'I am twenty-six years old', writes a young man from Omaha,

'I am twenty-six years old', writes a young man from Omaha,

174. JOHN MacArruur: SERVANT OF THE WorD AND FLOCK

'I am twenty-six years old', writes a young man from Omaha,

'and I realize that I have been raised in an era of "baby" preach-

ing and weak doctrine. I am so thankful for your program and

I pray God continues to speak through you.'

The comment of the youngest that I saw was from a five-year-

old, although not written by him but reported by his father:

My five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter were

fighting the other day. My wife told them to go and think about what God would want them to do to get along

better. A few minutes later my son had the answer: 'Listen

to more John MacArthur', he said!

Letters come from all parts of the world and all kinds of situ-

ations. A listener in Austria said: 'I am so grateful that I found

you on the Internet (my son did, actually). Your series on "The

Disciples' Prayer" radically changed my attitude towards prayer

and the way I used to pray" A woman in Germany wrote: 'I

was nearly brought to despair looking for solid scriptural food

in today's anything-goes Christianity. I want to say a heartfelt

thanks for your dedication and hard work.'

A man from near Philadelphia whose twenty-six-year-old

wife had recently died from lung disease, leaving three infants,

wrote:

My father gave me one of your sermons dealing with trials.

I began listening to Grace to You and slowly began understanding God's love to us. God has used your teaching to guide me through the darkest days and hours of my life.

From Venezuela a man reported: 'I make a point of listen-

ing to your broadcast every chance I get, and I take vigorous

notes so that I can share these studies with others in my church.

Gracia a Vosotros [is helping] mould and shape our spiritual

A Basket of Letters 175

lives. A Filipino, working in Saudi Arabia, wrote to say, 'Mr

John, your web site 1s a great blessing for me, and I know many

here are also blessed by your ministry.' The same news came

from Iraq where, in a letter reporting his daily listening to Grace

to You on the internet, a US Army lieutenant added, 'If you

could forward this to John so he can know that he is reaching

and blessing soldiers in Iraq, I would appreciate it.'

Correspondents often refer to the particular subjects that

helped them. Another US service man in Iraq said: 'Your commitment to telling the truth of God's Word and not com-

promising that truth has been used of God to build me up in

times of trouble.' The sinfulness of sin was a subject on which

numbers commented. The way he addressed one particular sin,

drew this memorable letter from a woman:

I was saved in 1999 from a homosexual lifestyle. I left that

life behind me and have not looked back. I do, however,

still feel guilty at times. About a year after I got saved, I began attending the church my whole family attends. The pastor is well acquainted with my family and knows my background. In the seven years I attended that church,

I never heard that a homosexual could be saved. They mocked and made fun of homosexuals, but that was about

it. I left that church a year ago and have been listening to you every day for almost a year. I listened to your mes-

sage titled, 'What God Thinks of Homosexuals', and I just

cried when I heard you say God loves homosexuals, and

they can be saved. I have to tell you how much your daily

broadcasts have helped me grow.

A woman from Portsmouth, Virginia, wrote:

Countless times the Holy Spirit has ministered to me through your broadcast. I thank God for you. On one

176 JoHN MacArTHurR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

occasion in particular, when you were on the subject of

false prophets, God really used you to bless me with His wisdom and understanding. You see, I was in the midst of a church at that time where there were indeed some of the false prophets spoken of in the Bible. After much prayer, and God speaking to me through Scripture and in my quiet time, your broadcast confirmed to me God's revelation.

Several letters speak of new understanding gained on

the subject of assurance. A couple from Fresno, California,

wrote:

My husband and I thank God for putting on your heart the 'Doctrines of Grace' series. It has literally changed our

lives. We have prayed and prayed that God would give

us assurance of our salvation . . . Only eternity will show the huge impact this series has had and is having on other

folks like us who have been seeking assurance of their salvation.

A man of forty-two years recounts how, after being a nominal

believer, he had recently received Christ. But

many little temptations to doubt persisted and I longed

to understand the truth of His words and to glorify Him. Then one day I happened to turn on WECU and I heard you speak. I could not believe what began to happen. You made the Word of God come alive in my mind, and you slowly peeled back forty-two years of questioning and doubt. I am still very human but Satan has lost.

A broadcast series on the sovereign grace of God and election

drew a number of comments. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart, wrote a man from Buffalo, NY. 'Listening to Pas-

tor John stand on God's Word as he preached on election was

A Basket of Letters 177

both humbling and encouraging, and it fills me with grateful

thanks.' Another wrote: 'Your sermons on election and God's

sovereignty have totally changed my perspective on salvation.'

As this broadcast series began, a student at Palm Beach Atlantic

University wrote to say how relevant it was to discussions going

on among them:

Recently the topic of Calvinism came up. I simply want

to thank you for tackling this subject. As you can imagine,

Pll be listening to these podcasts on my 1Tunes daily, along with my roommate and other college dorm mates. Thank

you, John, for your example and your unwavering commitment to the clear truth of Scripture.

Pastors and Christian workers often speak of the help they

have received to give to others. With MacArthur's help, one man was able to teach a weekly Bible study through Romans

to fifty Japanese nationals in Tokyo. Another engaged in prison

ministry, and leading about eighty-five men in a Bible Study

group, expressed his gratitude for the 'better understanding of

God's Word' he had gained by the ministry of Grace to You. He

also spoke of how the MacArthur Study Bible was being widely

used among the men in the penitentiary.

A prison inmate in Ohio wrote:

The studies on Grace to You have helped me grow in the

faith a great deal. You've helped me to learn to study and

maintain the integrity of the Word of God. There have

been times when the messages were so convicting I almost

turned them off the radio, but the Holy Spirit bore wit-

ness to the facts. Pm glad I did listen. I have seen a major

change in my life over the past two years that has come

by the grace of God.

178 JoHN MacArTHuR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

From a woman in Wisconsin came these words:

It has been eighteen months since leaving a worldwide

cult. Grace to You tapes, books, and radio programs have been instrumental in building my relationship with Jesus

Christ, helping me to understand what it means to be saved by grace alone, and to love and serve others.!

A Baptist pastor from Kansas testified how the Bible preaching

had widened his vision of things: 'You know how we "Baptists"

are about non-Baptist churches. Well, let me say, these days are

over, Grace Community Church has made the difference.'

From Arkansas a pastor wrote:

Recently I read your books The Gospel According to the Apostles and The Gospel According to Jesus. | have always

had trouble with the easy-believism taught today in most

evangelical churches, yet I could never put my finger on

the specific problem with it. Your teaching on salvation

has helped me tremendously. I have been sharing what I have been learning with my wife. Recently I preached my first message where I began to explain that salvation

is more than believing a few facts about Jesus. I took my congregation through | John 1-2. They were amazingly

silent, yet they were listening intently.

A very similar letter came from Tennessee:

I am the pastor of a small, rural, African-American church. But I found the principles you shared in your book, Hard

to Believe, to be of universal significance to the Christian

church. As a matter of fact I incorporated these teachings

into our Wednesday night Bible study. We all discovered

that there is a high cost to following Jesus . . . I realize that God is worthy of all the glory, but I thank you for allowing Him to reach our congregation through you.

' This letter and the previous one were quoted in a Grace to You letter.

A Basket of Letters 179

A Roman Catholic priest writes from New Orleans, to tell

MacArthur how he had come to know Christ as Lord and

Saviour ten years earlier, fourteen years after his ordination to

the priesthood:

Since then I have become 'addicted' to Sacred Scripture. I have been listening to your radio broadcast for about five years now. I have all your study guides and several of your books and pamphlets . . . Last week I was invited to be the speaker at a Jesuit retreat on the banks of the Mississipp1. I based my talks (eleven, thirty-minute talks) very heavily on your book The Gospel According to Jesus. There were 111 men in attendance. The director of the Retreat House told me that in all the time he had been there, he had not heard such praise for and enthusiasm about the talks.

This correspondence also reveals that it is by no means only

Christians who listen to the broadcasts. Not infrequently unbe-

lievers listen without intending to do so. A woman was listening

to Grace to You when her husband came in unexpectedly for

lunch. As he was very antagonistic to the gospel, her initial

reaction was to turn the radio off so that he would not become

angry, but something kept her from doing that. He began to

listen, was gripped by the Word of God, and started to listen to

Grace to You daily. Within two weeks he came home and told

his wife that he had trusted the Lord Jesus as his Saviour.

A man from Michigan was raised in a Muslim family, and

after the death of his father and a period of rebellion and drugs,

he started to seek God:

I started my journey in a mosque. I went there many times

to ask for literature and to pray. Every time I went I felt more of a void. I was disgusted with my life and felt I was the lowest of all men... One day I was driving and heard

180 JOHN MacArTHUR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

something about Christ on the radio, and I sensed I was being drawn to God. I cannot explain it—I just knew I was being drawn. I remember telling God something sig-

nificant: I called Him 'Lord'. This was significant to me because Muslims never call our God 'Lord'. I promised

the Lord I would go to church, which I did, and I started reading the Bible. At some time—I don't know when—I was born again by the grace of God, and I was baptized

... Lhope to become a pastor. I love listening to Grace to You—Im comforted by your messages. My family and I

are persecuted a lot, especially by other relatives. We will not bend in our faith. We live by the Word of God and

are not ashamed.

A forty-three-year old black American from Tennessee wrote

of how he had turned away from Christianity under the influ-

ence of the Black Power movement.

I bought into the teaching against a 'white' Jesus, and the pro-Black teachings became my religion . . . When I first heard you on radio about nine years ago, I thought to myself, 'I really don't like this guy and what he is saying.' I was pretty sure you were white. Then one day I heard you preach on forgiveness of sins and love, and the veil was lifted from my eyes. Up until then, I had never truly heard the gospel preached, never truly understood the holiness of God. The Word of God began to have an incredible impact on me as I listened to your preaching daily. By God's grace, Pve been living for Him, studying His Word, and listening to your broadcast for the last nine years.

wie

A Basket of Letters 181

Perhaps the most important subject in all these letters has

not yet been mentioned. I find it repeated in many places, and

it is more closely connected with the influence of this ministry

than can be estimated in this world. I refer to such comments

as these: 'I keep you in my prayers daily Dr MacArthur'; 'I am

praying always that our God will continue to shower you with

wisdom and goodness'; 'I continue to give you my prayers and

support'; 'My family is praying for your ministry.'

The Apostle Paul needed the intercession of Christian people

for his work, and so do all faithful men. 'My people pray for

me', was Spurgeon's comment on the fruitfulness of his work.

The blessing of God on the preaching of John MacArthur is a

testimony to the God who hears and answers prayer.'

One final thought 1s also too important to miss. There are no

pressured appeals for money from Grace to You. Yet the work

could not continue without the numbers of those who share in

the ministry by their giving. Among the consequences of that

support has been the opportunity it gives of extending help to

those of very limited resources. It has been moving for me to

read the gratitude of such individuals—ranging from pastors

in small churches, to men in penitentiaries. Such words as the

following are not uncommon: 'My family has been very blessed by the free resources we have received.' 'How do I say thanks

for such kindness? Thank you, thank you, thank you.'

? While preparing these pages in Britain, where MacArthur has been broadcasting six days a week since 1987, a young man told me of how, at the age of fifteen, John MacArthur's preaching led to his conversion. I heard of a man of 101 years, long unaccustomed to evangelical preaching, who had come to listen every Sunday night. His funeral took place on the day I typed these words. A Christian widow, whom we often visit, makes it a practice to stop everything at 7 pm each evening to listen to MacArthur teaching the truth. Who can say how many thousands of such stories might be repeated?

182 JOHN MacARTHUR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

An incident illustrates how Grace to You seeks to operate. A woman wrote to say she had been a listener for nearly ten years,

but, while she continued to be blessed by listening, she would

no longer be able to send financial support. Her husband had

recently suffered a stroke. On behalf of John, a staff member

called her 'to pass on a word of encouragement, and to make

certain she continued to request the free books or tapes offered'.

She seemed surprised a ministry would want to do this for

someone unable to give.

Those who have supported this ministry have not served

Christ in vain.

Objections and Questions

here is no shortage of examples of hostility to John

MacArthur's ministry. Some of these arrive in letters to

Grace to You. A lady from Utah, after hearing about his book,

The Gospel According to Jesus on her car radio, went to the only

Christian bookshop in her area:

The man that manages the bookstore told us he was not carrying the book and he was sure he did not want to order

it for us or sell it to us. Then he gave us a long speech why he didn't like MacArthur and why we shouldn't read his

books.

Another man told how he had been a Christian for thirty-five

years, and how listening to Grace to You was 'an outstanding

resource' in his daily Christian life. But when nominated to join

the board of elders in his church, an interview with the elders

followed and proved a painful experience:

I was shocked that for the first thirty minutes they trashed your ministry—as if listening to Grace to You, or reading your books, were the unpardonable sin. The elders are wanting to move toward a seeker-sensitive format.

184 JOHN MacArTHurR: SERVANT OF THE WoRD AND FLOCK

There are different ways of explaining this kind of reaction

to MacArthur's ministry, ranging from misunderstanding and

misinformation, to ignorance and plain antipathy to biblical

teaching.! I do not mean to address such generalities here, but

to take up a few particular questions or objections that have not appeared in the preceding pages.

Some object not so much to the content of his preaching

but to the way he says it. A pastor in Brazil complains, "Most

of the time MacArthur is rather forceful in his views and lacks

cordiality toward those who disagree with him.' By way of reply

it has to be agreed that MacArthur is considerably more force-

ful and direct than is common in contemporary preaching. He

believes that if a preacher does not have authority behind what

he says he should not be speaking at all in the name of God.

This is the more necessary in a day when plain speaking 1s not

'politically correct and, if some are put off, it is the very thing

that many recognize as greatly needed. 'I was astonished at your

boldness in preaching the Word', writes a listener 1n Florida. 'It

was so refreshing. I rarely am convicted by the teaching at my

church.' Others who listen to him regularly understand that,

far from being indifferent to their feelings, his directness shows

the opposite. A hearer writes:

I just want to say thank you for your willingness to tell

the truth regardless of how it may make us feel. The hard

messages may hurt at the time but in the end lead to life

and a true relationship with God. My heart is moved by

your concern and evident love for people like me.

Those who understand what MacArthur is teaching can generally interpret the opposition. One correspondent wrote: 'You have proven that a church can grow without a bus ministry. You have proven that folks can get saved without an aggressive altar call. You have proven that the Bible can effectively be taught without the King James Version. It is no wonder that many fanatical fundamentalists don't like you.'

Oljections and Questions 185

Further, while MacArthur does not think a cordial attitude is

appropriate towards those who are opponents of the truth, he

never demeans such individuals. Probably millions have heard

him on 'Larry King Live', one of America's most popular talk-

shows, when he is the only Christian participant in a group

discussion. The manner of his testimony on those occasions has

been both definite and humble. In the words of one observer,

It is refreshing to see the respect that Larry had for you because you stand for something and don't back down. You also show great respect for others, and that is a mar-

vellous testimony.

Some criticism of John MacArthur comes from men who are

thankful for his evangelical leadership while expressing differ-

ences. I am thinking of such men as Dr Samuel Waldron, who

has opposed MacArthur on a secondary point of doctrine yet

can speak of him as 'one of my modern-day heroes. I love John

MacArthur and thank God for his ministry."

It is sometimes complained that John produces young preach-

ers who seek to be replicas. That imitations may exist 1s not to

be denied, but that he 'breeds' them is no more true than it was

in the case of such men as Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones.

Numbers of men who loved the preaching at Spurgeon's

Metropolitan Tabernacle themselves went on to build "Taber-

nacles', not 'churches'; and, more curiously, some admirers of

Lloyd-Jones could ease their collar with a finger as accurately

as they saw done in the pulpit of Westminster Chapel. But

young men need leaders, and if they follow them too closely

the fault is one that, with time, hopefully they will unlearn. No

2 Samuel E. Waldron, MacArthur's Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response (Owensboro, KY: RBAP, 2008), p. 145.

186 JOHN MACARTHUR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

one should be imitated. The command, 'Put not your trust in

princes' (Psa. 146:3), rests on a good reason: in MacArthur's

words, 'Throughout history God has used imperfect vessels,

"that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of

us" (2 Cor. 4:7)?

There is no ideal mould or template from which God produces

others. No two men have identical gifts and there is imperfection

in the best. It may well be that young men, especially gradu-

ates of the Master's Seminary, have sought to reproduce Grace Community Church, but it is unreasonable to put the blame at

MacArthur's door. He wants a rising generation of preachers

who uphold the principles he has taught, where they see them

in the Word of God; but he does not want imitative disciples.

'Let every man prove his own work, is the biblical principle

(Gal. 6.4). Every man has to honour God in whatever circum-

stances He appoints. "Do not be called masters', is the abiding command of Christ (Matt. 23:10).

whe

Another complaint was put to MacArthur by Victor Ryagu-

zov when the two men were in conversation in Russia: 'Some

suggest that it is your desire to break up existing denominations

in foreign countries and form new ones. What is your response

to this?' He replied:

It's not true. If I had any interest in trying to form a denomination, I would have done it years ago. That's not something anyone would want to undertake after spending more than forty years trying to strengthen as many denominations, associations, and fellowships as possible

Objections and Questions 187

by helping them prepare leaders for their churches. That

is still the approach to ministry I am committed to.

Nor would I ever have any interest in trying to break up existing denominations overseas. In fact, I have been openly critical of American evangelicals who have gone

to Russian-speaking parts of the world and started their own churches and para-church ministries rather than making themselves servants to the churches that are already ministering there.

It could be added to this response that neither MacArthur,

nor his helpers, give prominence to the work in which they are

engaged. Had it been otherwise this would not have been a first

published biography. And MacArthur is careful never to give the

impression that he is engaged in something uniquely different

from the service of many other servants of Christ. As he wrote

to supporters of Grace to You (May 15, 2008):

Grace to You is far from alone—many other ministries like

ours still faithfully open God's Word every day to their audiences, both here in the United States and around the world. Some of the oldest, strongest ministries in Christian

radio have been teaching the Bible for generations and are

seeing more fruit from their ministries than ever.

Another critical observation sometimes raised has to do with

a seemingly uncritical acceptance of a multiplication of musical

instruments in public worship. This modern development has,

of course, not originated with Grace Community Church or

with the students of the Master's Seminary; the fault—if it be

188 JOHN MACARTHUR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

a fault—is that no check is offered to the phenomenon that has

become so widespread.

In response to this, a distinction has to be made between the

general subject of worship and musical instruments in particu-

lar. On the general subject MacArthur is by no means silent.

It prompted his book, The Ultimate Priority: Worship, 11 which

he identified neglect of God's holiness as a lack that is 'eating

at the heart of our worship'. He recognizes that worship 1s

no secondary issue: 'I am convinced that the downgrading of

worship, Scripture, and theology will ultimately usher in seri-

ous doctrinal compromise." It is the lost consciousness of the

majesty of God which has turned worship into what appeals

to congregations:

Perhaps the most visible signs of pragmatism are seen in

the convulsive changes that have revolutionized the church worship service in the past decade. Some of evangelical-

ism's largest and most influential churches now boast Sunday services that are designed purposely to be more rollicking than reverent.*

In a treatment entitled, 'With Hearts and Minds and Voices',

he gives a full and balanced survey of Christian praise, past and

present, which needs to be much better known. Central to his

treatment is the following conviction:

There is certainly nothing wrong with the simple, straightforward personal praise that characterizes the best of today's praise choruses. Neither is there anything wrong with the evangelistic and testimonial thrust of yesterday's gospel songs. But it is a profound tragedy that in some circles, only contemporary choruses are sung. Other

* Ashamed of the Gospel, p. 44. * Tbid., p. xiii.

Objections and Questions 189

congregations limit their repertoire to hundred-year-old gospel songs. Meanwhile, a large and rich body of classic Christian hymnody is in danger of being utterly lost out Olsheepnecicct 0.

Like it or not, today's songwriters are teachers, too. Many of the lyrics they are writing will soon be far more

deeply and permanently ingrained in the minds of Chris-

tians than anything they hear their pastors teach from

the pulpit. How many songwriters are skilled enough in

theology and Scripture to qualify for such a vital role in

the catechesis of our people?

The question is answered by the paucity of expression found in the most popular modern praise chorus—espe-

cially when compared to some of the classic hymns. Compare the lyrics of "Shine, Jesus, Shine' with 'O Worship

the King, All Glorious Above.' Or compare 'Something

Beautiful' with 'O Sacred Head, Now Wounded'. I chose

those examples not because I see anything erroneous or

anti-biblical in those particular modern praise choruses, but because they are the best of the genre.®

But turning from the content of praise to musical instruments

in particular, John offers little criticism, although he points out a

major source of the change that has come about in this area. He

quotes the 'prophecy of James Ryle that "God 1s getting ready

to anoint Christian musicians with the same anointing that was

given to the Beatles.' The same man attributes to God the words,

'T had a purpose, and the purpose was to usher in the charismatic

renewal with musical revival around the world." This can pan-

der to the taste of people who 'are often more concerned about

5 John MacArthur, Joni Eareckson Tada, Robert and Bobbie Wolgemuth, O Worship The King (Wheaton, IL, Crossway, 2000), pp. 1-7, 12-13.

° Charismatic Chaos, p. 72.

190 JOHN MacArTHuR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

whether they like the music than they are about whether they

are hearing the truth'."? However, provided the intention 1s not

to entertain or promote emotion, whether churches choose to

use an orchestra, or a band, is seen by MacArthur as a question

of style to be decided by local circumstances and preferences.

The church, it is said, should not impose limitations where

Scripture itself allows liberty. And if God approved the use

of many instruments in the temple worship, why should we

be more restrictive? So while any music employed in worship

simply as entertainment is censured, it 1s said 'a music ministry'

may have a subordinate place 'if it sees the ministry as a means

to strengthen the church family spiritually or extend the reach

of the gospel'.

Personally I hope the argument that liberty is permissible,

when it comes to the use of musical instruments, is one to which

Dr MacArthur may give more attention. I believe the defence

of musical instruments rests on the same argument that was

used by opponents of the Reformers to defend the continuance

of practices prevalent in the Church of Rome—from musical instruments to vestments. The defence was that if the Old Testament sanctioned these, why should they now be put aside? The answer of the Reformers and Puritans was to affirm the great change introduced by the work of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The temple in old Jerusalem is no longer a model for an age when everywhere there is worship 'in spirit and in truth' (John 4:23), when believers enter into 'the holiest of all, when Levite choirs stand down, and all sing who have 'the word of Christ' and are being 'filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18-18; Col. 3:16). The New Testament church knows nothing

" Truth War, p. 178.

* Ashamed of the Gospel, p.183.

Olyections and Questions IgI

of temple choirs, incense, and musical instruments, because it

has no need of them. To bring them back, the Reformers argued,

was to take the church back to infancy.

In the Reformed tradition, the use of one musical instrument,

simply to set the tune, is a very different thing from introduc-

ing a collection of instruments as a part of worship, as in the

Temple: a single instrument may belong to adiaphora, or 'things

indifferent', no more to be regarded as a part of worship than

the pulpit on which the preacher stands.

I entirely agree with MacArthur's statement: 'I believe

worship is the church's highest priority.!° But, as the use of

instruments is so much involved in the contemporary change

taking place in the worship of many churches, I do not think it

can be passed over. I might also add that the singing at a communion service at Grace Community Church, without any kind

of musical accompaniment, is among the most uplifting I have

heard anywhere in the world.

whe

* Calvin, for example, wrote: 'Instrumental music is not fitter to be adopted into the Public Worship of the Christian Church, than the incense, the candlesticks, and the other shadows of the Mosaic law . . . Instrumental music was only tolerated on account of the times and of the people, because they were as boys. But in Gospel times we must not have recourse to these, unless we wish to destroy the evangelical perfection, and to obscure the meridian light which we enjoy in Christ our Lord' (on J Sam, 18:1-9). This argument was not novel to the sixteenth century; on the contrary, it is found in the early church Fathers and explains why musical instruments in worship were 'not earlier than the eighth, and not in general use till the thirteenth century', Even Thomas Aquinas (c. 1226-74) wrote: "The Church does not use musical instruments to praise God lest she should seem to Judaise.' Quotations from The Organ Question: Statements by Dr Ritchie and Dr Porteous, with Introductory Notice by Robert S. Candlish (Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter, 1856), pp. 109-23.

10 Ashamed of the Gospel, p. 188.

192 JOHN MacArrHurR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

A final area where criticism has arisen needs to be touched

on. On the subject of Dispensationalism MacArthur has faced

opposition from opposite directions. First, from fundamental-

ist dispensationalists who took The Gospel According to Jesus as

an attack on Dispensationalism, as already noted. But criticism

has also come from Reformed Christians who, while admiring

his ministry as a whole, regard his thinking as defective on this

subject. When, for instance, preachers in Brazil were asked to

note his influence on their ministries, negative comment on

Dispensationalism was sometimes mentioned. 'Negatively', one

wrote, 'I believe that he exemplified the possibility (I am not

speaking here of consistency) of being soteriologically reformed

and dispensational at the same time.' Another reported:

John MacArthur's ministry has mostly impacted my life through literature and the academic accomplishments of

the Master's College. I became familiar with MacArthur's books during the first years of my ministry in a rural con-

gregation. A couple of books that provided a great pastoral help for my pastoral ministry during those years were Keys

to Spiritual Growth and Charismatic Chaos. Later on, the work, The Gospel According to Jesus was very helpful in a personal struggle against prosperity theology, though the book was not written with that topic in view. As I read

these books I could observe how MacArthur approached

biblical passages in an expository way, and it was a great incentive to do the same (though my greatest influence in this came from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones). However, as I kept on reading MacArthur's works, I became very disappointed with his dispensational emphasis.!!

'' These comments were acquired and translated for me by Dr Solano Portela whose tribute to John MacArthur I have already quoted above.

Olyections and Questions 193

Perhaps the explanation why some criticize MacArthur for

being no dispensationalist at all, while others say that he empha-

sizes it too much, lies in differing definitions of the word. If

Dispensationalism means all that such authors as Scofield and

Chafer have taught, then the preacher at Grace Community

Church is no dispensationalist. But on his own definition of the

word, John can say: 'I have not abandoned Dispensationalism,

nor do I intend to.'

The difference between MacArthur and what he calls 'tradi-

tional Dispensationalism' has to do with his denial of the error

which puts Israel 'under law' and the church 'under grace',

The Jews were never 'under law' as a means of salvation, but

all men are responsible to the unchanging law of God, includ-

ing Christians, as already considered above.'' Yet the course of

future events, as believed by dispensationalists, he also believes—

namely, the 'rapture' of the church, the 'coming' of Christ (after

a seven-year tribulation) to reign on earth for a thousand years

(the millennium) before the last judgment. Although affirming

there 1s only one way of salvation for Jew and Gentile, he holds

that a major difference continues between the church and Israel

in the purposes of God. While Gentile believers were individu-

ally elected to salvation, physical Israel is also elected:

There are only two people [groups of human beings ] elec-

tions in Scripture: Israel, an eschatological group of ethnic

Israelites that will constitute the future nation who will

receive the promises of God, and the Church. There's no

2 The differences between the original Scofield Reference Bible and The New Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), of which Charles Feinberg was one of the editors, are examined by O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), pp. 201-27.

13 See p. 71 above.

194 JOHN MacArTHurR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

reason to mingle the two; or because the Church is elect,

therefore, cancel Israel's election. Isaiah 45:4 calls Israel 'My elect'. . . Israel is God's elect.'*

This latter election will be visible to all after 'the rapture',

when, it is believed, 144,000 converted Jews will be the means

of preparing national Israel for her role during the reign of Christ

in the millennium. A summary of this teaching can be found in

The MacArthur Study Bible (Nashville; Word, 1997), p. 2197.

Traditional Dispensationalism supported this view of unful-

filled prophecy by asserting that 'the kingdom', promised in the

Old Testament, was not established in the New Testament age;

fulfilment will only be after the rapture. It was claimed that to

take any other view of the Old Testament promises 'made to

Israel' 1s to deny the 'litera? language of Scripture. How that was

the case in light of the way the New Testament itself interprets

the Old is hard to explain, for we learn that the promises of the

new covenant are already experienced in the church (Heb. 8:10;

12:28, etc.); 'the tabernacle of David', which God promised

to rebuild, is interpreted by the Holy Spirit as referring to the

bringing in of Gentile Christians (Acts 15:16). So Christians of Reformed persuasion commonly believe that Jew and Gentile

both enter into the same promises, being grafted into the same

olive tree. John MacArthur answers this case, not by excluding

the church from Old Testament promises of the future kingdom

(in the manner of traditional Dispensationalism), but by arguing

for a double reference for the promises: they can apply to both church and Israel, only with this qualification, that at present the kingdom 1s 'internal, in the hearts and minds of those who

'* Shepherds' Conference Address, 2007, printed in Waldron, MacArthur's Millennial Manifesto, p. 145.

Olyections and Questions 195

belong to Jesus Christ', whereas with the Jews in the millennium

it will be a visible, 'divine earthly kingdom'. (See New Testament

Commentary; Matthew 1-7, pp. 56, 381; ibid., 2 Corinthians, p.

98; and note on Jeremiah 31:31-34 in Study Bible).

I do not want to reflect on the latter statement except to say

that it seems to throw doubt on whether the correct interpreta-

tion of unfulfilled prophecy is simply a case of taking either a

'spiritual or a 'literal view of Scripture. The 'literal' interpreta-

tion is not necessarily the true one—a mistake the Jews made

in not understanding that 'Elijah' had already come (Matt.

11:14), and that the kingdom of God was 'in the midst' of

them (Luke 17:21).

While dispensational convictions are certainly to be found in

John MacArthur's books, how far they are prominent is a mat-

ter of opinion. In some of his most important books they do

not come in at all. While the danger of an increasing apostasy

is a very real one for him, he is cautious in offering interpreta-

tions of contemporary events as the fulfilment of Scripture, and

rejects the kind of sensational teaching on prophecy which has

discredited the very subject."

This is not the place for an extended discussion of subjects

on which much has been written.'° Certain passages in the book

'S His thought has matured in this area. He would not write now, as he did in the Grace to You letter, April, 1980: "Time is limited. As I study Ezekiel 38, I see Russia in conquering Afghanistan moving into the place of prophetic

set up for the return of Jesus Christ.'

'6 From MacArthur's standpoint, much recommended reading can be found through the Index of The Master's Seminary Journal, vols 1-20, available on CD. Included in that source is Richard Mayhue's response to J. H. Gerstner's critique of Dispensationalism (Journal, Spring, 1982). From the Reformed standpoint I would recommend W. J. Grier, The Momentous Event (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1970, often reprinted), and O. TAllis, Prophecy and the Church (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1945).

196 JOHN MacArTHUR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

of Daniel, the closing chapters of Ezekiel and Zechariah, the

three passages claimed to teach the 'rapture','" verses in Romans

11, and the manner in which the book of Revelation is to be

interpreted—all these are relevant for the determination of the

issues. That an important difference exists in the understanding

of these and other parts of Scripture is not to be denied, and they

are a reminder that we are to call no man "Teacher'. At the same

time, the words of Palmer Robertson are also important:

It should not be forgotten that covenant theologians and

dispensationalists stand side by side in affirming the essen-

tials of the Christian faith. Very often these two groups within Christendom stand alone in opposition to the inroads of modernism, neo-evangelicalism, and emotional-

ism. Covenant theologians and dispensationalists should

hold in highest regard the scholarly and evangelical productivity of one another. It may be hoped that continuing interchange may be based on love and respect.!8

' "The rapture is the subject of three passages in the New Testament (John 14:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17)- John MacArthur Explains the Book of Revelation (Chicago: Moody, 2007), paca

'* The Christ of the Covenants, pp. 201-2.

Ware Changin Scene in the United States

ON do not stand still, and by the last decade of

the twentieth century there was much evidence of

moral collapse in an increasingly materialistic culture. An age

had dawned in which traditional Christian values were being

shunned by many in public life. 'What are Christians to do,'

MacArthur asked in 1993, 'when the government allows the

wholesale slaughter of babies, exalts homosexuality, and deni-

grates any kind of moral standard?' Answers to the situation

were diverse. Some thought a public relations campaign should

be a priority. Others advocated the need for more social action,

and the organizing of political pressure with demonstrations

and protests. There were not lacking those who thought that

psychology or mysticism could aid in reversing the decline in

Christian belief.

For John MacArthur such proposals were only adding to the

confusion. Not the reformation of culture but the salvation of

men and women is the church's mandate. But too many churches

lacked a sufficient hold on truth to fulfil such a calling. They

198 JOHN MacArTHUR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

lacked the faith to assert that from Scripture

we can understand the ebb and flow of life better than all

the educators, philosophers, politicians and social pun-

dits combined . . . A look at the trends sweeping today's churches demonstrates just how small a god weve fashioned. How else can we explain the boom in Christian psychology, flashy, Las Vegas-style worship services, and high-tech church growth seminars?

In the midst of change, MacArthur saw no need for faithful

churches to change what they were already doing. If any new

development was to come to the situation at large 1t would only

be by the power of God upon the witness to Christ and His

Word. By the 1990s there were signs of a hopeful new develop-

ment, and on this we must now comment.

T have already noted that Fundamentalism, in which so much

of evangelical witness was to be found, had broken into two

branches in the 1960s: one belligerent towards any change, and

the other (the 'new-evangelicalism' as it was sometimes called)

anxious for status and academic respectability. MacArthur never

belonged to the latter, and from the time of the Lordship contro-

versy he had also parted from many in traditional fundamentalist

circles. While some would have still identified him with Funda-

mentalism in the 1980s, the publication of The Gospel According

to Jesus in 1988 made a division plain. As a consequence of this

parting, he might have been left an individual, semi-isolated in

a sphere of his own, had there not been a stirring that would

take numbers of Christians in a new direction.

By the 1990s there were congregations, small and large, across

the United States, which were hearing preaching that forty years

earlier would have been hard to find. The message sounded

The Changing Scene in the United States 199

akin to the doctrines of the Reformation and Puritan periods,

but it had sprung afresh from Scripture, from the literature of

those earlier periods, and was gaining surprising support from

the younger generation.!

To call this development a 'movement' would be to mis-

conceive it, at least in the normal use of that term. It had no

particular starting point, knew no party planners, and made no

public claims. Rather streams of influence had risen quietly in

different places, under different men, and in different denomina-

tions, yet flowing spontaneously in the same direction. In so far

as there were leaders, they were usually conspicuous as preachers,

not academics, for the influence was coming from pulpits, from

men who believed it was the preaching of the Word of God that

always brought fresh life to the churches.

The powerful ally for these men was surprising. It was the

evangelical authors of an older school, long unsought and

unread, but now in print again and in many hands. In the 1950s

Dr Wilbur Smith commented on the absence of the titles of

Jonathan Edwards and other Puritans from all book lists. In the

1990s Edwards was not only widely available again but being

read by thousands. Other authors in the same tradition—John Owen at their head—came back as though from the dead. The

few contemporary writers who also contributed to this change

have, for the most part, already been named in these pages.

' The resurgence of doctrinal Christianity appears to have begun quietly through books in the 1960s. George Dollar wrote in 1973; 'In the last ten years a new threat has emerged within Fundamentalism itself. This has been the militant and rigid Calvinism, usually expressed in its Five Points .. . a growing number within Baptist circles have read the English Puritans and followed Spurgeon in the persuasion that sovereign grace demands the acceptance of all of the Five Points.' History of Fundamentalism, p. 276. Numbers of the readers of the Puritans in the 1960s and '70s had become preachers of influence by the 1990s.

200 JOHN MACARTHUR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

Books alone cannot bring change unless there is spiritual

hunger to read them, and by the 1990s there was such hunger.

Dr J. I. Packer's treatment of the attributes of God had reached

a comparatively small circle when first published in England in

the Evangelical Magazine (c. 1960); but, after being re-issued

in book form in the United States in the 1970s under the title Knowing God, sales were to soar to approximately three million

by 2005.

Only the existence of this same hunger can explain the

growth and multiplication of conferences of a new kind across

the United States. At these the speakers no longer majored on

such themes as 'How to be Contemporary', or 'How to Build a

Successful Church', but on doctrinal teaching and the exposition

of Scripture. A renewed reading of history and biography was

also showing how doctrinal beliefs had formerly changed the

history of the English-speaking peoples. When MacArthur first

held a Shepherds' Conference for pastors in 1980, the original

chapel building in Sun Valley was large enough to hold the few

hundred who attended; and there were few other conferences

like it. But in the next twenty years such conferences multiplied

across the land; they included the Philadelphia Conference, the

Bethlehem Conference (at Minneapolis), the Bolton Conference

in New England, the Ligonier Conference in Florida, to name

only a few. Even in the Deep South, where in the Southern

Baptist Convention it had been axiomatic that 'Calvinism' and

evangelism could not live together, a Founders Conference was inaugurated to point the denomination back to its roots. By the end of the century Tom Ascol, editor of the Founders Journal, could speak of 'the extent to which the revival of the doctrines

of grace 1s sweeping across the churches of our land".

The Changing Scene in the United States 201

Although not belonging to the same denominations, the

leaders of these conferences were drawn together by shared

convictions. James Montgomery Boice, organizer of the Phila-

delphia Conference, was one of MacArthutr's earliest friends from

the Reformed side. He lectured at Talbot Seminary in 1979,

and he preached at the Thirtieth Anniversary of MacArthur's

ministry in 1999, before succumbing to an aggressive cancer

the following year. Prior to Boice and Packer writing Forewords

to The Gospel According to Jesus (1988), MacArthur has said, 'I

wasn't moving in Reformed circles.' A close friendship began

with R. C. Sproul when John spoke at the Ligonier Conference

in 1992; it was to be the first of many such visits to Orlando,

Florida. Similarly MacArthur was in Minneapolis with John

Piper in 1997. In turn, Sproul and Piper came to speak at Grace

Community Church.

A shared faith in the sovereignty of God also brought

MacArthur among a new generation of Calvinistic men in

Southern Baptist circles. One of these was Mark Dever, pastor of

Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington DC, and another was

Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological

Seminary, at Louisville, Kentucky. When an editor of Christian-

ity Today visited the bookstore of that Seminary the first books

he saw were not those authored within that denomination:

'Right away I noticed a prominent display of John MacArthur's

commentaries. The noted Calvinist expositor does not belong fob

aie

? Collin Hansen, Young, Restless, Reformed, A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008), p. 69.

202 JOHN MacArTHuR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

That MacArthur's ministry was very much a part of the

resurgence of Reformed belief was not at first understood by

all who listened to him. At the Shepherds' Conference in 1997

some of the 3,000 men present were a little surprised at things

they heard. Particularly was this the case in a session at which

questions were put to MacArthur without prior notification.

They came freely from the floor, and the first was, 'John, you

spend a lot of time with guys in the Reformers' camp, what are

some of the things that attract you to them, and what are some

of the differences?'

The reader of these pages is already familiar with part of the

response, but we give the whole now in John's own words:

There are a number of ways to answer that question. I have

always since my days as a Seminary student been commit-

ted to Reformed soteriology.* People say, 'When did you become Reformed?' Well, I don't know that that is any-

thing very recent. In my days as a student in College I was a typical football-type player, and I never let my books get in the way of my education, and just kind of went through the motions. But I always had this voracious appetite for Scripture, even as a young person. I remember at fourteen wanting to understand the deep things of God, and reading things like Thomas 4 Kempis, and all the books by E. M. Bounds. But I didn't really know where to go with it all; I just had this desire to know the Word of God. Even then I also read some missionary biographies which had a profound effect on me. So I was attracted to serious things with regard to the Word of God, even though I wasn't particularly serious in my personality. I was always frustrated by not understanding the Scriptures. People would say to me, 'You should read the Bible every day, take

2 Soteriology: the doctrine of salvation.

The Changing Scene in the United States 203

fifteen minutes.' I would read it and not understand what

it meant, and have to go and try and find out—asking my

father or someone.

When I got into Seminary we had some extra reading

to do, and our theology professor, Dr Bob Saucy chan-

nelled me towards the Princeton people—B. B. Warfield, Machen, and others. I began to read them, and found

a depth of understanding of the Word of God, a depth

of dealing with doctrinal issues. It was not inconsistent

with what I had believed in the past, but was much more

refined and deeper. So in Seminary I began to read more.

I came across a book by Stephen Charnock called The

Existence and Attributes of God. I was absolutely blown

away by the fact that that guy could say so much about

the existence and attributes of God. It's the kind of book

you read all your life; you have to take it in small doses

because it 1s so loaded. That appealed to me because I

wanted to understand the Scripture in depth. Then I

began to read Thomas Watson's Body of Divinity. I read it

and read it and marked it up, when I was still a Seminary

student, sorting through lots of things. I was drawn to

people who had thought so deeply about the Word: of

God and that drew me to Reformed theology. It wasn't

so many years after that that I got a whole set of Thomas

Manton's writings. So the attraction for me to Reformed

theology is not because of the system; it is because of the

people, the way they dealt with the Word of God with such

accuracy, and the way they were able to pull out of 1t such

clarity of doctrine. P've never been much of a systematizer

as such. I have always been committed to the fact that

theology should be exegetical; and I really do believe that

Reformed theology, at its heart was exegetical. When you

get Calvin's Commentaries you begin to realize that the

greatest of John Calvin is not his Institutes, the greatest

204 JOHN MACARTHUR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

is in his Commentaries, because I want to know how he treated the various passages of Scripture.

I haven't really changed but through the years my understanding of the great themes of the doctrines of grace, or Reformed theology, has been greatly refined, and it's been refined because I have been twenty-eight years expounding the Scriptures, and finding that such great theology stood the test of the text.*

MacArthur went on to speak briefly on elements in Reformed

theology relating to eschatology and ecclesiology which he did

not believe. He remains resolute in his conviction on baptism

for believers only.°

The next question was this: 'In our local newspaper they were

talking about the changing face of religion in America; and

included something from a George Barna report which said, in

the twenty-first century the church will increasingly become a

cyber church, and there will be less and less of believers gathered

together in local fellowships. I would like to get your reaction

to that information.'

In reply MacArthur emphasized the seriousness of the mistake

made when we allow our culture to dictate our practice—buy-

ing into cultural formulas for ministry may take you where you

* Phil Johnson has pointed to one area where MacArthur's thinking was 'refined' in the 1990s: while the latter had always held the substitutionary nature of the atonement, Johnson believes its relationship to justification now came into sharper focus, "He began to stress that truth regularly and expound it more thoroughly than ever before'. Truth Endures, p. 215. If Christ justifies

all for whom He died, then the atonement cannot have been universal in its design. There was also, I believe, a fuller understanding of the nature of assurance in MacArthur's chapter contributed to Assured by God (2006), where he shows that a profound sense of one's sinfulness is not incompatible with true assurance, and that repentance is to be lifelong.

» His address, 'Baptism: The Case for Believers' Baptism', is available from Ligonier Ministries.

The Changing Scene in the United States 205

don't mean to go'. He instanced the effects of such ideas as

those of David Watson who thought that by concentrating on

the spoken word the churches were becoming irrelevant, and

believed that a drama group could be more effective. This issue

led MacArthur back to the previous question:

There's no question that, in the future, the culturally orientated and defined church will take on the forms that the

culture dictates, and it will drift off into who knows what. Here is one of the reasons why Reformed theology is booming the way it is, and it is booming. I remember that

as a Seminary student I knew only one little Calvinistic church of about thirty people. But as evangelical Chris-

tianity has abandoned sound doctrine, in response there

is a backlash among people who are saying, 'We cannot

take this amorphous approach; we are tired of the most atheological kind of evangelical telling us where the bottom

line 1s.' That is basically what has happened. The 'experi-

entialists', mostly charismatics and others as well, have determined that what is most important is that they get into mainstream acceptance, no matter how aberrant they might be; and evangelicalism thinks she needs to embrace them, accept them, not fight and be divisive. The result 1s

an acceptance of the 'irreducible minimum', in which all

are to be embraced, and any other theology 1s held to be

'divisive' and so forth. In that kind of amorphous, a-theo-

logical environment, people who have a real love for the Word of God are looking for somewhere to go to get some answers, and to get some substance and content, some

biblical interpretation and theology on which to anchor

° 'Most churches rely heavily on the spoken or written word for communication, and then wonder why so few people find the Christian faith to be relevant. The truth is we live in a world that is almost dominated by drama.' David Watson, I believe in the Church (London: Hodder and Stoughton,

1982)p22218

206 JOHN MacArTHUR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

their lives in the shifting sand. As this 'experiential' [feeling-centred] movement gets larger and larger, I believe the swing back towards Reformed theology is going to grow and grow. The movement is rapidly growing; even

the Southern Baptists are trying to return to their roots in Reformed theology, as well as other groups.

And there is the development of books on Reformed

theology. Much of what I write is Reformed theology basi-

cally. The book that I wrote, The Gospel According to Jesus,

was basically Reformed theology, a statement on soteriol-

ogy, and Faith Works was even more definitive as a statement on that.' I don't think people read it as that because I don't quote the Westminster Confesston—I try to stick with

the Scripture. But there is definitely a swing back, and we

can hope and pray. It is still God-gifted men, preaching the Word of God expositionally and doctrinally, that is God's plan to bring in the redeemed and build the church.

Subdued silence followed this answer, to be interrupted by

one or two individuals who could not refrain from clapping.

'Thank you both', MacArthur said dryly, and then, with broad-

ening smile, 'Maybe I will say something that you will all like

later in the week!' There were certainly many present who were

thankful for what they had heard.

John MacArthur (as Martyn Lloyd-Jones) does not wave

the labels 'Calvinist? or 'Reformed'. He wants people to be

convinced by Scripture itself, not by any other authorities:

I normally prefer to avoid using the term Calvinism

because it often provokes too much emotion and too many

7 Ina Grace to You letter of July 16, 2008, he observed: 'The Gospel Accordimg to Jesus has helped define the ministry of Grace to You . . . In most of the places around the world where we minister God's truth, that book was the instrument the Lord used to open the doors of ministry for us.'

The Changing Scene in the United States 207

misconceptions to be useful if the goal is real understanding rather than merely vigorous debate.'

Instead he usually uses the term 'the doctrines of grace'. But

sometimes the better-known term is unavoidable, as when in

2008 Grace to You entitled his two-part series on these doc-

trines, "Hot Button Questions on Calvinism'. After endorsing

a reprint of The Five Points of Calvinism in 2004, he was careful

to add, 'I believe them, not because of their historical pedigree,

but because that is what Scripture teaches.' In the same book

he repeated what he had said in 1997: "The Spirit of God is

moving the church to re-establish the glorious high ground of

sovereign grace in salvation." It was a conviction shared by his

friends. In October 2003, when Mark Dever asked R. C. Sproul

to name 'the things you most appreciate about the current scene

in American evangelicalism', the Presbyterian preacher replied,

"The recovery of interest in Puritanism, the recovery of concern

for reformational theology.'

The ministry at Sun Valley had joined with a wider awakening

to doctrinal Christianity. Far from being isolated, MacArthur's

preaching and books were clearly an important part of a larger momentum and regrouping. By the first decade of the present

century this turn round in belief was conspicuous enough to

come to the notice of the secular press, first in Time magazine,

and then in other journals read nationwide. It also became the

8D. T. Steele, C. I. Thomas, S. Lance Quinn, The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, and Documented (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2004), p. 140.

° Said at 2007 Shepherds' Conference.

208 JOHN MacArTHuR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

subject of a first book when Collin Hansen wrote, Young, Restless,

Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists (Whea-

ton: Crossway, 2008). Hansen, editor-at-large for Christianity

Today, was enthusiastic about how the Calvinistic resurgence

had begun to 'reclaim and reform evangelicalism'. He believed:

'Though today's Calvinists remain outnumbered, their influ-

ence leavens the evangelical movement . . . The growth of the

Reformed ranks, especially among youth, portends significant

changes ahead."!? On the Southern Baptist scene, he quotes

the words of Tom Ascol, 'The International Mission Board is

flooded with Calvinists.'

Hansen's book gave particular significance to the first

"Together for the Gospel' conference that took place in April

2006, as marking a new unity:

Good friends Dever, Mahaney, Ligon Duncan, and Al Mohler, invited three of their heroes—Piper, John MacArthur, and R. C. Sproul—to join them in addressing a crowd of about three thousand pastors in Louisville, Kentucky . . . The four middle-aged Together for the

Gospel hosts watched their heroes, each older than sixty, address a crowd mostly in their twenties and thirties.!!

From all this it might be assumed that John MacArthur sees

in the recovery of doctrinal Christianity the prospect of a major

advance in progress. Certainly the 'booming' of Reformed the-

ology, which he noted in 1997, has continued; and the extent

of the demand for his own books and radio ministry is part of

the evidence. But his thankfulness is mixed with a measure of

'° Young, Restless, Reformed, pp. 113-14. While Hansen surveys leaders in some of the larger churches, it is his belief that 'the backbone of the Reformed resurgence comprises ordinary churches' (p. 158).

*"Ibid., pe LOZ,

The Changing Scene in the United States 209

concern. It was reflected in his declining to be interviewed for

Hansen's book."

I can think of reasons for that concern. For one thing, it

is premature to be confident the advance will continue. As MacArthur surveyed the first decade of the present century he

knew that all was by no means bright. If ground was being won

in some areas, it was still being lost in others. He noted how,

to gain larger audiences, Bible teaching on radio in the United

States was losing air time to 'Christian music and live talk'. A

similar compromise was 'at epidemic levels among Christian

publishers'. There was no end of controversy in sight. He com-

mented in 2008:

When I came out of Seminary I really did not expect to

fight the battles I have fought. I never thought I would spend most of my life on the broader evangelical front defending the gospel and sound doctrine.

Instead of being excited at the new interest that journal-

ists were showing in Calvinism and the Puritans, MacArthur

remembers how 'promotiom of the gospel by the secular press

had proved a dangerous thing in the past.'* The kind of thing

that gains the attention of the world, especially excitement over

numbers and personalities, are of small consequence in the

kingdom of God. 'If a thing is successful, it must be true', is a

maxim that has done much harm among evangelicals and he

Noted by Hansen, ibid., p. 145. In an article, "The Calvinistic Resurgance in America', Erroll Hulse wrote: 'In the next edition Collin Hansen should seek again an interview with John MacArthur Jr. The ministries led by MacArthur represent a large proportion of the Calvinistic Resurgence.' Reformation Today, Nov.-Dec. 2008, p. 39.

13 When the newspaper owner, William R. Hearst, gave orders to promote Billy Graham in Time, Life, and Newsweek in 1949, the results were by no means all beneficial.

210 JOHN MacArTHUR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

does not want to see it continued. History shows clearly enough

that truth is often with the remnant.

Further, while Hansen correctly says 'the backbone of the

Reformed resurgence comprises ordinary churches', that is

obscured by his heavy concentration on those whom he consid-

ers to be the leaders. The book looks at things far too largely

on the human level, and leaves the impression of a movement

of 'New Calvinists', promoted by mass meetings and celebrity

preachers. But this kind of treatment is misleading.'* A survey of

the "Hansen type' looks like something already familiar instead

of something new, for evangelicalism has far too often indulged

in the following of personalities. If this is indeed a recovery of

Reformation belief, the Hansen presentation is out of harmony

with the influence of the man who would not so much as have

his name put on his grave in Geneva. Genuine Reformed faith

teaches Christians to sing,

The glory Lord, from first to last,

Is Thine, is Thine alone.

Every genuine work of God is incapable of being adequately

explained on the human level. There is mystery in it. Truth

'springs from the earth' independently of what may be happening elsewhere. In so far as a new unity has come into being today—as we believe it has—it has not come from meetings or

organizations. A true revival of God-centred Christianity has

'* Tt gives some grounds for Darryl Hart to criticize 'Hansen's description of this odd collection of Baptists, charismatics, and emergents as Calvinists'.

Review entitled, 'Young Calvinism without an Edge', Ordained Servant, vol. 18, 2009 (Committee of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church), p. 150. MacArthur certainly does not think that all who are now being called "New Calvinists' are sharers in a common purpose. He is openly critical of Mark Driscoll, whom Hansen treats as a leader, and certainly does not believe that Reformed and Puritan belief will lead men in the charismatic direction.

The Changing Scene in the United States Dia

always had with it the biblical caution not to be called masters,

and to cease from man. While recommending Hansen's survey,

Don Carson had good reason to add:

This is not the time for Reformed trrumphalism. It is the time for quiet gratitude to God and earnest intercessory

prayer, with tears, that what has begun well will flourish beyond all human expectation.'®

In the present writer's opinion, a lesson from nineteenth-cen-

tury German church history is relevant for us. Daniel Edward

has written of how hope of a lasting evangelical revival in Prus-

sia failed. "The ten or fifteen years before 1848 spread out in

bright sunshine in the remembrance of all Christians.' A galaxy

of eminent teachers and preachers appeared to be turning the

tide. 'They saw', Edward wrote,

the excellence of the gospel as the divine scheme of redemption; they were strong for Christ as the only Saviour, but they rejected the law as the schoolmaster that leads to Christ. They set forth eloquently the privileges of

the gospel to a people . . . who needed first of all to hear

the voice, 'Repent'. . . These good men failed for want of what our forefathers styled 'law work'. They wanted a deeper knowledge of God's holy law, and a deeper knowledge of sin as the transgression of it.'©

That lesson remains a warning for today. In the current

recovery of Calvinistic thinking there is need for greater fear

of God, of His majesty and holiness. Such features have ever

accompanied a powerful work of the Spirit of God, and they

15 Words included in endorsements on the book. 16°The Course of the Church in Prussia during the present Century', British and Foreign Evangelical Review, vol. xxiv (London: Nisbet, 1875), pp. 700-

701.

212 JOHN MacArtuHur: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

are connected with the revelation of His character as Lawgiver.

There is not yet the evidence of such conviction of sin as has

marked all the spiritual awakenings of history. For too long,

in MacArthur's words, evangelical circles have been better at

merriment than mourning. This is no argument against joy and

song, but where the presence of God is felt there is also godly

fear. When the Spirit of God is poured out men have better

understood the text: "The Lord is in His holy temple: let all the

earth keep silence before Him' (Hab. 2:20).

A Visit to Grace Community Church

W ell before eight o'clock on Roscoe Boulevard in Sun

Valley, cars began to turn into the car park at Grace Community Church. It was a Sunday morning early in 2010

and we were glad to be there again. At 8 am a meeting of some

twenty elders began in a room adjacent to the main auditorium,

with John MacArthur present. After a few minutes of conversa-

tion, all fell to their knees and the best part of half an hour was

given to prayer. On this particular morning, a church member

was introduced briefly by an elder. This Christian woman had

been unwell and questioned whether the toleration of bitterness

in her heart had brought chastisement from God. Prayer was

made particularly and tenderly for her recovery.

At 8.30 morning worship began promptly, led by Clayton

Erb, Minister of Music. By that hour the main auditor1um was

comfortably filled, although hundreds of the members were

elsewhere. Simultaneously with the first service, seven Fellow-

ship meetings were taking place in various parts of the spacious

214 JOHN MacArruHur: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

premises. They meet under the care of eight pastors (elders of

the church); although not called such, these meetings almost amount to churches. Two of them are designated for 'All Ages';

one for 'Young Marrieds and Families', another for 'Junior High' (Grades 7-8); two are held in Spanish; and one is for the Mentally Disabled. The subjects being taken that morning in

these Fellowships included: Studies in Characters; Sin's Genesis James 1:13-18; 1 John; and 1 Timothy. Two Sunday schools

also run concurrently, one of them for the Deaf.

After a short intermission, those attending these Fellowships

moved to the main auditortum where the morning service 1s

repeated at 10:30 am, while another seven Fellowships convene

under different leaders, along with another Children's Sunday

School. The number in attendance at both main services is commonly about the same. With the total of people on the premises

approaching 6,000, there is no possibility of all being able to be

present in the main auditorium at the same time.

The Fellowships are the key to understanding how members

of Grace Church are all individually known and cared for. The

elders/pastors are not simply responsible for the Sunday meet-

ings of their group, but exercise an on-going care for all who

attend. A register of names is kept every week. The Fellowship at

which I was present, has about four hundred regular members,! and an information sheet was given to all present relating to matters for prayer, the care of the home-bound, and the nine Home Bible studies meeting in different locations.

At the main service every person was welcomed at the door

and given an attractive ten-page news sheet. It contained

' The largest of the Fellowships runs to some eight hundred members, but the majority are closer to about two hundred.

A Vistt to Grace Community Church BES

information on the services of the day, information on various

meetings, book notices, and missionary news. The Conover fam-

ily, Bob, Margie, and their children, were home after twenty-one

years service in the Muslim world—Morocco and Jordan. Bart

Horton wrote of a team of eight adults, and their children, about

to leave Grace for work in Lebanon. The church currently sends

and supports more than sixty missionary families, located on

six continents. They are all under the oversight of Grace elders,

and receive periodic visits. On this particular Sunday, I learned

that one elder was absent in India, another was about to go to

the United Kingdom, and a third to Russia.

Perhaps about half of the elders/pastors are full-time staff; and,

seeing how the church is administered, one can understand this

necessity. But much work 1s also undertaken by volunteers, both

on Sundays and on weekdays. The early tradition of personal

evangelism has been on-going; there are groups that minister

in jails and detention centres, and fifty or more serve weekly

at Grace to You. In one year John noted that 4,632 hours of

labour had been given by such helpers. Among those helping

on Sundays are John and Patricia MacArthur's now grown-up

children: Matthew MacArthur teaches a sixteen-week repeated

course on 'Fundamentals of the Faith'; his younger brother

Mark leads a Bible Study in a Fellowship group. Their sister

Marcy helps, among many services, in the Mentally Disabled

Fellowship, and Melinda gives time to her very young children

while aiding in the children's division of the work. These four

are the parents of MacArthur's fifteen grandchildren, who are

all in the church as well.

The evening service was held at 6 pm, again preceded by an

elders' prayer meeting, where the number is only slightly less

216 JOHN MacArtTHurR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

than in the morning. MacArthur has long called for believers to

be at the worship services twice on Sundays. The auditorium was

again comfortably filled, although the worshippers knew that

MacArthur was recovering from a strained back and would not

be preaching then as he normally does. In his place that night

was an Associate Pastor who preached a telling and convicting

sermon on 'Pride and Prejudice' from James 2. With far less

instrumental accompaniment than in the morning services,

it seemed to me the congregational singing was better in the

evening. Frequently there are also baptisms during the evening

service. There was none on this particular Sunday, but John has a

comment on the importance of the ordinance which I will insert

here. It arose out of a particular Sunday when a young mother

gave her testimony at her baptism. She had come to conviction

and to Christ after a car crash in which both her husband and

her youngest child were killed:

She entered our baptism pool, told of her conversion, and spoke of a loving God who is no longer a stranger. While not all our weekly baptism testimonies are so dram-

atic, they do have one thing in common: God's unique, custom-tailored process of bringing sinners to Himself is always clearly articulated and given a wide audience. Each of us in attendance hears first-hand the tender themes of salvation spoken from the heart of saints of every race, age, and religious background. We hear of conviction, repentance, and transformation where sin, rebellion, pain, and dissatisfaction once reigned. The once blind and dead speak of light and life. Those previously at war with God, and with no desire to know Him, humbly bow before Jesus as Lord, recognizing the unfathomable reality of sins pardoned, and the freedom, joy, and peace that comes with new life.

A Visit to Grace Community Church 27,

On the Sunday about which I have been speaking, MacArthur

preached in the morning on 'The Power and Pity of Christ'

from Mark 5:21-43. The course of his morning preaching had

been determined way back in 1981, following the meeting with Moody Press in Chicago when they had asked for a series of

New Testament commentaries. After much prayer and reflection

he had agreed, believing that 'if the commentaries were well

done, they could ultimately be more enduring than any other

aspect of his ministry'. Plans were then settled for a project

that would take ten years and be the largest ever undertaken

by Moody Press. The time scale proved to be wrong, for the

work was to be greater than anyone imagined in 1981. First

John took longer in preaching through the New Testament

books than had been anticipated. The Gospel of Matthew, for

instance, needed 226 sermons. Then there was the arduous

business of transferring the spoken word from recordings into

written form. The process sounds straightforward; in reality

the difficulty involved is one that has often prevented preachers

becoming authors, speaking and writing being two very differ-

ent media. While Moody's editors undertook the initial work,

and put the sermons into chapters, it all had to come back to

John, several chapters at a time, with the expectation that they

would be returned within a month. There might then be a

'free' period until another lot arrived. He developed the habit

of carrying the commentary manuscripts about with him to use

spare moments on them. A note to Jerry Jenkins—Moody's

initiator of the series—gives some insight into this process, as

well as MacArthur's own estimate of its significance. He wrote

to Jenkins on June 9, 2005:

218 JOHN MacArTHUuR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

You set in motion the history of my life! At least, in large

part. Would you believe I have had to do two commentary chapters a week since the series started? At least the Study Bible was done in three intense years, and I can give further work on that to translators. The bottom line, I keep telling

Patricia, is that the New Testament Commentary series 1s my most important contribution by far—so thanks!

Noting the work involved in the commentary series, Phil

Johnson has recorded: 'Sometimes John goes through a chapter

twice or more (if he heavily revises). So he actually edits at a rate

of about two or more a week, though he might get as much as

three weeks rest between chapter lots.'

The MacArthur New Testament Commentary thus went forward

slowly. The first ten years saw Hebrews (1983), 1 Corinthians

(1984), Ephesians (1986), Galatians (1987) and four volumes

of Matthew (1985-89). By December 2009, 791 chapters had

been edited and published in twenty-eight volumes of the New Testament Commentary. Yet even this was not the whole. One more Gospel remained to be completed, namely, the series on Mark, with which the preacher was engaged on the occasion of the visit of which I have been speaking. The long-term result of the 1981 decision has thus kept MacArthur preaching through

the New Testament.

wie

Discussion of the commentary series is a suitable point at

which to pause and introduce the assessment of MacArthur's

preaching on Matthew given in the latest volume of Dr Hughes

Oliphant Old's significant series, The Reading and Preaching of

A Visit to Grace Community Church 219

the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church. The reader

of Old's words—which I will abbreviate—will understand that

their value is limited by the short selection of sermons on which

they are based. A fuller hearing or reading of the preacher would

have given rise to a revision of some statements. Dr Old's theo-

logical standpoint is probably closer to contemporary Princeton

than to that of Sun Valley, but if that is the case there is an added

value to his assessment:

To get a feel for the way MacArthur handles the ministry of the Word, I ordered his ten sermons on the eighth and ninth chapters of the Gospel of Matthew. The preacher

has to deal with some tough questions in these two chap-

ters. I was curious how someone with a reputation for

solid expository preaching, such as MacArthur has, might

interpret these passages. Listening to these sermons was

a rewarding experience, even if I have a number of reser-

vations and hesitations about MacArthur's approach to preaching.

These miracles [in Matthew 8-9] were performed in

Galilee, and our preacher takes the time thoroughly to

set the geographical scene, giving us a vivid picture of the countryside. Many of these nine miracle stories are healing stories, and our preacher has collected an impressive amount of material not only about the diseases mentioned but also about how they were understood and treated in

ancient times. Sometimes all this material is a bit ponder-

ous, and he tells us more than we really want to know, but more often it makes for a fascinating sermon.

In the way of human-interest stories one finds, on the other hand, very little. The illustrative material focuses on the biblical story. It is the passage of Scripture that

is illuminated rather than a principle drawn out of the

220 JOHN MacArTHuR: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

passage. MacArthur has an amazing ability to explain

Scripture by Scripture. Particularly Uluminating is the way MacArthur emphasizes the similarity between Matthew

and John on the one hand and Matthew and Paul on the

other. He does not overburden the sermon with material

that only the more initiated members of his congregation

can follow, but for the more serious listener these parallel passages make the sermon richly informative and mightily

convincing.

Realizing that a significant school of modern biblical

scholarship has denied that Paul's elaborate theology was based on the simple gospel of Jesus, our preacher 1s careful

to show the similarity between the two. It is very interesting to note that the polemic implied does not come to

the surface. MacArthur simply shows how Paul preaches

the same gospel as Matthew. One gets the impression that MacArthur is first of all an expositor and only after that a

polemicist. This speaks enormously to his credit.

Having said this, however, one has to admit that our preacher has a very clear line of interpretation on these

miracle stories in Matthew 8 and 9. As he sees it, these

miracles are above all the proofs of Christ's divinity. They

are not examples of what the power of faith can do. Much

less are they the myths that symbolically express the devo-

tion of the early Christians to their extraordinary teacher. One never gets the impression that this preacher has the least shadow of doubt but that these miracles took place exactly as they are recorded. Defending the accuracy of the Bible seems to interest MacArthur not at all. This basic assumption that the text of Scripture is reliable is part of the foundation of his effectiveness as an interpreter.

For the last couple of generations the idea that one should make the major theme of these two chapters that

the miracles proved the divinity of Jesus was about the last

A Visit to Grace Community Church 22

thought an enlightened preacher would try to make. That, however, is just the point MacArthur does make. He makes the point very successfully. He shows from the structure of the text itself that this is what Matthew is trying to say. He supports it with parallel texts from both the Synoptic Gospels and the Johannine literature. What is surprising

is that there is no vitriolic attack on the 'higher critics' or

the 'modernists'.

The one direction in which MacArthur does let loose a moderate amount of polemic is toward the charismatics and faith healers. Charismatics take a very different tack

in interpreting the healings and exorcisms of the Gospels. Unlike the dispensationalists, who say the miracles of New Testament times have a place in that dispensation but not

in our dispensation, the charismatics see miracles as an ordinance of the church. Like the sacraments, they should be a continuing part of the Christian church's ministry. When MacArthur argues that the purpose of the miracles

was to make it clear that Jesus was the Christ, he means we should not therefore expect this kind of healing ministry

in the church today. It had its function in New Testament times but, since we have the inspired witness of Scripture today that is sufficient witness to establish both the true divinity and the true humanity of Christ, miracles are no longer necessary.

What is more than clear to me after listening to these sermons, is that those who can take the text the way it is, seem to make a lot more sense of it than those who are always trying to second-guess it. Surely one of the greatest

strengths of MacArthur's preaching ministry 1s his com-

plete confidence in the text.

Let us look for a brief moment at our preacher as an

orator. One could evaluate his oratory very differently. My first impression is that he has little to offer from the

222 JOHN MacArTHur: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK

standpoint of oratory. Listening to the tapes one has to say that he is the antithesis of Lloyd Ogilvie. Thinking about it a bit longer, however, I have to admit he does

have techniques of getting people to listen that we should

not overlook . . . He seems to have a feel for the use of rhythm in his preaching. Sometimes his rhythms are rapid and sometimes very slow. These pulpit rhythms, which we

think of as being hopelessly old-fashioned . . . somehow make it possible for the listener to absorb and retain quite

a bit of material over a long period of time. MacArthur's

rhetoric is terribly out of date, but maybe he knows something the rest of us don't.

Why do so many people listen to MacArthur, this product of all the wrong schools? How can he pack out

a church on Sunday morning in an age in which church attendance has seriously lagged. Here is a preacher who

has nothing in the way of a winning personality, good

looks, or charm. What he seems to have is a witness to true

authority. He recognizes in Scripture the Word of God, and when he preaches, it is Scripture that one hears. It is

not that the words of John MacArthur are so interesting

as it is that the Word of God is of surpassing interest. That

is why one listens.?

Had Old met MacArthur he would have had to revise one

statement in the last paragraph! He has missed the point that

the preacher at Grace Community Church deliberately seeks to keep a projection of his own personality out of the message.

wie

" Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, vol. 7, Our Own Time (Grand Rapid: Eerdmans, 2010).

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