Many of you may have heard the very sad news this past week about the passing of John MacArthur, the Teacher-Pastor at Grace Bible Church near Thousand Oaks, California. He had been there for over 56 years. He became even more renowned during the awful Covid season when he stood firm against the State of California and Governor Gavin Newsom and refused to shut down his church.
He literally defied what the State of California told him, deferring only to God, and in the end, Grace Bible Church won and held services throughout that difficult time.
It is very possible that you may never have heard of this man until the news broke this week of his passing, but I assure you that if you have read this blog before, then you are familiar with him because his influence is all over my IronManStrength blog and will continue to be. I have read 15 of his books and many of them twice and I found they are even better the second time.
One of my regrets is I never got to see him preach in person, but thanks to YouTube, his sermons live on.
I am the guy who likes to listen to him preach via his podcasts while I walk the miles I walk and in my opinion, his ability to speak biblical truth is exactly what this world needed and continues to need. His series of books titled:
The Gospel according to God,
The Gospel according to Jesus
The Gospel according to The Apostles,
The Gospel according to Paul,
…are extremely relevant and written in a way whereby he explains the theology of the good news of the gospel in an easy to understand manner.
I learned this week through the media that he was a teacher that used the Bible to prove the Bible. He didn’t unnecesarily use lots of stories or personal anecdotes to help justify or emphasize sermons. He just used what the Bible says and that was enough.
Because of his influence on myself and this blog, I wanted to take just a few words and tell you that we lost a very important man in the Kingdom of God this week. In my opinion, he was the kind of man that doesn’t come along very often and from where I sit, I don’t see anyone now who can or will replace him. Why is this important? Because Satan knew John MacArthur as his enemy and one of his biggest adversaries on earth. John MacArthur reached millions of people throughout his lifetime using various media channels that broadcast his sermons.
Guys, we need someone right now that isn’t afraid to speak Gods truth to a world that doesn’t want anything to do with it. We need another adversary like him to continue battling with our collective enemy.
John MacArthur said reading the Bible is like a lion, just open it up and let it out and it will do what its intended to do because Gods Word never returns void and will accomplish its purposes.
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11
Guys, more than ever, we need more men to stand up and be committed to the truth of the Word of God. My commitment to you and the readers of this blog is that I will continue to bring you the truths of Gods Word wherever I find them and that will always include the very best of Pastor MacArthur.
We lost a great man of God this week and if you couldn’t tell, I am bummed.
But I will I leave you with some of his quotes from his books and sermons along the way.
Until next time guys-
- We should not be entertained by the sins for which Christ died
- For some reason, we think of doubt and worry as “small” sins. But when a Christian displays unbelief…or an inability to cope with life, he is saying to the world, “My God cannot be trusted,” and that kind of disrespect makes one guilty of a fundamental error, the heinous sin of dishonoring God. That is no small sin.
- The simplicity of the gospel gives what the complexity of human wisdom promises but never delivers.
- There are basically only two kinds of religion in the world: those based on human achievement and those based on divine accomplishment. One says you can earn your way to heaven; the other says you must trust in Jesus Christ alone.
- All sin results from failure to act in faith.
- The more you focus on yourself, the more distracted you will be from the proper path. The more you know Him and commune with Him, the more the Spirit will make you like Him. The more you are like Him, the better you will understand His utter sufficiency for all of life’s difficulties. And that is the only way to know real satisfaction.
