John MacArthur says it's hard to become a Christian. Becoming a Christian is not easy.
It's hard. But Jesus has something different to say. Jesus said come unto me all you that labor
and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and
lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Jesus didn't say it was hard. He said my yoke is easy and my burden is light. But John MacArthur
has something different to say. Fourthly, you must enter with difficulty. With difficulty.
This is a death blow to what is called easy believism, a death blow to cheap grace.
This is not easy. So he says it's hard to be saved. You have to enter with difficulty.
But what does the Bible actually say? What must I do to be saved? Well, the answer is believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's the answer. Sounds pretty easy to me.
Few there be that find it. And when you find it, it's not easy. It's hard to turn from your sin.
This is what the New Testament calls turning from sin to serve the living God.
There's some people who espouse the idea that all you have to do to become a Christian is just
know that Jesus can save you from hell and ask him to do that. That's a far cry from what the
New Testament teaches. See, according to John MacArthur, it's not enough just to believe in
Jesus. And he says it's a far cry from what the New Testament actually teaches. But okay, what
does the New Testament actually teach? Well, let's take a look. Again, Acts 16 30 31. What must I do
to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. John 3 16, the most
famous verse in the Bible for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that
whosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have everlasting life. It's not whosoever
turns from all their sins and lives a good life. No, it's whosoever believeth in him. Romans 10 9,
that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in the Lord Jesus,
shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Notice,
it doesn't say that if you work hard to get to heaven, you'll be saved. No, it's believing Jesus
believing he's the Son of God that he died on the cross for your sins and that he rose again from
the dead, you'll be saved. But John MacArthur doesn't want you to believe this because he's
a false prophet. He wants you to work hard to get to heaven. He doesn't want you to just believe
Jesus paid it all for you because if you believe that, you'll go to heaven. He's a false prophet
and he's doing the work of the devil, telling people that they have to work hard to get to
heaven. That is not the gospel. The gospel is right here, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. That's it. It couldn't be any simpler than that. Jesus paid it all, but John MacArthur
does not want you to believe that Jesus paid it all. It isn't just believing, James 2 19,
the devils believe and tremble, it's hating sin and loving righteousness. The Lord here is dealing
with the danger of an easy believe-ism. You must enter, you must enter this gate, you must enter
alone, you must enter with difficulty, you must enter naked, which means having divested yourself
of all sin and worldly desires. So John MacArthur is warning you of the dangers of actually believing
what the Bible says, you know, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, but
I want to talk to you of the dangers of believing John MacArthur and his works-based salvation,
saying that you have to work your way to get to heaven. The Bible warns of this in Matthew 7.
The Bible says, not everyone 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. Now what is the will of the Father
which is in heaven? Well, let's take a look. And this is the will of him that sent me,
that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise
him up at the last day. So the will of the Father is that everyone will believe on the Son. That's
the will of the Father. But Matthew 7 goes on to say, 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. You see, if you're trusting in your works to get you to heaven,
you're not saved. You need to put all your faith and trust in Jesus to save you. He paid it all.
He did all the work when he died on the cross for your sins. And when he rose again from the dead,
he bought you a gift called eternal life. When it comes to a gift, you have a choice. You can accept
it or reject it. Accept the gift, and here's how you do it, that if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. Now that's the gospel. It's not this false workspace gospel that John
MacArthur wants you to believe, but it gets even worse than that. John MacArthur then goes on to
say that you need to be a slave. You became a slave when you came to Christ. It is truly a kind
of slavery. You confess with your lips Jesus as Lord, which is also a confession that you're a
slave. You are now subject to an alien will for the rest of your life. So John MacArthur says,
when you become a Christian, you become a slave, a slave to God. Well, that's simply not true.
The Bible says, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
not the slaves of God, even to them that believe on his name. So when you believe on Jesus,
accept him as your savior, and get saved, you become a child of God, not a slave.
John MacArthur is a false prophet, and he needs to be avoided.