Evangelical Christianity just lost one of its most stalwart biblical defenders. Dr. John MacArthur made his entrance into Glory on Monday, July 14, and no doubt heard from the Lord, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We pray for comfort for his family, Grace Community Church, which he served as pastor for over fifty years, and the Grace To You ministry. There are few men that I would consider irreplaceable, but Dr. MacArthur would certainly be one, though he would never consider himself that way.
Fortunately, we will have Dr. MacArthur’s work available through his books, recorded sermons, and interviews with Larry King and others. His impact for the Kingdom of our Lord will continue well after his death. He will be remembered as one of the most effective and faithful expositors of the Word from the 20th and 21st centuries. I realize that is high praise. If I had said that to him directly, he would have received it graciously and would have reacted with humility.
The Influence of a Radio Preacher
My history with Dr. MacArthur goes back to 1982 when I began attending seminary at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) in Wake Forest, North Carolina. I had resigned from active duty as a Naval officer and surrendered my life to God’s call to pastoral ministry. My arrival at seminary presented me with some unexpected and distressing circumstances. Having grown up as a conservative Southern Baptist and having served already as a Sunday School teacher, deacon, and youth leader in my previous church, I was surprised at the liberalism in the seminary. I discovered that SEBTS was theologically neo-orthodox, and the teaching was not in full agreement with Southern Baptist doctrine.
To say I was naïve would be a bit of an understatement. I had professors who were teaching that the Bible was full of errors! I was hearing a lot of teaching that went against the morality of the Bible and much that was certainly not in line with a belief in the inerrancy and infallibility of the Word. To say that I was discouraged would only scratch the surface of my dismay.
I had been called to pastor my first church. I needed encouragement, certainly, but also instruction on how best to learn to preach and fulfill my pastoral responsibilities. This is exactly what I was not getting from seminary. “Why don’t you leave if you don’t like it?” quipped one liberal student. It was a good question. I was a Southern Baptist; therefore, it was my seminary. I stayed in the hopes that one day I might be able to make a difference. Nonetheless, I was starving for true biblical instruction.
My church was about a thirty-minute drive from the seminary. One morning, I was searching for something worth listening to on my car radio and ran across this preacher who was preaching from a text of Scripture. He would read a verse or portion of one and explain its meaning and make application of it. For the next twenty minutes, he simply preached what the text meant by what it said. I had no idea who I was listening to! I turned it off to make it to my first class on time, but left the dial on that station. The next morning, I eagerly got in my car. I wanted to get in on the very start of this unknown radio preacher’s next message. The now-familiar music of Grace to You came on, and for the next thirty minutes, I was enthralled with the kind of Bible teaching I so desperately needed. He picked up in the Scripture right where he left off the day before. He started with something along the lines of, “Open your Bible to” and named a passage of scripture which, frankly, I cannot remember. What I do remember is that he was preaching the Word with faithful exposition and clear insight.
Late to Class
It was about a five-minute walk from the parking lot to my first class. But I could not shut the radio off. I listened until a very nice-sounding voice came on at the end to tell me how to order the cassette tape, which I could not afford! I got out of my car, an old 1966 Ford Falcon, set my Bible on the roof, laid my hand on it, and bowed my head in prayer. I was so grateful to hear this man of God preach boldly the Word of God. I praised the Lord for this great new find and said, “Amen.” Then I said to myself, “Well, that’s the last Bible I’m going to hear for today.”
And so, it was over the next three years of my seminary training that I sat at the feet of Dr. MacArthur each morning from 8:30-9:00 am. I would do my best to schedule my first class at nine or later so that I would not miss Grace to You.
I did not get much out of my seminary training at SEBTS other than the credentials of an MDiv. which was helpful in getting my name before church pulpit committees. But I sat and listened each morning to Dr. MacArthur, and my soul was nourished in the Word and my life encouraged with the hope of the true gospel.
I learned so many things that stemmed from those early morning drives to my seminary classes. Whenever I could scrape together a few extra dollars, I would order his study materials. The books and notes I had from SEBTS were worthless. I learned how to build my library from Dr. MacArthur. When I took my second church, after graduating seminary, I began to build my library, Bible book by Bible book.
Not long into my second pastorate, I was led to preach through Ephesians. The first commentary I purchased was, you guessed it, Ephesians from the MacArthur New Testament Commentary, published in 1986. It came just in time. Preaching through Ephesians with this exceptional commentary taught me the truth about soteriology. My theological position was thoroughly enhanced, and I came to fully understand the sovereignty of God, especially as it related to soteriology.
The Gospel According to Jesus
I had always believed that the sharing of the gospel among Baptists and the types of evangelism we were taught to use were rather weak. The emphasis always seemed to be on getting people to make a decision. But the Great Commission is clearly about making disciples! In 1988, John’s outstanding work, The Gospel According to Jesus, was published. I must have obtained one of the first copies! It eloquently articulated the truth about the Gospel. The emphasis on Lordship salvation was what I had always believed, but now I could preach, teach, and articulate the truth with much greater precision.
I begin to purchase copies for the men in my church. Later, when I went back in the Navy as a chaplain, I gave copies of it to men I had the privilege of discipling.
One of those men I discipled was a naval officer whom I met when deployed to Spain, and I gave him a copy of the book. Four years later, he gave me a copy of the revised version. In it, he wrote, “Four years ago, you handed me a copy of the first edition and said, ‘If you read this, it will change the way you share the gospel.’ It certainly did that. In the providence of God, it changed much more than that.” That was my dear brother Alan Lenz, who would later graduate from the Master’s Seminary and is serving today as a faithful preacher of the Word.
More of – In the Providence of God
As the Lord would have it, my ministry, as stated above, led me back to active duty in the Navy as a Chaplain. The Lord used the Navy to put me in Southern California, and in 1994, I had the great privilege of attending my first Shepherd’s Conference. The conference was somewhat smaller in those days, hundreds rather than thousands. Dr. MacArthur would always make time to speak to pastors. I had the great honor of sharing my story from seminary with him and telling him personally how much his radio ministry meant to me. Truthfully, it saved my pastoral ministry! As you can imagine, Dr. MacArthur was very gracious and grateful for the impact his ministry had on my life.
I attended several Shepherd’s Conferences over the next decade. The encouragement and instruction received would further shape and enhance my pastoral ministry. It was in the 90s that the Rediscovering Expository Preaching, Bible Counseling, and Pastoral Ministry series was published. Those three books became my primary resource for building up my ministry and helping me provide the best in biblically based service to the congregations I had the privilege of pastoring.
What I believe is significant about my story is that it is not really all that significant! What is significant is that similar stories could be told by thousands of men impacted by the life and ministry of Dr. John MacArthur. I know he is walking the streets of Gold with his Lord. I will join him there one day. What a glorious reunion we will have. Thank you, Dr. MacArthur, for your faithfulness to the Lord, to His church, and to the men He has called into pastoral ministry. We are forever grateful for your influence on our lives and ministries.
Dr. MacArthur was very adamant that the key to successful pastoral ministry was to finish well. He certainly set the bar high in that regard for all of us. He finished well. For every true believer, especially those in pastoral ministry, who wants to finish well, follow Dr. MacArthur’s example and instruction. He recently wrote a booklet entitled John MacArthur on Finishing Well. (1) Get it and do it. May the tribe of those who finish well increase.
Notes
(1) The booklet does not appear to be available yet from GTY. Hopefully, it will be available soon. A similar resource that would be most helpful is Dr. MacArthur’s teaching from 2 Timothy 4 titled, Marks of a Faithful Preacher.
