We met John MacArthur!

Hello All! The Thursday before Thanksgiving, John MacArthur spoke at our church. The sermon that he preached was quite excellent. We decided to post a compiled version of our (Anna, Jessica, and my) sermon notes as a blog post. At the bottom is a picture that Jessica's mom took of the three of us with John MacArthur, which was pretty cool. He was really nice! ;)


John MacArthur 

Loving Christ - 11-16-17

Sanctification happens when you are focused on Christ and then the Spirit changes you. No one is going to be “catapulted” into perfect sanctification, everyone has a process.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18

John 20 ends with a high point, where John gives the intention of his book and tells you how you believe if you haven't seen (see John 20:29).

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:30-31

But after that high point, we're plunged right back into the nitty-gritty with chapter twenty-one. The contrast between the two chapters is so shocking that some question whether or not John wrote chapter twenty-one.

The Gospels are what Jesus began. What he began is given to us, imperfect people, to continue to carry out. While everything might seem really glorious, we need to face the fact that the glory of God is contained in clay pots (humans) who break easily. We are breakable, dispensable…  You have to deal with those clay pots, hence chapter twenty-one.

The fishing occurring in the early part of chapter twenty-one was not recreational. Peter and the others are going back to commercial fishing, basically abandoning/ignoring what Jesus had told them to do. They are going back to their old lives. Even after seeing Jesus, the Risen Christ, twice, they still turned back to their old lives!

Peter is the one who initiates the going back to fishing. He has a pattern of overestimating his strength and wisdom and underestimating his sin and the power of temptation. An example of this is when he denied Christ three times.

After those denials, which showed him how miserably he could fail, Peter probably had no confidence that he could do what God wanted him to do. But he could fish. (Or could he? See John 20:3. Turns out he couldn't even do that!)

If God can use the twelve to literally spread the Gospel and Christianity through the whole world, then He can surely use you. He's used to hot messes.

All the disciples knew that the man on the beach was Jesus. Now we get to see how Jesus would disciple. His followers, the ones He had chosen, went right back to their old lives, despite what He had told them. How does Jesus restore a disobedient disciple? 

In the second part of John twenty-one, Jesus asks Peter three times if Peter loves Him. The first two times, Jesus questions Peter's agapo love - an unconditional, unfailing type of love. Peter responds by saying, "Yes, I phileo You." or I love you in a brotherly way. However, the third time Jesus asks the question do you love Me, He uses the word phileo, questioning even if Peter has a brotherly affection for Him. This is what makes Peter grieve, and he ends up calling on omniscience.

He challenges Peter (us) by asking “Am I your All? Do you see Me as everything you can have? Am I the most important thing that will ever be to you?”

Peter said he was willing to follow Christ anywhere - even at the cost of his life - so Jesus tells him 

about his death, then told Peter again to follow Him.

This might seem a little strange - why would Peter be comforted by knowing that he's going to die? Well, Peter knows that he has been unable to stand up for Jesus before. He needed to know that he would follow Christ to the end.

Imagine what comfort that would be, knowing that you will stand firm to the point of death, that you will not equivocate on your convictions and stand strong for the One you love?

All of Scripture has always been about Christ and loving Christ. Often, we focus on the intellect of the Gospel, without focusing on loving Jesus. We need to follow and love Christ, mindless of worldly consequences. The kind of love we must have will lead to sacrifice, and it will demand obedience.

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Matthew 10:37

No man can survive without love for Christ in his heart. John Calvin (paraphrase)

How do we gain this love? If we aren’t serving Christ the way we should, if we don’t love Him as we should, then we don’t know enough about Him. Our love for Christ will only grow if we study His word.

The more you focus on Christ, the more your love for Him will grow and the more you will be sanctified day by day.

Revel in Jesus' glorious Person revealed on the pages of Scripture.