The following "Question" was asked by an attendee at the 2005 Shepherds' Conference (a ministry of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California), and was "Answered" by John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from "General Session #4 John MacArthur - Q&A." A copy of the CD, cassette tape, or MP3 can be obtained by going to: www.shepherdsconference.org ©2005. All Rights Reserved. Grace Community Church.
Questioner
[In reference to] The information at the seminars—I walk away encouraged because it’s great practical information and top notch. I also realize that the church is in a war (as your first talk on “War for the Truth” in Jude). I’m encouraged in one sense, but sometimes I walk away feeling a bit discouraged knowing there’s a lot of battles going on out there. I almost feel like the dam is about to break, and I’m just plugging the hole with my finger. Yet I know what Christ said, that “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” We are told what’s wrong with the church. From your perspective, can you tell us what’s right with the church right now?
John MacArthur's Answer
Yes, and I think you put your finger on it.
What’s right with the church is that Jesus Christ is building his church and the
gates of hell will not prevail against it. That’s what’s right with the
church. And look, I don’t want to get so caught up in the doctrine of divine
purpose and divine sovereignty, so caught up and swept away by the fact that the
Lord Jesus Christ is going to build his church that I lose the biblical balance
of contending for the faith. The Lord Jesus contended for the faith. I was
trying to point that out last night. The Lord Jesus, I think, went mercifully
to a Pharisee and tried to expose his heart to him, to try to show him what he
really was—and nobody knew better the sovereign plan of the ages than the Lord
Jesus Christ did! There’s always going to be tension in these doctrines. We
are called to earnestly contend for the faith. Later on in Jude, we’re going to
be told that we need to snatch brands out of the burning, that we need to go on
a rescue operation right into the teeth of error, and get people out of there
without getting ourselves polluted and defiled. The work is so dangerous that
we need to know that we’ll not perish in the process because He’s able to keep
us.
So, it’s a constant tension, but since I have no responsibility for the decree of God and I have no responsibility for fulfilling God’s sovereign plan, I am left, therefore, with only one responsibility and that is to be faithful to the proclamation of the gospel, faithful as a believer to maintain a pure life before God so that I’m useful, and faithful to contend for the faith. How God implements my service is his problem.
It’s the same thing with my faith in salvation. It’s the same thing with my obedience in sanctification. It’s the same thing with my intercession in prayer. It’s the same thing with every area of my spiritual experience. God has a sovereign purpose that He’s working out in the world that is beyond me; what is not beyond me is that which God demands of me. I see that passion fiery in the heart of Jesus, who weeps over the city of Jerusalem, who is so infuriated when He goes to the temple that at the beginning and the end of his ministry, He cleans it out, literally assaulting, as it were, what had become the apostate center of Judaism. I see his words are incessantly confrontive. They’re direct. He pleads with people, “Come unto me all ye that labor,” etc. Whatever it is you believe about the sovereignty of God, if it begins to weaken your resolve to fight the battle, then your theology has become lopsided and you’ve fallen over too much on one side.
And yet, I comfort myself in this: I am not responsible for the outcome. When I read a statement, for example, in The Purpose-Driven Church, “If I can find the key to someone’s heart, I can lead anyone to Christ,” that’s a very shocking statement. Leading someone to Christ has no dependence on me. It doesn’t matter what I know about him. It doesn’t matter what I don’t know about him. All I can do is proclaim the truth. I don’t want to get caught up in the outcome. I have nothing to do with the outcome. All I have to do with is the effort, and I want to give my life in the greatest effort that I can give and I want to follow my model, who is the apostle Paul who, he said, “Hey, this is war and we’re soldiers; have at it.” I rest at the end of the day in the confidence that when it’s all said and done, through my faithful effort, somehow God will work his work and I have the privilege of being used in that way—and even the amazing grace of receiving an eternal reward for that. But, my devotion to this battle is not at all mitigated by my knowledge of the sovereignty of God; in fact, it is motivated by that. I’m on the winning team. I know how the thing is going to end. I want to make the maximum commitment to it.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and
Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
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