TEXT:

SUBJECT: John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress

John Bunyan is one of England's best-known names. His Pilgrim's Progress is a classic that remains in print and in demand to this day, more than 300 years after the author's death. But this was not Bunyan's only book. His Complete Works are bound in three fat volumes of small print in double column. All of them are worth reading. Some are just short of inspired. One of my favorites is Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. It was written in 1666 from the Bedford Gaol where he was locked up for preaching the Gospel. What's it about? He tells us in the first line:

In other words, Bunyan has produced a spiritual autobiography. In it, he tells us almost nothing about his outward life--his date of birth, where he lived, or even his wife's name. But no matter. He tells us about the things that matter most: sin and grace.

EARLY LIFE IN SIN

He adds: "I was so settled and rooted in these things that they became a sort of second nature to me...Then with more greediness than ever, I let loose the reins of my lust and delighted in all transgressions against the Law of God; so I was the ringleader in all manner of vice and ungodliness...During those times, thoughts of God were very unpleasant to me. I could neither endure such thoughts myself, nor could I stand it if any others had such thoughts...By this time I was free from everything good".

John Bunyan hoped to expel every thought of God. But the feeling was not mutual. John was very much on God's mind. Early on, He dealt with him in two ways:

The warnings of heaven had no lasting effect on Bunyan; nor did the offers of mercy. "None of these things awakened my soul to righteousness".

REFORM

In his early twenties, John Bunyan married. Whether his wife was a believer or not, we have no idea. But her parents were. Her dowry consisted of two books, The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven and The Practice of Piety. Bunyan read them often and with care. They had an effect on his life. He tells us what it was: "So these books, although they did not reach my heart to awaken it concerning its sad and sinful state, did make me want to reform my vicious life, and I began to fall in very eagerly with the religion of the times...I thought that at such times I was pleasing God as well as any man in England".

The change was dramatic. "Our neighbors took me to be very godly and marveled greatly to see so much change in my life and actions...So now they began to praise me and to speak well of me...And how pleased I was to hear them say these things about me for...I loved to be talked about as one who was truly godly".

AWAKENING

Bunyan's moral reformation lasted for about a year. But then something happened. Something wonderful. He took a business trip into Bedford where he met some old women discussing religion. Let him take it from here: "Their talk was about a new birth, a work of God in their hearts, and how they were sure that they had been born as helpless sinners".

This alarmed the young man. "Now my heart began to shake for I saw that all my thoughts about religion and salvation had never once considered the question of the new birth".

For months Bunyan struggled with the question: "Have I been born again?" And others: "Am I elect?" "Have I been called by Jesus Christ?" "Do I have faith?" "Have I committed the unpardonable sin?" Even "Am I possessed of the devil?" The company of good people disturbed him too: "The Tempter aggravated my trouble by telling me that these good people of Bedford were already converted, that they were all that God had saved in this part of the country, and that I had come too late, for these had received the blessing before I came".

At last he was introduced to John Gifford, pastor of St. John's Rectory, Bedford. Gifford had great sympathy for Bunyan, for he himself had been "a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man". He talked with the young man often about his soul. One of his sermons stuck with Bunyan. It was from the Song of Solomon 4:1: "Behold, Thou art fair my love; thou art fair". It consisted of five points: (1) The Church, and so every saved soul, is the object of Christ's love. (2) Christ's love is without a cause. (3) Christ's love has been hated by the world. (4) Christ's love continues when those He loves are under temptation and seeming destruction. (5) Christ's love last to the end.

About it, Bunyan notes: "He said that the saved soul is Christ's love even when tempted and deserted and so the poor tempted soul needs still to remember these two words: `My love'".

This did Bunyan much good for a time--but then something terrible occurred. He writes: "As I was lying on my bed one morning I was fiercely assaulted with this temptation to sell Christ. The wicked suggestion ran through my mind as fast as a man could speak, `Sell Him, sell Him, sell Him, sell Him'. As usual, my mind answered `No, not for thousands, thousands, thousands'. Twenty times I repeated it, but at last after great struggle I felt this thought pass through my mind: `Let Him go if He will', and my heart agreed".

Succumbing to this temptation took a terrible toll on Bunyan's heart. For months Scripture verses raced through his mind: Esau, finding no place for repentance, though he sought it with tears, Judas denying the Lord and hanging himself, The unpardonable sin, and so on.

Bunyan was awakened to be sure. But not yet converted.

CONVERSION

He tells us how that occurred: "One day, as I was passing into the field, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul: `Thy righteousness is in heaven'. And I thought that I could see Jesus Christ at God's right hand. Yes, there indeed was my righteousness, so that wherever I was or whatever I was doing, God could not say about me that I did not have righteousness, for it was standing there before Him. I also saw that it was not my good feelings that made my righteousness better, and that my bad feelings did not make my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, `the same yesterday, today, and forever'.

"Moreover, the Lord also led me into the mystery of union with the Son of God, and I saw that I was joined to Him, that I was flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. And if He and I were one, then His righteousness was mine, His merits mine, His victory also mine".

CALL TO THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

Bunyan was converted for five or six years when he was asked by some of his godly friends if he would try preaching. He did with much success. The learned John Owen often went to hear Bunyan. When asked why, he replied: "I would gladly exchange all of my learning if I could but touch hearts like the tinker". How did he so "touch hearts"? He tells us:

He had great compassion for his hearers: "I thank God that He gave me great concern and pity for their souls. This made me labor with great earnestness, to hold out a message that, if God would bless it, would awaken their consciences".

He avoided strife. "As to controversies among the saints, I never cared to meddle with such things".

He preached on the things that matter most. "My work was to preach with all earnestness the word of faith and the remission of sin by the death and sufferings of Jesus. The other things I left alone..."

He had a deep desire to see his hearers saved. "In my preaching, I have actually been in real pain, travailing to bring forth children to God, and I have never been satisfied unless there has been some fruit."

He put grace above gifts. "Gifts are desirable, but great grace and small gifts are better than great gifts and no grace".

He preached with all due humility. "I have also had the word come to me with some sharp piercing sentence concerning the perishing of the soul notwithstanding the gifts God has given. `Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal'".

PRISON

About five years into his ministry of the Word, John Bunyan was arrested and confined to the Bedford gaol. The experience, of course, was unpleasant, but not forsaken. He tells us: "Never in all my life had so much of the Word of God opened up so plainly before me. Those Scriptures that I saw nothing particular in before have been made, in this place, to shine upon me. Also, Jesus Christ was never more real to me than now; here I have seen and felt Him indeed".

What about his family? How would they live without him? Jeremiah 49:11 spoke with power: "Leave thy fatherless children; I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in Me".

In summary: "I will bless God forever for what He has taught me out of this experience".

God answered his prayers. Bunyan lived another 22 years, and died "in a good old age, full of days, (spiritual) riches, and honor".