Level: 2, Lesson: 6
SELF-CENTEREDNESS, THE SOURCE OF ALL GRIEF
OUTLINE

Ephesians 6:11-12: "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Satan does exist, but his only real power is deception.

Genesis 3:1: "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"

Satan entered into a serpent, the most subtle animal God created. Adam and Eve were the ones with all the authority. Satan had no power to come against God. Satan used lies about God’s nature to cause Adam and Eve to sin against God. Satan has zero power or authority against us. His only power is in deception.

II Corinthians 10:3-5, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds): 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"

The weapons of our warfare are to deal with our thought life. Satan came with words to tempt and deceive Jesus.

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 creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

God is the only one who has power in Himself. Everything else is delegated from Him.

Psalm 115:16: "The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men."

God has ownership of the earth by His right as Creator, but He gave rulership of it to physical human beings. Man yielded his God-given authority to Satan in the garden when Satan deceived him. Satan can only cause the problems he does because people have yielded their God-given authority to him. Satan, because he is a spirit being like God, needs to use a physical body to flow through. Only people who have a physical body have the authority to exercise influence on the earth. God couldn’t find a man to flow through because they had all yielded themselves to Satan, so He came Himself as a man.

John 5:27: "And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man."

Because God became man in Jesus, it gave Him authority in the earth. Satan tempted Jesus, but Jesus never yielded to Him.

Matthew 28:18-19, "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

All the authority that God had originally given to mankind was won back by Jesus. Then He shared that authority with us. In this joint authority, we may fail, but God will never sign His authority over to the devil. Jesus will remain faithful. YOU have authority and power. The only thing keeping it from being exercised in your life is that you haven’t taken your thoughts captive to the truth.

James 4:7: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

Satan trembles at you because you are the one with the God-given authority. YOU resist the devil and he will flee from you.

AUTHORITY OF THE BELIEVER
Lesson Text

Jesus had authority because of His humanity. God is a spirit (John 4:24), and when He created this physical world and all of its inhabitants, He gave mankind authority to rule and subdue His creation (Genesis 1:26, 28; Psalms 8:4-8; 115:16). Although God still owned the universe and all that was in it (Exodus 9:29; Psalms 24:1; 89:11), He gave the control of the earth to man.

When man sinned, Satan usurped man’s authority and became the god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4). God did not ordain all the terrible things that have happened throughout history, and yet He did not take back authority to dominate the earth. Instead, He became a man (I Timothy 3:16) and took back that authority to Himself by conquest. After Jesus’ resurrection, He said in Matthew 28:18, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," and then He gave the great commission to His disciples, thereby conferring that authority upon them, also. Jesus becoming flesh was absolutely essential for gaining all power (or authority) in heaven and in earth.

In Ephesians 1:19, this exceeding greatness of God’s power is towards us. That means that it is for us and our benefit. Some people get glimpses of God’s power, but very few have the revelation that it is for us and at our disposal. It doesn’t do us any good to believe that God has power if we don’t believe that it will work for us.

This great power of God is effectual only for those who believe. We must believe to receive, or if we doubt, we do without.

The phrase "according to" in Ephesians 1:19 means "to the proportion or degree that" (see Ephesians 1:4). The point that is being made is that the power that every believer in Christ now has, is the same power that God the Father used to raise Christ from the dead. We don’t just have a little bit of power from God. We have the same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead. It is more than enough power to accomplish God’s will in our lives.

(Ephesians 1:21) The power that is now working in believers is the same power that worked in Christ to raise Him from the dead (Ephesians 1:20). Everything we have as believers in Christ comes from our union with Him. Therefore, what is true of Him is true of us too. So, in the same way that Jesus is now "above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion . . ." so are we.

This is one of the greatest passages in the New Testament on the authority of the believer. In this passage we see that we have come to share in Christ’s throne, to partake in the authority which that throne represents, and to exercise divine power and dominion. There is no place in the New Testament that we are told to ask God to do something about the devil, but rather the church is told to do something about the devil. This is because delegated authority has been given to the church over the works of the enemy. Paul’s prayer is that the church may be enlightened to this truth.

Paul also uses the analogy of the church being the body of Christ in his letter to the Corinthians (I Corinthians. 12:12-27; 15:25-28). He expounds on this in Ephesians 1:22-23 by placing Christ as the head and the church as the body. This is emphasizing the Lordship of Christ over the church just as the head dictates and controls the physical body.

When anything is placed under the feet of a person, then every single part of that person’s body is positioned above it. This illustrates that this resurrection power is not just a reality for Christ, our Head, but for every member of Christ’s body.

What an amazing statement we find here of our union with Christ Jesus. Paul states, "The church is Christ’s body, the completion of Him . . ." (TEV). Just as a ship is not complete without its crew, just as a king is not complete without his kingdom, Jesus Christ has chosen to be incomplete without His church, "His body, filled with Himself. . . " (LB).

AUTHORITY OF THE BELIEVER
(Additional Information)

Ephesians 1:19-23: "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. 21Far 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: 22And hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."

(Ephesians 1:19-23) The power that is now working in believers is the same power that worked in Christ to raise Him from the dead. Everything we have as believers in Christ comes from our union with Him. Therefore, what is true of Him is true of us too. So, in the same way that Jesus is now "above all principality, and power, and might and dominion . . ." so are we.

This is one of the greatest passages in the New Testament on the authority of the believer. In this passage we see that we have come to share in Christ’s throne, to partake in the authority which that throne represents, and to exercise divine power and dominion. There is no place in the New Testament that we are told to ask God to do something about the devil, but rather the church is told to do something about the devil. This is because delegated authority has been given to the church over the works of the enemy. Paul’s prayer is that the church may be enlightened to this truth.

In Acts 3:6 Peter said, "such as I have give I thee." Peter and John knew what they had. They had been given the power and ability of Jesus to heal. They didn’t just pray that Jesus would heal the man. They didn’t even pray! They just gave because it was theirs to give. Once we know God’s will we need to exercise our authority. The signs follow us (Mk. 16:17), we don’t need to be following them. Many people have desired the miraculous from God, but have not received it because they didn’t know their authority in Christ, and didn’t exercise it.

In Matthew 28:18 Jesus said, "All power (authority) is given unto me in heaven and earth." He then gave the great commission to His disciples, thereby conferring that authority upon them also.

Here are some questions to think about for this lesson

Level 2 Lesson 6 Questions
AUTHORITY OF THE BELIEVER

1. Satan does exist, but his real power exists in his ability to deceive us. According to Genesis 3:1, what did the serpent (the devil) try to get Eve to question?
2. Why did Satan use deception?
3. Who gave man authority according to Genesis 1:26, 28?
4. How did God create man before the fall?
5. Does Matthew 4:8-9 strengthen this point?
6. After Jesus' death and resurrection, who now has all authority in heaven and in earth?
7. Who has authority been delegated to according to Matthew 28:19?
8. Ephesians 1:19 says that the exceeding greatness of God's power is toward whom?

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