Long before the term “Influencer” was adopted for those with huge followings on Social Media platforms, MacArthur exerted a huge influence on my life, despite the fact that I never met him or spoke to him.
In early 1992, while in my late twenties, I moved a distance of over five hundred miles, from Norwich to Aberdeen. Having become a Christian in the summer of 1990, my life was going through a major transformation as I relinquished old habits and embraced new desires.
In the past I had lived a self-orientated life, doing what I pleased, but I came to recognise that there was a God against whom I had sinned and from whom I was separated. Thankfully, that was not all I learnt, as I came to understand the amazing message of the gospel – that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to secure salvation for all who will believe in Him. Because, out of great love and mercy, Jesus Christ took the punishment that my sin deserved, through faith in Him I received forgiveness of sin and was reconciled to God. Jesus Christ became my Lord and Saviour.
So, in 1992, I found myself alone in Aberdeen. Thankfully, that situation did not last long as I joined a small church in Inverurie, a town some twelve miles from the city. It was there I was first introduced to John MacArthur, as the bookcase at the back of the church was filled with cassette tapes (younger readers may need to Google that term!) of his Bible teaching. These tapes were lent to me and I eagerly listened to them on my Sony Walkman (again, younger readers may need to Google that term!). Previously I had had very little exposure to verse-by-verse Bible teaching but this was, and always remained, MacArthur’s style. This method of teaching, working systematically through the text of Scripture, was extremely helpful for me as it enabled me to understand and apply the Word of God.
Before long I subscribed to his tape club, meaning that every month I would receive four cassette tapes of his recent messages. As the Internet gained traction the cassette tape ministry faded but MacArthur’s Bible teaching ministry carried on. Tapes were replaced with CDs, which have been replaced with MP3 files and podcasts.
MacArthur’s Bible teaching has stood the test of time and, I believe, will continue to do so. The messages he delivered in the early 90s are still relevant today. He never got swept along with trends but stuck rigidly to preaching the text of Scripture. One of the aspects that most impressed me was his unchanging desire to know what was the meaning of each passage. He would continually demonstrate that it was essential to read Scripture in context, seeking to discover how the original audience would have understood what they were hearing or reading. Alongside that was his absolute confidence in the supremacy and authority of Scripture.
MacArthur described true preaching as “ . . . to preach the Bible in such a way, that the meaning of the Bible passage is presented entirely and exactly as it was intended by God. That's the challenge - the divine Word coming through the preacher”.[1]
Another aspect of his ministry that influenced me was his consistent and clear proclamation of the gospel, no matter the audience. He was a regular guest on CNN’s “The Larry King Show”, where, in front of a national audience, he would consistently and graciously present the gospel.
On one show a caller asked about homosexuality and King pressed MacArthur, clearly hoping he would say something offensive. MacArthur spoke of the sin of practising homosexuality and, when asked how Jesus would react to homosexuals, said: “I think He would endeavor to communicate the truth and the gospel. He would confront the sin and he would offer the salvation through repentance and faith in himself and his death and resurrection.”[2] Surely an object lesson of “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).
He constantly showed how to keep calm in difficult situations and not get drawn into foolish lines of argument. I recall in another interview he stated that he had two objectives when he was on a TV show. Number one was to declare that the Bible is God’s unchanging and authoritative word, and number two was to state that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour for sinners.
My understanding of what the Scriptures teach has, for decades, been greatly aided by the teaching of John MacArthur. Did I agree with everything he stated? No, but I probably come close to 99% agreement.
Additionally, much of his teaching has been transcribed and edited into books, many of which I have read. One of his most well-known is The Gospel According to Jesus. In this book he confronts the notion of what could be called "easy believism", which is to state that salvation is received by “saying a prayer” and is not necessarily accompanied by any change in a person’s thinking or actions. MacArthur correctly and clearly shows that true salvation is a genuine commitment to Jesus Christ as both Saviour and Lord.
“A Christian is not one who simply buys “fire insurance,” who “accepts Christ” just to escape hell. As we have seen repeatedly, true believers’ faith expresses itself in submission and obedience. Christians follow Christ. They are committed unquestionably to Christ as Lord and Saviour.”[3]
“The gospel according to Jesus explicitly and unequivocally rules out easy-believism. To make all of our Lord’s difficult demands apply only to a higher class of Christians blunts the force of His entire message. It makes room for a cheap and meaningless faith — a faith that may be exercised with absolutely no impact on the fleshly life of sin. That is not saving faith.”[4]
Many of his individual books have impacted me, as has his New Testament Commentary series and his Study Bible.
My allegiance is not to John MacArthur but to the Lord Jesus Christ, and my faith is in Him alone. However I am indebted to MacArthur’s ministry, which has had, and will continue to have, an impact on me and also on hundreds of thousands of others. I pray that his family will be comforted by knowing that, having served the Lord well, he is now “with the Lord” whom he served (2 Corinthians 5:8), experiencing “fullness of joy” in His presence (Psalm 16:11), and also by the fact that his influence lives on.
[1] https://www.macarthurcenter.org/expository-preaching
[2] CNN Larry King Live, April 13th 2006
[3] MacArthur, John F., The Gospel According to Jesus: What Is Authentic Faith?, Zondervan, Kindle Edition, p.339.
[4] Ibid., p.62.
