Standing Firm in Truth: Lessons From John MacArthur – Highlight Episode 356

John MacArthur’s recent passing is both sorrowful and hopeful, as the church grieves his absence yet rejoices because he is now with the Lord. Ray, E.Z., Mark, and Oscar reflect on his significant influence, recalling how he introduced many to expository preaching, faithfully working through Scripture verse by verse instead of letting topics drive the message. They share memories of his warmth in personal encounters, his passion for doctrinal clarity, and his courage to stand firm even when threatened during times of cultural opposition. His voice carried clarity and conviction, always pointing to Christ and letting God’s word speak for itself. While recognizing his humanity and imperfections, they honor him as a trailblazer whose ministry built churches filled with a love for truth and whose legacy transcended denominational and theological boundaries. His life and preaching serve as a reminder that God delights in using faithful but flawed people to advance His glory, leaving a legacy that will continue to influence generations to come.

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Ray Comfort
Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne
Mark Spence
Oscar Navarro

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I know some of you right now listening are thinking
come on, guys, you're going todo a whole podcast on the life
of a man.
Aren't you elevating a man?
Shouldn't we focus on the Lord?
I just want to read a fewpassages of scripture just to
set us up as we do that 1Thessalonians, 5, 12 to 13,.
And we urge you, brethren, torecognize those who labor among
you and are over you in the Lordand admonish you, and to esteem

(00:20):
them very highly in love fortheir work's sake.
And so I think that's key toremember.
You know, we go to extremesoftentimes.
We see the error of theCatholic church, the Orthodox
church, where they elevatesaints and basically worship
them, and we kind of go in theother direction where there are
times we don't recognize that.
We're called to give honor, andespecially those whose lives

(00:43):
have impacted us.
Hebrews 13, 7,.
Remember those who rule overyou, who have spoken the word of
God to you, whose faith follow,considering the outcome of
their conduct.
So again, we're called toremember them, we're called to
imitate their faith.
Paul in Philippians 3, 17,.
Brethren, join in, following myexample, and note those who so
walk, as you have us for apattern.

(01:03):
And then of course 1Corinthians 11, 1, paul said
imitate me, just as I alsoimitate Christ.
I almost went too fast for youguys.
We got one in, yeah.
So anyway, just to set us upthere a little bit and we'll go
from there.
Mark Spence, john MacArthur, agiant truly.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
What MacArthur did was, for me, he introduced
expository preaching, unlikeanything I've ever seen or
experienced that I didn't knowexist.
I only thought topicalpreaching existed until I heard
MacArthur and I didn't know howto explain it.
I didn't know what washappening in fact.
Right, just expositing the Word, going through passages, as

(01:42):
opposed to just using topics.
Now, you can obviously haveexpository preaching with topics
, but he would just go throughthe Word, and doing that was so
beneficial to my soul.
It set me free and you guysexperienced this, obviously,
where you are going throughsomething and then the
preacher's teaching on somethingand that's exactly what you're

(02:05):
going through and you're like,hey, did somebody share with you
my issue?

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah right.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Did somebody share with you what I'm going through?
Sin, but that was my firstexperience to expository.
Preaching was John MacArthur,and he was influenced, obviously
by Martin Lloyd-Jones there inLondon Boy, what a legacy.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
And Calvary Chapel have done that for years,
haven't they?

Speaker 1 (02:25):
They did what?
Sorry, expository preachingline by line.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, exactly, it's so biblical, isn't it?
Line by line, it is and it'swonderful.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, Oscar, why don't you touch a little bit on
expository preaching and sharewhat that is?

Speaker 2 (02:37):
First and foremost, I think we can all agree,
especially in AmericanChristianity, is that there is a
problem of biblical literacy.
There are people who go tochurch for 10, 15, 20 years and
they're simply biblicallyilliterate.
Topical preaching tends to addto that problem.
Expository preaching, on theother hand, invites someone to

(02:59):
see all of the themes, to unpackall of the things in one book,
and so it has the potential topush against biblical literacy.
The other thing, and whatyou'll hear expository preachers
often talk about, is howimportant it is to allow God's
word to pick the subject.

(03:21):
The temptation and I know thattopical preachers would push
against this, but the reality isthe temptation is that a
topical preacher are going toavoid the hard subjects, and
when you preach expository,you're going to approach the
subject that the scripture wantsyou to approach.
If the scripture is talkingabout hell, there's no way
around it.
You're going to be preachingabout hell.
If the scriptures are talkingabout sexuality, there's no way
around it.
The preacher is going to talkabout sexuality, and so it

(03:42):
forces us, it reminds us thatGod's word has spoken and that
we should listen.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
Very well put.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, very well put.
And I recently heard that oneof the things MacArthur said was
he never lost the thrill ofpreparing to preach, and I heard
that that was really thehighlight of his life.
Of course he loved to preach,but it was the prep, it was
mining those nuggets from theWord of God and interfacing with

(04:10):
Scripture and that's soinspiring.
And so, yeah, he did that for56 years.
He passed away at 86.
I mean, he was at GraceCommunity Church from the time
he was 29.
And it's mind-blowing to thinkof the impact that he's had.
Ray, his voice I think you andI were talking about that
recently the clarity of hisvoice.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, he had a really nice voice, very Almost
accent-less.
Yeah, it wasn't like Ken Hamfrom Australia.
But it was like really, really,it just captivated you.
I remember hearing I'd ratherhear someone on radio than I see
them on TV, because yourimagination plays into it.
But, I was captivated.
One thing that I enjoyed aboutno, I didn't enjoy about the

(04:54):
funeral, but one thing I learnedabout the funeral is that he
never had a computer.
He didn't go online, he didn'tknow how many people hated him
that was a huge blessing.
He just hand wrote his stuffapparently.
Yeah, and that's amazing thathe was able to do that.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, he did so.
Yeah, Ray and I went to thememorial service and it was
amazing.
Right, there had to have been.
I think I heard something likeseven or 8,000 people and they
had to limit the number ofpeople that could attend and
they had to overflow everywhere.
I think the sanctuary seatssomewhere around 3,000.
I counted the choir, the choir.
There was 130 people in thechoir Are you serious?

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yeah, I'm never serious, but there was 130
people in the choir and theirsinging was amazing, especially
the Lord's Prayer.
There's something about theLord's Prayer that just grips me
when it's sung Not thebeginning of it, but the ending
of it, for thine is the kingdom,the power and the glory,
forever and ever.
Amen, amen.

(05:51):
And it was just beautiful.
It gave me goosebumps.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, no, it was really good.
What do you mean?
Yeah, no, it was God honoring.
The hymns were amazing, theeulogies were amazing and it was
to me a reminder and friends.
Again, we want to highlightthings so that we have something
to take away right, that wecould be inspired by, but to me
Can you get us a little bookletyou could take away?

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Did you get yours?

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, I got mine and I forgot to bring it today.
I was gonna bring it but Iforgot.
But, yeah, but a life that wasnot only well-lived.
But, mark, he finished well.
He finished well.
Speak to that, yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:33):
I mean, I think every preacher has some sort of
controversy that surrounds himto some degree and that's just
par for the course.
Whether it's true or false, youknow, it's just out there.
But there was a man thatfinished well and, unlike other
people, after their deaths orright before maybe their deaths,
controversy has come out thatis irrefutable.
Macarthur wasn't like thatright and he, unashamedamed,

(06:56):
would go on places like LarryKing or other people and just
elevate Christ Amen.
And when somebody would make anerrant claim on something, he
would say you know, that's notwhat Scripture teaches.
And then he would just say thisis what the Bible says and then
just allow the cards to fallwhere they may.
So he did that early on in hisyears and he did that till the

(07:17):
end of his years.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
My respect for him exploded on Larry King Live.
Yeah, talk about that.
Ray, because he was surroundedby enemies, in that sense was a
hostile environment, and yet hisdemeanor was such calmness.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
That's what I just loved about Larry King.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
I said what do you think?
And it's the hottest issue youcan get in and he just stayed
with Scripture.
I'm trying to say I'm notmoving, obstinate for the truth,
and I absolutely love that.
And what I would do?
I'd empathize in the sense I'dput myself in John MacArthur's
position on Larry King, Live inthat hostile environment,
thinking what would I say?
How could I handle that?

Speaker 2 (07:52):
I love the way you guys put up the importance of
honoring people.
I think a way to honor pastorsand theologians is to not just
wait until they've passed awayto honor them, but to do it
while they're still alive.
And I think there's two ways wecan do that.
The first way I was actuallyencouraged by, influenced and
also convicted by a friend ofmine where he reached out to

(08:13):
somebody who had a massiveimpact on his life.
He wrote him an email.
It was very thoughtful and hehad heard that this man was sick
and so he wrote them this emailand unexpectedly this
theologian emailed him back andit was just like you have no
idea how encouraging your wordsare to me.
In this season of life and thisis a couple years ago I was like
man, I want to do that withsomebody who's influenced my

(08:36):
life and I thought, like TimKeller, just such a huge,
important figure, his books havebeen so influential to me and I
never wrote him and he passedaway, and so that's one way that
we can honor people.
Another way we can honor peopleis when we see them where we
disagree with the theologicaltake or cultural interpretation
we so often are so willing toalmost participate in cancel

(09:01):
culture, rather than taking astep back in a moment and going.
I can disagree with him in thisone particular area, but I'm
gonna honor him because he is toyour point earlier.
There are so many people thatare in the limelight for
ministry and then turns outsomething happens and they fall.
For the men who don't fall,even if you disagree with them,

(09:21):
like to avoid participating incouncil culture in the midst of
disagreement, and to honor themfor the way the Lord has used
them to bring his glory to thisearth is important.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Thank you for tuning into this week's highlights from
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(09:52):
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