Any Christian who has not discovered the tremendous power of kingdom authority is living beneath his privileges.
However, Adrian Rogers says, “God will never place you over those things that He means to put under you, until you get under those things that He has put over you.”
Many of us fail to think of the Holy Spirit as a person with authority, yet the Holy Spirit has authority to rule and reign in our lives. In fact, kingdom authority is mediated by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 5 reveals why we should be under the authority of
Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here’s Adrian Rogers.
SPEAKER 02 :
Be finding, please, Romans chapter 5. We’re talking today about kingdom authority and the authority of the Holy Spirit. Now, so often we think of the Bible having authority. We certainly know that Jesus as Lord has authority. But we need to think today about how that authority comes to us. And it comes to us through the Holy Spirit. And may I say that a church… that is not living in and exercising kingdom authority has ceased to be a force and it has become a farce. A Christian who is not living in and exercising kingdom authority is living beneath his privileges and he is living beneath the dignity that God expects for him to have as he lives with kingdom authority in this life. And as such, he is the heartbreak of heaven. He makes angels weep. He is the mockery of demons. He is the stumbling block to the lost and a great disappointment to himself. Many people are wondering, why is my Christian life in such shambles? Why don’t I have all of this glory, this happiness, this victory that has been spoken of? You see, God is not intended for you to live a life of defeat or desperation. When God saved you, God endowed you with something called kingdom glory. You’re to have authority over the world, the flesh, and the devil. You’re not meant to be the devil’s dirty plaything. You’re not meant to be squeezed in and molded in by this world. You are not meant to obey every whim and passion of that old man called the flesh. God has redeemed you. He has saved you. He has equipped you. And he has ordained you to have authority. Kingdom authority. I can tell you that Satan does not want you to understand the import of this message. Look, if you will, in verse 5. The Bible says, And hope maketh not ashamed. That is, we don’t have to live shameful lives because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Now, God gave us the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts, makes known to us the hope, the assurance that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that’s called the love of God. God’s great love, God’s mighty love to us. And then that love through us to others. Now, it’s the Holy Spirit of God that mediates that to us. You see, the Holy Spirit of God… is the ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible calls him the advocate. Now, Jesus is our advocate before the Father. He represents us before the Father. But the Holy Spirit represents the Lord Jesus to us. The Bible says he’ll take the things of Christ and he’ll make them known to us. He is the authority for the Lord Jesus on this earth. He is to be Lord in our lives because he takes the place of Christ in our lives. The Bible says in the book of Galatians, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there’s liberty. That may be translated, where the Spirit is Lord, there’s liberty. We only have liberty when we get under the lordship of the Holy Spirit of God. Now, some people have the idea that there is some sort of a… Conflict between Holy Scripture and the Holy Spirit. Some people say, well, I don’t pay much attention to the Bible. I’m just led by the Spirit. And others say, oh, you folks are so foolish, you better get under the authority of the Word because being led by the Spirit can be auto-suggestion and you can just go off the reservation in any direction. The truth of the matter is there’s no conflict between the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit is the one who wrote the Scriptures. And the Holy Spirit is the one who interprets the Scriptures to us. It’s not the Scriptures or the Spirit or the Spirit or the Scriptures. It’s the Scriptures and the Spirit. As the Holy Spirit of God takes the Scriptures and applies them to us and makes known the will and the way of the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts and in our lives and where the Spirit is Lord, there is liberty. That’s what we want, liberty. That’s just another way of saying kingdom authority. Now… Fast forward on down to verse 17. And look in verse 17, which is the key verse that we’re going to be looking at. For by one man’s offense, death reigned. Circle the word one. By one man’s offense, death reigned. Circle the word reigned. By one man’s offense, death reigned by one. Much more. Circle the phrase more. much more. They which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Christ Jesus. Now, without trying to understand it yet, let me just tell you that the key to everything is found right in this verse. There are Three key words or phrases that are found in this one verse. One is the word one, O-N-E. If you read this chapter, you’ll find that that word one is used 11 times. Over and over again, he uses the phrase one, one, one, one, one, one. Got it? Got it. Then the next thing you’ll find is there’s another word that is being repeated over and over again. It’s the word reign, R-E-I-G-N. It’s talking about authority, ruling, reigning. And then another phrase that is used over and over again five times is the phrase, much more. Now, if you understand that, you’re going to understand all that we’re talking about today. Now, first of all… Let’s look at the word reign, R-E-I-G-N. And what we’re going to discover is there are two kingdoms. One is a kingdom of darkness and death. The other is a kingdom of light and life. And we’re going to find out that everybody here is in one of those kingdoms. If you are in the kingdom of darkness and death, then you are under the subjugation of the world of flesh and the devil. But if you’re in the kingdom of light and life, then Christ is your Lord and liberty is your legacy because you have stepped out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, into the kingdom of God’s dear son. So that’s the reason he’s using the word reign so many times. He’s talking about kingdoms, kingdoms. Now, the second thing is this. He uses the word one over and over again because he’s saying there are two men. One heads one kingdom. One heads another kingdom. One man is Adam, the first man who ever lived. The other man is Jesus. So one man is the head of one kingdom. The other man is the head of another kingdom. And both of them center in one man. That’s the reason he uses the word one so many times. Now here’s the blessed part. He uses the word much more many times. Now what is he going to say to us? Are you ready for this? He’s going to say to us, listen. That we lost much in Adam, but we gain much more in Jesus. Now that’s it. We lost much in Adam, but we gained much more in Jesus. In the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that’s what we’re going to be thinking about right now. Now I want us to think what we received from one man Adam. Look in verse 19 now. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners. One man’s disobedience. Who was that one man who disobeyed? His name was Adam. Many were made sinners. Who is that? Just write in your Bible, me. Don’t write Adrian, just put your name there. All right. Many were made sinners. All right, now look again. So by the obedience of one, who is that one? Jesus. Many were made righteous. Now if you’re saved, you can put your name there too. I’ve been made righteous. In Adam we lost it. In Christ we got much more back than we ever lost in Adam. So what we’re going to see is what we lost in Adam, then the legacy that we received in the Lord Jesus, and then how the Holy Spirit of God makes that real in our hearts and in our lives. What did we receive from Adam? What is the legacy of Adam? Now, by the way, let me say this, that you were born in Adam. I mean, that’s your nature. You say, well, I didn’t vote for Adam. I didn’t have anything to do with Adam. Of course you did. Of course you did. I mean, if Adam had died before he had any children, would you be here today? No, you see, we are linked to Adam in a very special way. And you know, so many of us have the idea that we are in the image of God. Well, I want to disabuse you of that idea. You are not in the image of God. Adam was made in the image of God. You are in the image of Adam. The image of God was marred and defaced in Adam. Now, the Bible says God said, let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and he made Adam and Eve. But then Adam and Eve sinned, and then the Bible says that God brought forth a son in his likeness and in his image, in Adam’s likeness and in Adam’s image. And that likeness and that image is marred. You see, if you think that we today are in the image of God, look around. You think God’s in this shape? I mean, think about it. You see, I mean, look at everything. This is not the image of God. This is the image of Adam. You see, we’ve never seen a man as God intended for us to be and as we will be one day when we’re made in the likeness of the Lord Jesus. As the psalmist said, I shall be satisfied when I awaken in thy likeness. Suppose you’d never seen a railroad train in your life. Never seen one. And then let’s suppose there is a train that wrecks. And there’s twisted steel and smoke and steam and just mayhem everywhere. And the cars are all tumbled up and the locomotive is upside down and you’ve never seen a train. And I take you and show you the train wreck. And I say, there is a railroad train. Question. Have you seen a train? Not exactly what you’ve seen is a train wreck. Isn’t that right? All creation has been wrecked. And the person next to you is a wreck. And you are a wreck. Go look in the mirror. Now, folks, we are in the image of Adam. Now, let me show you what we lost in Adam in Romans chapter 5. Let me show you what Adam gave to us. He gave us weakness rather than power. Look in verse 6. For when we were yet without strength… Let’s just stop there without Jesus. We’re without strength. You say, well, I have strength. We’re not talking about physical strength. You say, well, I’ve got money. We’re not talking about financial strength. You say, well, I’m smart. We’re not talking about intellectual strength. You say, well, I have a sound mind. We’re not talking about emotional strength. We’re talking about spiritual strength. You do not have spiritual strength to be what God wants you to be and to do what God wants you to do. You can try as much as you want, but you do not have what it takes, nor do I in Adam. We’ve lost that strength. And in the place of it, we have been given spiritual weakness. You may have the power to do you think as you want, but you don’t have the power to do as you ought without the Lord Jesus. So what did I get from Adam? I got weakness from Adam because I am without strength. Now, what else did I get from Adam? I got ungodliness rather than godliness. Look, if you will, again in verse 6. For when we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. Now, what did God make Adam to be? Godly. Like God. What did sin make him? Ungodly. Unlike God. Do you know the problem with many of us? We are measuring ourselves by the wrong measure. We say, well, I’m better than those folks down there at that church. Well, what’s that got to do with it? Somebody says, I’m just as good as those folks down there at that church. I’m looking for a man honest enough to say I’m just as bad as those folks down there at that church. I mean, after all, the church is nothing but a society of sinners who finally realized it and banded themselves together to do something about it. Isn’t that right? We measure ourselves by ourselves. We say, well, I think I’m all right. What’s that got to do with it? The Bible says you are those who measure yourselves by yourselves. You’re not wise. But the worst thing we do, we find some old hypocrite and we stretch ourselves out in the gutter alongside him and say, I’m a little longer than he is. We measure ourselves by people who are inferior to us and therefore think that we’re all right. But God’s standard is godliness. Do you know what sin is? Let me give you a definition of sin. Romans 3 verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The distance between the glory of God and where we are right now, that’s sin. That’s sin. We have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Why did we get from Adam? We got weakness from Adam. Why did we get from Adam? We got ungodliness, ungodlikeness in Adam. Doesn’t mean we’re bank robbers. It just simply means that we have come short of the glory of God. Now let me tell you a third thing that we got from Adam. We got sinfulness rather than righteousness. Look, if you will, in verses 7 and 8. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God committeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now, we sit in church many times, dressed up, Bibles in our hands, hymnals by our side, and we look so good. But friend, in Adam, we’re sinners. Amen. We’re sinners. The Bible says sin is the transgression of the law. Now, you may not think that you’re a sinner, but you are a sinner. You’re a sinner. Is there anybody here who would say, I have not sinned? Well, let me ask you a question. Is there anybody here who has ever told a lie, whether it’s white, light, black, or technicolor, ever in your life, ever one time, ever told a lie? Is there anybody here who has ever taken anything that did not belong to you. Whether it was a toy out of your neighbor’s yard when you were a child, whether you cheated in school and took an answer off somebody else’s paper, carried materials home from the job, whether you did not pay your proper taxes, whether you stole some money off your mama’s dresser, or whether you robbed a bank. You know what we have here today? We have a congregation of liars and thieves. Am I right? Yeah. That’s kind of funny when we do it that way, but it’s really not funny. Because, you see, a man is not a liar because he tells lies. He tells lies because he’s a liar. A man is not a thief because he steals. He steals because he’s a thief. Now, some, of course, are terrible thieves and terrible liars. Others maybe are not in that category. But we’re not talking about degree. We’re talking about kind. The Bible says that we are sinners. And the Bible says, Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, the same is guilty of all. What did we gain from Adam? We gained weakness from Adam. What did we gain from Adam? We gained ungodliness from Adam, the distance between us and the glory of God. What did we gain from Adam? We gained sinfulness from Adam rather than righteousness. Let me tell you what else we gained from Adam. We gained wrath from Adam rather than approval. Look in verse 9. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath. THROUGH HIM. DID YOU KNOW WHAT WE ARE WHEN WE’RE IN ADAM? WE’RE UNDER THE WRATH OF GOD, THE WRATH OF GOD. NOW, YOU KNOW, PEOPLE, UH, DON’T LIKE TO HEAR ABOUT THE WRATH OF GOD. UH, SOMEHOW IF A PREACHER PREACHES ON THE WRATH OF GOD, UH, THAT PREACHER’S SUPPOSED NOT TO BE PREACHING, UH, AS HE OUGHT TO PREACH. WE’RE SUPPOSED TO TELL EVERYBODY THAT GOD IS LOVE. WELL, GOD IS LOVE. HE’S PERFECT LOVE, INFINITE LOVE. AND THE BIBLE SAYS, GOD COMMENDETH HIS LOVE TOWARD US, AND THAT WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US. BUT THIS VERSE ALSO SPEAKS OF THE WRATH OF GOD, DOESN’T IT? If you preach the love of God to the exclusion of the wrath of God, you’ve not preached the whole truth. And when you preach part of the truth, that part of the truth becomes an untruth. If you don’t preach the whole truth. And there’s a wrath of God. Some people have the idea that God is going to overlook our sins. He will not. He’s a holy God. Some people have the idea that we’ll be reincarnated. We’ll get another chance. You will not. It’s a point that a man wants to die and after this, the judgment. Some people have the idea that God is going to save everybody. Sort of universalism. He is not. He is not. The Bible says that if a man dies without Christ, he is forever, eternally lost. And there are only two categories of people in the world, the saved and the lost. The Bible does not teach universalism. And some people think, well, when I die, I just annihilate. I just go back to the ground. I rot. I decay. I evaporate. I’m no longer. Oh, no. The Bible teaches that you live forever and ever and ever and ever. And God sent me here to tell you, and I want to say it as plainly, as straightly, as lovingly as I can. In Adam, you’re under the wrath of God. And if you die without Jesus, you’ll die and go to hell. Now, I’m not saying that to be smart, Ellicott. I’m certainly not saying that to be cruel. Sometimes we get the idea that if a preacher preaches about hell, he’s cruel. The preacher who does not warn people to flee from hell is a cruel man. Amen. Because he’s not telling people the truth. What did we receive from Adam? We received a weakness from Adam. What did we receive from Adam? We received ungodliness from Adam. What did we receive from Adam? We received, folks, a sinfulness from Adam. What did we receive from Adam? We received wrath from Adam. And what did we receive from Adam? we received warfare from Adam. Look, if you will, here in this same passage of Scripture in verse 10. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Just look at the word enemies. Do you know what you are if you’re not a child of God? You’re an enemy of God. You say, now, wait a minute. I am not a Christian, but I’m not an enemy of God. Well, yes, you are. If you’re an Adam, you’re an enemy of God. Jesus said, Matthew chapter 12 and verse 30, he that is not with me is against me. And he that gathers not with me scatters abroad. You cannot be neutral. Not to be for Christ is to be out and out against the Lord Jesus. You see, if you are in another kingdom, then you are guilty of high treason against heaven’s king. High treason is a capital crime. So don’t get the idea that you can be neutral. You cannot. If you’re in the kingdom of darkness, you are in opposition to the kingdom of light. Jesus said, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad. Either you’re for Christ or you’re against Christ, either you’re working for Christ or you’re working against the Lord Jesus, and you are not neutral. What you are when you are an Adam is you are an individual with a clenched fist in the face of God. Now, you may not understand that, but the Bible says that we are enemies. So, put it down, big, plain, and straight. In Adam, we’re in trouble. Isn’t that right? I mean, by one man, we’re in trouble. Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re saying, now, pastor, that is not fair. That is not just right. Why should I be in all of that difficulty because of Adam? I mean, I didn’t vote for him. I didn’t choose him. Is that fair? Is that just? Friend, not only is it fair, it is wonderful. You better thank God for it. It shows that God not only is just, but he is kind. Why? Well, number one, if Adam hadn’t have sinned, you would have anyway. If you’d been put to the same test, you would have sinned. And number two, you’ve already sinned, so don’t worry about Adam’s sin. You’ve got enough of your own to take care of, right? But here’s the good part. Because we can be condemned by one man, we can also be saved by one man. See, that’s it. I thank God that he deals with that one man. Thank God because of one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners. But verse 19, by one man’s obedience, by one man’s obedience, the Lord Jesus, many are made righteous. Thank God that those who are in Adam, one man, can also be in Christ, one man. So now we’ve talked about our loss in Adam, let’s talk about our legacy in Christ. Let’s just turn it over and see what our legacy in the Lord Jesus Christ is. What did we gain in Christ? Now remember, remember that we gain much more in Christ than we ever lost in Adam. Five times he mentions that phrase, much more. Let’s look at them. First of all, there’s the much more of justification. Look in verse 9. Much more than… Being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Now, what do I have much more than Adam had before he ever sinned? Well, before Adam ever sinned, Adam was simply innocent. But friend, after we have been saved, we are much more than innocent. We are justified. Now, I’m going to explain to that a little bit more when I get on down the line, but there are three words that you need to keep in mind when you think of the cross. One is justice, the other is mercy, and the third is grace. Remember those words? Justice, mercy, and grace. Justice is God giving us what we deserve. You say, well, I hope I get justice. You better hope you don’t. You get justice, you’ll go to hell. Justice is God giving us what we deserve. Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve. It’s righteousness, okay? All three of those are in the cross. At the cross, when the Lord Jesus Christ died for us, Jesus suffered the wrath of God for us, and so therefore, God’s justice is satisfied because His wrath was poured out upon His own dear Son, the Lord Jesus, when He became our substitute. Then, because God’s justice is satisfied, God’s mercy is shown. And you and I are forgiven of our sins. And because of the mercy of God, we don’t face that wrath. But then, more than that, God’s… Grace says that we are now justified and he puts us back as though we had never sinned at all. And folks, that’s much more than Adam ever had before he sinned. That is much more. You call that the much more justification. Got that one? Let’s move on to the second one. There’s the much more of reconciliation. Look, if you will, now in verse 10. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Now Adam, when he sinned, ran off into the bushes and hid. God came looking for Adam. Adam, where are you? Because sin had separated God and man. Now, it’s not God that needs to be reconciled. God didn’t do anything wrong. We’re the ones who are reconciled. We’re reconciled to God. Folks, we gain much more in Christ than we ever lost in Adam. Here’s the third thing I want you to notice. What’s the next much more? The much more not only of justification and reconciliation, but the much more of regeneration. Look in verse 15, the last part of that verse. Much more… The grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. Look at the word abound. Adam had life, but we have abundant life. That is the regeneration. When he comes back into us, We are regenerated. We are regened. The genetic code of our spiritual life now is the genetic code of the Lord Jesus. We are partakers of the divine nature. We are regenerated, regened, made like the Lord Jesus on the inside. Adam never had that. Before he sinned. That’s the much more that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Folks, I’d rather live in Romans 5 than in the Garden of Eden. Much more, much more. Now look at the next much more. And a much more of our righteousness. Look in verse 17 of this same thing. For if by one man’s offense, that’s Adam, death reigned by one, that’s the old kingdom, much more, much more. They that receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by our Lord Jesus Christ. Look now at the word of righteousness. Adam, we said, was innocent. But we are positively righteous. Now, what is the difference? Well, Adam could have sin placed on his account. You can never have sin placed on your account. Now, you’re in Romans 5, just turn left to Romans 4. And look at Romans 4 and how Paul gives one of the richest words. discussions of our righteousness, the much more of our righteousness that he could possibly give. Now look in verse 5. This is Romans 4 verse 5. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. You’re not saved by joining a church, by keeping the Ten Commandments, by obeying the golden rule, by getting baptized, by giving your money, or anything else. Salvation is not A reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. When God sees you put your faith in Jesus, God writes down by your name, he is righteous. Verse 6, even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. Do you know what the word impute means? It means to put on your account. When you go to the department store and buy something, don’t say charge it, say impute it. That’ll confuse her a little bit. It means the same thing. Put that on my account. God put righteousness on your account. He just imputed it to you. You didn’t earn it. You don’t deserve it. But when you put your faith in the crucified Son of God, God imputed that to you. Is that not wonderful? That is wonderful. But wait a minute. It gets better yet. Saying, “‘Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven.'” Now he takes every vile, terrible, horrible thing we’ve ever done and he forgives us. Well, that’s wonderful. But it gets better yet. And whose sins are covered. Not only does he forgive, he forgets, he covers, he buries in the depth of the deepest sea and the grave of his forgetfulness as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us. So whose iniquities are covered. Well, that’s wonderful. Can it get any better? Yes, it does. Continue to read. Verse 8, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now he has imputed righteousness, but it goes on to say he will not impute sin. He will never put sin on your account. Never. You say, but what if I sin? Well, he’ll carry you to the woodshed. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens. And if you’re a child of God, you know the chastisement of God. But friend, that sin will never be put on your account. People have the idea that if they’re living good when they die, then they’re going to heaven. Well, you ought to live good. But friend, I want to tell you this. You don’t go to heaven by the way you live. And I wouldn’t trust the best 15 minutes I ever lived to get me to heaven. You know what I’m trusting? Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. If God imputed sin to you, to me, or any of us, we would never make it, none of us. God will not put that on your account. You say, well, pastor, if I believe that, I’d get saved and sin all I want to. I sin all I want to. I sin more than I want to. I don’t want to. God saved me. He gave me a brand new water. He gave me a new nature. And that’s one of the ways that I know that I am saved. And if I were to disobey the Lord, He’d carry me to the woodshed. But he would not put sin on my account. Now, sin could be placed on Adam’s account. But we got saved. Listen to me. We got much more in Christ than we ever lost in Adam. You understand that? It is the much more. It is the much more of our righteousness. And then, look, if you will, the much more of our reign. Look in verses 20 through 21. We’re back to chapter 5, verse 20. Moreover… The law entered that the offense might abound. That means in plain English, God gave us the law to let us know we’re sinners. But where sin abounded, grace did, here it is, much more abound. And how did that grace abound? Well, watch it. That as sin reigned unto death, when you were in the kingdom of death and sin was ruling over you, even so might grace reign. Reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. We come into a new kingdom. It is the kingdom of grace. And it is much better than the kingdom that Adam had even before he sinned. Adam had an earthly dominion and he lost it. He blew it. But Jesus brought it back and it now becomes a kingdom of grace. And we have gained much more in Jesus than we ever lost in Adam. I saw advertised something called super glue. And they said, where you put the thing back together, it’ll be stronger there than at any other point. That’s what salvation is. Folks, it’s stronger after it’s been put back than it was before it ever got broken. That’s what he’s saying. By one man, we got into one kingdom. And by another man, the Lord Jesus, we got out into the kingdom of love and life to reign in life. But we gain much more in Christ than we ever lost in Adam. What does this have to do with the Holy Spirit? I’m glad you’ve asked. Look, if you will, in chapter 6, verse 1. What shall we say then? I mean, what are we going to do about this? How is this going to become real to us? So far, it’s just theology. Now, how are we going to get it down into our lives? How are we going to walk out of here tomorrow morning, this afternoon, whenever it is, and live with kingdom authority? What shall we say to these things? What he’s saying there is, where is the practical application? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. We’re not saved by works. But does that mean we’re to live sinful lives? Forbid it, Lord. Now, there are three key words here in chapter 6, and I’ve got to give them to you quickly. Look, if you will, in chapter 6, verse 6, knowing this. And write down in your margin, fact, F-A-C-T. Then go down to verse 11. Likewise, reckon. Write down the word faith by that word. And then go down to verse 13. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of righteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God. Underscore the word yield and write down function. Fact, faith, and function. All right, now here it is. Listen. Here’s how the Holy Spirit of God takes care of you. First of all, This is a fact. He says you are to know it. Listen, you are to know it. You are to know that Jesus has bought back that lost estate. You are to know that Jesus has given you righteousness, all of these things. That is a fact. What is the import of that fact? Remember that a son of slaves is a slave. Now suppose you’re a slave. Let’s suppose you’re a runaway slave. Let’s suppose you deserve punishment. Let’s suppose you’re not only a slave but a criminal. And then you die. What happens to the criminal charges against you when you die? They’re gone. You can’t prosecute a dead man. Suppose you’re a slave. What control does your old master have over you when you die? None. He can’t tell you when to go to bed, when to get up, what to do. Now listen. We died when Jesus died. He died for us. We died in him. One man, the Bible says, died for all of us. So his death had my name on it. That is a fact. Therefore, all the charges against us are dropped and all the demands that Satan has upon his old slaves, they’re gone. That’s a fact. It’s a fact. Now, the Bible says in verse 11, reckon that. That’s faith. You see, it’s one thing to get the fact. It’s another thing now to believe it. This word reckon is a bookkeeping term. It means calculate on it. Act on it. I mean, if you have your bank account there and you add it up and you say, I have got a certain amount of money in the bank. Once you reckon that, then you can write the check. And the facts are there. Those are the numbers. Then you calculate it. You say, okay, that is true. Now I can begin to act on this. Reckoning is not closing your eyes and pretending. But it is a fact that Jesus died for us, that he broke Satan’s back, that Satan’s kingdom is doomed, and that Jesus bought back for us more than Adam ever lost. Now here’s the third thing. This is where you really need to get to where it begins to operate is the function. And that is the word yield in verses 12 through 14. When chapter 6, now look at it very carefully. Let not therefore sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God. That is your function, to yield. Now notice what he says there. Don’t let sin reign in your mortal bodies. Now what does that mean? It means you could if you wanted to. I mean, if you’re so silly, once you’ve been emancipated, once the charges against you have been dropped… Once Satan’s hold over you is nullified, you’re no longer his slave, then why are you going to let him rule over you? You don’t have to do it. He doesn’t want you to know that. But you are going to have to take your authority. You’re going to have to use that authority. Satan never gives up anybody or anything without a fuss or without a fight because he’s a liar. He is a usurper. He doesn’t want you to know the truth. One time, a long time ago, I told you about a sailboat that I used to have down in Florida that got stolen. I couldn’t find my sailboat. It was gone down from the riverfront. Upon a time, I was driving down the highway, and I looked over there in a boatyard where they had boats for sale, and there was my sailboat. Right out there in the front, it was the one that they were featuring. I looked at that. I said, there’s my boat. I wheeled in. I looked at it. I saw every little nick. I’d been in that boat for hours. I knew everything about it. No doubt about it. That was my boat. And so I walked in there and I said, how much is the boat out there? And he told me. I said, oh. I said, well, I said, that’s my boat and I’ll be back in a while to get it. I went and got my trailer and came back. And I went out there and started to load the boat. He came out and said, what are you doing, mister? I said, I’m getting this boat. He said, you can’t do that. I said, watch me. I was loading the boat up. He said, you better not do that. I said, why don’t you call the police? I said, go call the police and bring them down here and tell them that a man is carrying away a boat. He went inside and never heard any more from him. I loaded up the boat and took it away. You know why? I had the truth, the facts on my side, and I could act on them. Now, Satan will bluster. He’ll try to keep you from having your kingdom authority. But you can say to him, you’re a liar. If you don’t like what I’m doing, tell God only. See what happens. What I’m saying is this. You don’t have to let it happen. Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies. But yield yourselves as instruments of righteousness. There’s only one thing to do when temptation comes, and it’s yield. Not to temptation, but to Jesus. And when you yield to Him, when you yield to Him, then kingdom authority begins to flow in you and through you, and you yield yourself as an instrument of righteousness. Now everybody here is in one of two kingdoms. You’re in the kingdom of darkness and death or light and life. Isn’t that true? In Adam all die, in Christ are all made alive. Here’s a situation. You’re on the railroad tracks and your car has stalled. The train is coming at a great velocity. And there you are. If you remain in the car, it is sudden death. You have a choice. You can get out of the car or you can remain in the car. Now, you don’t have to decide whether or not you’re going to die. That’s already decided if you don’t get out of the car. Your choice is to get out or to die. Now, folks, let me tell you something. You are already an Adam. All you have to do to die and go to hell is just stay right where you are. I mean, you’re already there. You’re already there. The choice is, are you going to get out of Adam and into Christ? That’s the choice. That’s the choice. Because in Adam all die, and you’re already under condemnation. And a train is coming. But our Lord says, come to me. Come to me. And I’m telling you today that you can step into the kingdom of God’s dear Son And you can live with kingdom authority. When you yield, do you know who you’re yielding to? The Holy Spirit of God. And that’s the kingdom authority of the Spirit.
SPEAKER 01 :
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Sermon Overview
Scripture Passage: Romans 5:1-5, 17
Any Christian who has not discovered the tremendous power of kingdom authority is living beneath his privileges.
However, Adrian Rogers says, “God will never place you over those things that He means to put under you, until you get under those things that He has put over you.”
Many of us fail to think of the Holy Spirit as a person with authority, yet the Holy Spirit has authority to rule and reign in our lives. In fact, kingdom authority is mediated by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 5 reveals why we should be under the authority of
