My Thoughts
What would you think if you were told,”Harsh words are not always inappropiate. Unpleasant and unwelcome truths sometimes need to be voiced. False relgions always needs to be answered. Love may cover a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8), but the gross hypocrisy of false teachers desperately needs to be uncovered-lest our silence faciliate and perpetuate a damning delusion. The truth is not always “nice.” (John MacArthur, The Jesus You Can’t Ignore, pg. 171)
Probrably for many, react with that is so offensive or not political correct or judgemental or harsh or unloving,but as John MacArthur would share, the Jesus that we sometimes don’t want to face, did that with the Pharisees and at the temple and to those who were sinning and called it what it was, not out of hate, but out of love and desire for them to not continue on.
Proverbs 28:26 (NKJV) cautions us to,”He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.”
No one likes to be told they are or might be doing something wrong. It hurts our pride and it hurts our self-image and we bristle when confronted and react defensively, but in “The Jesus You Can’t Ignore”, we see a Jesus who was loving, but also firm and sometimes, harsh to speak the truth that He knew needed to be spoken and not hidden away.
In, “The Jesus You Can’t Ignore”, MacArthur shares a side of the Saviour that is often swept under the wrong, because it hurts our personal image of Him, more than what He truly was.
MacArthur goes so far to challenge that Jesus doesn’t preach softly but rather practice hard teaching, even for their time.
At one point, this convicting book shares how the Beautitudes was an rebuke to the Pharisee’s whole system and any Pharisee at the time might have felt both publically humiliated and personally attacked.
Sound familiar?
Publically humiliated and personally attacked.
“The Jesus You Can’t Ignore” is a fascinating read that has us rethinking what type of faith are we really praciting and are we practicing one that is based more on pleasing men or one that is pleasing to our Father? (Ref Galatians 1:10)
Well written and easy for the layman to read and backed by relevant scripture, “The Jesus You Can’t Ignore”, brings Him as He is and not as we sometimes try to paint Him as.
MacArthur is daring in writing, “The Jesus You Can’t Ignore”, because it brings to light why He says in Matthew 7:21-27 (NKJV):
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
When you take a step back, Matthew 7:21-27 lays out that many will enter the kingdom of Heaven. A very challenging thought in itself, but a reality that Jesus try to bring forth that not everyone will be able to enter the kingdom of Heaven.
As MacArthur shared on page 150,”Jesus, by contrast, quoted no authority other than the Word of God itself. He gave its interpretation wihtout buttressing His point of view with endless quotations from earlier writers”.
If you are wanting a hard hitting book, that will challenge you, convict you and have you thinking, what is it that Jesus really meant, I encourage you to read, “The Jesus You Can’t Ignore” and discover yourself someone who in His time and culture was considered as shocking as He would be in today’s world.
Publisher’s Note about Book
Best-selling author John MacArthur gives readers a fresh look at how Jesus addressed attacks against the truth.
Meek and mild. Politically correct. A great teacher. These are the popular depictions of Jesus. But they aren’t the complete picture. Maybe because it’s uncomfortable, or maybe because it’s inconvenient, Christians and non-Christians alike are overlooking the fierceness of the Savior, His passionate mission to make the Gospel clear and bring people into the Kingdom of God. A mission that required he sometimes raise his voice and sometimes raise a whip.
In the much-needed message in The Jesus You Can’t Ignore, renowned Bible teacher and best-selling author John MacArthur reintroduces the compelling and often unsettling passion of Jesus’ ministry. MacArthur points to the picture of the real Jesus the world is so eager to gloss over. And he calls readers to emulate Jesus’ commitment to further the kingdom by confronting lies and protecting the truth of God.
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