Our adversary the Devil. prowls about like a roaring lion. seeking someone to devour. Peter says, be on the alert. Be on the alert.
Stay awake. Be ready. Watch out! or we will become victims of the enemy. Welcome to the New Year's Day edition of Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson.
Well, thanks for joining us for another year of verse-by-verse Bible teaching. Of course, people often think of fresh starts and resolutions when the new year comes around, and perhaps for 2026, you're resolving to be more obedient to Christ. But how does that happen? What are the steps you need to take to actually grow spiritually? John MacArthur's message today will help answer that question as he continues his study, A Practical Path to Spiritual Maturity.
Now, growing in grace really comes down to cultivating helpful habits and putting away bad habits. We once asked John to talk about the habits that dominated his life, and what he said is helpful for anyone who wants to grow spiritually and serve God effectively. Let's hear John MacArthur's comments now. I do think we are basically the product of our habits. People will say to me, you know, how do you motivate yourself to serve the Lord?
How do you motivate yourself to read the Word of God? How do you motivate yourself to live a certain way? How do you motivate yourself to be self-controlled or disciplined? I don't even think of life like that. I don't think of trying to find motivation somewhere so that I can do the things that honor the Lord.
I live with habits. If you think that you can every day start from square one and try to motivate yourself to do what's right. I mean, that would be impossible. You it's im it's not reasonable to think that way. But I'll tell you what you can do, you can establish good habits, and once they're grooved, you're going to live your life that way.
Right. And my habits Are to focus on the Word of God, to focus on understanding the Word of God.
So that the first place I go, like a magnet, is to my desk, to the Bible, to the Word. And alongside me, no matter where I am, there are books, and I'm reading. I'm reading books that Enrich my understanding of theology particularly, and I love Christian biographies because they humble me when I see the greatness of men that God, men and women that God has used through the years. certain kinds of habits. One of the things I tell young couples is that I've done my best to establish the habit To do for my wife, Patricia, whatever brings her joy and spiritual benefit.
Marriage doesn't seem complicated to me. Whatever would bring her joy and spiritual benefit, I do that. And cultivating that habit has meant that our marriage has gotten richer and richer and richer through the years. We are the products of our habits. And I warn young people a lot, establish good habits when you're young or you're going to spend your whole life trying to break bad ones.
It's much better to have good habits that will sustain you in the right direction to your own joy and blessing. That's right, friend, and helping you cultivate the right habits is what John's current study is all about.
So follow along now with John MacArthur as he points you toward a practical path to spiritual maturity. The reason we have to have our priorities right, the reason we need to trust God, the reason we need to humble ourselves under His Almighty hand, and the reason we need to submit to those in authority over us and to God Himself. is because Our adversary the devil. prowls about like a roaring lion. seeking someone to devour.
Peter says, be on the alert. Be on the alert. Stay awake. Be ready. Be alert.
Watch out! or we will become victims of the enemy. The outside forces that come against us demand us to be alert. Vigilance. The enemy, by the way, is very subtle.
According to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, he disguises himself as an angel of light and his ministers as angels of light. He very rarely shows himself for who he is. He almost always masks himself as a religious personality, almost always endeavoring somehow, in some way. To be able to approach you subtly so that you can't recognize the reality of who he is. But let's find out about it.
Let's find out why it's so very very important To be alert. Satan Demons Children of the devil, the unregenerate world. are fighting God. Holy angels. and believers.
The strategy of Satan is to oppose and attack the name of Christ. Destroy his name, destroy his character, destroy anything that names his name so that you discredit him and cause people to turn their back on him. Attack Israel. Do everything you can to destroy that nation so there is no covenant people and there can be no prophetic kingdom. Fight the holy angels, destroy them.
Tear them down so you can rule the universe and finally fight believers. Those who keep the commandments of God. And hold. to the testimony. of Jesus.
Now, what is the program of warfare? How does it work? Let me take you a little deeper into that. First of all, how does Satan deal with non-Christians? Simply.
Stated in Revelation chapter 12, verse 9, he deceives them. He comes down and deceives the whole world. He blinds their minds, 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4, so the light of the glorious gospel doesn't shine unto them. He deceives them through ignorance. Unbelief.
False religion Love of sin. Fleshly gratification. He deceives them by developing a cosmos and a system that looks alluring. Inviting pleasurable, fulfilling. And he comes at him through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
What is the lust of the eyes? I see it, I want it. What is the lust of the flesh? I feel it, I want it. and the pride of life.
And he moves in developing a deceptive system. When unbelievers sin, it isn't that Satan is there making them sin, it is that Satan has concocted the system that is infested with his demons. who keep it moving down its hellish deceptive path. And it makes victims out of the human race. Look at John 13.
John 13. Verse 27. One of the most frightening statements in all of the New Testament. John 13:27, after Jesus had given a morsel of food to Judas at the Last Supper. It says, verse 27 after the morsel, Satan then entered into him.
Dear friends, that is the most tragic Occurrence. ever to take place And that man's Horrible. Life. Satan entered into him. Back in Luke 22, 3.
And Satan entered into Judas. Who was called Iscariot? And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad and agreed to give him money. Satan entered into Judas.
Why? to oppose Christ. to kill Christ, still trying to do the same thing. That's that's the worst. Of it.
And what did Judas do? He became so crass, he sold the lovely Son of God. For a handful of money? And then he went out and tried unsuccessfully even to hang himself, and he didn't even know how to do that very well. The rope broke.
And he plunged in his entire Bowels were gushed out all over the rocks on which he landed. Committed suicide. Mass murder, occult involvement, suicide, insanity. Those are the kinds of things that are produced By Satan and his demons. And he does that thing.
in the lives of those who are his own children. When he thinks He can oppose Christ that way. Oppose Israel? oppose the holy angels in ways that we will never understand. Or Oppose the purposes of God for believers.
Now, but how does he attack Christians? How does he attack those who believe? How does he go around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour among us?
Well The system comes at us through the same three gates: 1 John 2:15 to 17: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Those are the only three ways he appeals to us. If you want a real simplification of the spiritual battle, it all comes down to three things. Lusting for what you see. lusting because of what you feel, and pride.
That's always and only Satan's approach. People say, well, no, Satan cannot have anything to do with a Christian. That's not true. That's not true. There are a number of ways in which Satan can get involved in a believer's life.
I'm going to give you a little bit of. insight into it. Follow very closely. First of all, sometimes God allows Satan. to attack a believer.
That's right. God will allow Satan to attack a believer in a very intimate way. And when I say Satan, I mean Satan and his whole army of Demons. For example, Job. Satan comes before God.
And he's roaming around, as I noted, looking for somebody to devour. And the Lord says, why don't you try swallowing Job? There's nobody like him. He's the best man on earth. Did you hear that?
He was the best man on earth, and Satan was allowed to have at him. Did you hear that? Do you know that even as a believer, there may be times when God allows the devil for his own purposes to come after you? Satan said, Well Does Job fear God for nothing? I mean, of course he fears you.
Look at all the stuff you gave him. Got a wife and got all those kids and Got all those flocks and all that land, and he's the richest guy in the world. Of course, he fears you. You put a hedge around him. You blessed the work of his hands.
His possessions increased. I'll tell you what, you put forth your hand and touch all that he has, and he'll curse you to the face. He's nothing but a fairweather friend. All right, the Lord said. Satan?
All he has is in your power. Only you can't kill him.
So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord and went out and took everything he had. Unbelievable. killed his family. Took away everything. Job said.
Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave and the Lord's taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Didn't change his faith one bit. Satan tried to chew him up and devour him, couldn't do it.
Chapters 3 through 10 chronicle Job's sorrow. And then you have a whole lot of chapters that chronicle his friend's well-meaning attempt to explain what was going on in total ignorance. They had no idea what they were talking about? And finally, at the very end, he says, I know what this is all about, oh God. I heard of you with a hearing of mine ear, and now my eye sees you, and I repent in dust and ashes.
He said, I have a vision of God I never would have had if it hadn't been for this. God had a positive thing in mind. You say, what was God's purpose? I think it was twofold. Number one.
to show Satan. the strength of salvation. You realize, don't you, that Job lived in the patriarchal time? back in the time of Genesis?
So, very early on in the redemptive plan, God wanted to show Satan how strong salvation was, how strong faith was. And he said, All right, have at him. And Satan couldn't touch him. Effectively. And it was a lesson to Satan.
See, sometimes God's doing things with Satan that involve us. But I think there was a secondary issue here. I believe He was strengthening Job, don't you? And then when it was all said and done, Job was a greater man than ever he would have been.
So sometimes God allows Satan to come after a believer for some divine purpose to make a point to Satan on a level we don't even understand. And sometimes God allows Satan to come after a believer just to put him through the kind of test that makes him all that much stronger. How about Paul? In 2 Corinthians chapter 12. The Apostle Paul says this, verse 7.
Hey, he said, I had a lot of great revelations. I had so many revelations. You know, he saw the risen Christ three times. Three times. He had visions of the living Christ caught up to the third heaven.
I mean, he had some amazing revelations.
So he said, you know, with all those revelations, I could be a very proud guy. I mean, you know, you can see what his billboard would be like, you know, come and hear the man who saw Christ three times. The man who's been to heaven and back.
So he says, because of this, listen to this, 2 Corinthians 12:7, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself. There was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, to keep me from exalting myself. And I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said, no, my grace is sufficient. My power is made perfect in your weakness.
God says you need it. Satan is going to inflict it on you? But it's going to keep you humble.
So sometimes God let Satan do things to us to humble us. What about Peter? Look at Luke 22. In Luke 22, This is a most amazing situation. Jesus looks at Peter, Luke 22:31.
He says, Simon, Simon. Behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. Isn't that amazing? You know Satan can't do anything unless he has what? Permission.
is to go to God and say, God, I want Peter. Just like Job. God knew the strength of Peter's faith. He said, Have Adam.
Now Peter didn't fare quite as well as Job, right? On three occasions, what did Peter do? Denied Christ. But Satan was not victorious. And in Luke 22:31, he says, Satan's demanded to have you.
But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have been converted, strengthen your brothers. When you've turned again, when you've come back around from your denial. You'll be a strength to your brothers. Why?
Because you'll have been through a struggle with Satan and you'll be able to show them how to win the victory.
So God let Satan Go after Peter? put Peter in a terribly compromising situation. Shatter Peter's Spiritual commitment to the point where he vocally denied Jesus Christ on three occasions. God let all that happen from Satan in order that Peter might come out stronger so that he could strengthen other people. See, God has his purposes for releasing Satan sometimes in our lives.
Look at Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. I know your tribulation, he says to the church at Smyrna. It's a good little church. I know your poverty.
You're a poor church and you had a lot of trouble. And the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison.
Now there it is again. Here's this little church in Smyrna. And the devil wanted to chew them up and spit them out too. God says, all right, have Adam. And the devil's going to come down, he says, and throw some of you into prison.
It'll be a short time of tribulation, ten days. You just be faithful to death. I'll give you the crown of life. You say, why did God allow Satan to go down there and throw those believers in Smyrna in prison? Maybe to test them?
Maybe to prove their spiritual strength. Maybe to make a point to Satan again about the strength of faith. The same point he made with Job. The same point he made with Paul. The same point he made with Peter.
How about Revelation chapter 6? In Revelation chapter 6, verse 1 You have the saints. Who are Martyred during the tribulation. They're crying out. Oh Lord, verse 10, how long?
Holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Here are the tribulation saints, and what are they saying? Lord, they're saying the devil's out there through the Antichrist slaughtering all of us. How long are you going to let it go on? They were literally killed at the hand of the Antichrist.
Killed at the hand of the Antichrist. They were the victims of Satan through Antichrist. That's yet to come in the future. And they say, how long going to let it go on? May well be that God would even let Satan kill believers.
for divine purposes. God had his purposes.
Now, that's positive. What about negative? Does God ever let Satan come after you for negative reasons? Sure. Yeah.
Look at Acts 5. Here's a negative situation. This wasn't to make a point about the strength of faith. Ananias and Sapphira, they said they're going to sell some property, give all the money to God. They sold the property and didn't give it to God, so they lied.
Peter said, verse 3, Acts 5: Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? Delight of the Holy Spirit? Ananias of Zephyra Because Satan filled their heart, which means before they ever lied, they had some wickedness in their life. They had given place to Satan. And God let Satan move right in.
Not to prove the strength of their faith, but to prove That they were sinful. And to make a very strong point, you know what happened? Right after that, they died in front of the church, dropped dead. God killed them on the spot, let Satan into their life, and then executed them. Because of their sin.
And the whole church. concluded you better not lie to the Holy Spirit. Serious stuff. Look at 1 Corinthians. Chapter 5.
1 Corinthians chapter 5. Verse 1 says, It's reported commonly among you that there is immorality. Sexual sin. And what kind of immorality doesn't even exist among the pagans? Incest.
Someone has his father's wife. Either his mother or his Stepmother. It was a son. Having some kind of sexual relationships with his father's wife, his mother, or stepmother. Not only that, you're arrogant.
You haven't mourned. You're not even dealing with this. Verse 5, Paul says. I decided to deliver such a one to Satan. for the destruction of his flesh.
The destruction of his flesh. His spirit may be saved.
Sometimes, listen, God. Sets Satan after one. who calls himself a Christian. To judge him. to destroy him.
So It may well have been. That this person doing this was turned over to Satan without the protection of God, and his flesh was destroyed in some terrible way. with the diseases that come on those who are sexually promiscuous. Look at Revelation chapter 2. And we'll wind this down and complete it next time.
Revelation chapter 2. Verse 19, he writes to the church at Thyatira. This is our Lord writing to the city of Thyatira in Asia Minor. He says, I know your deeds, verse 19: love, faith, service, perseverance, and so forth. I mean, you got a lot of good things going.
But he says, I have something against you. You tolerate the woman Jezebel, this woman you allow to come in your church and be a prophetess. She teaches and leads my bondservants astray, so they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. She's got them in sexual sin and idolatry. I gave her time to repent.
She doesn't want to repent. She wants to go to bed, does she? I'll put her in bed, all right. Verse 22. I'll put her in bed.
I'll put those who commit adultery in bed with her. If they don't repent... and I'll kill her children with pestilence. And all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I'll give to each of you according to your deeds.
But I say to you, the rest that are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, listen to this, who have not known the deep things of Satan. What are the deep things of Satan, the stuff being taught by this woman? Immorality, sexual sin. Idolatry.
So he said, I'll give them what they deserve. They're into the deep things of Satan, and it'll cost them. Their life And then there were the leaders in Ephesus. Finally. 1 Timothy chapter 1.
Verse 20. He says among these False teachers, those who are shipwrecking the faith, are Hymeneus and Alexander, whom I delivered over to Satan that they may be taught not to blaspheme. Paul says, I took Hymeneus and Alexander, two who were pastors in the church at Ephesus, because they were shipwrecking the faith, I turned them over to Satan.
So they'd be taught not to blaspheme. I turned them over to Satan simply means God takes his hands of protection off and lets Satan do whatever he wants. And I'll tell you right now, when God does that, Satan will take that individual who claims to be a preacher of Christ and make a laughing stock out of him. We've seen it in our own society. I think we've seen it today.
I think we've seen preachers turned over to Satan.
So God has some purposes in mind.
Sometimes he He turns us over to Satan for good reasons. To make a point to Satan about the strength of faith. to make us stronger. To make us to know him better.
Sometimes he turns people who name his name over to Satan to destroy them. to punish them. to chasten them.
So by God's holy sovereign design, Satan and his demons get involved in our life.
Sometimes to prove Uh true.
sometimes to punish us. Don't you think for a minute that we're not wrestling in combat? with these spiritual beings. Because we are.
Now, how do they approach us and how do we deal with them? That's for next time. Father, thank you tonight for a reminder of these basic things that we need to know about our enemy. We thank you that In Jesus Christ, we have the victory. We have overcome the world.
Through our faith We have overcome the wicked one, says John. Through the knowledge of the Word. Satan has no part in us. Ultimately, he cannot damn us. He cannot condemn us to hell.
He can only function with permission. But, Lord, we know that he comes very subtly. And he wants to destroy. Help us to be on the alert. to gain the victory.
And when Satan is Working On us. And his demons May it be that we like Job and Paul and Peter. And the saints at Smyrna. Come forth as gold. and prove the validity of our faith and trust.
May it not be that we are like Ananias and Sapphira. The Corinthian fornicator. The Thire tyrants Those who in disobedience knew the chastening The punishment, the devastation. of Satan's supernatural power. Father, we pray that you will bless us with wisdom from on high.
to face the enemy. to know the victory in Christ's name. Amen. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. Thanks for joining us for this New Year's Day broadcast.
Today, John gave you biblical directions to a practical path to spiritual maturity.
Now, friendy, if something John said today or any time last year has strengthened you, And given you practical biblical guidance for your Christian life, would you let us know? Your letter is an encouraging reminder of why we do what we do. Broadcast biblical truth that changes lives. Even a short email will encourage us more than you know, so send us a note when you can. Our email address is letters at gty.org.
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Now, for the entire Grace CU staff, I'm Phil Johnson, wishing you and your family a joyous new year. Be sure to join us again tomorrow for John's study, A Practical Path to Spiritual Maturity, with a look at how you can defend yourself against Satan's attacks. It's another 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time on Grace to You.
