The Believer’s Authority
Grant van Boeschoten
February 17, 2008
1. Jesus Sends out the 70
When Jesus walked the earth he was followed around by many people. Some people stayed around just because it was exciting. Where you found Jesus you found miracles, and many people liked to get the goose bumps as the supernatural took place.
But there was also a group of people who traveled with Jesus who were his close followers. They listened to the teaching, they became good friends with Jesus and at a certain point in his ministry, Jesus sent them out to do the work of God.
This is how it is in the Church by the way. There are many people who like to hear about and watch the supernatural take place; Get goose bumps as they here the stories of God’s greatness. The hair on the back of the neck stands up as you watch people get healed.
But there is another group of people who aren’t just in Church for the experience. They are here to listen to the teaching and they are putting these things into practice in their life so that they can be used to do the work of God.
During the days of the Bible and even now, we call this group of people disciples: people who listen and adhere to the teaching and then transmit it to others.
In Luke 9 Jesus sends out his 12 closest disciples, they were later referred to as Apostles because they became leaders of the Church. But the work of God is not just for Church leaders, it is for everyone who wants to be a disciple of Jesus. And so in Luke 10, Jesus chooses 72 more disciples to go out and do the work of God.
Luke 10:1-12, 16-20 (NLT)
Jesus Sends Out His Disciples
10 The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. 2 These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. 3 Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.
5 “Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’ 6 If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you. 7 Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay.
8 “If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you. 9 Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’ 10 But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this—the Kingdom of God is near!’ 12 I assure you, even wicked Sodom will be better off than such a town on judgment day.
16 Then he said to the disciples, “Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me.”
17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”
18 “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! 19 Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. 20 But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”
When these disciples returned, they were amazed that they could even speak with authority to demons. They had the power to heal, to bless and to curse. What gave them this authority? They were just normal people like you and me. How were they able to go out and get such great results? Let’s explore this a little bit more and see if we can’t find some application for our own lives as well. Maybe God has got some truth to plant in our hearts today.
2. Identity
The Disciples that Jesus sent returned with this statement, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” There was recognition that none of this happens without identification with Jesus.
Why do the demons obey when the name of Jesus is used? It is because the name of Jesus is a name that carries authority. Jesus was there the day that Satan was kicked out of heaven. Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Look I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy. Luke 10:18
He was there when Satan was demoted from Heaven and condemned to Hell. Jesus has authority over Satan and the forces of evil. The name of Jesus is stronger, more powerful, mightier and ultimately greater than Satan’s. Jesus has authority.
Authority is defined as the right to control, command, or determine. Jesus is the man in charge.
In our democratic system it is a little bit difficult to understand the significance of a name, because there is no one name in our country that can make you do anything. Our laws carry authority, but democracy protects us from the whims and impulses of individuals. So let’s go back in time to the days of the Roman Empire. This was an empire that was based on authority.
The highest name in the Roman Empire was Caesar. The people revered Caesar as if he was deity. If you had Caesar’s authorization, a signed decree in his name, you had full authority and power to carry that thing out. Your identity was through Caesar, he was the reason why you could carry out your task.
Tax collectors took money in the name of Caesar. The census that brought Mary & Joseph to Bethlehem was because Caesar had ordered it. And all throughout the Roman Empire Caesar had delegated his authority to certain individuals like King Herod who acted on behalf of Caesar.
Here is another example, before Paul was converted to Christianity his name was Saul. He was adamant in his efforts to bring down the Church. When he had done all that he could do in Jerusalem, he set out for Damascus with a letter of authority in his hand, that letter bore the name of the High Priest, and with it Saul could do as he pleased to the Church.
Do you remember the story of Esther? King Ahasuerus gave the evil Haman his signature ring, and with that ring Haman made a law that on a certain day all of the Jews could be robbed, murdered and annihilated. You see, that is the power that he had because the ring on his finger represented the King. Later on, when Esther made her plea before Ahasuerus, the ring was taken from Haman and given to Mordecai, signifying that now the King was authorizing Mordecai and stripping Haman of authority.
The name of Caesar impacted everyone who was under control of the Roman Empire. The name of the High Priest gave Saul authority to persecute the Church and the signature ring of Ahasuerus gave authority to whosoever had the ring.
Here is a contemporary example. Remember when you were younger, and you still lived in the same house as your mom and dad. You could give commands based on their instructions. You could say, “Mom says you have to clean your room” or “Dad says that it’s your turn to wash the dishes.” And you used the authority of a name.
When Jesus gave his disciples authority it wasn’t based on their names, it was based on his name, the name of Jesus.
Philippians 2:9-11 (NRSV)
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In verse 10 it outlines where the name of Jesus carries authority. It carries authority in heaven, on earth and under the earth. There is no other name with so much authority that I have ever heard of in my life. Adolf Hitler, Sir Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Bill Gates, John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Mohammed, Wayne Gretzky, George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Pope John Paul II, Stephen Harper, George W. Bush, the name of Jesus is Greater than all of these names.
Satan, demons, rulers, authorities, witches, sorcerers, scoffers, skeptics, tarot card readers, fortune tellers and the forces of evil, all these names are under the earth, and the name of Jesus has authority over every single one of them. His name carries such great weight. His name silences the cries of evil, it overpowers the forces of Satan in this world and in your life.
There is no other name by which a person can be saved. There is no other name that can command demons to go, and they obey. There is no other name that can speak to sickness and the disease obeys. The name of Jesus is special, it is holy, and Jesus encourages his disciples to use it, he extends his authority so that his work can be accomplished on the earth.
And so the issue of identity becomes very important when we decide that we are going to devote our lives to doing the work of Jesus. It’s the work and the name of Jesus that gives us authority over our enemy the devil. We need to know how to use this authority in the way that God intended.
It is a bad day for the devil when a Christian discovers their authority through the name of Jesus. It is a great day for the Church and for the work of God when one more Christian takes up that authority and steps into a new realization of who they are through Jesus.
3. Believe in the name of Jesus
One of the advantages that children have over adults is that they will believe almost anything. They haven’t been damaged by the world, they haven’t been lied to and deceived and so they just assume that you are telling them the truth. Children look into your eyes and intuitively they trust you.
And in Matthew 18 Jesus says that if we want to be useful in the Kingdom of God that we have got to learn how to trust and believe just like the children do. He wants’ to be able to speak to us, and we just believe him.
Moses didn’t do that. God said, Moses I have heard my peoples cries coming up from slavery in Egypt, So go to Pharaoh and say “Let My People Go.” And Moses said, “You’ve got the wrong guy, I can’t do that.”
Have you ever said that to God, “You’ve got the wrong guy, I can’t do that. That job looks too hard. What you are asking me to do is out of my area of expertise. Please God, ask somebody else.”
God spoke to Jonah and said, “Go to Nineveh, preach repentance or I will bring judgment on those people.” And Jonah said, “I’m going my way instead of God’s way. I’m following my plan instead of God’s plan.” And Jonah boarded a ship in the opposite direction. But God had mercy on Jonah and he sent a storm to get him back on track for his life. “Toss me overboard” Jonah told his shipmates, and Jonah was thrown into the sea and a large fish took him into his belly, and Jonah found God and purpose in the belly of the fish.
Maybe you can relate to Jonah this morning. God told you to do something and instead you went the opposite direction, you ran from the will of God. Maybe you find yourself in the midst of a storm that God in his mercy sent upon you so that you could make the decision to repent and get your life back on track.
Moses needed to obey what God was telling him to do. Jonah needed to obey what God was telling him to do. And you need to obey what God is telling you to do. And you need to believe in the name of Jesus, that it is the power for your salvation. You need to believe that the name of Jesus is above all other names and that any enemy that comes against you must submit to that name.
When you believe in Jesus and he puts his name on your life, you walk with authority. Sickness and Demons respond to your words, because you speak with the name of Jesus.
And the kind of faith that God is looking for is a childlike kind of faith. It is the kind of faith that a child has when you tell her something, she just believes and goes out and does whatever you ask. Because when the name of Jesus is on your life, you can do whatever God asks.
4. Keys to Open Any and Every Door
One of the key moments in Jesus life happened when he asked his 12 disciples, “But who do you say that I am”. Peter said, “You are Christ, the Messiah, son of the living God.” And Jesus replied,
"God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. 18 And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.
19 "And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven."
Matt 16:17-19 (MSG)
Two chapters later in Matthew 18 Jesus makes it clear that those keys are available to all of his disciples. That means if you are a Christian that you have in your possession keys to open any and every spiritual door.
Now to be certain, you probably don’t want to open any and every door. What you want to do is listen to God and then act on his word for where to open and where to close.
But the use of the word key is a good one for us. When you think of keys you can think of authority. The key to your home gives you authority to enter and exit, to enjoy and to do freely whatever you will. The key to your car gives you authority to drive. If someone else were to steal your keys, they would assume unlawful authority, but they would have the use of your belongings none the less.
Sometimes in the church this authority is also called binding and loosing. It’s like duct tape and a knife. When a gift comes for you in the mail, you take out your knife and loose the gift from it’s packaging. Jesus says that you can do that spiritually as well. You need the gift of peace in your home, you say, In the name of Jesus I loose the spirit of peace. And it happens. It obeys you.
I can remember when I was just a young grade 8 boy and I was at a leadership retreat for my youth group. We were staying the weekend at the Gull Lake Campground and some of the older guys in my cabin brought along some duct tape. It wasn’t really a fair fight, I was probably about 5’2” at the time and both of these guys were well over 6’ tall. I was in Junior high and they were in High School. And so they chased me around the little cabin for 30 minutes until they finally held me down and duct taped me into my sleeping bag. Then, they carried me outside to the flagpole and finished the job.
That’s what we can do as Christians to the forces of evil in the world. We can bind them up, and we don’t use duct tape, we use the name of Jesus. We say, “In Jesus name I bind this spirit of fear from my son.” And the spirit of fear has to obey. It must submit to the name of Jesus.
All people are created with this potential to loose and to bind. But we don’t always live up to our potential. We are kind of like cars. Joel Osteen tells the story of how he was traveling with a friend on the Autobahn highway going at the speed of 140km/hour. It felt fast until another car, that was the exact same make and model, zoomed past at 200 km/hour.
He points out that the manufacturer made each car with the same potential, but it is up to the driver to determine how much potential will be realized. Apply to your life. God made you with potential, but you are the one who controls how much of that potential will be realized. Will you grab hold of the authority that you have through the name of Jesus.
5. Christians who have lost their authority
We cannot take this authority for granted. There are things that we can do that will cause us to lose our authority.
One of those things is Moral Impurity. When you lose your purity, you lose your authority. The best example of this is former President Bill Clinton. When he had the affair the American government fought to take away his authority. Clinton fought his impeachment, but he was no longer the ruler that he once was.
Another issue that can take away your authority is unforgiveness. If a friend, family member, or anybody wrongs you and you refuse to forgive them, Matthew 18:21-34 clearly states that God will not forgive you for your wrongs against him. If God hasn’t forgiven you then you are his enemy. You don’t carry his authority. The name of Jesus is not on your life as long as you refuse to forgive.
If you have lost your authority in Jesus you need to reclaim it. The Christian life is one that relies upon God for strength, wisdom, the Fruits of the Spirit and salvation. You cannot make it on your own strength.
God clearly says that if you have committed sin, whether it is a sexual sin, words that you have spoken in anger, wrong actions that you have done, curses you have spoken against others; that you need to repent.
16 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.
James 5:16 (MSG)
If you are dealing with a person that you cannot find the strength to forgive, try to think about how Jesus found the strength to forgive you for your own sins. Your sins earned Jesus 39 severe whips, your sins placed a crown of thorns on Jesus head, your sins nailed Jesus to a cross and for your sins Jesus hung in shame, and then he said “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.”
If Jesus could do that for you, then surely you can forgive your brother. And if you still can’t then it isn’t hard to see why God would hold back forgiveness from you. Simply put, if you want to be forgiven of your sins by God, you must forgive others. That is part of what being a Christian is.
6. The Great Commission.
Jesus final words when he was on earth are these.
"I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Matt 28:18-20 (NLT)
How are we going to be able to accomplish this?
First of all we have to assume our identity in Jesus Christ. His name is above every name in heaven, on earth and under the earth. We have authority because we are under the authority of Jesus.
Second we have to believe in the name of Jesus. We need to take on the faith, trust and the belief of a child who doesn’t doubt.
Third, we need to hold on to the keys that open any and every door. We have been given authority to loose and to bind. We are manufactured by God with phenomenal potential, but it is up to each one of us how much of that potential will be realized.
Fourth, we need to regain our authority by purifying our lives. We need to make sure that we forgive our brothers so that God can forgive us.
Then we can go out with the Believer’s Authority. We can be used by God to do great things in his world.
