Tonight, we begin a series of talks on
John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
These talks will be divided into seven.
Tonight, we shall consider the life of John
Bunyan, where he was born, how God saved
him, how he came to write the Pilgrim's
Progress.
The second talk will concern itself with the
story itself, and we shall follow the adventures
of the Pilgrim from the city of destruction
to the gate.
Our third talk, from the gate to the
place where he loses the burden, the cross.
At the cross, where I first saw the
light and the burden of my heart rolled
away.
The fourth night, we shall follow the adventures
of the Pilgrim from the cross to the
Castle Beautiful.
On the fifth, from the Castle Beautiful to
the city of Vanity Fair.
The sixth talk, from Vanity Fair to Doubting
Castle.
And the last talk, from Doubting Castle to
the Celestial City.
Don't miss any one of these meetings.
Across these adventures of the Pilgrim, in this
immortal allegory, the Pilgrim's Progress has been classed
as second only to the Word of God.
Here is John Bunyan, author of the Pilgrim's
Progress.
Born many years ago in England, in the
year 1628, in the little village of Elstow,
near to the town of Bidforth.
His father was a very poor man, a
tinker to trade, and as John Bunyan himself
tells us, my descent was of a low
and inconsiderable generation, my father's house being of
that rank that was the meanest and the
most despised occupation in those days.
Just a tinker, and yet this was the
man that God saved and used so wonderfully
in writing a book that has been classed
as second only to the Bible.
The reason being, it is so full of
Bible truth.
John Bunyan's schooling was very short, only nine
months, and he tells us in the story
of his life, I soon forgot the little
I had learned.
I became an idle boy who, forswearing, lying
and blaspheming, had few if any equals.
This, then, is the man who wrote the
Pilgrim's Progress.
Truly, God hath chosen the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise, the weak
things of the world to confound the things
that are mighty.
The base things, the things which are despised,
hath God chosen, yea, the things which are
not, to bring to naught the things that
are, that no flesh should glory in his
presence.
This is the old cottage in which John
Bunyan was born in 1628.
This cottage has long since fallen into ruin,
not a trace of it remains.
Little did the people of that day realize,
as they heard the cry of that newborn
child, they were listening to the voice of
one who should make the whole world listen
to the gospel of the grace of God
through the wonderful books that he wrote, and
particularly the Pilgrim's Progress.
At a time when most boys and girls
are going to school and not liking it
very much, John Bunyan couldn't go to school.
Only nine months of schooling was his.
Had you been living in those days, you'd
have heard his shrill, boyish treble up and
down the streets and lanes of the nearby
villages, crying, pots and pans to men, and
the people would bring out their old pots
and pans, and little John Bunyan would take
them to his father, and under his father's
expert care, those pots and pans were mended,
and thus the family was kept in food.
At the early age of 19, John Bunyan
got married.
He was a very brave man, not only
because he got married, but all he had,
as far as worldly possessions were concerned, were
but two spoons.
His wife was the proud possessor of two
books given to her by her father.
One was called The Plain Man's Pathway to
Heaven, and the other The Practice of Piety.
By this time, John Bunyan had forgotten the
little he had learned at school, but his
wife retaught him his letters, and here we
see the young couple sitting in the humble
cottage in the old chimney corner, and by
the light of the flickering fire, Mrs. Bunyan
is teaching her husband how to read, and
through the reading of these two excellent books,
John Bunyan received his first early impressions as
to eternal things, and he began to think
about God, think about his sins, think about
death, and what came after death.
Sunday in those far-off days was, as
it is today, a mixture of the grave
and the gay.
On Sunday morning, everyone in the village repaired
to the village church.
After the service was over, they returned to
their homes, and the afternoon was spent on
the ringleader in these games, but
one day when he attended divine service, there
was a strange minister in the pulpit, and
he spoke of the evils of using the
day that celebrates the rising from the dead
of our Lord Jesus as a day to
be devoted to mere sport and pleasure.
He preached so eloquently that John Bunyan was
moved.
As he sat there, he determined he would
not play any more on Sunday, but alas
for those good results, like mother's pie crusts
made only to be broken.
John Bunyan, after dinner, eased his conscience, went
out on the village green, and together with
his companions engaged in those sports and pastimes.
He was playing a game called cat, when
suddenly, as he took the bat in his
hand, he seemed to hear a voice from
heaven which said to him, John Bunyan, wilt
thou have thy sins and go to hell,
or wilt thou leave thy sins and go
to heaven?
John Bunyan said, I knew that God was
speaking to me, and without a word of
explanation to my friends, I left them, went
out into a field where I was all
alone.
As I thought of God, and as I
thought of my sins, and as I thought
of judgment, I was appalled.
But suddenly this thought came to me, seeing
I am already a sinner, and therefore doomed
to be eternally lost, I might just as
well be lost for many sins as for
a few sins.
So I determined then and there I would
go on in my evil ways, and thus
I shut my ears to the voice of
God, returned to my companions, and went on
with the game as though nothing had happened.
What a dreadful thing John Bunyan did, and
yet what he did is being done by
many today.
Perhaps there may be some in this audience
who have done the very same thing that
John Bunyan did.
You have heard the voice of God perhaps
through your Sunday school teacher, perhaps through the
reading of the Bible, perhaps through the singing
of some hymn, or the reading of some
gospel tract, or the kind word of a
faithful Christian friend.
What has been the effect of God's word
to you?
Has it brought you to know Christ as
your Savior, to repentance and faith in Christ?
Or, like John Bunyan, have you returned to
your sins?
You're going on as though God had never
spoken to you.
From now on, John Bunyan went from bad
to worse.
He became the ringleader in all the wickedness
of that village.
One day he was sitting outside an alehouse,
mingling dreadful profanity with his ungodly friends, when
a woman of evil reputation happened to pass
by, and listening to the bad language issuing
from John Bunyan's lips, she rebuked him and
said, John Bunyan, you're the worst young man
in this village, and if you continue the
way you're going on now, you'll soon have
the whole village as bad as yourself.
Shame on you, John Bunyan!
Shame on you!
And these words, coming from a woman of
that character, so shamed John Bunyan that he
determined he would turn over a new leaf
and become a better man.
And he did.
He attended divine service more regularly.
He repeated the responses with the best of
them.
He said his prayers.
He cut out a number of the sins,
the outward sins of his life, and everybody
remarked at the wonderful change that had come
over John Bunyan.
They thought he had become a Christian, but
alas, he had become nothing of the kind.
He had only turned over a new leaf,
but the old pages on which the record
of his sins were found were still there.
He had never been born again, and our
Savior said to one of the most religious
and moral men of his day, ye must
be born again, for except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God.
Turning over a new leaf will never atone
for the record of the sins in the
old leaves.
We need to be born again.
John Bunyan had the idea that many people
have today, and that is that if you
turn to certain nice prayers that we say,
good deeds that we do, religious rites and
forms and ceremonies to which we pass, religious
services that we attend, and good results that
we make, God in some way will be
more pleased with us, and save us because
of our good works.
That's what John Bunyan thought.
He had yet to learn that by grace
are ye saved through faith, not of works,
lest any man should boast.
To him that worketh not, but believeth on
him that justifieth the ungodly, this faith is
countenance to him for righteousness.
John Bunyan loved to ring the village bells
in the old Belfry Tower, but he thought
if I give this up maybe God will
be more pleased with me, more inclined to
be merciful toward me, and so he refrained
from joining his companions and ringing the bells.
But he used to stand at the door
looking longingly within, afraid to enter lest one
of those bells should fall from its hanging
and kill him on the spot.
But one day as he stood there this
thought came to him, supposing this whole tower
fell, then I'd be a goner, and so
no more Belfry Tower for John Bunyan.
Day by day and in every way, in
his own estimation and in the estimation of
his friends, he grew better and better and
better.
But alas, he tells us in the story
of his own life, during this period I
was nothing but a poor painted hypocrite.
All that I did and all that I
said, I said and did to be seen
and well spoken of by man.
I knew not God, I knew not Christ,
I did not have faith, I did not
have peace, I was not born again by
God's Holy Spirit.
But better days were to dawn for John
Bunyan.
One day as he was walking through the
streets of Bedford, crying as his tray demanded,
pots and pans to men, he came across
three ladies sitting outside a rather humble home,
speaking in a way such he had never
heard anyone speak before.
These ladies were speaking about a knowledge of
their sins forgiven.
They spoke of peace with God, of their
possession of eternal life, that God was their
Father, Christ their own Savior, and the Holy
Spirit their indwelling Comforter.
Christians their heaven-born, heaven-bound, heaven-bent
companions, and the celestial city as their eternal
home.
They spoke with assurance about these things, for
they based all that they believed on the
Word of God.
John Bunyan was astounded.
He had been brought up to believe that
no one could know that he was saved
until after he died, and then if his
good deeds outweighed his bad deeds, he'd go
to heaven.
If not, he'd be lost eternally.
But these ladies seemed to know that they
were saved by God's grace.
When they saw that John Bunyan was interested
in their conversation, they invited him to take
a seat, which he did, for John Bunyan
was quite willing to talk religion.
But these Christian women were not interested in
religion.
They were interested in Christ himself, and so
very soon they began to show John Bunyan
that all he had was a mere empty
profession, that he was not saved.
He was nothing but a poor, guilty sinner,
and what he needed more than anything else
was to be born again by the Spirit
of God, if he would ever see or
enter the kingdom of God.
After this conversation, John Bunyan returned home, said
to his wife, wife, bring me out the
Bible.
I've been listening to three women speaking in
a wonderful way, and they showed me from
the Bible that I was wrong, but perhaps
they have a different Bible to what I
have.
Bring out the Bible.
I noted down some of the scriptures, and
let's see if they're the same in my
Bible as in their Bible.
John Bunyan read his Bible, and as he
read that Bible, he discovered that those ladies
were right, and that he was wrong, and
the more he compared the Bible with what
those women had told him, the more he
became convinced that they were right, and that
he was wrong, and then God began to
deal with him about his sins.
Often at night, after the day's work was
over, John Bunyan and his wife would sit
together in the cottage, reading the pages of
Holy Scripture.
The entrance of thy word give it light.
It give it understanding to the simple, and
as John Bunyan read the book, more and
more he was brought to see the holiness
of God, and the dreadful character of sin,
and that he himself was a sinner, lost,
and guilty, and helpless, and hopeless, and deserving
only of eternal banishment from God's presence in
hell.
He now began to retire to his attic
upstairs, and there alone with the word of
God before him, he would be in an
agony of soul.
His one constant cry was, how can I,
a poor, lost, and guilty sinner, ever hope
to be acceptable to that holy God in
heaven, who hates sin, and must because of
his holy character visit his righteous judgment both
on sin and the sinner?
Oh, what must I do to be saved?
How can I know my sins were given?
How may I be at peace with God?
How can I be born again?
He now began to ask these ladies questions
that they couldn't answer.
John Bunyan was blessed with a very vivid
imagination, and what would have satisfied most folks
utterly failed to meet his need.
As fast as one question was answered, another
problem presented itself, and at last these ladies
said, John Bunyan, we cannot answer your questions,
but we know a man who knows far
more about the bible than we do, and
I'm sure he'll only be too glad to
be of all the help he possibly can
to you, and show you from the word
of God the way of salvation, and answer
your questions.
So they advised him to go to a
man named Mr. Gifford.
Mr. Gifford, at one time, had been a
major in the British army, a drunken, dissolute
wretch, but God had marvelously saved his soul,
put within his heart the love of souls,
and in the city of Bedford was a
little congregation of people known as non-conformists,
because they would not conform to the rules
and regulations of the Church of England, which
then was in power.
Accordingly, John Bunyan presented himself one day at
the home of Mr. Gifford, explained the purpose
of his visit, propounded some of his problems
and questions to this good man of God,
and under Mr. Gifford's able teaching, quite a
number of John Bunyan's difficulties were cleared up.
But, as we mentioned before, John Bunyan was
possessed of a most vivid imagination.
As fast as one difficulty was solved, he
would think up another.
You may read of these problems, and these
questions, and his experiences in the book that
he wrote, which is quite a classic.
It is called Grace Abounding to the Chief
of Sinners.
The more John Bunyan knew of God, the
more he realized how holy, and righteous, and
just God was, that to him all things
were open and naked, and that he hated
sin, and therefore must visit his judgment upon
sin and the sinner.
The more John Bunyan knew of this God,
the greater his distress of soul became, and
now, when the day's work was over, he
would go alone into a field, and he
would be in an agony of soul.
Thoughts of eternity crowded into his mind.
His one cry was, what must I do
to be saved?
He gladly would have exchanged his life for
that of a dog.
Sometimes he thought he was possessed by a
demon.
At other times, he was tempted to commit
suicide, but he was afraid to do this,
lest that should seal his eternal doom.
And so, not knowing what to do, and
not knowing the way of salvation, and blinded
by the God of this age, poor John
Bunyan walked to and fro in that field,
crying as though his heart would break.
Oh, what must I do to be saved?
Truly, there is no trouble like soul trouble.
God's Holy Spirit was dealing with John Bunyan,
putting him through a deep experience, so that
when John Bunyan ultimately was delivered into the
glorious liberty of the children of God, he
became a great power for God because of
the experiences to which he had passed.
One day, the thought came to John Bunyan,
you have committed the unpardonable sin.
And now, poor John Bunyan was in the
very depth of despair.
But one day, he saw an old Christian.
He thought, I'll unburden my heart to him.
He's been on the road a long while.
He knows far more about the Bible than
I do.
Perhaps he will help me.
So, he seated himself beside the old Christian
and told him all his troubles, and finally
wound up by saying, I'm afraid I've committed
the unpardonable sin.
What do you think?
And instead of that Christian being a help
to him, all he did was to agree
that perhaps John Bunyan had done that very
thing, and that therefore there was no hope
of salvation for him.
Truly, vain is the help of man.
John Bunyan early learned that only God can
give deliverance, and only the word of God
can answer all the questions that arise in
the human heart.
Of course, John Bunyan had not committed the
unpardonable sin.
No one who has committed that sin suspects
for one moment he has done it.
He's utterly indifferent to spiritual realities.
Sometime after this, John Bunyan was in the
kitchen reading his Bible, when suddenly he turned
to his wife and said, wife, where is
that scripture in the New Testament which says,
ye are come unto Jesus?
His wife wrinkled her brow, I'm sure I
don't know, John Bunyan.
Well, I must find it out.
I can't go out today, my distress of
soul is so great.
And so, sitting in that kitchen, John Bunyan
found his way through the New Testament, for
he had no concordance, and presently he came
to the verse that he was looking for.
It was in the epistle of the Hebrews.
Ye are come unto Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of
Abel.
And as John Bunyan read those words, it
seemed as though a flood of light shone
into his soul.
He saw now that Christ, through the precious
blood he had shed upon that cross, had
satisfied all God's claims against John Bunyan's sins.
His death had atoned for his guilt.
All that was left for him to do
was to rest in the work that Christ
did, the work with which God was so
perfectly satisfied he had raised him from the
dead.
And so, sitting in that kitchen, John Bunyan
took his place as a lost and guilty
sinner, rested in Christ for salvation, and he
tells us in the story of his life,
I could not sleep that night for joy.
The joy of the knowledge that my sins
were all forgiven, that I was a child
of God, that I was at peace with
God, that I was a possessor of eternal
life, and God's precious word assured me of
my possession of these things.
But John Bunyan had many doubts, even after
this experience.
Some days he would be up, some days
he would be down, some days he would
think he was saved because he felt so
happy, and other times he was doubtful because
he felt so sad.
Up and down, up and down.
But one day, as he was crossing the
field, he tells us, this sentence fell upon
my soul, thy righteousness is in heaven.
And, said Bunyan, with the eye of my
soul, I like that, with the eye of
my soul, I saw that the Lord Jesus
in heaven was my righteousness, my peace, my
life, my hope, my all in all, that
my good feelings did not make my righteousness
any better, and my bad feelings did not
make my righteousness any worse.
My righteousness was in the person who was
the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And, said Bunyan, when I realized this, my
doubts dissolved just as the mist dissolves before
the morning sun, and I was delivered, brought
into the full assurance of faith.
And now John Bunyan began, in his own
simple, untutored passion, to preach the gospel of
God's grace.
And where did he preach?
In the very city, the streets of which
had echoed and re-echoed with his drunken
brawlings and his blasphemy.
And as he stood there in the open
air, carrying out the story of Jesus and
his love, of a dying Savior's love and
a risen Savior's power, and a coming Savior's
glory, people were amazed.
Who is this preaching taper?
Boys and girls loved to come and listen
to him, for John Bunyan didn't use any
long, unpronounceable words.
He didn't know any.
He confined himself to simple English words that
everyone understood, and he became well known in
that area.
Rich and learned people came out to hear
him, and the poor people heard him gladly.
Here, then, we see John Bunyan preaching the
gospel of the grace of God, telling poor
lost and guilty sinners of the wonderful love
of Christ, seen in his death upon the
cross for their sins.
And God used him, and he had the
joy of seeing quite a number brought to
know Christ as their Savior through the ministry
of the word of God.
But he still continued to mend pots and
pans.
Had you inquired, John Bunyan, what is your
business?
He would have replied, my business is to
preach the gospel, and I mend pots and
pans to pay expenses.
And as he mended those pots and pans,
he would have a little word to those
who stood around.
And thus, his gift which God had given
him of expounding the word of God increased,
as it always does, through use.
He would go from house to house calling
pots and pans to men, and everywhere he
went, he would leave a little message of
the gospel.
When some lady would hand him a pot
that was utterly past mending, with a smile
he would return it to her, saying, I'm
sorry, madam, I can't do anything with that
pot.
It's past redemption.
It's like the sinner, lost, guilty, helpless, and
hopeless.
What God wants is a new creation in
Christ Jesus, and madam, you need to get
a new pot.
And thus, he would leave that message everywhere
he went.
In the open air, he was seen at
his best.
Here we see him proclaiming the good news
of the glorious grace of God as found
in Christ Jesus.
Look at that woman there, awakened through the
preaching of the word of God, like an
arrow from the bow of God.
It's gone to her soul.
God is stripping her of the filthy rags
of her self-righteousness, revealing to her the
dreadful fact that she's a sinner, lost and
guilty, needing to be saved by God's grace.
But, in the days in which John Bunyan
lived, there was a law to the effect
that no one should be allowed to preach
except in a building licensed for that purpose.
Moreover, no one should be allowed to preach
unless he had been licensed for that purpose
by the high church party.
John Bunyan didn't bother himself where he preached,
nor did he bother about a license.
He had his orders from the commander-in
-chief, his Lord and Savior, who had said,
Go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature.
And so, in obedience to his Lord and
Master, John Bunyan went wherever the door was
open, wherever there was an opportunity to proclaim
the good news of God's redeeming grace.
John Bunyan took advantage of that, and preached.
And God accompanied the preaching of that word
with signs following in the shape of souls
being saved.
He was stripping her of the filthy rags
of her self-righteousness, revealing to her the
dreadful fact that she's a sinner, lost and
guilty, needing to be saved by God's grace.
But, in the days in which John Bunyan
lived, there was a law to the effect
that no one should be allowed to preach
except in a building licensed for that purpose.
Moreover, no one should be allowed to preach
unless he had been licensed for that purpose
by the high church party.
John Bunyan didn't bother himself where he preached,
nor did he bother about a license.
He had his orders from the commander-in
-chief, his Lord and Savior, who had said,
throw ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature.
And so, in obedience to his Lord and
Master, John Bunyan went wherever the door was
open, wherever there was an opportunity to proclaim
the good news of God's redeeming grace.
John Bunyan took advantage of that, and preached.
And God accompanied the preaching of that word
with signs following in the shape of souls
being saved.
But, this brought him into suspicion and disrepute
with the authorities.
They would see him going on one of
these preaching missions, and say, there goes that
preaching taker.
There he goes, preaching in buildings that haven't
been licensed for that purpose, preaching in kitchens
and barns and the open air, preaching without
a license.
Let's get the police on his track.
So, they informed the police.
And the police, in turn, secured a writ
for his arrest.
John Bunyan was warned that the police were
after him.
It was rumored he would go to preach
in a little village called Samson, in the
home of a father.
His friends came to him and said, John
Bunyan, if you go to Samson, we feel
sure that you'll be arrested, and brought to
trial, and perhaps tended to a term of
imprisonment.
What are you going to do?
John Bunyan said, I'm going to go to
Samson.
I'm going to preach the gospel as God
has bidden me, cost what it may.
And so, the memorable Samson meeting began.
In the farmer's dining room, behind an improvised
pulpit, John Bunyan opened his Bible and read
his text.
Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
As he began to preach on that text,
suddenly there was an interruption.
The door opened.
In walked a police, a constable, with a
warrant for his arrest.
Placing his hand upon John Bunyan's shoulder, he
said, John Bunyan, I arrest you in the
name of the king.
What is your charge, inquired John Bunyan.
And the charge was read.
It read something like this.
John Bunyan, laborer of Bedford, has maliciously, and
perniciously, and devilishly persisted in absenting himself from
divine service.
Furthermore, he has maliciously, and perniciously, and devilishly
persisted in preaching in buildings not licensed for
that purpose.
Furthermore, he has maliciously, and perniciously, and maliciously
preached without a license, to the no small
consternation of his majesty's good subjects, and the
breaking of the laws of our sovereign Lord
the King.
And on that charge, John Bunyan was taken
away from the midst of that gospel service,
and brought before Justice Wingate.
Think of it.
In the middle of a gospel service, for
the crime merely of having a purpose firm,
and daring to make that purpose known, John
Bunyan was arrested and brought to trial.
Why don't these things take place today in
this country?
For the very good reason that men like
John Bunyan have paid in terms of blood
and sweat and tears, and secured for us
this liberty that we now enjoy in this
country.
Let us thank God for the noble army
of martyrs who love not their lives unto
death, and who would rather have a clear
conscience before God than enjoy their liberty amongst
men.
Here is the warrant for John Bunyan's arrest.
Those various seals around are the seals of
the Justices of Peace that made that document
legal.
And thus, in Great Britain, nearly 300 years
ago, John Bunyan was arrested for preaching the
gospel of the grace of God.
He was brought before Justice Wingate, who said
to him, look here, John Bunyan, I don't
want to be hard on you.
I understand you're a good husband to your
wife, a good father to your children, and
you're a good tinker.
Why don't you keep to your tinkering?
Why bother about this preaching business?
I'll tell you what I'll do.
If you promise to give up preaching, and
from now on confine yourself to tinkering, I'll
let you go.
But if you don't, I have no other
course than to commit you to the assignment,
which will meet in six weeks' time, and
you probably then will receive a term of
imprisonment with hard labor.
What's it going to be, John Bunyan?
Tinkering?
Preaching?
Or prison?
John Bunyan answered, as long as God gives
me grace, I shall preach the gospel of
his grace wherever I have the opportunity.
So John Bunyan was committed to the assignment.
Six weeks afterwards, he faced Judge Keeley on
the king's bench.
Without being allowed a single witness in his
defense, John Bunyan was savagely condemned by Judge
Keeley, who said, John Bunyan, you have persisted
in preaching in buildings not licensed for that
purpose.
You have persisted in preaching without a license
from the church party.
I therefore sentence you to nine months in
prison with hard labor, at the end of
which you'll be transported from this country to
another country, and if you dare return without
a special license from the king, you'll hang
by the neck.
Jailor, take him away.
As the jailor laid his hand upon John
Bunyan's shoulder, John Bunyan said in a clear
voice, heard by all in that courtroom, Judge
Keeley, if I had my liberty tomorrow, I
would preach the gospel of the grace of
God.
And with those brave words echoing and re
-echoing through that courthouse, John Bunyan was led
away to Bedford jail.
This prison was situated on the middle of
the bridge that crossed the river Ouse in
the city of Bedford.
And there, for the next 12 years of
his life, John Bunyan was a prisoner in
Bedford jail.
Think of it.
Some of you girls and boys are not
12 years of age.
Longer than you have lived, John Bunyan spent
that time behind the walls of that prison,
all because he had dared to have a
purpose firm, and dared to make that purpose
known, all because he had dared to obey
God rather than man.
So, he paid in terms of suffering, and
privation, and loss for his christened experience.
Someone as wealthy, our christened experience is worth
to us what it costs us.
Remember that at this time, John Bunyan was
married and had a family.
His eldest girl was born blind.
And oh, how he loved that little sightless
girl, and how she in turn loved her
father, whom she had never seen.
And here we see John Bunyan parting from
that little girl, never knowing whether it would
be the last time he would see her.
And then the door of the cell clanged,
and he was left alone.
John Bunyan, a prisoner, for Christ's sake.
Perhaps some of you girls and boys may
be wondering, how did Mrs. Bunyan and her
family live while the wage earner, the breadwinner,
was behind those prison bars?
The same God who gives the birds of
the air their nests, and feeds them daily,
and clothes the lily of the field, fed
and clothed John Bunyan and his wife and
family during those twelve long years that the
father and the husband was behind those prison
walls.
John Bunyan helped to earn his living in
that prison by making shoelaces.
His wife and family were allowed to visit
him at times, and sometimes the cell in
which she was kept was occupied by 14
or 15 of the worst characters in Great
Britain.
And John Bunyan took advantage of this to
preach the gospel of the grace of God
to those wicked men, and who knows how
many of them, through the hearing of faith,
were brought to a knowledge of the Son
of God, whom to know is life eternal.
Perhaps some of you may be wondering, why
did God allow John Bunyan to go to
prison?
Do you think it was a good thing
that John Bunyan was allowed to go to
prison?
Why, of course it was.
If it hadn't been a good thing, all
the king's horses and all the king's men
could never have put John Bunyan in that
prison cell.
God said, is it worth it, John Bunyan?
Bunyan?
Yes, Lord.
I want you to come with me into
the university of Bedford jail.
I want you to bring your Bible with
you, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, and a concordance
to find texts in the Bible.
And while you are there, I want you
to so keep in touch with me, so
live for my glory, so study your Bible
that you will be enabled to write a
book which you couldn't possibly have time to
write while you were busily engaged preaching from
place to place.
And so, in obedience to God's call, John
Bunyan came into the university of Bedford jail.
And here we see him pleading with God,
reading his Bible, learning from that holy, precious
book, the deep things of God.
And it was while he was in this
prison cell that he wrote the immortal allegory,
The Pilgrim's Progress.
Surely God's purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every
hour.
The bud may have a bitter taste, but
sweet will be the flower.
While the enemies of John Bunyan were chuckling
with unholy glee and saying, we've silenced the
voice of that tinker preacher, God, sitting in
heaven, John Bunyan was also laughing, saying, yes,
I've got John Bunyan exactly where I want
him.
I've got him in the place where he
can do far more good in proclaiming the
gospel and spreading the good news abroad than
ever he could while he had his liberty.
John Bunyan, the immortal dreamer in his prison
cell.
Truly, walls are not a prison make, nor
iron bars a cage, when those walls enclose,
and those bars encage one whom the Son
of God has made free.
Ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free, said our Lord Jesus.
And he added, if the Son shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed.
And so John Bunyan, in that prison cell,
wrote this wonderful story we are to consider
for the next few nights.
The story of The Pilgrim's Progress, written in
the form of a dream.
It was not the result of a dream,
but it's written as though John Bunyan was
having a dream.
In my dream I saw this, in my
dream I saw that.
You'll find these words occurring quite frequently in
The Pilgrim's Progress.
Under these depressing circumstances, in that lonely prison
cell, John Bunyan, alone with God, penned this
masterpiece of English literature which God has so
mightily used during the years that have followed
its publication.
The Pilgrim's Progress.
In his vision, he saw a man starting
out from home with a great big burden
on his back, until he came to a
place where he saw someone hanging in agony
and blood upon a cross, bearing his sins
and dying in his state.
And lo, the burden fell from off his
back as he trusted in that Savior who
loved him and gave himself for him.
And then John Bunyan follows the adventures of
that pilgrim from the time he loses that
burden, passing onward and upward and homeward until
at last he reaches the river of death.
Crossing that river, he goes through the gates
of splendor into the celestial city where all
is joy and peace.
That, in brief, is the story of The
Pilgrim's Progress.
Here is the title page of the first
edition of Pilgrim's Progress, published in 1678.
Note the old English.
The Pilgrim's Progress, from this world to that
which is to come, delivered under the similitude
of a dream, and then the name of
Nathaniel Ponder, the printer, and under the sign
of the peacock in the poultry near Cornhill,
London, 1678.
And, by the way, if you happen to
have a copy of the first edition of
The Pilgrim's Progress, let me congratulate you.
You are worth approximately $50,000, for that's
what any good book lover will give you
if you have a real genuine first edition
copy of The Pilgrim's Progress.
Here is the scene outside Nathaniel Ponder's bookstore
under the sign of the peacock in the
poultry.
The popularity of this book was immediate, and
before John Bunyan died, ten years afterwards, over
100,000 copies of this book had been
sold in Great Britain alone.
And that was a wonderful thing, because not
too many people in Great Britain at that
time could read.
Mrs. Bunyan made many attempts to secure the
release of her husband.
She made many journeys to London, talked to
the Lord Chief Justice of England about the
injustice being done to her husband, but nothing
seemed to be done about the matter until
a Quaker by the name of Carver came
into the presence of Charles II of England,
and looking at him intently, the king inquired,
what are you looking like that at me
for?
Don't you recognize me, inquired Mr. Carver?
I never saw you before, replied the king.
Well, I've seen you.
Where did you see me, inquired the king?
And Carver said, you remember when you had
to flee from this country at the time
of the revolution, when your father was beheaded?
Yes.
You remember someone carried you on his shoulders
to a boat, which took you to a
ship, which in turn landed you in France?
Yes.
But I was the man who carried you
on my shoulder.
What do you want, inquired the king?
Well, I did you a favor when you
were in need.
I want you to do me a favor.
And what is that favor?
I want you to open the prison doors
and allow these non-conformists to come out.
They are good men.
They've done nothing to deserve imprisonment.
The king said, I will consider your petition.
And shortly afterwards, the prison doors opened and
those non-conformists imprisoned for conscience sake were
allowed to come forth from the prison, including,
of course, John Bunyan.
He now occupied this house, which is still
standing in the little village of Elstow.
I visited that little house, entered that door,
said to the lady inside, it must be
a wonderful thing for you to live in
the same house as John Bunyan lived.
Yes, she replied, it is.
I then asked, do you know the same
savior that John Bunyan knew?
Do you know him as your own savior?
All she replied was, well, I hope so.
My, what a pity.
Living in the house that John Bunyan lived
in, in which he wrote the second part
of the Pilgrim's Progress on the Holy War,
and yet did not know his savior as
her own personal savior.
This is one of the many chapels in
which John Bunyan preached.
Zoar Chapel in South Ark, London.
Often at six o'clock in the morning,
John Bunyan would preach in that chapel, and
workmen would get up extra early in order
to have the opportunity of listening to John
Bunyan before they went to their work.
Uptimes, that place was crowded, and many, many
precious souls were brought to know Christ as
their savior through the impassioned preaching on the
part of John Bunyan.
Owen, one of the great Puritan divines, said,
I wish I had that man's mind.
I wish I knew my Bible as John
Bunyan did.
I wish I could preach as he.
Yes, when God takes a man, and that
man is wholly yielded to God, then God
can use that man to the glory of
his name, and the blessing of the unsaved,
and the building up of his own dear
people.
Here are some scenes concerned with John Bunyan's
early life.
There is the Moot Hall, still standing on
the village green, where John Bunyan heard that
voice from heaven.
Down below is the old church building and
the tower, and the tower is still standing.
It hasn't fallen.
These, of course, are only of interest as
they concern John Bunyan.
The village of Elstow and the town of
Bedford is only known because, in those two
places, John Bunyan's life was lived, and the
message of the gospel came from him.
Here's the old church.
When I visited there, I looked in the
registry and saw in crabbed handwriting the name
of a baby that was born in 1628.
John Bunyan was his name.
Little did that clerk of that church realize,
as he penned that name, he was putting
down the most illustrious authors whom God has
so greatly used in the years that have
passed.
Here are some of the relics of John
Bunyan, the pulpit behind which he preached, the
chair on which he sat, and some other
interesting objects all associated with that Tinker of
Bedford.
In the Bedford Memorial Church in Bedford, you
will see the actual cell door behind which
John Bunyan spent those 12 long years, a
prisoner of the Lord Jesus.
There's that famous chair on which he sat,
perhaps the chair on which he sat as
he wrote the Holy War, which is an
even greater allegory than the Pilgrim's Progress.
How wonderful to think that God took that
man whom the world despised and rejected, and
put behind the prison bars, and used him
so mightily to his glory.
Sixteen years after John Bunyan's release, a young
boy ran away from home, went to London
to make his fortune, but discovered when he
arrived in that city that he lost three
things.
First, he lost his breakfast.
Second, his dinner.
Third, his supper.
He had a Christian father and mother who
loved God, and who read the Word, and
who kept him in order.
And this young man, as he wandered up
and down the streets of that city, finally
went to Mr. Bunyan and said, Mr. Bunyan,
will you please go back to my father?
Tell him I'm sorry I ran away from
home, and will you please take me back
again?
John Bunyan, whose heart was as big as
his body, said, why sure.
And so he mounted his horse, made a
special journey to his boy's father, saw to
it that the father and mother were willing
to receive back again their boy, and on
his way back from that errand of mercy,
he was overtaken in a rainstorm, soaked through
the skin, contracted a cold which resulted in
something far more serious, and soon the news
was spread throughout Great Britain.
John Bunyan is dying.
His friends that came to see him stood
beside, his bedside wept, and as John Bunyan
saw them weeping, he said, weep not for
me, I am going to be with my
Savior who loved me, who gave himself for
me, enter that fair celestial city.
And with words like this upon his lips,
John Bunyan, the immortal dreamer, went to be
with Christ, which is far better, where there
are no more dreams, but where all is
glorious reality.
Here is a tomb underneath which lies the
body of John Bunyan.
It's in Bunhill Field Cemetery in London, the
non-conformist cemetery.
Not far from this tomb is the grave
of Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles
Wesley.
A little bit to the right is the
tomb of Isaac Watts, who wrote that lovely
hymn, When I Surveyed the Wondrous Cross.
Now, John Bunyan is not buried here.
All that is buried beneath that tomb is
the body of John Bunyan.
John Bunyan is with Christ, which is very,
very far better.
This tomb is visited by thousands of people
who go to see the grave of one
of England's most famous citizens.
Here is a statue of John Bunyan in
the heart of the city of Bedford.
It shows him with his eyes looking toward
heaven.
The best of books is in his hand.
The world is behind his back.
He stands as though he fled with men.
The immortal dreamer, author of The Pilgrim's Progress.
For this monument, like all other monuments made
by man, will crumple and fall.
The greatest monument in the memory of John
Bunyan is the book that he wrote, that
lives in the hearts of thousands of men
and women and girls and boys who, through
the reading of its pages, have been brought
to realize their lost and guilty state, have
come as such to the Lord Jesus, the
Son of God, who loved them and gave
himself for them, have received him by faith
as their Savior, have owned him as the
Lord of their life, have lived their lives
to his glory.
The Pilgrim's Progress in the similitude of a
dream.
The next time we come together, we shall
consider the actual story itself, see a man
starting out from his home with a great
burden on his back, and we shall follow
his adventures as he loses that burden and
goes on his way upward, homeward, and heavenward
to the celestial city.
May he bless his word to our hearts
for his name's