Journey of Christian from City of Destruction to the Celestial City

1. Pursued by Obstinate and Pliable

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 Credits
 These Pilgrim’s Progress Presentations are as a result of Bible Studies I did at my home church in Moose
Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. The only thing I ask is that when you use them to present to others, that you
give the Good Lord credit through my name (Michal Lopianowski).
 Τhe version of Pilgrim's Progress I am using is the one by Barry Horner
 Most of the text in the presentations, if it is not sited on the page itself, comes from Barry Horner’s
Commentary on the Pilgrim’s Progress from his website: www.bunyanministries.org
 The comic snippets come from CREATOR ART STUDIO, published by KINGSTONE Comics at
www.kingstonemedia.com
 Any place where I mention Maltese Website as a reference, the material was taken from
www.lavvanztalpellegrin.com; which no longer seems to be working
 Other pictures are from www.garretttaylor.com and illustrations from Mike Wimmer
 As I complete more presentations I will be putting them on line; usually in the winter months

4.  The world pursues its sons.
 Obstinate and Pliable, set out intending to bring Christian
back, by force if necessary.
 This scene may recall Lot's departure from Sodom (Gen. 19:1-29).
 V14 in particular – Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who
were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for
the LORD will destroy the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law
to be jesting.

5. • Obstinate and Pliable are portraits of classes.
 Together with Christian, they constitute the
representatives of most of the hearers of the Gospel,
and of the manner in which they receive it;
 Represented in which Parable of Jesus?
 The Parable of the Sower
 (Matt 13:1-23, Mk 4:1-20, Lk 8:4-20)

6. • Four different responses to the seed that is sown:
 Wayside response – unbelief
 Rocky ground response – belief but not rooted in the Word
 Thorny ground response – belief but failure to overcome
 Good ground response – belief, rooted in the Word,
conquering the spiritual warfare and reproducing
 Classify Obstinate and Pliable at end of presentation

7.  He is unyielding concerning worldly loyalty.
 "What! And leave our friends and our comforts behind us!"

8.  He is belittling concerning the Word of God
 Trust in wisdom of this world, which is foolishness with God
 1 Cor 3:19 - For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.
 Examples of God's "Foolishness" in the Bible:
 Creation in 7 days including Adam and Eve

9. • From a sample of 260 students surveyed

10.  He is belittling concerning the Word of God
 Trust in wisdom of this world, which is foolishness with God
 1 Cor 3:19 - For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.
 Examples of God's "Foolishness" in the Bible:
 Creation in 7 days including Adam and Eve
 Noah's Ark

11. • From a sample of 260 students surveyed

12.  He is belittling concerning the Word of God
 Trust in wisdom of this world, which is foolishness with God
 1 Cor 3:19 - For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.
 Examples of God's "Foolishness" in the Bible:
 Creation in 7 days including Adam and Eve
 Noah's Ark
 Moses parting the Red Sea
 The Walls of Jericho falling down
 Samson and his long hair
 Jonah and the Whale
 Daniel and the Lion's Den
 Baby Jesus

13. • From a sample of 260 students surveyed

14.  He is belittling concerning the Word of God
 Trust in wisdom of this world, which is foolishness with God
 1 Cor 3:19 - For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.
 Examples of God's "Foolishness" in the Bible:
 Creation in 7 days including Adam and Eve
 Noah's Ark
 Moses parting the Red Sea
 The Walls of Jericho falling down
 Samson and his long hair
 Jonah and the Whale
 Daniel and the Lion's Den
 Baby Jesus
 The Resurrection

15. He is abusive concerning Christian's resolve.
• Coxcombs - in the olden days was a jester's cap
• They were professional fools!
 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can
answer sensibly. Prov 26:16 (ESV)

16. • Unconverted, yet determined
• Pilgrim seems to have received a measure of
"prevenient grace"
 the particular grace of God that precedes conversion
 Enables him to bravely withstand satanic discouragement,
though he possesses only a limited knowledge of the Word of
God.
 John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who
sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

17. • Spurgeon preached a sermon in 1865 entitled
Prevenient Grace based upon Gal 1:15 in which he
declared:
 “Prevenient grace comes before regeneration and
conversion. I think we sometimes overlook it. We do not
attach enough importance to the grace of God in its
dealings with men before he actually brings them to
himself. Paul said that God had designs of love towards
him even before he had called him out of the dead
world into spiritual life.”

18. • For the first time, our traveler is now called "Christian,"
and that well before his conversion at the Wicket-gate.
• What then is Bunyan's intention here?

19. • The name of "Christian" given to "Graceless" before his conversion is a reflection
of Bunyan's own experience, namely that, like many today, he regarded himself
as a Christian in a nominal sense, as did others, even though he was in fact not
a biblical Christian.
• This is based on his pre-conversion church involvement as described in "Grace
Abounding."
• Such activity included attending church twice a day, veneration of ceremony, bell
ringing, self-reformation including abstinence from swearing and dancing.
• Bunyan explains: "I fell into some outward reformation, both in my words and life,
and did set the commandments before me for my way to heaven; . . . Thus I
continued about a year; all which time our neighbors did take me to be a very
godly man, a new and religious man, . . . though yet I knew not Christ, nor grace,
nor faith, nor hope."

20.  He is a pilgrim seeking superior heavenly glory.
 Rom 8:18 - For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be
revealed to us.
• This is a fundamental principle of Bunyan in The
Pilgrim's Progress
 namely that the Christian's anticipation of his future heavenly
citizenship enables him to presently endure, as with our Lord
 Heb. 12:1-2 … Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for
the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

21.  1Pet 1:3-4 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born
again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and
undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
 Heb 11:16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a
heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their
God; for He has prepared a city for them.

22. • Isa 50:7 - I have set My face like flint
• Thus Christian reflects the character traits of a true
seeker
 Unlike someone who is merely patronizing and curious about
the advantages of religion and self-improvement.
• The contrast between the true and the false is another
major theme in The Pilgrim's Progress.

24.  Who is the better character here?
• The spiritual vision of faith and the moral sense of
duty are the secrets of a steadfast soul. They are the
rudder of the ship in motion, and the anchor of the
ship at rest. (Barry Horner)

25.  Christian pleads with both of them from the book
 Luke 16:27-31
 How irrational is unregenerate man who so vehemently spurns, with
willful ignorance, the most important book in human history.

27. Within that awful volume lies
The mystery of mysteries
Happiest they of human race
To whom God has granted grace
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray
To lift the latch and force the way
and better had they ne'er been born
who read to doubt, or read to scorn
(Sir Walter Scott)

28. "It is a dangerous question. We might do better not to come too near
this burning bush. For we are sure to betray what is – behind us! The
Bible gives to every man and every era such answers to your questions
as they deserve. We shall always find in it as much as we seek and no
more: high and divine content if it is high and divine content that we
seek; transitory and "historical" content, if transitory and "historical"
content that we seek. Nothing whatever, if it is nothing whatever that
we seek. The hungry are satisfied by it, and to the satisfied it is
already too much before they have opened it. The question, "What is
in the Bible?" has a mortifying way of converting itself into the
opposing question, "Well, what are you looking for, and who are you,
pray, who make bold to look?" - Karl Barth

29. • Heb 10:19 Therefore, brethren, since we have
confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of
Jesus,
• Col 1:20 and through Him to reconcile all things to
Himself, having made peace through the blood of His
cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or
things in heaven.

30.  Pliable suggests an advance
 Agrippa replied to Paul, “In a short time you will persuade me to
become a Christian.” Acts 26:28
 Based on what?
 Attrition not contrition
» escape from City of Destruction
» "I am seeking to enjoy"
» "I seek an inheritance … laid up in heaven"
» "many more glories"
 Pliable has no burden

31.  Christian and Pliable advance in fellowship
• Observations:
 Pliable does not possess a guide book, nor does he
indicate an interest in either obtaining or personally
studying one.
 Blind leading the blind
 Obstinate retreats in disgust
 Whyte concludes: "So Christian is first called Christian
when he shows that one man can be as obstinate in
good as another man can be in evil."

32. • General Revelation is insufficient to save anyone!
 The power of God is seen in creation (Rom 1:20), but
Power of the Gospel to save is not.

34. • General Revelation is insufficient to save anyone!
 The power of God is seen in creation (Rom 1:20), but
Power of the Gospel to save is not.
 Christ cannot be gleaned from General Revelation
 Acts 17:24-27
• Special Revelation is needed!
 Two Categories
 Physical manifestations of the Word of God conveyed,
» theophanies, special angelic appearances, or in the incarnation of
Jesus Christ
» by the merit's of His blood
 Canonized Word of God in the 66 books of the Bible.

35. • Westminster Confession of Faith
 “Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and
providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and
power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not
sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which
is necessary unto salvation.”
• Paul indicates how this is too be done
 Rom 10:17
 1 Cor 1:21-22 – preach Christ crucified
• What about the thief on the cross? (Luk 23:39-43)

36. • We all have 'a stone of obstination' in our hearts
against God.
• Paul tells us that our hearts are by nature enmity
against God (Rom 8:7).
 Even after we are regenerated
 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh;
for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
Rom 7:18
• Let us have an obstinacy towards God like
Christian does, not against Him.