Our guest speaker this morning in this allegory of the Christian life is John Bunyan. And he is going to bring us this morning to the cross and the sepulcher. And in the narrative, there really are just three paragraphs here. And since it is short, I would like to read these three paragraphs as we begin this morning. Now, I saw in my dream and remember, this is an allegory. that the highway up which Christian was to go was fenced on either side with a wall and that wall was called salvation. Up this way, therefore, did burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty because of the load on his back. He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending and upon that place stood a cross. and a little below in the bottom, a sepulcher. So I saw in my dream that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders and fell from off his back and began to tumble and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulcher where it fell in and I saw it no more. Then Christian was glad and lightsome and said with a merry heart, he hath given me rest by his sorrow and life by his death. Then he stood still a while to look and wonder, for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked therefore and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent waters down his cheeks. Now as he stood looking and weeping, behold, three shining ones came to him and saluted him with, Peace be to thee. So the first said to him, Thy sins be forgiven. The second stripped him of his rags and clothed him with a change of raiment. The third also set a mark on his forehead and gave him a roll with a seal upon it, which he bid him look on as he ran, and that he should give it in at the celestial city. So they went their way. Then Christian gave three leaps for joy and went on singing. And this is some of Bunyan's poetry, which is interesting, but it's good. He says, thus far did I come laden with my sin, nor could aught ease the grief that I was in. Must here be the beginning of my bliss? Must here the burden fall from off my back? Must here the strings that bound it to me crack? Blessed cross! Blessed sepulcher! Blessed rather be the man that there was put to shame! for me. And so begins our portion of this narrative with Bunyan and Pilgrim's progress. I believe it is here at the cross that Pilgrim becomes Christian. Now, some point out that his name was called Christian from the very start. Nowhere in the account does Bunyan give this guy the name Pilgrim. Right from the very start, his name is Christian, and so perhaps because of his attitude of repentance and forsaking of the city of destruction, some would say that he's a Christian from the start. Remember, it's an allegory. Some, even notable people like Derek Thomas, believe that as a Christian enters the wicked gate and he is pulled in by good will, that it is there that he becomes a Christian, and that this encounter here is where he receives his assurance. I'm not one to disagree with people like Derek Thomas, but I have to tell you, I think that it is here that he becomes a Christian. And the reason is manifold. First of all, he comes to the cross. Secondly, his burden falls off of his back. Thirdly, he has a threefold pronouncement by the Shining Ones, your sins are forgiven, the rags are taken off, the change of raiment is put on, the mark is on his forehead, and the role is placed within his hands. And floods of joy come into his soul, and he bursts forth into a song. That sounds to me like conversion. But I'm not John Bunyan, and I'm not Derek Thomas, so you can take that with a soul shaker if you like. Well, by way of organization this morning, I don't have anything very dramatic. Really just two main points. First of all, the main elements of this encounter, which I have listed here. And then secondly, we will consider some applications from this. Originally, I was going to go through each of these elements and draw out the biblical significance of each of these, but in retrospect, I think I'm going to save that for the application. So here we go through these elements of this encounter that Christian has at the cross upon a slight incline, which below it is a sepulcher. Now, I'd like to go back and read something in the opening the very opening pages which describe Christian's burden because the first thing we read about in our encounter here today is Christian's burden. Now you may recall that he expressed his burden very early on in the second paragraph of this narrative. And I'm just going to break into it. At length he broke his mind to his wife and children and thus began to talk to them. Oh, my dear wife, said he, and you the children of my bowels, I, your dear friend, am in myself undone by reason of a burden that lies hard upon me. Moreover, I am for certain informed that this, our city, will be burned with fire from heaven in which fearful overthrow both myself with thee my wife and you my sweet babes shall miserably come to ruin except the which yet I see not some way of escape may be found whereby we may be delivered. So clearly he has a very profound and significant burden and we read of this in our narrative as well. As Christian went up the highway, he sees the fence with a wall on it that says called the walls of salvation. Up this way, therefore, did burdened Christian run. We have repeated references in the narrative to his burden. It is a burden which others in the narrative questioned him about. His family questioned him about it. Obstinate and pliable questioned him about it. This burden pressed down upon him in the slew of despond. This burden nearly crushed him to death when he tried to climb up to Mount Morality on the advice of Mr. Worldly Wiseman. It is the burden of sin and of guilt, of fear and trepidation over the judgment to come because of his sin and guilt. He comes to see that it is the crushing weight of the law which he cannot keep. It is the divine law inscribed by the finger of a holy and sovereign God. Well, then the second thing we come to is the cross. Now, there's no hidden or secondary symbolic meaning here, but the cross is the cross. As I say, we will delay our reference to that in just a few moments. The third thing he comes to is the sepulcher, which is simply another word for a grave or a tomb. And we notice that his burden rolls off where it is to be seen no more. And then his burden is released. It rolls into the tomb. It is released. He has joy of heart. He has amazement and contrition of heart. The three shining ones appear to him and he breaks out in song." Well, I would like to linger just briefly at the three shining ones here. This would appear to be, this would seem to be an appearance of the triune God. Because we know from the Gospels that Jesus said in Mark 2 to this one man, your sins be forgiven you. This is the paralytic that was let down through the roof because the crowd was pressing in upon him and they could see no other way for access to Jesus. It would have been so cool to be there to see these guys peeling away, probably clay tiles off of a roof with, you know, sticks laying across it and nailed on or tied on somehow. And these guys were up there pulling this roof apart. I would have loved to been there to see them do this. And then they devise this, you know, cut of some kind. And, you know, here, you grab this side. No, tie it over there. And these guys are figuring this all out. And they're slicking this guy down through an opening in the roof. And people are like, Is there something we can help you with? And there is something that they can help him with. He wants to see the Savior, because he has an awareness of his sin. And he wants to get to Him, but he can't get there, because there are so many people. And he takes the only path he has. It's like, dude, we can get in through the roof. And he comes down and Jesus says, your sins be forgiven you, your faith has made you well. Well, then subsequent to that, we see the father, I believe this is a picture of God himself, removing Christians' rags of sin and of guilt and clothing him with the robe of righteousness. And then the spirit, I believe it is, who gives him the seal or the earnest of our inheritance spoken of there in Ephesians 1. I'm a little bit torn whether to open up some of these verses now or to go ahead on. I think we will look at some of these verses. Let's go back for a moment to Christian's burden. And I'd like to ask you to turn to Luke 18.3. This is the incident of the Pharisee and the publican. And you already know the contents of this. I'm sorry, Luke 18.13. And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Now, in this parable, there's another man, and I'm hoping that we can talk about him a little bit later. But this man, the tax collector, you remember that the tax collectors were hated because on behalf of the Roman government they extracted taxes from the Jews, so they were kind of like traitors. And, you know, imagine if some foreign nation came and took political rule over our country, America? There would be so much rebellion you couldn't imagine. But imagine if they were a superpower and we could not suppress them. Just imagine that for a moment. It's not a pleasant thought. And then imagine they started collecting taxes from us, or one of our brothers here started collecting taxes from us to get to them. Whoa, you talk about animosity. Well, this is what the tax collectors were. And in addition to that, they, you know, skimmed plenty off the top of the pile and slid it down into their slimy pockets. So they were really hated. and they were crooked, and they were cheats, and they were stealers, and all that other stuff. Well, this guy was a tax collector, a dirty, rotten bum. But he knew about his sin. Unlike the Pharisee, who had all this light, and who had all this privilege, and who had all the bloodlines, and all the pedigree of a wonderful Jew, But he was proud. It was the sinner who understood the reality of his burden. Turn with me, please, now to 1 Corinthians 14. This passage has a reference to the way that our worship ought to be conducted. And it talks about the regulation of tongues in the public worship. And in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 24, He's talking about tongues and prophecy, and for instance there in verse 24 he says, or let's go back to 23, if the whole church comes together in one place and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? So people are speaking in tongues, it's undiscernible, it sounds like gibberish and they're saying, what are you guys, nuts? Verse 24, But if all prophesy, speak the word of God in clear, discernible truth, and an unbeliever or uninformed person comes in, then what happens? Does he say, you're nuts? No. He is convinced by all and is convicted by all. The orderly, solemn worship of God promotes the fear of God in this man's mind and heart. Because he didn't come into a place where there was disorder and something that you couldn't understand. He came in where there was order, there was clarity, there was the presence of God, as we will see in a second. And because of that, he's convinced, his mind is persuaded, and he is convicted, his heart is moved. And thus, verse 25, the secrets of his heart are revealed. That would not have happened if he hadn't first been convinced and convicted. But because he has, now the secrets of his heart come out. And then what does he do? He falls down on his face and he worships God and he reports that God is truly among you. That's what our worship services ought to be like. That's not moroseness. It's not deadness. It's solemnity. It's a holy, joyful solemnity that befits the glory of our holy God. And that's why we are urged to come and sit and prepare ourselves for worship. So we're not scrambling in at the last second, getting all this figured out and getting that all settled. It disturbs other people. It's not orderly. It's not worthy of the glory of God, if I may take it upon myself to say that. But the point is that this man has a burden, and his burden comes through the orderly worship and the solemn prophecy of the Word of God. While we're here, let's go to Isaiah 66. I don't know how far we're going to move, but let's just stay here. Isaiah 66. We're talking about Christians' burden. and the importance of a burden for sin in our own hearts. Isaiah 66, verse 1, Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build for me? And where is the place of my rest? For all these things my hand has made. So we're trying to build a place to worship God. It was, in old days, it was a pillar of stones here and there, and then it became the tabernacle, and then the temple, and even Solomon. The Lord said, this house cannot contain my glory, and that's what he is saying here. For all these things my hand has made, and all these things exist, says the Lord. But on this one I will look. The God who was so big that you can't contain him in a physical building or anything that the hands of man could ever make, that magnificent and infinitely glorious God will look upon this kind of person, on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. Psalm 5117, a broken and a contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. So this burden that Christian has is a matter of utmost importance for us in our lives every single day. Bunyan in his wisdom and clearly the scriptures in their purity and holiness and inspiration do not leave us floundering just with our burden, but they bring us also to a cross. And here I would like to look just at one verse, and that is 1 Peter 2.24. Hopefully we can come back to this a little bit later, but in 1 Peter 2.24 we have this very explicit statement made about Jesus' work. who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died two sins, might live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Then we have thirdly the reference to the sepulcher, as I've said, simply just an old word for grave or tomb. And we have a reference to that right here in 1 Peter 2.24, that we having died two sins. And so Christian's burden falls off his back, the ropes are cracked, it rolls down the hill, it drops into this tomb and it is never seen again. And we have a statement like Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the in the life which I now live, help me out here, I live by the faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And then Romans 6.4 would be another passage that would be a key passage in this regard to our sins being buried with Christ. Romans 6, 4, "...therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death." I don't believe that's a reference to water baptism. I believe it's talking about our union with Christ in death. Obviously, baptism, when it comes after, is a very distinct symbol of this reality. But I think in this verse, he's talking not about water baptism, but about our actual union with Christ. We were buried with Him by being placed into death. That's what that word means. that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Well then, Christian's burden is released. And I'd like you to turn with me to Hebrews 10. I know we're bouncing all over the place here. It's kind of meant to be really more of a survey of these truths as we follow the narrative. And in Hebrews 10, beginning in verse 19, We're talking about the burden being released. He says, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiness, how in the world am I ever going to do that? How in the world am I ever going to enter the presence of God? It is by the blood of Jesus. by a new and living way, as opposed to the Old Testament sacrificial system, which could never take away sin, but by a new and living way which He consecrated for us through the veil, that is His flesh. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. There's the release of your burden, brethren. It's not by works of righteousness which we have done or could ever do. but by His grace and His mercy, by His sovereign eternal plan to enter into a covenant with His people, to enter into a covenant with His Son, to write His law upon their hearts, to put a song in their hearts, to take out the heart of stone, to give them a heart of flesh, and to have His Son pour out His blood to be the priest as well as the sacrifice for our sins. Unbelievable. That's why this song is so good! Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful! And my song shall ever be. Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. The funny thing is, I remember as a young kid when we first sang that song in a church that I grew up in, and it wasn't in our hymnal, But there were some missionaries that came. We didn't see these guys very often. I think I only saw them two or three times the whole time I was in that church. We just didn't see that much of them. They were busy with their work and I don't remember where they were. But I remember it was kind of a youngish, probably in their 40s, married couple. And whenever they came, they would speak either. I think he would preach. I don't remember exactly. But I remember they had a real burden, passion for the lost. And I remember that they brought this hymn with them to our worship service. And I could kind of feel. In my eight or ten year old head, however old I was, I could kind of feel the opposition of the congregation. Well, that's not in our hymnal. I mean, are you kidding me? Just look at it. Anyway, let's move on. The burden is released and then Christian has joy of heart. Psalm 43, he has put a new song in my heart and he stands there with amazement and contrition. In fact, in this second paragraph, four times it says that he looked. Then he stood still a while to look and wonder, for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked therefore, and looked again, even until the springs that were in his head sent waters down his cheeks. Now as he stood looking and weeping." So he was looking, looking, looking, looking. He was gazing. He was dumbfounded. And he couldn't take his eyes off the cross. And the three shining ones come to him. Jesus tells him that his sins are forgiven. The Father indicates the double imputation of removing his sin and guilt. and clothing him with the righteousness of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, Zechariah 3, 4. And then the Spirit gives him the seal or the earnest of his inheritance, Ephesians 1, 13 and 14. He has a seal placed upon his forehead, Ezekiel 9, 4 and Revelation 7, 3. And then he breaks out into song. Now I'd like to bring some applications to our minds from this encounter which Christian has at the cross. And the first thing I would like to ask you to do, and myself, is to see our burden of sin as Christian saw his. Our world doesn't like to talk about sin. In fact, there are an awful lot of churches that don't like to talk about sin. And so guess what? They don't. So what they have is not a true church. Oh, they might have a beautiful building. It might be paid for. It might be one of those with, you know, all kinds of stones and a bell tower and just a gorgeous piece of architecture. But The light has been extinguished, the glory of God has departed, and over the front entrance you can read the words, Ichabod, the glory of God has departed. The stones are beautiful, the bells in the tower ring throughout the whole community and it's a wonderful, gushy feeling when you hear them, but God is not there. Well, that may be true of some churches, and I think it is. I wonder if it's true of some Christians. I wonder if we really think about our sin. I know there are some with a very tender conscience who think about it without interruption throughout the day. But I also believe there are some without a tender conscience who rarely think about their sin, and perhaps every degree in between. Do you see your sin? Do you ever carry a burden in your heart? I mean, this scumbag, the tax collector, who was a traitor to his own Jewish people so that he could skim off the top and give money to the Roman government and get fat and happy on the money of his fellow citizens, as much as you feel like strangling a guy or whatever other forms of violence come into your mind, don't stay there too long, but at least he saw what a bum he was. There's an incident that I would like us to turn to in Luke chapter 7 and spend a few minutes here. because it's about another sinner, beginning in verse 36. It's also about a Pharisee. Luke 7, 36, then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, You can imagine, you know, what she was. It doesn't tell us, but it's not hard to figure out what categories of people fit into, or what types of people fit into that category. She was what everyone knew her to be, a sinful woman. But this is also true of her, in addition to her sinfulness, that when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, she did something. She brought something precious that she had, something very expensive. And it was an alabaster flask of fragrant oil. And she stood at his feet behind him. And she was weeping. She began to wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head. And she kissed his feet. One of the other parallel passages says she kissed his feet continually. I don't care if this is the Middle Eastern culture where people wear sandals and it's customary to come into the house and have a servant wash your feet. You know, getting down there and kissing somebody's feet, that's pretty radical, you know. I can't say I'm in a practice of doing that myself. But she was. It was because of what was in her heart toward herself and toward the Savior. So she stood behind his feet, weeping. She stood, I'm sorry, at his feet, which gives me the idea that she was actually on her knees, weeping. And she began to wash his feet with her tears, wipe them with the hair of her head. She kissed his feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. And now we have our friend Simon. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he spoke to him, saying, This man, Jesus, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. So he said, Teacher, say it. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. The one owed him 500 denarii, the other 50. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more?" Simon answered and said, I suppose. You know, he's kind of above this question with his dignity. You know, who are you to be talking to me like this? I suppose. the one to whom he lost my place here. Yes, I suppose the one to whom he forgave more. And he said to him, you have rightly judged. Now Jesus turns to the woman and he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins which are many are forgiven." Her sins which are many are forgiven. Jesus forgives sins. Jesus forgives many sins. Jesus forgives vile sins. He forgives the deepest and the darkest and the ugliest sins on this planet. The sins that are in your heart and my heart, known only to me and to you and to God. He forgives them. You wouldn't even tell one of your brothers here about it. Because of the shame and the guilt. But God sees. And He cleanses and He washes when we come to Him with empty hands and with a single heart. Therefore I say to you, her sins which are many are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. And the reason that Simon was forgiven little was because Simon didn't have very many sins, did he? I mean, after all, he was a Pharisee. He didn't really need religion all that much. He had the robes. He had it in his genealogy. Why, the scroll that he had was probably handed down from his great-grandfather, even with signatures and notes in the margins. After all, he was a Pharisee. You know, he had the bloodlines. He had the clothes. He had all the stuff to go with it. He was brought up in the church. He didn't need too many sins to be forgiven. I'm sorry brethren, I don't think that we have a huge problem with this church. I don't know men's hearts, but I have seen in some places, in Reformed Baptists and other denominational circles, a Pharisaical spirit. Boy, if you don't have the stripes on your collar that we have, if you don't dot your I's and cross your T's the way we do, Dude, if you weren't raised in a Christian home, what's your problem? That is totally foreign to the Gospel. That is totally foreign to God's purpose for the church and for the Gospel. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now privilege are wonderful things. If you can learn from your youth about God and have the climate of the fear of God in your home, that's a wonderful thing to preserve you in the way of righteousness. But it won't earn you credit with God unless your own heart and my own heart are humbled and contrite before Him. A proud Christian has got to be one of the biggest contradictions, one of the biggest disasters, and one of the biggest deformities on the planet Earth. And what do you think Paul thought of all of his privilege and pedigree? You know, our Bibles use the word dung. You know what that means. That's what he thought of all that stuff. It's not bad in and of itself, but when we think that we're something because of it, it stinks to high heaven and God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. I believe it is at the foot of the cross that Pilgrim who here is called Christian repents and turns from the city of destruction and comes to know His God and Savior. And so it is at the cross that we learn about God's purpose to preserve the purity of His justice. It is at the cross that we see God pouring forth His wrath upon sin. It is at the cross that we see about God's purpose to purify sinners of covenant people unto himself, Titus 2.14. where he makes a way of access unto himself, fulfilling his covenant, ushering in his final kingdom, and remembering our sins against us no more, buried in the depths of the deepest sea. Though they be like scarlet, though they shall be as wool, though they be red like crimson, they shall be white as snow. I got those reversed, but you understand the truth that's there. And Hebrews 7, 24 and 25 tell us to draw near with a heart of full assurance of faith. And in Hebrews 8, 12 it tells us they are remembered against us no more. And so the question is not about my past. The question is about my present and my standing before God. May the Lord write his word upon our hearts, teach us humility and honesty and contrition, even as this man Christian had in our beautiful story of Pilgrim's Progress. Let's pray. Oh, Father, how can we begin to thank you for the gospel of salvation? But to say with the songwriter here, Lord, I give myself away to all that I can do. Please be with us, Lord, in the coming hour, drawn near by your Holy Spirit upon our pastors and upon this congregation. Through your word, may we offer unto you the joy of our hearts and the singing of hymns. And may you be honored in this place today. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.