Victory in Jesus

This afternoon I have a message which I believe is perhaps the most important that I’m ever able to preach. I believe that I can unfold to you this afternoon the one fact which the devil is more determined than anything else to keep from the knowledge of God’s people. And so I want to devote all my time and all my energy and every ability that God has given me to make this message plain to you this afternoon, and I’m sure that you’ll be praying that God will help me to do it.

Yesterday we spoke in the evening on the theme that we the church are the salt of the earth, the light on the world and a city that is set on an hill. We occupy a unique position in the world. We have unique privileges and unique responsibilities. The course and destiny of the nation in which we live and the nations of the world depends on us. If we fail, if we do not exercise the responsibility and fulfill the position which God has given us according to His Word, then we are salt that has lost its savor and we are thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.

I would like you to turn with me once again to Matthew the 5th chapter and read with me the 13th verse, and I want you to read it in the form in which we agreed we would read it where we changed ye to we, and it is to we are. You remember that? Matthew 5 verse 13. We’re going to read it the way that brings it home to ourselves personally. Are you ready? When I put my hand up we’ll read.

“We are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? We are thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”

Now I pointed out to you one major reason why we occupy this unique position of responsibility is that we are engaged in a spiritual conflict with unseen but absolutely real spiritual forces and personalities which dominate the unregenerate world in which we live. And we are the only agency on earth that has power and ability to intervene in this spiritual realm and by changing things in the spiritual realm to change the course of events here on earth. We are responsible to do this. And this afternoon I want to lay for you the basis of all spiritual victory. I’m going in due course to deal with the different spiritual weapons that God has given us, but the exercise of all these spiritual weapons depends on the clear and proper understanding of one great scriptural fact and if we do not understand this scriptural fact, we cannot adequately or effectively use any of the weapons which God has given us. The great scriptural fact, which is revealed in the New Testament and which I want to bring out to you this afternoon, is very simply this: that Christ has already totally defeated all the enemies against whom we are contending. Let me say this again. This is a great historical fact. Christ has already totally defeated all the enemies against whom we are contending. This is not something that is going to happen; it is something that has already happened.

Now I’m going to take the course of this afternoon to try to explain this to you out of Scripture. Let us turn, first of all, to the epistle of the Colossians and look at the first chapter and the 16th verse, Colossians 1:16, which says in the King James Version:

“For by him [that is Jesus] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”

Notice that in speaking about all created things the apostle Paul divides them into two realms—the heavenly and the earthly, the invisible and the visible.

Now he does not mention in this verse any of the earthly things or any of the visible things, but he mentions in this verse the four main orders in the invisible spiritual realm, and he mentions them in order of preeminence, and they are stated here: thrones, dominions, principalities and powers. That is the order of preeminence in the unseen spiritual realm. The thrones are the highest and in Revelation 4 and 5 you’ll find that John was caught up to the ‘throne’ realm. One of the key words in Revelation 4 is the word throne. He saw one sitting on a throne, and round about him were four and twenty elders sitting on four and twenty seats, it says in the King James, but the correct translation is thrones. Not merely was God on the throne, but the four and twenty elders round about Him were on thrones, and this is the highest level in the universe, the throne level.

Next after that are dominions, more literally lordships. Next after that are principalities or rulerships.

And very closely associated with them always are powers or more correctly authorities. So here we have revealed by Scripture (we could never know it by natural reasoning) the four main orders of the unseen spiritual realm: thrones, lordships, rulerships, authorities.

Now the Bible also reveals very clearly that sin and rebellion against God did not begin on the earthly realm, but began in the heavenly realm. The leader of all rebellion against God is a fallen angel whose name today is Satan. People sometimes say, ‘Well, why did God create Satan?’ The answer is, ‘God did not create Satan.’ God created a wonderful, glorious, angelic being. But when he rebelled he became Satan. Satan means literally in Hebrew, ‘the adversary, the resister, the enemy,’ and that’s what he is.

Now the rebellion that began in heaven did not begin on the throne level, it did not begin on the dominion level, it began on the principality level. There is never any record in Scripture of rebellion on the level of the throne or the dominion. The highest level on which there was rebellion against God was the level of principalities or rulerships, and here is where Satan was located. It’s possible that he was the greatest, the most powerful, the most preeminent of all the princes or principalities. We do not know, at least I do not know, and it is not absolutely important to know.

Now from that time forward there has been a certain section within the realm of principalities and powers, rulerships and authorities that has been in opposition towards almighty God, setting up a rebel empire opposed to God and His kingdom, and this is still in existence today. Later on, Satan involved the Adamic race in the same rebellion against God of which he had first been guilty in heaven himself. And when Jesus Christ came, one of the great things that He did by His death and resurrection was finally to finish the authority of Satan. He defeated principalities and powers.

Now, very few Christians adequately grasp this fact. Christ has already defeated principalities and powers that were arrayed against God and man by His death on the cross. If you turn on to the second chapter of Colossians and read verses 13, 14, and 15 you will find this stated there. These three verses tell us three things that Jesus did by His death on the cross.

“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he [that is, God] quickened made alive together with him [that is, Christ], 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; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

Notice the three great facts, and every one of them is vital, that were achieved by the death of Jesus Christ. In verse 13: ‘…we were forgiven all our trespasses.’ That’s the first great fact. Through the death of Jesus Christ it has become possible for God, justly, to forgive all our trespasses, because the just punishment of all our trespasses has already been borne by Jesus Christ in our place.

Secondly, the next great fact, ‘…he blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us.’ And in Ephesians the second chapter and the 15th verse, speaking about the same thing, it says:

“Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances;”

Ephesians and Colossians run closely parallel. The second great thing that the death of Jesus Christ did was to put an end to the law. This is vital. ‘Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth’ (Romans 10:4). The law as a means to righteousness accepted by God ceased when Jesus died on the cross. No man now can ever commend himself to God by the keeping of the law in any point whatsoever. It is the end. ‘Ye are dead to the law through the body of Christ’ (Romans 7). (Romans 6): ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace.’ (1 Timothy 1): ‘The law was not made for a righteous man,’ and when you’re made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ the law is not made for you. This is tremendously important. Multitudes of Christians are still half entangled with the yoke of bondage to the law. I am not dealing with that this afternoon, but I’m just pointing it out.

Thirdly, the third great fact: ‘He spoiled principalities and powers triumphing over them in the cross.’ To spoil means ‘to strip of all their armor, their weapons.’ And having stripped them of all their weapons, He triumphed over them, He put them to an open, manifest, total, irremediable defeat. This has happened, it’s not going to happen, it has happened. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus gives us a parable and He says:

“When a strong man armed keepeth his goods, keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he cometh upon him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted,
Salt of the Earth, part 2, M/L 220 and spoileth his goods.”

The ‘strong man armed, keeping his palace’ is Satan. The ‘stronger than he’ that came upon him is Jesus. And when Jesus came upon Satan, notice, He did two things. What was the first? He took from him all his armor wherein he trusted. It says in Colossians 2:15: he spoiled him, he stripped him of all his armor. Secondly, he spoiled his goods. He delivered his captives, he took away the things he was in control of. He made it possible for men and women who were captives of Satan—his goods, his chattels—to be gloriously set free.

So here are the three facts that you must know about the crucifixion of Jesus, three things that were accomplished by His death on the cross. First of all, it was possible for God to forgive us all our trespasses. Secondly, the law was finally ended as a means for righteousness and never will be accepted again. And thirdly, Jesus totally defeated and put to an open shame the principalities and powers that were arrayed against God and man in rebellion, and He made an open show of them and He spoiled them of all their weapons. This is the most tremendous fact.

If only Christians could realize that Satan doesn’t even have any armor. Not merely has he been defeated, but his armor has been taken from him, and the majority of Christians creep around as though Satan had all the weapons and if they were lucky they’d manage to hold him out somewhere. Oh, how cleaver he’s been. You know he’s got one weapon left and do you know what it is? Bluff! That’s all, but he’s a taskmaster at using bluff.

Now I want to explain to you, and this is the theme of the Bible. It’s like trying to preach the whole Bible in half an hour, I want to explain to you the basis on which this is true, and to do this we must go back to the Adamic race, the race of Adam and his descendants at the beginning. In Genesis 1:26, this is the record of the original creation of Adam. Genesis 1:26:

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

Notice certain vital facts. First of all, God made man in His own likeness and in His own image. Likeness is inner; image is outer. Man was made like God in his moral and spiritual makeup, unlike any other lower created being. But he was also made like God, friends, in his outward appearance. The word image, used consistently all through Scripture, always means the outward form. Man looked like God. To some people this might be a shocking statement, but it’s the truth.

Let me explain it to you this way. It was appropriate that when God came in the person of Jesus, He should be manifested in the form of a man, not an ox or a beetle. You see what I mean? It was human form that was appropriate for the manifestation of the Son of God when He came in the flesh, so that in outward appearance, Adam, when created, was resembling God.

Secondly, notice that it was not merely Adam but the whole race that was involved, for it says let them, not let him. Let them have dominion.

And the third great fact is that Adam was created (and his race) to have dominion, lordship. Now if there’s one word that’s dropped out of religious vocabulary today it’s the word dominion. But Genevese pointed out to us this morning, which is so true, that everything that was lost in the first Adam was regained in the second Adam. If you want a good Scripture, Psalm 69:4:

“…then I restored that which I took not away.”

That’s Jesus. That’s the only one of whom that’s true. Everything that was lost in Adam was restored by Christ, and that includes dominion. But unfortunately the great majority of Christians have no concept of this whatever, partly because they do not realize what the first Adam was like. He was a wonderful being. He outwardly resembled God and he was intended to exercise authority on God’s behalf over the entire domain in which God set him. And notice his domain. It was not a little patch of ground. It was over all the earth. Have you ever seen that? He was created to exercise dominion as God’s representative, visibly showing forth God’s appearance over all the earth, and notice it includes the fowls or the birds of the air. And this is important because it means that his dominion extended up from the surface of the earth into the lower air.

So here was Adam placed in this situation showing forth God’s likeness, authorized to exercise God’s rule over the earth on God’s behalf. And what happened? In a very simple language, he sold out to God’s great rival, the devil. The devil came along and incited Adam and his wife to the same rebellion against God which he had previously committed in heaven. And you’ll notice in the words of temptation in Genesis 3:5 and 6:

“For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then shall your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

I pointed out to you yesterday that when Satan fell his last aspiration was, ‘I will be like the most high.’ When he tempted Adam and Eve, he ended up his temptation with the same thought, ‘Ye shall be gods. You won’t need God, you’ll be gods yourselves. You don’t need to depend on God, you don’t need to seek His counsel and advice, you don’t need to obey Him. You can do the whole thing yourself just as well without God. Just listen to me and you won’t have to bother about listening to God any longer.’ Have you ever heard that? A lot of young people have heard that in the last few years.

Now when Adam fell—this is a vital fact—he did not fall merely as an individual, but he deliberately sold himself and his entire domain which was given him by God’s authority, into the hand of God’s great enemy, the devil. That’s why the fall of Adam produced a cataclysmic effect on the whole creation. That’s why thorns and thistles came up. That’s why animals no longer lived in harmony and peace. That’s why the whole creation was affected, because it was all the realm of Adam’s dominion, and the devil knew this well.

Turn on to Luke the fourth chapter and the 6th verse and you’ll find what the devil said to Jesus when he appeared to Him in the temptation in the wilderness. Luke chapter 4 and verse 6, reading verse 5 first:

“And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power [the correct word is ‘authority’] will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.”

Now the word delivered in Greek, correctly is betrayed. The same word is used of Judas betraying Jesus. In other words, when Adam fell, not merely did he sell himself to the devil but he betrayed his entire God-given dominion into the hand of the devil. And just as Adam had been legally master of that dominion, by handing it over to Satan, he made Satan legally master of the dominion. And this is acknowledged in Scripture by even the Lord Jesus Himself, for in John 12:31 and in John 14:30, two passages, Jesus calls Satan the prince of this world, and so he is. How did he become the prince? Because he got the one who was the ruler, the one who had the dominion, to turn himself and his dominion over to Satan so that Satan usurped the dominion which was originally committed to Adam. And as he said, ‘All this was betrayed to me and I’ll offer it back to You if You’ll do one thing—just worship me.’ As we know, Jesus would not do that. Notice also in Ephesians the second chapter and the 2nd verse, Ephesians 2:2:

“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:”

Notice the title of Satan there: the prince of the power, the realm of authority, of the air. Now in Greek there are two words for air aer and aither, which give us the two English words air and ether. And of these two words, the word aer, which is used here means the air nearest to the surface of the earth, so that when Adam fell he handed over to Satan the entire area over which he had control, which included the fowls of the air. In other words, the region immediately contiguous with the earth’s surface all round was handed over to Satan and Satan became, according to Scripture, the prince, the ruler of the area of authority, that’s what it means, of the air. See this and see how it happens, very vital to understand this.

Now I’m going to try to illustrate it by a very crude and simple little imaginary story, and I just hope the Lord will help me. Oh, how I long to get this fact through to people. It’s the most vital fact that there is. Let’s imagine a very, very wealthy man who’s the founder and president of many businesses, and he has a son whom he dearly loves. And having brought one business to a state of perfection, having it running perfectly, making a wonderful profit every year, he hands the business over to his son, puts the son in complete control of the business and says, ‘There you are. You run this business for me.’ But this wealthy man has an unscrupulous, wicked rival who absconded from his service years before, cheated and stole and has set up a rival business organization. And one day this business rival, this crook and this cheat, comes to this man’s son and says, ‘You know, I don’t know why you waste your time following Dad and doing what he tells you. You know, that old man is out of date. He lives from a different age. Why, people don’t do things that way now. If you would just listen to me for a little while, I’ll show you how to be really smart in business. Why don’t you let me take over the business and I’ll make you the executive vice president and you’ll see things will really move if you’ll just listen to me and forget about Dad and all this old fashioned ideas.’

And so the young man, fool, hands over himself and his business to the control of this crook. And, of course, the old man’s secretary turns up and says, ‘You know what’s happened? Your son has handed himself and all that business that you put him in charge of, he’s handed it over to your rival. Now what are you going to do? Are you going to file a lawsuit?’

“And the old man says, ‘Oh no.’
‘You’re not going to take action?’
‘Oh no.’
‘You mean to say you’re going to let that crook get away with it?’
‘For the time being, yes.’
‘Why?’”

‘Well, I could put that old crook in the law court, but if I did it I’d have to put my son there too. And for my son’s sake, I’ll wait and handle the situation another way.’

“So the secretary said, ‘What are you going to do?’”

‘Well, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to buy the business back. I’m going to pay the price that necessary to buy that business back. Even though legally it’s still mine and by going to law I could get it back, I’m going to buy the business back at tremendous cost.’

‘Well,’ the secretary says, ‘surely that’s really carrying philanthropy too far. And what are you going

to do with the business when you’ve bought it back?’

“‘I’m going to put my son back in charge.’”

Can you see the parable? Is it clear to you? God is the father. He puts his son, Adam, in charge of the whole realm of His universe. And Adam sold out to the rival and at anytime God could have got back complete control. He could have dealt with Satan and could deal with him at any moment. But, don’t you see? Being perfectly just, to deal with Satan He’d have to deal with Adam and his race. And for the sake of Adam and his race, with infinite longsuffering, He’s waited century after century until there came another, the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the infinite price of His life’s blood to buy the business back. Jesus bought it back at the highest price ever bid in the universe—the blood of the only begotten Son of God.

And listen friends, this is the incredible thing. You know what God wants to do? Put you and me back in charge. If that isn’t grace, I don’t know what is! But, you see, He’s the God of all grace. Can you understand that God has tolerated Satan century after century, walking up and down across this earth, even appearing in the presence of God? Did you realize that? You read the first chapter of the book of Job. When the sons of God came to appear in the presence of God, who came amongst them? Satan. And as far as I’m able to understand, the angels didn’t identify him. It was only the Lord said, ‘Hello, Satan. Where have you come from?’

“‘Well, I’ve been walking up and down in the earth and going to and fro in it.’”

Think of the infinite forbearance of God allowing that braggart, that crook, that scoundrel to walk up and down century after century across the beautiful earth that God created and owns legally. And you know what Satan was busy doing? Accusing God’s servant Job, telling nasty stories and making filthy insinuations about Job, the most righteous man in the world. And you know what Satan’s busy today? Exactly the same state. He’s still going to and fro. He’s still the accuser of the brethren, accusing us day and night before the throne of God, and God tolerates him with infinite patience. Why? First of all, the business had to be bought back by the death of Jesus Christ.

Now when the business was bought back by the death of Jesus Christ, Christ settled every legal claim against the Adamic race. Therefore it is now possible for God, with perfect justice, to forgive the repentant sinner and not to compromise His justice. But God still tolerates Satan. Why? Do you know why? Because He wants to see you and me back in charge of the business. Can you follow that?

Well, now I’ll try to show it to you out of Scripture. Let’s go back to Scripture and work out the application of this. In 1 Corinthians 15 verses 45 and 47, you will find that Christ is called two things: the last Adam and the second man. He’s the last Adam—He’s the end of one Adamic order. He’s the second man—He’s the new man and the head of a new race. He’s both. And when Jesus Christ came to earth, He came as the representative of the entire Adamic race. He was made man. Of all the titles that Jesus used of Himself in the gospels, there’s one that He used eighty times, which is about ten times more than any other title. You know what that was? ‘Son of Man,’ ‘Son of Adam.’ Of all the titles that He loved, the one He used the most, was ‘Son of Adam’: ‘I’m the Son of Adam. I’m the representative of the entire Adamic race.’ And listen, everything that Jesus did on the cross He did as our personal representative. He went there to represent the race. He took upon Himself the guilt, the shame, the condemnation, the sin, the sickness, the pain, the suffering of an entire race. First John 2:2:

“He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.”

Whatever Jesus suffered on the cross, He suffered not on His own behalf, but He suffered as your and my personal representative. Second Corinthians 5:21:

“God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Isaiah 53:6: ‘The LORD hath laid [or made to mete together upon him] the iniquity of us all.’ He was the final representative of the Adamic race. All our shame, all our guilt was rolled up in one and laid on the last Adam, the great burden-bearer, the one who took it all, the one who could say, ‘It is finished. There’s nothing more to do.’

Then Jesus, the third day, rose from the dead, and when He rose He was the head of an altogether new

order. He was the beginning, the first begotten from the dead, the prince of the kings of the earth. And notice, this is always combined: His being the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, the head of a new order. Let’s look at this, Colossians 1:18:

“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning [the beginning of a new order], the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence [or the first place].”

In the first creation it was by Him or in Him that all things were created. He was before all things, and by Him all things consist. But in the new creation He is the head, the beginning, the first begotten of the dead, the first who rose from the dead. Revelation 1:5:

“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.”

Notice He’s the first begotten of the dead, and because He’s the first begotten of the dead, He has become the prince of the kings of the earth. Notice the title prince now attached to Him. Once upon a time the prince of this world was Satan. But since the death and resurrection of Jesus, He has become the prince of the kings of the earth. I’d like you to see that this is all in the Old Testament. As a student of the Old Testament and a minister to the Jews, this always delights me. Turn to Psalm 89 for one moment, Psalm 89, verses 26 and 27. This is a Messianic Psalm. It finds its fulfillment in Jesus, the Messiah, Psalm 89:26 and 27:

“He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. [That’s Christ crying out to the Father, and notice what the Father answers, verse 27:] Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.”

Notice, this does not refer to pre-creation where He was the only begotten of the Father, but here He is made the firstborn by being begotten again from the dead. Can you see this? This is the new creation, the new order of which He is the head and the beginning.

“And then, turn to Psalm 2, just for a moment, and look at what it says there. Psalm 2:
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed.”

We know according to the book of Acts that this was fulfilled when Jesus was tried before the Gentile ruler and before the Hebrew court, and was condemned by both and rejected and put aside. And they said:

“Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”

‘We won’t have this man to rule over us, we don’t want this Jesus. We only want Caesar. We have no king but Caesar, you know that.’ I can’t but pause and point out that was the most disastrous statement the Jewish race ever made. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ and look what they suffered from Caesar ever since. But they chose it. They chose it. They made the decision. ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ But notice now the reaction of Almighty God. Verse 4:

“He that setteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. [This is what he says:] Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. [I’ve raised him up. And Then the son replies in answer to the father:] I will declare the decree: the LORD Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.”

Notice that’s not before creation, that’s the resurrection. That was the day the God begat Him again from the dead to be the firstborn, the head of a new race. And praise the Lord, it gets better and better. First Peter chapter 1 verse 3, we are not left out, 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 3:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Not merely did He beget Jesus again, but, in Jesus, He begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Notice the great transaction, Jesus the Savior identified Himself in all points with the sinner, that the saved believer might in turn be identified in all points with the Law. You see that? Jesus identified Himself with us in our sin, that we might be identified with Him in His righteousness, victory and triumph. This is the other half of the exchange. One half is complete.

The other half remains for you and me to make complete.

“Ephesians 2:5 and 6. At this point I always feel like taking off. Ephesians 2:5 and 6:
Even when we were dead in sins, God hath quickened us [made us alive] together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) Hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ:”

Notice the three togethers: Because of what Jesus has done on our behalf through faith, we are now so identified with Him in the sight of God that He hath quickened us, made us alive together, raised us up out of the tomb together, and made us sit together in heavenly places. Can you see the identification is complete? Because Jesus identified Himself as a sinner, the believer is now entitled to be identified with Jesus in all that follows: His death, His burial, His resurrection and His ascension.

I was staying some years back in the Rice Hotel in Houston and I was comparatively new to the United States at that time, and the Rice Hotel I think is a tall building, I think it has eighteen floors. And I was somewhat fascinated with the automatic, electronic elevator because you just get in and you reach out and you single your floor out, press it and that’s where you go. And while I was there one day an airline pilot came in and he said to me, ‘You know these little buttons don’t respond to just metal. They demand the warmth of a human touch.’ And he pulled out his room key and he pressed the little button hard with the metal and nothing happened. Then he took his finger and stretched it out, and before his finger actually touched the button, the button began to glow. And, ‘Oh,’ I thought to myself. ‘You can’t press God with a key, but He responds to the warmth of a human touch.’ And, oh, I want to tell you that getting into Jesus Christ by faith is like getting into the elevator. When you’re in, you just select your floor, see?

But just wait a minute. I’ve got one more piece of news for you. I discovered later that on that elevator there was one floor lower than the street level and you know what that was? It was ‘B,’ and you know what ‘B’ stands for? Basement. And you know what else it stands for? Burial. And you know what else it stands for? Baptism, because by baptism we are buried with Him in the likeness of His death, that like as He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

So, if you want to follow the gospel program, you step into the elevator and the first button you press is ‘B.’ Go down and be buried and then, friend, you can select your level. And you know what? The strange thing is, most Christians go for the Mezzanine. It’s as high as they want to go. You select your level from then on. You realize that? You’re entitled to get anywhere up to the throne.

But I want to point out something else. My minister showed me this and it’s been such a blessing to me. He said, ‘God protected the throne.’ The old man has no access to the throne. It’s only the new man that’s been through the death, the burial and the resurrection that can get to the throne. Think of the chaos there’d be in the universe if the old man were sitting on the throne. But there’s no place on the throne for the old man. It’s only the new man in Christ that has the right to the throne. God has protected that throne, believe me.

Look at Hosea 6:2. I just can’t help it. I happen to have been a missionary to the Jews and I love to show you it’s all in the Old Testament. Hosea 6:2. You know that the Scripture says that Christ was raised from the dead the third day according to the Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures? You find that in 1 Corinthians 15. Do you know what Old Testament Scripture said that Jesus would rise from the dead on the third day? I only know of one, and this is the one in Hosea 6, verses 1 and 2:

“Come and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up After two days [that’s on the third day] he will revive us [make us alive again]: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.”

But do you know the wonderful thing? The Scripture doesn’t just say that Jesus was raised up the third day. It says that we were raised up with Him. Can you see that? God didn’t intend just to bring Jesus out of the dead, but a whole new race, and every person that’s put their faith in Jesus Christ is begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It’s as sure as this, that if I went down into the water and came up out of the water head first, the moment you saw my head appear out of the water you’d know that by natural law the rest of my body is sure to follow. And when Jesus, the Head, rose from the dead, by spiritual law it’s as certain as it can be that the rest of His body has got to follow. Praise God.

Now listen. Well if you clap the law that’s good I’ll join you. But let’s wait a moment because I’ve got the best till the last. Having done all this, settled every claim against the human race, initiated a new race and made it possible for the devil to be totally silent, having totally defeated him, you know what Jesus did? Just what the father did in the little parable I told you. He said, ‘Here you are. Take the business back and run it for me. I’m going back to heaven. It’s your job to see that things go right.’ Isn’t that remarkable? But it’s absolutely true.

You see, the first Adam was God’s visible representative intended to exercise God’s authority on His behalf. Now God never scrapped that plan. The devil hindered it, but he didn’t prevent it. And in the second Adam the plan is restored. We, as believers in Jesus Christ, are His visible representatives going forth to exercise His authority on His behalf, just as much as Adam was in charge of the first creation, here we are with Christ’s authority to exercise dominion over the world as it is today.

Let me give you three Scriptures that tell you this plainly: Matthew 28:19 and 20. Matthew the 28th chapter, the last chapter of Matthew verses 18 and 19. After the resurrection Jesus came to His disciples and said this:

“Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power [but the correct word is authority] All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”

Satan usurped it. Jesus bought it back. Can you see that? After the resurrection, Satan has no more legal authority. Any authority he has now is usurped. He has no legal claim to it any longer, because Jesus settled every debt on behalf of the first Adamic race and then rose again to become the prince of the kings of the earth, and all authority was legally invested in Him in heaven and in earth, by God the Father. So He says all authority has not been vested in Me, now what’s next?

“Go ye therefore,…”

You see that? Not ‘I’m going to do it.’ ‘You go and do it. You go to the world and demonstrate My authority.’ That’s what it amounts to. ‘You are My visible representatives exercising My authority on My

behalf.’

In John 20:21 the same thought, even more visibly. John 20:21, the Resurrection Sunday when Jesus appeared:

“Then said Jesus to them, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath send me, even so send I you.”

‘Even so’ means exactly so. Not approximately, but exactly. ‘Just exactly as my Father sent me into this world, so now I am sending you.’

May I point out to you the implications of that statement very briefly? First of all, when Jesus the Son came He said, ‘I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him that send Me.’ This is the whole purpose for My being in the world is not to do what I want, but to do what the Father wants.

Secondly, He said, ‘The works that I do, the Father that dwelleth in me doeth the works. I don’t do them.’

“Thirdly He said, ‘The words that I speak, the Father gave them to me to speak.’ And finally, fourthly, He said, ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.’
Now He said, ‘As My Father sent me, even so send I you.’”

What does that mean? It means four things: That we are here not to do our own will, but to do the will of Him that sent us, Jesus Christ. We have no right to be here doing our own will. The only reason that we’re here is to do the will of Him that sent us.

Secondly, whatever we do we should be able to say, ‘It’s not I that am doing it, it’s Christ in me doing the work.’

Thirdly, whatever words we speak we should say, ‘They’re not my words. They’re the words that Christ gave me.’

And finally, and we cannot avoid this, we should be able to stand in front of this world and say, ‘If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen Christ.’ Why? Because we are the visible representative of the Godhead. Just as much as Adam was made in the likeness and image of God, to exercise God’s authority on His behalf, so we have been recreated in the image and likeness of God through Jesus Christ to exercise

God’s authority on His behalf. Jesus had gone back to heaven. Whatever has to be done now has to be done by you and me. You see the same truth that we came to last night again today. And finally, notice tying it up with principalities and powers (this is the last Scripture today). Ephesians 3 and 10, speaking about God’s purpose in redemption and without going into all that lies above in this chapter, just this one verse, Ephesians 3:10:

“To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.”

In other words, we are to be God’s demonstrator. Not merely to this world, but to the whole realm of principalities and powers in the heavenly places, the manifold wisdom of God. The many-sided wisdom of God is to be unfolded, revealed and perfected in the church, and that means you and me. That’s why we’re here. That’s God’s purpose.

Tomorrow we’ll go into the use of the different weapons, but I just want to say in closing. Remember the use of every weapon depends on the understanding that Satan has already been defeated. All we have to do is administer Christ’s victory.