A Survey of the Pilgrim's Progress Part 12

All right, we are going to get started in an official way this morning with lesson 13 as we are wrapping up Pilgrim's Progress. It's been a wonderful time together with you guys and. So let's go ahead and pray and then we're gonna jump into a lesson that we're calling 2 are Better Than 1. 2 are better than 1.

Let's go ahead and pray. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity for us to be together, to learn from a brother who is now with you, John Bunyan. And, and to look at the scriptures that he has laid out for us, as the backdrop of his allegory, we pray, Father, that you would help us to see that it is true that two are better than one and that we have great need for the body of Christ and we receive great encouragement from our brothers and sisters. We pray that we'd be encouraged together this morning in Christ's name.

Amen. Well, last week we. spent some time talking about the fact. That a Christian.

Can and Christians do get depressed and in our material last week we had Christian hopeful even talking about subjects like suicide. and yet we cannot merely pluck up the heart of a man and just, just do the very best we can in order to deal with these type of things. We need to cry out to the strong for strength, that is cry out to the Lord for our strength and. And so our.

pilgrims escaped the castle of despair last week. They came to the delectable mountains, were encouraged by 4 shepherds, and then they were given, some things before they headed out from the delectable mountains. The shepherds gave them a note which was directions if they lost their way. They were told to beware of the flatterer and not to sleep on the enchanted ground.

And they are going to need that note and that warning as we're gonna see in our lesson this morning. Let's, do remember, as we are reading through that this is an allegory allegories are different from just regular stories. It's different from parable even parables tend to have one main message whereas allegories, each symbol normally is pointing to something. Of significance and so we're gonna track along our as our pilgrims are gonna run into some characters, Ignorance and turn away and they're gonna meet someone called Little Faith and then Great Grace and also the flatterer and they're also we're gonna end our time as we talk about the enchanted ground.

So let's talk about first of all section 104 met by ignorance. As they are walking along the way, they meet someone named Ignorance from the country of conceits. And and there's really much to commend this traveler he knows the word of the Lord he knows the Bible, he's a good liver, that is he's seems to be honest, he prays he would fast and tithe. And he also left his own country to head towards the celestial city, and so there's a lot about ignorance to commend him, but ignorance represents not someone who doesn't know anything, but he's ignorant of the true gospel.

Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, this is what he's ignorant about and as hopeful in Christian dialogue with him, he's not interested in going that direction doesn't seem to be open to their exhortations, and so they decide to leave him alone for a while and they'll return back to speak to him when it seems like his heart perhaps is more open, or as they say we'll talk to him anon. Some lessons we can derive from the section ignorance is not lacking of knowledge but conceit against right knowledge and so you can have people that know a lot of things and yet be ignorant of the gospel and a person can fulfill their religious duties and make great sacrifices and yet be wrong when it comes to the foundation of Christ so ignorance follows from behind.

And then there's another individual that they run into. This one is called Turn Away.

As they enter a very dark lane, they see this man who is bound with 7 cords and being ushered back by 7 demons to be thrown into the byway to hell, and as would be expected, this causes Christian and hopeful to tremble. byway is from the town of Apostasy. And on his back there's a paper that says wanton professor in damnable apostate, and this is definitely a scary scene and and we see some lessons from this scene as well that there is no other sacrifice for sins if Christ finish atonement.

Is rejected as insufficient for one's own sins, turn away it would seem has turned away from Christ and his sacrifice.

Ken Paul says in his commentary that to fall away is to persist in sin, disobedience and ultimately rejection of the gospel. To fall away is not to fall into sin. Christians will fall into sin. It's to fall into sin and then to decide that Christ's atonement on the cross is not sufficient for one's sins, and to ultimately reject the gospel as Ken Paul goes on later to say, there is no plan B on God's agenda.

If one falls away, there is no other gospel, no other savior, no other salvation. Jesus is exclusive. How does turning away occur? There's lots of ways that people can turn away from Christ alone.

they could grow disillusioned with the church and slowly start to turn away from Christ church. Maybe I had a friend who used to go out witnessing with me and then in college, his college professors began to turn his mind away from Christ. growing complacent in our or apathetic in our worship or deciding that the means of grace available to us really aren't as important as the Bible says they are, excusing, rationalizing sin. most of the, the individuals that I've spoken with that I would describe or that seem to be apostate that have ultimately rejected Christianity, it's interesting the pattern of how many of them have fallen into some immorality, and then conveniently reject Christ on the back end of, of their justification of sin.

again, we wanna be clear, and we're gonna see this in the dialogue that comes forward that legitimate Christians can fall into sin, but an apostate is someone that rejects Christ and his sufficient atonement for sin. Let me just say number 3 is a lesson. You need not fear obsessively about apostatizing if you have placed your faith in Christ alone for your salvation. If you place your faith in Christ, and you're confessing your sins.

You need not fear apostatizing. let me read from Martin Luther's commentary on Galatians 1:4, the phrase who gave himself our sins. Luther says, quote, The genius of Christianity takes the words of Paul, who gave himself our sins as true and efficacious. That means effective, like an effective cure.

We are not to look upon our sins as insignificant trifles. On the other hand, we are not to regard them as so terrible that we must despair. Learn to believe that Christ was given not for picayune and imaginary transgressions, but for mounted sins, not for one or two, but for all, not for sins that can be discarded, but for sins that are stubbornly ingrained. In other words, we don't, as Christians, we don't treat sins as insignificant.

But neither do we need to spare because Christ died for mountainous sins, not just one or two, but all sins, not just sins that we used to do, but sins that are ingrained and hard to get rid of. That's what Christ did. Amen. And I love the way Luther puts that so that that raises now a a question and a story that comes to Christian's mind after they see ignorance and this fearful scene of turn away.

Christian raises a story that he had heard about one little faith. And perhaps the dark lane and Tur Turway's fate reminds Christian of this story, who himself slept just as Christian had slept at Peaceful Harbor, but he slept in a place called Dead Man's Lane. Let me just tell you, if you ever come to a place called Dead Man's Lane, don't sleep there. Little faith is said to be a good man.

In fact, 5 times the allegory calls him a good man from the town of Sinceyr. However, three sturdy rogues named Faint Heart, Mistrust, and guilt. Come galloping with speed, catching Little faith off guard, and they bully him and threaten him with language and Little Faith's face turns white as a cloud or white as a sheet would be our phrase and doesn't, and he doesn't have power to fly to fight or to fly, and these three come from a place called Broadway Gate. So faint heart comes up and basically threatens him, and then mistrust forcibly steals his bag of silver from his pocket, and guilt clubs him over the head and basically leaves him bleeding for dead.

But then they all scurry away when they think that there's another pilgrim coming down the road, and they think that that pilgrim is actually the one great grace with good confidence or good con confidence, and so they run away from him. And but in this allegory, faint heart represents seems to represent those who are weak in faith and spiritually unprepared for trials and temptations. And we do see this phrase, little faith used several times in the scriptures in the book of Matthew, you see it 4 times, all referring to the disciples, the 12 at different points in the journey.

Jesus speaks to them of oh you have little faith.

Now notice that little faith, he rests in a place that he should not be. He should not have been a dead man's lane, and it is here that he's overtaken in a trespass, it would seem, and then robbed of a good conscience. So it seems like what he's robbed of, there's several things that he could be robbed of, but at the very least he's robbed of a good conscience, and then he's beaten. And then, and then good grace is thought to, to come, come down the, the path, notice it, it was a great disadvantage to little faith that he was traveling alone.

Christian and, and, and hopeful, they're together and they're gonna fall into several things together, but faithful at one point was alone and he fell asleep at the peaceful harbor lost his his his role right here, little faith is alone and he gets bullied and beat by these rogues. let's look down at 107. What exactly was it that Little faith lost? Well, he lost his what is called his spending money.

And this would seem to be his, his good conscience or, his stoutness of heart. He's now, these three rogues would represent things that now are there with little faith. He's filled with guilt, mistrust. We've seen mistrust, by the way, before on Christians saw mistrust and Timorous running back the other way earlier in our story.

And and so he's lost these things they've been stolen from him, but what has not been stolen are his jewels. In fact, I don't see anywhere in the text, you guys can tell me if I've missed it. I don't see anywhere in the text that little faith actually had the jewels on his person. they seem to be safe because they're safe at home, and we'll get to a little more of this in a second, but he also didn't lose his role or his certificate, which would represent his assurance of salvation, and faithful or Christian tells us that he didn't lose that because he was so cunning and so strong.

It was just in God's providence that these three didn't find it. And so his, his, his assurance of salvation is left intact, his jewels are left intact while he's been robbed of his silver. This seems to point to the idea that. That little faith, his, his salvation is safe with God.

No one can pluck us from his hands. it's safe with Christ, there are, principalities, powers, no one can separate us from Christ. and yet nevertheless, Christian goes on throughout the rest of his journey as the story is told, crawling in his faith. And whenever he runs into another pilgrim, he always goes back to the day that he was robbed, and he tells the story again about how he was bullied and and robbed and, and by these three.

And even though he still has his, has his jewels secure, and even though he still has his role, which he should be looking at, that's what Christian was told when he was given the role to look upon it, to find peace. It doesn't seem like he looks at these two treasures very frequently. He is frequently just reminding himself of his losses. And so it seems that little faith, is overwhelmed by a morbid preoccupation with his losses rather than the things that he still possesses and that's something for us to to keep in mind as Christians that it's not uncommon to find believers that they they their mind will turn in the same rut.

And we'll go back and rehearse things that have happened to us in our past. Maybe it was sins that we were overtaken by maybe it was people that sinned against us, and we'll just rehearse that over and over and over. And meanwhile we've got our assurance of salvation right there in our breast. We've got our inheritance secure for us in heaven and and yet we'll rehearse these things over and over.

Well, section 108, there's a discussion of the value of little faiths, jewels, and as you move into this debate, it's a little bit confusing some of the, the questions that hopeful raises and then the response that Christian gives. I don't know about you, but my, my, my passes on this section, I, I found myself confused. Why is Christian so angry. And, and, and why are, what is it exactly that they're debating?

And what seems to be the question that young hopeful seems to be raising is this, since little faith was so foolish to put himself in harm's way, that is dead man's lane. it's a wonder that he didn't part with Christ. In other words, hasn't little faith demonstrated that he is related to Esau? I think that's the nature of the debate here is that hopeful is saying, he really should not have been a dead man's lane in the first place, and he deserved what he got.

And Isn't he now proven by his fruit that he's of the same nature of a guy like Esau? And would it not surprise us if he just sold his inheritance? And so here's how hopeful raises the inquiry, but it is a wonder that his necessity did not put him upon selling or pawning some of his jewels. And Christian's reply is described as tart.

That basically means he's not happy with the way that this question is being raised. In fact, here's what he says to hopeful. He says, you talk like one whose head is the shell to this very day, which means you are like a newborn chick with the egg still on its head. That, which is, ooh, that's quite an insult.

And, but he, he's speaking to hopeful as if you are, are you such a young Christian that you're going to question little faith salvation when he clearly has little faith? And the operative word is faith. He has faith. So, Christian begins to make a few points.

He says in all that country where he was robbed, his jewels were not accounted of. In other words, even theoretically, if he could sell his jewels, it's like monopoly money in the world. The world isn't gonna buy. these are spiritual denominations that the world could care less about.

Number 2, he did not seek the relief the world would have to offer. He's not seeking relief here. He's still holding fast to his inheritance in Christ. And number 3, he would not be admitted to the celestial city city without his jewels, and, and that would have been worse to him than the appearance and villainy of 10,000 thieves.

So Christian is pointing out actually the fruit of faith that he sees in the story that that while little faith was robbed of a good conscience and put himself in harm's way, he's still holding fast to Christ with little faith. Now Ken Pulse remarks. the coin purse, it represents good conscience or spiritual peace of mind. This purse can be filled or unfilled, and it was indeed indeed plundered.

But in the allegory, our jewels are secure, they are safe with Christ. They represent our heavenly reward, or I think more properly, our inheritance in heaven in Christ. As it says in First Peter, that we have an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved where? Reserved in heaven for you, and so there's an inheritance that's reserved there that's untouchable.

That's the Peter's point and that seems to be Christian's argument. by the way, this, this whole dialogue comes from John Bunyan's own testimony. If you look on, the top of page 8, we'll read a little bit of his own quote. He says, quote, It was glorious to me to see Christ's exaltation and the worth and prevalence of all his benefits, and that because of this, now I could look from myself to him.

And should reckon that all those graces of God that now were green in me, were yet but like those cracked groats and fourpence halfpennies that rich men carry in their purses, when their gold is in their trunks at home. What he's saying is, I, Bunyan had been looking in himself for certain evidences of his salvation and and looking and seeing himself wanting. Sometimes his conscience was good, sometimes his conscience was bad, sometimes he was walking well, sometimes he wasn't walking well, and he found himself up and down and up and down.

But then he realized, wait a second, my inheritance is safe at home, just like rich men walk around with their purse, they don't bring their gold out into public and market.

If you open up their purse, what they have is what he calls cracked groats and 4 pence halfpennies. It's basically, English monetary coins, right? But their, but their gold is secure in their trunks at home. He goes on, he says, oh, I saw my gold was in my trunk at home, in Christ, my Lord and Savior.

Now Christ was all, all my wisdom, all my righteousness, all my sanctification, all my redemption. And so Christian's argument is little faith's treasure is in Christ. and his treasure is eternally secure. so little faith did not earn or deserve his treasured inheritance.

And that's that point is being made partially by the, the point that even his parchment, his, his assurance of salvation was secure, not because of his own cunning, but because of God's providence. So then Hopeful is more forward as he presses the argument at the towards the bottom of page eight of your notes. Hopeful says, why are you so tart, my brother? Esau stole his birthright, and that for a mess of pottage, and that birthright was his great jewel.

And if he, why might not little faith do so too? Esau forsook Christ. Little faith put himself in a similar situation. May he not for also forsake Christ?

This aggravates Christian even more. And so then he goes on into this long comparison between Esau and little faith. Esau's belly was his God. Little face was not so.

He keeps saying little face was not so, Little face was not so, and basically argues, therefore, it is no marvel. If he sells his birthright and his soul for all that for the devil in hell, but faith, little faith is not of this type of character, though faithless ones can for carnal loss pawn or mortgage or sell what they have and themselves outright to boot. Yet they have, yet they that have faith, saving faith, though but a little of it cannot do so. Here, therefore, my brother, is your mistake.

So basically, as he's talking about Esau, he's saying this is someone who's rejected the one for all sufficient sacrifice of Christ and the cross, whereas little faith. even though he has little faith, cannot fall into that because his jewels are secure, and this is your fault. this is your mistake. Hopeful says, I acknowledge it, but yet your severe reflection, it almost made me angry.

Oh boy, these guys are really getting into it now. Christian says, why I did but compare thee to some of the birds that are of a brisker sort who will run to and fro in untrodden paths with shells upon their heads. I just called you a little chick with a shell on your head, but let's have, let's continue this debate, as brothers, and all shall be well between you and me. So then, they began to talk about great grace which, Bunyan writes for the doctrine of free grace believed is the most sin killing doctrine in the world and here Hopeful continues to talk a little bit like a neophyte.

He basically says we'll summarize here he's like, if I were in little faith's situation. Especially knowing that great grace is just down the road, I would have plucked up my heart like a man, and I would have gone into battle and fought these rogues and these bullies, and I would've only pulled back at the very last moment. Christian basically responds saying, it's pretty easy to say what you'll do when you're looking at the battlefield from afar, but when you're in it yourself, a lot of times you have a different perspective.

One of the commentators I was reading this week was making note of boxers how that you'll have these braggadocio matches before a match, and, and once you actually get in the ring, it's a different story.

And, and so he's he's, he's gently rebuking hopeful here like be careful, and he actually says, what? I've been in those battles. I went up against Apollon and I was fully armed in the armor of God, and I barely got out of there with my life. And then he basically says, even great grace., with all of his battle, experience.

when he goes into battle with people, yeah, he would probably take these guys, these 3 guys, but guess what? These guys' guilt and mistrust and faint heart, they're just little apprentices and cubs for the king of the bottomless pit, and all they gotta do is whistle and the devil shows up at their beck and call, and even great grace, when he's going mano a mano with Apollon, it's gonna be a tough battle. So hopeful, don't be wishing so much for blood. Don't be hoping, wishing that you could get in there and prove your mettle because truth be told, without the Lord, we aren't gonna make it just by plucking up our manhood.

at some point I, I forget where in the text here he says we need to be careful not to be tickled at the thoughts of our own manhood, which is a great phrase. Yeah, be very, very careful and so, so there is some gentle rebuke and there is some, some argument that's going on here. Hopeful, does seem to listen to the, the rebuke of his brother. And so that's a summary of, of, of what happens and, and so just to summarize what's happened to this point now notice ignorance has been following along in the background.

Turn away this apostates what's what's raises the trembling and the discussion of Little Heart in the, in the first place. Then they talk about Little Heart. They have a debate about whether Little Heart can abandon his jewels, no, because they're secure at the right hand of the Father where Christ is making intercession. And then there's a gentle discussion, well, not so gentle discussion and rebuke of hopeful and his green approach to this a question and desire for Christian blood, so to speak, to get out there and battle with sin.

And it's interesting that right on the heels of this discussion, they now run in and they get captured by the flatterer. They've just been happening, hopeful's just been talking about, if it were me, I would be totally game, and I'd be ready for the battle. And then notice if when you talk about the flatterer, Christian and hopeful, they're followed by ignorance. Now remember in our allegory or in allegorical literature, ignorance is both a character and an attribute.

And so what Bunyan's telling us, ignorance is following them. Because they still are ignorant of what's to come in some of the traps before them. And so, they come along the road and, the path begins to get confusing. It seems to cross the way and head out as straight as a path before them.

Both seem to be straight. I don't know if if you guys do much hiking, but there's been many a time where I've been out hiking or backpacking and you, you're on the trail and sometimes you'll get into some faint trails and you're looking. Looking at your topographical map and another trail will come up and it'll seem like it's running and you're kinda like which way do I go and it can be confusing and it's always good to pull out your topographical map and take a look, try to get a feeling for where you are and I just got us off on a wild goose chase up at Taquiz Canyon a few days ago.

Anyway, they don't take out their instructions and their map, but someone comes up to them, while they stop to consider, there comes up to them a man who is black of flesh but covered with a very light robe, and this is a reference to 2 Corinthians 11:13 to 15, about Satan's servants that come masquerading as angels of light.

This is a man of darkness, but he's wearing. An external robe of light, and you see that in 2 Corinthians 11. So this man, in the white robe tells them to follow him because he's going there. does this sound familiar?

It sounds like vain confidence, and as they walk, no doubt this man is praising them for their successful journey, probably listening to their tales of danger and adventure and congratulating them for their progress. Perhaps, disparaging other travelers who have not been as faithful as they've been nor nearly as pious and then the text tells us, quote, by degrees they turned and turned them so that from the city, that they desired to go to that is in little time their faces were turned away from it yet they followed him.

But by and by, before they were aware, he led them both within the compass of a net in which they were both entangled and they knew not what to do. Notice the language of ignorance.

They weren't aware of what was happening. They get turned around by degrees and then suddenly they're in a net and they have no idea what to do. Finally, the robe falls off of this angel of light. He's revealed for what he really is, a servant of darkness.

And then wherefore they lay crying, crying like men. and they could not get themselves out. This comes out of, this hole being caught in the net comes from Proverbs 29:5. A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

So then they, they bemoan their air and forgetfulness, and a shining one comes to them with a whip of small cords in his hand. I don't know if I, if you saw, if I saw a shining one with a whip, I'm not so sure that would comfort me. But this is clearly a reference to Christ, or at least Christ to the Holy Spirit, and he comes and begins to ask some some questions like, what are you doing here? did you not read the note that was given to you by, the shepherds?

And they said, we forgot. That's literally what they said. And then they say. OK, well, didn't you heed the warning about the flatterer?

Well, he spoke with such fine speech. OK, so he basically, what, what the Lord does is he, I wanna get the wording here, he rent the net and let the men out. I just love that. These guys got caught in their own foolishness just like little faith and Christ comes along and he cuts the net open and he lets them out and then he begins to speak to them and and he has them lay down, takes the cord, chastises them, beats them, and then when he's done doing that it says he, he bid them go their way.

Oh, and he says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chas and be zealous, therefore and repent. then this done, he bid them go on their way and take good heed to the other directions of the shepherds. So they thanked him for all his kindness and went softly along the right way. So they're chastised for forget their forgetfulness for being fooled by the flattery and no doubt this is a blow to their pride, right?

They've just been having this conversation and Christian was I think in the right in trying to encourage hopeful to not just pluck up the heart of a man but to be humble and now they've gotten caught and they're and they're chastised. I'd like to encourage all you children whenever you're chastised by your parents to thank them for their kindness and I think that would be a good good way to approach our our discipline from from parents. So, so we have the flatterer here and and so there's just some lessons for us to take to heart, one is, is we, we need to be careful when the devil whisp in our whispers in our ears.

It's, it's interesting how ingrained sin and pride is in our hearts that even when we're meditating on the gospel, I don't know about you, there's times where it can come to my mind like Mike.

You are just really starting to get the gospel now, you get the gospel, I think better than a lot of people today. And you're understanding your sin better and understanding Christ's righteousness and imputation better probably than most boy, you're an amazing man, an amazing pastor too. And I listened to that, right? Even good doctrine can be whispered into our ears in a way to trap us, to start to compare ourselves to people who are of little faith or faint hearted or feeble minded, and then to exalt ourselves and begin to look down upon others.

And so we need to be careful of this, and I, and I love the lesson that we, that we see in this section that two are better than one. These guys, and definitely they were together, but it's a three stranded cord that cannot be broken, and that's Christ, right? I can be with my brother, but I need to be, I need to be with Christ that really is that 3 stranded cord that will not be broken, that will rent the net and let us out. Let me, let me talk about something that does come up in this section.

I don't know if you realize it or not, but John Bunyan, when he talks about the flatterer here, he uses a phrase called black of flesh, which has caused, many people to, not many, but some people to critique Bunyan at this point. And so I wanna bring up, some thoughts on this. It's in the footnote on the bottom of page 12 that., this is understandable. There's understandable discomfort with Bunyan's description here given modern sensibilities, especially today.

Bunyan is riding at the height of the transatlantic slave trade, which makes some critical of Bunyan on the score. And we certainly do not want to defend our theological heroes, merely because of their doctrinal pedigree. Nevertheless, recall that Bunyan had just used the phrase white as cloud or white as a sheet, referring to little face skin, making the point that he was filled with fear and cowardice. So I do not think that Bunyan is referring to either character's skin color to make a racial point, but is in fact developing his biblical based allegory.

and I'll just let you, you guys may not know this about me, but I am a former English teacher and, and English geek. In fact, I was first introduced to Pilgrim's Progress in college when I was reading this for my degree. I believe we need to practice modesty in how we read modern sensibilities back into older literature. yet neither should we as Christians shy away from critiquing the past as long as we're using scripture and Holy Spirit filled humility as our guide.

The Bible itself does not shy away from exposing even its most cherished characters like Noah, David, Peter, to name a few. Remember, Paul confronted Peter to his face because he was refusing to have table table fellowship with Gentiles. So it should not shock us to find that our brothers and sisters in church history, or today for that matter, are marred by sin. Let us not, however, be guilty of wife battery.

That is abusing Christ's bride without giving each other the benefit of the doubt, without due deference to our own depravity and shortsightedness, without reference to the bride's imputed righteousness and daily opportunities for fresh exchanges of love and forgiveness. Lest we unwittingly align ourselves with the accuser of the brethren. If there were more time, I would share with you my love and appreciation for the likes of John Owen, Alaa Equiano, or otherwise known as Gustavus Vassa, CH Spurgeon, whose lives and testimonies overlap and contribute to my understanding of issues of race and slavery in the church.

And I'd also wanna direct you guys to our YouTube channel.

I did a Q&A video in July of last year entitled What Does God Think About Race, Racism, and Justice, and, it's about a 30 minute video I'd commend to you. Anyway, I bring that up only because, as I was doing my research on this section that that issue does come up and, and so I wanted to give you some some fodder to think about that as you read Bunyan. I personally have no issues reading and benefiting from Bunyan, but neither do I think this guy is without faults, so take that for what it is.

Feel free to talk to me if you have other questions about that particular issue.

So back on, the last two points which we're not really gonna have time to get into met by atheists. I'd like you to study that on your own. that comes right after the flatterer. I, I think the big message that we can get from the section on atheist is they don't fall in with the atheist the way they did with the flatterer, and it's acknowledged that partly because they're together they're able to answer.

I think it's hopeful that actually begins to be taken in by his arguments at first, but hearing Christian's response helps him. And then when they get to the enchanted ground, similarly, hopeful wants to go to sleep, the one who wanted to pluck up the heart like a man and get right into battle 3 times in a row, he has to be helped by his older brother, faithful, and they begin to tell each other their testimonies. In fact, next week Jonathan Jones is gonna. Get into hopeful's testimonies, which is one of the best sections in the whole book.

It is incredible, so I encourage you to come back. they use the, the telling of the testimonies to keep them awake in the enchanted ground. Let me give some, some lessons as we close our time together. First of all, there's a lot of things we could talk about.

I'm just gonna give a few. The weak believer as contrasted with the apostate, is that the order that you guys have this in? Do you guys have that number one? OK, they're clearly, Christian points out a clear difference between a backslider, and someone who is a counterfeit Christian.

The weak believer, is someone. To backslide implies that you've gone forward, that you've placed your faith in Christ, and yet you have been bullied and by your sins or you've come underneath the bullying of guilt, and I've known many a brother and sister that has fallen into things that would not be becoming of a Christian. And yet they're still just grabbing out for Christ. And then they fall again, and they're grabbing out for Christ.

That is completely different from a fellow who I've, I had the opportunity to spend a couple 3 times with a guy who claims that he walked the Christian walk for 20 years, decided that it was just complete nonsense, and that if anything he learned from Christianity, it robbed him from the freedom of expressing his sexual perversion. And, and rejected Christ outright. In fact, takes pride in the fact that he helped his mom deny her faith on her deathbed. That's an apostate.

that is not what I see from believers here at Cornerstone that struggle with their sins and get back up and then struggle with their sins, and they're just reaching out for the robe of Christ. So there's a difference between the two, as I think Bunyan points out in our text. And by the way, #2, Jesus is very compassionate towards those of little faith. When you see the way he speaks to his disciples, it's, oh, you have little faith.

These aren't harsh rebukes. These are kind encouragements. We see in 1 Thessalonians 5:14, where Paul says, exhort, I exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, but comfort the feebleminded, support the weak. Feebleminded literally means small souled or undeveloped identity.

Someone who hasn't an undeveloped identity in Christ. be patient with him. Receive one who is weak in the faith. And by the way, 1 Corinthians 1:27 says, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and he's chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty.

I, I've, I've got a sneaking suspicion. It's not just a suspicion, it's true that there are some people in our churches. That people might look at is very, very weak individuals and the world might look at them and make fun of them because they're just so weak minded and, and, and, and always worried about things, but yet they're clinging to Jesus, and yet they're gonna wind up in heaven and Christ is. Gonna say, well done, good and faithful servant, as they're dressed in Christ's righteousness, when some of what the world looks at is like the strong and and the confident ones aren't gonna be able to hold a candle to these weak brothers and sisters, and that's just the upside down nature of the gospel.

There's other things here that you can read on your own. We're, we're pretty much out of time. Next week come back. You are going to be incredibly encouraged by Hopeful's testimony.

I'd encourage you to study it and then come on back and join us next week if you have, questions, feel free to come up afterwards. I'll be glad to talk, talk with you. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the encouragement that we see in this section that it is true.

That 2 are better than 1, and we need the body of Christ. We need pastors, we need shepherds, we need instructions. And yet, we thank you, Lord, that you are so compassionate upon those that have little faith and are weak. And really, when the truth be told, all of us are weak, and we need to cry out to the strong for strength.

We thank you, Lord, that while there are things in this life that may be robbed from us, even at times a good conscience, we thank you that our inheritance is secure, reserved in heaven for us, and that Lord Jesus, you always are at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us your own. We thank you that our righteousness is secure in you, our holiness is secure in you. We pray God that you would help us to walk in modesty and humility this day. And to grow in understanding our righteousness in Christ, we pray this in his name and all God's people said, Amen.

God bless you guys, so I'll be glad to take questions.