It has been a year since the passing of Dr. John MacArthur Jr. As a Christian and as a young pastor, I cannot thank God enough for introducing me to faithful people, specifically John MacArthur (through online and books), who, in God’s providential way, have challenged my faith and equipped me to understand God’s Word better. Hence, Johnny or JMac has impacted my life in many ways that I believe are God’s providence.
Just a short back story, when I was a young Christian at the age of 21, I thought that “altar calls and sinner’s prayer for spiritual conversion are biblical. Admittedly, the ministry of Dr. Billy Graham had influenced my evangelism before. I was a fanboy of Billy Graham at that time, and it was also the practice of some leaders and people in our church. I always listened to and watched Billy Graham as a young Christian through YouTube at that time, learning how to communicate the gospel persuasively, which I’m still grateful for to this day.
Interestingly enough, I have questions in my mind: “Is calling people to the front of the altar and instructing the people to follow my prayer really needed and Biblical? Was it not manipulation?” Upon researching to be more effective in evangelism, I discovered a video related to my interest at that time. I found a website, “livingwaters.com,” and their evangelism video series entitled “Way of the Master.” Through their videos, I learned Biblical Evangelism from Ray Comfort, Paul Washer, Todd Friel, and Kirk Cameron. Then I saw Kirk interviewing John MacArthur, where John explained the gospel in 2 Cor. 5:21. I was so amazed by how this man explained the verse in such a simple and clear manner with conviction. Then I started to listen to all of his sermons, interviews, and read and printed his articles on their church website for my spiritual gain, and the rest is history. I began to be one of his long-distance students overseas, if I can put it that way.
For sure, I am not the only one overseas who is blessed by the ministry of John MacArthur. To me, he embodied the words of the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7 – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” I can share at least three lessons that I’ve learned from JMac’s life and ministry, namely his commitment to God’s Word, Godliness and God’s people.
His Commitment to God’s Word
Though John MacArthur had a finite mind, every time he spoke and preached, it was always filled with wisdom, knowledge, grace, and fervor. John was deeply rooted in the scriptures, love, and was passionate about the Word of God. He’s not afraid to call out names, preach the precise meaning and message of the scripture, but even more, he faithfully preached God’s word verse by verse, sentence by sentence, every paragraph, eventually preaching through every book of the NT. He also produced expository commentaries on every book in the entire New Testament (not to mention some from the OT).
He modeled faithful preaching and teaching and put God’s inerrant, infallible, sufficient, clear and authoritative Word over his life and ministry. His firm belief that the Bible is in fact God’s Word evidently rules over his life, practice, body of work, and ministry. No wonder he was always on point, accurate, and sound when explaining Christian doctrines every time I hear him teach, preach, and watch his interviews arguing against liberal theologians.
In my humble opinion, I believe that John MacArthur is the best Christian Evangelical American expository preacher-teacher of the 21st century, considering his global ministerial influence.
I am grateful to God for learning from this man, Johnny Mac. Likewise, I am inspired and challenged at the same time to strive to be a committed and faithful servant of God’s Word, submitting myself to and burying myself in the soil and depth and in the endless treasures of scriptures, just like him and the prophets, apostles in the scriptures, and other faithful giants, and most definitely like the Lord Jesus Christ, the best preacher-teacher of all time.
His Commitment to Godliness
To many of his friends, colleagues, and those who knew him personally, John MacArthur was also a model of holiness. Though I don’t have a personal relationship with him, I am always amazed by how they described him and how he presented himself. Dignified, faithful, kind, and loving. Though John was not perfect, he kept his name, personal and ministerial integrity clean by God’s grace.
With his influence, he could easily be tempted to succumb to many temptations of the world, but his morals and Christlike convictions remained steadfast and anchored to God’s Word and to his Redeemer. He selflessly loved his wife, his family, and the Lord Jesus so much. His life stood in stark contrast to that of many well-known pastors who, in their later years, fell into sins such as sexual immorality, greed, divorce, the love of money, and the pursuit of power.
In 1 Tim. 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9, the ministry competency qualifications are few: “holds firmly to the trustworthy word, able to teach sound doctrine, able to refute those who contradict,” but the rest of the ministry qualifications talk about the character requirements: “above reproach, husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, gentle, devout, faithful,” and more. By God’s mercy, John modeled godliness.
MacArthur was not a perfect being. Certainly, his whole life since conversion was years of fighting his own fallenness and sinful nature. But that fight was won not on his sheer will, but by depending on God’s word and the sufficient grace of Christ, whom he pursued through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
His dignity and integrity are so encouraging to me. As a young pastor, I want to finish well like that and even more as the man God wants me to be, pleasing in His eyes (like His Son Jesus Christ). I’ve realized that competencies in preaching and teaching are important, and giftedness is necessary in the ministry given by the Lord Jesus. But my preaching is even more powerful when my character and integrity are intact and aligned with the scriptures. The Bible teaches us that no other quality is more important to the Lord than a godly character. John MacArthur modeled it. His love for Jesus and the Word led him to finish the race well, for which every believer, including me, is called to persevere faithfully and finish the race set before us.
His Commitment to God’s People
As a pastor myself, it’s a tremendous task to shepherd God’s people. These people are with different personalities, upbringings, status, and temperaments, with different levels of maturity and peculiarities. Shepherding these types of people sometimes makes us irritated when certain people do not really listen to God’s word that we are preaching. How much more shepherding the same church for more than 50 years. Some pastors leave the church after 5, 10, or 15 years of ministry. But John stays for half a century. Of course, the element of God’s calling and other valid circumstances must be considered when leaving a church and going to another one.
But staying in the same church, preaching and shepherding the same congregation, and from one generation to another for half a century is on a different level and proves one dominant truth and reality: MacArthur had an unwavering love for God’s people rooted in God’s love for him. He modeled love, patience, and kindness to this specific bride of Christ (Grace Community Church) until his last breath. It’s an amazing reminder and edification to me to know and hear a man faithfully serve God’s people in season and out of season. I heard he mentioned in his interview or conference before that he was even shepherding the grandchildren of his old church members who are now adults and parents.
Certainly, John MacArthur’s love was not perfect, because he is a fallible man, a jar of clay. Yet through his imperfections, the perfect love, grace, and mercy of Jesus were displayed in his life and ministry, as seen in his faithful service to his congregation and his steadfast devotion to Christ.
Not just that, loving your own people in your congregation as their pastor is given, but to love the people who somehow disagree with your theology or have a different theological position is another level of love for God’s people. I was surprised to see Alistair Begg (who had controversial pastoral advice regarding a grandmother whose grandson was marrying a transgender-identifying person) and John Piper (who is a continuationist) participate in and speak at the memorial service for John’s life at his church, as many Christians within the cessationist camp would not typically endorse or closely associate with their ministries.
According to John Piper in his eulogy for JMac, “John befriended me.” While some cessationists have strongly criticized John Piper for his continuationist convictions and openness to the miraculous gifts, John MacArthur responded differently. Despite their theological differences, he demonstrated genuine love, kindness, grace, and respect for John Piper. Likewise, he extended grace and love to Alistair Begg despite disagreements over Begg’s wrong pastoral judgments about that issue.
As a cessationist, I love and respect John Piper and Begg as well; I benefited and am still learning from their ministry, regardless of my disagreement with certain of their positions. JMac’s gesture towards people with different theological positions was commendable and Christ-honoring, which I strive to emulate as well. Love God’s people in your congregation and other saints despite our theological differences.
A Man Who Loved His Master Until the End
In honor of John MacArthur, loved by many around the world, I praise God for raising a man like him. What a fine work of God’s grace. MacArthur’s contribution to the body of Christ is immense and a gift from the Lord Jesus Christ.
His life legacy is a testament that God can use a finite man to be a paragon of faithfulness for the purification and growth of the church locally and beyond.
There’s no need to find another John MacArthur; there’s only one JMac; he was one of one. Rather than looking for a replacement, let us follow the trails of faithful men and strive to be the person who imitates faithful men who imitate Christ, just as Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 11:1, that say, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” These men of God may be found in our own local churches through faithful pastors, mentors, and disciplers, whom God has placed in our lives.
May the Lord raise us to be faithful men like him, and finish our own race given by God until our last breath, just like the apostles and our Lord Jesus, for our great joy in Christ and for the glory of God.
Thank You, Dr. John F. MacArthur Jr. (June 19, 1939 – July 14, 2025)
Soli Deo Gloria!