In this enlightening episode, Adrian Rogers delves into the realm of spiritual warfare, presenting the key principles for engaging in the battle that every believer faces. Drawing upon Scripture, Rogers explains the concept of spiritual authority bestowed upon believers through Jesus Christ, encouraging listeners to realize their position in God’s kingdom. Through thought-provoking analogies and in-depth exploration of biblical texts, this message inspires all to embrace their authority in Christ and fight against the forces of darkness with confidence.
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.
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Would you take God’s Word and be finding Luke chapter 10, a very key passage that deals with the victory that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ and some principles of spiritual warfare. Now the word warfare is an important word for whether you realize it or not, we’re in a battle. We are in a war, a fight to the finish against a sinister foe, no holes barred. We cannot be neutral and we cannot call for a truce. General Douglas MacArthur said and rightly said in war, There is no substitute for victory. And the victory is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ as we’re going to see. Because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross and because of our birth into the kingdom, we have now kingdom authority. And when we were born again… We were born to win. I hope you will learn that today. I pray God that the Holy Spirit will emblazon that upon your heart. As we read there in the book of Chronicles, the battle is not yours. It is the Lord’s. Now let’s see what God says here in Luke chapter 10 and verse 17. Now let me preface this by saying that Jesus commissioned 70 to go out and preach. He gave them authority. And when they came back with great joy, here’s what they said. And the 70 returned again with joy saying, Lord. Even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. Did you get it? Listen to it. The 70 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the devils, that literally means the demons, are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Now the word power is used twice in the King James Scriptures, but in the Greek there are two different words for power. The first word means authority. And it may be translated, behold, I give you authority over all the power of the enemy. The three things today I want to put on your heart as we talk about our spiritual warfare over Satan. And that warfare, by the way, is prayer. But first of all, kingdom authority has been sovereignly established. Now, what do we mean by authority? Well, Webster says authority is the power or the right to command. to act, to enforce obedience or to make final decisions. And then he says this power as delegated to another authorization as he has my authority to do it. Now that’s what the 70 understood. Lord, the demons are subject to us. Through thy name, in the name of Jesus, we have the victory. You see, our authority comes from him. It has been sovereignly established. Adam and Eve were created, placed in the Garden of Eden, and given dominion. Given dominion over all of the earth. Let them have dominion over the works of my hands, God said. But Adam and Eve sinned. They yielded their dominion to Satan. They lost the crown. They became slaves of Satan. And all of the children of Adam and Eve are sons and daughters of slaves and slaves themselves. Adam lost his dominion. The Lord Jesus, the second Adam, the last Adam, came to this earth as a man, took flesh and blood, and brought back Adam’s lost estate. This dominion was legally lost. It must be righteously regained. God owes the devil nothing, but God will be true to his own legality, his own sense of righteousness and justice and truth. And so God did not just simply snatch that authority back from Satan. kill the devil and give it to Adam it was lost by man and it was regained by man it was lost by the first Adam it was regained by the second Adam the Lord Jesus and so the Bible says in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive that dominion has been bought back just put your bookmark there if you will in Luke chapter 10 and turn with me to Colossians chapter 2 verse 13 And he’s going to give your spiritual biography right here. Now this is talking about you. It says, and you, and you, being dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together. Now the word quickened means made alive. Together with him. Having forgiven you all trespasses. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Underscore that. Nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” Now folks, in three verses there, you’ve got some spiritual dynamite. And I want you to pay attention and find out how this kingdom authority has been sovereignly established. I want you to see how Jesus on the cross brought Satan’s kingdom crashing down. I want you to see what the Lord Jesus Christ did. You see, you and I, being slaves, were in bondage. But Jesus came to set the captives free. First of all, we were in bondage to spiritual death. Look in verse 13. And you being dead in your sins, hath he quickened? Now, folks, let me tell you how bad off we were. We were not just sick in our sins. We were dead. You don’t have to wait till your heart stops beating for you to be dead. The Bible says she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she lives. Jesus said, I’ve come that you might have life and have it abundantly. Your heart is already beating. A man, a woman, a boy or girl without Jesus Christ is D-E-A-D, dead. Right? All right. In Adam all die, in Christ all are made alive. So, the very first thing Jesus came to set us free from was spiritual death. But now, watch this. Not only spiritual death, but spiritual debt. D-E-B-T, debt. We are in debt because of our sins. Heaven has sued us for damages. We are guilty before God and in debt because of our sin. But now notice verse 14. Jesus was blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Now, are you ready for a blessing? Listen to me. In olden times, in Bible times, when a man was accused of a crime, a handwriting of ordinance would be written against him. His indictment would be written down. And then this handwriting of ordinance was delivered to the judge and there would be a trial. And if he were adjudicated guilty, they would write on this description of his crime, the penalty, the debt that was due. Now let’s suppose that he was to spend 10 years in prison. And so they would write on there, he has done thus and thus and thus. And here is the penalty. Here is the debt that is due. And it is written on this certificate of debt. This handwriting of ordinance. Then they would put that man in the prison. And then they would nail to the prison door that certificate of debt. And it would tell what he had done, what the judge had sentenced him to, and what he must pay. Now, once he had fulfilled his time in jail, once he had paid his debt to society and to the king, then they would release him from jail. They would take that handwritten bill and a clerk would take it back to the judge. The judge would say, has he paid in full? Has he paid to the very last day? Has his debt been satisfied against the crown? Yes, your honor, he has paid in full. The judge or the king, whichever the case may be, would take that certificate of debt and write across it one word. As a matter of fact, in ancient documents, we find this word written on certificates of debt. Even in the Dead Sea Scrolls, they found it written. It is the same word that Jesus uttered from the cross. It is the word tetelestai, which literally means paid in full. He would take his pen, take that certificate of debt that had been nailed to the prison door, write across it, tetelestai, that is, it is paid, it is finished, give it to him. Now he walks out of that courtroom having had his debt paid. There’s nothing again that the law can bring up against him that is gone. It is buried. It is finished. It is paid in full. Now, I want you to imagine. Almighty God going through all of the record of all mankind from Adam right up to the last person who will ever be born and taking all of the crimes, all of the sins, all of the lies, all of the hate, all of the pride, all of the rape, all of the murder, all of the blasphemy, all of every sin, writing it down on a certificate of debt for mankind, my sin, your sin, our sin, And what did he do with it? He said, we are guilty. But then what did he do? He took it and nailed it to the cross. Nailed it to the cross. If a man, if a man were guilty of a capital crime and he’s going to die, they did not put the certificate of debt on the cell door. They put it on the cross. Remember when Jesus Christ was crucified, what did they do? They put an accusation over his head. King of the Jews. What was he guilty of? What was the capital crime? Insurrection. He claimed to be a king. They said he’s the king of the Jews. That’s why he’s dying. But friend, Paul says that he took our certificate of debt. He took the handwriting ordinances that was against us. He took it out of the way and he nailed it to his cross. And when he died, he bowed his head and what did he say? Tetelestai, paid in full. Paid in full, signed with the crimson blood of the very Son of God. Paid, paid in full. Now the devil is the accuser of the brethren. And Satan will accuse you to God. And he’ll say, you see that man Adrian Rogers? He claims to be a preacher. But he’s a sinner. He lost his temper the other day. If you’re a righteous God, you ought to fling him into hell. But then my attorney appears. His name is Jesus. And he says, now wait just a minute, Father. Here’s his certificate of debt. It is paid in full. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity. Paid in full. Then if he doesn’t do any good with God the Father, he’ll come to me. And he’ll say, you’re no good. You don’t deserve to live. You think you’re so saved. You think that you’re a child of God. What about all of those bad things you’ve done? What about those thoughts? What about those failures? And I just take my certificate of debt and just wave it in his face. Wave it in his face. That’s the reason the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Jesus paid it all. Not only have we been brought out of bondage from our spiritual death, we have been quickened, made alive of the Lord Jesus, but also from our staggering debt, for our staggering debt. But now wait a moment. There’s a third thing that his death did. Not only our spiritual death, not only our staggering debt. But also satanic dominion. We’ve been set free from that. Now look in Colossians 2 verse 15. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Now when he says principalities and powers, what’s he talking about? He’s talking about Satan’s dark kingdom. Remember Ephesians chapter 6, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. But what did Jesus do when he died on that cross? He ruined Satan. Now look first of all at the word spoil. Do you see it? And having spoiled principalities and powers. That word spoil, ekduo, it literally means to strip. To strip. Have you ever seen maybe a film where a person, an army officer is being disgraced? Maybe he’s sinned against the state and he has all of these medals on him. And he comes up there and his superior officer just reaches out to those medals and that insignia. Rip. Strips it from him. You ever seen anything like that? That’s exactly what this word has the idea of stripping. It was actually meant to take the hide from an animal. Satan has been stripped. And then the Bible says he made a show of them openly. Here he is. He is now stripped of all of his royal regalia. He had dominion. He calls himself the God of this world. He says, all the kingdoms of the world have been given unto me. But when Jesus died on the cross, he stripped him of that. And then he made a show of him openly. Look at that verse. And made a show of them openly. That is, he’s shamed. Not only stripped, but he’s shamed. He’s made a show of. He’s made a laughing stock. Look at him. The king has no clothes on. He’s been stripped. He’s been shamed. And then it says triumphing over them in it. In what? In his death on the cross. He’s been subdued. That’s your enemy. Stripped. Shamed. Subdued. How? By mighty Calvary. The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus that through death… He would destroy him that had the power of death. That is the devil. That’s what the second Adam did to undo what the first Adam did. Have you got that? Do you understand? This authority has been sovereignly established. Now, the devil doesn’t want you to learn that. He doesn’t want you to learn the king has no clothes. He does not want you to know that he has been stripped, shamed, and subdued, okay? But you know it now, don’t you know it? Say amen. Say I know it, I know it, I know it. Don’t you let him intimidate you anymore. Now here’s the second thing. This authority that has been sovereignly established, this same authority must be strongly enforced. Now you say, now wait a minute, Adrian. If it has been so established sovereignly established, why does it need to be strongly enforced? Because Satan is an imposter. And he does not give up anybody or anything without a fight. And his fight is deception. He always tries to pull the veil of darkness over his nefarious kingdom. He does not want you to understand what has happened to him. Many people don’t realize this. Many people think that Satan still has Power. He only has power to those who allow him to have that power. We say, Pastor, I don’t understand. If he’s been defeated, why then must I enforce my authority over him? Because you must appropriate what God has already done. We do this in many areas. For example, Jesus died for everybody. 1 John chapter 2 says this of the Lord Jesus. It says, He is the propitiation for our sin. Now that’s a big double-jointed word, but it literally means He’s the satisfaction for our sin. He is the propitiation for our sins. And then John says, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. When Jesus died, He died for the world. But is all the world saved? No. Why? Because what is absolute, his death, must be appropriated by faith, right? The fact that Jesus died for you and paid your sin debt will do you no good unless you believe on him. He that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. You no longer need to go to hell because of your lying or stealing or pride or envy or lust. That has been paid for. But you must appropriate death. What has been paid for. Got it? So it was absolute, but it must be appropriated. Let’s think about spiritual power. When the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, God poured out his Holy Spirit to the infant church. And we don’t need to pray for another Pentecost. We don’t need to pray Holy Spirit come. The Holy Spirit has come. We need to quit asking God to do what he’s already done. It’d be like asking Jesus to die for our sins. The Holy Spirit has come and God has poured out incredible dynamic power. But let me ask you a question. Is every Christian spirit filled? Does every Christian have the power of the Holy Spirit? No. Why? Because they have not appropriated that which is already absolute. You see, it is there, but it must be appropriated. Now let’s talk about your dominion over Satan. Has Satan’s back been broken? Yes. Has his kingdom been ruined? Yes. Do you have authority? Yes. Yes. But you must appropriate and enforce that authority. Satan is not going to give up these who are in his dark kingdom. You see, Satan is holding people captive. Turn back, if you will, with me for just a moment to Luke chapter 4. I want to show you the condition of these who are captives of Satan. This is an amazing passage of scripture here. Luke chapter 4, the Lord Jesus is at his hometown in Nazareth. It’s time for the sermon and Jesus steps up to give the sermon now. And he takes for text Isaiah chapter 61. And this is what Jesus says, because the Old Testament prophesied the Lord Jesus. I’ll read verse 17 first. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. These are those who have bankrupt the poor. Now, he’s not talking only about those who are financially poor. It includes that, but he’s talking here spiritually. Now, you may be a multimillionaire today, but without Jesus, you’re bankrupt. You may go home today in a fine automobile, but without Jesus, you’re a pauper. And you need the Lord. So put down the word, he came for the bankrupt. But now notice also, he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Oh, listen, Jesus came to those who are filled with sorrow. Your neighbor, those people that you work with, they are broken hearted. The Bible says man that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. And without Jesus, it’s only going to get worse. What do they have to look forward to? One by one, the loved ones will be taken from them. One by one, they’ll go down into the grave. Day by day, their body will get weaker and sicker. And all they have to look forward to is a hole in the ground and there’s no rhyme, no reason, no sense to anything. Jesus came to those people, the bankrupt, the brokenhearted. And then look, to preach deliverance to the captives, the bound. These are people who have been taken captive by Satan. Satan has moved in and made this world a vast concentration camp. And they’re Satan’s captives. They may not even realize it. But they are bound by Satan. And the Bible says the whole world lieth in the bosom of the wicked one. just like a child asleep in its mother’s arms. This world is listening to the lullaby of hell as demons sing that anthem. And we wonder, why don’t they wake up? They’ve been chloroformed by the spirit of this age and they’ve been taken captive. And the recovering of the sight to the blind. Put down the word blind. These are people who cannot see. The 2 Corinthians 4, 4 says, The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not. It’s not that you don’t have 20-20 sight. You can’t see spiritual things. Never argue with a man for not understanding the Bible. Nobody’s ever argued into the kingdom of heaven. When he says, I just don’t see it, he’s not lying. He doesn’t see it. Jesus said, except a man be born again, he cannot see. Listen, they are blind. Satan is cruel. He takes joy in your suffering and in your pain. Why does he do that? Why is Satan the bruiser? Satan knows that he cannot get at God. Satan’s war is with God. But Satan knows if he can hurt someone that God loves, he’s hurt God anyway. And so therefore you have become a pawn in this war. Now just look at this litany of problems. Those who are bankrupt, those who are brokenhearted, those who are bound, those who are blind, those who are bruised. These are the ones who are in Satan’s dark kingdom. Now what is our responsibility? Why did Jesus come? This verse says that the spirit of the Lord is upon him because God sent him to do this. Now what did Jesus say to us? Listen to me. Jesus said, as my father has sent me, even so send I you. These who are bankrupt, these who are brokenhearted, these who are bound, these who are blind, these who are bruised, God has sent us to the rescue. It is our job. In the authority that has been given to us to set the captives free. That’s the reason we have this great commission. It deals with authority. As my father has sent me, even so send I you. Our warfare is not with flesh and blood. We need to understand that our warfare is with Satan. Do you understand that? Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 says, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places. When Simon Peter rebuked the Lord Jesus and said to the Lord Jesus concerning the cross, No, Lord, be it far from you. You’ll not die on that cross. Jesus Christ said to Simon Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan. For thou art an offense unto me. Now was Jesus calling Simon Peter Satan? Of course not. Jesus knew better than that. But Jesus looked beyond the Simon Peter and saw where the battle was. Now you know what the devil loves to do? The devil loves to get us fighting with flesh and blood. Now listen. Our problem is not in Hollywood nor in the White House. We’re at war with Satan. Our warfare… is not with some politician. Our warfare is with Satan himself. We are not wrestling with flesh and blood. And the reason that we’re losing the fight is we’re not showing up for it. And Jesus said, behold, I give you authority over all the power of the enemy. Now it must be strongly enforced. It is sovereignly established. but it must be strongly enforced. You have to take the power of attorney and move in. There was a woman in Missouri, I believe. I read about her. She had allowed a man who was not her husband to come into her apartment and live there. She thought it’d be a good arrangement. But after a while, she realized that she’d made a tragic mistake. And she told that man, you’re going to have to leave. He said, I’m not leaving. She said, please leave. He said, I’m not going to leave. She said, I don’t want you here anymore. He said, I’m not going to go. You invited me here. I’m going to stay. She didn’t know what to do. She went to a court and got an injunction against him and brought it there and said, you see this? You’ve got to go. I’ve got authority now and you’ve got to go. And he moved out. Now, Satan is that same way. You can say, Satan, won’t you leave me alone? Please leave me alone. Don’t bother me anymore. What you need to do, my friend, is take the authority of heaven and say, Satan, in the name of Jesus, I resist you. I rebuke you. You have no right here. You’re trespassing on my father’s property. And in the name of Jesus, be gone. You say, well, you’re talking to the devil. Isn’t that like praying to the devil? And I pray into a cat when you say scat. I’m telling you, my friend, Jesus said, I give you authority over all the power of the enemy. It has been sovereignly established. It must be strongly enforced. Now, here’s the third and final thing. This authority that our Lord has given us to set the captives free must be strategically exercised. Now, pastor, what do you mean that it must be strategically exercised? Well, number one, the person who does it must be right. Don’t you sally forth against Satan if there’s any unconfessed sin in your life or spirit of rebellion. You will never be over until you learn to be under. Only when you’re under authority can you live with authority. You’re going to get yourself in a lot of trouble. If you try to fight spiritual battles with a dirty, wicked heart or rebellious spirit, there must be the right person. Number two, and this is very important, there must be the right position. Now you must understand where you are as a Christian and you speak from that position. Because what is our position? Ephesians 2 verse 6 says that God has raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, in the heavenlies. And folks, listen. When Jesus died, we died with Him. His death had our name on it. When Jesus arose, we rose with Him. When Jesus ascended, we ascended with Him. When Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, we are in Him. He is in us. We are sitting together with Jesus in the heavenlies. You say, I thought I was here in church. Physically, you are. but spiritually you’re seated with Christ. Now listen, you know our problem many times? We’re praying in the wrong direction. We are praying from earth to heaven. We need to start praying from heaven to earth. Are you listening? I mean from our position in the Lord Jesus Christ. From heaven to earth, we are seated with the Lord Jesus. And now we need to turn our prayers downward because these things are beneath our feet. And Jesus said, whatever you will bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. That doesn’t mean that God seconds the motion. It means in the Greek language, whatever you bind on earth shall have already been bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall have already been loosed in heaven. It is done. And now we need to exercise kingdom authority. The right person. The right position. And the right power. Where is the power? The power is in Calvary. The Bible speaks of Satan in Revelation chapter 12. And it says, concerning Satan, And they, the saints, overcame him by the blood of Christ, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. Where is the power? The power is in Calvary. The power is in the blood. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. You, with the authority that has been given to you, can take the blood of Jesus Christ and overcome Satan every time. The word of the testimony. What does that mean? What is the word of your testimony? The word of your testimony is the word of God actualized in your life. That’s the word of your testimony. What God has done for you. Do you have a testimony? Do you believe the Bible? By the word of your testimony. Give the devil your testimony. Say, I belong to Jesus Christ. My certificate of debt is paid in full. Your back is broken. God has given me authority over you and I don’t have to take it. That’s my testimony, Satan. Don’t you let the devil intimidate you anymore. They love not their lives unto the death. What that verse literally means is, I’ll serve Jesus if I die for doing it. Doesn’t mean I’ll keep loving him till I die. It means I’ll serve him if I get killed for doing it. That’s what it means. Oh, my friend, Jesus said, I give you authority over all the power of the enemy. It’s time we discovered it and put it to work. Amen. Amen. If you’ve never given your heart to Jesus and you’d like to be saved, I’m telling you right now today that God will save you by his grace and for his glory. And not only will he save you, but he will empower you and keep you saved day by day. And the same Jesus that has saved me is the one who will save you. I want you to pray this prayer if you want to be saved. You say, well, pastor, if a person can be saved and know it, I want to know it. All right, then pray this prayer. Dear God. That’s right. Just talk to him. I know that you love me. And I know that you want to save me. Jesus. You died to save me. And you promised to save me if I would trust you. I do trust you. I believe you’re the son of God. I believe you paid for my sin with your blood on the cross. I believe that God raised you from the dead. And now by faith like a child, I receive you as my Lord and Savior. Come into my life. Forgive my sin. Save me, Lord Jesus. Save me, Lord Jesus. Pray it and mean it. Save me, Lord Jesus. Did you ask him? then pray this way. Thank you for saving me. I believe that you have. And now, Lord Jesus, help me never to be ashamed of you. Give me the courage to obey you and make it public. In your name I pray. Amen.
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In this enlightening episode, Adrian Rogers delves into the realm of spiritual warfare, presenting the key principles for engaging in the battle that every believer faces. Drawing upon Scripture, Rogers explains the concept of spiritual authority bestowed upon believers through Jesus Christ, encouraging listeners to realize their position in God’s kingdom. Through thought-provoking analogies and in-depth exploration of biblical texts, this message inspires all to embrace their authority in Christ and fight against the forces of darkness with confidence.
