The Warfare of Prayer | Part 1

When we were born again, we became spiritual freedom fighters in God's invasion army. We cannot be neutral in this spiritual battle.

We are in a fight to the finish. We must learn how to come against the enemy and use our kingdom authority in the warfare of prayer. If you have your Bible, turn to Luke chapter 10. We'll begin in verse 7.

We'll begin in verse 17 as Adrian Rogers begins part one of the warfare of prayer. Now, what Jesus Christ has 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.

And 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. 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. So, 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 until 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, a girl without Jesus Christ is 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 ten 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 is 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 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. 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 say 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? Jesus is the 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 by 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. Look at 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, 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. Have you ever seen anything like that? That's exactly what this word has the idea of stripping.

It actually meant to take the hide from an animal. He, 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, oh, 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. 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 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. Well, you 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 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 fires 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 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.

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 a text Isaiah chapter 61. And this is what Jesus says because the Old Testament prophesied the Lord Jesus. I 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, that the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. These are those who are bankrupt. The poor. Now, he's not talking only about those who are financially poor. He includes that, but he's talking here spiritually. Now, you may be a multimillionaire today, but without Jesus, you're bankrupt. That church in the book of Revelation led a sin. The Lord said to that church, because thou sayest I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

You may go home today in a fine automobile, but without Jesus, you are a pauper. And you need the Lord. And coming up on Monday, we'll hear the conclusion of this powerful message. In the meantime, maybe you have a prayer request that you'd like to share. If you can, go to our website homepage at lwf.org slash radio and scroll down to our prayer wall. There you'll find the option to either submit a request or pray for others. This resource is one of our favorite ways to keep the ministry and the community praying continually for one another's needs.

Let us hear from you today. Again, go to our prayer wall at lwf.org slash radio. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, you can call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD and mention the title, The Warfare of Prayer.

This message is also part of the insightful series, The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority. With that complete collection, all nine powerful messages, you can call 877-LOVE-GOD or go online to lwf.org slash radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Thanks for studying God's Word with us today. Remember, if you'd like to start receiving daily devotions and links to the program, be sure to sign up for our daily heartbeat emails at lwf.org slash radio.

And join us Monday for the powerful conclusion of The Warfare of Prayer, right here on Love Worth Finding. I want you to listen to these encouraging words we received recently. Just wanted to say I heard your sermon today and I loved it. It was very inspirational and very helpful in regards to some things I'm dealing with at this time.

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