Reflections on Preaching the Entire NT

Continuing the theme of our previous post, here are some other reflections on John MacArthur completing the exposition of the entire New Testament.

Fred Butler, 1969-2011:

This past Sunday, June 5th, 2011, John MacArthur accomplished something that is extremely rare in Christendom. He finished preaching through the entire New Testament, verse by verse.

To our knowledge here at Grace, this hasn't been done in over a hundred years or more. The one person that comes immediately to my mind is John Gill, who preached through both the OT and NT, but that was in the 1700s.

It was an emotional moment. John's last sermon was on the longer ending of Mark, chapter 16:9-20. It was a encouraging message that explained the confidence we can have in the integrity of the Scriptures.

The message can be downloaded here: A Fitting End To Mark's Gospel.

The Sunday evening before that, John did a Q&A with the audience. He opened by sharing a bit about his thoughts and feeling with finishing the NT. A number of the questions asked had to do with his ministry. It, too, is worth the download to listen. Q&A Part 58

John is on sabbatical until August, but I have heard him mention on a few occasion that he may return to preaching through the Gospel of John, because he felt he didn't cover it as thoroughly as he liked the first time around. I believe it was the first major book he preached through. Others have mentioned they said he may do some character sketches of lesser known folks in the Bible. What ever the case, I am excited to see where he goes next.

And Cripplegate, If I were John MacArthur...

If I were John MacArthur, I’d keep doing the only thing I know how: dream big and preach the word. And I would start in the Old Testament. I’m not kidding. I don’t mean I’d ask God for 130 more years of life to go wormy again. I’d go bird’s-eye-view, chapter by chapter til the Rapture. And that’s what Iain Murray would call the 2nd volume of my biography (assuming he too inherited genes from Methuselah).

On the other hand, if I were John MacArthur I wouldn’t be typing this post, I’d be preparing for my next mission, perhaps brushing up on my Hebrew. What would be the expositor’s equivalent of colonizing Mars? We’ll see soon enough. His scheduled six week vacation time has dawned, and his return is already being awaited with Thessalonian anticipation.

And a simple reminder from JT, Preaching the Entire New Testament:

You can listen to all 42 years worth of his expositional preaching online for free. This is a gift to the Church, both in its original delivery and its modern availability.

Praise be to God.

Oh, and I providentially received my copy of this book yesterday and accordingly stayed up too late reading it. Good stuff. Maybe some excerpts and extracts will follow...