The Jesus You Can’t Ignore is the first book by John Macarthur that I have read. It will not be the last book authored by him that I will read! Even though the book began in an overwhelming overview, it was broken down in interesting and informative chapters that detailed the style of my Savior’s ministry.
Current day churches, be warned that the present day exercise of not offending people is not Biblical! People are to be dealt with in love but a truthful love that Mr. Macarthur does well in explaining based on the practices of Jesus Christ Himself. The author advocates avoiding conflicts, showing compassion and civility but also advocates avoiding conflict when it becomes sinful.
Hypocrisy is despised by Jesus, thus the reason for His severe dealings with the Sanhedrin. Mr. Macarthur educates the reader on the Sanhedrin, a group comprised of Pharisees and Sadducees. Though they make up a single group of Jewish spiritual leaders, they vary in their own beliefs and power over the Jewish people; but they also share in hypocrisy and making themselves godlike over the very people they are suppose to be ministering.
Jesus is the only example one can follow especially when it comes to sharing the Gospel message. Jesus was the first one to “fire the first shot” in the development of the hostility between Him and the Pharisees. It all began with His first Temple cleansing. The author goes into great detail about the spiritual significance and the prophecies fulfilled by the cleansing. Jesus’ actions were always without sin, even this righteous anger that He displayed on the Pharisees’ “homecourt”. This is one example of John Macarthur’s ability to take stories from the Bible that hopefully most Christians are familiar with and delve deeper into the meaning behind the actions Jesus performed. Though no book should take the place of reading the Bible, this book did help my understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior whom I love even more after reading this book.
A line from the book that stayed with me that I think is good to remember is: “Even the kindest, gentlest shepherd sometimes needs to throw rocks at wolves who come in sheep’s clothing.”
