Seeing As Jesus Sees [Part 24]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

I think that we need to get his perspective of the defeat of the devil because it will change our level of confidence, our ability to walk in real spiritual authority, and to live out the victory that's ours. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new life. I'm Daniel Britt with Pastor Alan today, as we are flipping through the pages of his brand new book, Seeing as Jesus Sees.

And we're drawing some wonderful principles out of this. It's out now, by the way. It's Seeing as Jesus Sees, how a new perspective can defeat the darkness and awaken joy. And if you get the book this month from any retailer, we'll send you a free video series when you let us know you've done so at seeingasjesussees.org or pastoralan.org. You'll receive a companion video course, a daily reading guide, and a group study guide as our thank you for supporting the launch of our new book and this important message. Just let us know you've gotten the book at seeingasjesussees.org, and we'll be happy to send this right out to you. Pastor Alan, as we're in the section on seeing the world, we're diving into the themes in this chapter on conquering, which is seeing the darkness defeated.

And it's good to be with you. Well, it's so good to be with you in the middle of spiritual battle. Jesus, what do you see? How do you see this? I think what he begins to show you is his defeat of the devil and who you are, your genuine authority in Christ.

And that's part of what is so hard for us to see with natural eyes is we don't feel it. We don't see it ourselves, but Jesus is like, this is who you really are. And this is what I've done for you in the defeat of Satan. So far in this section on seeing the world, we've kind of come through the sobering part of seeing the world as broken and mourning that tearfully, and then seeing the world as stormy and finding peace when we see it as Jesus sees. And this is coming up with like, okay, this is time to stand square-footed, stand flat-footed, square your shoulders back and say, okay, this is time to conquer.

This is time for confidence. And this is not, again, we've said this so many times, this is not done just by mustering emotion or just by what you would call maybe only psychology and saying it's just a mindset. It really, it's real, as you've said, it's real because it's empowered by the Holy Spirit. I think when you really get a sense of spiritual authority in the spiritual battle, it's not just that you would be enthralled with a sense of, oh, look, like the disciples who came back and said, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And they came back and told that to Jesus and you might expect Jesus to go, wow, isn't that really cool? But instead, this is the place where he surprises them and says, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, which is a metaphor for demons and forces of evil and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you. So there, he says it, but then he adds this, but nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. So the disciples come back, they're celebrating the power that they've seen go forth in Jesus' name. But Jesus is saying, I want you to see something even higher. He's saying, I've seen Satan fall like lightning and I've seen your name etched indelibly in the book of life. So seeing a demon flee is a cause for joy, but seeing Satan permanently cast down from heaven and seeing yourself permanently etched into the book of life in heaven, that's a way greater joy. And that's where we begin to have a sense of authority. You're seeing this, you're seeing that Jesus has won the decisive victory and you're seeing yourself as a child of God who has an eternal destination. Your name is written in the book of life and you're God's.

Well, this changes everything and gives you a sense of real authority. The book is Seeing as Jesus Sees, and it's a new perspective, how it can defeat the darkness and awaken joy. It's out now. And if you buy this book this month from any retailer, we'll send you a free video series from Pastor Alan when you let us know that you've received the book. So buy the book, then let us know you have it at seeingasjesussees.org or pastorallen.org. Then you'll receive a companion video course, a daily reading guide, and a group study guide as our thank you for supporting the launch of Pastor Alan's latest book and this important message. Again, contact us at seeingasjesussees.org. On this topic today of conquering and seeing the darkness defeated, that makes me think of the illustration that is often told of Satan as the dragon and the dragon has been defeated, but his tail still swishes.

So you can get startled by the swishing tail. Very much so. And it's very easy to fall into the natural eyes saying it doesn't look like there's been much of defeat at all. But I know this just in all of my interactions, both personally and with others in the spiritual battle, that the number one weapon of our enemy is deception. And always the devil wants to look bigger than he is, make his threat seem bigger than it is.

It's a battle to try to make us become afraid and it's rooted in deception. So what do we need? We need truth. We need to see with Jesus' eyes. We need to see about this world and the adversities that we face that Jesus has conquered. And so it is in the disarming of Satan that we are fully equipped for victory. He has disarmed. He has displaced.

The enemy has no more opportunity for those who are in Christ to accuse because Jesus himself took our penalty and we are therefore free from that penalty and free from condemnation and free from accusation. And Jesus wants us to see that. He wants to see all of this, right?

I saw Satan fall like lightning. I've seen what I've done. I want you to see it. I want you to know it. And I want you to take your place. I want you to put on the whole armor of God.

I want you to walk this out. I want you to sense it and to feel it and know it down to your toes that you're in Christ, that you are mine, that you are not on the losing team, you're on the winning team. And that when you have a direct confrontation with evil, you have authority to rebuke.

You have authority to take your stand. Well, all of this, I think, flows out of new vision, Jesus's own vision in our life. Jesus, how do you see this battle? How do you see this adversity? Jesus, how do you see this spiritual attack? Jesus, how do you see the evil? And he's not frightened by it.

He's came and already defeated it. Chris- Seeing as Jesus sees how a new perspective can defeat the darkness and awaken joy, Pastor Alan's latest book, and seeing the world and seeing yourself as a conqueror by seeing the darkness defeated is what we're talking about today. And Pastor Alan, you were given some temporary authority years ago.

High school tennis coach gave you some authority. And, well, you tell the rest of the story in the book here. Pastor Alan- Yeah. Well, we'll give a little piece of this story that the book is a good place to laugh some also.

I mean, we talked about some serious things and deep theology, but there's plenty to laugh about also. And when I was in high school, Bill Brown's a tennis coach, but he's also the assistant basketball coach. And we had a good basketball team at Page High School. And so when the basketball season ran long, he wasn't available for the first week or so of tennis practice. And so when I was a senior, he asked me if I'd oversee the tennis practice until the basketball playoffs were over. He just said, have people run some sprints and make everybody practice their serves and backhands and net play, assign some doubles teams, assign people to their courts, gather the balls at the end of the practice. That kind of ain't no big deal.

He said, I'll be back in about a week. So the first couple of days practice, they went fine, but I had my eye on a sophomore who had an attitude problem. And I didn't like the way he was talking to the other kids. He was a good player, but he'd probably be a starter on the team, but it just seemed like a bully. Well, on the third day I was playing on court one, I glanced down towards the bully. He was on court four and it just so happened. I, you know, I only caught this part of the, of whatever was going on. I saw him needlessly just slam a ball at another kid. And I, I, something hit me.

I just lost it. I sprinted down the three courts while all the other kids stopped play and watched. And I yelled in the kid's face, who was a lot bigger than me. And I said, I've had it with you. I said, we don't need that kind of attitude out here. And I pointed at the parking lot and I said, get your things and leave.

You're off the team. And so the bully slumped asleep, grabbed his stuff and he slinked off of the courts and he went to his car and he drove away. And I just looked at everybody. I said, back to practice, everybody.

And then I go, what have I done? You know, anyways, you can imagine that night, uh, coach Brown called up. I answered the phone and he said, is this coach?

Right. I said, uh, coach Brown. I said, I guess you heard. He said, yes. I said, sorry about that coach.

I just can't stand a bully. I lost my head. He just said, Alan, I appreciate your commitment and your desire to have a harmonious team. But when I asked you to watch over practice for a few days, I didn't authorize you to kick off one of the best players.

Do you understand? I said, yes, coach. And the next day the bully was back at practice.

I didn't like his attitude, but I didn't kick him off the team again. And this is how we experience authority in this world. So often is like, we act like we have it when we don't really have it.

And then there's a part of us. Therefore as Christians, we go, I don't really have authority over evil. No, Jesus was not coach Brown, letting me run some sprints. Jesus has said to us that he has shared his authority over evil with us. And so really in his name, we can learn to walk in that sort of spiritual authority. And I think it's very important therefore to say, Jesus helped me to see this and to walk in the real authority that you've given to me.

We are the ones who are in Christ and he has secured the victory and therefore we can count on it. That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Wondering what you need to do to find more freedom, wonder, and joy.

What if you don't need to do more as much as see more? What if victorious breakthrough and enduring transformation comes not by striving, but by seeing. For years, pastor Alan Wright has been practicing a new spiritual discipline, a simple prayer. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's brief enough for a single breath, but deep enough for lasting life change. It's a prayer Christ loves to honor because the savior came to open blind and blurred eyes. Jesus is after all the light of the world. In his new groundbreaking book, Seeing as Jesus Sees, Alan Wright leads readers into a fresh kind of Bible study where they're invited in close side by side with the savior to see themselves, others in the world through Jesus's eyes. There's good news on every page because divine revelation and spirit-filled living is a reserve for the spiritually elite. Every Christian can live with wide-eyed wonder and spirit revealed vision. For a limited time, when you ordered a book from Amazon or your favorite retailer, you'll receive over a hundred dollars of bonus resources. To order the book, visit SeeingAsJesusSees.org or come to our website, PastorAlan.org, and you'll also receive a free six-week Seeing as Jesus Sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan.

So place your order today with your favorite online book retailer and visit our website for instructions on receiving all the extra resources. Christ's call to discipleship isn't an invitation to strive to do what Jesus would do, but to come and see what Jesus sees. So pre-order your copy of Alan Wright's newest book and discover and start seeing yourself, others, and the world through Jesus's eyes.

Seeing as Jesus Sees. It's the latest book by Pastor Alan. And the topic today that we've been diving into is conquering and seeing the darkness defeated. And I love the section that you have, and you tell this story about a Japanese military intelligence officer that was sent out to figure out what was going on here. And it's the story of this prisoner of war that had been fighting for, what, decades afterwards. And I love, and this was also made it into a song where the lyricist wrote, in my heart the battle was raging. Not all prisoners of war have come home.

These were battlefields of my own making. I didn't know that the war had been won. Then I heard that the king of the ages had fought all my battles for me and victory was mine for the claiming. And now praise his name.

I'm free. It is finished. The battle is over.

And so this fits in perfectly with the theme of this chapter and this true life story. Well, it's almost hard to believe. It's almost hard to believe this Japanese military intelligence officer named Hiroo Onoda, not positive.

I'm saying that right. Onoda was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines. He was supposed to destroy the airstrip and hamper enemy attacks. But a few months later, the U.S. forces took the island and all the Japanese soldiers, but Onoda and three others had either died or surrendered. But in the ensuing months, the story is almost unbelievable. Onoda and his three companions, they staged these guerrilla type attacks against the U.S. troops. And in October 1945, they saw leaflets announcing that Japan Japan had surrendered in the war, but they didn't believe the fliers. They just assumed it was allied propaganda. So they kept hiding and fighting in this war that they didn't know had ended.

And that's what's unbelievable. In 1952, seven years, seven full years after the war had been decided, aircraft dropped letters and family photos urging Onoda and his companions, stop fighting. A local police shot two of the companions and the other surrendered, left only Onoda. And he continued to fight this one man war until 1974. War had been over since 1945. His country had surrendered, but he didn't believe anybody. He fought until 1974, hiding and fighting. And until finally, a former commanding officer came and met with them and gave him orders to cease his military activities.

He'd fought for three decades of war that did not exist. And I just wonder if we had Jesus' eyes, would we not start seeing a victory, realizing he seated us with him in the heavenly places, start realizing we've got weapons to destroy strongholds, more than a fleeting power to kick a bully off the team. We really do have victory in Jesus. And I think this is one of the most important ways we could see through Jesus' eyes is that he saw his own victory, the entirety of Satan's fall. And he's seen the advent of his own kingdom that has been dethroning evil. And one day it will all be consummated. And we need to see this.

We need to see it. You know, I think this is so much of what the book of Revelation was all about, right? God let John see what Jesus saw. And so John saw things and wrote it down like, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of Christ has come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down. Revelation 12, the accuser has been silenced and we need to see it.

Seeing the world, conquering, seeing the darkness defeated. This is part of Pastor Alan's book, Seeing as Jesus Sees How a New Perspective Can Defeat the Darkness and Awaken Joy. This book is out now. The wait is over. And if you buy the book this month from any retailer online or in person, and when you let us know that you've bought the book, we'll send you a free video series along with a daily reading guide and a group study guide is our thank you.

Just let us know. It's seeing asjesussees.org or pastorallen.org and that's on its way to you. So you talked about how the enemy Satan is a deceiver. He's also an accuser.

And you've got a section here about that. Well, Satan means accuser like a prosecutor. You know, Satan is accusing sinners before a just God as if reminding the Lord of God's own words, the wages of sin is death. So if God is holy and righteous, then our sin must be punished.

And if so, you envision heaven as a courtroom. The devil appears only spewing out accusations against us. You've sinned and therefore you mustn't be blessed.

You must be punished. And when we listen to that accusation apart from the gospel, it has weight because we know we've sinned. We know we failed.

We know that. And so if we see ourselves and Satan in that courtroom, we'll feel burdened, we'll feel defeated. And that's why Jesus wants every Christian to see how Satan has fallen like lightning and to see our names etched into the book of life. For the Christian, there's no legal ground for hell's accusations. In Christ, justice has been served through the cross.

He made him who knew no sin to become sin so that we who had sinned so much would become his righteousness. And it's the prosecutor's case has been thrown out. Yeah, yeah.

That's what it is. Justice is now on the side of the Christian and it would be unjust for a judge to require two people to pay for the same crime. And Jesus already paid, already been taken to the cross for us. And so in that sense, we are utterly immune to all of hell's accusations. The devil has no case against the Christian.

He's been thrown out of the discussion. I think that's what it means to say, I saw Satan fall like lightning. Instead of an accuser in heaven, we have a legal defender. I love 1 John 2, 1-2. If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ is righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins. We have an advocate.

We have a judge who leans towards our advocate, who is pleading our case with his own blood. So not only is the accuser thrown out of court, but in this great exchange of Jesus's life for ours, God reckons believers to be righteous. And the more that we can see this, it renders us joyful, hopeful, and powerful.

See it as Jesus sees it. The victory has been won. Pastor Alan Wright, in our good news message from the brand new book, Seeing as Jesus Sees, How a New Perspective Can Defeat the Darkness and Awaken Joy. It's the chapter on conquering and seeing the darkness defeated. And we've got more with Pastor Alan coming back here in the studio, sharing a part in good news inspiration in just a moment.

Lasting life change. It's a prayer Christ loves to honor because the Savior came to open blind and blurred eyes. Jesus is after all the light of the world. In his new groundbreaking book, Seeing as Jesus Sees, Alan Wright leads readers into a fresh kind of Bible study where they're invited in close side by side with the Savior to see themselves, others in the world through Jesus's eyes. There's good news on every page because divine revelation and spirit-filled living isn't reserved for the spiritually elite.

Every Christian can live with wide-eyed wonder and spirit-revealed vision. For a limited time, when you ordered a book from Amazon or your favorite retailer, you'll receive over a hundred dollars of bonus resources. To order the book, visit SeeingAsJesusSeas.org or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. And you'll also receive a free six-week Seeing as Jesus Sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan.

So place your order today with your favorite online book retailer and visit our website for instructions on receiving all the extra resources. Christ's call to discipleship isn't an invitation to strive to do what Jesus would do, but to come and see what Jesus sees. So pre-order your copy of Alan Wright's newest book and discover and start seeing yourself, others, and the world through Jesus's eyes. Now with closing inspiration directly from his new book, Seeing as Jesus Sees, here's Pastor Alan Wright. Daniel, let me close with a little excerpt from this chapter called Conquering. The glorious gift, the silencing of the accuser and the imputed righteousness of Christ to all believers is what Jesus had in mind when he told the Jubilant 72 that there was even greater cause for rejoicing. Christ follower, here's your deepest joy and confidence. Satan is out of heaven forever and you are in the kingdom of heaven forever. The war is over.

The enemy has no ammunition left. If you're facing spiritual battle and need more confidence, start asking, Jesus, how do you see this? How do you see Satan? How do you see the evil that is being waged against me?

And what you'll discover is he sees it through his own shed blood and his own accomplished work for the victory is secure. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.