Delegated Authority: The Authority of the Cross

We are continuing our series about Delegated Authority

Delegated Authority - The authority that someone with authority has given out to use on their behalf; as if they were personally there.

This series is designed to teach us what the Bible says about the authority that God has given us to use on His behalf & teach us how to use it well in life.

“If we don’t know who we are, we will live like someone else” - Unknown

If we don’t know that we have authority and power from Heaven, we will live a powerless life victimized by the devil.

1 Peter 5:8 NKJV

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Hosea 4:6 NKJV

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

If we don’t have the knowledge that we have been made undevourable, we might allow ourself to be devoured.

To understand what happened at the cross we have to understand what happened in the Garden of Eden.

What happened in the Garden?

Last week we learned that

ALL authority comes from God because He is the source-point of everything that exists.

God made Adam and Eve in His own image (alike in every detail).

God gave Adam & Eve authority and dominion over the garden and tasked them with expanding that dominion over the entire earth.

Genesis 1:26–28 NKJV

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Adam and Eve gave the authority they were given to the devil when they chose to obey him rather than to obey God.

Genesis 2:16–17 NKJV

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 3:4–6 NKJV

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

By submitting to the devil rather than to God, Adam & Eve chose the devil as lord in their life & yielded their God-given authority to him.

The devil became the god of this world with Adam and Eve’s delegated authority.

2 Corinthians 4:3–4 ESV

3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The devil even became the father of humanity in the exchange of authority.

John 8:44 NKJV

44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

The lying, stealing, killing, & destroying nature of the devil became humanity’s nature and brought death and cursing to humankind.

This is why children don’t have to be taught how to lie or hide & we don’t need to be taught how to sin - it is part of the fallen nature we got from our father, the devil

What Happened at the Cross?

Jesus took His delegated authority back from the devil and gave it back to us, His children!

Genesis 3:15 NKJV

15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 and stepped on the head of the devil at the cross.

Jesus took our sin and our curse and personally delivered them back to the devil.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Galatians 3:13 NKJV

13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

Revelation 1:18 NKJV

18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

Jesus conquered death & now took back the keys to death & the grave.

Colossians 2:13–15 NKJV

13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Jesus disarmed our enemies and openly demonstrated His victory.

Matthew 16:19 NKJV

19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Jesus gave us the keys of the Kingdom & returned delegated authority to us

Luke 10:19 NKJV

19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

The devil does not have authority or power over us anymore!

Just One Thing:

Jesus gave you authority! How are you going to wield it and use it to do God’s will?

Discussion Questions:

What from the present will withstand the test of time?

What stood out to you most, &/or what did you learn from this sermon that impacted you?

Please read Matthew 16:19 & Luke 10:19 and share if you can/do actually believe these verses. If you do (or were to) believe them, how do they affect the way you live?

What does having so much delegated authority from God mean to you & your life?