Key to Power
Key To Power
When God created Adam and placed him in the garden
of Eden, He gave Adam certain legal rights. These legal
rights were not Adam’s by nature, not innate rights. These
legal rights were conferred rights. Whenever you receive
conferred rights, you not only have the privilege and opportunity
of having them, but also the possibility of their
forfeiture.
God conferred upon Adam the authority and power
to rule the earth with all its creatures.* Thus God limited
Himself by giving that legal responsibility to Adam.
Among other legal rights which God conferred upon
Adam were the rights to perfect love, to complete joy,
to happiness, to perfect health. The right of everlasting
life was another conferred right.
Adam—or man in general—not only had certain conferred
rights, but he also had natural rights. These natural
rights cannot be forfeited. Unlike a natural right, you can
use a legal right in whatever way you choose though
you do not have the moral right to do so. The legal right
to use that which is conferred upon you is absolutely
yours. If I conferred upon a person a college degree
having certain rights and privileges, the person could
take the power that is latent in that degree and use it for
good or for evil, use it to benefit man or to harm man.
This truth may be further illustrated by thinking in
terms of a court of law. A legal will wherein is stipulated
that a certain sum of money has been given to you
is read in court. Would you then say that the sum of
money is yours? Yes, you would, because it has been
legally conferred upon you. After it has been conferred
and you receive that sum of money, you may spend it
wisely or foolishly, whichever you choose.
Anything which is conferred upon man may be used
well or poorly. When God gave Adam all the privileges
mentioned in The Word, God also conferred on Adam
certain legal rights which in turn gave him absolute control
over the privileges granted him. Adam took those
legal rights and transferred by his own willful decision
the authority and power of those rights to Satan. Adam
could have refused Eve’s enticing offer to sin; however,
through freedom of choice, he took his conferred rights,
the rulership of the earth, and gave them to Satan. With
that decision man lost the legal rights God had given
him, forfeiting these rights to another.
The original sin of man had legal consequences. Adam
had the right to transfer the authority and the power and
the dominion he had because God had conferred it upon
him. But Adam committed treason in doing so. Transferring
to Satan, God’s archenemy, the power which
God had originally conferred upon Adam, was treason.
Since that day, Romans 8:22 records that “. . .the whole
creation [earth] groaneth and travaileth in pain together
[even] until now.”
Sin and the consequences of sin were upon man from
that day when Satan received the legal right to rule over
man and over all the earth. Satan has a legal right now
to rule over the unsaved men and over the entire world.
Thus when Adam sinned, Satan, who was the supreme
enemy of God, obtained absolute control over all that
which God had originally given to Adam.
The redemption of man from this fallen state was a
most unique act. We must always remember that God is
absolutely just. When He makes a legal commitment,
He honors it. When God conferred upon Adam certain
legal rights and Adam transferred them to Satan, God
had to recognize the transferred legal rights.
God, being just, must of necessity redeem man on legal
grounds to be just to Himself, to man and to Satan. In
order to accomplish this complete justice, the Redeemer
had to come to earth. This Redeemer had to be a man
because it was man who had committed the original sin.
In order to complete all the requirements of justice,
the Holy Spirit brought about the conception of Jesus,
who was to be the Christ. The child was born of a woman.
He was absolute man, but the power of Satan had no
authority over Him for there was no death within His
body because the life in His blood was sinless or pure
and, subsequently, incorruptible.
At various places in the New Testament we read that
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.** It could
not cleanse had it not been clean.
The child Jesus was not a subject of death nor a subject
of Satan. Satan knew God’s purpose and he tried to
frustrate the legal redemption plan by having Herod
execute a decree that all children two years and under
throughout the entire province were to be killed. Satan
knew that if Jesus were to live and grow up, He would
reclaim what man had lost and which were now the legal
rights of Satan.
Every step that God took through Jesus Christ was a
step on legal grounds. Man’s redemption is on legal
grounds. Jesus met the just demands of God by being
human, yet believing perfectly the will of God. He met
the demands of a just God for all sinners for all time.
Hebrews 4:15 says that the Son of God “. . .was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
Redemption included his crucifixion as I Peter tells us.
I Peter 2:24:
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on
the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Jesus paid the full legal price for man’s sin and the
consequences of sin.*** He descended into hell (the grave),
and sometime between the resurrection and His appearance
to Mary, in His resurrected body, He preached to
the imprisoned spirits.† He legally broke the chains of
authority and power of Satan. Jesus bought back what
Adam had legally transferred to Satan. Since the time
of Christ’s resurrection and the giving of the holy spirit
on the day of Pentecost, Satan’s power and dominion
over man are broken. There is absolutely no control that
Satan has or legally holds over any saved man.
Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and took with him
the tokens of his victory over the devil.
Ephesians 4:8-10:
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high,
he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also
descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that ascended up
far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
On the grounds of Jesus’ complete victory, the sinner
today has a legal right to salvation. If Jesus Christ had
not completed that just victory by being a man and defeating
Satan and his power, there would not be a person
reading this book who could claim salvation on legal
grounds. Christ’s completed victory gives the born-again
Christian legal rights.
You have a legal right to eternal life because of what
Jesus did. You have a legal right to victory over all sin
and the consequences of sin. Everything that man lost
in Adam, Christ has legally redeemed for mankind. You
have a legal right today to a home in heaven. You have
a legal right to use the authority of the name of Jesus
Christ in prayer in order to get results.**** You have a
legal right to the Father’s protection, care and guidance.
You have a legal right to be a son of God, a friend of
God, an heir, yes, a joint–heir with Christ Jesus in the
family of God.†† You have a legal right to receive the
indwelling presence of the holy spirit. You have a legal
right to be changed at the second coming,‡ if you are
alive at that time. You have a legal right to an immortal
body.§ You have a legal right to an inheritance in the
new heaven and the new earth. This is only a portion of
the legal rights because of what Jesus Christ did. He
bought back and delivered to God the full redemption
of man. Jesus Christ purchased you, and his purchase
was full and complete. By his purchase we have legal
rights which are a gift of grace.
Christians have a delegated authority today which God
in Christ has given. But the Church has failed to claim
and appropriate its just rights. The Church has not
claimed its rights, power and authority because Satan
has talked us out of it. My friend the late Rufus Mosley
used to say, “God is all the time trying to do the best He
can for you and the devil is all the time trying to do the
worst for you; the way you vote determines the election.”
There is only one good power in the world—the power
of God. Satan also has power, but only destructive power
which he can use when people permit him to rule them.
Because of our legal rights in Christ Jesus, we do not
approach God like a beggar asking for food. We go to
God as sons appropriating, by believing, our legal authority
and right. When I go to God in prayer, I know
the promises of God and I believe God. God is faithful
to His promises and I claim my legal rights before Him
as a son.
The moment a person confesses Jesus Christ as Lord
in his life, believing in his heart that God raised him
from the dead, he becomes a son of God, being born of
His Spirit.‡‡ If we are sons, we are heirs. According to
Romans 8:17 we are joint-heirs with Christ. We have a
legal right to everything that Christ had, if we will believe.
Everything Jesus did while here upon earth we
may do, and more, if we believe.§§ This is a gift of God’s
grace.
God will do what He said He would do. We have
believed so many things which Satan has said, but we
have believed so little of what God has said. How often
God makes a promise in The Word saying He will do
so and so, but we do not believe a word of it. A friend
makes us a promise and we believe every word; but when
God gives us promises in the Bible, we say, “Oh, no, that
cannot be true. That was all right for the spiritual men like
the apostles, but not for Christians like me.” Chapter
and verse please to back up such a statement!
Christ has delegated his authority to the believers who
make up the Church, the saints of the household of faith.
If the Church fails to assume its responsibility and its
delegated opportunities, God’s power and authority are
paralyzed. God has moved in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
moved to regain legal rights for man. Now it is man’s
move in the authority and power delegated to him by
Jesus Christ for Satan has no legal rights over the converted,
born-again man.
Romans 6:14:
For sin shall not have dominion over you. . . .
Satan, however, still has definite legal rights over the
sinner. The unconverted sinner legally belongs in body
and soul to the devil. But Christ has broken that power
for us who are born of His spirit and know His power
within us.
Note Christ’s authority and power.
Philippians 2:5-11:
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I Corinthians 3:21 and 23:
. . .For all things are yours.
And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.
If I Corinthians 3:21 and 23 are true, then rise up like
men of God and claim your believer’s delegated authority!
The power and authority of Christ is delegated to us
through the name of Jesus Christ. It is his wonderful,
matchless, powerful name, when named from our heart
and on our lips, that cancels the forces of evil. We have
a delivering Christ and his authority is our authority to
act in his name through the Church he established.
The words in Mark are true for every believer.
Mark 16:17-20:
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In
\my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak
with new tongues;
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay
hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he
was received up into heaven, and sat on the right
hand of God.
And they went forth, and preached every where, the
Lord working with them, and confirming the word
with signs following. Amen.
A believer’s delegated authority is the legal right of
deliverance from all the powers of the enemy. If you
have one thousand dollars in the bank, you have the
legal right or authority to write a check for one thousand
dollars. It does not take faith to do so. It takes action and
boldness.
Unless we claim with action and boldness our delegated
rights we are tying God’s hands. God is limited to
the extent of a man’s believing and obedience. May I
urge you to study God’s Word diligently so you will
know what are your legal rights in Christ Jesus. This is
the key to power.