dr. matt cassidy --- february 10, 2019€¦ · all. if you slap that dog on the right, you can go...

Perspective.2.cassidy 1

Authority to Win Series: Perspective #2

Ephesians 1:15-23 Dr. Matt Cassidy --- February 10, 2019

… as we shout with our voices and proclaim the truth that heaven and hell all know;

that You are victorious over the grave. You killed death with death. And now we get to stand over

death and say, “You know what? Where’s that sting now, death? Where’s your victory now?” as

we hide behind the shadow of the cross where it’s safe. We celebrate Your victory, Lord, we

enjoy being part of that victory and how You have adopted us into that. Lord, I’d ask that You

would open up our eyes, or the eyes to our souls, that we might understand who we are in You

and the great love that You have for us; that You would send Your Son so that we might enjoy

this. And that we would be confident with conviction about the power that we’ve inherited when

we took Your Spirit into our souls, sealed, inside of our souls, as a down payment for a future

inheritance. We proclaim these things, Lord. Help us to understand these things, that we might

live in these things. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Well, please have a seat. Good morning! Thanks for coming on another cold and wet

Sunday.

Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1. You are going to love the passage we’re

going to look at today. Oh my, oh my, have I been looking forward to spending some time

together on this passage.

Let me just review very quickly what we might have learned last week. In our self-

defense, we’re talking about spiritual realm issues and having a perspective on that. Last week I

taught you some little self-defense things. Should I go into the details? No?

Introduction


Here’s what you need to learn. When you’re attacked. You need to become the attacker.

You’re not the victim. The other guy is the victim. You fight. You fight to win. Let me tell you

how a life works. There’s no such thing as a fair fight. So you fight to win, or you get used to

losing.

We’re studying two realms together. Let me tell you about life in the spirit realm. There is no

such thing as a fair fight. And you either fight to win, or you get used to losing. We’re going to

learn how to fight to win. Self-defense --- it’s self-offense, okay? It’s self-offense. We take a

stand and we charge. You want to learn how to fight? You want to learn how to fight in the

spiritual realm? You want to learn how to win? You want to learn how to dominate and celebrate

like that song we just sang? I mean, that was smack! That was smack we were singing!

Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to learn and believe that we do not have to

be afraid in the areas of two realms. We can be convicted of the power that we inherit by

inheriting the Holy Spirit. We can learn the plans and the schemes --- that’s next week --- the

plans and the schemes of Satan --- so that we can see his punches telegraphed and they don’t

cause damage to us. We can desire and live and love the freedom that we have to enjoy the

abundant life so that … so that we can go after the strongholds in our lives and transform what

were at one time debilitating weaknesses, and are now these showpieces of the power of God’s

glory in our lives. That’s what we’re talking about in our series on Perspective. You guys want

to learn some stuff about that? Let’s do this. It’s about time, right? It’s about time.

The first principle you need to know --- this is a principle foundational to the creation of

all things, seen and unseen. This is absolutely the first truth: authority. And authority means the

right to rule. It means the highest rank. It means the greatest power. And listen, when we talk

about rank and power, when we talk about rank, it doesn’t have to be based on merit. It doesn’t

have to be based on ability. It doesn’t have to be given because of, I don’t know, strength. Rank,

power that comes with rank, authority --- that can be a declaration. It is just stated so. It doesn’t

Goals for the Perspective Series

Authority


have to look any different. It can look like all but the exact same thing. But if something has

rank, it has authority, and with that authority comes power.

Let me give you an example. Let’s talk dogs, okay? Let’s just talk dogs. You see this dog

on the left? If you slap that dog on the left, you’re probably not a very good person. But that’s

all. If you slap that dog on the right, you can go to jail. If that dog on the left bites you, it’s going

to get in trouble. If it’s more than one time, it could get put down. If the dog on the right bites

you, it is celebrated. You are an all-you-can-eat buffet for this dog on the right.


And what’s the difference between the dogs? The dog on the right, it’s a K9 dog. That

dog has a badge and that badge gives him rank. That rank gives him authority. You slap that dog

and you are assaulting a police officer. And that particular dog was killed by some stupid fool in

Bexar County after robbing something. And it went from robbery to probably a ten-year

penitentiary sentence, because he shot a K9 dog. He shot a dog with a badge. And that badge

gave him rank, and that rank gave him power.

I tell you that because in the spirit realm, the demons and the angles that are all around us

--- they understand authority. They get rank. They get the power that goes with the rank. And I

want you to understand the battle that we’re in. The spirit world --- it’s at war. And who has

Satan declared war upon? Satan, an archangel, overseeing and having rank over all the angels,

which we now call demons, that have chosen to follow him ---- has he declared war on, I don’t

know, Gabriel, the archangel of communication, the messenger of God? No. Has he declared war

on Michael, the guardian angel with the power of war? No. I mean, that would be so fun if he

did, because that would be like a pay-per-view. Archangels against archangels. But that is not

what Satan has done. He has said, “I am against YHWH. That’s who I’m at war with.” An

archangel says to YHWH, the God of all creation, the Lord Most High, who made him. He’s the


creator of all things visible and invisible. Satan says, “You’re my enemy.” And YHWH can pull

the wings off Satan like a two-year-old boy pulls the wings off a fly. That’s who he’s picking a

fight with. All authority, all power, all rank. Jesus.

One of the last things that happens in the book of Matthew, Matthew 28, is that Jesus

says: “All authority has now been granted to me on heaven and earth.” That’s a statement for the

unseen realm. We should take note of that. We have that authority. It doesn’t look like it, but by

declaration.

Look what it says in 1 John 4: “You, my dear little children, you are from God and have

overcome them” --- evil, right? Evil ones. “Because the One” --- capital O --- “Because that One

who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

“Dear children” --- you’re just kids. You’re just kids --- kids with a badge. And that

badge has rank, and that rank has authority, and that authority has power.

They’re in the spirit realm. There is no reason to fear. Absolutely no reason to fear in the

spiritual world in the war that’s going on. And do you know why? Because the Bible told me that

all of creation is run by authority. And we have delegated, declared authority, rank, and power.

And so, what’s to fear?

So we’re just kids, but we’re kids with a badge. And so, that’s a fundamental truth. And

we have to start with that, and we’ll build upon that.

All Authority Has Been Given to Us by God

1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.


And that leads us to the question: How come believers fear? How come believers don’t

grow? How come followers of Jesus Christ are for decades attending Bible-teaching churches ---

how come they are so stuck and they stay stuck for such an extended period of time, never

showing expressions of love, rarely showing expressions of love, never or rarely enjoying the

abundant life that Jesus promises? Why does that happen? If there’s such a disparity in the power

quotient, how does that happen?

Here’s how. Believers believe in lies. They believe in lies instead of the truth. They have

a commitment to the lies about God. They have a dedication or an investment in the lies about

who they are, over the truths that God says. In other words, they continually reinvest in finding

an identity outside the declarations of God. I hope you didn’t miss that. There are only two

fundamental lies that the devil sends towards us. Lies about the nature of God and lies about our

own identity. That’s it.

The character of God --- those lies are: God cannot be trusted with what I love. There are

different expressions of it, like He’s not loving or He doesn’t have enough power or He’s not

involved. Right? There’s this one lie about the nature of God.

The other lies that keep coming at us are lies about ourselves, that we have to find our

own identity out there. And usually that finds its expression --- we probably think more of

ourselves than we ought to. Some people have that. Some people think considerably less of

themselves than they ought to. But the point is that they are investing, reinvesting, in these

twofold lies about the nature of God and about their own identity.

And, I mean, listen --- from a strategic standpoint, the devil --- he’s smart. Give it to him.

If you can’t live, you can’t love, if you believe in those two lies. Think about it. The two greatest

commandments --- it says so in the Old, Jesus reaffirms it in the New: “Love the Lord your God

with all your heart.” How? How can you love God with all your heart if you believe lies about

Him? You can’t. It wouldn’t be safe.

Why Do Believers Live in Fear?


What’s the second commandment? “Love your neighbor as yourself.” You can’t. You

can’t love your neighbor has yourself if you think you’re more than you ought to, or if you think

you’re less than you really are.

And so, in this very efficient twofold, double barrel shotgun attack on us with lies, the

problem is not the lies, it’s that we buy them and rebuy them. We dig in and we keep digging.

There are massive consequences of nurturing these two lies in our lives.

Watch this --- is it any wonder that when Paul writes the church of Ephesus --- and the

whole book is about the church, it’s about us --- he’s writing you and me. And then he prays an

awesome prayer. You want to know how to pray? Pray this prayer. Do you want to pray for your

friends? Pray this prayer. Do you want to pray for your church? Pray this prayer for your church.

He goes after these two lies. He says, “Look, I’m going to pray for your view of God, and I’m

going to pray for your view of yourself.

Look what he says in Ephesians 1:5-17: “Since I first heard of your strong faith in the

Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you

guys. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He

would give you spiritual wisdom and insight”’ --- wait for it --- “so that” --- so that, so that ---

“you might grow in your knowledge of God.” That’s a great prayer. Spiritual wisdom. Super

spiritual depth insight --- “so that you would grow in your knowledge of God.” Knowledge of

God, not like our Western view of the knowledge of God, but our application of that knowledge

Ephesians 1:15-17 Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, 16 I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.

1. Our View of God


in our lives. That’s why Tozer says that what you think about God is the most important thing

about you. Paul says that too. He prays that we might believe the truths about God.

What’s the second lie? It’s about us. It’s about God’s view of us. It’s about our identity,

the view of ourselves, God’s value of you. God’s value of you is part of his second prayer for us.

In Ephesians, if you look, before we even read this section here, there’s just been a few short

paragraphs that precede this. Right now we’re on sentence 14 or 15. Up until this point he’s

already told us seven truths of what we have in Jesus Christ. He’s already told us that before the

foundations of the world, God predestined us to be adopted as His children. The cost for that

adoption, he says, is the very blood of Jesus Christ. That’s how much He loves us. He says that

He gives us purpose in life, that we get to be part of the grand scheme of bringing heaven and

earth under the dominion and authority of Jesus Christ. And then, finally, he says, leading into

this, “Look! You receive as a down payment, so that you would have a conviction of your future

inheritance, the Holy Spirit. It’s a guarantee of your future inheritance. The Holy Spirit now lives

inside you.”

Now with all those truths behind us, now he launches into verse 18. He’s praying for us:

“I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope

that He has given to those who He’s called --- His holy people who are His rich and glorious

inheritance.”

Look at the words he’s using. He wants you to understand and be confident. He wants

your hearts to be open, flooding light in, so that --- what does he say? So that you could see

yourself as His rich inheritance. Not that we’re going to inherit Him --- no, God’s rich

inheritance. And how does He view His inheritance that is you and me? Rich and glorious. When

2. God’s View of Us

Ephesians 1:18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called --- His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance.


God looks at us, He says, “Man, I’m going to inherit something rich and glorious. And your

nametag is on that.” That’s value attached to us, right? Flooded with light … understanding.

Do you believe that? I mean, is that the belief that resonates in the inner part of your soul,

so that’s it’s the foundation, it’s the stone that you stand upon so that you can’t find yourself

feeling inadequate or embarrassed. So he’s saying that he wants us to pray for that.

But that’s not all. It’s amazing – he doesn’t leave it there. There’s more, he says. From

God’s lips to our ears, he says, It’s not just value, you guys. It’s power. Look at the power! And

so look at God’s view of you, God’s power in you.

So in verses 19 through 24 he prays again for us: “I also pray that you will understand the

incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe in Him.” All this power for us, okay?

“This is the same mighty power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and seated Him in the

place of power, the right hand of God” --- the right hand of God is a place of power and authority

and honor, okay? --- “in the heavenly realms.” All the heavenly realms --- that other realm

knows this, He’s sitting at the place of power. And look what it says: “He is now far above any”

--- and from now on, all you’re going to see is various ranks. Like we would say sergeant,

captain, major --- these are all ranks in the spiritual realm. And he’s saying that Jesus is far above

all of them: “Far above the rulers, far above authority, far above power, far above any leaders,

far above anything else, not only in this world, but also in the world to come.” He’s far above all

those things. He has so much power and we have that power if we could believe that.

Ephesians 1:19-23 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of power at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. 21 Now He is far above any ruler or authority or power of leader or anything else --- not only in this world but also in the world to come. 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is His body; 23 it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with Himself.


And then he says --- and this is the next verse --- I’m not summarizing --- Paul wrote this,

okay, God’s lips to our ears. “God has put all things under the authority of Christ” --- literally

“under His feet,” that’s what it says, some translations --- it’s literally “under His feet --- and has

made Him head over all things for the benefit of His church.” That’s us. “And the church” ---

that’s us --- “is His body; it is made full and complete in Christ, who fills all things everywhere

with Himself.”

Do you believe that? Do you believe that kind of power? Sure, we can believe in that

song we sang about the power of Jesus Christ in His conquest, and He is far above --- other

things are far below. And that’s how we can fight to win in these two realms, because we have

this kind of power. It’s available to us.

And so, how come people don’t change? How come people are still not living in love?

They’re not living the abundant life. So the point is, we have the firepower; we don’t have the

right aim. We’re not doing it right. How do the evil realms find their way, overpowering a child

of God --- with a badge and all this rank and all this power? How come we don’t love? How

come we don’t live? We give away the power. We believe in lies.

What I want to explain now is this idea of what a stronghold is. We’re going to spend

more weeks on this in the future, but I want you to see this. That at every decision point, every

thought that comes our way about trusting God, either in obedience or about His nature, we can

either: one, reinforce the truth about the nature of God and His value and power in us; or we can

reinforce the lie about the nature of God and our weakness. And with each choice, we are

making a decision about what rules our lives. And the idea of a stronghold is when you believe

in a lie, you’re just digging a ditch with every choice, with every thought. You’re digging a hole

a little bit deeper. If you’re over here believing in these lies, it’s like every time you think, I can’t

trust God with anything I love. I don’t believe He’s safe, I don’t believe He’s good, or I don’t

believe He’s powerful. Every time you make a decision for that, you’re digging a hole that’s

deeper. Every time you find yourself insecure and wanting, or whatever it might be, you’re

digging a hole a little deeper. You’re not just playing a tape, friends.

Strongholds


Here’s what I’m trying to emphasize. You’re not just playing a tape. You’re rewinding

the tape. There’s choice involved and all, but you’re rewinding the tape. You’re hitting the play

button and you’re playing the lie again, hitting rewind, hitting play, and each time you’re just

digging a ditch deeper and deeper in these two big fundamental lies about the nature of God and

how God view us.

Let me give you an example. Let’s just say that somewhere in your life --- the source,

who cares? --- like your parents, on a playground, this could be your bent --- that you believe the

lie, you hear the lie I’m a loser. Okay? I’m a loser. You hear it from friends on a playground,

you hear it from a coach, or maybe that’s just your bent. Okay? You could inherit that. I’m a

loser. So here are your choices in some respects, in the context of living a lie. You can either go

with, Yeah, I am a loser, and become a loser, and make a loser out of your life.

Or, what a lot of people do, is they compulsively become successful. They will do

whatever it takes to have success or to be liked. I must be respected. I must be liked. And they

will sacrifice on that altar whatever it takes to be successful; whatever is needed to be liked. And

guess what happens? You become a loser. It’s a foregone conclusion and you’ve played into the

lie. You’ve built yourself a stronghold, you’ve dug yourself into a stronghold.

So how are you supposed to live otherwise? Here’s how you’re supposed to live. Let me

just tell you the way it’s supposed to be. Let’s say you’ve just come to Christ as a junior high

kid. You’re going to a Bible-teaching church. Around eighteen years old you’re still hearing that

tape over and over again --- I get it. My point is that you’re young. And there are a lot of lies and

you’re still trying to work it out. And so, a lot of eighteen-year-olds are acting out, trying to be

respected or trying to be liked. That’s okay.

Age twenty-eight, you start realizing, You know what? It’s not working. I can’t live in this

kind of servitude. I’m being enslaved by this. I don’t like losing. And then you start realizing, I

have to target the truths about the nature of God and what He values --- how He values me --- at

specific lies in my life. And at twenty-eight, when you start doing that, you start realizing, I don’t

have to be respected. I don’t have to be liked.

By the time you’re thirty-eight, you’re liking winning, but you’re still working for it.

Okay? It’s still a lot of work, because lies are deep. They go pretty deep. And so, you’re still

working on it, but you like winning.


By the time you’re forty-eight, you’re winning, and it’s like muscle memory. You can’t

even remember how many times you’ve taken thought captive in that day. But you like it, and

you want other people to know it. And in your forties, you go back and you start telling younger

people that are trapped and building their strongholds deeper still, You don’t have to do that. You

don’t have to live with these lies. That’s the way it’s supposed to happen. That’s a great story. It

happens that way.

But here’s what happens a lot. I’m not talking about someone who’s forty-something

years old and they’re new to the faith. I’m talking about somebody that’s forty-something years

old and they’ve been going to a Bible-teaching church for thirty years and they haven’t changed.

What happened? How can you do that? People that teach the Bible still live in servitude to these

strongholds. Here’s how. They recite and chant in their minds that cultic mantra: I must be

respected. I will be liked. And they believe that more than they believe what the Bible says about

God or them. And like some eighteen-year-old teenagers acting out, they spaz out, even as

believers.

And even God in His mercy brings you teenagers to live in your house. And do you know

what teenagers say? They say, I don’t respect you. I don’t even like you.

And here’s what happens with a lot of people. They double down. Yeah, you will respect

me. Yes, please like me … I’ll be the cool mom.

Listen, what’s the goal of Christianity, the Christian faith? To become like Christ in all of

life. Right? Become like Christ in all of life. Was Christ respected? No, He was not. Well,

choose. Are you going to become like Christ, or are you going to be respected? Was Jesus Christ

liked? No. His friends turned their backs on Him. And do you know how you can become like

Christ? When you realize it’s not about being liked. And what are you going to choose? Are you

going to get a bigger shovel to dig a bigger hole so that you can absolutely live life where you’re

respected, or absolutely be liked by people? You got it. You can live those lies and you will die

with those lies. Get used to losing. You fight to win or you get used to losing. Those are the

choices.

And God grieves with these strongholds that we build. He is so crushed by it because He

has given us the Bible, God’s honest truth, about who He is, how much He loves us, how strong


and sovereign and powerful He is. And He says this about us. He says that we are His treasure,

His inheritance.

How do we change? Here’s how we change. You take every thought captive. Here’s how

you do this. This is my life, right? Every time I feel this flush of disrespect from someone, I

make a choice. What do I really believe about that? Do I need that? Is that person going to pay

for his disrespect? Or do I let this go, realizing I believe what Jesus says in His word about me.

When I have a pulse upgrade, when I realize I’m not going to be liked because of this,

what do I do? Do I change the decision or do I say, You know what? I’m God’s kid. I’m just a

kid, but I’ve got a badge. And you confront these lies.

And here’s why. Because every time you can confront a lie, you make it weaker. You’re

filling in that stronghold. Every time you believe a lie, you’re digging it deeper.

Here’s how you change. I have three guys that I run around with. They’ve all lost over ---

well, one guy lost twenty-eight pounds, one guy lost fifty pounds, one guy lost sixty pounds ---

this year. One of them in just a few months. And the way they lost all this weight, they can teach

us a lot. Two things: one, these guys that lost all this weight --- none of them went on a diet. I

know. Over 140 pounds between the three of them and they didn’t go on a diet. And here’s the

thing. You can’t diet your way out of this. People that live healthy lies don’t diet; they live a

different lifestyle. Dieting is for --- I don’t know --- trying to get into a wedding dress. It’s a

short-term thing, you know? You want to live healthy? You have to change.

These guys, they got off one road and they got on another road. You want to live the

abundant life? You want to live in love? You’re going to have to change roads, change the way

you live --- about promises, about lies.

Here’s the other thing that we can learn from these guys. They knew everything about

losing weight already. They could have taught a class on food and drink to avoid. But they chose

not to. It wasn’t a matter of information; it was a matter of application.

Here’s what happens so many times. You want to win? You have to apply the Bible

truths to your life. And I think what happens in a lot of our lives, that we feel like we know about

How to Change


God or we know about what God says about us --- we’re not applying it. It’s more like a

shotgun. We just say, God loves me! That’s not how it works. This is a rifle, a fifty caliber, from

a distance, and you’re targeting the head. It says, Yeah, God loves me, because that’s the kind of

God He is. And I don’t need respect and I don’t care if you like me, because I am respected by

God and I am loved by His Son, I am indwelled by His Holy Spirit, so there. Go someplace

where you came from, lie, and die and ugly death. That’s what it looks like.

We have all the authority, we have all the power, we have all the rank to do this in our

lives. And so, let’s do that. Let’s apply this specifically to who we are and how we should live,

what we think about God, all the time, perpetually, constantly.

Let me give you another graphic visual to end with, shall we? Let’s think about you as a

dog. Let’s think about me as a dog. When we think of ourselves as a dog, we might think of

ourselves looking like this. And you know what? Maybe we should. That’s just an ugly mutt. I

mean, truth is truth, right? But we’re an ugly mutt with a badge. We’re an ugly mutt with a

badge, and with that badge comes rank, and with that rank comes authority, and with that

authority comes power. And rank doesn’t matter how you look, merit, or anything else. It matters

that it’s been declared so. And so, we’re not just a mutt; we’re not an ugly mutt with a badge;


we’re an ugly mutt that’s a lap dog. It’s an ugly mutt lap dog with a badge in the lap of Jesus

Christ, in the lap of YHWH, the Lord God Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, the Lord of

the Armies, who has all power and all authority and all dominion over all the rulers. And He has

put all things far under His feet. And this ugly mutt with a badge can look way down at those

other powers and authorities and stick my tongue out, as long as I’m really close the lap of the

Lord Jesus Christ. That’s where it’s safe. That’s where all the power comes from. Would you

stay close? And we can be an ugly mutt with a badge, but we’re a lap ugly mutt with a badge in

the lap of YHWH. That’s our identity. That’s where our power comes from, and that’s why we

don’t have to be afraid and we don’t have to care about any lie in our lives. That’s our first step

in fighting to win. Let’s celebrate.

Lord Jesus, we’re just dirt, but we are Your dirt. You breathed into the nostrils of Adam

and gave Him life and made him in Your image, and here we are. And then You breathed into the

life of our spirit and made us Your children, and so, here we are. And Lord, we claim nothing

except Christ crucified. That’s where we find our identity. That’s where we find our joy. Lord,

I’d ask that You would help us --- that Your Spirit would speak to ours --- so that we would know

how to specifically target the lies that the devil has brought into our souls, that we have

entertained, that we have replayed, so that we don’t know who You are. We don’t act like we

know who You really are in Your goodness and Your power. And we don’t act like we understand

what You have declared us to be --- Yours. You paid with the blood of Jesus Christ to make us

yours. I pray that we would see ourselves as Your inheritance that You value; Your precious

inheritance. And we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

dr. matt cassidy --- february 10, 2019€¦ · all. if you slap that dog on the right, you can go...

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