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The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan - Christian Saluted by the Three Shining Ones · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome along to this deep dive from Reform Thinking.
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  Today we're looking at, well, a real classic.
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  Specific encounters from John Bunyan's The Pilgrims Progress.
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  Yes, we've got the text here. Some excerpts and also some
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  helpful notes and study guides derive from it.
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  And what we want to do is jump into a few key people Christian
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  meets near the start of his walk.
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  We want to unpack what Bunya's showing us about different ways
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  people handle or maybe mishandle the spiritual path.
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  What can these allegorical figures really show you about
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  different spiritual states about seeking God?
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  We're drawing it straight from Bunyan's text.
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  OK, so let's set the scene. Christian is on his way,
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  burdened, heading towards the Wicked gate.
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  But pretty early on, Bunyan has some run into three men, and
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  they are exactly making progress.
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  Are they? No, not at all.
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  They are fast asleep. Bunyan names them Simple Sloth
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  and Presumption, and he describes their condition quite
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  vividly. They're actually sleeping with
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  irons like chains on their legs. And the location is, well, it's
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  really bad. It's near a place called the
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  Dead Sea and a gulf that has no bottom.
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  That sounds incredibly precarious.
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  Irons on their legs near a bottomless gulf.
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  Yeah, and Bunyan adds this image.
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  He says it's like they're sleeping on the top of a mast,
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  you know, high up, totally unstable.
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  Wow. Gives you a real sense of the
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  danger they're in, even while asleep.
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  Exactly. It's a picture of serious
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  spiritual risk, but they seem completely unaware.
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  Or maybe they just don't care. They're bound, they're exposed.
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  And yet. They sleep.
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  So what does Christian do? He sees this and he doesn't just
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  walk past. No, Bunyan makes it clear he's
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  concerned. He feels he has to try and wake
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  them up. He really tries, doesn't.
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  Oh yes, he cries out. The text says.
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  It's urgent. He warns them directly about the
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  roaring lion. You know the devil who could
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  make them his prey. And he offers practical help
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  too. He does.
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  He says, look, I can help you off with your irons.
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  He offers immediate release from their bondage.
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  But their replies? There's something else simple.
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  First, what does he say? Simple just says I see no
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  danger. Flat out denial.
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  Just doesn't see it. OK.
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  And sloth? Sloth's response is classic.
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  Yet a little more sleep. Comfort first, warning later or
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  never. Pretty much.
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  And then presumption. He's got this air of
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  self-reliance. He says every fat must stand
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  upon its own bottom. What is the answer Else that I
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  should give thee? So basically, mind your own
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  business. I can handle myself.
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  That's the gist of it, yeah. Total confidence in his own
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  stability despite the irons in the Gulf nearby.
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  As Christian warns them, offers help, gets these brush offs,
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  then what? They just lay down to sleep
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  again. That's what Bunyan writes.
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  They heard it all and consciously chose to go back to
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  sleep in that dangerous place. And Christian, how does he react
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  to that? He has to move on.
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  He went on his way. But Bunyan adds he was troubled.
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  Troubled that people in such peril would just ignore such
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  kindness, such a free offer help.
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  It really sets the stage, doesn't it?
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  It really does. Right at the start, Bunyan shows
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  you these three basic ways people might resist dealing with
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  spiritual reality, denial, laziness or procrastination, and
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  arrogant self trust. They refuse the grace that
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  addresses both their chains and their dangerous situation.
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  OK, so Christian is troubled by this, understandably.
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  But he keeps going and soon he sees two other men.
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  Their approach to the path is quite different.
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  Very different. This isn't about sleeping, it's
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  about how they got onto the narrow way in the 1st place.
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  Christian came through the proper wicket gate, these two,
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  Bunion says. They came tumbling over the wall
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  on the left hand. Tumbling over the wall?
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  That immediately sounds wrong. Illegitimate.
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  Maybe. Exactly.
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  It signals they haven't followed the prescribed way.
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  And who are they? Bunyan calls them formalist and
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  hypocrisy. Fitting names.
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  Very. And when Christian asks about
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  their origins and destination, they say they're from a place
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  called Vainglory and they're heading for praise to Mount
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  Zion. OK, so the source is Vainglory.
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  The goal is praise. Not exactly ideal starting
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  points, and Christian calls them out on how they got in right
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  away. He asks why they didn't use the
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  gate, which standeth at the beginning of the way, and he
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  backs it up with scripture, doesn't he?
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  Yeah. The part about climbing in
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  another way makes you a thief and a robber.
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  Precisely, he's saying their very entry method marks them
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  negatively in the eyes of the Lord who owns the way.
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  But. They have an answer ready, of
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  course. Oh.
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  They do, they say. Well, going to the gate that was
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  counted too far about where they come from, too inconvenient.
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  Climbing the wall was just, you know, their usual way.
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  The. Usual way and they try to to
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  justify it further they. Appeal to tradition to custom.
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  They claim they could prove this method has been used for more
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  than 1000 years. They think this long practice
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  makes it legal basically. So custom Trump's the rule of
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  the gate in their view. That seems to be their argument
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  and they boil it down to if we get into the way, what's matter
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  which way we get in. They even challenge Christian
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  asking how are you any better off than us?
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  We're all on the same road now, aren't we?
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  A. Pragmatic argument on the
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  surface, how does Christian respond his.
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  Response is sharp. It's all about authority, he
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  says. Look, I walk by the rule of my
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  master, you guys. You walk by the rude working of
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  your fancy of. Fancies, yeah.
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  He tells them plainly, because of how you entered, you're
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  counted thieves already by the Lord of the Way.
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  He doubts they'll be accepted. At the end he says they came in
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  by yourselves without his direction, and they'll go out by
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  yourselves without his mercy. Strong.
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  Words. What do formalist and hypocrisy
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  say to that? Not much really.
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  Bunyan just says they told Christian to look to himself.
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  Sort of a worry about your own problems response and.
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  They try to claim they're just as good outwardly, yes.
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  They insist they'll follow all the laws and ordinances, just
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  like Christian, they say. What's the difference, really,
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  except for that coat you're wearing?
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  The coat. Right.
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  And I guess maybe his neighbors gave it to him just to hide the
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  shame of thy nakedness. They completely miss its
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  significance. OK, so.
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  Let's talk about that coat because Christian uses it and
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  other things to show why their paths are different.
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  Exactly. He hits the main point again.
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  Doing religious duties, the laws and ordinances won't save you,
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  he says. Since you came not in by the
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  door. The entry point is critical and.
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  The coat? It wasn't from neighbors.
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  No, Christian explains. It was a gift directly from the
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  Lord of the place whither I go, given specifically to cover his
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  nakedness, a token of His kindness.
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  It's not about shame, it's about grace.
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  And it serves a purpose later, yes.
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  He says the Lord will know me for good at the city gate
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  because he has the coat. It's a mark of acceptance.
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  And there are other marks too, right Received when his burden
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  fell. Correct.
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  He mentions a mark in my forehead given by one of the
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  Lord's closest associates, A. Visible sign of belonging
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  perhaps? Seems like it.
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  And also a roll sealed. This scroll serves 2 purposes.
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  It's for his own comforting guidance, he can read it on the
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  way, and it's another token proof that he'll definitely be
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  allowed in at the Celestial Night.
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  So coat, mark, roll, these are proofs of genuine entry and
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  belonging. That's how Christian presents
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  them, and he connects formalist and hypocrisy's lack of these
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  things directly to their improper entry.
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  He says all which things I doubt you want, and want them because
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  you came not in at the gate you. Didn't start right, so you don't
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  have the right credentials essentially.
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  That's the implication. And how do formalist and
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  hypocrisy react when Christian lays all this out?
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  What do? They do.
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  Bunion says they just looked upon each other and laughed.
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  Laughed so they just dismiss it all.
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  They don't get it or don't want to get it it.
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  Seems so. They clearly don't value these
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  tokens Christian holds dear. After that, Bunyan says they all
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  continued, but separately. Formalist and Hypocrisy didn't
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  talk much, while Christian kept ahead, sometimes sighing,
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  sometimes feeling encouraged, often reading his role for
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  refreshment. OK, so bringing these two
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  encounters together, what's the contrast Bunyan is drawing for
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  us? Well, you have the first group.
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  Simple sloth presumption. Their issue is a fundamental
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  refusal to even see the danger or accept help.
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  It's about apathy, laziness, self trust, stopping them before
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  they even consider the path right.
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  And the second group formalist and hypocrisy their.
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  Issue is different. They are on the path, outwardly
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  at least, but they got there the wrong way by climbing the wall.
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  They rely on custom, on doing the right things externally,
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  maybe for show praise, but they've bypassed the Lord's
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  designated entry point. And because of that, they lack
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  the internal evidence, the tokens, the coat, the mark, the
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  role that Christian received through proper entry.
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  Exactly. Bunyan seems to be saying that
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  how you start matters immensely. There's a specific date ordained
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  by the Lord of the Way. Entering correctly brings with
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  it signs of God's grace and acceptance.
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  The covering, the identity mark, the assurance which
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  distinguished the true Pilgrim from those just going through
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  the motions or following traditions without true faith.
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  So these early encounters in the Pilgrims progress really
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  highlight some foundational errors right from the get go.
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  They certainly do, and maybe it leaves you, the listener, with
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  something to think about from Bunion's perspective.
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  Consider these characters. What might spiritual sleep, that
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  denial or laziness look like for you today?
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  Or what kinds of customs or wall climbing might seem easier, more
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  convenient than the way the Lord has actually set out?
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  Right. And perhaps how do you recognize
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  and depend on those tokens of grace, those evidences of
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  acceptance that Bunyan suggests the Lord gives to those who come
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  to him his way? Something to consider.