Now, beginning this evening on our series on Pilgrim's Progress, before we actually get into the book itself, which we hope that most of you have in your possession, it would be of great benefit for us to, first of all, learn a little bit something about the author and the book in general. And just like the Bible, you'll never love the Bible until you read its author. In the same way as with Pilgrim's Progress, if we don't know something about the man and John Bunyan and the life and the period in which he lived, we'll not really understand the book and appreciate what he's trying to bring out. So we'd like to give you a few things tonight, divide up the message on the life of Bunyan and also the book in which he wrote, which we're going to be studying, Pilgrim's Progress. John Bunyan was born in the year 1628 in a town outside of Bedford in England. He was born a very poor parent, so poor that his grandfather left his children 6 pence each. That's equivalent to 6 pennies. So, young people, that would mean that if your daddy passed away today and he left you all of his inheritance, you would have received six pennies to raise your family on. This is the environment in which Bunyan was raised in, a very poor environment. His father was a brazer, which would correspond to a sheet metal worker or a maker of pans and instruments. This trade was called a tinker, and this was Bunyan's trade. The era in which Bunyan was born is very important for us to understand this book. In the year 1620, the Pilgrims came to America. Bunyan was born in 1628, so this is the contemporary of that era. It was the era in which the Puritans were speaking out in England against the established Church of England, in which the Church of England had so departed from the preaching of the gospel that there arose within its ranks groups which desired to purify the Church from within. They were called Puritans. Many of them found that they could not purify the Church, and so they withdrew and became nonconformists and were called separatists. These were the people that founded the United States of America. These were the pilgrims. They called themselves pilgrims when they came over on the Mayflower because they were seeking for a country whereby they could obtain religious freedom. This is the same people, the same environment, the same religious and political beliefs that John Bunyan was of. So we can appreciate then that the founding fathers of the United States of America were of the same persuasion as this man, John Bunyan, and so this will perhaps help us as we go through the book to see what enabled him to live the kind of life that he did, and also what enabled the founding fathers of this country to suffer the hardships the way they did, and it is directly related to their religious beliefs about God. Now, Bunyan was an individual that had very little education. He was poor, he could not afford to have a formal education, and yet he had a great grasp of the English language. He was also born in the same era of Shakespeare. He was a contemporary in the same time that Shakespeare lived. He was also a contemporary in the same time that the King James Bible was translated in the years 16 and 11. So while he was very poor, he did not have a formal education, yet he had a great grasp of the English language at that particular time, the language of Tyndale and so forth. In 1649, after a term in the military, John Bunyan was married. But in 1655, six years later, his wife died, leaving him with four small children, all, of course, just infants. Their names were Mary, who was his blind daughter, whom he was very much grieved over because of her eyes, Elizabeth, John, and Thomas. Bunyan then, after his wife died, was left with the responsibility of raising these four young children, all under the age of six. It was his wife, his first wife, that had a large influence on him coming to know Christ as he did. And his conversion is recorded in his autobiography, which is entitled, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. I think that we'll change the slide here just a moment. In putting Bunyan before you, of course, this is not an exact replica, this is but something for you to view, because Bunyan was a preacher, and that's what we'll focus our attention upon. Remember, in this era, the Church of England was the dominant established religion. And anyone who dared try to hold an assembly or preach who was not licensed immediately came out of the wrath of the state church. So Bunyan, in the year 1660, was cast into prison. Now, bear in mind, this is only five years after his wife died. He still has four youngsters, which he is trying to care for. But he goes out and begins preaching the gospel after his conversion, and for this he is cast into prison, and he spends 12 years in prison because of his preaching of the gospel. His first year in prison came when he was 32 years old in the prime of life. That is, here is a man that has reached the prime, he is strong, he is healthy, his wife has died, he has four children, of which he has a responsibility to raise, and yet because he believes so strongly in the gospel, he is willing to endure the wrath of the established Church in order that the gospel might go forth. Now, it was during this time in prison that while he had much grief, being separated from his children, he remarried before he was put into prison, so his second wife was given the responsibility of the raising of the children. Bunyan helped with the welfare of his children, as he did earn some from his trade which he carried on while in jail. And several Christian friends rallied to the support of his wife and children so that they did not go hungry, but yet of course they had to undergo much time of pain and anguish in being separated during this era. But it was while he was in jail that he enjoyed this marvelous experience with Jesus Christ being revealed to him, as we would read in the words of his autobiography, in such a way that he said, I would not trade it for anything at all. He said, I would have never been given the great insight into Christ. had I not enjoyed this experience." So rather than pining and rather than complaining about his portion in life, he rejoiced in the privilege that he had been able to suffer for the cause of Christ, and yet at the same time, in the absence of his dearly beloved wife and children, God replaced that loss. with a greater manifestation of grace in revealing to him some of the many experiences that all of us go through in our lives. So that might be an encouragement to some, maybe not too many here tonight who have had an adverse portion in life. But you can bear this to the truth. To the degree that God asks you to suffer for his cause will be the same degree that he will add some measure of spiritual grace to offset that. And as a result, why we are studying a book here tonight, some 400 years later, because a man spent 12 years of the prime of his life in separation from his family in order that God might reveal the gospel to him in such a way, in such a clear form, that boys and girls and men and women for 400 years have rejoiced in the reading of Pilgrim's Progress. So whatever God designs in taking things away, he will replace In another aspect, and may we look to that, if you suffered a loss, a heartache or something, God will replace that with some greater degree of blessing. And so he rejoiced over his prison experience. Now, Bunyan was called to his first pastorate while he was still in prison. Talk about it. While he was still in jail, a little congregation of people in which he was a member of, their young pastor died, and they called Bunyan to be their pastor. Of course, he couldn't until he was released when the persecution let up and he was finally pardoned. Then, upon leaving, he became their pastor and they met in a barn. They met in a barn. I wonder here tonight, do we really recognize and even reflect upon the privilege we have of coming here in an air-conditioned church, in contrast to what many in years past have had to meet in barns, in the catacombs, and in places of hiding, even as individuals are right now behind the iron curtain. They might meet in a little room, even right now, to share the gospel and study the Bible together. And God helps us to be appreciative of the blessings which we have. Bunyan died in the year 1688, lived to be 60 years of age. Now, Bunyan's doctrine, what did he believe? What did he hold to? Bunyan, theologically, was called what is known as a Calvinist. That is, he believed that salvation was entirely of God. He believed in all of the doctrines of grace. He did not believe that salvation was a cooperative thing in which God did his part and man does his part. No, Bunyan believed that God was the author of salvation and that he is the author and finisher of salvation. Now, Bunyan and what goes along with these great doctrines are the great doctrines in the Bible which deal with the doctrines of predestination and election and calling. Bunyan believed in the doctrine of total depravity, that sinners were totally dead in trespasses and sins, and therefore would not and could not even respond to the gospel invitation apart from a divine, factual calling of God. He believed in an unconditional election of God, that God did not just look out upon the scene and see what was going to occur, but that God actually purposed to save individuals when he set out to save them. that Bunyan believed that God not only just made salvation possible, but he went beyond that and he made it actual in the application to individuals' lives and hearts. Bunyan believed in the perseverance of the saints and all of these great doctrines which are recorded in the historic Baptist confessions of faith. And these are the people which came to this country in America, founded this country, because they had such a strong belief that the sovereign God had predetermined that they were to go to the United States of America, and nothing was going to overcome that. And, my friends, when we get a vision of God, that his ways are not checkmated by man's but that God rules over all, then that will give you some backbone to get your little family as those pilgrims did. Put them in that Mayflower, kiss Grandma goodbye, and say, we're going to America because we believe that's where God would have us. Grandma, we'll never see you probably again. Now, where do you think that backbone came from? That came from a religious belief in the absolute sovereignty of God, the purpose of God in individuals' lives, and that nothing is going to overrule this, but that if they die on the way over here, then that will be the will of God. If they make it to the shore, that will be the will of God. If they sink in the middle of the ocean, that will be the will of God. And these were the type of people that set out to found this country that landed in Plymouth Bay some in the year 1620. Now, Dr. Bunyan was what is called an experimental Calvinist. He did not just delve in the intellectual aspects of religion. He believed that religion was an experimental thing. something that you could know and experience that was real, and that it flowed from a correct understanding of God. He had no time for individuals who would sit in their studies and just piddle over theoretical things if it did not come down to a practical, vital Christian experience. And I think that's the kind of religion we need today, the kind of religion that just does not talk, the kind of religion that just does not say this or that, but a religion that comes down to what is real, where you and I, where we live at, where we can experience this and know that God is not a million miles away, but he dwells and rules and reigns in our innermost being. So this, may God help us to see this. Bunyan believed in the doctrine of repentance. And he believed that repentance was not just a one-time act. That is, that repentance was not something that was just performed when one was initially converted, and that was the last time that repentance was ever heard of. Bunyan believed, as all of the old-time Baptists did, that repentance was a divine gift imparted to the nature of man that continued throughout man's existence until he entered into the celestial city. That is, that it was a repentance whereby that it continued to grow, it was a repentance which was there that brought a remorse and a sorrow over sin, and that it was a lifelong act which brought the sinner," and now listen carefully, "...from nature to grace and from grace to glory." Is that your salvation? Did God's grace come down and bring you out of nature? What you were in, dead in trespasses and sin, if it did, that same grace is going to bring you into glory. From grace, from nature to grace, and then from grace to glory. And so here was a lifelong thing, that instead of just saying, well, I repented once, and But Bunyan believed that the act of repentance was an attitude of mine whereby when the Christian sinned, instead of it being God just allowing him to go on and on like the unbeliever, why, he would send his marvelous work of grace and repentance, and that individual would be humbled before God because of his sin. Now, Bunyan was a Baptist, but of a very mild sort. Many people today, and maybe you're one of those, and God bless you if you are, but many people today that you can pluck out the hair on their head that says, Baptist on the end of it. I'm not that kind of a Baptist. Many people believe that only there are certain teachings throughout the South, and maybe you're one of those, that only the Baptists are going to be in the Bride of Christ. And the rest, all they're going to do is shine the shoes and clean the stitoons while the Baptists rule and reign. And that's all of the view that's called the Baptist bride view. And if you're not a member of a Baptist church, then you're not a member of the Bride of Christ. Bunyan was a Baptist, but he was a very mild Baptist. In fact, so mild that some have even charged him with not being a Baptist. Bunyan believed in believer's baptism, but at the same time he allowed his wife to have his children christened. So many have risen up and said, Well, this means that Bunyan wasn't a Baptist. But I think it only shows the tolerant attitude that while Bunyan was in the prison, he permitted his wife to do this, because he did not believe that baptism had any type of a cleansing or a regenerating effect, but he did permit his children to be christened as infants. Then he permitted Christians who were unbaptized to partake of communion in his Church, and so for this he is charged with not being a Baptist. That is, he would allow Presbyterians and others who had been sprinkled to partake of communion. On the basis of this, he had a lot of problems with the Baptist in his own age, and yet he claimed the title of a Baptist. But I think that we could say that Bunyan was a Baptist, and you mention him today, and immediately all Baptist preachers rise up and say, He's our man, we want John, give us John. And then you mention to them what John believed, and they want nothing to do with him. If John Bunyan were here today, he would not be accepted by the modern Baptists. He would be a renegade, just like many are today, that would preach what's in the Baptist confessions of faith, and yet they will be persecuted for what they believe and teach. Bunyan was a Baptist, but he was a very mild Baptist. We might say he was a Baptist with a Catholic spirit. And in that sense that he is looked to by Christians of all groups. In his book you see this, and he's loved by Methodists and Presbyterians and Lutherans and so forth, because of his Christian spirit that goes beyond the denomination in which he was a member of. Bunyan was a preacher, and he was heard gladly by the common people. John Owen, the great theologian of that particular era, who has, I have nearly all of his work back here in my library, and you begin reading him and it's sometimes a hundred sentences in a paragraph, and he's a tremendous of the word, very deep in the word. But here's what John Owen said of John Bunyan. He says, quote, I would gladly exchange all of my learning for the thinker's power to touch human hearts. That is, Bunyan had a way of communicating the gospel that Owen says, I wish I had, and I'd trade all of my learning for the ability to touch the human heart the way that Bunyan does. Now then, let's look next at the book itself. The book itself. Pilgrim's Progress is the greatest book in the world, next to the Bible. This is not just my opinion, it's not everybody's opinion, but many, many people hold to this persuasion who are critics and give book reviews. It's the greatest book in the Bible, next to the Bible, because if you really want to know what Christianity really is, read Pilgrim's Progress. If you haven't read Pilgrim's Progress, then you haven't read the greatest book next to the Bible. It is the Bible with pictures. And as you open the book and begin reading it, you'll see the Bible begin coming out at you in pictorial form and language. It is experimental in nature. That is, you can go to the Philadelphia Confession of Faith and the Westminster Confession of Faith, and you will find in exact words the precise wording of the doctrines of Scripture. But if you want to know how that doctrine works out and experience, read Pilgrim's Progress. Many people say, well, I don't like doctrine, I don't like the preaching of just doctrine. When we go through this, you're going to find experience. But it would not surprise me that some of my hearers might not like the experiences described in Pilgrim's Progress. So what the real rub is, is between nominal Christianity and the real Christianity which sits down where the rubber meets the road. That which we have to experience, and because many people have not experienced these things that are described in this book, then it's a condemnation to their religious experience, and it is lacking. Now, this book describes the life of a Christian traveling between two worlds, the city of destruction which he's leaving and the celestial city in which he's heading toward. Bunyan wrote this book while in prison. I think we'll just put up the slide here. And while he wrote this book, he wrote it in the form of an allegory. Now, what is an allegory? The Bible speaks in Galatians chapter 4 of an allegory. An allegory is a similitude, a comparison, and it is something that has a deeper or hidden meaning below the surface. I remember back when I was going to Bible college, we had a class of some 200 ministers in our English class, and we took Pilgrim's Progress. Oh, my, everybody was a great theologian. He knew all about the Bible. That's one thing about being a first-year student in Bible college, you know everything there is to know. And then as time goes on, when you get out you wonder if you learned anything. But here are all of these great theologians, 200 of them. We sat together and we were trying to figure out what on earth does this mean. And there wasn't anybody in the whole class who knew what the book meant. No one knew what the meaning of this book was and how to tell heads and tails. Now, there's a reason for that as we go through it. The school I particularly attended did not have any conception of all of what the doctrines of grace was that Bunyan was talking about. So they couldn't decide where on earth is Bunyan converted. Is he converted at the wicked gate? Is he converted at the cross? Is he converted way on down here? Does he lose his salvation here? We don't know what's going on, and that's because they didn't understand the doctrines of grace as set forth in the Bible and the Baptist confessions of faith. So there was great hassling over that. But it is an allegory. Now, this means that some have been troubled by this in reading it. For example, in the first chapter we'll find that Bunyan leaves, or rather the Christian, leaves his family and heads out toward the flesh of the city. And this causes a great concern to some. Do you mean then that here's a man that forsakes his family and his wife and children? And we must understand, this is not in the physical realm, this is an allegory. It's what is behind the scene, what this is teaching. And yes, in real life, this man will go home after his job and he'll eat supper with his wife and kids. But it's merely showing that his wife and children are not Christians. And that he and his experience in coming to the Lord has to be willing to depart from the ridicule and being made fun of by his wife and children. And so he has to set out alone. But it doesn't mean that in the physical realm that he has left them. He's there sleeping with them, eating with them, playing with them all the time, but in the spiritual realm he has left them because he has become a Christian and they are non-Christians. So we must understand that the whole story is in the form of an allegory, and that it is merely conveying deeper, hidden spiritual truth which is not present on the surface. Now, this also causes a problem with many. The more that you love the Bible, the more you'll love Pilgrim's Progress. I guarantee you that. If you don't like the Bible, you won't like Pilgrim's Progress. Charles Sturgeon said of Bunyan, that you can just prick old Bunyan anywhere, and out of his veins flows Bibiline, or the Bible. And that's what you're going to find. You'll be reading portions in the book, and you won't know whether that Bunyan is quoting from the scripture, or whether he's paraphrasing, or whether he's giving his own words. There's so much Bible connected in it. But yet at the same time, you will be able to see the difference between what a real Christian is and what a false Christian is. Bunyan had a great sense of spiritual discernment, to be able to discern the phony from the real. And this is the reason why many people do not like Pilgrim's Progress, is because they see themselves in the book. And if you will be honest, you ought to find yourself at least once or twice in the book somewhere. And that is, if you're an honest person and you really want to find yourself, start looking as we start going through and you'll see yourself in there somewhere. But the book has no appeal to people, now listen, who are all wrapped up in this present world. It has no appeal to them. Because of its searching message, There is a searchingness in the book of Pilgrim's Progress which will not let the person who is wrapped up in this present world alone. And it finds him out. And you may be that type of a person. You may be very active in this church. You may read this book and it may find you out, that little hidden sin that nobody knows about but you and God. And when that begins to be revealed, it will upset you, or upset me, because it causes us to see ourselves as we really are. We may come to Mr. Talkative, and you may find yourself written all over him. He loves to talk about religion, but he doesn't want to do any of it. All he wants to do is talk. We may come to others in the book. As we see her and what a great front she puts on, we may find you there. And this is the reason why the unregenerate or the non-Christian doesn't like this book. Pastor gave it to a business friend of his one time, and he read through just a couple of chapters, and he came and gave it back, and he said, You can have it, that's the most depressing thing I ever read. I want nothing to do with it. Now, it upsets people, and there's a reason for it. Because it gets down to a searching of the human heart. It is true it brings great despondency in some cases. But, beloved, before the gospel will ever become good news to you, you're going to have to first of all reach a place of desperation. And that's the way God deals with sinners. The little easy believism of today just says to the individual, just believe in Jesus. Everybody that wants to go to heaven, raise your hand. And very few individuals ever go through a period whereby they have to become desperate. And that's why the gospel has no effect as it's preached today. But you find in the Bible that individuals, that they are brought down to a place of despondency before they are given hope. That is, we must be brought to the end of ourselves before we'll go out of ourselves and hold on to another. For example, if you're drowning, what's your hope? As long as you think you can save yourself, is there any chance of you being saved? When you're there struggling, no. We know what happens when an individual tries to go out and save a person who is going under, don't we? In their desperate struggles, they perish, and sometimes many with them. The same is true with the gospel. Until a person comes to the end of their struggles of themselves, and such despair that there is no hope, I'm speaking. Until they reach that point, Jesus Christ will not become precious to them in the gospel. They will not lay hold in saving faith. And this is what the modern hearer of the gospel does not like. They do not like the idea that they must come to a place of helplessness and then cast themselves upon someone outside of themselves. And that's why the human heart hates the true gospel. is because when you're talking about salvation by grace, it means it's all of grace from beginning to the end, and that if anyone is going to be saved, they're going to have to seek the mercy of God in order to find that salvation. So it has little appeal to the men of the world. Well, why then has it enjoyed such great success? It has been translated in over 198 languages and dialects. It's used by many missionaries in going into new peoples, translating Pilgrim's Progress and using it as a missionary tool. Why has it enjoyed such tremendous success? Because it's true to the form of the Bible. It reveals the heart of a true Christian, and Christians enjoy this of all denominations, because it's their experience. And if you've been truly born again, you're going to love the presentation in Pilgrim's Progress. But if you haven't been born again, I can already tell you, you're going to be miserable before it's over, and I would only hope that that would be a sign of God's grace working in your heart. May God help us as we go through this, men, women, boys and girls. And then another reason for its success is the reality of the characters that are described in Pilgrim's Progress. You meet people who are real. People that live here in Osceola, Missouri, people who go to the First Baptist Church of Osceola, Missouri, you meet them, they're here. This is not a book that's going to be some false thing in which it has no relevance to your life. You're going to meet yourself, and you'll meet your friends and your neighbors here, and the experiences that we go through in sharing in common. Mark Twain, who traveled around the world, lived in Hannibal, Missouri, and went up and down the River of the Mississippi. In all of his travels around the world, he said this, he never met a person anywhere in the world he hadn't already met in Hannibal, Missouri. What he meant by that was simply that characters are fundamental. You only have a few basic characters that you deal with in the human nature. You go over to England and you're going to find the same characters you find here in Osceola, Missouri. And you're going to find the same experiences that they're going through with in England that we're going through with here. So they will be real. They will come alive to us. And Bunyan's presentation of the gospel is relevant because it deals with sin, death, sorrow and judgment. And these are things which are relevant for us today. We're dealing with the same sin problem. We're dealing with the penalty of that sin, which is death. We're dealing with sorrow. We're dealing with judgment to come. And all of these, we'll see, are relevant just as they were when the Pilgrims founded this country here, in which Bunyan was someone that lived in that same era. And then this has been blessed of God because Bunyan doesn't miss anyone. He doesn't miss anyone. I've read the book some five or six times, and I know where I'm at in that book. I know where I'm at. Maybe we might come across Mr. Fearing in the book. You may find yourself there. Always fearing, never able to come to a true peace. You may find yourself there. You may find yourself as Mr. Violent for Truth. You may find yourself as little faith as Mr. Temporary. Somewhere in the book you will find yourself. But it's something that is written in the form of Bunyan's own personal experience in conversion, and it will describe many of the experiences which other Christians go through. Now, one more word, and this. Not all of the experiences described in this book will you go through. Now that's important. Not all of the characters in this book will describe you, but some of them will. Some of you, I've been around you long enough to know that you probably don't have much problem with giant despair, you always have a positive outlook and so forth. Some of you can go through the valley of humiliation and no problem at all. And others of you, I know it's a very difficult time for you to go through the valley of humiliation, and you may see some things in that valley that other Christians don't see. Some of you are having a very hard time going up what he calls the hill of difficulty. Others of you, you just run right up that hill and right down. You have no problem with that. And yet there are some that it's a struggle. It seems like every day something comes up in which there's a difficulty put in your Christian experience that you just can't seem to make it up. Well, you'll find yourself there in that particular experience. So all of these are things that are set forth in describing the book of Pilgrim's Progress. Now, beginning next Sunday evening, I'd like to give you an assignment in the book so that you can read this, and I'd like for you to begin and read through to the slew of despondency. The slew of despondency. Read from the beginning of the book through to the slew of despondency, in which that Christian or the pilgrim falls into the state of despondency, and then we'll try to cover all of what is the interval that's in between. Now, we propose to do this. We do not propose to lecture on the book, but we're going to take the book, and we're not going to read it all, but we're going to follow the narrative of it. And then we're going to make a few comments upon it as we go along and as we use the overhead projector and explain some of the particular hidden meanings that Bunyan will explain in his own marginal notes which are not in the particular copy that you have. I think it would be good, let us look as we read the first paragraph so that we might get just a taste of what is in store for us. As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted upon a certain place where there was a den. Now this is the jail, this is Bunyan here in the jail. And there he's going to tell this story in the form of a dream, not that he had a dream, but that he's going to tell the story in the form of a dream. And he says, "...I lighted upon a certain place where there was a den, and laid me down in that place to sleep. And as I slept, I dreamed a dream." And notice it's written in the first person here, he's describing himself, I dreamed a dream. Not in the real sense, but he's telling the story in the form of a dream. "...Behold, I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place with his face from his own house. a book in his hand and a great burden upon his back. And I looked and saw him open the book and read therein, and as he read he wept and trembled. And not being able longer to contain, he broke out with a lamentable cry, saying, What shall I do?" Now, just an introduction. Here is the individual who is clothed with rags. That is his own righteousness. There are as filthy rags," and Bunyan would put Isaiah 64, verse 6, in the margin here. And then this individual has a book in his hand. which is none other than the Bible. That is, we'll never come to see ourselves as a person who really has no righteousness if we neglect the Bible. The Bible is the source whereby we come to see ourselves as sinners in the sight of God. And then he had a great burden upon his back, and we'll show this in the slide next week. That is, this burden is the sense of the guilt of sin upon him. And that is something that is greatly lacking in our modern presentation of the gospel, is that we just assume that everybody knows that there are sinners. But Bunyan believed that an individual, before he could be converted, he had to have a sense of the guilt of sin. He had to have a weight, so to speak, upon his back. He had to be aware personally that he was under the wrath of God. And if a person doesn't realize that, they'll never embrace the true gospel of saving grace. There is no gospel, you see, to a person who does not have a real sense of sin. And then, as he continues, he looks and he opens the book, and the longer he reads, the more miserable he becomes. And finally he reaches a stage in which he cries out, what shall I do? Or of course the Philippian jailer, what shall I do to be saved? And then it will be a most interesting time as we go through and see how this man finally reaches the point where he is converted, but what he goes through prior to that. So we would have to stop here with that this evening, and merely saying, please read that. Don't have to be concerned about going ahead. If you want to go ahead, fine, but make sure that you've read up to this point. by next Sunday evening so that we can get our slides going. And as we go through and review the city of destruction, where the man lived, we'll view his family and their reaction when he begins to talk about his conviction of sin. And we'll see they laugh at him, and they'll try to say, oh, you're just having a nervous breakdown or something. We'll see the neighbors begin to mock him When he begins to say, I'm lost, and when he sets out for the city, Mr. Pliable and Mr. Obstinate will go out after him to try to get him to come back. And Pliable, while he will go on and he'll get all excited about heaven, and then all of a sudden he'll go back, too. So let's examine these characters next Sunday evening. So let's close now with a moment of prayer, and asking God to bless the introduction and give you a little taste of what we are in store for, and that God might enable you to find a closer relationship with Christ as we go through these experiences of the pilgrim on his way to the celestial city. Shall we pray? Our Father in Heaven, we do ask for a measure, if great, to be able to have your Son revealed to us in the free pardon of sin. And may our hearts be open in this study, may we look unto your word and see that not only the doctrines of the scripture, but how those doctrines work out in our personal experiences. May we become stronger Christians and may we be enabled to see the beauties which are in Christ. Help us as we labor together here. And as we do so, may the ministry of the Holy Spirit speak to human hearts. May you speak to my heart. Give me a tender heart, a humble heart, as we see the magnitude of the work of Christ on my behalf and others' behalf. And may Christ become precious and real and personal to us. For we ask these favors in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen.