Embracing Grace: The Legacy of John Bunyan

"Puritans took very seriously the call to grow towards Jesus and towards christlikeness and towards virtue and they have taken a lot of hits in our day to be a Puritan or to be puritanical is an insult um Marilyn Robinson wrote an essay in 1994 called Puritans and prigs and she distinguishes between the two she points out that Puritans have gotten a lot of bad press that they are actually very different than the common stereotype of them they didn't go around wearing black they were not a joyless p people quite the contrary she says they were actually the most Progressive people up to about the 19th century on the planet." [00:01:06]

"John bunan grew up as a Puritan amidst people who uh took God very very seriously he was the tinker and the son of a poor tinker and in that day as in the ancient world and often in our day people who were poor financially were often thought to be poor in spirit not to have very much to offer Richard ler writes this about John bunan that he suffered from what we might diagnose in our day in childhood as anxiety and depression and OD oppositional Defiance disorder." [00:02:31]

"John bunan is a swearer who uses Blasphemous language to endow his uneducated speech with authority it is against the law to curse in in one brief episode a townswoman overhears his blasphemies and pronounces him the worst swearer in the entire Village and disc Scourge to youth shamed he pitiably confesses I wished with all my heart that I might be a little child again that my father might learn me to speak without this wicked way of swearing." [00:03:52]

"One of the things that saved John bun Richard ler says was the gift that God gave him the burden that God gave him and you'll have one of those that's part of your story for him it was to preach to communicate about God he um wrote a kind of a memoir um grace abounding to the chief EST of Sinners and he writes about how when he began to feel a great desire to preach to the unsaved not for the desire of glorifying myself for at that time I was particularly being Afflicted with the fiery darts of the devil concerning my eternal State." [00:05:11]

"I could not rest unless I was exercising this gift of preaching and I was pressed forward into it I began to see that the Holy Spirit never intended that people who had that gifts and ability should bury them in the earth rather he commanded and stirred up such people to exercise of their gift and sent out to work those who were able and ready and so although I was the most Unworthy of all the saints I set out upon this word." [00:05:50]

"Whatever gift God has given you it might be the encourage it might be the gift of Mercy it might be of giving it might be of shepherding other people it might be of sharing your faith with other folks um whatever it is use it today in your work in your relationships as you are learning God thank you that you have given me this gift something happens to us when we exercise the gift that God has given us and we see things happening in our lives that would not normally otherwise happen." [00:06:24]

"Preaching gives him a voice prison grants him the victory of the Saints the curse of all he has inherited his poverty and his wickedness is made worthy by this new instrument of suffering bunan was sent to prison for 12 years and the charge was preaching without a license the movement of puritanism was one that arose um in England initially within the Anglican Church to try to purify the church but to preach without a license because it was in the province of the state at that time was illegal." [00:07:56]

"John buan was in prison for 12 years for preaching without a license had to sleep in a room with three other people cold damp made shoelaces to support his family fashioned a little flute out of a a table leg there so that there could be a little bit of music and uh eventually he was released and went to Pastor a Baptist church and then was imprisoned again and it was in prison that he wrote a book called The Pilgrim's Progress." [00:08:40]

"Outside of the Bible uh published copies of that book have been sold more broadly than any book in the world and John bunan this educated Blasphemous cursing Tinker wrote it when he was in prison for preaching without a license um it has been translated into over 200 languages uh over 80 languages in Africa alone and so many phrases that have come from that and Unforgettable characters it's kind of an allegory about Christian and um his friend faithful and evangelist." [00:09:17]

"Christian in in the Pilgrim's Progress has to carry on his back the weight of sin and guilt and in adequacy and failure and regret and I've got that and you've got that till we come to this place called the cross here's what he writes thus far did I come Laden with my sin nor could ought ease the grief that I was in till I came hither what a place is this must here be the beginning of my Bliss must here the burden fall off my back must hear the strings that bound it to me crack blessed cross blessed supper blessed rather be the man that there was put to shame for me blessed be that man blessed be Jesus." [00:10:51]

"Today whatever prison that you're in and we're all in some kind or another remember that it is uniquely in our sufferings that we meet the man of the Cross today whatever your gift is whether it looks large or small dramatic or not thank God God for it and use it and craft it this is my story." [00:11:44]

"Everybody has a story and everybody's story matters we want to know about your story whether it's a story of coming to Faith or a story of spiritual growth whatever it is we're here for you you can email that to us at connectcom new.com or you can text it to us you can also sign up for daily reminders whenever we drop a new video via text by texting the word become to the number 855 888 0444 you can also send us prayer requests there there's a team of us that meet to pray each weekday for viewers just like yourself." [00:12:40]