We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Everything becomes captive. to the truth and obedience to the truth. Does I know the truth? As I obey the truth.
Satan is resistant. Welcome to Grace to You, featuring the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson.
Well, in this new year, perhaps you want to be more disciplined to read God's Word or more consistent to tell others about the gospel. But as you reach for those goals, could you be overlooking the enemy of your soul who wants to hinder you every step of the way? That enemy, of course, is Satan.
So how do you resist his tactics, and how can you make sure his attacks don't slow down your spiritual growth in twenty twenty six? Find out today on Grace to You as we continue John MacArthur's study called A Practical Path to Spiritual Maturity. and if you have your Bible handy, open it up and follow along as John begins the lesson. What is the general approach? Of the demons.
How do they attack?
Well, first of all, Satan and his demons attack us as individuals. The second thing that they do is they attack families. They attack families. Third thing he wants to do is attack leaders. Leaders in the church.
So Satan comes at individuals, comes at families, he comes at leaders, he comes at churches. Apart from all the rest of the stuff that he's doing in the world. But that's the focus of his attack on us.
Now the question that I want to answer just very briefly now is how do we deal with it? What do we do? Let's go back to our text and find out. 1 Peter chapter 5. You've got a very serious situation.
You better be on the alert, he says in verse 8. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. That is a serious issue. A very serious issue. If he's moving around and if he's a formidable foe, and if he wants to battle us as individuals and as families and as leaders and as churches, how do we deal with him?
First point, verse 8. Be alert. Be alert. Watch your surroundings. Keep your eyes open.
Be watchful. Satan can be defeated. He has already been vanquished by Christ. He can be in Christ defeated in the believer's life as well. Be alert.
Watch your surroundings. Watch your relationships. Take stock of the Potential temptation. Second thing he says. Then here's where we really get to it.
Verse 9. Resist him. Resistant. The word resist means to stand up against. To take your stand against How do you deal with the devil?
Firm. In the faith. He is a deceiver. He is a liar. And what you have to deal with him is truth.
And obedience. to that truth. You've got this. Formidable enemy prowling around wanting to chew you up and devour you. How are you going to deal with him?
Stand against him. How do you stand against him? Firm in Thus says The revealed word of God. Which has told you all about God.
so that you can be firm in your faith in God. That's the issue. Can I help you with that a little bit? Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 10.
Verse 3. Paul says, For though we walk in the flesh, We're human physical. Though we walk in the flesh, we don't war according to the flesh. There's no physical strategy against Satan. There's no mental strategy against Satan.
There's no verbal strategy against Satan. You can't say words. Then make him run. We don't war according to the flesh. Verse 4: For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh.
But Divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. The contrast between the flesh and the divine. between the human and God. And we don't battle Satan. with human plans.
Human ingenuity or Human words. But with a divinely powerful Expression of God. What is that? Verse five. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
There's the key. Everything becomes captive. to the truth. and obedience to the truth. As I know the truth?
As I obey the truth. Satan has resisted. And whatever enemy comes against me, becomes captive. As I stand on the truth, as I obey the truth. 1 Timothy chapter 1.
Verse 18. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son. In accordance with the prophecies previously made. Concerning you, I'll listen to this. That by them You may fight the good fight.
Here's how. Keeping The faith. And a good Conscience. What does that mean? Holding on to the faith, which is the truth, the faith, the Christian faith, the revealed truth.
And a good conscience means that you've not only believed the truth, you've what? You've obeyed it. And your conscience isn't accusing you. Same principle. How do you fight the good fight?
How do you keep from the shipwrecking disaster? that delivers you over to Satan as he mentions in verse 20. How do you prevent that? Keeping the faith? Holding it, guarding it.
And having the good conscience that doesn't accuse you because you haven't violated its truth. Beloved, there's only one way to resist the devil. And that is to know the truth. to believe the truth, to stand on the truth, to obey the truth. And when you do that, You stand against him, and he what?
He flees. What you say is immaterial. There's no formula for this. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Verse three: Suffer hardship along with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
We're soldiers. In a spiritual Warfare. And how are we to fight? Verse 4. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
Two things. If you're going to be a good soldier, You know what the commander told you to do? And you do it. Right? That's how you please him.
Same thing. You hold to the faith. And you obey it. And then that Key passage, Ephesians 6. Turn there quickly.
Ephesians 6. Verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. That's that. divinely powerful.
Weaponry. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Here he gives you the details of it. The details.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies as they come against us as individuals, as families, as leaders, as churches.
Now, in order to deal with the scheming deception of Satan, and in order to stand firm, there's that same concept. Stand firm. It never says attack Satan. It says stand firm. It never says go after him and chase him down on the cosmic level.
It says, Stand firm, resist. How do you do it? Verse 13: Take on the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day. And what's the evil day? Any day that evil comes?
And having done everything to stand firm, and here's how. Having your loins girded with what? Truth. Not only does it imply truth, but truthfulness. Not only that I know truth, but I'm committed to truth.
Second thing, have on the breastplate of what? Righteousness, that means I'm obeying the truth. As soon as I am unrighteous, my breastplate's off, I'm vulnerable. Have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. What is that?
The confidence that you have made peace with God. The gospel says you can have peace with God. You stand your ground and say, I have peace with God. God's on my side. I'm not fighting you.
I'm letting Him do it. Take the shield of faith. Which says, I believe my God is able. Put on the helmet of salvation, the confidence in eternal life, the confidence that you're secure in Christ, and in your hand the sword of the Spirit, which is what? The Word of God.
If you want to know all those details, get those tapes. I don't have time to go into them any more than that. And then in verse 18 he adds, With all prayer. and petition. Pray at all times in the spirit.
And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all saints. Here it is, beloved. Truth around your waist. With righteousness. The commitment to obey to cover your vulnerable area.
With confidence in the power of God. Believe in God. is your shield Having eternal hope as your helmet. Wield the sword of truth. That's how you deal with the enemy.
And in it all, constant prayer. which is dependence on him. That's how you resist. No magic. No.
Formulas The word A holy life. Confident, trusting, hope in God. And you stand your ground. Peter adds this so beautifully. In verse 9, Knowing That the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren.
who are in the world. Does that help? What's he saying? Hey, in the middle of this, you're not what? You're not alone.
You're really not. The whole brotherhood. The whole Christian community is going through this. Suffering is a way of life as God is accomplishing His holy, perfecting work in you. Just look at the goal, he says.
and realize everybody's in it. I know sometimes you feel like you're out there alone.
Sometimes I feel the battlements of hell coming after me.
Sometimes it's so subtle I don't even notice it.
Sometimes I can see it coming. I don't run for a formula. I don't run to some mystical Dimension. It's a very simple thing, and very concrete, and very exacting, and very precise. I meet temptation with truth.
With what the Word of God says. I meet temptation with confidence in the power of my God. I meet temptation with prayer. I meet the onslaughts of the demons and the devil with the breastplate of righteousness so that there's no vulnerability there. And when you resist him in the armor of God and take your stand, he flees.
So Peter says, you're not alone. Everybody's going through it. All your brethren in the world are experiencing the suffering of the roaring lion who seeks whom he may devour. And again, I remind you. He comes at us.
through the system. All of a sudden you find yourself in a situation you don't want to be in. Being tempted in a way that you didn't really think was going to happen. You find yourself vulnerable. In a way you never thought.
Could happen. Satan comes at you through the ugly system that he's concocted. He wears down your resistance, or he surprises you.
So, fundamental attitudes. Submission, humility, trust, self-control, vigilant defense. Listen very carefully. The next score are going to be rapid fire. Number six.
An attitude of hope. An attitude of hope. Verse 10: And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Here's another attitude, beloved. This is the promise added to the exhortation of verse 9.
This too is a very essential fundamental attitude. We are to live with the understanding that God's purpose realized in the future requires some pain in the present. I'll say that one line again. God's purpose, realized in the future, involves some pain in the present. One writer says God himself in the wealth of his grace as the one who has called them to share in his own glory can be counted on according to his purpose to use their brief earthly sufferings to make them strong and steadfast.
And when they become strong and steadfast, They are then to be the recipients of a greater eternal reward.
So says Peter, and after you have suffered, for a little while. It may seem intense and it may seem long, but it's really very brief, just a little while. To use that same statement in chapter 1, verse 6, just a little while. But if you have suffered a little while, know this: the God of all grace, what a title. 2 Corinthians 1.3, he's called the God of all comfort.
Here he's the God of all grace. The God of all grace, undeserved favor. who called you to His eternal glory in Christ. An effectual saving call. will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
If you could only understand what the spiritual warfare is. doing for you, you would appreciate it instead of resenting it. After all, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Nothing can change that.
So all the suffering that comes here is just to strengthen you. to establish you, to confirm you, to perfect you. to make you more the man and woman of God that you should be. This isn't so much talking about grace for eternity. God's already promised that.
This is grace for time. This is while we're alive making us what we ought to be. Just a couple of notes about this verse. Beautiful. God who called you, again, an effectual saving call, as it always is in the New Testament epistles.
And you can check 1 Peter 1.15, 2, 9, 21, and 3.9. But the God who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself. I love this.
Now, listen to me. While you are being personally attacked by the enemy, you are being personally perfected by God. It's personal. Himself he's doing it. Marvelous thought.
He is intimately involved in the suffering of our lives.
So what about those four words? Hmm. They're almost synonyms. to perfect It means to bring you to wholeness. To confirm means to set you fast.
To strengthen means to make you strong. to establish you means to lay you as a foundation. They all speak of strength. Resoluteness. And that's what God wants to do in your life through.
The spiritual battle. They ought to encourage you, those four words. In the spiritual battle. God Himself. Is there battling?
And through the battle, You become Perfect. Confirmed. Strong and established. Submission, humility. Trust, self-control, vigilant defense.
and hope. You say why hope? Because in the midst of my suffering, I have hope in what I am becoming. And because of What I and becoming. what I will be in eternal glory.
That's hope. Number seven. An attitude of worship. Do I need to say much? Verse 11.
Peter just bursts forth in a doxology: to him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. Just a doxology. He said it in chapter 4, verse 11, that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Peter's just overwhelmed by this. And this too introduces us in an indirect way to another right attitude, and that's an attitude of worship. Throughout this whole Series of verses we've been getting the Deep things of God put in place. That we are to humble ourselves before God, and He'll exalt us. But we are to cast our care upon God, for He cares for us.
He's powerful. He's compassionate. We are to fight in his strength, for he alone can defeat the enemy and, in the process, perfect us. No wonder he says, Give him all the praise, give him all the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
And so we say that the heart of the Christian must always be filled with praise. Must always be filled with glory. given to God. He has the dominion, he has the power, he has the authority, he has the sovereignty. He is worthy of all of our praise.
That's the worshipping heart. And when you have a worshiping heart, beloved, it keeps you from questioning the difficulties of life, does it not? When you have a worshiping heart, you don't question God. You just worship him. By the way, the word dominion kratos means strength.
It's only used here in the whole New Testament. And it speaks of God's ability to dominate. He is the dominant one. Nothing is beyond his control. Not our suffering, and not Satan and his demons, and the whole system.
Nothing is beyond his control. We worship him for that. Then Peter comes to a conclusion. And in this little conclusion, As he draws this epistle to an end, He mentions two other attitudes. At least we can draw them out of his final words.
And I think he picks up the pen here. Probably been writing through a secretary, and now he takes the pen in his own hand. And he mentions an attitude of faithfulness. indirectly. Verse 12.
Through Sylvanus. Our faithful brother. For so I regard him. I've written to you briefly. Exhorting?
and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand for a minute. There's no reason, by the way, to assume this is any other than Silas. although that mu was somewhat a common name. But very likely the same Silas who traveled with Paul and is often mentioned in Paul's epistles.
He was a prophet according to Acts 15:32. He was a Roman citizen according to Acts 16:37. We know about Silas. Silas may well have been the one who wrote down Peter's words and The one who perhaps would even bear them to these folks. But Peter calls him a faithful brother.
For so I regard him. Highly respected. Faithful. Just reminds us, doesn't it, of another virtue? Being faithful.
Then he says, I have written to you briefly. Just five short chapters, but oh, how rich. It is brief, really. Short, condensed, and he says: In it, I've been exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. He's saying, I've been telling you about God's grace, His saving grace, His sanctifying grace, His grace through trials, His grace through sufferings.
I want you to stand firm in His grace. Be faithful to it. That's what He's saying. Silas was faithful. Will you be faithful?
Stand in this grace. It's like a. Romans 5:2, in grace you stand, Paul says, and Peter says, and please stand there, will you? Be faithful. Be faithful.
And then he adds one final Virtue. that we can call the attitude of affection. Verse 13, she who is in Babylon. Chosen together with you? Sends you greetings.
So does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to all who are in Christ. The word affection doesn't appear there, but by way of example, we can see that he demonstrated affection, didn't he? The final word that speaks of love.
She who is in Babylon Must refer to a church. Female terms for the church are common. You can check 2 John 1 and 13. And Babylon most likely refers to Rome. It does in Revelation 17 and 18.
That seems proper here. One writer says it's a cryptic name for Rome. In times of persecution, writers exercise unusual care not to endanger Christians to whom they wrote letters. For instance, when John was banished to Patmos during the persecution instigated by the Emperor Domitian, he called Rome Babylon. Peter, who mentions persecution in nearly every chapter of his epistle, died a martyr's death near Rome.
According to tradition, he was crucified upside down. In short, Peter wrote this epistle near the end of his life when he probably stayed in the imperial city and didn't want the letter to be found. And the church to be persecuted, so maybe he kind of hid it under the word Babylon. But well could be saying the saints of Rome. The church, chosen together with you, also elect, sends you greetings.
Christian affection.
So does my son Mark. Peter's spiritual son. Not his physical son. Mark called John Mark is mentioned in Acts 12:12. He accompanied Paul, stayed with Paul during the apostles' time in prison in Rome.
Tradition indicates that Peter helped him write the Gospel of Mark. That When Mark wrote his gospel, Peter was there. to assist him. But here you have a little collection of affection: the church to your church, me to you. Mark to you.
And in 14, he says, just kiss everybody, will you? An outward sign of affection often mentioned. in the New Testament. By the way, it was men to men and women to women. In ancient times, a customary part of early church affection.
And he closes. Peace be to you all. who are in Christ. It's back to the basics then as he ends, isn't it? Back to basic attitudes.
Submission, humility, trust, self-denial, vigilant defense, hope. Worship Faithfulness. and affection. Beloved, let me tell you something. And I close with this: there's no way to produce those in your life.
through any mystical experience. They come. From the truth. And as the truth is poured into your life week in, week out, day in, day out. it begins to change your character.
And create these kinds of attitudes. That's why we do what we do. We thank God for the privilege. You're listening to Grace to You, featuring the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. Today John continued his series titled A Practical Path to Spiritual Maturity.
Well, friend, we're not very far into the new year, and perhaps you're still looking for helpful strategies for studying God's Word more in 2026. And if so, let me encourage you to get a copy of the MacArthur Daily Bible. Each day it gives you a portion of the Old Testament, a portion of the New Testament, and readings from the Psalms and Proverbs. It's a great way to work through the entire Bible in one year. To place your order, contact us today.
Our website is gty.org. You can order the MacArthur Daily Bible today and our staff will process it as soon as possible after they return to the office on Monday. Our website again, gty.org. And keep in mind that you can listen again to the series that John wrapped up today called The Practical Path to Spiritual Maturity. All three lessons are available to download free of charge in MP3 and transcript format at gty.org.
This is a study you'll want to go through more than once. It's a great refresher on the basics of Christian growth and it's helpful to review any time. Again, to download this study and go through it at your own pace, visit gty.org. And remember, all of John's sermons from 56 years of his pulpit ministry are available to download free of charge online.
So dive into the Sermon Archive today. And now for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for joining us today and remember to watch Grace to You television this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378 or check your local listings for station and times. Then be here Monday for another half hour of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time on Grace to You.
