I met John MacArthur several years ago at a conference in Montreal, Canada. With tears in my eyes, I told him how his ministry had blessed me.
I became a Christian at a church that promoted the prosperity gospel. Though I was raised by a Christian mother, I didn’t know anything about the Bible. I walked into the church’s bookstore a couple of days after I became a Christian and bought a lot of books.
A couple of years later, I threw away all of the books, except for one. I got rid of the other books because of that one book. It’s also the reason why I left the prosperity gospel church. That book changed everything for me.
That book is the MacArthur Bible Commentary. It’s still one of the most consistently read books in my personal library. It’s the first of about fifty John MacArthur books that I own.
The MacArthur Bible Commentary was my introduction to the ministry of the man who changed my life and my loved ones’ lives. What I learned from John MacArthur helped me lead some of my friends and family away from the prosperity gospel and to Reformed theology.
When I shared this with him in Montreal, he said, “Wow. Really?”
I couldn’t believe his humility. It was as if he didn’t know that his name is John MacArthur. He meant so much to me that my mom used to call him “Your guy.” Whenever she would hear him on the radio, she would say to me, “I heard your guy on the radio today.”
I called my mom last night and informed her that “my guy” has finished his ministry and his race. He is now with Jesus. My mom simply said, “he has done well.”
It’s true. Last night, John MacArthur heard Jesus say: “Well done, good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:23).”
He is now reunited with his friend R.C. Sproul, who captured his legacy when he said:
“If John [MacArthur] and I ever disagree on even a minor point or even minuscule point on scripture, where I think he’s wrong and he thinks I’m wrong, here’s what I know about John MacArthur: it’s that if I can go to the text and show John MacArthur that his understanding of the text is incorrect, that he’ll change his view in a heartbeat. Because he would rather be accurate to the word of God than to have his ego massaged. And I’ve never met anybody more open to correction in righteousness with respect to the text of scripture than this man.”
As always, R.C. Sproul was right. I grew up in prosperity gospel churches where pastors talked about seeing wondrous things everywhere, except in the Bible. John MacArthur’s ministry, however, helped me understand that the most wondrous things I will ever see in this life are in the Bible (Psalm 119:18).
I can’t overstate John MacArthur’s influence on my theology, my worldview, my approach to teaching truth, everything. And I am not alone, with over 60 years of ministry, he has blessed millions of Christians all over the world, from the Silent Generation to Generation Alpha.
Since he didn’t compromise for cultural trends, but committed his ministry to preaching words that will never pass away (Matthew 24:25), like his hero Charles Spurgeon, many more generations will be blessed by him. My children won’t be able to hear him preach in person, but Lord willing, they will read his books, including my copy of the MacArthur Bible Commentary.
But I’ve learned enough from him to know that I can’t end this tribute without saying that the most important thing about John MacArthur isn’t that he was a faithful pastor. The most important thing about him is that he loved his Good Shepherd.
His ministry was a blessing. But he isn’t with Jesus because of what he did for us. He’s with Jesus because of what Jesus did for him.
Thank you, Lord. And thank you for your faithful servant, John MacArthur.