Thank You, God, for Men Like John

My earliest memories of life are inside the church. For many years, my mother ensured that I was by her side on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night. In my teenage years, there were two churches we would attend in addition to these services, one on Tuesday evening and one on Saturday evening. In the first 30 years of my life, I heard thousands of sermons from dozens of men. However, the first time I heard expository preaching, the kind that feeds a soul who does not know that it is hungry, came from the pulpit ministry of Pastor John MacArthur, to whom I dedicate these few paragraphs. Presently, articles are being released across various news networks and social media platforms reporting that Pastor John has pneumonia and is likely on death’s doorstep. Oh but for Pastor John, he is about to be more alive than ever. This situation is a cause for reflection on his ministry in my life.

Pastor John the Preacher

When I first heard him preach, Dr. John MacArthur’s verse-by-verse commitment struck me from the beginning as something that every preacher should want to do. Why would you not want to walk line upon line through God’s word? His method of exposition made sense to me. Sure, I’d heard other men preach through a given text but I had never seen a man march from chapter one verse one of a book through the end until the author’s last stroke of the pen. Soon after hearing him preach for the first time in adulthood, on a trip to the local Lifeway bookstore, I found his entire Bible commentary on sale for $17! I can easily remember the astonishment and excitement I felt when I held that hardcover volume in my hands for the first time (pictured above). My Bible study was about to take off in a transformative way.

Pastor John the Calvinist

I spent over a year wrestling with the doctrines of grace. Initially, I asked a barrage of questions to my wife and friends that mostly revolved around my inability to reconcile the fact that a loving God would choose some while others would eventually die and go to hell. Dr. MacArthur, however, showed me that Arminianism has the same “problem” as Calvinism and that issue is that people die and go to hell. If the Arminian system is right, then the all-powerful God resides over an earth where people die and go to hell every day. They, like the Calvinists, have a God who does not prevent every human from going to hell. Does that mean God’s character is flawed? No more flawed than the Calvinist’s view of God, who sees mankind headed to hell because of his sin and elects some to heaven to the praise of his glorious grace (Ephesians 1:6). The difference is that Arminianism says man chooses and Calvinism says God chooses while both perspectives worship the God who justly permits people to go to hell because of their unrepentant sin. As simple as it may seem, when I heard Pastor John explain this concept, along with rigorous Bible study aided by The MacArthur Bible Commentary, I came out a Calvinist. I became convinced that consistent exegesis of the texts at hand could not explain away God’s sovereign election as a system that hinges upon man’s choice. Pastor John helped me see that if God is not sovereign over salvation, then God is not sovereign.

Pastor John the Author and Apologist

Shortly after this transformation, I began pursuing certification as a biblical counselor. The first two counseling books I purchased were edited or authored by Pastor John. In fact, I referenced one of them last night. Soon after completing my counseling certification in 2019, we moved to Guam. During COVID, I prayed and applauded Pastor John for leading the charge in the just defiance of the civil magistrate. The events of COVID reminded me of the times I had seen Dr. MacArthur on Larry King Live on my grandmother’s television. From my perspective, John MacArthur defended the same gospel on CNN as he did at GCC (Grace Community Church). May all of God’s men be consistently courageous and biblically intelligent, no matter the audience.

Pastor John the Pastor of Pastors

During COVID, we began looking for a new church and we found the gem of gems in Marianas Baptist Church in Agat, Guam. At age 79, Pastor Ed Poppe and his wife, Frances, welcomed our little family with open hearts and open arms. Pastor Ed described himself as a “MacArthurite” - meaning that he modeled his preaching method after John’s. Pastor John’s expository preaching ministry reached the Marianas Trench where Pastor Ed determined to lead his flock verse-by-verse through the Holy Scriptures. Now, I did not have to rely on Pastor John’s pulpit ministry because my wife and I had our very own pastor who guided us through books of the Bible! This time under Pastor Ed was true reformation for my wife and me. This reality is no knock to the men who faithfully shepherded our souls in previous places at different churches - men who are still my friends and brothers in the faith. It is simply an observation that in God's providence, He used Dr. MacArthur to soften our hearts to hear Pastor Ed's preaching, which sanctified us from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18). Soli Deo Gloria. When we left Guam, Pastor Ed gifted me a generous portion of his personal library. Many of these books help me today as I get to lead my family, pastor our church, and contribute to Reformed & Confessional. I am so very blessed to have Spurgeon, Calvin, and the Patristics on my shelves but the most books from a single author that I possess is hands down the writings of Pastor and Author from Grace to You, John MacArthur.

Pastor John the Saint

I will be sad for a time when men like Pastors John MacArthur and Ed Poppe die but I am reminded, in part because of their pulpit ministries, that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Has Pastor John identified himself with Paul? Has he fought the fight and kept the faith? From my vantage point, you better believe he has! (2 Timothy 4:7-8). He has filled the pastorate at the same church since 1969! Only the mighty hand of God could keep a man upright in heart and deed to endure in such an impactful way for so long a time as the Lord has done in Pastor John’s life. His wife and congregation must be godly people who God gave to this godly man. And to those in the Reformed camp who may point to John’s ecclesiology or eschatology and say, “He’s is not Reformed!” I think he is okay with your accusation at this moment, for he is Christ’s.

Thank You, God, for Men Like John

I’ve never met John MacArthur and this fact is a testimony to all of God’s men. Pastor John does not know me but God uses his ministry to help me walk closer to Jesus. John’s ministry to me impacts my wife, my children, and the members of the church I pastor and he doesn’t even know it! In life, God’s men teach, preach, witness, and write and most of the time, we never know the outcome of our labor in the hearts and lives of other individuals. It should be the goal of every man that God will use our work far and wide in ways that we will never know. We may not know how God uses a given sermon, article, book, godly example, or even a word of encouragement but we trust that when we plant and water, God will have the increase. Pastor John MacArthur has planted and watered well (1 Corinthians 3:6-9). For this service, we do not praise Pastor John but rather we praise Pastor John’s Savior whom he dedicated his life to for all these years, the One whom he will behold face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). Thank you God, for men like John, who show us how to be men like Jesus.

John Fry

John lives in Kentucky with his wife and children where he serves as an elder at Redeeming Grace Church. John is a graduate from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Certified Biblical Counselor with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).

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