I think we all agree that ours is a spiritual battle...EPH 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Where are these "spiritual hosts of wickedness?" In the heavenly places! How can that be? We may touch on that tonight, but I mainly want to focus on spiritual authority.....what it is, who has it, and how to use it properly. You can have the biggest gun in the world, but if you don’t know how to load it and fire it...that is, use it properly....then it will be ineffective!
A lot has been said about spiritual warfare these days. I believe that God would have us to seperate fact from fiction regarding this matter. There are too many "lame-duck christians" worrying about binding up spirits whenever they themselves are bound up! Too many luke-warm brothers and sisters "taking authority" where they actually have none. This is a very dangerous practice, and it leaves us open to even bigger attacks from the enemy.
First of all, we saw in our text that our battles are indeed with spirits and principalities. It’s hard to fight something you can’t see, isn’t it? So we have to go by God’s Word because we don’t have a chance to win these battles by ourselves. Let me show you what can happen.
ACTS 19:11 Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
These brothers had been around a few miracles. They had seen mighty works done by Paul, and I’m sure hey had carefully studied his methods. It only stood to reason (so they thought) that they would be able to perform the same kinds of miracles that Paul did if they simply used Paul’s "system" and repeated Paul’s words. It didn’t quite work out that way, did it?
I want you to notice something very important here...in vs 13 it says that they came in the name of Jesus! They rebuked this spirit in the name of Jesus! So what was the problem? The problem was, they did not have the authority to do so! Do you remember how we always talk about God’s order? He has an order to authority as well...and unless you want to get the tar beat out of you and run off naked, you better be sure you are in the authority of Jesus Christ whenever you invoke His name!
So how do we get the authority to invoke the name of Jesus? Glad you asked! 2 COR 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Let’s look at this text closely....we walk in the flesh, but we do not war according to the flesh. That means that the rules of the flesh, that is the natural laws as we know them, are not applicable whenever we are doing battle in the spiritual realm. You see, Satan has no rules. He is not bound by some code of conduct that he has to go by. He is actually called the lawless one, isn’t he? He doesn’t play nice, and if we are to be effective against him, we must do exactly the opposite of satan and play by God’s rules!
What does vs 4 mean when it says the"weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds"? Well, simply this: The weapons you must use in this battle are not anything that is physical. A gun won’t help. A tank won’t help. The only thing that can help is what our text says...being mighty in God! How do you become mighty in God? By His Spirit! That’s what the Bible means as it goes on here in our text...finishing vs 4.......pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
You can’t do any of that without God’s Spirit, I don’t care who you are! If you are to do battle in a spiritual realm, what do you need most of all? How about the Spirit to fight for you? Yocannot do it alone; you cannot do it just because you proclaim it. You cannot do it simply by taking some unauthorized authority over it. You MUST have the Holy Spirit of the living God dwelling inside you truly, and not by word only.
You see, it’s a matter once again of the heart. We talked this morning about worship being a matter of form to some. The seven brothers of Sceva had the right form whenever they tried to take authority over the demon. They used the right words. They just didn’t have the right heart! They even used the name of Jesus to legitimatize their works. Listen, you cannot created authority where there is none. Only God can create authority, and He does that after careful examination of your heart. If you want more authority, then seek more of the Holy Ghost...that will make you "mighty in God for pulling down strongholds" like our text says!
You can’t have it just because you name it and claim it...anymore than you can have a new car by naming it and claiming it. There must be some authority given to you for you to drive away from the car dealership in that new car before you can take it. In the same manner, there must be some authority given to you before you can take down strongholds!
By the way, how did Jesus drive out demons? Let’s look...LUKE 4:33And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 34Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. 35And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. 36And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. He did it like He did everything else...with authority(even teaching at the temple)! Still don’t get it? Let’s see what He did so the disciples could do the things He was doing...
LUKE 9:1Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. Jesus gave them power and authority. They had been following Jesus for 3 yrs....didn’t they already have power and authority?
Let me ask you this..suppose you have a business and you needed to hire someone to look after it while you were gone........would you give a lot of authority to someone who doesn’t have a clue as to how to use it? Or would you carefully consider the most trusted worker you have and give him the authority? Remember, you can’t give every employee the same amount of authority...some of them can’t be trusted to use their authority correctly and it could just get them into trouble.
Here’s the good news...in MATT 28:18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Any power and authority that we have has to come from the source of power and authority. This means, simply put....more of Jesus, less of me. God has given us what we need to do battle in the form of His Holy Spirit.
ROM 8:26Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
If you’ve been taking authority over something that hasn’t been listening to your authority...maybe you’re unauthorized. Maybe you’ve let some things in that have undermined your authority. Maybe the Holy Ghost doesn’t lead you quite like you used to let Him. I know you’re busy. Maybe you’ve refused to come under authority yourself....and if so, how can you expect anything to come under your authority? This is a battle for your very soul. It’s time to take back the authority in your life and put it under submission to the Holy Spirit.
