Are We Under Authority or Power?

I guess I could say that I had a call with my mom this morning, and I wished her that. And she says, is it really a happy day? You're hungry and all the other things going on. So we agreed we'd call it a fulfilling day of Atonement.

But I thought that was a funny intro. And of course, now when you guys are dizzy and tired and at your hungries, you have to put up with me. So there you go. Ha! That's good to be here with you. My friends, I do have exciting news for you. And that is that we have an amazing calling. We have an amazing destiny that God has both offered to us and has ordained for us. It's not that we're your honor, it's just to have a nice home, move on, go on some trips, watch TV, because we're here for much more.

We are here to rule. We were called to rule. We are called to rule well. The problem is that we've been endowed by this amazing mandate, by this calling, by this authority that God has given us to rule in this realm under His direction. We look to the wrong power. We very often look to the wrong power. And it's often easy to think that the challenges we face are unique.

Remember, Drew will oftentimes make comments to me, well, school, you don't know, school is different now. And there are things that are different. You don't understand that. It's easy to look at life and say, oh, things are so different. But the reality is that God's creation has been struggling with the very same issues since the start.

So if you'll turn to Ezekiel 28, verses 12 through 17, I'd like us to review a very common set of Scripture that we've heard many times. But it frames the topic of my message. So Ezekiel 28, verses 12 through 17. Before God created the earth, He created angels. And the Bible tells us there are millions of angels. Excuse me. They were created to serve. They were created to worship. They were created to obey Him. And one was named Lucifer, which means light bearer, shining one, morning star. And the Bible starts describing him in the second half of verse 12. It says, thus says the Lord, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

So, as you know, Lucifer is one of only three angels that are named in the Bible. And he was created by God like the other angels, but verse 13 shows us that he was created as an amazing and a special being. It says, you were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, topaz, diamond, burl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emeralds with gold.

None of us guys gave all that stuff to our brides when we got married. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes were prepared for you on the day you were created. So there was nothing ordinary or plain about Lucifer, about his appearance, adorned with gold and precious stones. He was really a step above the angels. And the verse before talks about him having perfect perfection in his wisdom, in his intelligence, in his beauty.

So we see this beautiful, smart part of God's creation with all these amazing qualities. And he also had an amazing job. Verse 14, you were the anointed carib who covers. I establish you were on the holy mountain of God, walked back and forth in the midst of first stones. You were perfect in your ways for the day you were created, and then we'll stop.

God gave Lucifer this amazing and special job. As we picture with the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant, and Drew and I were looking at pictures of that this morning, Lucifer was described as a covering angel. He was created to dwell eternally in the throne room in the presence of God. And the only way that he could do that was because he was perfect, because he was blameless. That's the only way he was allowed in that presence.

But that wasn't enough for him. And he started to want more. And he has never given up wanting more. More power over God and over mankind. Verse 15. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you. The problem was Lucifer had this heart sickness called sin. He had the ability to choose what to do, and he knew he was beautiful.

And he knew he was smart and wise. But all of those qualities caused him to feel pride. And he couldn't stay content with what God had given him. Instead, while ministering to God and others, he started to believe inside himself that he deserved more. And that he was being treated unfairly. And just being in God's presence wasn't good enough, because he wanted to become the Most High. He wanted to have power over everything around. And so this sin of selfishness and pride and longing for power is what's brought all the pain around us in this world today.

Verse 16. By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, and I destroy you, O covering carob, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. Another translation says, You thought you were so handsome that it made your heart proud.

You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. So he was thrown down to earth. And because God is holy, he couldn't tolerate sin. So he cast Satan out. Along the way, he didn't go alone. He took a third of the angels with him. And he is constantly now on a campaign to exalt himself by any means seeking to destroy everything that God loves.

We know it didn't take long for him to start working on that strategy. It's going to be a video. We don't know exactly how long. I don't think it took too long to start working on Adam and Eve. And when Satan successfully attempted Adam and Eve, the kingdom of darkness ruled by Satan issued a challenge against the kingdom of light ruled by God.

And our world became this battleground, this battleground of this epic war that is taking place. Of who is going to be in charge. So with that momentum, Satan went on the offensive and he started wanting to dethrone Christ by attacking us. Turn now to Colossians 2, verses 8-10. Colossians 2, verses 8-10. The Feast of Atonement pictures the future in one way, this universal completion of this battle, where Satan will be bound.

But we also face a personal and individual battle every day, every day of our lifetime. And winning our battle will require us to understand the difference between Satan's power and God's authority.

We're going to talk a lot about that today, and contrast that. Contrast between Satan's power and God's authority. Christ regained authority over earth through his perfect life and death on the cross. Some of that was mentioned in the first sermon. But unless we understand what the Bible teaches about spiritual authority, we will continue to play life on the defense. Do you ever feel that? You're just struggling, you're on the defense, the things coming and hitting you? We will play life on the defense rather than reacting to another ruler, the one we should be reacting to. I'm going to read Colossians 2 and verse 8 from the New American Standard Bible. It says, See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. I can't get any water, can I? For in him all of the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and in him you have been made complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority.

So now let's look at verse 15. Not only is Jesus Christ head over all rule and authority, but he also has disarmed anyone else trying to take over that rule. When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him. So when Christ disarmed Satan, he removed the authority Satan had gained in Eden. That authority over mankind. Today, Satan still has power, but he has no authority. There is a big difference between those words. We can just feel the presence of an influence and say, oh, they're the same. Just like there's a big difference between someone standing in front of you holding a gun that's loaded, for somebody standing in front of you holding a gun that's empty. We should really react very differently between an empty gun and a loaded gun. But of course, the challenge that we face day to day in our lives is figuring out, is the gun loaded. That's a challenge. Friends, we shouldn't fool ourselves. Satan still wields a gun, and without a believer's comprehension of spiritual authority, Satan's empty gun contains and will continue to pressure and to intimidate.

He's very good at carrying it that way. But the truth is his gun is empty. I'd like you to turn back a page to chapter 1 and verse 13, Colossians 1 and verse 13. With Christ's death on the cross, God removed the bullets from Satan. Colossians 1 and verse 13, for he, speaking of God, delivered, or other translations, rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. We have been rescued. We have been delivered. All right, candor moment. I don't know about you, but to me, life doesn't always feel as easy as that word makes it sound. Rescue, to me, is just, you know, you're on this tropical boat at that time. They're bringing you drinks. There's pageantry. Life is cushy when you're rescued. It's not the way I feel. It's easy to ask myself, and maybe you ask yourself, if Satan has been defeated, then why am I always playing defense?

Why are there issues in my life that I can't seem to overcome? If Satan has already lost, then why does he seem so powerful in influencing me day to day? My friends, Satan is defeated, but like a person beaten in life, he doesn't want to go down alone. And so he is fighting, and I would argue more fiercely than ever. And what you and I believe about Satan's authority has an enormous difference in how we respond to it. If you want titles, the title of today's message is, Are We Under Authority or Power? Are we under authority or power? Now, I'm sure you've all seen sports teams compete with a lot of passion to defeat an opponent, even though they know they've lost their own personal chance to make the playoffs. Why do they do that? There's various reasons. One is to show off their own strengths, their own abilities, to say, I'm still good enough, I can beat you. Another one is to make sure their opponent doesn't get to the playoffs either. And in the same way, Satan's goal is to rob us of our spiritual championship bid and drag us down to his level. Satan knows the Bible. He knows all the things that are written in here. He knows what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1.3 that says, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. He knows that. He understands our potential and what God can make of us. And he even knows the authority that each of us has when we live in connection to Jesus Christ.

And Satan is committed to seeing to it that we never reach our destiny.

That's the battle that this day pictures. That's the resolution that this day pictures. I pulled many of the concepts with this connection between authority and power from an excellent book called Kingdom Man by Tony Evans. So, a small section that he talked about, but it really got me thinking, and I want to give him credit on that. If you'll turn to Matthew 28 in verse 18. Matthew 28 in verse 18. Satan has power. He has the power to deceive. He has the power to intimidate. He has the power to persuade. And even the power to destroy. But his power is limited because it doesn't have authority. Jesus has authority. And shortly before Christ ascended into heaven, after having been raised from the dead, look at what he said. Matthew 28 in verse 18. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. All authority. So, he has complete authority. There are two major Greek words for authority that are used in the Bible. There is dynamis, and I'll apologize to Mr. Graham, but exusia, and I didn't look up the pronunciations on these, so I'll just say meh, whatever. The first word I'll go with, dynamis is best translated into English as this generic term for power. Dynamis power is like a loaded gun. In the hands of a policeman, it represents legitimate power. In the hands of a criminal, it's illegitimate. The gun remains the same, but its use and the use of the power changes. It's not dynamis that Jesus is speaking to here. It's exusia, E-X-O-U-S-I-A. And it means power, but it means power in rightful hands. It's the power of our elected officials to govern us, or the power of a policeman to arrest a criminal. And I love the example that Tony Evans used in his book, because he pointed out something which is in one way blatantly obvious. You look at a football game. All right. All of those players on the football field, they are bigger and they are tougher and they are stronger than the referees that are out there. Even the ones, a couple of referees have guns. They can take them pretty easily. But since the players only have dynamis, they are overpowered by the referees' exusia. Exusia is legal power. Referees could call the game, yank somebody out, call it a forfeit. They can always control the game. Turn now to Romans 13 in verse 1. When Jesus said that all authority, all exusia had been given to him, he was saying he had legal, rightful power. Essentially, he was saying that he had the supreme authority with the power. And since Jesus has all authority, he can give it to whomever he wants. Romans 13, verse 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. Satan can do nothing outside of the will of God. So if you and I are surrendered or surrendering as a subject to God's kingdom, then Satan no longer has legal authority over us.

We don't need to live playing defensive or being afraid. Because we just read, he has declared that all authority has been given to him. And as a believer, Christ can and will do what is needed to eternally protect us, to make us complete. The only way that Satan can strip us of the authority which God has placed in our dominion is to get us out from under Christ's authority.

Sadly, too many humans fall prey to that. We can struggle with that.

And that's why Satan strives every day to do that to us. The concept of atonement, remember, pictures having our sins covered, the word actually means covering. Satan wants to get us out of alignment and from under the covering that comes with aligning ourselves under the headship of Jesus Christ. But as long as you and I are in alignment, we have access to all the exousia we need to do all that God has destined us to do and become. Because what this day pictures will ultimately happen in the future. It's going to happen after Christ's return. This is our journey to win this concept of power versus authority. But I'm sure that you all have faced, like I have, this understanding that just because we have a legal right doesn't mean we use it. We've all seen those times it's possible to be free and to still act like a slave. You'll hear stories about that. It's even possible to be delivered but still act like a prisoner of spiritual war. We have to do our part. We have to do our part by submissive obedience to enact the authority that's been extended to us. Because Jesus Christ's death on the cross and resurrection gave him legalized authority and he has extended that opportunity to us. But for that legalization to be put into action, it must first be realized by us accepting the terms of obedience that come with it. It's not just head knowledge. I talked to Drew about that a lot we were talking about this morning. God loves what we do. It doesn't matter how many answers we know. It's about what we do. So how do we tell in this day of atonement if we're living under God's authority or the influence of Satan's power? I'd like you to turn to 2 Timothy 3 verses 1 through 5. For the rest of this message, we're going to review this list of last-day behaviors that Paul shared with Timothy. It's a fascinating list and it reflects the key areas of pride that Satan is using to pull us away from God's authority. Isn't it kind of strange that as society drifts further from God, some believers believe that the church should follow suit, that it should drift in the same wrong direction so that we can win the lost in a way that's more acceptable and easy to feel comfortable with? But the truth is really this, that we must change for the better if we don't want those around us to change for the worse. I think of that as a parent. There's times I feel like I'm wanting to stray and I'm like, I've got to set the example. In relationships, you do that all the time in marriage. You lift each other up when they're down. You try to be the strength when the other person's struggling. Matthew Henry said that sin is what makes the times perilous. And as we approach Christ's return, it's going to be more and more difficult to be a Christian because of how sinful the times are. And the times are going to be so bad that Paul is telling Timothy to make a special note of something. 2 Timothy 3, verse 1 starts by saying, but mark this. Know this. Paul is telling him, highlight these next words. Underline them. Put them in italics. In other words, keep this in mind because this is something you could be sure of. Then he says, there will be terrible times in the last days.

So in this adventure we call life, God is warning us. He's telling us that there's danger ahead. Those big yellow signs on the freeway. Danger. And he knows that if we take another step in the wrong direction, we're going to get hurt. So what is this last day that's being referenced? Yeah, there's a lot of meanings, actually. You could argue the last days are the period between Christ's ascension and His promised return.

Now, since Christ can return any time, then the entire church age can be called the last days. That's one way to look at it. All the things that Apostle Paul warned Timothy about will be present in some form in every generation. I see them all now. But it will dramatically increase near the end of the age. So are we in the last days? I hope you realize the answer is yes, because no matter how you want to slice it, you're closer to the morgue than you are to the maternity ward. Your last days are now. We don't know how many more days we have. So what's being warned here should mean something to us. And with those last days being warned about, he uses an interesting word. Are they going to be bad? Paul describes them as terrible or perilous. And that word is only used one other place in the New Testament. In Matthew 8, 28, it's used to describe two demon-possessed men in the region of the Gatorines. If you go to a sister, well, in that side of the Scriptures, it talks about them as being wild, violent, uncontrollable people who lived among the dead. The sister part of that reference in one of the other Gospels talks about one of them being the ones who was bound in chains and couldn't even be held by that. So the word being described in these last days is intentionally saying that the times are going to be really, really hard to bear. The times are going to be oppressive, and people are going to throw off all moral restraint.

He then describes to Timothy the dominant characteristics, and these characteristics are people who are swayed by the power of God, by Satan, who move away from the authority of God but are letting themselves be swayed by Satan. And the saddest thing about these verses is I see it all around me and us today, and I've seen every single one of them inside me. Let's start in verse 2. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 2. Look back to that verse we started the sermon with. Lucifer wanted more for himself despite all he already had, and that's what he's influencing us for today. That's what that whole list is about. When a person is a lover of himself, then he's like a sponge, and he always wants to soak in love from others. But when everybody is soaking in, nobody's putting out. The Dead Sea is that way. The Dead Sea is famous because there's no... nothing lives in it. And it's that way because all the water flows into it, but nothing flows out of it. And when we are always receiving and never giving, there is no life in us.

Satan's winning when that happens. And that will make the times dangerous.

And that's what we see as danger around us today. Because there's no room for anyone else when all we love is ourselves. And it's not only that people will be lovers of themselves. There's another word that's weird in here, to me anyway, and that's the word they're described as boasters. It's strange that they want to impress those they despise, or gain approval from those they feel superior to. That seems weird to me. But that's the danger of pride. Pride can cause us to be out of touch with our fellow man, and to want to take from him, but never give back to him. So let's continue, verses 3 and 4. Unloving, unforgiving, slanderers without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. I don't know about you, but that is a sobering list of Satan's influences. In verse 3, Paul says that people will be without love. They will be unforgiving. Being lovers of themselves causes them to be without love for others. The proud man, you've seen people with pride. They can't say I'm sorry. They can't say I'm wrong. Because that would mean that there was something wrong with them, that they weren't superior. We all can do those things. Doing that requires self-control. It looks like I may be having a phone call, so please excuse that. That's the nature of my life these days.

But, you know, self-control is another thing that it says is missing over here. The Scripture is speaking of a sinful self-love of people who love themselves above others. Again, what we started with, doesn't that sound like Lucifer? It had the greatest of roles, but it wasn't sufficient for him. People in the last days will love their carnal selves more than their spiritual selves. And so they're going to want to gratify their lusts. You see that mentioned here. They'll be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. When everyone else is only looking out for their own interests, then what happens? It becomes tempting to want to do the same. Even if you're really trying to hold the high ground, you can be like, well, everyone else is only caring for themselves. Then I'm only going to care for myself.

Sound like an argument of a kid? That's teenage logic.

This set of scripture is interesting if you reflect on it, because Paul is not using the words, at least I would normally expect, from a minister. Especially a minister talking about the last days and describing it. He's not using words like war and famine and recession and disease and political unrest and global warming. He's not going to get any of those things.

Paul is describing the characteristics of people.

Unloving. Unthankful. Because that's the real origin for war and all the rest of it. Let me read you the same set of scriptures that I just read in the Message translation, which tries to make it a more modern way of wording it, but it's fascinating word choices. It translates verses 1-4. Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, doggy dog, unbending, slanderous, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. Fascinating word choices. I mean, just... Pride separates us from others, but what's worse is it separates us from God, and it separates us from living under His authority, under that veil, that covering that this day pictures, and all that's possible with it. And that is a huge danger. These verses basically describe a total rejection of God, just like Satan did, just like he wants us to.

And everyone that does what's right in their own eyes doesn't have time for God. It's what happened at the time of the flood. It's what's predicted to happen before Christ's return. But we haven't even gotten to the worst part, I would argue, of this set of Scriptures, and that's verse 5. Verse 5 says, people will have a form of godliness, but denying its power have nothing to do with such people.

I don't believe that Paul is pointing out the sinfulness of the non-believers. Instead, he is pointing out the characteristics of the carnal Christian. He is describing carnal churchgoers. He is describing those who are looking to the wrong being with power.

And Paul's intention is not that we look around and see how wicked the world is around us. We don't need a sermon for that. The purpose of Paul's warning is that we look at ourselves and see how much like the world we have become, and then we start to make changes.

Atonement is intended to help us focus on removing Satan from our lives and align under God's authority. It's that contrast. It's that perspective point. So what do we think Paul means in verse 5 by using this word form? This form of godliness? Well, he's saying that in the last days, people are going to, or I should say, as people turn away from God, they're going to become more religious, is what I read into that. Which is a frightening way to look at it. They're going to be more religious, not less. Even in the church, people may come across that way. I can guarantee you, Satan is more than happy to make a religious world, as long as it's false religion. He's totally good with that. This verse implies that religion will become more popular as we approach the end times. People are going to ask the right questions, but follow the wrong answers. They're going to go to church, and they're going to sing songs, and they're going to have special meetings together. They're going to profess to believe, but they're going to deny the very power. And the way you can tell that is by how they live their lives. Actions speak louder to words, or louder than words, like I mentioned with my conversation with Drew earlier today. And so you get this postmodern religion starting to go through that allows them to do whatever they want, to believe what they want, to live what they want, so long as it makes them happy. And they're going to say, we don't need to be bound by those outdated rules of the Bible. They don't apply to us today. I'm sure you've heard people say things like that.

Whose mindset does that sound like? Whose power? And again, that whole list of characteristics. I'm guilty of all of them. Something to think about. We read in several places in the Bible that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Grace, mercy. It's what this is all about. Once a year, the high priest could go up in front of the mercy seat and go through all these areas to cleanse himself, to then cleanse the people, to go and be cleansed symbolically for a year. It all comes back to whether we are under God's authority or Satan's power. Because God resists those who trust in themselves. He opposes those who believe they are more holy than everyone else. Or don't need anyone else. And so hopefully, as we analyze ourselves today, it helps us look in this way to are we at one with God? If we're looking, we have to recognize that we have this need for God's authority. We have this need to choose who we align under. Who has power in our life? Or God may be forced to push us away so we realize what life without Him is. It's easy to look and to say, I can do this on my own. Well, if we do that, God may just give us what we ask for. And say, all right, let's see how that works for you. If you'll turn to Ephesians 5, verses 1-10. Ephesians 5, verses 1-10. I'd like to close by reading a set of scriptures that to me describes how we should live in the perspective we should have. Judgment is like scales. When we overestimate our value, we underestimate the value of everyone else. If our love for ourself rises, then our love for Jesus falls. There's no way it can be both ways. You may recognize the religious writer Spurgeon, and he once said, It's a concept I spoke about last time where I said, you know, we're talking about I Am Third, that concept of realizing where our priorities are. Ephesians 5, 1. Therefore be imitators of God as your children, and walk in love, not what we read in Timothy. As Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as it's fitting for saints. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse-gesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, or covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were once darkness, you were once under Satan's power. But now you are light in the Lord, as long as we are under the authority and the protected covering of Jesus Christ. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

That's what this day is about. It's recalibrating. Realizing the need to have Satan removed from our life and removed from the world as a whole. I like what a man named Dr. Jeremiah said about humility. He said, Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less. It's very true.

Another name you'd recognize, the famous preacher from the late 1800s named Dwight MacMoody once said, God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. That's why Satan was removed. That's what he tries to get us to do. And the more we start looking through that lens, Satan's winning. Because we're pulling ourselves away from the protective authority and power that God has for us. It is not wrong to look out for our own interests in life. But it is wrong to look out for our interests above and beyond the interests of others. And that's Lucifer's history. And that's what this day pictures. So as long as we look ahead, I should say, at these last days, because Timothy talked about it, we should be aware that terrible and perilous sinful times are ahead. That's what Paul said. And we will see many troubled things in the world, and we may see many troubled things in ourselves that we have to go to God for. But Jesus said, Take heart, for I have overcome the world. And that darkness of the time should make us strive to maintain that cleansing, to maintain the unity that today pictures. And to stay completely aligned under God's authority and not be deceived by Satan's power.