Pilgrim's Progress

by John Bunyan

three Shining Ones came to me. One of them declared that my sins were forgiven; another stripped off my rags and gave me this embroidered coat I’m wearing; and the third set the mark you see upon my forehead and gave me this sealed scroll.”

Drie-eenheid?

We won’t be doomed to death or life according to the boastful spirits of the world but according to the wisdom and law of the Highest. “With this in mind, I focused on the fact that what God says is indeed best. It doesn’t matter if all the men in the world are against it. So seeing that God prefers his religion, seeing that God prefers a tender conscience, seeing that those who make themselves fools for the kingdom of heaven are wisest, and that the poor man who loves Christ is richer than the greatest man in the world who hates him, I turned to Shame and said, ‘Depart, you who are an enemy to my salvation.

First, when the grace of God dwells in the heart, it causes a great outcry against sin. Secondly–” “No, hold on.” Faithful stopped him. “Let’s consider each item one at a time. To make it clear, I think you should have said that it shows itself by persuading the soul to abhor its sin.” A slight frown wrinkled Talkative’s brow. “Why, what difference is there between crying out against and abhorring sin?” “Oh, a great deal!” Faithful said. “A man may cry out against sin in principle, but he cannot abhor it except by virtue of a godly aversion against it. I have heard many cry out against sin in the pulpit but who still live with it without any problem in their heart, house, and everyday life.

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“When Christ said, ‘Do you know all these things?’ and the disciples answered, ‘Yes,’ he added, ‘Blessed are you if you do them.’ He doesn’t lay the blessing in the knowing of them, but in the doing of them. You see there is a knowledge that is not accompanied with doing. Such a person is ‘he who knows his Master’s will and doesn’t do it.’ “A man may have knowledge like an angel and yet not be Christian. So your sign of knowledge as evidence is not valid. Indeed, to know is a thing that pleases talkers and boasters, but to do is what pleases God. Not that the heart can be good without knowledge. However, there are two sorts of knowledge: knowledge based on the bare speculation of things, and knowledge which is accompanied with the grace of faith and love, which compels a man to do the will of God from the heart. The first serves the talker; but without the other, the true Christian is not content.

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“A true work of grace at work in the heart is evident to the person himself as well as to the people around him. To the one who has it, it brings conviction of sin, especially the defilement of his new nature and the sin of unbelief for which he would be damned if it weren’t for the mercy at God’s hand by faith in Jesus Christ. “This perspective and sense of these things work in him a sorrow and shame for sin. (For I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin. – Psalm 38:18) Plus, he finds the Savior of the world revealed in him, along with the absolute necessity of living for and with Him to the end of life. Through this he discovers a hunger and thirst for Him who has made the promise. “Now, according to the strength or weakness of his faith in his Savior, so is the joy and peace he experiences. And so is his love of holiness, his desire to know Him more and also to serve Him in this world. But though it reveals itself in this way, yet because of a person’s own corruption and abused reason, they misjudge this matter, for they are unable to understand this work of grace. For this reason, the one who has this work going on in their heart is required to use very sound judgment before he can firmly conclude that this is a work of grace. (We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may...

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Perhaps he will think about it again. But even if he doesn’t, I have spoken clearly with him about these matters, so if he perishes without the truth, I am innocent of his blood.”

I can only say this, that for true worship of God there is a divine faith required, but there can be no divine faith without a divine revelation of the will of God. Therefore, anything added into the worship of God that is not in agreement with divine revelation is nothing but human faith, a faith that will not result in eternal life.

For when the flesh alone controls a man, that man has no faith to help him resist selling his birthright and his soul to the devil of hell. For such a person is similar to the ass, who in her periods of heat cannot be made to change direction; when their minds are set upon their lusts, they will have them, whatever they cost. (A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her passion. In the time of her heat who can turn her away? All who seek her will not become weary; in her month they will find her. – Jer. 2:24)

“I also thought about things this way: If a man runs up a hundred dollar debt at a local shop and after that pays cash for everything else he buys, his old debt still stands in the book unsettled.

“I offered my objections as to why I should not believe, because I thought this Christ was not willing to save me.” “And what did Faithful say to you then?” A smile tugged at the corner of Hopeful’s mouth. “He urged me to go to Him and find out for myself. But I said it was presumptuous to do so. Faithful said it wasn’t because I was invited to come. (Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. – Matt. 11:28)

Hopeful said, “Why, Jesus Christ is so hid in God from the natural understanding of the flesh that he cannot be savingly known by any man, unless God the Father reveals him to the man.”

Hopeful’s head bobbed his agreement. “I do believe, as you say, that fear tends to benefit men and to make them right at the beginning of their pilgrimage and to prompt them to go the right way.” Christian grew enthusiastic. “Without a doubt this is what happens, if it is the right fear. For the Word says the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7). “How would you describe right fear?” Hopeful asked. “I’d say you can know that it is true or right fear based on three things: By its arousal. It is caused by conviction of sin. It drives the soul to believe in Christ for salvation. It gives birth to and maintains in the soul a great reverence of God, his Word, and his ways. So this soul is kept tender by making it afraid to turn to the right or left from these affections to anything that may dishonor God, break its peace, grieve the Spirit, or cause the enemy to speak of God with reproach.”

“Now, the ignorant generally don’t know that such convictions of sin tend to cause them to fear and is for their good. Therefore they seek to stifle them.” “In what ways do they seek to stifle them?” Hopeful asked. “There are four ways: “They think that those fears are created by the Devil, though in fact they are truly from God. In thinking this way they resist them as things that would cause their defeat. “They also think that these fears tend to spoil their faith when, even though as deluded poor men, they do not have any faith at all. Therefore they harden their hearts against them. “They presume they should not have fears and therefore, in spite of them, they put on a vain show of confidence. “They see that those fears tend to strip away their pathetic displays of self-righteousness, and therefore they resist them with all their might.”

“Very well,” Hopeful said. “In my judgment, I see four reasons for it: “Though the consciences of such men are awakened, yet their minds are not changed. Therefore, when the power of guilt diminishes, the very thing that provoked them to be religious ceases to have any effect. For this reason, they naturally turn to their former course again. We see the same reaction with a dog that is sick and vomits up what he has eaten. So long as his sickness prevails, he vomits and throws up everything in his stomach. Not that he does this of a free mind (if we may say a dog has a mind), but rather because of his troubling stomach. “However, when his sickness passes and his stomach feels better, he turns around and licks up all his vomit and so what is written is true: A dog returns to its own vomit (2 Peter 2:22). Now, I say a person may be enthusiastic about heaven, but only because they sense and fear the torments of hell. But as their sense and fear of damnation chills and cools, in the same way their desires for heaven and salvation cool also. So then it comes to pass that when their guilt and fear are gone, their desires for heaven and happiness die, and they return to their former course in life again. “Another reason is this. They have mindless fears that overwhelm them. I’m talking about fears they have of men, now. ‘For the fear of man brings a snare.’ (The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. – Prov. 29:25) So then, though they seem to ...

Reasons for backsliding

“Now that I have shown you the reason for their backsliding I ask that you show me the modus of his falling away.” Hopeful gestured to Christian to continue. “I will do so most willingly,” Christian said and started to make his points one at a time, counting them off on his fingers. “They draw most of their thoughts from the remembrance of God, death, and judgment to come. “Then they gradually neglect private duties such as personal prayer, curbing their lusts, watchfulness, sorrow for sin, and the like. “Then they shun the company of lively and whole-hearted Christians. “After that, they grow cold to public duty, such as conscientious listening, reading of the Word, godly corporate gathering, and the like. “They then begin to find fault or pick holes, as we say, in the lives of some of the godly, so that they may claim religion is stained based on some weaknesses they have noticed in these believers, and they then justify putting religion behind their backs. “Then they begin to adhere to and associate with carnal, immoral, and unrestrained men. “They give way to carnal and depraved conversations in secret, and they are glad if they can find similar practices in any who are considered reputable, for these hypocrites encourage them to be all the more bold. “After this they begin to play with little sins openly. “And then, being hardened, they show themselves as they are. Therefore, being flung again into the gulf of misery, unless a miracle of grace prevents it, they eterna...

How people fall away

The righteousness of His godliness gives power to our obedience, and the righteousness of His humanity allows His obedience to justify, and the righteousness that joins His two natures provides the authority to perform the work for which it was ordained. “So then, there is a righteousness of which Christ, as God, has no need. For without it, He is God. There is a righteousness that Christ, as man, has no need of because He is perfect man without it. Again, there is a righteousness of which Christ, as God-man, does not need Himself because He is God without it. “There is also a righteousness that Christ, as God, and as God-man, has no need of for Himself, and therefore He can spare it for us and gives this justifying righteousness freely. For this reason, it is called the gift of righteousness. Since Christ Jesus the Lord is by the law God, this righteousness must be given away. For the law not only binds those who are under it to act in conformity to the law, but also to do so in love.

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“And can you tell me who saved you?” James nodded and said, “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.” “That is still a good answer, but can you tell me how God the Father saved you?” “By his grace,” James said. “And how does God the Son save you?” she asked. “By his righteousness, death and blood, and life.” “And how does God the Holy Ghost save you?” she asked. “By his enlightening of understanding through knowledge, by his renewing, and by his salvation.”

“And why would you want to go to heaven?” “So that I may see God, and serve him without weariness.” Samuel’s eyes focused on Prudence. “And so I may see Christ, and love him forever, and that I may have the fullness of the Holy Spirit in me which I can’t fully enjoy here in this world.”

“No fears, no grace. Though there isn’t always grace where there is the fear of hell, you can be sure there is no grace where there is no fear of God.”