As I consider the life, ministry, and passing of Pastor John MacArthur, I’m moved to great personal gratitude to the Lord. Others have and will continue to write tributes to him, rehearsing his great faithfulness, gifting, and accomplishments. I’d like to add my voice by simply sharing some of the more prominent lessons the Lord taught me through this faithful servant. What follows is not an exhaustive list, but those items that might be most helpful and encouraging to you.
1. Preaching matters. I first became aware of John MacArthur through his radio preaching ministry, Grace to You. At the time, I was attending a seeker-driven church. It didn’t occur to me how spiritually starved I was until I heard him preaching on the radio. It wasn’t just the depth of his preaching that I found refreshing, but the method. He preached expositionally, reading and explaining a book of the Bible, verse-by-verse.
This was a contrast to the teaching at my own church, where the pastor taught exclusively by topic. The latter method simply could not compare in terms of helpfulness, convicting power, and the stirring up of godly affections. I found myself listening to MacArthur everyday in order to make up for what was lacking at church.
This created in me the strong conviction that preaching matters. The pulpit of a church will be a driving factor in the spiritual health of the members. Specifically, expositional preaching feeds in a way that topical preaching cannot.
2. Radio preaching isn’t enough. For several years, I continued attending that church, while seeking to be fed by John MacArthur on the side. I rationalized that I was being fed on the radio, so the content and method of teaching at my church didn’t matter.
It eventually became clear that radio preaching isn’t enough. The pulpit is a crucial piece of the culture/life of a church. A radio preacher, however gifted, cannot make up for what is inherently lacking in a church where the Word is not preached. God’s design for every church is that the pastors would “preach the Word” (2 Tim 4:2). The alternative accommodates the heart’s natural desire for ear-tickling and wandering (2 Tim 4:3-4). A pulpit that doesn’t deliver God’s Word will lead to an ill-equipped, spiritually-emaciated body. I realized I needed to be doing life with a congregation that was well-fed corporately.
So, my wife and I left that church, determined that we would only do life with a well-nourished church. To our great surprise and disappointment, we could not find a church where the Bible was preaching expositionally. The Lord used this to turn our hearts toward the possibility of church planting.
John MacArthur’s ministry is a means that the Lord used to bring about the planting of Providence Bible Fellowship.
3. Christ is Savior only to those who submit to Him as Lord. My exposure to MacArthur’s preaching led me desire such content in other forms. At the local Christian bookstore, I found MacArthur’s book, The Gospel According to Jesus. I had no idea the lightning rod this book had been in previous years. All I knew was that it inflamed my passion for the gospel. It taught me clearly and conclusively that Jesus’ call to salvation is not merely a call to intellectual agreement with particular biblical facts about Jesus. Rather, it is a call to a radical reorientation of one’s life through repentance.
This truth differed from language I had heard for years, which presented the Christian life as taking place in phases: one first comes to Christ as Savior; one then has the option to move onto maturity by making Christ Lord. That is, I had been taught that it is quite possible to be saved without turning from sin.
On the contrary, through MacArthur’s book I realized that anyone for whom Christ is not Lord will hear on the last day, “Depart from me; I never knew you” (Matt 7:23). True conversion requires repentance and results in a life of obedience.
4. Calvinism is biblical. During the same season, due largely to MacArthur’s influence, I was reading and studying the Bible voraciously. For years, I had regarded Calvinists as something like mythical creatures—I had heard they existed, but never saw one.
An extended time in the book of Romans led me to suspect—to my initial distress—that God elects particular individuals for salvation. Could this be? The text was quite plain, but surely I was reading it wrong!
As I wrestled with this, Grace to You ran a sermon series by John MacArthur about God’s sovereignty over salvation. MacArthur’s clear exposition affirmed the undeniable reality of election, setting me on a path of not merely accepting this doctrine, but embracing it.
5. “Keep your seat in the seat.” At one of the numerous conferences where I heard John MacArthur speak, there was a forum regarding the keys to faithful preaching. Others on the stage helpfully gave pointers regarding the practice of biblical exposition. MacArthur’s main contribution on that occasion was to talk about studying in the preparation to preach. He noted that the depth and quality of a sermon may be cut short by an eagerness to finish studying and begin outlining the sermon. He said, “If you want to go deep, keep your seat in the seat.” In other words, resist the temptation to be done studying. The best insights may be under the unturned stone just ahead.
Many times, I’ve been tempted to move prematurely from study to outline, when I hear MacArthur’s voice in my head, “Keep your seat in the seat.”
6. It’s possible to bold and winsome. If you read the news stories and tributes to MacArthur, you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that does not mention his boldness. He was quite willing to hold unpopular positions in defense of the Scriptures.
Many Christians are bold. However, often they are strident in their boldness, almost combative. For that reason, it was always instructive to listen to MacArthur speak in secular forums, like on Larry King Live. He could engage with unbelievers—unbelievers being unkind and arrogant toward him—holding back nothing of the truth while delivering that truth with graciousness and sincerity.
I want to be willing to tell the truth in any forum, but I want to do so with humility, care, and softness. In that way, I want to be like John MacArthur.
7. Self-control and intentionality are essential to finishing well. Many start well; not as many finish well. Recent years have shown too many public figures in the evangelical church ruin their ministries by living ungodly lives.
This has led many pastors to take special precautions against pride, lack of accountability, and moral failure. MacArthur was uniquely intentional in this and went to lengths few others do. For example, seeing the potential danger, he purposed never to use the internet. Secretaries and assistants tended to everything in his ministry that would require internet use: he didn’t use email, didn’t post his own blog articles, didn’t research online…nothing. This was an intentional decision in light of the terrible ramifications of potentially falling into sin.
Accordingly, I once heard MacArthur talking about the virtue of self-control. He described his own practice of looking for opportunities to deny himself. Regarding even innocuous pleasures easily considered a gift of freedom in Christ—he would occasionally tell himself “no” for the simple benefit of keeping sharp his self-control. He disciplined himself lest after preaching to others he himself should be disqualified (1 Cor 9:27). A pastor who served alongside MacArthur at Grace Community Church once told me, “John MacArthur is the most disciplined man I’ve ever known.” Praise God that virtue served to deliver him to glory after a 60+ year public ministry with his reputation and testimony intact.
The Lord taught me many other things through John MacArthur, and I’m so thankful. What a blessed thought that after a lifetime of enjoying and serving the Lord he has entered the Lord’s presence. May his life, ministry, and passing continue to commend to us the glory of Christ and the value of His Word.
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