John MacArthur

My brethren and sisters have really been busy the past few days with a good number of posts!

# The Passion of Reformation: Our Great Salvation… Chosen by God; Sanctified by the Spirit; Redeemed by the Son by Steve Camp.

# With many of our brethren and sisters poised to vote for the next President of the United States soon, Dr. R.C. Sproul gives us some food of thought with Principles for Voting.

# Tim Challies reviewed Michael Horton’s book Christless Christianity, and it sure looks like it’s a must-read! Here’s his conclusion:

This book is a call for the church to return to its biblical foundations and to remain true to those convictions. It is a clarion call and one that Christians would do well to heed. Christless Christianity is an excellent and timely book and one I would not hesitate to recommend to any Christian.

# My good brother and friend Daniel recently bought himself a molehill of books and has done reviews of two that he’s read so far — Logical Criticism of Textual Criticism by Gordon H. Clark and The Market Driven Church by Udo W. Middelmann.

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From Ligonier Ministries:

We’re a week away from our conference with Ligon Duncan, John MacArthur, and R.C. Sproul in Scottsdale, Ariz. Due to the sell-out attendance, we are offering a live stream of the conference. The fee is a nominal $5 to help us to cover the cost of the webcast. This fee covers the entire conference. Please spread the word to family, friends, co-workers, neighbors — to those inside and outside the Church. It is a privilege to hear God’s servants bring His Word.

Click here to get your login credentials and test your browser.

Please refer to Ligonier Ministries for the conference schedule.

A couple of years after I became a Christian and had joined the teen ministry of the Navigators here in Singapore, I was given a book by my Bible Study leader which, till today, has had a huge impact in my life. Although the knowledge gleaned from it has been lying dormant in my being and I regret that I can’t seem to find the book in my collection anymore, I can still very much remember the title.

Disciples are Made, Not Born.

The system the Navigators had in place was so that my Bible Study leader would make me his disciple, and when I had learned enough I’d go on to disciple others. Unfortunately, the world stepped in before my wings hardened and I fell from the nest, hard, because the roots of the tree that nest was on were never deep to begin with.

I have since been re-learning everything, and this is one particular sermon by Dr. John MacArthur I particularly took to heart and am sharing with you today.

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Or have you yourself been given the false Gospel by a Christian, who though well-meaning and sincere, didn’t tell you the Good News as it should be?

I have, and was even taught the same manner of evangelism once, in particular the “relational gospel”. Add the ‘miracle prayer’ and bam! another false convert is born.

James MacDonald tells us of the four false gospels out there today — the relational, relevancy, resource, and prosperity “gospels” (taken from an old clip from Todd Friel’s previous radio show, Talk the Walk, on AM 980 KKMS in Minneapolis).

I’ll also like to include a quote by Dr. John MacArthur here on this issue:

Listen to the typical gospel presentation nowadays. You will hear sinners entreated with words like, “accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior”; “ask Jesus into your heart”; “invite Christ into your life”; or “make a decision for Christ.” You may be so accustomed to hearing those phrases that it will surprise you to learn that none of them is based on Biblical terminology. They are the products of a diluted gospel.

John MacArthur

HT: Bororean for the quote.

Karen and I have benefited greatly from the ministries of teachers like John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, John Piper, and of course, Paul Washer. In fact, we have benefited so much from the teachings of these God-fearing teachers that very often we wonder how we can contribute to and support their ministries.

Those who know us well will know that when it comes to a monthly donation, we aren’t exactly in the financial position to do so right now.

I’ve therefore been thinking that we can perhaps start small — that instead of just downloading sermons that we have found helpful in understanding God’s Word, we could perhaps actually pay for them (or their MP3 equivalents anyhow) even if the sermon or sermon series was available as a free download.

For example, single sermons at Grace To You, John MacArthur’s ministry, cost just US$2 (S$2.90) and a series of sermons go for about US$6 (S$8.50) so I thought it’d be a good way for us to show our appreciation and support the ministries at the same time.

What do you think? Is it a viable option for us to support the ministries?

We all still struggle with sin in our lives, and I’m very sure that for myself, not a day goes by without me sinning at least a dozen times in thought, deed or speech.

The following post is adapted from a message pastor John MacArthur preached on a practical plan for overcoming personal sin, and I hope that reproducing this here will strengthen and encourage all who read it and apply the lessons taught within.

The question is, “How do I kill sin in my life? How do I do it?” Let me give you some little principles — very basic and straightforward.

If you live by the Spirit and are headed towards eternal life because of your salvation, the Spirit in you gives the power to be killing the deeds of the flesh.

The question is, “All right, how do I do that? I agree that the power is there, that’s the bent of my life, that’s the way I am going. I want to see the Spirit do more and more of it. How do I get to that point? How do I gain that victory? How do I establish that habitual pattern? What do I do?”

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This is the second Shabbat that I have opted to feature a sermon instead of a song. This week, I will be sharing this short sermon by John MacArthur on how and why we should confess our sins with an exposition of Psalm 51. So, if you have your Bible at hand, join me as we listen together to John MacArthur teach.

I pray that you’ll blessed by this sermon as much as I have.

Shabbat Shalom.

This article originally appeared here at Grace to You.

We’re going to turn to a subject in the New Testament that as I think about it is largely ignored and overlooked. And I’ve been made aware of that in recent months. It was not too many months ago that I was flying on one of those jumbo jets from Los Angeles to London, in the process reading a book that dealt with the issue of slavery in the New Testament time and in the New Testament text. It set me thinking in all kinds of directions. I actually finished the book on the flight I was so rapt in my attention to this particular theme.

Being a slave of Christ may be the best way to define a Christian. We are, as believers, slaves of Christ. You would never suspect that, however, from the language of Christianity. In contemporary Christianity the language is anything but slave language. It is about freedom. It is about liberation. It is about health, wealth, prosperity, finding your own fulfillment, fulfilling your own dream, finding your own purpose. We often hear that God loves you unconditionally and wants you to be all you want to be. He wants to fulfill every ambition, every desire, every hope, every dream. In fact, there are books being written about dreams as if they are gifts from God which God then having given them is bound to fulfill. Personal fulfillment, personal liberation, personal satisfaction, all bound up in an old term in evangelical Christianity, a personal relationship. How many times have we heard that the gospel offers people a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

What exactly does that mean? Satan has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and it’s not a very good one. Every living being has a personal relationship with the living God of one kind or another, leading to one end or another.

But what exactly is our relationship to God? What is our relationship to Christ? How are we best to understand it?

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By John MacArthur.

In its simplest definition, discernment is nothing more than the ability to decide between truth and error, right and wrong. Discernment is the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth. In other words, the ability to think with discernment is synonymous with an ability to think biblically.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 teaches that it is the responsibility of every Christian to be discerning: “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.” The apostle John issues a similar warning when he says, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

According to the New Testament, discernment is not optional for the believer — it is required. The key to living an uncompromising life lies in one’s ability to exercise discernment in every area of his or her life. For example, failure to distinguish between truth and error leaves the Christian subject to all manner of false teaching. False teaching then leads to an unbiblical mindset, which results in unfruitful and disobedient living — a certain recipe for compromise.

Unfortunately, discernment is an area where most Christians stumble. They exhibit little ability to measure the things they are taught against the infallible standard of God’s Word, and they unwittingly engage in all kinds of unbiblical decision-making and behavior. In short, they are not armed to take a decidedly biblical stand against the onslaught of unbiblical thinking and attitudes that face them throughout their day.

Discernment intersects the Christian life at every point. And God’s Word provides us with the needed discernment about every issue of life. According to Peter, God “has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). You see, it is through the “true knowledge of Him,” that we have been given everything we need to live a Christian life in this fallen world. And how else do we have true knowledge of God but through the pages of His Word, the Bible? In fact, Peter goes on to say that such knowledge comes through God’s granting “to us His precious and magnificent promises” (2 Peter 1:4).

Discernment — the ability to think biblically about all areas of life — is indispensable to an uncompromising life. It is incumbent upon the Christian to seize upon the discernment that God has provided for in His precious truth! Without it, Christians are at risk of being “tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14).

HT: Pulpit Magazine.

I have never had a thing for Christian rap — I just thought that such artistes were simply taking a secular musical format, mixing it up with some reference (no matter how minuscule) to the faith and trying to pass it off as “Christian” when in fact the lyrics still sounded very much secular to me.

For a while, I was quite convinced my observation held true, and I think I might have been right.

However, I recently came across a Christian rap artiste called Shai Linne and his creations gave me a totally new perspective on Christian rap. I am not saying that all that I disliked before have now become appealing, but that this brother has probably single-handedly redefined Christian rap for me.

His pieces are very Biblical, and you can even say that he’s a perfect rapping companion to preachers like Paul Washer, John Piper and John MacArthur in the sense that what he espouses in his music are along the same lines as what these good brothers teach. Moreover, if you like sermon jams, you won’t find his creations too difficult to like.

Might I even go as far to say that he’s a “Puritan rapper”?

This is one of my favorite pieces, The Gospel, from his new album The Atonement (which you can purchase from iTunes Store or directly from Lamp Mode Recordings) which talks about the book of Romans.

I’m going to see how I can get my hands on a copy here (iTunes Store is, unfortunately, not available for this part of the world)!

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.

Psalm 19:7-9

John MacArthur expands on our understanding of these three verses about Scripture (emphasis added and slightly edited to make it easier to read):

… But more importantly and savingly, God has revealed Himself in Scripture.  There is His unwritten revelation and His written revelation.  And when you come to verse 7, the transition is made from God revealing Himself in nature to God revealing Himself in Scripture… in Scripture.

The structure of these verses from verse 7 through 9, notice it there, is a series of parallel statements, verses 7, 8 and 9.  Here there are six titles for Scripture… the Law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord in verse 7.  In verse 8, the precepts of the Lord and the commandment of the Lord.  In verse 9, the fear of the Lord and the judgments of the Lord. 

Six titles for Scripture.  Scripture is Law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear and judgments.

There are also six characteristics of Scripture.  Notice, it is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean and true.

And there are six benefits of Scripture.  It restores the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures forever and a final one, produces comprehensive righteousness.  That’s what it means when it says righteous all together.  It converts, it makes wise, it brings joy, it enlightens, it purifies, it is relevant in every time, it endures forever and it produces comprehensive righteousness.

This is magnificent.  Here you have God in His inimitable way speaking the vast glories of Scripture in brief sentences.  In a few words He captures the magnitude of the full sufficiency of Scripture.

John MacArthur
God’s Own Defense of Scripture, Part 1

Amen!

You can read the entire transcript of the sermon, or purchase the DVD at Grace To You dot Org.

John MacArthur expounds on how important doctrine is — a personal conviction of mine — and shows how, while we look for practical applications of the Word of God, it follows after getting a right understanding of doctrine in God’s Word, not the other way around.

If I may connect this view to a real-life scenario, it would be akin to learning how to write computer programs — you first have to understand what each function and call in that language does before you can even apply those to actually writing computer programs that work.

What Does It Mean “To Me”?

by John MacArthur.
First published at Pulpit Magazine.

That’s a fashionable concern, judging from the trends in devotional booklets, home Bible study discussions, Sunday-school literature, and most popular preaching.

The question of what Scripture means has taken a back seat to the issue of what it means “to me.”

The difference may seem insignificant at first. Nevertheless, our obsession with the Scripture’s applicability reflects a fundamental weakness. We have adopted practicality as the ultimate judge of the worth of God’s Word. We bury ourselves in passages that overtly relate to daily living, and ignore those that don’t.

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To many who are not well acquainted with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, it might seem that I am nitpicking on non-essential issues and intentionally picking a fight with Roman Catholics.

I assure you that my issue is not with Roman Catholics per se, but with the institution that has installed herself as the “one true Church of Christ” that has, among other things, perverted the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ so that she can have a stranglehold on believers and twisted Scripture such that doctrines not taught in the Bible have become a snare to those truly desiring to seek God.

Many Roman Catholics are nice people (I hesitate to say ‘good’ but no one is ‘good’ according to Scripture), and some of them do earnestly seek God from what I know. It therefore pains me that they are trapped by a man-made institution and her un-Biblical laws when God’s Truth has set us free.

In the minds of many, Roman Catholicism has become synonymous with Christianity, primarily because the most visible displays of Christianity have been linked to the Vatican, e.g. in movies, you usually see a Roman Catholic priest called in to perform exorcism or marry a couple, but seldom a Protestant minister.

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“People who don’t want scrutiny, people who don’t want to be held accountable for what they teach or what they believe, people who don’t want to be told they’re wrong, they always throw that verse ‘Judge not lest you be judged!’”

John MacArthur

HT: Real Christianity

Foreword: I thought I’d give a little background into how this testimony came about, because it simply demonstrates how often God works wonderfully in us and there’s only goodness when we submit to His will.

For some days now, my wife has told me that she hasn’t been able to sleep well because God has prompted her time and again to write her testimony down.

She asked me why, and I told her testimonies were a good way for us to glorify God through telling others what He has made anew in us. As to why God is telling her to do so I am not sure, yet we need trust that the Lord has need for her to do something that has not been revealed, but it’s all good.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

We had retired rather late to bed last night. Just 15 minutes later, she was out of bed, and the study light came on while her computer whirred to life. When I popped into the study to ask why she wasn’t in bed, she was quite in tears, telling me that God had admonished her for not submitting to His will, right after prayers.

She had been fighting the burden in her heart to write her testimony down, believing wrongly that it’s rather pointless.

It was the first time she had experienced such a prompting, so I gently told her that that’s what God does with me many, many times over — a feeling so heavy in one’s heart that you go on your knees and cry out saying, “Father, Lord, I’ll obey and do it!”

I made coffee for us and stayed up with her while she completed her testimony which we are now sharing with you. May it encourage and bless you as it has us.

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Luke 21:1-4 is often cited from church pulpits to exhort us to give willingly and in some cases, all, to ministry, a church building fund or some other project that the church is undertaking.

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Luke 21:1-4

I was listening to John MacArthur just last night give his take on this four verses and he noted that the observation of our Lord Jesus Christ about the widow seems to suggest something else other than a teaching on giving.

Below is the transcript of the sermon. You can also view the broadcast of the sermon at Oneplace.com (part 1, part 2).

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This is an ad-hoc weekly column where I share some of the best blog posts I’ve come across in the previous week. Some are notable for their content, while others are calling you to action to help pray about an issue or for fellow bloggers.

Twenty-Three Great Sins Of American Evangelism — Why We Must Pray For A Reformation Again

While reading a great blog Theology Today, I came across a mention of the above post over at Al Tosap Al Davaraiv which lists the 23 reasons why the author feels a reformation is needed in this day and age.

I don’t know much about the American church, but I think it’s apt to say that the author’s observations are true for the Visible Church as a whole.

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Losing A Taste For The World

My wife and I have just returned from a trip to one of the newest and largest shopping malls in Singapore — Vivocity — to turn in the set-top box and to cancel our cable TV subscription.

None of the shops there fascinated us at all, and nothing seemed to catch our fancies, save for buying three pieces of cake from a rather good confectionery called ‘Secret Recipe’ — tiramisu, chocolate-banana and another that has to do with chocolate as well.

In fact, my wife didn’t even bother to step inside her favorite shoe boutique because she said she just isn’t interested.

Consumerism no longer has a hold on us!

Grace To You Singapore

My wife was listening to some John MacArthur sermons this morning and we just found out that his ministry, Grace To You, has a presence in Singapore.

Yes!

Since hearing about it on Way of the Master Radio, we’ve been planning to get her the John MacArthur’s Study Bible, and we’ve decided to go with the leather-bound NAS version. It’s great since purchasing the same Bible from the United States would have cost S$2.50 more, and that’s before including shipping costs.

On The Downside…

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