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The Jesus You Can't Ignore: What You Must Learn from the Bold Confrontations of Christ

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If you read all of the Bible, chapter by chapter, it becomes very clear that Jesus is not the ever gentle, tolerant "He loves you just the way you are" Jesus so often taught by pastors who pick and chose through Scripture to fit their sermons, and as so often is depicted in art. He is a dispenser of tough love when needed, and a scathing critic of hypocrisy and religion used for self-glorification, as most Pharisees did in His time, and as we can find within our own churches today. Yes, He is ALL love, tender and merciful to the broken, repentant sinner, and loves us in spite of our failings, but will tell us shape up in no uncertain terms, if we are willing to listen.

Author John MacArthur has written a timely book with "The Jesus You Can't Ignore," with so many denominations seeming to be scattered in their direction, and many of them with a weak message to their flock. We need the bold Jesus, to guide us and teach us. As MacArthur writes, "Nothing is more thoroughly evil than false religion, and the more false teachers try to cloak themselves in the robes of biblical truth, the more truly Satanic they are."

Chapter 6, "Hard Preaching," surmises how Jesus would be received today, were He preaching in a stadium of "typical twenty-first century evangelicals," and is right on target, and every chapter contains nuggets of truth well worth highlighting and remembering. On page 191, MacArthur writes, "The tenor of His words reminds us that spiritual warfare is just that: a battle. It is a fierce conflict against spiritual lies, damnable erroneous doctrine, and destructive false religion."

This is my second MacArthur book. I found his Truth War book a much harder read. This book has a great feel is very easy to follow along. It is full of scripture as only a master expositor like MacArthur could achieve. I read this book in 3 sittings and wanted more!

The Jesus You Can't Ignore flies in the face of the Emerging/Emergent Church. It reveals how Jesus was not mild in any situation. MacArthur parallels the passionate confrontations Jesus conquered with modern day situational protocol. The amount of scripture in the book, both referenced and printed, keeps your mind focused on the true Word of God and not some mundane pastoral belief or spin. This is what MacArthur does best and why I am intrigued and inspired with his writings and sermons.

Get this book! It is too informative to pass up.

This is one of the most enlightening and refreshing books on Jesus that I've read in a very long time (other than the Bible, of course). There seems to be an almost overbearing trend within the Christian community that has been steadfastly working to create a new Jesus - one who is always politically correct, is the epitome of pacifism, avoids conflict at all costs, and is just plain "nice." In other words, the milquetoastifcation of Jesus by many evangelicals who appear to be working tirelessly to avoid confronting the subject of evil (because, that simply wouldn't be "nice"). At the same time, these evangelicals have been promoting a Christianity whereby now-taboo topics such as Satan, Hell, sin, conflict, and evil have been stricken from the pulpit out of fear that these might offend potential "customers" (i.e., "new believers") and ruffle the feathers of the latest politically correct special interest groups. Hmmm . . . for some reason, the Purpose-Drivel © Life marketed by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church seems to come to mind . . .

I digress though; the author of this book grabs the current trend to whitewash Jesus' ministry by the horns and takes readers through a wonderful journey of what the Bible really tells us. As shocking as this may be to many Christians, MacArthur cogently elucidates the fact that Jesus was not a pacifist wuss who bent over backwards to avoid confronting evil, rather the author provides indisputable examples from the Bible that demonstrate Jesus went out of his way to stir the pot - and did so in order to let those who were willing to hear His truth. Jesus did not hold "love-ins" or speak gently to those who spoke or promoted evil, rather he initiated direct confrontations with them in order to expose hypocrisy, false prophets, and corruption. Jesus did what was right, not what was politically correct, in order to win souls for the Lord.

MacArthur boldly asserts what is already obvious to those that have really read the Bible (without rose colored glasses) - that Jesus created tensions, conflict, and discord because it was the right thing to do, not because it made anyone "happy." In other words, Jesus was an activist for righteousness.

The Jesus You Can't Ignore
John MacArthur
ISBN-10: 140020206X
ISBN-13: 978-1400202065
A dozen years have passed since I first began reading books by John MacArthur. I have never failed to be blessed by them. This is no exception.
I shall first mention that, to be honest, it was a little less engaging and took me longer to read than a book normally does. It didn't seem to be typical MacArthur.
The book, however, is a very good book. The subject matter is of great importance today. Evangelicals do not seem to confront evil and false doctrine much at all. The idea is that Jesus was meek and mild. MacArthur skillfully exegetes the Scriptures and expounds to us the fact that Jesus was often rough and tough. Jesus was quite the confrontational teacher.
Jesus confronted sin wherever He encountered it. In the temple, the synagogue, homes- wherever. He called a spade a spade and did not hold back. This does not mean that He was unmerciful. He indeed was very merciful. When Jesus encountered sinners He was kind and merciful. He was patient and loving. Jesus was most confrontational when He faced the religious sinners-the Pharisees and Sadducees. He simply could not abide their flaunting their traditions and ignoring His Word. The hypocrisy and false teaching were not things that Jesus would tolerate. Thus Jesus boldly confronted them about their sins.
Many times people consider this unloving. MacArthur explains that confrontation is sometimes the most loving and merciful thing, because it allows a person to see that they are wrong and need to repent. So it was in Jesus' day. Though it led to His crucifixion, Jesus was confrontational in a loving way.
It is necessary to distinguish between confrontation in a loving way and an angry, vindicative confrontation. Jesus was always loving. Let us follow His example in wisdom and in love that we may uphold truth and honor Him.

What we have going on in Christianity today is nothing new. Thomas Jefferson went through the New Testament with a chainsaw and determined that he found the real Jesus (see The Jefferson Bible on Amazon). Scholars have been searching for the "historical" Jesus for centuries. They have been digging through rubble continuing to look for a Savior who lines up with what they want. This is exactly what Judas did-force Jesus into the mold he thought he should fit. But, as John MacArthur powerfully illustrates, Jesus has been towering in the Scripture all along. The problem is not that He is elusive; it is that we don't like the Jesus we find in the Gospels. We easily accept the wise handling of problems, the love and the sacrifice, but we want to do away with the correction and confrontation. If you have read other recent Christian works, the confrontations of Jesus are rarely present. At least Jefferson openly admitted that he was deleting aspects of the Gospels that he felt did not line up with his view of Jesus. The authors these days are claiming that their lilly-livered savior is the real thing. MacArthur does not care that he is going to be called judgmental or a Pharisee, he takes his call to defend the truth seriously and delivers one of my favorite books of the past decade.

This work is about seeing Jesus' ministry in its entirety. It is specifically about looking at the way Jesus dealt with those that taught or adhered to error. The idea that Jesus accepted all ideas and ways of seeing the world is false and dangerous and MacArthur has made this difficult to refute.

First, he establishes that what is happening in today's world is that instead of pursuing truth, we are pursuing acceptance and harmony. This opens Christians to a deterioration of what we believe. And because our salvation is based upon what we have faith in, what we believe, this issue is of supreme importance. Judas knew Jesus in a much more real way than any of us can. But, what he believed about Jesus was completely false-it wasn't the true Jesus. Believing in Him in just any old way does not lead to salvation or the abundant life. Therefore, you should make sure you have a complete, authentic and Scriptural view of Christ.

While MacArthur does not shy away from the fight, he makes it clear that we are not to be brash, loud, obnoxious Christians. We can boldly stand for the truth without being hateful and arrogant like so many are. One of the things I loved about this book was that he didn't concentrate upon people and their actions like those who vituperate against any stand for truth usually do. They want to illustrate the horrible actions of the past to show how we should just "all get along." But MacArthur says, "What did Jesus do?" He uses the Gospel accounts of the Temple cleansing, Nicodemus, the rich young ruler, Jairus, Jesus' confrontations in Nazareth, healing the cripple with four friends, breaking the Sabbath, the beatitudes, fruit bearing trees, and several other accounts to analyze what Jesus did in these times of confronting false doctrine. What others want you to believe is that Jesus accepted everyone and their ideas. This is not true. MacArthur illustrates clearly that those Jesus helped and forgave came to Him in humility and brokenness to be changed. It was this state of their heart and their trust in Jesus to be able to change it that differentiates them from those that modern-day teachers want us to accept without repentance or change.

Ultimately, the focus of this book is revealed in the epilogue: "...people who actively teach serious error-especially doctrines that corrupt vital gospel truth are to be confronted and opposed. Their false ideas are to be refuted. They are to be called to repentance. And if they refuse the admonition and continue their assault against truth, we have a duty to denounce their error and do everything we can to thwart their efforts to spread it."

The typical response to this is: "Who are you to judge what is error and what is not?" To this MacArthur replies not with his own arguments or examples, but with the mighty, life-changing words of Jesus. This is why this book is so powerful. Not because MacArthur is such a great theologian or debater, but because the vision of Jesus in the Gospels is so vivid and calls us to Him. To turn your back on the idea of standing for God's truth is not to separate yourself from John MacArthur or some other teacher, it is to separate yourself from Jesus himself; because he stood for the truth, He died for the truth, He is the truth. I am so grateful that MacArthur wrote this book. In a sea of effeminate, weak and misrepresented Saviors, here stands a stark, Scriptural view of our Lord. And He is impossible to ignore.

This book was a revelation for me. For some reason, I always thought of Jesus as mild and meek but I guess that is the Hollywood Jesus. I have read the gospels many times but until I read this book didn't grasp the real personality of Jesus. The author did a very good job in defending Jesus Christ as God incarnate and brought out the true personality of Jesus. Thank you for this eye-opening read!

Jesus is generally thought of as a mild mannered peaceful man. The author elaborates on another side of Him. The writer defines groups of people and their reactions to Jesus. One of these was the Pharisees who not only emphasized obedience to the law but also added more restrictive details.

This was their principal conflict with Jesus, in particular regarding activity on the Sabbath day. The author pointed out that Jesus did not just react to the attacks of the Pharisees but often initiated the confrontation. The prime example was the throwing out of the "money changers" from the temple.

He relates this side of Jesus to the tendency to compromise principles today instead of standing up for them.

I don't particularly like John MacArthur's speaking voice or radio persona. Seemed a tad too aggressive and know-it-all'ish I got in a tiff over my perception of his apparent too predestined, too Calvinistic philosophy about the elect of God and who's chosen.

But... and it's a big But, a forgive me But: It's my problem. I'm a relatively new Christian, and thank God, I've had an epiphany of sorts(is that the right word?), and I'm maturing.

Similar to his preaching, John MacArthur's presentation of doctrine in this book is very well thought out and scripturally defended; slightly, but satisfyingly so, it's written in an intellectual style that's compelling but not difficult. I couldn't stop reading.

For example, I enjoyed his discussion on John Chapter 3 about "being born of the Spirit" and "being born of water and the Spirit". He explains in fascinating terms this whole interaction between a well-meaning, somehwat open Nicodemus and a straight shooting, telling it as it is, Jesus. Jesus didn't waste words or actions.

Indeed, Jesus is often glossed over simply as a great loving, meek guru by the world. He is great, and He is loving, but He also talks more about hell than anybody in the Bible; He is very confrontational. God's personality is immensely diverse, but to me, it seems to revolve around 3 categories- loving kindness, judgment, righteousness. (Jer. 9:24)

This book is obviously written for Christians or by chance, a curious and open non- Believer. The author isn't telling us to bash others over the head with condemnation or doctrine of what Jesus really was about. Instead, his book strenghtens our perception of Christ as leader and lover. I really want to stress that love to those around as well as the need for the Savior.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was easy to understand and follow as it brought up certain aspects of Jesus that many would not otherwise consider. It is bubbling with scripture quotes, which helped to both keep my mind on the Bible and its truths and show me that MacArthur is not drawing his conclusions out of thin air! Each point that MacArthur covers is well thought out and fully explained to the reader, making it a very enlightening read for all ages!

This book taught me quite a few things that I didn't know before, which is always a plus - I love to learn new things about my Savior! One of the main things that you will realize after finishing this book is that Jesus is not the pacifist that some people believe he was. Instead, MacArthur gives countless examples of Jesus countered the Pharisees and Senhenrins, and how he even became justifiably angry at times (i.e. when he cleared the temple at the beginning of His ministry). All the information and facts were brought together nicely, not making me feel like the book was lagging at times, but carrying me easily along to learn a little more about my Savior. I am quick to label this a must-read for anyone who wants to spiritually grow in their relationship and understanding of Christ.

Thanks goes to Thomas Nelson for giving me a complementary copy of this book to review.

Katie McCurdy - [...]

We live in an age where truth is a blurry subject. Postmodernism tells you to make your own truth. Jesus tells us something completely different.
In The Jesus You Can't Ignore, John MacArthur shows us how relentless Jesus was about defending the truth. Instead of being soft and "hearing people out," Jesus would call out the religious leaders of the day about their misconceptions of the truth. The Bible tells us in Jude 3 to "contend earnestly for the faith." As "nice" and "loving" and dare I even say, "Christlike" as it seems to try to reason with people with different worldviews, that's the absolute opposite of what Jesus did.
I will be honest and say that this book, from the second that I opened it, was a challenge to read. It shatters everything I have been taught, that you should just accept what other people believe, and love it out of them. Initially, I was wary because I thought that MacArthur was going on the attack against people. That's not the case. His tone is perfect. Additionally, as long as one is a believer in God's word, MacArthur's argument is irrefutable. The whole entire book is chock full of Biblical examples in which Jesus is bolder and harsher than we normally choose to believe.
That said, read this book. Let it shatter your perception of how "nice" Jesus really is. Let the Holy Spirit show you how absolute the truth of God really is.