I began listening to John MacArthur in 1978. He was broadcast daily on the radio at about the time I was commuting from Tampa to St. Petersburg, where I was working my first job out of college as a bank loan officer. In those days, MacArthur, who would have been about 47, talked a mile a minute. It was like drinking from a fire hose, and I enjoyed and grew from every last drop.
He was all business. No homespun stories, jokes, or self-deprecation, just unadulterated truth. His authoritative approach was what I needed. So, with him in the morning and Chuck Swindoll in the afternoon, who was grandfatherly and winsome in contrast, my time in the car was not wasted.
I was attending a “Dallas” church at the time taught by a spiritual giant in his own right, but even in those early days, MacArthur was ruffling some “dispensational” feathers. To me, he was calling a “spade a spade.” While others were losing their collective minds over his stance on “Lordship Salvation,” I just chalked it up to him seeing the other side of the coin. His explanation that “the flea doesn’t understand the dog, he’s just along for the ride,” settled it for me. This divisive issue would remain permanently unresolved in my mind, and I went on with life. As far as I was concerned, as one of the church’s elders, here’s some “Grace to You,” John MacArthur!
MacArthur said after the dust-up caused by his book, “The Gospel According to Jesus,” he sought solace with The Reformers. At that time, I thought it incredulous that he never abandoned his commitment to “dispensationalism” as he fraternized with R.C. Sproul, but he subtly introduced a bit of “end times” thinking to that group while still waxing eloquent on the sovereignty of God. With my compatriots heading off to Baptist and Presbyterian environments when our spiritual giant retired, MacArthur taught me how to have my feet firmly planted in both camps. I continued to look at infant baptism with a jaundiced eye, while at the same time questioning the validity of a five-year-old stirring baptismal waters. I was thinking that he or she should first successfully navigate the turbulent waters of college life away from home.
I observed that while some couldn’t stomach MacArthur’s stubborn position on Lordship Salvation, and were very vocal about it, they nonetheless unwittingly asked baptismal candidates while performing the sacrament to testify if they trusted in Jesus as their “Lord and Savior!” Therein lies the rub.
So, with my spiritual giant hospitalized for the last time, I was walking the beach last week with one of his sermons ringing in my ears, as clear and vibrant as the early morning sunrise. His topic, “For Whom Did Christ Die?” How fitting, a message on “limited atonement!”
Accordingly, we are sure of at least one thing: he did die for John MacArthur.
Leave a Reply