#1617 My hero is with our Hero

 

…14“Because he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him. 15When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. 16With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”… Psalm 91: 14-16

There are probably millions of stories like this, of lives touched by the ministry of John MacArthur, people like me who he didn't personally know, but whose lives were touched by the sure and steady voice God had knit into that one man. It was a voice I came to know very young, from cassette tapes that my mom would play, and so much so that when we read from his commentaries, I could hear it even then. As I got older, there was no father figure in our house, so it was his voice and words which I came to detest. When I rebelled as a preteen I would mock my mom for saying, "well, John Macarthur says", and we would repeat it over and over again, teasing her and running off to the cares of the world. I guess it's that way with the Watchmen of every age, the voice that only wants to say what God is saying, but to a people who don't care for God, and so we rebel. He spoke for a long time, and his voice was heard by my Great Grandmother, Grandmother, Mother, my generation and my children's. There were so many other voices out there, and a lot of those were saying things I would rather hear, but if you pick up a sermon of John's from the 1970's and compare it to one from today, the voice has changed with age, but the message is the same. I think that's because he believed in a God Who was eternal, perfect, unchanging. John believed that the Bible was God's word, so when it spoke, He spoke, and J Mac saw himself as a waiter just trying to bring that to the table without messing it up. 

1Of David. I give You thanks with all my heart; before the gods I sing Your praises. 2I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your loving devotion and Your faithfulness; You have exalted Your name and Your word above all else. 3On the day I called, You answered me; You emboldened me and strengthened my soul.… Psalm 138: 1-3

As big as his ministry was he still took time out for those who couldn't really do anything for him in return. When we were little boys my brother and I stayed with a family friend while my mom went with the wife of one of our pastors to hear him speak, and at the end of the sermon or conference he stayed and met with people. She was a young mom who was going through a divorce, caught in a sin, but had come to belief and repentance in Christ. My mom asked him what she should do as a single mom to insure that she raise her two boys in a way that honored God. He laid it out for her, from not bringing home men, teaching us God's word, bringing us to church etc., and she really tried hard to do these things, even though we were not very cooperative at times. 

…26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless. 27Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1: 26-27

I have known many people who are now passed, and their deaths have usually been accompanied with great sorrow and even anxiety due to the uncertainty of their eternal state. Some have left me depressed when I think of what I have been so privileged to know about concerning God and how many opportunities I had to talk to them about Him but failed to. Others I had promised to take fishing or hiking and thought that will be when it happens, but I never set the date, and then comes the phone call about a motorcycle accident or a tumor that was their final ride into eternity. It's not that way with John, and there has been no other man in this life that has impacted me as much as him, but the only sorrow I feel is for his wife and those who are used to knowing his physical presence from day to day. When people talk about who is the GOAT, well I think John would take issue with being called that for a variety of reasons, but if he doesn't make your top 3 of the greatest men of the last century, then I think you don't know what true greatness really is. He is definitely my hero, and I have no concern about him in his death because I got to see his life. I laugh at preachers today when they can't seem to help themselves from taking a swing at John, so proud of themselves when they disagree with something he said. I have disagreed with him thousands of times and after careful study and prayer I have had to change my tune thousands of times. Sure I may have a hold out or two where I still think there's a chance that I may be right and him wrong, but it's like being a boxer and getting knocked out in a hundred fights with the same guy, but pointing to this one round where you think you might have scored more hits than him, maybe. I was a kid who walked forward and said a prayer at church and thought that was good enough, but then later wanted to be an atheist because my life wasn't how I wanted it to be. I went to the Pentecostal movement for a time, burned a copy of John's book, "The Gospel According To Jesus", prayed that he would fall off the stage at Ligonier's conference, and then went home and read his book, "Charismatic Chaos", trying to red line it with all my arguments on how I was right and he was wrong. I use to think, "how can anyone be so arrogant?' One time I thought that about something he said and then realized he was simply reading it from the Bible, but I was a drunk, a fornicator, a drug addict and a blasphemer, and I thought he was the arrogant one for not bowing to the culture, not seeing things my way. He basically refused to say what God wasn't saying, and he loved people enough to tell them the truth even knowing that they were going to hate him like I used to. He had loftier goals then to just be liked by men; He wanted to honor God.   

…20The servant who had received the five talents came and presented five more. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ 21His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’ Matthew 25: 20-21

His was a beautiful, model Christian life, the ideal teacher to have because he would always point to Christ as the only real answer, not himself, not political parties, not wealth, not good deeds, but Christ Alone. He was too busy studying to worry about legacy, and yet left one of the longest reaching, most Bible centric legacies ever known. It is crazy to think how many people are doing what I am right now, thinking about the impact that God made in their life using this one little man, and how many people he is meeting in heaven now for the first time, who came to know Jesus through his ministry. He has stood up to governors, smuggled Bibles into places that it is more than a little risky to this, has had his life threatened, scrutinized time and again. He is not exceptionally good looking, not flashy, and has said many things that I didn't want to hear. He has stood up for the purity of the gospel, has stood when others caved for the sake of fame and pay, has been the voice of reason in a very dark age, unwilling to tickle anybody's ears, wanting only to seek the Author's intent, and for that he is my hero, the greatest role model I have ever known. 

I look forward to meeting him in person, but for now I still live an hour away from work so he will remain shotgun with me via GTY Sermons. What a blessing God gave us in him.