Adrian Rogers - The Conquering Christ
I would like for you to find, please Ephesians chapter one. In a moment we're going to begin reading in verse 15. Now there was a truth that Paul wanted the church at Ephesus to know, and I'm certain that God wants the church in Memphis to know, and the church around the world to know. And so it was this truth that motivated the apostle Paul to pray the prayer that he prayed for the saints at Ephesus. I want you to listen to this prayer. Ephesians chapter 1, begin in verse 15 and we'll read through verse 23. He says, "Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers".
Now he's talking about his prayer life for the Ephesians. And here's the prayer that he prayed. It begins in verse 17, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him". What he is saying is this, "I am praying that God will open your heart to something incredibly wonderful".
He goes on to say, "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who 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, 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, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all".
Imagine this. Imagine that you have a very wealthy father, and this father says to you, "My son, I want to give you and your bride a very beautiful estate. It will be magnificent, like a ranch, like a garden. It's like a home. It is indescribably beautiful. Because I'm wealthy, and because I love you, my son, I'm giving it to you. I want you to be the head over this estate. I want you and your bride, as she stands by your side, to rule over it. And I put here, my son, everything that you will possibly ever need for your joy, your happiness, and your fulfillment".
Then suppose one day a stranger drives up. You and your bride are there. This stranger's wicked. He's diabolic. He's exceedingly clever, and he begins to talk with your wife, and later on with you. And he begins to question your father. He begins to question your father's motives. He begins to question your father's love, and he begins to put doubts in your mind about your father. And he says, "You know, I can tell you a better way to run this estate if you'll listen to me. You will enjoy it much more. You will succeed much more if you will just let me tell you how you can be the lord over this estate. Just follow what I say. Appoint me as the director. Just sign right here. Just turn it over to me. Give it to me. Of course, I only want to hold it so I can give it back to you and show you how to run it the way you ought to run it".
And suppose you signed a legal document, because that property was legally yours. And you sign a legal document and give it over to that lying, conniving, stranger. You hand your legacy over to him, and say, "Now, I'll run this estate for you my new master. Thank you for showing me now how to run it. You know so much more about it than my father ever did". And you now sign on to work on the estate that you once owned and were to have dominion over.
"Well," you say, "Pastor, has something like that ever happened"? Yes. The Garden of Eden, the Garden of Eden. God made Adam and Eve, and God set them in a garden. God put them upon this earth, and God said, "I give it to you, because I love you, Adam and Eve, and I want you to have dominion over it". Now Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, listen to it, "And God said, 'Let Us make man in Our own image, and after Our likeness:'" and listen to this, "'And let them have dominion.'" That's the key word. Put in your margin Genesis 1:26, "Let them have dominion". Did you hear it? Dominion. What does dominion mean? To rule.
"Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over all the Earth, over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth". Every bug, every insect, Adam and Eve were to have dominion over. Man was given rule over this Earth. He was to control and master its resources. When God created man, He created him to have dominion. Man was designed for dominion. He was made for mastery. Got it? Man was designed for dominion. He was made for mastery. God gave Adam and Eve all that they needed. And put this verse in your margin, Psalm chapter 8 and verse 6. Again God reiterates why He made man and why He made woman to begin with.
The Bible says, "Thou madest him to have dominion over all the works of Thy hands". God made man to rule. Adam was king of the Earth. Now, what has happened? Well, it's obvious today that man doesn't have dominion. Man doesn't rule today. Man's not in charge today. It's very obvious that Satan is in control and not man. Pick up this morning's newspaper and read. Read about the disease. Read about the death. Read about the hate, the war, the crime, the sorrow, the disappointment, the despair, and the frustration that is everywhere, and ask yourself, "If God made man to have dominion, what has gone wrong, and what can be done about it"?
That is the crux of the matter this morning. There're three things I pray God the Holy Spirit will etch upon your consciousness, and write indelibly upon your soul this morning about your lost dominion and how to regain it, how to get it back. Because through our conquering Christ, we can retrieve and have restored what Adam sold and signed over to Satan so long ago. But in order for you to get back to where you ought to be, and to have what you ought to have, and what God desires for you to have, you have got to know truth. And that is why the apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians. I pray that God will open your understanding that God will help you to know this.
I'm telling you there are thousands, and thousands, and thousands, and millions of people who are saved and on their way to Heaven, just as the Ephesians were already saved, and yet they don't understand this. And Paul didn't pray they'd be more wealthy, or more healthy, or more happy; he prayed that they would understand what God has for them. What are these three truths? What are they? Number one. When Adam lost his dominion, it was legally lost. Got it? Dominion was legally lost.
Now if you gave your son something, and your son sells it to someone else, or even gives it to someone else, and signs it over to him, no matter how much you paid for it. If he legally gives it to someone else, even though it might break your heart, it's legally lost. Now look in Ephesians 2, and look in verses 1 through 3. He talks of those of us who were once lost, and he says, "You hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air". Who is that? Satan. "The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our conversation," that means our behavior, "in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others".
Now how did all of this come about? How now does man begin to walk according to the prince of the power of the air? How does this come about? Well, you remember that at one time Satan, who was an angel who rebelled against God. Satan's name was Lucifer, and Lucifer means light bearer. He was indescribably beautiful, incredibly powerful. He was the finest, most superb creature that God ever crafted in his creative ability. The Bible says of him, "He fills up the sun". That is he was a perfect 10. God made him. But one day pride rose in this creature, and he said to himself, "I'm too beautiful. I'm too wise. I'm too powerful to be anything less than God".
And Isaiah chapter 14 says in verses 13 and 14, "He said in his heart I will be like the most high. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God". And he led a rebellion of the angels against God. The Bible tells us that a third of the angels followed Satan in this rebellion as Satan himself thought that he could overthrow the throne of God. And Lucifer, the son of the morning, became Satan, the father of the night. But no sooner had he unsheathed his sword of rebellion than the thunders of Almighty God rolled through the corridors of Heaven. And Satan was banished. Jesus said in Luke 10:18, "I beheld Satan like lightening fall from Heaven".
Those angels that followed him became demon spirits. Satan is now banished from Heaven, but he sees planet Earth. He sees man there in the garden. He see Adam and Eve and says, "I believe I'll go down there, and I believe that I will achieve on Earth what I failed to achieve in Heaven". And so he goes down to this Earth, and he lies to Adam and Eve and tempts them, and they believe him, and they sign over their estate, and they sign over their dominion to him. And God was dethroned in Adam's heart, and God was dethroned in Eve's heart. But Adam didn't enthrone himself, he enthroned Satan. And what Satan failed to achieve in Heaven, he now achieved on Earth. He lost the war in Heaven, but he gained the victory on Earth.
Now here comes a question. If Satan went into that garden, and he lied, and he deceived Adam and Eve, and tricked them, and got them to trust in him and sign everything over to him, why doesn't God just step in and take it back? God can't do that. And why can't God do that? He is both Almighty, but he is holy. And God runs this universe by His own righteous and holy laws. God runs the universe legally. That is, righteously according to His own laws. And God can't just go and snatch Adam's lost dominion back. It was legally lost. It must be legally regained.
Now what I'm talking about to you right now is that Adam's dominion was legally lost. The universe is run by divine law. Now when Adam chose to follow Satan, he became Satan's slave. Put these verses down, Romans 6 verse 16, "Know ye not to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, His servants are ye to whom ye obey". You have the right to turn yourself over to someone else. Adam had the dubious right to yield himself to Satan, and he did. Listen to the verse again, "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness"?
Adam had a choice, and rather than yielding in obedience to righteousness, he yielded to sin unto death. But he did it, and he became a slave of Satan. Now in Luke chapter 4 verses 1 through 13, when Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, you remember the three temptations. The devil showed Jesus all of the kingdoms of this world. And he said to Jesus, "If You will bow down, and worship me," he said, "I'll give it all to You". And then he said this. He said "Because it's been delivered to me". Remember that? It has been delivered to me. Luke 4 verse 6, "All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whom soever I will give it". Satan says, "It's mine".
Now Jesus did not say, "Satan that's not yours". He never disputed Satan, because Jesus knew that Adam had yielded over the domain to Satan. He had yielded himself a servant of righteousness, and Satan now has dominion, and Adam has become Satan's slave. And Adam lost all of his legal rights to rule. And now who is the god of this world? Don't say Jehovah. Now he's God over and above this, and ultimately all things belong to Him. But understand these Scriptures.
Second Corinthians 4:4, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not". Who is the blinder? Satan himself. Listen to Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood". Our enemy doesn't have hide, and hair, and sinew, and corpuscle, and avoir du pois. Our enemy is sinister and spiritual. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world". Satan is in power. Why? Because God made Adam to have dominion, and Adam willfully, sinfully, deliberately, turned it over to Satan, and it was legally lost. Got it? Good. Man's dominion was legally lost.
Here's the second thing you need to understand. Man's dominion was rightfully recovered. If it was legally lost, it had to be legally regained. This is God's mighty plan. Look again, if you will, in Ephesians 1 verse 17 and 18, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints".
Skipping to Ephesians 1 verse 20, "Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places". And verse 22, "And hath put all things under His feet". Now what is all this talking about? This tells how Jesus got it back. What was the reason for Christmas? Why the incarnation? Why did the Son of God step out of Heaven and come to this Earth, walk the dusty shores of Galilee, sweat blood in Gethsemane, die in agony? Why? To rightfully regain what Adam had given. Remember this, it was legally lost. God runs the universe by divine law. It must legally be regained. If God just stepped in, and snatched it all back, and gave it back to Adam, it would make a farce of divine judgment and divine justice.
Now God owes Satan nothing, but God owes His own righteousness everything. God is going to be true to His principles of righteousness and justice. If God were to snatch it back, and give it back to Adam, then sin would have ultimately won, and God would have tumbled from His throne of holiness. Now here's the key. The dominion was given to a man, Adam. It was lost by a man. It must be regained by a man, a member of Adam's race must be found. But a member of Adam's race must be found to gain it back on whom Satan has no claim. You see. Adam became a slave of Satan, and what are the sons and daughters of slaves? They are slaves also.
So, there needs to be someone to come into this world. It was lost by a man. It needs to be regained by a man. Therefore, he must be of Adam's race, but he cannot be a son of Adam. That, my friend, is the reason for the incarnation. That's the reason God became a man. That's the reason God stepped out of Heaven and walked this Earth in sandaled feet. Put these verses down, First Corinthians chapter 15 verses 21 and 22. Are you listening? "For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead". By man came death; Adam. By man came also the resurrection of the dead; Jesus. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive".
Now put this verse down, Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood," that's what He calls us, children, we just like little children. We have flesh and blood. "He also Himself," Jesus, "took part of the same". That is Jesus took flesh and blood. Now listen to this, "That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, the devil". Satan has so much dominion, that he has the power of death; he holds life and death over his slaves. But Jesus, in order that He might destroy him that had the power of death, the devil, He had to become flesh and blood. God could not snatch dominion away from Satan as God; He has to do it as man, but He has to be perfect man.
Put this Scripture down, Galatians 4 verses 3 through 5, "Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage," we're slaves, "we are slaves in bondage, under the elements of the world. 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 we might receive the adoption of sons".
You see. In order for God to redeem us, He has to have a man to redeem us. But this man has to be a perfect man. He cannot be a fallen son of Adam, because then He would have been a slave. But He had to be made of a woman to be a member of the human race. And so there stepped into history the second Adam, from above, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was perfectly human, yet He was the Son of God. He was not a descendant of Adam, though He was born of a woman. Satan had no claim upon the Lord Jesus. He was absolutely, totally righteous. He inherited no sin from Adam, and the man that we call Jesus Christ our Savior, listen to me, He was truly human, and unquestionably divine at the same time.
That's the miracle of Christmas. That's the miracle of the incarnation. Our dominion was legally lost. It is legally regained. Jesus was very God of very God, but He will defeat Satan as very man of very man, as much man as ifHe were not God at all, but sinless man. It would have been a hollow victory had God just snatched the dominion back from Satan, or had Jesus, when He came to this Earth, used weapons that were not available to Adam. But Jesus when He defeated Satan used the very weapons that were available to Adam had Adam used them.
If you read in Luke chapter 4, the Bible tells in the first part of that chapter how God anointed Jesus Christ of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. Jesus did not pull rank on us. Jesus did not defeat Satan as God, but He defeated Satan as a man, anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, the same anointing that Adam could have had. And then when Satan came against Jesus in those temptations, how did Jesus defeat Satan? With the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit.
Jesus said to Satan in Luke 4:4, "It is written. Man shall not live by bread alone". And in verse 12, "It is written. Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God". And then in verse 8, "It is written. Thou shalt serve the Lord God, and Him only". And Jesus took the sword of the Spirit and ran him through with the sword, the Word. And Jesus had two things as a man, the anointing and the authority, the anointing of the Spirit, the authority of the Word, and with that He came against Satan; the same weapons that Adam should have used.
Now, Satan knows he's up against it. For a while, it looks like everything is going his way. But now something has happened. A child has been born of a virgin. He has no sinful nature. He has no itch that Satan can scratch. Satan says, "What am I going to do. I must get Him to sin. If I can make Him sin, if I somehow can get Him to fall, then I've won. But if I don't get Him to sin, I've lost it all. I've lost not only in Heaven, but I've lost on Earth".
So a warfare begins. The battle of the ages begins to rage. On one side is the sinister minister of evil, Satan. The other side is the holy, virgin born, Son of God, and Son of Man, man who has come to redeem Adam's lost dominion. The first skirmish takes place in the wilderness; you remember that. And Satan brings all of the artillery of Hell against the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus never questions Satan's right to give dominion, but Jesus knew that if He ever yielded to that, He would become a slave of Satan just like Adam had. Such a thing was impossible.
So Satan tucks his tale, and runs there in the wilderness. And by the way, the first Adam lost it all in a garden. The last Adam won it all back in the wilderness. Hallelujah, thank God. But now, a second battle begins. Satan is not finished yet. Dark Gethsemane, Jesus knowing that soon He would go to the cross, goes into Gethsemane, and there He begins to weep and to cry, and to pray, "Oh Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from Me". For what was in that cup? All of the sin of Adam, and all of the sons of Adam distilled in that cup, all of the vileness, the wickedness, the lasciviousness, the sodomy, the adultery, the rape, the pride, the hatred, the child abuse, the drunkenness, the blasphemy. It was all in that cup.
Satan says, "Look, He doesn't want to drink it". And Satan was right. He did not want to drink it. Matthew 26:39, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me". But the silence from Heaven said, "There's no other way". And Jesus said, "Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done". I wish the first Adam had said that; thank God the second Adam did. And I want to tell you that "nevertheless" is the word that has changed your destiny and mine. "Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done".
Luke tells us that Jesus was in agony. It's a Greek word which means a battle. He was in a battle. He was in a war, and He won. His soul was sorrowful unto death. Satan doesn't give up yet. Satan doesn't understand Calvary. Satan thinks surely Jesus will not go to the cross. And if He sees the cross, if He sees on the cross, that not only will Jesus be separated from the Father, but He will be the object of the Father's loathing, surely He'll say, "Not that".
And so the hounds of Hell are baying for the blood of Jesus Christ. And they hound Him to the cross. Well, I want to tell you Satan made a tactical error there, my friend. Because the Bible says in Hebrews 2:14, "He through death would destroy him that had the power of death. That is the devil." and Jesus, the darling Son of God was nailed to that cross. They stretched Him out on that hellish machine, and put searing nails through the palms of His hand, nails through His feet, a Roman crucifixion was meant to strike sheer terror in the hearts and minds of those who saw it. But His was no ordinary crucifixion. The sins of the world were upon Him. All of the sin of mankind was distilled and laid on His shoulders, and the eternities were compressed upon Him. And He said, "There is no sorrow like as My sorrow".
And not only was He forsaken of God the Father, but He became the object of the Father's wrath. He took our Hell, our shame, our blame, our suffering, our separation. The fires of Hell were poured out upon Him. It was a battle, and then He said in John 19:30, "Tetelesti". Do you know what that means? One word in the Greek language, three in the King James Version. "It is finished, it is finished, it is paid in full". "Adam, I bought it back. I got it back. I paid. Satan has no mortgage against your inheritance. You're no longer a slave. I have redeemed you as a man. I bought it back". But Satan doesn't give up. Satan says, "Yes, He died, and He's been buried, but He's down there in that cold, clammy tomb. And He'll stay there".
And the searing Sadducees said, "He's dead". And the prideful Pharisees said, "He's dead". And the smirking scribes said, "He's dead". And delighted demons said, "He's dead". But the Bible says in Acts chapter 2 verse 24, "It was impossible that death could hold Him". On that third day, on that Easter morning, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, arose from His bed of slumber, like He'd been spending the night in a hotel, He got up and folded the napkin that was upon His face in tranquil repose, in absolute control.
There was death, that monarch of terrors, there was death. And for the first time death had the look of terror on his face. And Jesus with a nail pierced hand reached up and pulled death from his throne to the floor of that tomb, which was to be now death's dungeon. And when He did, the crown toppled from death's head. Jesus put His heel on the neck of death, reached down and pulled the sting out of death, put the crown on His own head, took the keys from death, and walked out and said, "Behold I have the keys of death and of Hell." Revelation 1:18. And He rose for us. But it's not over yet. He ascended for us. And that's what Paul is saying, "I hope that these folks can understand".
Look, if you will, go back to the book of Ephesians. Look in Ephesians 1 verse 19 through verse 21. He says here, "I pray that you will understand what is this exceeding greatness of His power to usward who 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 heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come". Folks, that speaks of the wonderful resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus.
Now in the few moments I have left, let me give you the third wonderful thing. First of all, this dominion was legally lost. Secondly, this dominion has been righteously regained. Thirdly, it is gloriously given. God gives it back to those who will receive it. Now the Bible makes it very plain. Look in Ephesians 2 verse 6. The Bible says, "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus". Look in Ephesians 4 verse 8, "Wherefore He saith, 'When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive". Who was captivity? Satan. Satan was taken captive. "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men".
And now, listen, a new thing has happened. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 30. The Bible says, "For we are members of His body, and of His flesh, and of His bones," of Jesus. Now here's the new thing. We have something that Adam never had. Adam was innocent. We are righteous. Adam was there in the Garden of Eden, and he sinned. But you and I have the Lord Jesus Christ as a part of us. Don't think of the church now as an organization with Christ as the president. The church is an organism; it is a body with Christ as the head. And what is true about the Lord Jesus Christ is true about you. Jesus did not defeat Satan on His behalf; He defeated Satan on our behalf. And so we have been co-executed, co-risen, coexalted, and co-enthroned with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here's the bottom line. He became a Son of Man that we might become sons of God. He took our sins that we might be innocent. He became guilty that we might be acquitted. He was filled with despair, that we might be filled with joy. He took my shame, that I might take His glory. He endured the pains of Hell that I might have the blessings of Heaven. And I want to say, friend, the Lamb has triumphed. He has prevailed, and therefore He says to His church, listen to Matthew 28 verses 18 and 19, "All power, all authority is given unto Me in Heaven and Earth. Go ye therefore". Does Jesus have authority over Satan? Does He? So do you. Are demons subject to Jesus? They're subject to you. Satan hopes you never learn this.
Paul said, "Oh God open their understanding. Help them to see. Help them to know the great and mighty power. God help them to know it". And God help you to know it, that your dominion legally lost, rightfully regained, has been gloriously given. The Lamb has prevailed. All hail the power of Jesus' name. One demon was heard talking to another demon, saying, "If those liberal theologians ever really let Jesus Christ out of that grave, Hell help us, all Heaven'll break lose". All Heaven'll break lose. Friend, it's time that Heaven broke lose. It's time that we understand that Jesus, as a man has triumphed, and very God of very God, but He the Second Adam from above has reinstated us in His love. What a mighty God we serve.
Let's bow our heads in prayer. "Living He loved me, dying He saved, buried He carried my sins far away. Rising He justified freely forever, one day He's coming, oh glorious day". If you want Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you want to get back your lost dominion, if you want a right relationship with the heavenly Father, would you pray a prayer like this:
Lord Jesus, come into my heart, forgive my sin, save me Lord Jesus. I believe You're the Son of God. I believe You died for my sin on that cross, and now I accept You by faith as my Lord and Savior. Take control of my life, and rule over my life. Thank You, Jesus, Amen.