is your decision? Hell is real if you refuse Me! Don't go there when you don't have to.