Dr. Mike Murphy
June 28, 2021
"It made me greatly ashamed of the vileness of my former life, and confounded me with the sense of mine own ignorance; for there never came thought into mine heart before now that showed me so the beauty of Jesus Christ. It made me love a holy life, and long to do something for the honour and glory of the name of the Lord Jesus. Yea, I thought that had I now a thousand gallons of blood in my body, I could spill it all for the sake of the Lord Jesus."
Who do you think wrote these words? Would you guess one of the Christian writers like C.S. Lewis, Fanny Crosby, or G.K. Chesterton? Or would you guess one of the great novelist of history like Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, or John Steinbeck? Or would you guess one of the great ministers like C.H. Spurgeon, Charles Finney, or Billy Graham? Although each would reference him, and most would often quote him, none of these wrote the words above. These are the words of a man few know the name of, but a man God used in a powerful way. These are the words of John Bunyan.
Most hear the name Bunyan and immediately think of a giant of a man with a blue ox, but John Bunyan was just as giant of a man in his own right. Countless stories you have read, and endless sermons you have heard, all have their roots in the words of John Bunyan. He was a man far more quoted than known. John Bunyan spoke words that would stir you, and wrote words that would move you. He made the greatest of scholars marvel, and the worthiest of theologians ponder. But through it all, John Bunyan was never more than a simple man.
Bunyan lived his life in the 1600’s in the town of Bedford, just north of London. He came from a poor family, and never received much of a formal education. As he became a young man, he served in the army for a brief time, then returned to work with his father as a tinker(metal worker). Through it all, he lived his life far from God, but the whole time the Holy Spirit was working on John Bunyan. Many nights, he would awake from dreams where he saw visions of demons in his sleep. One Sunday, while playing sports, his mind was suddenly filled with a thought that he could not shake, a thought that startled him. “Will you leave your sins and go to heaven, or have your sins and go to hell?” It was a thought that stayed with him. A short time later, he overheard several godly woman talking while making lace to sell. He heard them speak of the joys of salvation, and how their own righteousness was unable to save them. The words would stick with John Bunyan, and he would remember them often.
Many of these thoughts and incidents led John to clean up his life, looking to be seen as a moral man. But there was still one problem, God had yet to change his heart. So John still struggled internally as he tried to look moral outwardly. John remembered the group of women he had heard speak of the joys of salvation, and knew they attended a local Baptist church. John soon found himself at the church, and soon found himself close with the pastor of the church, who took John under his wing. John did not find Christ overnight, it took him years to work through the demons that haunted him. But through it all, Christ found John, and found a permanent place in John’s heart.
As John grew in Christ, his love for God’s Word also grew. Soon John became a deacon of the church, and soon found himself preaching on Sundays. It did not take the church long to recognize the gift that God had given this man, and the call He had placed on his life. John began to preach wherever, and whenever he could. It is reported that often thousands would bear the rain and storms to come hear John speak. He would speak wherever the Holy Spirit moved and led him, often in barns, stables or even in open pastures. But wherever he was led, John spoke the truth in God’s Word, and he spoke each word with a boldness that was led by that truth.
But with each word John spoke, enemies grew. At this time in history, the State controlled much of the Church. They did not agree with the way John conducted his sermons, and they were upset at the fact that he had not been formally trained as a minister. So John was arrested, and put on trial. During the trial, those who had captured John came to him. They told him they would set him free if only he would promise to never preach again. This was tempting to John, as he had a wife and four children, one daughter who was blind. He worried what would become of his family without him working and providing for them. But the Lord spoke to John, and John stood strong. As John was sent to prison, the magistrate warned him that if he ever got out of prison and preached again, the State would hang him. John’s reply startled all who heard, “If I were out of prison today, I would preach the Gospel again tomorrow by the help of God.”
For the next twelve years, John would call a prison cell home. But even from the isolation of a cell, the Lord gave John a voice, and He blessed John in ways he could have never imagined. From the cell, the Lord spoke to John, and the words He led John to write have blessed the world many times over. From his cell, John wrote, Pilgrim’s Progress, and Grace Abounding To The Chief Of Sinners, and other incredible writings of God’s mercy and His love. John once explained that it was in prison that the Lord opened His Word to him in ways He never could have anywhere else. God had a captured audience in John, and John soon found that his capture was actually a blessing, allowing him endless time to spend with our Lord. John would later say of prison, “He can make a jail more beautiful than a palace, restraint more sweet by far than liberty, and the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.”
After spending twelve years behind bars, John was released and eventually given a license to preach. With each word John spoke, thousands would flock to hear him speak of Christ. His words had a power that even the greatest of scholars could not explain. One of the greatest theologian scholars of the today, John Owen, would often find himself listening to the words of John Bunyan. One day, King Charles II would ask John Owen what he could possible gain from hearing this tinker preach? Owen answered the king by saying, “May it please your majesty, if I could possess that tinker’s abilities for preaching, I would most gladly relinquish all my learning.”
John Bunyan never spoke a word of Greek or Hebrew. Terms that I use today so easily like Tetragrammaton, Theophany, and Soteriology, John Bunyan never knew. But of this man C.H. Spurgeon would once say, “Prick that man anywhere and his blood is bibline.” There is not a single word of Pilgrim’s Progress that is not supported and immersed in the Word of God. John Bunyan’s knowledge of God’s truth was not found in a book, but as you read each of his words it is not hard to see that His truth is found. Bunyan did not find that truth though in the words of others, but in the Word of God. I could build a library the size of Texas, fill it with the works of every great theological scholar of history, and it would still not compare to the understanding that John Bunyan had through his personal relationship and the conversations he had with our Lord. Bunyan showed us that knowledge and logic may be found in men, and may be seen in a book, but only wisdom can come from the Lord. A wisdom that He so longs to share with each of us still today.
By all accounts, John Bunyan was a simple man. A man who never studied at the feet of the world’s great scholars. A man who most of our seminaries today would scoff at, would reject and never allow to grace their halls. A man who most churches would never hire, and most denominations would never give the time of day. A man the world would describe as simple. But a man whose Godly wisdom made him far from simple.
As I talk about the life of John Bunyan, the words of a song from my youth come back to me. “Be a simple kind of man. Be something you love and understand.” With each day I left to spend on this earth, I pray the Lord will make me a simple kind of man. A man whose heart will simply feel the love that Christ brought to us. Whose eyes will see the simple truth His Word shows us. Whose ears will simply hear the grace and mercy His whispers to each of us. And whose mind will know the simple wisdom only He can give us.
I wish to follow a truth that is not confined stiffly to the pages of a book, but a Godly truth that flows, moves and breaths as He surrounds me in that truth. A truth that drives me to my knees, and keeps me on my knees. A truth that quiets me when this world calls me to speak, but emboldens me when the Lord needs me to speak. A truth that no man can offer me, but a truth that the Lord so graciously gives me. A simple truth that cannot be found in my own words, but are found in every word that He speaks through me.
More than once, I have spoke of a faith I was blessed to have seen in my grandmother. One of my most cherished possessions is a Bible that she used every day. As you open each page of her Bible, you can barely read the verses because of all she wrote in the margins. But each time I look closely, I find those margins far from a distraction, but filled with wisdom. My grandmother was far from being considered an “educated woman”. Her formal education ended with the fifth grade. In the writings of the margin of her Bible, you will not find a single theological word that myself, and most theologians use freely each day. But in each of her words you will find a wisdom and an understanding that speaks directly to your heart. A simple truth that no book could have shown her, that only the Lord could have revealed to her. An understanding that goes far deeper than the sophisticated words I have often spoken and written. A simple truth that explains God’s Word in a way that every man can comprehend, and that all of His children yearns to understand.
I pray, that the Church, and myself, will return to a faith like the one that once brought children to the knee of Christ. A faith filled with the innocence of humility and trust, A faith filled with an unbridled joy, that would allow us to rush to His lap, and to feel Him surround us with His arms. A faith without pride, ambition, and absence of pretentiousness. A faith that forgets our own logic, and seeks the blessings of His wisdom. A simple faith that is only known in a Father’s love, and only felt in our Father’s presence.
A simple faith that led the psalmist to proclaim, “The unfolding of Your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.”(Psalm 119:130). A message of faith that took the most sophisticated plan that man would ever know, and brought that plan to this world in the most simple of ways. A simple truth that came into this world as a Child so many years ago. A simple wisdom, that Child would grow to give us, and spend each day explaining to us. A simple mercy that Child would die on a cross for so that we might all know. A simple grace that Child offers to each of us today. A simple love, that the Spirit of that Child longs to fill in each of us as you read these words. A simple message that longs to again be heard throughout this world today. A simple truth that yearns to be heard again by this simple kind of man.
Praying a simple understanding will soon return to this land and to this Church.
