Shepherd & Expositor - A Tribute to John MacArthur
Remember Your Leaders, …
… who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:7, Legacy Standard Bible)
On Tuesday, 15 July 2025, 9:18am (Singapore time), Pastor John MacArthur entered the presence of the Master he served – the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he preached. After decades of labour – both in season and out of season – his faith has become sight. For all of us who his ministry has touched in one way or another, we feel a certain sense of loss; but we are also grateful to God for the vast legacy of resources and the wide family of ministries that remain. We pray that those who have stewardship of these resources and ministries continue to be faithful, so that many more believers all over the world – in their different languages – may also be blessed by Pastor John’s exposition of Scripture “one verse at a time”.
Those of us involved in the ministry of Grace to Asia have each been impacted by Pastor John’s faithfulness in one way or another. Here are some snippets of personal encounters different people have had with Pastor John over the years.
Ang Chor Chen, chairman of the Board of Directors, writes:
My wife and I were previously involved in a church that focused on evangelism and discipleship, and while that sounds wonderful, in actuality, the church was primarily about growing numbers, increasing tithing, and exercising a rigid control over members through a hierarchical structure. It was a church that largely taught salvation by works and little about the love and mercy of our Lord and Saviour. We left the church after 7 years and we felt fatigued and empty despite having been so active in church activities and intentional street evangelism.
Grace Community Church was where my wife and I discovered the full breadth of the Gospel message and God’s story with mankind through the ministry of Pastor John MacArthur. The first time I attended the service, I felt the scales falling off my eyes as I begin to discover sound biblical teaching that transformed my understanding of what it means to be a child of God and having Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I am indebted to Pastor John for his faithful teaching that provided the strong underpinnings of our faith journey that has led me to serving at Grace to You (Singapore) – later renamed Grace to Asia – as a Board member over the past years since my time at Grace Community Church.
Jawn Lim also spent many years as a member of Grace Community Church; he reminisces:
On the 4th of June 2023, the lights of the sanctuary at Grace Community Church went out. The entire congregation was plunged into pitch darkness. As the lights came back on, Pastor John sighed and remarked, “For a moment, I thought the Lord had come.” His heavenly-minded comment was met with delightful smiles and laughter.
Today, 15th of July 2025, our dear Pastor John MacArthur is home in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. As many of us hold back tears of joy and sadness, we can’t help but look back at how his preaching shaped my wife Crystal and me. We are thankful for his expository ministry that God used to change the hearts of so many people. I never got to take a photo with him but had the chance to thank him for the flowers that he and Patricia sent me after I broke my neck in a car accident in 2009. He did autograph my study Bible and left 2 Corinthians 4:5-7 as a reminder.
“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
Tan Soon Yong graduated from The Master’s Seminary in 2008, and recalls two incidents that left a deep impression on him:
I oversaw the Sunday School ministry at Grace Church for a few years as a seminary student. Every year during the Shepherds Conference, there would be a shortage of space owing to the many activities on campus. I was in a particular room, arranging the furniture so that it could become a temporary classroom that coming Sunday. But as I was doing that, Pastor John’s secretary came in and told me that he had reserved that room for a meeting. I did what any Singaporean student would – get out of the way, and make alternative plans for that Sunday School class! But it proved rather difficult as I had to split up the class and have the children absorbed into other classes. But less than two hours later, I received a call from Pastor John’s secretary. She told me to proceed with using that room, and Pastor John would find another place for his meeting. I protested that he should have first preference to use that room, but he insisted on making way for the children. That taught me a lot about “not … looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4).
Later, at my graduation chapel, Dr MacArthur told us, in no uncertain terms, that if we faced any difficulty for which we needed his counsel, he would make time in his diary to speak with us. I thought at that time that it was a bold promise to make – seeing how extremely busy he was, and how many of us were in that room! Some years later, I encountered some difficulties as a beginning pastor. On one visit back to California, I thought I would try to see if I could speak with him about what I should do. He had to change our appointment a few times, but he finally did make a journey down to his office to meet me as I was on my way to the airport to fly home. I still remember the sage advice he gave to me, the strength his counsel rendered to my heart, and the comfort his parting prayer afforded my soul.
Daniel Yeo’s involvement with Grace to You (Singapore) and Grace to Asia spans more than a few decades; he records the blessings he has received from God through Pastor John:
Dr John MacArthur, a faithful servant of the Lord, was called home on July 14, 2025. I rejoice that he is now in heaven after labouring untiringly his whole life on earth. I was drawn to his preaching, one verse at a time, with clarity, during the early years of my Christian life, and I have never ceased listening to him since. He has consistently impressed me with his leadership, spirituality, and particularly his steadfastness in not conforming to the world. He stood out as an exceptional leader who continued worship services at Grace Community Church during the COVID-19 shutdown mandated by the authorities, even in the face of fines and arrests. It is an honour and a privilege for me to play a small part in serving GTY Singapore and Grace to Asia, in distributing John’s teachings here and beyond, into Asia. I will miss John greatly – this is a vacuum that is hard to fill. He lived only to serve his Master well, and is a reminder for me and a model to emulate. He will be forever etched in my memory. Thank you, John, my beloved shepherd.
Since Pastor John’s homegoing, numerous videos have been uploaded to the Internet. We want to leave you with a few select ones that you may like to watch.
A Celebration of the Life and Ministry of Pastor John MacArthur : The Memorial Service of John Fullerton MacArthur (1939-2025) https://www.gty.org/memorial
The Unfailing Promises of God: The final sermon of Pastor John MacArthur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ooBF230X4
John MacArthur – Heartfelt Good Bye Between Friends: The final video clip of Pastor John as he visits his long-time friend Burt Michaelson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRgjRrHEnrw
John MacArthur: The Gospel According to Jesus: The sermon Pastor John preached in Singapore in the 1990s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf9Zr8CXxzQ
