John MacArthur – What Is The Gospel?
John MacArthur – What Is The Gospel?
Jonny Ardavanis is the Lead Pastor at Stonebridge Bible Church in Franklin, TN and the President of Dial In Ministries. He formerly served as the Dean of Campus Life at The Master’s University and as a Camp Director at Hume Lake Christian Camps. Jonny’s heart is to see people understand and love the Word of God and more so, to love the God of the Word. Jonny is married to Caity Jean and they have two precious daughters.
Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis: Big Questions, Biblical Answers, is a series that seeks to provide biblical answers to some of the most prominent and fundamental questions regarding God, the Gospel, and the Bible
In this episode Pastor John MacArthur from Grace Community Church answers the question, What Is The Gospel?
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Blessed by this
That’s the worst explanation of the gospel I have ever heard. What this man is preaching is not the gospel anyone can quote “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 KJV
But if they deliver that message without context without audience and cultural relevance it will fall of deaths ears and the one preaching mind come to relieve he’s not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ but a version of it he himself has cobbled together.
It would have been more helpful. Had he given some direct scripture references. For example, 1st Corinthians 15:1-4
But most people in the West are not interested in living in heaven for eternity, because they doubt whether there is an afterlife.
What they are interested in is whether following Jesus will improve their lives in the here and now, because they know 100% that they are alive.
Jesus spoke more than anything else about the Kingdom of God, and he said that the KoG is “within you” (correct translation of original Greek). And Jesus’ sermons and parables, and his disputes with the Pharisees all point to how the Kingdom grows within (and then outwards).
And Jesus’ guidanace should be trusted, as his healings point to his Messiah status. All these things are the real Good News.
Thank you for this. John macAthur is one of my favorite pastors. ❤
I came to a faith in my 20’s which disspelled the doctrines of going to heaven and or hell. It derived instead from a translation of hell both in hebrew and greek. Hell often in the OT is referring to The Grave " wither thou goest ", a dark place . And heaven going, was not a place after death, instead the resurrection from the grave where believers are asleep " in Christ " as Jesus said of Lazarus.
And at that time judgement, then Armaggedon where Jesus fights a Spiritual war with those he has saved, after a time, Jesus becomes King and rules from Israel . Much is omitted for sake of brevity. John MacArthur has a lot of value to say about God’s Word I like his direct sometimes sombre way. I have begun a mission of sorts to come to really know God’s son Jesus Christ . I am in conflict however. I want so much to talk to Jesus. Yet I believe Jesus is The Way to The Father and not to be prayed to but pray Through.
I am very unsure how exactly to
" Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest unto your souls …"
I poured my heart out to Christ a while back for the first time and was filled with a joy I can not explain. However the following occasion I was filled with dread. And stopped . Returning again to pray to our Father The God of Israel.
As a female now much older I am a very emotional person by nature, and long for a close relationship with, or to GOD and His son Jesus Christ. I was taught not to regard God as a Trinity. But 1 God. The God of the Israelites.
For many years a daily series of spiritual battles take place within me. I do acknowledge Evil and I know there is an Adversary against God whom God gives permission to Test those whom God chooses to have tested.
These attacks come qhen I want only to draw near to God and to or theough His son Jesus also .
It is near impossible to discuss this with anyone. I write about it here because this is a Spiritual bible aware and honouring channel -.
If others have experienced similarly or see flaws in my current spuritual approach please say what you think , with respectfulness. That would be so appreciated. I have been struggling in the dark of depressions, so hearing what the Gospel Is, reminds me of the Hope Jesus offers, through all he endured for the sake of all who want to follow after him and put their own flesh to death daily too.
I lost all hope recently. For which I feel ashamed over . God is continually good and beyond patient in my circumstances . He has brought me low. And is breaking me. But I want Him to . GOD is our Potter. I dont go to church anymore. I found many were as disordered as the natural family I needed to leave. And did not find real friendship in church. Like many I have much to learn. And many errors in my thinking. Thank you for this upload with interview. And warmest best to all.
The good news is the Kingdom of God! When we truly understand the revelation of the Kingdom, we realize that Jesus is the King in his kingdom—but not only that, we discover that we are part of His Kingdom, born as royal sons and daughters (1 Peter 2:9). The Kingdom of God is not a religion; it is a government (Isaiah 9:6-7), and like any kingdom, it has key components: a King, a domain, laws, and citizens. However, the Kingdom of God is unique—there are no mere subjects; instead, we are kings and lords under Christ, which is why Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 17:14). Jesus, the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), did not come primarily to die for our sins, though that was part of His mission; rather, His ultimate purpose was to restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve disobeyed, humanity lost the Holy Spirit, and Jesus came to give Him back to us (John 14:16-17). His death on the cross was a means to an end—the end is the restoration of the Holy Spirit in us.
Now that we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven and have the Holy Spirit within us, we can live as Adam and Eve once did in the Garden of Eden—walking in dominion over the earth! Jesus restored to us what was lost, and through Him, we now have authority to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons (Matthew 10:8). Not only that, but we are called to desire and operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which include prophecy, wisdom, speaking in new tongues, interpreting tongues, discerning spirits, healings, and miracles (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). This is the full Gospel—not just salvation from sin but the restoration of our Kingdom identity and power, enabling us to manifest God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven! (Matthew 6:10).
Thank you for sharing this, I was unsure of what exactly the Gospel is. This was very helpful. Thanks again.
I’ve started reading the book ‘The Gospel According to Jesus" and one very helpful part to accepting Jesus as Lord is the fact that there’s no such thing as a fully autonomous individual who is his own master. We are already slaves to something or someone I the inevitable sense, so it us better to be a slave to Christ than a slave to short term hedonistic desire that inevitably leads to despair.
Unfortunately Jmac rejects the blood. He needs to repent of his unbelief .
Faith alone
”And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.“
Jonah 3:10 KJV
”For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.“
Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV
”And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.“
Romans 11:6 KJV
”For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.“
Romans 10:2-3 KJV
”But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.“
Romans 4:5 KJV
”not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.“
Titus 3:5-7 KJV
”Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:“
Romans 5:1 KJV
”Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.“
Matthew 7:21-23 KJV
”And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.“
John 6:40 KJV
”The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.“
Nahum 1:7 KJV
https://youtu.be/OUdi50THt-Q?feature=shared
Clarity.
Jesus forgive me for my sins i believe you died on the cross and rose from the dead and i put my faith in you..jim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzpX29xyy5w
Salvation is a free gift, paid for in full by Jesus when he shed his blood on the cross to pay for our sins. You do not have to repent of your sins to go to heaven. You only have to believe on the name of Jesus and he forgives you of your sins and gives you the free gift of eternal life. John 6:47: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Please see a website called "Poetry About Jesus and Salvation" for a very clear presentation of the plan of salvation and how you can be 100% sure today you will go to heaven when you die.
If rapture is rev5 why preach snything from rev 6 to 18…which you do..
Please read Roman’s 10:9, that is the Gospel from The Word. Nothing more, nothing less. Have a great day!
C’mon John, The Gospel is defined quite succintly in I Cor 15:1-4 , and also in I Thess 4:14 in short form….
This is why I don’t think MacArthur is saved…
After all a Christian should at least know the good news? I mean at a minimum, and as a teacher no less?
You don’t have to “beg” for a free gift; you receive it by faith. Also, repentance is not synonymous with sin, it’s a secular term meaning to change your mind. In the context of salvation we repent from unbelief to belief in Christ for the payment for our sins. We trust and rest in his blood sacrifice and are born again.
Sad that this “great theologian” can’t even articulate the gospel.
This is a watered down version type of the gospel. This isn’t the whole truth. This is not what Christ taught his disciples. It is so disheartening to see so many people deceived on knowing what is truth.
This is a very incomplete Gospel… not once is the BLOOD of Jesus mentioned. It is by FAITH in the perfect Blood of Jesus shed to satisfy the wrath of God that one is saved. The Gospel is not just the truth of the wrath of God upon us and the truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ… THE Command and Call of the Gospel is to BELIEVE, and this Saving Faith is not to believe the Truth, but to place one’s trust and hope in Jesus – in the BLOOD of Jesus.
At 4:18, a different Gospel command is given… "ask, plead with God to be reconciled to Him"… that is VERY UNBIBLICAL. This is a different Gospel than declared in the Bible. WHERE does the Bible say that YOU need to "ask, plead with God to be reconciled to Him"? We ARE reconciled to God through the Blood of Jesus, and we are COMMANDED to be believing in Jesus’ death, His blood shed, to satisfy God’s wrath against us.
John MacArthur has been blessed by the Lord Jesus to pursue the knowledge of our Lord’s Word.
His zealousness and commitment to that end deserve our honor and respect.
As to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus…
Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus had an eternal plan of redemption for mankind following mankind’s partaking of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
That is, the Lord had an eternal plan that He predestined for His future sons and daughters since before He created Creation or initiated Day 1…
That eternal plan predestined the Lord Jesus Himself to be crucified by His own future sons and daughters in the most tortuous and ignominious way on a cross.
By doing that, the Lord Jesus disarmed all the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies above and on the earth below by declaring that He had overcome all of mankind’s sins through the Cross.
He did that to make known to His future eternal sons and daughters that they were forgiven of all of their sins through the Cross…
That is, the Cross represents to all of His future eternal sons and daughters that our Lord had been willing to sacrifice Himself for the forgiveness of all of their sins since before the creation of Creation.
He was willing to do that in order to bring forth for Himself sons and daughters who were truly made in His image.
Such a sacrifice demonstrates boundless love for His future eternal sons and daughters…
The Lord Jesus did that for us!
Now, that eternal plan of redemption of mankind had been kept hidden for ages from the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies above and the earth below, including mankind.
That was necessary so that at the proper time, our Lord Jesus’s sacrifice for mankind would be revealed to all of Creation, including His future eternal sons and daughters.
But, we know that there are many among us who remain in unbelief of these things.
Therefore, Lord Jesus also predestined some from among the many to be believers so that we would represent the first fruits from among the many sons and daughters who were to come…
If we were predestined to believe from among the many, then we testify about the Gospel that is to come…
That is, we died with Christ Jesus on the Cross and were raised with Him to eternal life through His resurrection.
Having died like this, we know that we are the first fruits from among the many sons and daughters who are to come…
So then, there is a Day of the Lord to come when our Lord Jesus will be revealed in all of His glory, and all of His sons and daughters will be made known to all of Creation.
As to the Lord Jesus’s glory…
Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Lord to the glory of the Father.
As to the Lord Jesus’s sons and daughters…
In a flash, in the twinkling of the Lord’s eye, all will be made incorruptible and immortal.
Then all of the Lord’s eternal sons and daughters together along with their Lord Jesus will live forever in a new heavens and a new earth…
What a Gospel our Lord Jesus has made known to us who believe.
Rejoice then, all of us should be rejoicing…
Our Lord, God, Savior, and Creator Jesus had an eternal plan of redemption all along!
That is our Gospel.
Amen! Thank you!
MacArthur doesn’t know what the gospel is.
start with (sin) fear then sell them on your hokum
The most insidious false gospels are filled with partial truths.
The false gospel that Mr. MacArthur promotes is nothing more than a spiritual version of the prosperity gospel.
The true gospel is not about a “get out of hell” pass handed out to bad people who admit that they are bad and commit to trying to be good.
Going to heaven is not about experiencing “bliss” as MacArthur puts it nor is it the avoidance of eternal suffering.
Seeking self instead of God is the root of all sin. That is what separates us from God. We choose us over God.
Repentance is seeking to know and serve God instead of ourselves.
Eternal life is not avoiding misery or experiencing bliss as MacArthur claims it is.
Eternal life is to know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. Ironically, that is “John” 17:3.
“… when you die you are going to eternal hell and conscious punishment forever in eternal hell unless you put your faith in Jesus Christ. But here’s the good news. If you trust Christ, repent of your sin, he will take you to heaven forever. He’ll forgive all your sins …”
And any arminian would say a hearty, Amen! Leighton Flowers would say to MacArthur, welcome to our side.
How is this different than the arminian gospel?
What does MacArthur mean by “your faith”. Is that Leighton Flowers version of naturally inherent “faith”?
All arminians would hear what Dr. MacArthur said and turn away and say, “ok, I’m good to go”. While never hearing the Gospel of Christ that reveals the righteousness of God (Rom 1:16-17). What is this righteousness of God Paul spoke of?
So, what is a more distinct yet brief presentation of the Gospel of Christ which is according to the Scriptures?
All of humanity is under the curse of the fall of Adam. All sinned in Adam, and as proof all continually fall short of the glory of God. Everyone was subject to eternal hell and the conscious punishment forever in eternal hell when Adam’s sin was imputed to everyone. The Law was added later to heighten man’s universal guilt and prove that all the world stands guilty before holy God. There are no exceptions. The soul that sins, it must die.
The Good News is that God the Father, before the world began, set His love on some of His fallen creatures, having chosen them in Christ before the foundation of the world to be delivered from His just sentence of condemnation.
God the Son, as the Anointed One, would voluntarily humble Himself, leaving the very glories of Heaven He had with the Father, and become the Substitute victim as a man for all those the Father chose. He bore their sins in His body on the cursed tree and made an end of their sins, finished their transgression, made a true, final atonement that actually made reconciliation for their sins, and brought in everlasting righteousness.
God the Father as the Holy Judge accepted that sin payment by the shed perfect blood of Christ on behalf of all the elect of all time. And further accepted the true righteousness that Christ earned and established that fulfilled all the holy Law of God down to the jot and the tittle.
This righteousness was immediately imputed, charged, accounted to all the elect upon Christ’s obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. It was at the cross when sin was imputed to the account of Christ, and the righteousness of God that He established was imputed to their accounts.
At the cross of Christ, all the elect, past, present, future, had sins forever cancelled, guilt and the sentence of condemnation removed by the blood payment for sin. Even greater, righteousness (perfect obedience) was imputed in the stead of their guilt. WHEN that transaction occurred was WHEN the Holy Judge pronounced all the elect NOT GUILY, and furthermore pronounced them RIGHTEOUS, justified in His sight.
Believing or even being granted God-given faith has nothing to do with obtaining or “appropriating” salvation. Believing the biblical Gospel of Christ is evidence that one was saved by Christ way back then at the cross. Salvation is by Christ and Him alone! The elect were justified by Christ alone!
Not justified when faith is granted and/or exercised as Dr. MacArthur misunderstands the Scriptures. Justification by faith is a false gospel that is defamatory to the finished justification by Christ at His cross. It is the most subtil doctrine of devils devised by satan. It turns faith into a condition, a work. Justification by so-called “faith” was never Paul’s intent. That is not the Gospel of Christ. Paul’s message to elect Gentiles at Rome was that God included them in this sovereign salvation by Christ, too. What great news that must have been for lowly Gentiles!
Paul declared justification by The Faith of Christ.
There is an infinite difference between what Paul declared. And what Dr. MacArthur assumes about how man can be just with holy God.
This is a very basic presentation of just the highlights of the Gospel. Which is why Dr. MacArthur’s canned version of a 3-minute gospel is misleading and has no distinction in this predominantly false gospel arminian and, I add, equally false reformed/calvinistic world of christendom. Both forms of christendom hold to the same core false soteriological doctrine – justification by faith.
Justification is salvation. And it was finished almost 2,000 years ago for all the elect by Christ at His cross. This is the biblical Gospel that puts man rightly in the dust. God high and lifted up. And gives to Christ all the glory in salvation. As Jonah summed it up, Salvation is of the Lord. That’s it.
Paul in the Bible said this was his gospel. What was Jesus’ gospel?
Most people who think they have rejected God have really only rejected a caricature of him.
I believe Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah foretold by the Hebrew prophets of antiquity.
I subscribe to the doctrines of justification by grace alone through faith alone, the primacy of scripture and the priesthood of all believers.
With the encouragement and help of my parents, I had memorized more than 150 Bible passages before I was ten – about half from the Hebrew Bible and about half from the Gospels and the Epistles. Also, by that time, my dad had, several times, advised me, “Read for yourself, study for yourself and think for yourself.” I didn’t really start studying “on my own” until 1958 but I’ve been studying the Bible ever since then AND I have studied the history of a variety of ways that various groups have attempted to place greater emphasis on biblical concepts than on ostensibly Christian traditions.
When I was a boy in the 1940s and ‘50s, there were people teaching that the gospel is that, when humans die, they go to “eternal hell” and endure conscious punishment forever unless they put their faith in Jesus Christ, but (here’s the good news), if you trust Christ and repent of your sins he will take you to heaven forever and he’ll forgive all yours sins.
If my parents or their pastor had given me the impression that THAT was the gospel, I’m about as sure as I can be that I would have rejected THAT gospel and probably also the Bible and the Jesus of the Bible.
Providentially, my parents considered “the gospel” to include the story of Jesus, the doctrine of justification (God’s forgiveness) by grace alone through faith alone and other biblical concepts AND they showed me what they considered evidence that the creator wants to save as many humans as he can and that the only people he can’t save are those who are intellectual dishonest – either avoiding the evidence of who the God of the Bible is or unwilling to consider the implications of that great truth.
To my parents, “salvation” included justification, sanctification and glorification.
As I continued to study the Bible for myself, I came to a point where I could say, “I have been saved (justified), I am being saved (sanctified) and I will be saved (glorified)”. Because I consider the word, “saved”, to encompass all three of those aspects of salvation, I don’t volunteer, “I am saved”.
On the other hand, I have learned that, when people ask me whether I’m saved, they are referring to only the first of those three aspects of salvation – so I answer the question they are asking. I answer in the affirmative.
I also assume that anyone who asks me that question has given me permission to ask him about how he was “saved”. I’ve only done that about half a dozen times so far but, so far, EVERY person who attempted to answer my question told me about things he had done. Not one of them so much as mentioned anything the Lord had done.
If the gospel someone promotes includes justification, sanctification and glorification, he might be tempted to say he is promoting a “complete gospel”.
I don’t make such a claim. I believe a life of faith in Jesus is one of continual progress and that, therefore, we should be continually searching the scriptures for new ways to trust the Lord.
This is NOT the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus or Paul. The Good News is The Gospel of the Kingdom.
But how is it that we are headed to eternal punishment. If God created everything why is there hell?
Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom in Mark 1. This is very different from his death and resurrection. What was the good news that Jesus preached?
*"TRUE REPENTANCE is a CONDITION of SOUL before God WROUGHT by the OPERATIONS of the (Holy) Spirit of God upon the HEART AND SOUL OF MAN whereby he is MADE TO SEE, and FEEL, the SINFULNESS of his SINS and also, to FORSAKE THEM UTTERLY; and, with FULL PURPOSE of HEART to YIELD OBEDIENCE to God in the FUTURE" (Proverbs 28:13).*
What I don’t understand is that if we are to go out to all the earth teaching and preaching this gospel, how then can Calvinists say, you may be lying to these people. Maybe God chose them to be reprobate and they can’t have faith. Maybe God doesn’t love them. How can we spread the good news, like God instructed us to, if we don’t know who God has chosen?
Jesus died for EVERYONE to have the choice between life and death. Calvinism’s God is capricious like Allah in His choosing and leaves people wondering if our God is really a good God. Would a good God call a bunch of people, giving them hope, then throw most of them into hell anyway? I believe God loves all people with a love that far surpasses any love we know now and that He does want ALL to come to Him. His way of separating true from false is faith. He gives every man a sufficient measure of faith and we are expected to not only use it but to grow it.
This is not the gospel preached by Jesus Christ himself. It is just a theory of the atonement.
This is not clear at all.
The gospel is declaration of the kingship of Christ. Jesus repeated beatitudes and sermon on the mount in various ways to explain the kingdom that he is a king of. "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven".
But the wages of sin is death., meaning you’re gone forever. These guys are preaching false doctrine. Romans 6:23
What you’re saying doesn’t sound like Jesus saying "The Kingdom of God is here and now. Turn around and believe this good news." You said everything but what Jesus said.
The gospel is the remedy for sin, that is how I like to put it, the only remedy that is available.
What does it mean to put your faith in Christ. I believe that I am a sinner. I am convinced that I deserve hell and it scares me. I believe that Christ died and resurrected. I struggle with the question am I really forgiven. Am I not putting my faith in Christ that my sins are forgiven. I pray to God to have Mercy on me to save me and give me his precious gift of salvation through Jesus Christ but, am I not believing in Christ because am still doubting that I am forgiven.
This gospel sounds a lot like the snake in the garden of eden doesnt it? Maybe this christmas jesus guy came in his own name and we should read the bible ourselves to make sure we arent learning about the one Whom the world received.
The gospel has nothing to do with heaven and hell. Jesus came to save us from our sins and restore us back to fellowship with the Father through the holy spirit. Repentance, baptism and receive the holy spirit. This man never mentions the holy spirit. Stay away because if you don’t have the holy spirit, you don’t belong to Jesus Christ…..Rom.8:9
The gospel is behind ground zero how do we believe in the gospel. Greatest lies.
Jesus died away my wrongs.
4:00 The explanation of the gospel was easy to understand, straightforward, and backed up by God’s Word.