Inspirational Quotes by John MacArthur

“Anger that is sin, on the other hand, is anger that is self-defensive and self-serving, that is resentful of what is done against oneself. It is the anger that leads to murder and to God’s judgment (Matt. 5:21-22). Anger that is selfish, undisciplined, and vindictive is sinful and has no place even temporarily in the Christian life. But anger that is unselfish and is based on love for God and concern for others not only is permissible but commanded. Genuine love cannot help being angered at that which injures the object of that love. But even righteous anger can easily turn to bitterness, resentment, and self-righteousness. Consequently, Paul goes on to say, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. Even the best motivated anger can sour, and we are therefore to put it aside at the end of the day. Taken to bed, it is likely to give the devil an opportunity to use it for his purposes. If anger is prolonged, one may begin to seek vengeance and thereby violate the principle taught in Romans 12:17-21, Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” It may also be that verses 26b-27 refer entirely to this unrighteous anger, in which case Paul uses the imperative in the sense of saying that, because anger may come in a moment and overtake a believer, and because it has such a strong tendency to grow and fester, it should be dealt with immediately—confessed, forsaken, and given to God for cleansing before we end the day. In any case of anger, whether legitimate or not, if it is courted, “advantage [will] be taken of us by Satan” (2 Cor. 2:11), and he will feed our anger with self-pity, pride, self-righteousness, vengeance, defense of our rights, and every other sort of selfish sin and violation of God’s holy will.”

“This is why Peter explained that the purpose of sanctification is so that a believer is ready to evangelize at a moment’s notice. He writes, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Pet. 3:15).”

“An expositor should make every effort not to preach preconceived notions of what a given text may say. His sacred trust is to let the text speak for itself and not impose on it what he thinks or wishes it said.”

“Be natural; forget yourself; be so absorbed in what you are doing and in the realization of the presence of God, and in the glory and the greatness of the Truth that you are preaching . . . that you forget yourself completely.”

“The essential ingredient in dealing with central ideas, outlines, and titles in expository preaching is an understanding of the structure of the passage to be preached. The expositor should not communicate his own central idea, nor his own outline, nor his own title. He is, rather, to teach the central idea, outline, and theme of the author. Failure to reflect the author's theme, outline, and central idea is a departure from true exposition.”

“Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. A true understanding and experience of the Truth must lead to this.”

“Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire.”

“A sound study-library must be a top priority. For many, such a library has been unimportant and the result has been an impoverished ministry, lacking depth, breadth, and stimulation. An excellent library is constructed by deliberate acquisition rather than “accidental” accumulation. Since an expository preacher's library is an integral part of his pulpit work, it should be assembled with an eye toward the highest quality.4 A preliminary indication of what a core library is not will help understand what it should be: 1. It is not a collection of inferior books donated to the preacher by well-meaning friends and listeners. 2. It is not an accumulation of books offered on sale or at discount prices. 3. It is not simply a collection of materials that are highly recommended or found on standard lists of bibliographies.”

“«No nos metamos en la cabeza buscar a Dios en ningún otro sitio que en su Sagrada Palabra, o pensar cosa alguna acerca de Él que no esté motivada en su Palabra, o decir nada que no sea tomado de esa Palabra».60”

“«La Palabra sale de la boca de Dios de forma similar a la que “sale de la boca” del hombre; porque Dios no habla abiertamente desde el cielo, sino que emplea a los hombres como instrumentos suyos, para hacer conocer su voluntad mediante ellos»”

“This is a day in which one of our great perils is that of doing a thousand little things to the neglect of the one thing, which is preaching.6”

“He was simply doing what all men tend to do who don’t know God, namely, worshipping himself as a god.”

“Específicamente, la predicación evangélica debería reflejar nuestra convicción de que la Palabra de Dios es infalible. Con demasiada frecuencia no es así. Se observa una tendencia en el movimiento evangélico contemporáneo a apartarse de la predicación bíblica y a desli­zarse hacia un acercamiento en el púlpito basado en la experiencia, que es pragmático y temático.”

“Fruitful expository preaching demands great effort. Since nothing is as important as the Word, no energy expended by anyone in any other field should even equal the effort of an expositor seeking to “rightly divide the Word.” Adams identifies the number-one reason for poor preaching: I have had the opportunity to hear much preaching over the last few years, some very good, some mediocre, most very bad. What is the problem with preaching? There is no one problem, of course. . . . But if there is one thing that stands out most, perhaps it is the problem I mention today. What I am about to say may not strike you as being as specific as other things I have written, yet I believe it is at the bottom of a number of other difficulties. My point is that good preaching demands hard work. From listening to sermons and from talking to hundreds of preachers about preaching, I am convinced that the basic reason for poor preaching is the failure to spend adequate time and energy in preparation. Many preachers—perhaps most—simply don't work long enough on their sermons.”

“¿Cuál es la responsabilidad del predicador? Primero, el predicador necesita percatarse de que la Palabra de Dios no es la palabra del predicador. Sino más bien, euaggelizo]). Es un mensajero, no el creador (eu,aggeli,zo [euaggelizo Es un sembrador, no la fuente (Mt 13.3, 19). Es un sembrador, no la fuente (Mt 13.3, 19). Es un heraldo, no la autoridad (khru,ssw [kerusso]). Es un mayordomo, no el propietario (Col 100.25). Es la guía, no el autor (Hch 8.31). Es el servidor de comida espiritual, no el cocinero Jn 21.15, 17).”

“God has thoughts of love in all He does to His people. The ground of His dealings with us is love (though the occasion may be sin), the manner of His dealings is love, and the purpose of His dealings is love. He has regard, in all, to our good here, to make us partakers of His holiness, and to our glory hereafter, to make us partakers of His glory.”

“The man of God is thrilled to be a soldier. It is not that he goes out of his way to antagonize people and make enemies, but he is willing to fight the battle for truth. It is greatly disturbing to live in a time when battling for truth is looked upon as divisive and unloving. Far too many in the church today are willing to compromise theologically to avoid conflict, forgetting Jude's exhortation to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3).”

“Una historia de los expositores bíblicos debe incluir a Cristo, que es tanto el modelo de la predicación como el mensaje a predicarse.”

“Exposition presupposes an exegetical process to extract the God-intended meaning of Scripture and an explanation of that meaning in a contemporary way.”

“The unique contribution of Bible exposition is its substantial enhancement of the listeners' comprehension of Scripture's intent. Those who listen to expository preaching have opportunity to submit to the Holy Spirit who first inspired the text as He now illumines that text to them. This is the best avenue for building up the saints. The New Testament puts heavy emphasis on using the mind as the principal avenue to Christian growth (for example, Rom. 12:2; 1 Pet. 1:13), so the preacher should do the same.”