Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): What happened after God gave Adam dominion over the earth? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: God gave the first man dominion. But as we're going to see, he lost it. Look around today. You don't see the sons of Adam ruling and reigning and having dominion over this earth as God gave spiritual dominion. Something has gone wrong.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring profound truth simply stated through the messages of Adrian Rogers. You and I are in a spiritual battle. We are up against the organized, mobilized, demonized power of hell. We need to understand what kingdom authority is in order to use it.

In part one of today's message, we learned that God made us to have dominion, but that kingdom authority was illegally lost by Adam. Yet, it has been righteously regained by Jesus Christ. If you have your Bible, turn to Ephesians chapter one. We'll begin in verse 15 with part two of Kingdom Authority. Once again, here's Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: Now, here's the first thing I want you to learn. That kingdom authority was gloriously given to Adam. Gloriously given or graciously given to Adam. God gave the first man dominion. But as we're going to see, he lost it. Look around today. You don't see the sons of Adam ruling and reigning and having dominion over this earth as God gave spiritual dominion. Something has gone wrong.

Here's the second thing I want you to understand. Not only was it graciously and gloriously given, but it was legally lost. Not just lost, legally lost. Adam took that dominion that God had given to him, and Adam gave that dominion to Satan.

Obviously, Satan deceived him. Obviously, Satan, a con artist, deceived Adam. But nonetheless, Adam—faithless, unbelieving, disobedient Adam—yielded to Satan and became Satan's slave. Romans chapter 6, verse 16, the apostle Paul explains it this way: "Don't you know that to whom you yield yourselves servants or slaves to obey, his servant or his slave you are?" The King James gives it "servant," but the Greek word is "slave." Adam yielded to Satan. He became a slave of Satan. His kingdom authority was gone. He lost his legal right to rule.

Now, when Satan tempted Jesus—this is a key verse right now, don't miss it—when Satan tempted Jesus, he tempted Jesus to worship him, to worship Satan. But here's how he tempted Jesus. He showed him all of the kingdoms of this world, the glory, the power, the splendor of those kingdoms. Then this is what Satan had the audacity to say to the Son of God. And the devil said unto him, "All this power will I give thee and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will give it."

Jesus didn't contradict him. Jesus did not remonstrate against what he had said. He said to Jesus, "If you'll worship me, I will give you the power, the glory, the authority of this world," because he said, "It has been delivered to me." It was delivered to him. God gave it to Adam. Adam delivered it to Satan, and Satan said, "I'll give it to you, Jesus, if you'll just worship me."

It was graciously given. It was legally lost. Satan says, "It has been given to me." And man now is spiritually dead and spiritually dethroned. Legally, he has lost the authority, the kingdom authority that was given to him. Therefore, continue to read in Ephesians chapter two, verse one: "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." Adam, who was given life, now is dead. And the sons of Adam are dead. Adam, who was given authority, is now dispossessed and dethroned.

Now notice: "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." What is that spirit that now works in the children of disobedience? That's the spirit of the devil. The Bible calls him in Second Corinthians 4:4, "the god of this world."

Paul later on in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12 says, "For we're not wrestling against flesh and the blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world." There's a dark prince who rules in this world, who has authority in this world because Adam delivered it over to Satan. It was gloriously given. It was legally lost.

Now we're going to tighten the focus a little bit. Now you're going to understand why Jesus Christ came. It was legally lost. It must be righteously regained. Now, where was it given? It was given to a man. How was it lost? It was lost by a man. How must it be regained? It must be regained by a man.

God could destroy Satan as God. He's Jehovah God. He owes the devil nothing. Satan has absolutely no power over Almighty God. In one word, he could be completely destroyed. But God is going to be true to his own righteousness, his own holiness, his own justice, and by a man, he's going to destroy the power of Satan.

Now let me give you some verses that back this up. God's plan must center in a man. First Corinthians chapter 15, verses 21 and 22: "For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ, even so in Christ, shall all be made alive." Only two men really who've ever lived: Adam and Jesus.

And either you're in Adam or you're in Christ. In Adam all die. If you are in Adam, what pertains to Adam pertains to you. That's a sinful nature, judgment, death, and hell. If you're in Christ, what pertains to Christ pertains to you. Even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection from the dead. There had to be a man who would undo what the first man did.

Put this verse down: Hebrews 2:14. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood." The children he's talking about is us. The children of God. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same. The same what? The same flesh and blood. That through death he might destroy him that had the power, the authority of death, that is the devil.

Have you got that? You see, it was lost by man. He had to become flesh and blood. Adam's sin deserved judgment. The wages of sin is death. Jesus had to take flesh and blood, a body so he could die and by death pay sin's penalty, be raised from the dead. And what Adam had legally lost, God will righteously regain by God becoming a man.

Put this verse down: Galatians 4, verses 3 through 5. "Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage." Before we're saved, we're in bondage. We are slaves of Satan. Even so when we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of this world.

But thank God for that "but." But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. That is, to redeem these slaves. To buy these slaves back. These who were in bondage. God sent forth his son made of a woman.

Now catch this very carefully. He had to be a man. But had he been a son of Adam, he would have had the sinful nature of Adam. A son of the slave is a slave, and a slave can redeem no other slave. Got it? But on the other hand, he had to be a man. It was lost by a man. Legally lost, it must be righteously regained.

That, my friend, is the reason for the virgin birth. That is the reason for the virgin birth. That little baby in Mary's womb was a man, but he was not a son of Adam. He's the son of God. He was not the son of a slave, but he was made of a woman.

As much man as if he were not God at all, as much God as if he were not man at all. He was very God of very God and very man as very man. But he did not defeat Satan as a God; he defeated Satan as a perfect man. He paid the debt on the cross that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.

Now, it would have been a farce and a hollow victory had God simply snatched the dominion from Satan and turned it back over to sinful men. God's plan is far richer, fuller, and greater than that. And so when Jesus Christ came to this earth, born of a virgin, totally, absolutely sinless, Satan knew that he had a problem on his hands.

He knew that a new battle was beginning. He knew that this battle for dominion and authority was being waged. Satan remembered what he had done to the first Adam and how he had tempted and tricked and deceived Adam into sinning and how the dominion was given over to him.

And so Satan says, "Now I've got to get this one to sin. I have got to get him to sin. Because if I can get him to sin, then he will deliver the whole thing back to me, or I will retain what I already have. So I must get him to sin." That's what Luke 4 is all about.

Jesus, as he began his public ministry, he's baptized, the Holy Spirit like a dove descends upon him. And Luke chapter 4 says he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil for forty days. He's tempted there. Satan is trying to get the Son of Man, the Son of God, to sin.

But Jesus didn't have any itch the devil could scratch. He said the Son of Man cometh, he finds nothing in me. Was Jesus tempted to show that he could sin? No, he was tempted to show that he could not sin. He was the holy, righteous Son of God.

And that's where that passage that I alluded to a while back from Luke 4 comes from, where he takes Jesus up to an exceeding high mountain. We're dealing now with authority. And he showed him all of the glory, the power, the authority that is in the rulers of this world.

And he says to Jesus, "You see all this? I'll give it to you. It's been delivered to me, and therefore it's mine to give to whomever I want to give it. I'll give it to you if you'll just worship me." Can you imagine the audacity of Satan saying that to the Son of God? Bow down and worship me. Satan has always wanted to be worshiped, to be like the Most High.

Now what did Jesus do? Jesus defeated Satan, but how? He did not defeat Satan as God, though he was perfect God. He defeated Satan as a man should defeat Satan. As a man. And Jesus in that wilderness temptation did not pull rank on me or on you. He used the two weapons that were available to Adam in the Garden of Eden and the two weapons that are available to us in this sanctuary today: the Spirit of God and the Word of God.

The Bible says that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power, went about doing good there in Luke chapter 4. He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness. The Holy Spirit of God was upon him. And then when Satan came to tempt him, Jesus unsheathed the Word of God and said, "Satan, it is written," and ran him through with the sword.

"Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." And by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures, the two weapons, the Word of God and the Spirit of God, the same weapons that were available to Adam in the Garden because Adam had the Word of God—those same weapons, where the first Adam fell in a garden, the second Adam won in a wilderness. Son of God. Alan Redpath imagines Jesus saying something like this to Satan:

"Satan, I want you to know that as God, which I am, I could obliterate you. But I'm not going to obliterate you as God. I'm going to destroy you as man, as a man. I'm coming against you as a man, a perfect man filled with the Spirit and armed with the Word. That's the way I'm going to win the battle."

And that's the way he won the battle. The hounds of hell bayed after Jesus trying to get him to sin. Satan surely thinking that he would not go to the cross. Surely he would not pay the price that Adam's sin deserved. Surely he would not pay the ransom. Surely he would not redeem the fallen sons of men.

Surely he would not suffer so. Surely he would not become the object of the Father's wrath. But there in the Garden of Gethsemane, the battle of the ages is being waged, and it hinges on one word: "Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done."

It was Satan who said to God, "Not thy will but mine be done." But the second Adam, Jesus, said, "Not my will but thine be done." And as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. And when Jesus went to that cross and suffered and bled and died, he said, "It is finished." Do you know what that means? You remember reading about the Dead Sea Scrolls over there in Israel down by the Dead Sea?

I've seen those caves where those scrolls were found. A little shepherd boy threw a stone into a cave to try to fetch out a goat and he heard a clink. And he went into that cave and found these jars. And in these jars were all kinds of documents: the Dead Sea Scrolls.

But they also found some bills in there, some legal bills. And across those legal bills were written the same word that Jesus said from the cross: Paid in full. Finished. That's exactly what it means. Paid in full. Finished.

You see, the price has been paid and the redemption has been done. And Jesus, the second man, came to undo what Adam, the first man, did. It was graciously given. It was legally lost. It was righteously regained. That's the reason that God became a man.

That's the reason for the incarnation. That's the reason that deity walked in sandal shoes on the dusty shores of Galilee. That's what it's all about. And now, our risen, ascended Lord has ascended the high hills of glory. Where is he now?

Well, here's what Paul is saying I want you to understand. Look in verse 19; we're still in Ephesians 1. "What is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe?" Not to those who don't believe, but to those who do believe.

According to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality. Remember, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities.

But he is now, Jesus, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.

Remember Adam was to have all things under his feet? Remember Psalm 8, verse 6? Now all things are under the feet of the second Adam. And he is the head over all things to the church. Now look at that very carefully. Friend, don't think of the church as an organization with Jesus as the president.

The church is an organism with Jesus as the head. Do you see the difference? Listen, we are in Christ and he is in us. Over the church which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. The authority, therefore, that belongs to him belongs to us.

Look, if you will, in chapter 2, verse 6: "And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Where is Jesus? At the right hand of the majesty on high. All things are beneath his feet. Where are you? You say, "Well, I'm sitting right here," physically.

But notice what it says here about you in verse 22: "And hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church." Look in chapter 2, verse 5: "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ."

That is, we were raised; we died with Jesus, we were raised with Christ. By grace are ye saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now I want to ask you a question. Are you sitting in heavenly places?

The answer is yes. Yes! Yes! Physically we're here, but in Christ we have been raised. When he died, we died; his death had our name on it. When he was raised from the grave, we were raised from the grave. When he ascended, we ascended. When he seated at the right hand of God, so are we in Christ. Friend, the devil hopes you don't understand this.