I can remember as a new Christian in the early 1980’s I used to listen to Pastor John MacArthur’s teachings on the Bible by purchasing cassette tapes for fifty cents each on various biblical topics. I must have purchase about 100 of these tapes and I can honestly say they helped shape my biblical worldview tremendously. It’s hard to believe but 40 years after I became a Christian Pastor MacArthur is still preaching and at the same church, Grace Community Church, in California. And his messages are as powerful and sound biblically now as they were back them.
Pastor MacArthur is the president and feature teacher with Grace to You, an international nonprofit radio and television ministry that shares powerful biblical messages around the world. What I love about Grace to You is that all of Pastor MacArthur’s over 3,000 sermons are available for free on the website.
He has written literally several hundred books and study guides and each book has a no compromise message on the gospel and the Bible. And at 83 years old Pastor MacArthur seems to show no signs of slowing down. Being a pastor at Grace Community Church for over 50 years is truly remarkable in this day and age but this humble servant of the Lord knows his calling and loves his Savior.
Below are some powerful and serious quotes about following after Jesus, by Pastor MacArthur, that I pray you will meditate on.1
“The true gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment.”
“We should not be entertained by the sins for which Christ died.”
“Prayer is not an attempt to get God to agree with you or provide for your selfish desires, but that it is both an affirmation of His sovereignty, righteousness, and majesty and an exercise to conform your desires and purposes to His will and Glory.”
“The cross is proof of both the immense love of God and the profound wickedness of sin.”
“It wasn’t a potential atonement actuated by the sinner; it was an actual atonement initiated by the savior.”
“He that lacks assurance of God’s love, converses too much with Satan.”
“Prayer is the spontaneous response of the believing heart to God. Those truly transformed by Jesus Christ find themselves lost in wonder and joy of communion with Him. Prayer is as natural for the Christian as breathing.”
“Without a proper view of God there cannot exist a proper view of man.”
“If you are ever to know power and passion in your prayer life, you need to pray with a devout heart-with a pure motive seeking only the glory of God. You also need to pray with a humble heart seeking only the attention of God, not men. Finally, you need to pray with a confident heart knowing full well that God already knows what you need.”
“If you please God, it does not matter whom you displease. And if you displease Him, it does not matter whom you please.”
“Imagine spending an entire workday with your best friend at your side. You would no doubt acknowledge his presence throughout the day by introducing him to your friends or business associates and talking to him about the various activities of the day. But how would your friend feel if you never talked to him or acknowledged his presence? Yet that’s how we treat the Lord when we fail to pray. If we communicated with our friends as infrequently as some of us communicate with the Lord, those friends might soon disappear. Our fellowship with God is not meant to wait until we are in heaven.”
“It is the highest activity of the human soul, and therefore it is at the same time the ultimate test of a man’s true spiritual condition. There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christian people so much as our prayer life.…”
“It thrills me to know that the God who created the entire universe, who is the God of space, time, and eternity, who is infinitely holy and completely self-sufficient, should care about supplying my physical needs. Just as loving human fathers want to provide for the needs of their children, so God is concerned that we receive enough food to eat, clothes to wear, and a place to rest.”
“He calls us to obey, not because He needs us but because He knows we need Him.”
“Jesus gave us, His children, three reasons for not worrying about this life: It is unnecessary because of our Father, it is uncharacteristic because of our faith, and it is unwise because of our future.”
“Human intellect plays no role in redemption.”
“Some people assume worry is the result of too much thinking. Actually, it’s the result of too little thinking in the right direction.”
“While nothing in the Bible is contradictory, many of the Bible’s most provocative and profound truths appear to us paradoxical.”
“No man is too weak for God to use, only too strong.”
“The one most valuable lesson humanity ought to have learned from philosophy is that it is impossible to make sense of truth without acknowledging God as the necessary starting point.”
“When you remember who owns you, acknowledge the covenant of obedience you made at salvation, recognize sin as a violation of your relationship with God, learn to control your imagination, and live to advance God’s kingdom, you will become a self-disciplined person who pleases the Lord.”
1 All of these John MacArthur quotes are from the website below:
I am reminded of a powerful and well scripturally documented teaching that Pastor Macarthur gave on homosexuality. He tempered his message with the love that Christ has for all people but hates sin. God bless!