Delivered to Satan, Part 2

True believers, the best of believers, leaders like Job and Paul and Peter and congregations as the church at Smyrna and those who will come in the tribulation can be turned over to Satan for God's sovereign purposes for the sake of proving the genuineness and the character of saving faith. The Puritan Matthew Henry had this to say about Satan, Since he is the ruler of the darkness of this world, he darkens the understandings of men and increases their prejudices, and supports his interests by keeping them in the dark.

Now maybe you can understand why God would allow those who hate him to be turned over to Satan, but why would God ever do that to his own son, Jesus Christ, as well as to those whom he saves, his children? Today's lesson on Grace To You should help clear things up. It's part of John MacArthur's ongoing study called Spiritual Warfare. And now here's today's lesson. Let's open our Bibles as we look together to the Word of God at 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Now I mentioned last time we studied this that in order to be turned over to Satan, we must assume that prior to that one was not fully under his control.

Let me explain that a little further. All unredeemed humanity are fallen in sin. And the Scripture tells us in 1 John 5 19 that the whole world lies in the lap of the wicked woman. Furthermore, Romans 1 18 to 32 says that because man has fallen into sin, God has given him up. It says it again, God has given him up.

And a third time, God gave him over to a reprobate mind, to work all forms of evil. What that says is that God has abandoned the human race in sin to the power of Satan. Who then are those that are turned over to Satan?

They must be those who have found some haven from that. And indeed, we saw last time those who are a part of the redeemed community, even if they're unbelievers who outwardly associate have found in that association a kind of protection. 1 Corinthians 7 says an unbelieving wife is sanctified by a believing husband. A believing wife sanctifies an unbelieving husband. And children are sanctified in a home where there is a believing parent. In other words, to be identified at all with a redeemed community, even if it's only outward, is to find a haven away from the full fury of the blasts of Satan. For in the church, as God pours out His blessing on the truly redeemed, it splashes on some of the unredeemed who find themselves in proximity to those who belong to God. To be turned over to Satan, then, is to take that believer or that unbeliever who is in the family of the redeemed, at least outwardly, and push them out into the full fury of Satan's world. And that's what we're talking about. Some people, by God's design, by His sovereign purpose and as a holy act for His own intention and will, are thrust out of the protected place of the church into the satanic dimension.

And we're learning about that. Paul instructs Timothy in this first chapter that he's going to have to do that with certain people in the church at Ephesus where he is now located. Paul says, I set the example in verse 20 because I took Hymenaeus and Alexander and I put them out, I delivered them over to Satan that they might be literally physically trained or physically punished for their blasphemy.

Now that's the pattern for what I want you to do. The church is a wonderful haven, a place of protection for believers. It is even a place where unbelievers can come and find a certain amount of haven from the fury of Satan. But also the Scripture is very clear that for God's own purposes there are times and there are people who are thrown out into Satan's domain. Sometimes the Lord turns a true believer over to Satan for a positive reason tied to his own sovereignty. And we saw that in illustration in the life of Job.

Job was not just a good man, he was the best of men, an upright man who honored God with everything in his life, a righteous man, a God-loving, God-fearing man. And yet it tells us in the book of Job that he was delivered over to Satan and Satan was allowed to destroy all of his possessions, to destroy all of his family and even to bring about terrible illness on his own body. Then Christ was our second illustration of one delivered over to Satan. He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted of the devil, it says in Matthew 4. Literally the Holy Spirit led him into Satan's temptation that he might be proven to be perfect and that by victory over Satan in the moment of his weakness after 40 days of fasting might demonstrate his power over Satan that even in his weakest moment he was a match and more than a match for Satan, which is to say that if he was victorious in that temptation, he will ultimately be victorious in the glory of his second coming when Satan is bound forever in hell. So Christ was turned over to Satan also in order that he might demonstrate his perfection and his ultimate power over the enemy. In 2 Corinthians 12 we saw our third illustration who was Paul. Paul was delivered over to Satan, given a messenger of Satan, a thorn in the flesh and he said, I glory in that or I rejoice in that, I boast in that because in my weakness his strength is perfected.

Then we saw Peter and Peter also. Jesus said to him in Luke 22 31, Satan desires to have you that he may sift you like wheat. Perhaps Satan had come to God like he did with Job and said, I want Peter. I'll show you what kind of a guy he is.

I'll strip him naked. Maybe he gave a little bit of the same speech regarding Job and so Peter was turned over to Satan not because he had committed some willful sin or lived in some defiant, rebellious attitude, but Jesus said, when you have come back, strengthen the brethren. And we learn in that that Peter was turned over to Satan in order that he might be able to strengthen others who would go through severe trouble.

So in those cases of Job and Christ and Paul and Peter, there was a positive purpose in the sovereign plan of God. I was reading also this week about those who will suffer in the great tribulation. In Matthew chapter 24 and verses 21 and 22, it talks about those who will suffer during the tribulation right before the second coming of Christ. In Revelation 6, it shows them crying out because they've been killed in that tribulation.

There will be believers deprived of food, deprived of water, deprived of a job, deprived of their lives during the tribulation when Satan wreaks havoc all over the globe. But when you come to those same redeemed saints in chapter 7 of Revelation, it shows them having come out of the tribulation, having had their robes washed, having been cleansed in the blood of the Lamb, and it says they are day and night forever before the throne of God, praising and serving Him. And I believe what it's saying is that there will be a whole generation of believers literally turned over to Satan's fury unleashed in the tribulation so that when they are delivered out of that, they will have a level of praise to God that may exceed all other redeemed generations. So God ultimately then will receive praise from those who have suffered much because their deliverance is so great, so glorious. I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 2 for a moment.

In verse 9 and 10, the message to the church at Smyrna, to the angel of the church in Smyrna, right, verse 8, these things says the first and the last who was dead and is alive, that's Christ. And Christ says, I know your works, tribulation, poverty, but you're rich. I know what you've been through. You've been through tribulation.

You've been through poverty. I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan, false teachers. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold...now look at this...the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and you shall have tribulation ten days, that is a brief period of time.

Be faithful unto death and I'll give you a crown of life. Listen, in that little church in Smyrna, there were believers who were persecuted for the faith. They were persecuted by the devil unto death. God let the devil kill them and then rewarded them with a crown of life. God desires to reward His children and rewards most nobly those who willingly give their life in persecution.

Yes, we've seen from all of these illustrations that true believers, the best of believers, leaders like Job and Paul and Peter and congregations as the church at Smyrna and those who will come in the tribulation can be turned over to Satan for God's sovereign purposes. For the sake of proving the genuineness and the character of saving faith. For the sake of keeping them humble and dependent on God. For the sake of enabling them to strengthen others who go through trials. For the purpose of praise throughout eternity because they've been delivered from so much and for the purpose of giving to them special eternal reward. Yes, believers can be delivered to Satan for physical problems, for problems in the family, even for death for divine purposes.

But today I want to talk about another aspect of it. Being delivered to Satan not for a positive reason but for a negative one. Because this is the issue in 1 Timothy chapter 1. These two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, were delivered unto Satan not in order that they might prove the truth of their faith, not in order that they might maintain humility and dependence, not so that they could strengthen others, not so that they could receive a crown of life, not so that they could give unlimited and unhindered and eternal praise to the living Christ who had spared them and brought them through a terrible tribulation. No, they were turned over to Satan for judgment.

That's different, for judgment. And the Scripture illustrates this very aptly. Let's go back to 1 Samuel chapter 16 and I'm going to show you several illustrations of this as we move through briefly. 1 Samuel chapter 16, Samuel comes to anoint the one God has chosen to be the new king.

We pick up the narrative in verse 12. Samuel has arrived at the household of Jesse. God has pinpointed one of Jesse's sons. He sent and brought him in. He was ruddy and of a beautiful countenance and handsome.

The idea was he was masculine and he was handsome. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, this is he. Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him in the midst of his brethren and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day onward. Now notice verse 14, when the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. People get worried about how the evil spirit could come from the Lord. It doesn't mean the Lord is evil. It doesn't mean the evil spirit dwelled in the presence of the Lord. All it means is that even the demons can't function unless the Lord allows them. And when the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, it's as if God turned him over to Satan and Satan dispatched some very key powerful demon who went and became the constant companion of Saul. And the word troubled, that common Old Testament word means to terrify or torment. He became demon tormented. The word demon-possessed is not a biblical term.

It's better to use a biblical term so we understand what we're talking about in reference to passages of Scripture. Saul became demon tormented, demon tormented. In spite of having the Spirit of the Lord on him for his kingly rule, he was given to rash judgments. His decisions made under pressure were stupid.

One of them almost caused him to have to execute his own son for eating honey. He fell to pride. He despised the authority of Samuel and wanted unilateral control and wanted full confidence and trust and glory from all the people rather than sharing it with anyone. He was greedy.

He flaunted his injustice everywhere. He flagrantly disobeyed God. He took the role of a priest and he tried to hide his disobedience under a cloak of spirituality. He was a very wicked, very evil man.

As a result of this, the Spirit of the Lord left him and an evil spirit came to terrorize that man until his death. In chapter 18, we get a little insight into this, and David was wherever Saul was. David was the one who played the harp for Saul.

You know the story. And Saul set him over men of war and lifted him up to a place of prominence and they won a great battle, the slaughter of the Philistines mentioned in verse 6. And as they were coming back, women came out of all the cities of Israel as they marched back toward Jerusalem and they were dancing and singing in timbrels and joy and instruments of music. And the women spoke one to another as they played and this is the song they sang, Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. Now an egomaniac like Saul is never going to be able to handle that. And Saul was very angry. The saying displeased him and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands. To me they have ascribed but thousands and what can he have more but the kingdom?

Now he'd been anointed but he'd not yet taken the throne. And Saul was in great fear and he watched enviously David from that day and onward and it came to pass on the next day the evil spirit from God came on Saul. He was terrorized again. He prophesied in the midst of the house apparently some ecstatic utterances and David played with his hand to try to soothe him as at other times and there was a javelin in Saul's hand. He was a great warrior, a giant of a man, skilled with a javelin. And Saul threw the javelin and said, I'll smite David even to the wall with it.

I'll pin him to the wall. And David escaped from his presence twice. And over in chapter 19, verse 9, the evil spirit from the Lord was on Saul as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand and David played with his hand and Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin but he slipped away out of Saul's presence.

He smote the javelin into the wall and David fled and escaped that night. Now this man is demon terrorized. The story of Saul, the tormented man, goes from bad to worse. When that demon was given to him and he was turned over to Satan, even though he'd been under the Spirit of the Lord, even though he'd been part of the covenant people of God and known the insulation of that, whether or not he was actually a true believer, he had known the protection of the covenant people. He had known the protection that comes from being within the framework where God is pouring out the fulfillment of His promises.

He had known the presence of the Spirit of the Lord as a king. But he is now thrust out. The Spirit of the Lord departs and he's all alone abandoned to the kingdom of Satan. And he becomes not just melancholy, not just despairing.

This isn't some psychological disorientation. He is demonized and he is subject to the control of a supernatural evil, power, vile and wicked who leads him to insanity, to mass murder, into the occult and ultimately to commit suicide. And as Thomas Menton the Puritan said, the devil delights to vex men with unreasonable terrors, the devil both tempts and troubles. The Lord turned him over to hellish power, not for instruction in divine sovereignty, not for him to be able to maintain his humility, he had none, not to make him dependent, not to help him strengthen others, not to give him a crown of life, not to cause him to praise for all eternity, but to punish him, to judge him. And he went right into the pit of the occult.

He then consulted with a witch of Endor, delving with mediums and demon spirits. And when the Lord did come back in the form of the Spirit in chapter 19 and cause him to prophesy, he was so out of control in the prophecy that he stripped himself naked, fell on the floor prostrate and totally exposed in total humiliation, really in a sense bereft of his own understanding. Later on he massacred a whole group of good priests because they had given provisions to David and then ended his life as a suicide, which by the way is a rare act in all the annals of Israel's history, but not rare among those who are delivered to Satan. Let's look at John 13. John 13, verse 27.

It is the upper room. It is the night of the betrayal of Jesus Christ. The main character of our focus is Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Judas who had been with Jesus for three years, Judas who had seen everything he did, heard everything he said, watched the miracles, Judas who could not deny either the truthfulness of Christ, Judas who could not deny either the perfection of Christ nor the power of Christ has rejected it all.

And it says in verse 27, one of the most tragic statements in Scripture, after the sop, that is after taking that piece of bread and dipping it in the sop which was part of the Passover meal, Satan entered into him. The divine timetable was set and God turned Judas over to Satan. He had been a part of the community of apostles. He had been insulated from the full fury of Satan's world because of the protection of that group which God had so blessed by the presence of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But now he is out of that group. He is turned over to Satan. Satan enters into him. Jesus says, what you do, do it quickly.

Do it quickly. And in Luke chapter 22 and verse 3, the text puts it this way just to add to the understanding you already have, then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve and he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains how he might betray him with them. They were glad and covenanted to give him money. He went out energized by Satan, sold Jesus Christ, then went out in remorse, put a noose around his neck, hanged himself, the rope broke or the branch broke, he fell down, hit a rock and his bowels gushed out all over the place. Suicide, just like Saul, turned over to Satan, put out of that sheltered, protected place. Saul I believe illustrates the unbeliever who is blessed by being in the presence of God's promised people, Judas the same, but cast out as a judgment on their evil hearts. Let's go to Acts chapter 5, Acts chapter 5.

There was a certain man in verse 1 named Ananias, he had a wife named Sapphira. They sold a possession, obviously, they promised the Lord they would give him all of the proceeds from the sale, 100%, but they kept back part of the price, so they told a lie to the Holy Spirit. They came then pretending to be giving everything, laid it at the apostles' feet. The Holy Spirit instructed Peter about their lie. So Peter said, Ananias, why, here it comes, has Satan filled your heart? When he lied to the Spirit of God, it was a result of an evil intent which literally turned him over to Satan.

Now I believe there's no reason to assume this isn't a believer. After all, it was the Holy Spirit to whom he lied, and only a believer has such communion with the Holy Spirit. He lied to the Holy Spirit. The result, verse 5, he fell down and died.

I believe the Lord turned him over to Satan, Satan filled him, and Satan killed him. His wife showed up three hours later, didn't know what happened. She came in, the same story went on.

Verse 9, how is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them who have buried your husband are at the door and will carry you out. She fell down immediately at his feet and died.

A young man came in, found her dead, carried her forth, buried her by her husband. Great fear came on everyone. Now here were two believers who lied to the Holy Spirit. They were turned over to Satan. Satan is the one, according to Hebrews 2, has the power of death. There are times when God turns people over for Satan to use that power.

And in that case, that's what happened. Turned over to him because of sin. In the case of Judas, an unbeliever. In the case of Saul, likely an unbeliever.

In the case of Ananias and Sapphira, believers. Turned over to Satan for a chastening. You say, did they go to hell? No, they went to heaven if they were true believers.

But the judgment was nonetheless, exceedingly severe and caused others to have great fear. So there are those within the protected community who can be turned over to Satan, not for the sake of teaching some great truth, not for the sake of maintaining humility, not for the sake of strengthening others, not for the sake of gaining reward, not for the sake of eternal praise, but for the sake of judgment. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. John is the teacher you hear each day on this broadcast. He's also the chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, and his current study from 1 Timothy is titled Spiritual Warfare. Now in this series, John has been making the point that Timothy was called to teach sound doctrine. And if you've listened to Grace to You for very long, you know that sound doctrine is our core commitment. So let me ask you, John, why do you care so much about sound doctrine?

Why is that something Grace to You cares about and that our listening family should also care about? The word sound doesn't denote sound like noise. It denotes healthy. And that's even the Greek word.

When you say someone is sound, you're saying essentially that they're healthy. Healthy doctrine. Healthy doctrine is true doctrine. We know that the devil is a liar. We know the devil is a deceiver.

We know the world has always been full of liars and deceivers and false teachers and false prophets and false preachers and false pastors. Because that's exactly how the temptation in the garden initiated all of this. Satan comes and he questions God. He says, Did God say that? And then when he gets a little crack in Eve's will, he goes even further and says, God didn't say that. So Satan's always going to be the father of lies. He's going to be a liar.

Jesus said it's going to be this way to the end. Even as our Lord looked at the future time before he came, he said there would be many false teachers, many false Christs, and if it were possible, they would lead astray, even the elect. So we live in a malo of lies and deception and falsehood. I don't think, honestly, Phil, in my lifetime I have ever seen so much of it as I'm seeing now, lying about absolutely everything.

It's as if everyone lies. So the Church of Jesus Christ and the ministry of grace to you has always, always been devoted to true doctrine, sound doctrine. Whether it's radio, television, books, CDs, podcasts, downloads, whatever it is, we want to teach truth.

I say this so many times. I live for the truth. Every day I get up, all I want to do is know the truth, understand the truth, preach the truth, teach the truth, write the truth. The truth is absolutely everything. The truth of God is the most important reality on the face of the earth. It alone saves and sanctifies and provides everything that we need to be in the blessing of God. So grace to you exists to be a resounding voice for biblical truth and sound doctrine because you need that more than you need anything else. That's how you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ.

Exactly. And friend, if what John said resonates with you, thanks for remembering that we are listener supported. We can connect people with biblical truth here in the U.S. and across the globe because listeners like you give.

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And when you get in touch, remember, for a limited time, nearly everything we sell is available at 25% off the regular price. So now is the time to purchase one of John's books like The Gospel According to Jesus, or One Perfect Life, or our flagship resource, the MacArthur Study Bible, or any of the 34 volumes in John's New Testament Commentary Series. To place your order, go to gty.org or call us at 800-55-GRACE. And to express your support for Grace to You, to help connect men, women, and families with life-changing biblical truth, call us at 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for making this broadcast part of your day, and make sure you're here tomorrow when John wraps up his study on spiritual warfare. Don't miss the next 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You.