Hard to Believe
John MacArthur is pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. MacArthur is also president of The Master’s College and Seminary and Grace to You radio broadcast. Some other books written by MacArthur are Safe in the Arms of God, Can God Bless America?, Twelve Ordinary Men and a host of others.
MacArthur’s purpose for writing this book came from his evaluation of how the Gospel is being preached today. Many people around the world sit in church every Sunday and believe they are going to heaven but have been misinformed. They have no idea about what the Gospel entails and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The author wants to inform his readers of the deadly mistake, and he wants to encourage them to hold fast to the message of the Gospel and the cross.
MacArthur brings out the biggest problem of why the Gospel has become so watered down, and that is the problem of being seeker-sensitive. He mentions that there are many evangelicals and churches that are so seeker-sensitive that the Gospel sounds more like fluff than the Gospel.
One of the examples of true evangelism and the truth of the Gospel is when the rich young ruler approaches Jesus asking the question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This is what MacArthur had to say concerning Mark 10:17-22:
What a setup for personal evangelism! Jesus could have said, “Pray this prayer” or “Make a decision to accept Me!” He [did not]. Instead, he confronted the young man with the reality of sin to reveal whether or not he was convicted of his wickedness and penitent over his iniquities. (8)
This is what MacArthur says is missing in the Gospel and evangelism today. Churches that are seeker-sensitive want to shorten the sermon if it is too long, calm the message down if it is too harsh, or make the music more of a Los Vegas show if it is too boring. They make Christianity appealing, easy, and fun, but many have had a rude awakening. Some have seen that the Christian life is not that easy to live and it was not what they were expecting. The author mentions some of his friends who seemed on fire for God but then have walked away to pursue a life of drugs or join some other false cult.
MacArthur brings up another problem that is vastly becoming popular and that is the health and wealth and name it claim it gospel. Many people are seeking an experience rather than a person. The New Testament is filled with examples of the crowd wanting to follow Jesus because of the miracles that he performed but when it came down to making a life changing decision, they wanted no part of it.
Many people in Christian churches are trying somehow to get the power – and speakers are encouraging them! They say, “Folks, we want you to get the power.” Then, wild, crazy things go on with people jumping and hollering and screaming and flipping and flopping all over the place for one basic thing: they’re trying to get the power. (171)
This is what MacArthur mentioned about jazzing up the Gospel to give it a pretty makeover so that people will accept it.
When I picked up this book, I was eager to read what MacArthur had to say. This book is an encouragement to those whose heart is broken because of where Christianity is headed. The Bible has mentioned that there will come a time when many will turn away from the truth and preach to itching ears (2 Tim 3:3-4). MacArthur opens the Scripture to reveal to his readers the right way to present the Gospel. The Gospel should not be user-friendly or seeker-sensitive, it should be life-changing. People should be hit with the truth and hard facts, so that they may choose this day whom they will serve. MacArthur does an excellent job of stressing the “cost of discipleship”.
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