July 16, 2025

Around 1982, a member of the faculty at my college introduced me to the preaching/teaching of John MacArthur, Jr. This was the first time that I was exposed to expositional preaching that went through entire books of the Bible. (Expositional means to expose.) The task of the expositor or the preacher is to expose the Word of God to the congregation by making the main point of the sermon an accurate reflection of the main point of the text. Expositional preaching starts with the Bible. What has God said? Much preaching starts with what the preacher wants to say instead of with what God has said. Week after the week the topical preacher labors to find something relevant, helpful, engaging, perhaps humorous to connect with the audience. Expositional preaching is built on the conviction that God’s Word is Spirit-sourced, alive, compelling, captivating, arresting, convictional, life-giving and life-changing. The Word of God is a lion, and expositional preaching is preaching that uncages the lion so the congregation can hear and feel the roar.

In 1982, I was planning on being a traveling evangelist, who would go from church to church and preach for a week or half a week or a weekend in order to stir the church from complacency and encourage the saints. I had developed about 8-10 sermons, all of them topical and had been building a resume and reputation by preaching in a number of churches in the Midwest. Then I was introduced to expositional preaching and I realized that my 8-10 sermons were well-intended, but actually rather pathetic compared to the opportunity to expose a congregation to the actual words of God. My preaching began to change.

John’s radio ministry “Grace to You” and the many cassette tapes of his sermons began to spread around. I was an early listener. Many of his sermons were edited into book manuscripts that became the bulk of his over 400 books that he would author. When Cathi and I got married in 1983 I took her, for our honeymoon to Los Angeles, so we could visit John’s church. (It was one of several churches we visited on that trip.) I had the opportunity to meet him one time and express my gratitude. Several of my friends knew him. In fact, the faculty member who introduced me to his ministry went and served with him at Grace Community Church for several years.

A couple of days ago John died at the age of 86. He had been pastor of Grace Community Church for over 50 years. Praise God for his faithfulness and praise God that faithful men all over the world are convictionally preaching God’s Word as it is intended to be done by exposing the congregation to God’s main points and big ideas, which are infinitely better than ours.

Grace and peace,

Bob

Sunday’s Text: Luke 12:49-53