Derek Thomas

And there is a holy activity about the Christian life and a fearfulness of sin and a fearfulness of the possibility of apostasy. Of course, the The archetype here is Judas himself, who was a professing disciple of Jesus.

In the upper room, you know, when Jesus says, one of you will betray me, they didn't all turn to Judas and say, well, you know, it's got to be him because we didn't trust him from the start. What the disciples are saying is, is it me? Lord, are you talking about me?

In the upper room, you know, when Jesus says, one of you will betray me, they didn't all turn to Judas and say, well, you know, it's got to be him because we didn't trust him from the start. What the disciples are saying is, is it me? Lord, are you talking about me?

So here was one who had been a disciple, who had professed the faith, but committed an act of apostasy from which there was no repentance. This is a very sobering truth. And one, I think, that makes Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress perhaps shocking and somewhat alarming to modern readers, particularly modern readers who have been influenced by an easy believism.

So here was one who had been a disciple, who had professed the faith, but committed an act of apostasy from which there was no repentance. This is a very sobering truth. And one, I think, that makes Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress perhaps shocking and somewhat alarming to modern readers, particularly modern readers who have been influenced by an easy believism.

You know, come to Jesus and you need worry about nothing from there on until the end. Even if you live like the devil, you can be saved. The whole lordship controversy of the 1980s and 1990s comes to mind.

You know, come to Jesus and you need worry about nothing from there on until the end. Even if you live like the devil, you can be saved. The whole lordship controversy of the 1980s and 1990s comes to mind.

Lloyd-Jones, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones says, I can say definitely after some 35 years of pastoral experience that there are no passages in the whole Scripture which have more frequently troubled people and caused them soul agony than the passages in Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10. That's an interesting statement, isn't it? I'm not so sure that... We would be saying that in the time that we live.

Lloyd-Jones, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones says, I can say definitely after some 35 years of pastoral experience that there are no passages in the whole Scripture which have more frequently troubled people and caused them soul agony than the passages in Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10. That's an interesting statement, isn't it? I'm not so sure that... We would be saying that in the time that we live.

I think the emphasis has gone somewhere else in our own time. And I think Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is a reminder, at the very least, of the need to persevere right to the very end, that the Christian life is one of warfare. And this man in the iron cage was held up as a kind of warning. Remember Lot's wife. Remember Judas, remember the man in the iron cage.

I think the emphasis has gone somewhere else in our own time. And I think Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is a reminder, at the very least, of the need to persevere right to the very end, that the Christian life is one of warfare. And this man in the iron cage was held up as a kind of warning. Remember Lot's wife. Remember Judas, remember the man in the iron cage.

Well, we'll leave this lecture at that somewhat sobering point and pick up the lecture again in our next session together.

Well, we'll leave this lecture at that somewhat sobering point and pick up the lecture again in our next session together.

He had pulled himself up by his bootstraps. He had tried to live an obedient life. And to the outward world, to the outward observance, he looked as if he was a new man. And indeed, so I was, though yet I knew not Christ, nor grace, nor faith, nor hope.

He had pulled himself up by his bootstraps. He had tried to live an obedient life. And to the outward world, to the outward observance, he looked as if he was a new man. And indeed, so I was, though yet I knew not Christ, nor grace, nor faith, nor hope.

Well, welcome back to Lecture 2 on Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and we're going to look at the events surrounding the Wicket Gate and how Christian gets through the Wicket Gate. We left him in Lecture 1 running towards a light. He couldn't see the Wicket Gate, and he's running with his fingers in his ears. He's running away from the city of destruction.

Well, welcome back to Lecture 2 on Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and we're going to look at the events surrounding the Wicket Gate and how Christian gets through the Wicket Gate. We left him in Lecture 1 running towards a light. He couldn't see the Wicket Gate, and he's running with his fingers in his ears. He's running away from the city of destruction.

He's not listening to the pleas of his wife or his children, and he's saying, life, life, eternal life. Now he meets two friends. He hasn't got to the Wicked Gate yet, and he meets two friends. Actually, they're neighbors of his in the city of destruction, and they're called Pliable and Obstinate.

He's not listening to the pleas of his wife or his children, and he's saying, life, life, eternal life. Now he meets two friends. He hasn't got to the Wicked Gate yet, and he meets two friends. Actually, they're neighbors of his in the city of destruction, and they're called Pliable and Obstinate.

And the first thing that we see in this portion is Bunyan's attempt to portray worldly opposition to the gospel, that everyone who becomes a Christian will experience some kind of opposition, maybe from members of the family or maybe from friends at work and so on. Obstinate represents stubbornness and an immovable point of view. And pliable is the opposite.