The man from City of Destruction has encountered Evangelist, who questions why he has turned away from the Way of salvation so quickly. The man explains that he was persuaded by Worldly-Wiseman to rid himself of his burden through his own works rather than by faith. Evangelist warns the man that he is going the wrong way and will be judged according to God's perfect law if he does not repent and return to the true gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith in Christ.

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 Credits
 These Pilgrim’s Progress Presentations are as a result of Bible Studies I did at my home church in Moose
Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. The only thing I ask is that when you use them to present to others, that you
give the Good Lord credit through my name (Michal Lopianowski).
 Τhe version of Pilgrim's Progress I am using is the one by Barry Horner
 Most of the text in the presentations, if it is not sited on the page itself, comes from Barry Horner’s
Commentary on the Pilgrim’s Progress from his website: www.bunyanministries.org
 The comic snippets come from CREATOR ART STUDIO, published by KINGSTONE Comics at
www.kingstonemedia.com
 Any place where I mention Maltese Website as a reference, the material was taken from
www.lavvanztalpellegrin.com; which no longer seems to be working
 Other pictures are from www.garretttaylor.com and illustrations from Mike Wimmer
 As I complete more presentations I will be putting them on line; usually in the winter months

4. • When persons who have been only a little alarmed, but who have no thorough
sense of their guilt and danger as sinners, determine to make themselves better, to
be more strict and moral in their conduct, and to quiet their conscience by doing
more than they ever yet attempted, they often pass on from a state of open sin or
ungodliness, to one of morality and formal attention to religion, with very little
trouble.
• They hope to be saved by their own doings.
• They are going about to establish their own righteousness.
• But having no perception of the exceeding breadth and spiritual extent of the law of
God, they think that the poor, partial, outward obedience which they pay to it, is all
that is requisite.
• They are "alive without the law." (Rom 7:9)
• To them Mount Sinai is not a fearful place. Salvation by works, in their eyes,
appears to be, not only possible, but plain and easy.
• The ascent of the hill is not steep. (Rev. Charles Overton)

5.  The High Hill overwhelms Christian
• Worldly-Wiseman spoke so casually of the high hill
• The hill represents Mt. Sinai, and
• Mt. Sinai represents the perfect Law of God
 represents the total inability to measure up to the righteous
standards of God
 19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to
those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be
closed and all the world may become accountable to God; 20
because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in
His sight; Rom 3:19-20

6.  The High Hill seemed to increase his burden
• The more a sinner contemplates the righteous
demands of the Law, as revealed upon Mt. Sinai, the
more evident become his exceeding sinfulness and
impotence.
 … for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. Rom 3:20

8.  The High Hill seemed to increase his burden
• The more a sinner contemplates the righteous
demands of the Law, as revealed upon Mt. Sinai, the
more evident become his exceeding sinfulness and
impotence.
 … for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. Rom 3:20
 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase;
Rom 5:20
 I would not have come to know sin except through the Law;
Rom 7:7

9.  The High Hill terrifies Christian
 Flashes of fire are representative of God’s awesome and perfect
holiness manifest on Mt. Sinai
 16 So it came about on the third day, when it
was morning, that there were thunder and
lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the
mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so
that all the people who were in the camp
trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people
out of the camp to meet God, and they stood
at the foot of the mountain. Exod 19:16-17
 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses
said, “I AM FULL OF FEAR and trembling.”
Heb 12:21

10. • The awakened conscience is forced to recognize that
he who would be saved by morality shall be judged by
morality — but with a standard not of man's choosing
but of God's.
 Rev. Robert Stevenson
• The law stood over me like a giant and beat me with a
club
 Martin Luther

12.  Summary
 E: What are you doing here? [indignant mood]
 E: Are you the man from City of Destruction?
 C: Yes
 E: So quickly going the wrong way?
 C: Sympathetic gentleman persuaded me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 E: Who was he?
 C: Gentleman in appearance; got me to yield to his advice!!!!!!!
 E: What did he say to you?
 C: To be quickly rid of my burden
 C: I believed him and departed from the Way

13.  "What are you doing here?"
 1 Kings 19:1-14
 You are going the wrong way!
 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called
you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really
not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and
want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel
from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we
have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said
before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a
gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
Gal 1:6-9

14. • Rom 12:16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly.
• Rom 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
• Rom 14:19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.
• Rom 15:1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength …
• Rom 15:7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.
• 1Cor 1:10 … that there be no divisions among you …
• 2Cor 13:11 Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace;
• Gal 5:13-15 13 … through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement,
“YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that
you are not consumed by one another.
• Gal 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
• Eph 4:1-6 1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which
you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,
Eph 5:21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
• Phil 1:27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, …with one mind striving together for
the faith of the gospel;
• Phil 2:2 … being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
• Phil 2:3 … with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
• Col 3:14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

15. You are going the wrong way!
 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called
you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really
not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and
want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel
from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we
have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said
before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a
gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
Gal 1:6-9

17. • We expect the Lord would intervene through Evangelist,
because the Lord knows those who are his (2Tim 2:19),
and He will allow nothing to interfere with their progress
to salvation!
 He is exhorted with the Word
• As they were going down to the edge of the city,
Samuel said to Saul, “Say to the servant that he might
go ahead of us and pass on, but you remain standing
now, that I may proclaim the word of God to you.”
1Sam 9:27

18. • Heb 12:25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who is
speaking. For if those did not escape when they
refused him who warned them on earth, much less
will we escape who turn away from Him who warns
from heaven.

19.  And Who speaks from Heaven
• Heb 2:1-3 1 For this reason we must pay much closer
attention to what we have heard, so that we do not
drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through
angels proved unalterable, and every transgression
and disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will
we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
• 2 Pet 1:16-19 – "listen to Him"

20.  Hab 2:4 … the righteous will live by his faith.
 Heb 10:38 BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL
LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK,
MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.
 Rom 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT
THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
 Gal 3:11 Now that no one is justified by the Law
before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS
MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

21. • Nathan then said to David, “You are the man! Thus
says the LORD God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you
king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the
hand of Saul. 2Sam 12:7

24. • Matt. 12:31; Mark 3:28; John 20:27
• Definition
 in the context in which it is found (and it is found in no other
context within the Bible):
 The national rejection by Israel of the Messiahship of Jesus
while He was present on earth, on the basis of being demon
possessed.

25. • This is a national sin and not an individual sin.
• The Bible makes it clear that every type of individual sin is
forgivable through the blood of Christ.
• He did not die on the cross for only some types of sin, but for all
types of sins.
• It is clear that many Jews believed in Jesus as Messiah at that
time, and they escaped this national judgment.
• This is a sin unique to the Jewish generation of Jesus’ day and not
applicable to all subsequent Jewish generations.
• Jesus physically and visibly came to that generation, and they
rejected Him.
 Jesus will begin to use the term “This generation...”

26. • It is not a sin that another nation can commit today
because Jesus is not visibly and physically present to
any nation today.
 There is only one Chosen People, who had the responsibility
to recognize their Messiah.
• The unpardonable sin by this generation meant two
things for this generation:
 The offer of the Kingdom is rescinded
 This generation will suffer the physical judgment of scattering.
 Forty years later the Temple falls in 70 A.D., Jerusalem is destroyed
and the judgment is carried out.

27. • To reiterate, this is the only context where this phrase is used in scriptures and it
cannot be applied to any other sin at any other time, past, present or future.
• Now a specific generation has gone beyond the point of no return, and God’s
judgment is irrevocable.
• This is actually the THIRD time that this had happened in Jewish history. The
other two being:
 The FIRST time is found in Numbers 13-14, the sin of Kadesh Barnea.
 The SECOND time this happens is found in 2 Chronicles 33:1-20 in the days
of Manassah.
 God decreed the coming judgment of the Babylonian captivity.
• So no matter how many Jews believe, the judgment of 70 A.D. is now
determined, based on the official rejection of Jesus as Messiah. And while the
judgment was now certain, God in His mercy gave that generation a full 40 years
before the judgment arrived.

28. • Signs:
 from the nation to the apostles
 only national sign that remains is "The Sign of Jonah"
• Miracles:
 from the masses without faith to individuals with faith
 from ‘tell all’ to ‘tell no one’
• Message:
 from proclamation of His Messiahship to silence about His
Messiahship
• Teaching method:
 from clarity to parables

30.  1John 4:5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the
world, and the world listens to them.
 Gal 6:12-13 Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try
to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be
persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do
not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you
circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh.

31. • Based on Heb 2:1 - For this reason we must
pay much closer attention to what we have
heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
1) His ability to lead you out of the Way
2) To portray the Cross as abhorrent
3) Directing you toward the way which leads to
death
• II Cor. 3:7-11

33. 13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is
broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through
it. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and
there are few who find it. Matt 7:13-14
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is
broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through
it. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and
there are few who find it. Matt 7:13-14

34. • “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I
tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
Luke 13:24
• My paraphrase:
 "Try to gain eternal life through Jesus, for many will try do that
through other religions, but will not be able to.
• Begs the question: Until the Holy Spirit regenerates
me, I am spiritually dead, and have no desire to strive
for Jesus, yet once I am, why is there still a need to
strive, for I have arrived?

35. • John Piper says;
• We strive not with fretting that we will not enter, but with
assurance that not only will we enter, but in a decisive
sense we have already entered.
• This may sound paradoxical:
 Strive to enter, for you have entered.
• Paradoxically, we strive to enter the kingdom from inside.
The power of the kingdom is here, and we have entered
into that power by faith.
• The consummation of the kingdom, however, is still future.

36. • Jesus’ teaching about this does not express itself in
presumption and carelessness.
• It does not produce the attitude that says,
 “I’m already saved; it does not matter how I live. I do not need
to be vigilant. I do not need to strive to enter through the
narrow door.”
• That is not the way a person talks who has entered
eternal life and has been grasped by the power of
God’s kingdom.
• Instead, this truth expresses itself in joyful striving.

37. Ditch of
DESPAIR
Ditch of
PRESUMPTION
Hedgerow of
God's GLORIOUS
PROMISES
Hedgerow of
God's PRECEPTS
and WARNINGS
The STRAIGHT
and
NARROW WAY
(Assurance of Salvation)

38. • Striving is to keep seeing Jesus as the supreme treasure of your life.
 "for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matt 6:21
• The striving is not the oppressive struggle to earn God’s final rest, but
the satisfying struggle to rest in the peace that Jesus freely gives.
• Forgiveness of sins and justification by faith are at the bottom of our
striving. We do not strive for them. We strive because we have them.
• We must strive to enter because that is the mark of the one who
belongs to Christ.
• If we do not strive, we do not bear the mark of belonging to Jesus.
• But the striving does not create the relationship. The secure
relationship produces the joyful striving.

40. • Mr. Worldly Wiseman fashioned religion after his own desires.
• This saying very well suits him, “In the beginning God created man
… and as time went on, man returned the compliment!”
• Mr. Worldly Wiseman had created a “God” that suited his own
requirements.
• Unlike Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Evangelist wasn’t interested in
making a convert out of Christian for his own benefit or gain.
• He wasn’t trying to turn him into a member of some local fraternity.
• He wanted to see Christian go through that wicket gate and come
to the cross.
• Consequently, he had only one message for him, - it was the same
message he would have told everyone else.

41. • Heb 11:25-26 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the
people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26
considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
• Matt 10:39 “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has
lost his life for My sake will find it.
• Mark 8:34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and
said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny
himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
• Luke 14:26 “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.

48.  His pleading is with faint hope
• Is there any hope for me?
• May I now return to the right way and then approach
the Wicket-gate?
• As with his predicament at the Slough of Despond, so
here he still desires forward movement rather than
regression.

50.  His severity is measured
• Two Great Evils
 Spurning of the true gospel
 Embracing of a false gospel
• “For My people have committed two evils: They have
forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for
themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns that can hold no
water. Jer 2:13

51.  Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you
perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How
blessed are all who take refuge in Him! Ps 2:12
• Like the 5 warnings of the Book of Hebrews;
 2:1-4; 3:7-19; 6:4-12; 10:26-31; 12:15-17
• Intended to goad the hesitant pilgrim into pressing
forward.

52. • In this chapter, Bunyan is pointing out the danger of
turning from faith in Christ to trusting in any degree in
our own works for justification, BUT …..
• He is NOT saying the Law is to be of no effect!
 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On
the contrary, we establish the Law. Rom 3:31
 Rom 3:21-31

53. • Paul states throughout his epistles that, No sinner can get
right with God by doing the "works of the Law."
 V27, "Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of
law? Of works? No, but by a Law of faith."
• So the "law of works" seems to Paul to be negative.
• Only a "Law of faith" can get rid of boasting.
• So what positive role is left for the Law?
 Then V28, "We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from
works of the Law."
• Paul insists on saying the negative - "apart from works of
the Law."

54. • But it is not, because he ends his argument with;
• we establish the Law. Rom 3:31
• What Paul is saying, is that getting right with God by faith, not
works, establishes the Law.
• What does that mean???
 What the moral law of God requires of us, we will do, if we
pursue it by faith.
'Run, John, run,' the Law commands,
but gives neither feet not hands.
Better news the Gospel brings;
it bids me fly and gives me wings.
John Berridge (1716-1793)

55. • Imagine a car atop a very
high roller coaster
• Moses - says,
• "Ascend those tracks, and if
you get in the car at the top,
you will ride all afternoon
with all the momentum you
need to keep you going!"
• Moses is demanding
 see bot pg 88 – mid pg 89

57. • So you start to climb
• Suddenly you hear another man; Paul -
saying, "Wait, don't do that. Those tracks
and planks aren't made for climbing like that.
Come down here on the ground and listen to
my advice."
• Now at this point, certain bystanders might
interrupt and say, "Hey, Mr. Moses said we
you must 'ascend the tracks' - that's his law.
• Now you are telling him to get off the tracks
and come to you on the ground.
• You are going to ruin their afternoon,
because you are nullifying Mr. Moses' law."

58. • But Mr. Paul says, "No, no. That's not what is
happening. Come I will show you.
• We are not canceling Mr. Moses' law, we are fulfilling
it - the only way it can be fulfilled."
• Then he points you to a crane with a long cable and a
harness at the end of the cable. And he points to a
man sitting way up in the cab of this crane probably
400 feet in the air. He waves and smiles.
• And Mr. Paul says, "Let me put this harness on you.
And if you will trust the man in the cab and the cable
and the harness, he will lift you all the way up and put
you in the roller coaster car. I promise you it is much
safer and easier this way then climbing by hand."

59. • So you consider, and then you trust him and he lifts you in the harness all the
way up and puts you in the roller coaster.
• Then the roller coaster starts to roll. As it builds speed on the descent it is enough
to make it go all the way around the roller coaster circuit.
• And you keep on going around and around.

60. • You look down and you see Mr. Moses and Mr.
Paul with their arms on each other's shoulders like
the best of friends,
smiling as if there
never had been any
tension at all.
• The Law has been
fulfilled!

61. • Paul's message about getting to the top by faith alone without
climbing (apart from works of the Law) did not nullify the
commandments of Mr. Moses.
 In fact, that message of faith established the commandments.
• In addition the requirements of the law is fulfilled in us through
Christ Himself
 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the
flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so
that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do
not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Rom 8:3-4

62. • We establish the Law through faith – Rom 3:31
• The requirements of the Law are fulfilled in us through Christ – Rom 8:4
• This is real life transformation.
• Confirmed by the next phrase: ". . . who walk not according the flesh but
according to the Spirit." – Rom 8:4
• Walking by the Spirit means being empowered in the roller coaster with a
power not our own. (that is Love)
• Romans 13:8, 10, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he
who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law.
• Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Rom 13:10
• In the context of Pilgrim's Progress, we could say the demands of Mt. Sinai
are satisfied through faith.
 Again, the righteous shall live by faith!

63. Three Fold:
1) To be a tutor
 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ,
so that we may be justified by faith. Gal 3:24
2) To restrain sin and evil (civil law)
 The law restrains those who are unjust and protects the
righteous from evil. “The law allows for a limited measure of
justice on this earth, until the last judgment is realized” (R.C. Sproul).
3) To reveal what is pleasing to God
 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. John 14:15