John MacArthur

John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. is an American preacher and Christian apologist.

Sermon 2020-07-16

My aunt requested that I listen to this sermon. Here are my notes with timestamps.

Sermon.

• 00:00 - The person who posted the sermon named it "🔥 SPECIAL SERMON UPDATE • [MUST WATCH!]" Yikes!
• 00:40 - This sermon was recorded as the COVID-19 pandemic had been ravaging the nation, and not a single person in the packed audience is wearing a mask. Churches are, sadly, one of the biggest causes of death from this virus. Wear your masks! Social distance!
• 01:42 - He says that he spent 116 weeks (812 days) studying, preaching, and living the Gospel of John. It's interesting that he would focus so much on this gospel, as it is the most contradictory with the Synoptic Gospels.
• 03:34 - "The Gospel of John is to provide evidence for the deity and Messiahship of Jesus Christ... evidence that leads you to believe and have eternal life." Unfortunately, because John contradicts the other Gospels so much, was most likely not written not an eye witness, and wasn't written until everyone mentioned in the story was long since dead, I find it to be the least believable of Gospels.
• 04:54 - "Some have suggested that John didn't even write [chapter 21]." It's nice that he's admitting that there are biblical scholars who disagree about which passages of the New Testament are genuine. However, it would have nicer to have him address the passages that are more widely consider to be forgeries like 7:53–8:11, but I get that this isn't the point of his sermon.
• 08:23 - I'm not sure if MacArthur's mic was cut out here, or if he was making a joke about Peter speaking for the devil.
• 09:46 - Mixing events from the Gospels is always a dangerous prospect, but especially bad when a person intermixes John with the Synoptics.
• 12:00 - MacArthur is injecting a lot of his own opinions into the story here. He says that Peter has returned to the life of a fisherman because he had absolutely no confidence in himself because he was a proven failure. However, none of this is states in John, this is all presumed.
• 12:55 - MacArthur says that, after denying Jesus three times because he fear being executed himself, we don't know if Peter is any different than Judas. Judas sold out his friend's life for money, while Peter is merely trying not to be murdered himself. Implying those two transgression are the same shows a very naive understanding of morality.
• 14:48 - MacArthur is literally putting words into Jesus's mouth. This is something I don't like about most preachers. They're overly confident that their interpretation of scripture is correct. MacArthur doesn't say, "I believe Jesus was speaking in metaphor, but I'm a lowly mortal, so take my interpretation with a grain of salt," but rather, he says, "here is what really Jesus meant when he said that."
• 15:20 - In the story, Peter doesn't know that it is Jesus who is talking to him, but, when Jesus orders him to cast his net in a specific spot, he blindly obeys. This doesn't make sense. Imagine if you're a professional fisherman who spent a night unable to catch anything, and some random person from the shore tells you where to cast your net. Who would you humor such a stranger?
• 17:43 - "Do you know how Jesus makes breakfast? *waves hand* Breakfast!" Miracles are great, but, when they're attributed to an all-good god, I can't help but be reminded of the problem of evil. Jesus could prevent hurricanes, but he instead makes bread.
• 18:18 - MacArthur says that the Gospel of John is an eye-witness account. Most biblical scholars disagree with him.
• 18:20 - He suggests that the specific number of fish mentioned, 153, is an indication that this is a real miracle. That doesn't make any sense. What if the number were 152, or not mentioned at all, would he think it were not a miracle?
• 18:48 - MacArthur reiterates his non-biblical point that Jesus is impressing upon the disciples that they cannot fish ever again because he controls the fish and won't let them catch anything. If this is truly what was intended by this passage, it certainly negates free will.
• 19:45 - MacArthur continues to put words into the mouths of Jesus and the disciples, although, at least this time he admits to not knowing what it was before making presumptions.
• 22:02 - "How does Jesus do biblical counseling?" That would be pretty difficult considering the bible didn't exist at the time, but I take your meaning.
• 22:33 - MacArthur, in typical preacher hyperbole, suggests that it might take years to re-teach his disciples. No, Jesus is magic. He can do whatever he wants instantly. It annoys me when preachers try to make it look as though the gospels are suspenseful. Any story which has an invincible all-powerful character can't be suspenseful.

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