John Bunyan Living On The Invisible

The Old Testament scripture reading this morning is found in Isaiah chapter 43, verses 1 -7.

Please stand in honor of God's word. But now thus says the

Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed you.

I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.

And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned.

And the flames shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the

Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.

Fear not, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west

I will gather you. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, do not withhold. Bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the end of the earth.

Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

New Testament reading today is in 2 Corinthians, the entirety of chapter 4. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways.

We refuse to practice cunning, or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth, we would command ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of the

God. And even in our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the

God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

For God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair.

Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

For we who live are not always being given over the death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.

So death is at work in us, but life in you, since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written.

I believed, and so I spoke. We also believe, and so we also speak.

Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and bring us with you into his presence.

For it is all for your sake, so that, as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away, and our inner self is being renewed day by day.

For this light, momentary affliction, is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.

For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. You may be seated.

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to 2 Corinthians. 2

Corinthians chapter 1. And then we'll be looking at chapter 4, verses 16 through 18.

2 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 8 and 9. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia.

For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead.

And then chapter 4, verses 16 through 18. So we do not lose heart, though our outward self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

For this light, momentary affliction, is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.

For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Let's pray. Father, now help us as we consider this life, as we look at your

Scriptures, to learn today and to change because of it. Help us,

Father, so that we are faithful disciples of Jesus, that we will count

Jesus of supreme value above all other things. Teach us today, we pray.

Encourage us. Help us. In Jesus' name. Amen. If you want to summarize the entire history of the church in one word,

I think it could be this. Suffering. Suffering. The Bible proclaims it.

From the very beginning, Jesus made it clear. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. A couple of decades later, the

Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica these words. We sent

Timothy, our brother and God's co -worker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions.

For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.

The Apostle Peter wrote, Beloved, don't be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

And the history of the church bears that out. God's people are destined for suffering.

But the question is not, will God's people suffer, but how can they suffer in a way that makes

God glorious to those who see it? That's the question we need to ask. How can we suffer in such a way that makes

God glorious in those who see it? Now John Bunyan was no stranger to suffering.

Most of you know that John Bunyan wrote that wonderful Christian Catholic, The Pilgrim's Progress. And if you've never read it, get a copy and start today.

It is a wonderful book that clearly explains the course of Christian life from conversion to glory.

But maybe you didn't know that he suffered in prison for 12 years. 12 years locked away from his wife and children.

12 years separated from the congregation whom he loved and who loved him. 12 years of not knowing if the next day was his execution.

12 years without the comforts of life that we take for granted. 12 years in prison just because he wanted to freely preach the word of God.

But you should also know that he suffered in a way that made God glorious.

He suffered without bitterness, without revenge, without despair, without losing heart.

Now on this Reformation Sunday, let's try to understand how we can suffer in a way that magnifies the glory of God to those around us.

Now, we must learn this from the scriptures. We can learn it from the life of someone like John Bunyan who showed us how he learned and obeyed the scriptures.

Now he wrote another book called The Grace Abounding to the

Chief of Sinners. It's kind of his autobiography. And Bunyan looks over those 12 years of prison and wrote how he was able to survive and even flourish in the

Bedford jail. He quotes from the passages that we just read.

And here's what he said. 2 Corinthians 1 .9 was of great use to me.

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we might not trust ourselves but in God that raiseth the dead.

By this scripture I was made to see that if I ever would suffer rightly

I must first pass a sentence of death upon everything that can properly be called a thing of this life even to reckon myself my wife, my children my health, my enjoyment and all as dead to me and myself as dead to them.

The second was to live upon the God that is invisible. As Paul said in another place the way not to faint is to look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The word of God taught Bunyan how to suffer in a way that magnifies God. And like Bunyan we too need to look to the word of God.

But who exactly is John Bunyan? Who is he? What was he like? What's his story?

Well John Bunyan was born in the village of Elstow in 1628 a mile south of a little village called

Bedford 50 miles north of London. His father was a tinker. What in the world is a tinker?

Today it's someone who works on computers. Back then it was an itinerant tin smith who mended pots and pans and household utensils.

And so as was the custom John became a tinker. He received the ordinary education of the poor.

He learned how to read and write. And there was no other higher education of that which is amazing since he wrote this book that has influenced

English the English speaking world in phenomenal ways. The notable suffering of his life began in his teens.

When he was 15 his mother and his sister died within a month of one another.

His sister was 13 years old. And then to add to that his father got married within a month of their deaths.

When he was 16 during the Civil War that gripped Great Britain he was drafted into the

Parliamentary Army. He was taken away from his home for military service for two years.

And there were harrowing moments that he recalls but one in particular that struck him and caused him to think about the course of his life the shortness of it and of God.

He was supposed to have guard duty one night and he traded it with another man who took his place.

That man died with a musket ball to the head that night. Bunyan was also a wicked man.

During this time Bunyan writes, I had few key equals especially considering my years for cursing, swearing lying and blaspheming the holy name of God.

I was the very ringleader of all the youth that kept me company in all manner of vice and ungodliness.

When he was 20 or 21 he married Mary. Now we don't know much about her.

She was poor but she had a godly father and she brought to the marriage two books.

The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven and the Practice of Piety. And Bunyan would read those books with her and he writes in those two books

I would sometimes read with her wherein I also found some things that were somewhat pleasing to me but all this while I met with no conviction.

So you know I had a good time reading some of these things but it didn't bring any kind of conviction. But God's work had begun the seeds of the gospel had been planted and God began the work of irresistibly drawing

Bunyan to himself. Mary bore him four children Mary, Elizabeth, John and Thomas and Mary the oldest was blind.

She was born blind. After 10 years of marriage John's wife died.

The next year he married Elizabeth. When he was about 25 Bunyan was converted but it was an arduous painful journey for him.

He had come under the influence of John Gifford the pastor of a Baptistic separatist church in the village of Bedford.

In 1653 Bunyan moved his family from Elstow to Bedford and joined that church.

And while others thought that he'd been converted he wasn't so sure. He would pour over the scriptures and yet find no peace.

Doubts plagued his mind about God about the scriptures about his own soul.

He says a whole flood of blasphemies both against God Christ and the scriptures were poured upon my spirit to my great confusion and astonishment.

How can you tell but that the Turks had as good scriptures had as good scriptures to prove their

Mohammed the savior as we have to prove Jesus. My heart was at times exceedingly hard.

If I would have given a thousand pounds for a tear I could not shed one.

Now listen here was a man who was converted most likely and yet he had doubts.

Does that sound familiar? He had the same kind of doubts that you do. When he thought he was established in the gospel there came a season of overwhelming darkness following a terrible temptation when he heard the words

Sell and part with this most blessed Christ. Let him go if he will.

He says I felt my heart freely consent thereto. Oh the diligence of Satan.

Oh the desperateness of man's heart. I feared that this wicked sin of mine would be that sin unpardonable.

Oh no one knows the terrors of those days but myself. I found it hard to work now to pray to God because despair was swallowing me up and then came what seems to be decisive moment in his life and he writes about this in the grace abounding to the chief of sinners.

Now this is going to sound familiar. This is a passage that has had an incredible impact on me and I've quoted it to you several times but this was decisive for him.

Listen to what he says One day as I was passing into the field this sentence fell upon my soul.

Thy righteousness is in heaven and I thought I saw with the eyes of my soul

Jesus Christ at God's right hand. There I say was my righteousness so that wherever I was or whatever

I was doing God could not say of me he lacks my righteousness for that was just before him.

I also saw moreover that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse.

For my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself. The same yesterday, today and forever

Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed I was loosed from my afflictions and irons.

My temptations also fled away so from that time those dreadful scriptures of God about the unforgivable sin left off to trouble me.

Now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and the love of God Well then in 1655 when the matter of his soul was settled he was asked to do what they would say back then to exhort the church and just to get up and say some things and suddenly a great preacher was discovered.

His popularity as a lay preacher exploded one biographer wrote when the country understood that the tinker had turned preacher they came to hear the word by hundreds and that from all parts

Charles Doe was a comb maker I'm amazed at the trades they had back then

John Doe was a man who was or Charles Doe was a comb maker in London and he said

Mr. Bunyan preached so New Testament like he made me admire and weep for joy and give him my affections

It was said that a day's notice would get a crowd of 1200 people to come hear him preach on a week day at 7 o 'clock in the morning.

John Owen was a famous and well educated Puritan his works are comprised of 16 volumes if you want to see them go to Pastor Andrew's office and in his shelf right about here are the 16 volumes of John Owen John Owen was a brilliant theologian, brilliant and when asked by King Charles why he a great scholar went to hear an uneducated tinker preach replied

I would willingly exchange my learning for the tinker's power of touching men's hearts this is what landed him in jail.

You say how did that land him in jail what is it about preaching

God's word would land you in jail? How does great preaching get you in jail in 17th century

England? Well if we're going to understand the life suffering and ministry of Bunyan you got to understand something of the history of that day.

Now don't go to sleep. I hope that this history interests you. Parentheses history should always interest you.

You remember about 100 years before his birth in 1517 was the birth of the Protestant Reformation when

Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg Germany or Saxony.

That reformation through a series of events led to the establishment of a

Protestant church in England called the Church of England or the Anglican Church. Now this was an established church.

When someone says it's an established church it doesn't mean it doesn't necessarily mean a church that's got it is doing well.

It's an established church which means it is a state supported church.

That is to say that the church was governed by the government.

It was a state church and so the church then is supported by taxes.

If we were a part of the Church of England in England my salary would come from the taxes that were levied on all the citizens to support the workings of the church.

The king is the head of the church still today. King Charles the second is the head of the

Church of England and the Archbishop Canterbury is the spiritual head of that church.

In those days any other church like the church in Bedford where Bunyan went would be considered illegal.

It wasn't part of the established church. It also means that any rules governing the worship of the church come from the parliament.

Okay? The rules that establish the governing of the church come from parliament.

It would be like the congress telling us how we can worship. In Bunyan's lifetime the great battle the great battle was would the church be governed by the book of common prayer which contained the prayers the liturgies the instructions for the church.

When it came to that question there were three contending parties.

First there was the high church party. Those who loved the book of common prayer with all its ritual with all the vestments with all the robes and the smells and the bells if you will.

And it had an episcopal or bishop ruled church. That's one party.

Then there were the puritans. The puritans were church of Englanders who wanted to purify the church saying this is not what the bible says the church ought to be.

They said the church must be governed by the scriptures not the parliament and it doesn't make allowances for all the robes and everything or the vestments or all these kinds of rituals and it's elder ruled or congregational ruled in government not bishop ruled.

And then there was a third group that kind of came out of the puritans. They were called the separatists like the church in Bedford where Bunyan was.

It was a separatist church. They believed that the Anglican church the church of England was beyond reforming.

And even if you could purify the church it should not be state supported in any way.

The church and the state should be separate. Both they and the puritans were called nonconformists because they would not conform to the book of common prayer.

Politically on the political side there existed a conflict between parliament and the king.

James I and his son Charles I believed in the divine right of kings. They said God made us king.

God made me king so you do whatever I say. We don't need parliament. Forget parliament.

God has given the king the right to rule not the parliament. And so there was this conflict between parliament and the king.

The parliament the voice of the people disagreed. And by the way the parliament had a strong representation of puritans in it.

Eventually a civil war erupted between the royalists who supported the king and the parliament the parliament forces.

And remember Bunyan fought in the parliament forces. The king

Charles I something happened to him that was unheard of. He was beheaded.

Oliver Cromwell became what they called the lord protector. The mandatory use of the book of common prayer was thrown out.

Cromwell's main concern was a stable government with freedom of religion for the puritans and the separatists.

Now that lasted for ten years but when Cromwell died they re -established the monarchy under Charles II.

And again the old battle was joined. And the parliament now passed a series of acts that restricted the puritans all the nonconformists like Bunyan.

All churches were required to follow the book of common prayer. All who wanted to preach must be ordained by the church of England.

A nonconformist congregation could not have a non

Anglican pastor. This amounted to the state determining who could preach and who could not.

Bunyan believing the state had no say in whom God called to preach refused to be licensed by the state and so he was imprisoned.

And there he stayed in the Bedford jail for twelve years. Because he said

God calls preachers not the state. It's the people of God who choose their preachers or pastors not the state.

The state has no say in that and for that he was imprisoned. Now John Bunyan's life can be a lens through which we can see scripture.

He can show us how to suffer for the glory of God. How can you suffer in a way that makes

God look glorious? Let me give you some things from Bunyan's life as he ministers the word of God to us.

God looks glorious in suffering when we do not sugar coat the suffering. God does not look glorious when you treat suffering as if it doesn't exist.

Then you look like a smiling idiot. You don't glorify God. Listen to Bunyan speak about his suffering.

The parting with my wife and poor children hath often been to me in this place as the pulling of the flesh from my bones.

And that not only because I am somewhat too fond of these great mercies, but also because I should have often brought to my mind the many hardships, miseries, and wants that my poor family was like to meet with should

I be taken from them, especially my poor blind child, who lay nearer my heart than all

I had besides. Oh, the thoughts of the hardship I thought my blind would might experience would break my heart to pieces.

Bunyan honestly spoke about what it means to believe in and follow Jesus. Bunyan says, listen to Jesus warning us that life with him is hard.

He said, listen, following of me, of Jesus, is not like following some other masters.

The wind sits always on my face, and the foaming rage of the sea of this world, and the proud and lofty waves thereof do continually beat upon the sides of the ship that myself, my cause, and my followers are in.

He therefore that will not run hazards and that is afraid to venture a drowning, let him not set foot into this vessel.

So if you don't want to suffer, then don't follow Jesus. And so, like Bunyan, we should honestly face suffering and realize it's the destiny of all who follow

Jesus. Listen to me. This is Tim Pasman, not the pastor speaking, but the amateur historian.

Freedom of religion in a country for the last 300 years is a blip on the radar screen of history.

This is absolutely unheard of in the history of the church. We have to recognize that.

And when suffering comes our way, let's not be surprised. Jesus said, if they hated me, they will hate you.

And so I'm pleading with you right now. Be prepared for suffering. Be prepared for that.

We are experiencing to a certain degree, but not like Bunyan yet. So learn from the scriptures and from him, which is, it's our destiny.

Here's the second thing. How God looks glorious in suffering. When you use your suffering to help and comfort others.

2 Corinthians chapter 1. By the way,

I'm going to spend a lot of time in 2 Corinthians because Bunyan refers to it. And if you want to understand, how can

I suffer without being bitter or despairing? Read this book. 2

Corinthians is the most autobiographical book that the Apostle Paul wrote. He lets you in into his heart in this book more than any others.

And read through the book with this question in mind. I'm going to look for clues as to why the Apostle Paul did not despair, given the suffering he went through.

Okay? Read a book with that question in mind. See if you can find the answers. Here's one.

2 Corinthians 1, 3 and 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

How does God look glorious in your suffering? When you use your suffering to help others and comfort others.

Some of you might say, all he needed to do was to agree not to preach and just be a tinker.

He could then take care of his family. Here's what Bunyan said to those friends who suggested it, even before he was arrested.

If I should now run and make an escape, it will be a very ill saver in the country.

For what will my weak and newly converted brethren think of it but that I was not so but that I was not so strong in deed as I was in word?

Besides God of his mercy should choose me to be the first that should be opposed for the gospel.

If I should fly, it might be a discouragement to the whole body that might follow after.

He says, I can't do that. There's too much at stake. What's going to happen to them?

They'll abandon Jesus too. Bunyan wrote to his congregation in Bedford while in jail so that from the well of his sufferings, he could comfort those who were still free.

He would comfort them like the apostle Paul. He could comfort this people with the comfort he himself had received.

Here's what he wrote to them. Jesus Christ also was never more real and apparent than now. Here I have seen him and felt him in deed.

I have had sweet sights of the forgiveness of my sins in this place and of my being with Jesus in another world.

I never knew what it was for God to stand by me at all times and at every offer of Satan to afflict me as I have found him since I came in here.

He says, I, listen, let me tell you something about my suffering. Here's the comfort. I have never known

God as well as I know him now. And that can be true of you.

And listen, because of those afflictions, John Bunyan wrote one of the greatest books in English literature that have gone on to comfort and encourage people for centuries.

The Pilgrim's Progress has been translated into over 200 languages and next to the

Bible, at least a generation ago, next to the Bible was the second most read book in the

English language. God used that. By the way, you'll find 58 books that this man wrote.

Thirdly, God looks glorious in suffering when he becomes most valuable to us. 2 Corinthians 1 verses 8 and 9.

What does he say? Remember, Apostle Paul says the affliction was so great I felt like I had a sentence of death upon me.

And you remember what Bunyan said? I must first pass the sentence of death upon everything that can be properly called a thing of this life, even to reckon myself, my wife, my children, my health, my enjoyment, and all is dead to me, and myself is dead to them.

Bunyan learned that if you are to suffer well, you must not only die to sin, listen, you must not only die to sin, but also to the claims of precious and innocent things, including family and freedom.

He confessed concerning his wife and children, as we have seen, that he thought, I am somewhat too fond of these great mercies.

But he understood that Jesus is worthy to be loved above all else. This helps me understand something, and I want you to grasp this.

What in the world did Jesus mean when he said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple?

This is how Bunyan helps me with that. Did he hate his wife and children? No! He says, it's like pulling the flesh from my bones.

But to everyone, including some of you this morning, looking at him and the sacrifice he made, you said he must hate his wife and children.

You see, this is what Jesus meant. When you count me as most valuable, the world is going to look at you and say, you must hate your family.

If you're going to sacrifice everything for Jesus, you must hate your family. That's what Jesus was driving at.

But he also knew that his Lord made the promise, whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

God looks glorious when he is supremely valuable to you, even over the good things of life. And God is most valuable when he rules your conscience.

Twelve years, twelve years, Bunyan chose prison and a clear conscience over freedom and a conscience soiled by an agreement not to preach.

He did not compromise. When asked to recant and not to preach, he replied, if nothing will do unless I make of my conscience a continual butchery and slaughter shop,

I have determined the Almighty God being my help and shield yet to suffer if frail life might continue so long, even till the moss shall grow on mine eyebrows rather than thus to violate my faith and principles.

Consider any man who will not violate his conscience. That's integrity for the glory of God. When you suffer and many yet see that God is more valuable than your comfort, your freedom or compromise, he will look glorious.

Lastly, God looks glorious in suffering when you rest in his promises. 2

Corinthians chapter 4, I call it the Do Not Lose Heart chapter. It starts out with,

I do not lose heart. It ends with, I do not lose heart. How is it that you can suffer without losing heart?

Bunyan called this living upon God that is invisible. You can suffer without losing heart because of the hope and the promises of God.

We just read them a few minutes ago. Verses 16 through 18 were renewed inwardly for the slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal.

You can have hope in the promises of glory. Bunyan looked forward to the promises of the future glory in the renewed state, in the glorified state.

What will the heartaches and the loss of freedom and family look like in eternity without any pain, without any hardship, without any persecution?

Do you have the same hope renewing you? Bunyan had hope in the invisible not in things you can see through, not transparent things.

What he's talking about is he fixes his eyes as the Apostle Paul does right here in this text. He fixes his eyes on what

God has promised. They are not a reality yet. You do not see a life with no sin, no pain where everybody loves one another perfectly, no persecution, nothing bad at all.

You don't see that yet but it's been promised. It's a reality that is yet over the horizon but it's just as real as what you're seeing now.

We just don't see it yet but is God going to remain true to His promise? Yes. And so he fixes his eyes on that.

I hope you see that. He fixes his eyes on the promised holy city, the new

Jerusalem. He looks at an existence where God has promised no more tears, no more death, no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain.

He believes the promise of the river of life, the tree of life and no more curse in the presence of Jesus.

This is what God has promised unseen now but as true as anything and what

God has promised is permanent while persecution and hardship and grief is temporary.

Although we experience it's temporary. And he believed in the promise of justice. Those who opposed him spread rumors about him.

Here's what he said. I had my missus, M -I -S -S -E -S. I had my missus, my whores, my bastards, yea, two wives at once and the like.

How did he handle that? This is what was being told about him. He responded with faith in God's promised justice.

He said this, To all which I shall only say, God knows that I am innocent. But as for my accusers, let them provide themselves to meet me before the tribunal of the

Son of God, there to answer for all these things with all the rest of their iniquities, unless God shall give them repentance for them for the which

I pray with all my heart. Can you imagine that? They're saying these horrible things about him.

He says, God's going to see that justice is done, but boy, I really pray that they get converted. Isn't that marvelous?

God looks glorious in our suffering when we respond with faith in his promises. I'm going to give you one more.

God looks glorious in suffering when you love your enemy. And that's what he did.

Here's one thing he wrote to his flock. Learn to pity and bewail the condition of the enemy. These people are saying terrible things about you.

He said, learn to bewail the condition of the enemy. Never grudge them their present advantages.

Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the workers of iniquity. Proverbs 24, 19.

Fret not, though they spoil thy resting place. It is God that hath bidden them to do it, to try your faith and patience thereby.

Wish them no ill with what they get of thine. It is their wages for their work, and it will appear to them ere long that they have earned it dearly.

Bless God that thy lot did fall on the other side. How kindly therefore doth

God deal with us when he chooses to afflict us, but for a little, that with everlasting kindness he may have mercy upon us.

In other words, love your enemy. They're God's instrument in helping you.

They're God's instrument in helping you. When you love your enemies, which is only possible with the promises and purposes of God before you,

God will look glorious. In 1672, Bunyan was released from prison.

He had 18 more years, or 16 more years of ministering to that little church in Bedford.

He had many opportunities to go to London. He was a famous preacher, but he stayed with those 120 people.

Through all those years, he never left them. He continued to minister. He was in prison for one more winter, but was released soon after he published

Pilgrim's Progress. Although never in prison again, persecution continued, and he fully expected to be arrested.

He deeded all of his possessions to his wife, so that if he was arrested, they would be taken care of.

God spared him until August of 1688. In that month, he traveled the 50 miles to London to preach, and to help a man in his congregation be reconciled to his father.

He accomplished both. He succeeded in preaching and bringing about peace. He preached in some of the outlying districts of London.

Then, when he was traveling back to London, he was caught in a rain, and because of that, he got deathly sick, and on August 31, 1688, when he was 60, he died.

Given the speed of communication of that day, his wife and family probably didn't know until it was too late, and so he died without his family, just as he had spent so much of his life without the comforts of that family.

Now look, our suffering may never reach the level of John Bunyan's. In fact,

I hope it doesn't, but it may. It may, but we know that suffering is our destiny as believers in Jesus, and the question is not, will

God's people suffer? The question is, will we suffer in a way that glorifies

God? It drives us to the suffering of the Lord Jesus, whose suffering helps us and comforts us, who saw his

Father as supremely valuable, who rested in the

Father's presence, who died for his enemies. Bunyan's last word from the pulpit were, live like the children of God, that you may look your

Father in the face with comfort another day. God, thank you for your word and how it helps us to suffer in a way that honors you.

God, we thank you for men like John Bunyan, who don't just live exemplary lives, but show us how the word of God can be lived out.

And so I pray for this people here, this people here, this congregation, that you will,

God, teach us to suffer in a way that magnifies you.

In our griefs, in our hardships, in our afflictions, whatever it is that comes our way,

God, help us to suffer in a way that makes you look glorious.