You know what we've been talking about? We've been talking about supreme authority and where it's found. Who holds supreme religious authority today? And I have said that supreme authority resides in God.
And there are philosophical grounds for this belief. Anybody who is a theist, or even a deist, would admit that supreme authority resides in God. But we have a more sure word of scripture. And I could spend the rest of my preaching time just reading scripture telling you this, but let me read just two passages:
Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might...
1 Chronicles 29:11–12 KJV
God's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation... The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will... All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
Daniel 4:3, 17, 35 KJV
Those are just two passages that tell us of the sovereignty of God.
So tonight I want to talk a little bit to you about sovereignty and authority and what it all means, because this is definitely a part of our Christian beliefs and teachings and we must know this if we're going to be well-informed, instructed Christians.
Now the concept of authority involves the concept of dominion. That is, there must be a right to rule. You know, down the years there has been authority that has not been a proper authority. There have been dictators, men who ruled but had no remote right to rule whatsoever. But the concept of a religious authority, or authority within the field of religion—or within the field of sound philosophy apart from religion for that matter—it involves the right to rule, and then it involves the right to give commands in order to rule, and it involves the right to give commandments in order to command.
Now I must stop and break that down a little bit. If we talk about authority and supreme authority, why then immediately there comes the idea of dominion. Somebody must have dominion. And dominion means the right to rule, and the right to command in order to rule, and the right to give commandments in order to command. I hope that isn't as badly mixed up as it might sound, but you'll find that I am accurate in this.
Also, the concept of authority involves the idea of a sphere of dominion—a sphere where that authority operates, over which the authority extends. And that sphere is not simply geography. I wouldn't give 50 cents an acre, or I wouldn't give 50 cents for 10,000 acres of prairie dog holes and ice! If God were to make me king over the North Pole, I wouldn't take it as a very great compliment indeed. And if He were to make me mayor of Little America—you know where that is, down at the South Pole, nothing down there but penguins; they try to look like people, but they're not! And these penguins stand up there and look dignified as if they're about to make speeches at a formal dinner, but they're just birds!
So it isn't geography that matters, brothers and sisters; it's people that matter. And so the idea of dominion means the idea of authority over a company of beings who submit to that authority. Now that company of beings must have intelligence in order to enable them to understand, and they must have freedom of choice to enable them to choose to obey.