The Game of the Royal Way - Part 1: The Predetermined “Yes”

"I hung back. I seemed to have so many points against me. I didn't have the learning, and, hide it though I might from others, I had a crippled ankle. How could I expect to be a missionary if I couldn't even walk a city block without pain?"*

Andrew knew that God was calling him to be a missionary, but he didn't see how he could obey. The traditional route of becoming a missionary required him to get ordained as a minister. To do that he would have to first make up the schooling that he had missed during the war. Altogether it would take twelve years of study and, if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, there was the expense to be taken into account as well.

A friend told him of an alternate route, an English organisation called the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (the WEC). They trained men to be missionaries without requiring them to be ordained first.  But this too had a catch - at the end of the two-year program they sent their students out without any financial support. Andrew didn’t know how he felt about begging from churches as he went along. 

On top of it all there was his ankle - a war injury that had never properly healed.

 "I began to ask myself if I really intend to be a missionary - or if it was only a romantic dream with which I indulged myself? 

I had often heard talk of ‘praying through’, of sticking with a prayer until you got an answer. So, I determined that I was going to try it. One Sunday afternoon in September, 1952, I went out to the polders where I could pray aloud without being embarrassed. I sat on the edge of a canal and began talking to God casually, as I might have talked to a friend. I prayed through coffee and cigar hour, right through Sunday afternoon, and on into the evening. Still I had not reached a point where I knew I had found God's plan for my life.

"What is it, Lord? What am I holding back? What am I using as an excuse for not serving You in whatever You want me to do?"

And then, there by the canal, I finally had my answer. My "yes" to God had always been a "yes, but." Yes, but I'm not educated. Yes, but I'm lame."- Brother Andrew, God's Smuggler

When God asks us to do something, most of us know better than to say “no” and yet we don’t exactly say “yes” either. We hesitate, we procrastinate, we agree on certain terms. Like Brother Andrew, our "yes" is accompanied by a "but". I'll be a missionary, but I’m not going to do twelve years of study. I will be a missionary, but I need to have financial support. I will ask for forgiveness, but they have to ask me for forgiveness first. I'll tell that person about the gospel, but only if they approach me. Is this obedience?

In October 23^rd’s post, Legally Bound, we learned that we are legally required to obey God. God gave us the responsibility to say "yes" to Him in whatever He asks us to do. In correspondence to this He gave us a promise– He committed to provide us with everything that we would need to obey. But that promise of God was never meant to be an excuse for our delayed obedience. Obedience was not meant to be put off while we stand around, waiting to see if God is going to come through with His promise, and yet this is so often our response to God's requests. 

It is the same attitude that we see when little children are trading things and they argue about who should be the first give their item to the other. Eventually they agree to count to three and both hand over their treasures at the same time. This type of behaviour stems from a lack of trust. Neither party wants to give up what they have until they are sure they will get what the other has promised in exchange. When we say “yes, but” to God we are essentially saying that we will only give what is required of us - obedience, after we have what God has promised us - provision. We don’t want to be the one who goes first in this deal, because we don't trust God to follow through on His end of the deal.  Or to do so in the way that we want Him to. In a way that we are comfortable with. This lack of trust is the exact opposite of the faith that God has asked us to have in our dealings with Him.

 He always supplies what is needed for His people to obey Him. He always comes through. But rarely does He show us His provision ahead of time and He never promises that it will come in the way we want or expect it to. Rather He asks us to obey instantly - even before we’ve seen His provision. To do our part in faith, trusting that He is faithful. 

 "To another He said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”  Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke ix. 59 - 62)

 Jesus was calling for followers, for men who would say "yes" to Him and He told those He called that there was no place for a "yes, but" in the kingdom of God. No space to give qualification to your obedience. To do so is just as bad as saying “no”. 

"With my next breath, I did say "yes". I said it in a brand new way without qualification. "I'll go, Lord," I said, "no matter what, whether it is through the route of ordination, or through the WEC program, or through working at Ringers. Whenever, wherever, however you want me, I'll go. And I'll begin this very minute. Lord, as I stand up from this place, and as I take my first step forward, will you consider that this is a step of obedience to You? I'll call it the step of yes." *

Obedience to God isn’t optional. It is meant to be instinctive. We shouldn’t have to decide if we will say “yes” to God, it should be a predetermined decision. A choice we’ve made long before He asks us to obey. We should be able to say “yes” before we even know what it is that He is asking because we know that God will only ask us to do that which we should do and that He will also supply us with the means to do it. Simply saying "yes", without qualification, leaves an opportunity for God to be God.

 This was a step of faith for Andrew, a step of obedience, a 'step of yes' and he was about to discover what God intended to do with it. He had learned the first rule in a game that he didn't yet realise that he was playing. Now it was God's turn...

to be continued

In Christ

quiana

* Quotes, excerpts, and facts have been taken from Brother Andrew's book God's Smuggler

Legally Bound – A Study of the Name Adonai

The name Adonai appears in the Old Testament four hundred and thirty-four times. It is considered to be one of the names of God, but it is actually more of a title than a name. For Adonai is a relationship defining term, in much the same way as “mother” or “friend”. The word mother not only conveys the concept of a role that is played by a woman, it also infers that there is a corresponding role to be played. Which would be that of a child. Thus, the role of a woman as a mother is defined within the relationship she has with her child. You cannot have a mother without having a child. Likewise, when someone is referred to as a friend the statement indicates that they have a friend in someone else. To be called a friend, you must have a friend. The name Adonai means Lord or Master and in the same way as the title mother infers that someone else plays the role of a child, the title Lord or Master demands the corresponding role of a slave. Thus, when God calls Himself Adonai He is simultaneously calling you and I slaves. His slaves.

In a world that was predominantly Roman, Hebrew, and Greek this name revealed more than just the position of God over men. These groups of people had countless differences but there were a few things that they had in common, including two laws that dealt with slaves and masters. The first was a law that allowed for slaves who were disobedient to be put to death. By this law the slave was legally bound to obey. If they did not, they could be legally killed. The second law corresponded to this, it legally bound slave masters to provide their slaves with everything that was required for obedience. Which was defined to be sustenance, instruction, and protection. Therefore, while the slave was legally bound to obey, the master was legally bound to provide all the things that slave needed to obey and the second law also was on pain of death.

 The role of men and women is to obey God. That obligation did not disappear with Ancient Rome, nor is it only for those in the Hebrew culture. On pain of death, you and I are legally bound to obey God as our Lord and Master. Those who do not obey will die. It is an uncomfortable fact for a world full of ‘disobedient slaves’ to accept. However, the name Adonai was not only given to remind us that we have a legal obligation to obey God and that we will be put to death for not obeying Him. It also reveals that He has bound Himself to provide for us. To provide everything we need to obey Him. To provide our daily sustenance, to give us instruction on what to do and how to do it, and to protect us from anything that might rise up against us to do us harm or to prevent us from carrying out the task He has assigned. 2 Peter i.3-4, tells us that “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

God has more then fulfilled His obligations to us. For all the way back in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had everything they needed to obey God.

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis ii. 16-17)

God told Adam and Eve what they could and could not do and He informed them of the consequences of disobeying. He gave them instruction. They could eat of any tree in the garden besides the one He had commanded them not to touch, thus they had their needs provided for. They had sustenance. Lastly, God Himself walked with them in the garden and was with them and they knew Him. He was not distant nor distracted, had they called for help He would have heard them. They had protection. In all this God had fully satisfied the requirements by which He was legally bound. So, when Adam and Eve did not obey, they were legally to die and God was legally freed from His obligation towards them.

Instead accepting this freedom, however, He continued to fulfil His role towards us. He continued to bind Himself to provide for us all that was needed for obedience, which was now a much greater requirement. For in order for us to walk in obedience again He had to die in our place. This He did of His own free will. He was no longer legally bound. In His own free will He went to the cross and through it purchased all that is needed for sinful men to walk in obedience again. We are legally required to obey but He has provided us with every thing that is necessary to do so. Including the example of fulfilling our role out of love rather than legal duty. Let’s obey God not only because we are legally required to do it, not only because we have been given all that we need to do so, but primarily because we love Him and because He first loved us!  

In Christ

quiana

Set Free - The Victory Sophie Gained in Giving Up Her Life

The cell was cold and the grey, cement walls made it feel dark even though the sunlight was pouring in through the window. Sophie shivered and blew on her hands, as she surveyed the little room. There was nothing much to it - three cots with a blanket on each, a little wooden table, the chair on which she sat, and the blank piece of paper that lay before her. 

Oh, that piece of paper! How could it ever hold all that she still wanted to tell the world? There were things she wanted to write to her parents and the siblings that she would leave behind. Hopes and dreams that had never been voiced. Plans and ideas that could never happen now. Then there was the cause itself, it must be carried on. 

She picked up the pencil but didn't write. Instead, her eyes strayed to the window and she watched as the sunlight poured in through the bars.  

Such a fine, sunny day. She recalled the dream she’d had in the night.  It had been a sunny day, just as it was now. She thought of the child in the perfectly white dress that she had carried. She thought of the steepness of the hill that led up to the church. If only she could have made it to the top and placed the child safely down! 

She sighed, she could still feel the terrible sensation of the ground giving way; of falling as a chasm opened up beneath her. She trembled for a moment as she thought of what that chasm represented and yet, she felt a strange peace about it all. The child had been put safely down on the solid ground after all. She had only been meant to carry it for a short while. Now she was going to the place that the Lord had gone ahead to prepare for her. 

"The child is our idea. In spite of all obstacles, it will prevail." She had told her cell mates earlier that morning. "We were permitted to be pioneers, though we must die early for its sake."

 The other girls hadn't seemed to understand, but she hoped someone would. Someone had to carry on in the cause. 

"How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but how many are dying on the battlefield in these days, how many young promising lives." She sighed. "What does my death matter, if, through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?" 

She spoke aloud though there was now no one else in the cell. They were words that needed to be heard. She glanced down again at the clean, white sheet of paper and finally she knew what to write. A single word would suffice to tell all. She scribbled it across the page and then jumped to her feet for she heard a key turning in the lock. 

A moment later, a guard led her out and the cell was left empty. Only the piece of paper remained to tell of her presence there. On one side, in the font of a typewriter, was the indictment that read: 

'Hans Fritz Scholl, Sophia Magdalena Scholl, and Christoph Hermann Probst are accused:

In 1942 and 1943, in Munich, Ausburg, Salzburg, Vienna, Stuttgart, and Linz, committing together the same acts:

I. With attempted high treason, namely to change the constitution of the Reich, and acting with intent to...

1.) organize a conspiracy for the preparation of high treason,

2.) render the armed forces unfit for the performance of their duty of protecting the German Reich against internal and external attack,

3.) influence the masses through the preparation and distribution of writings.

II. With having attempted, in the internal area of the Reich, during time of war, to give aid to the enemy against the Reich, injuring the war potential of the Reich.

III. With having attempted to cripple and weaken the will of the German people and to take measures against their defense and self determination.

The accused on the whole were willing to admit to their acts and on this account they are to be punished by death. Their honour and rights as citizens are forfeited for all time.'

They had done it all, just as the indictment said. They hadn't denied it and they weren't ashamed of it. They didn't consider fighting injustice and pleading with the German people to surrender the war to be crimes.

Yes, it had all been done just as the indictment read. It had all been done through simple words. On the opposite side of the paper, Sophie had left one more. One more word that enunciated all that they had already said; all that they had desired to achieve. One more word to plead with the German people. One more word to show the victory that she felt even in facing death. The word she scribbled on the back of the indictment was: FREEDOM

Hans had left a similar message etched onto the wall of his cell. It was a quote that his father had him commit to memory as a child: 

"Hold out in defiance of all despotism" -Goethe

These siblings wanted the German people to be free but they knew that they could only gain freedom through surrender. While they allowed wicked men to council them to fight for their own gain, while they continued to exercise cruelty for “the furtherance of their own people” they could never truly be free. Never free as God intended them to be free. 

Hans, Sophie, and Christoph had forfeited their honour and rights as German citizens for all time, but in so doing they had maintained their honour and rights in a higher kingdom. It was this that they longed for Germany to understand.

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew xvi.25)

Hans, Sophie, and Christoph had freedom even in death. That was a true freedom. Not freedom to do what was right in their own eyes, but freedom to do that which was actually right. 

They had died for exercising that freedom. Nazi Germany and its ideals would likewise have to die if its citizens were ever to taste that kind of freedom. The same is true for all that is wrong, sinful, and rebellious within you and I. 

True freedom is not to do whatever you think is right, but what is truly right no matter the consequence.

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians v.1)

In Christ

Quiana

The story above is written in a historical fiction format but it is entirely based off of the biographical record of Hans and Sophie Scholl as recorded by their sister Inge Scholl in The White Rose. The dialogue, indictment, and all other facts were taken directly from that resource.

The Man Who Knelt - Understanding the Power of Reverence

"From where George was, it looked for a moment as if Brother Kayser had fainted. He had stood up, and turned his back to the circle of people, facing his chair. Then his knees had shot forward slightly and buckled. Yet no one jumped to steady him. In a moment, he was kneeling squarely on the wooden floorboards. 

  

George stared in fascinated amazement. A man kneeling in public?

Brother Kayser prayed and it seemed to George that he was talking to someone who moved into the room and stood in great power so close to this man that he had to submit in a physical way. 

"...for Christ's sake. Amen." Never before had George Mueller seen any man kneel down to pray." - Faith Coxe Bailey, George Mueller

It was strange to George Mueller to see a man kneel to pray. He had never seen it before. 

He had grown up in the church, he was twenty years old and studying to be a clergyman - how is it that he had never seen a man bow down before God? 

This statement shows that there was something very important missing, or at least becoming scarce, in the church of his time. That something is a reverence for God. 

"Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” (Exodus iii.1-5)

The word reverence simply means 'deep honour or respect felt or shown'. It is an attitude that is demonstrated in word, tone, and deed. Moses, for instance, demonstrated reverence by taking off his sandals. Reverence was scarce in the church of England in the early 1800's and it is even more so in the church of North America today. 

Have you been present in a group of Christians when someone, often a new believer, says they don't know how to pray? The response to such a statement is often something like this: "There isn't really a right or a wrong way to pray - just talk to God in the same way that you would talk to anyone else." Most of the church would agree with that method of interacting with God. It sounds good. People need to understand that God is approachable. That praying is easy. Right? 

Wrong. There is actually a right way to pray. There is a right way and a wrong way to interact with God that applies to every situation - in speech and in action. That way is with reverence. 

Reverence isn't easy. It demands that we focus on our God, instead of ourselves or the other things that so easily distract us, and that we give Him the honour and respect that He is due. The truth is that God isn't approachable except through the blood of Jesus Christ. He is holy, holy, holy and we are interact with God in a way that is very different from how you would interact with an acquaintance, with a friend, or even with your earthly authorities.

 In Daniel iii. we see that King Nebuchadnezzer wanted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego to show reverence to the god he had made. They refused at the risk of their lives, saying "let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel iii. 18) Why would they refuse to serve or worship the image? The answer seems simple - because it was an idol.  But was it solely because it was an idol that they refused to bow down to it? What if Nebuchadnezzer had commanded them to worship him instead, would that have been alright? Of course not! That is because reverence that is meant for God alone - it is not to be given to idols nor to men. Thus, men and objects are not to be treated like God which would indicate that God is not meant to be treated like men or objects. Rather the living God, the God who made you and who gave His life to save you, should be treated with the deepest respect and the greatest honour. He should be treated with the reverence that is due to Him alone.  

That is what Brother Kayser demonstrated to George Mueller when he knelt to pray.  

"George wrapped his coat around his shoulders, in preparation to go out into the brisk night air. A questioned filled his mind. 

"Why, Beta? Why was he kneeling?" He said, turning to his companion.

Beta's eyes darted first to Wagner, the man in whose house they had met, and then back to George. "Don't tease, George. It's always done. At least here." He whispered; his brow furrowed. Why did George always have to make trouble? Beta was certain that his friend's sole purpose in coming to the meeting was to do so and he wasn't entirely mistaken. 

But George had forgotten about his original objective and didn't even notice his friend's apprehensiveness, which previously should have afforded him great fun. "Not where I've been." George replied, "But why?" Suddenly he knew the answer to his own question. "I know why. He had to kneel because he wanted to tell God that he was humble and human and that God was almighty and all-wise. He was showing his awe, his fear, his adoration, Beta!"

"Something like that."

"What a man he must be to do that!" 

They were nearly to the door now. Wagner stood nearby, helping people into their coats and grasping their hands warmly as they went out. "Remember, Herr Mueller, house and heart are open to you. Come back." He said, as he shook George's hand.

"To prostrate yourself before the all-powerful God. This is true worship." George thought out loud. 

Wagner's hand paused on the doorknob. "Herr Mueller?" 

"Herr Wagner, what I saw in your house tonight, I'll never forget. A man who knelt to pray to his God!" - Faith Coxe Bailey, George Mueller

The church has largely lost reverence and with it we have lost the power of reverence! 

A power that enables us to demonstrate God to the watching world. The way that you act toward someone tells everyone around something about that person. For example, if you were to bow as a person passes by those around you would deduct that he or she is an important person. Or, if you get extremely excited about getting to see someone an onlooker could imply that they are someone who means a great deal to you and are likely also an enjoyable person to be around. Likewise, Brother Kayser's humble approach to God showed George that God was almighty and all-wise.

 Reverence is not only meant to give God the respect and honour He is due, it also reveals to the watching world that He is due honour and respect. It's actually a witnessing tool. A way in which we are making Him known to the world around us. Our actions and our words are telling the world something about the God we serve. The question is, are they seeing Him as our friend, like any other friend, or as the Lord who out of love decided to call us friends instead of servants? Are we demonstrating him to be a father, like any earthly father, or to be the perfect, heavenly Father who is deserving of complete obedience and respect? Does He come across to them as just another person or as God of all? 

"There was almost nothing to say to Beta on the way home, and George left him with relief at the corner. At his lodgings at last, he walked through his neat, bare study room without lighting a lamp. Crossing over to his bedroom, he sat down in darkness. 

What had happened to him? Because he was curious, he had walked into a man's house, expecting to sing a few hymns, absent-mindedly, and pick up a few phrases to use in goading Beta later. What was there in a man kneeling on the floor beside a chair to shake him this way? 

It was because that man showed with every muscle of his body that he worshiped, feared, and really knew the living God. What kind of a man! And what kind of a God! 

That was it, of course. For years he had known the facts of atonement, had understood perfectly that Jesus Christ had died on the cross to save a guilty world. But this atonement had never lived, because, to George, God had not really lived. He understood that now. Because he had seen a man kneeling to pray, he had seen God also." - Faith Coxe Bailey, George Mueller

Most of us put a great deal of thought into how we should present the gospel, and that is a good thing. But have you ever paused to consider that in every word and act, even those as simple as kneeling to pray, you demonstrate who God is. An act or word may appear too simple or too insignificant, to change a man's heart and yet it was just such an act that God used to prove himself to George Mueller. The way in which we interact with our God directly affects the world's understanding of Him, so let's not allow reverence to be lost in our generation!

"Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For this is Your rightful due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You." (Jeremiah x.7)

In Christ

quiana 

Finding the Middle Ground - Part 3: John Bunyan and the Wicket Gate

His name was John Bunyan. He was a poor man with little education, the father of four small children. A tinker by trade; a prisoner incarcerated in the Bedford Jail. 

By the world’s standards Bunyan had nothing – no money, no education, no power, no position, no influence, not even freedom. A man or woman would have to be crazy to want what he had or to take his advice and yet, John Bunyan’s books have been read by millions. They have stayed in publication for more than three hundred years! 

Apparently, John had something to say that the world needed to hear. Something to teach that could draw an audience. What was it? 

In all his books, John Bunyan wrote a single message - the gospel. 

In his life he lived the gospel - esteeming salvation and its righteousness of more value than earthly riches, power, and pleasure. This was the message that people desired to hear. They picked up his books to understand the way to a life more abundant.

The Wicket Gate

John Bunyan had not always been a God-fearing tinker, nor had he always spent his free time as a travelling lay preacher - the offense for which he was imprisoned. 

He summarized his early life by saying, “I had but few equals both for cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God."  He, like his character Christian, had lived in the city of Destruction and knew what it was to be lost. But then he discovered what it was to be saved!

 John personally experienced how salvation came to a man’s soul and the difficulties that were to be encountered in searching for it. When, in the Pilgrim’s Progress, he wrote of the Slough Despond and the House of Mr. Legality (which we discussed in the two previous parts of this series), Bunyan was not merely trying to intrigue the reader but to teach them of the difficulties that stood between them and salvation. He set out to teach others how to overcome those difficulties. 

The same is true of the wicket gate. For men and woman searching for salvation, the very entrance to it proves to be an obstacle, a difficulty in itself. So, what is it that John Bunyan wanted to teach us about it?

Why Did He Call It the Wicket Gate?

These days, few are unfamiliar with the word 'wicket' and for this reason alone we miss what Bunyan meant to convey. 

Wicket means a small or narrow opening. Thus, John Bunyan wrote of a small or narrow gate.

 It wasn’t actually John Bunyan who came up with this illustration, in Matthew vii.13-14, we find that Jesus says “enter by the narrow gate…because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Narrow. Small. Difficult. Few can find it. Is that how you would describe salvation? 

Both our Lord Jesus Christ and John Bunyan sought to explain to us that, while salvation is a free gift, it will cost us all to have it.

 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke xiv. 26-33)

Many of us mistakenly believe that we can go after Christ and still live for ourselves. We think we can live to attain the riches of this earth and still gain the riches of heaven. But we have just seen that this is not what Jesus said. He said if we do not forsake all we cannot be his disciple. 

John Bunyan wrote that Christian left behind all his earthly possessions in the city of Destruction. He had to leave his family behind because they would not join him. He had to ignore the advice of all his friends and lose their good opinion because of it. All this, for what?

For the privilege of entering in at the wicket gate. For the relief of being freed from the burden of sin and saved from impending destruction. For the privilege of being called a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

If you count the cost and still consider it worthwhile to journey to the wicket gate. If you learn the lessons in the last two posts, John Bunyan and the Slough Despond and John Bunyan and the House of Mr. Legality and are able to avoid or escape these tricks of the enemy. How will you get through that small and narrow opening?

"Now over the gate there was written: "Knock and it shall be opened unto you." (Matthew vii.7) 

He knocked, therefore, more than once or twice, saying:

"May I now enter here? Will He within open to sorry me, though I have been an undeserving rebel? Then shall I not fail to sing His lasting praise on high." – John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

How to Enter In

We enter into salvation by faith. 

Faith is the only commodity that is asked of the one who would enter through the narrow gate. We all must have it and yet few of us even know what it is. 

There is much confusion around this important topic. What does it mean to believe? 

Some think it is wishful thinking. Others that it is a feeling. Still others that it is a virtue. John Bunyan illustrated faith for us through a simple action. The sign over the door said, “"Knock and it shall be opened unto you." 

Christian knocked. In that simple action we see faith. Faith is simple trust.

"If anyone asks me what it means to trust another to do a piece of work for me, I can only answer that it means letting that other one do it and feeling it perfectly unnecessary for me to do it myself. Everyone of us has trusted very important pieces of work to others in this way and felt perfect rest in thus trusting, because of the confidence we have had in those who have undertaken to do it. How constantly do mothers trust their most precious infants to the care of nurses, and feel no shadow of anxiety? How continually we are all of us trusting our health and our lives, without thought or fear, to cooks and coachmen, engine - drivers, railway conductors, and all sorts of paid servants, who have us completely at their mercy, and could plunge us into misery or death in a moment if they chose to do so, or even if they failed in the necessary carefulness? All this we do and make no fuss about it....and we never feel as if we are doing anything in the least remarkable." - Hannah Whitall Smith, The Christian's Secret to a Happy Life

Trust requires something or someone to trust in. As Hannah Whitall Smith explained, we trust in people and things all the time. 

When God asks us to have faith, He is simply asking us to trust in Him. He is worthy of that trust for He is the God who cannot lie. 

The word over the gate said “knock” and the command was followed by a promise of response. In faith, Christian lifted his fist and obeyed.

What Comes After the Knock

What happened when Christian knocked?  

Nothing. 

Contrary to what you are likely thinking, this is not a mistake on the author’s part. John Bunyan intentionally described a difficulty that many who are seeking salvation have faced. 

Like Christian, many have had faith in the word and the promise of God, obeyed it and were disappointed to find no response. The promise appears to be false. But this is where we have to realize that while the action of knocking, the trust it took to obey the instruction, was in fact faith it was also just the beginning of faith. 

With that in mind, what should do we do when we have knocked and yet are still standing outside of the gate?

What did Christian do? 

He could have transferred his trust from the promise onto his experience – he had knocked and it had not opened. Therefore, he could have assumed that the promise was false, the gate does not open when one knocks. He could have put his trust in the doubts and fears that flooded into his head:

 “Perhaps you were disqualified when you turned to go to Mr. Legality’s house.”

 “Your sin must indeed be too great.” 

 “Evangelist may have been wrong, perhaps this whole journey was based on wishful thinking!”

 Any of these thoughts could have caused Christian to give up, turn away and return to the city of Destruction. But these are not what Christian put his faith in. Instead, he continued to trust the promise that was written over the door. 

He knocked again. He knocked ‘more than once or twice’. Notice that John Bunyan did not state a number. That is because there is no exact number to how many times you should have faith. Rather, the principle with faith is this: if faith doesn’t seem to work you need more faith.

"And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." (Luke xi. 5-10)

 This is faith in its full measure. This is what is required of those who would enter into salvation.

“At last there came a grave person to the gate, named Goodwill, who asked who was there, and whence he came, and what he would have.

"Here is a poor, burdened sinner." Christian said. "I have come from the city of Destruction, but am going to Mount Zion, that I may be delivered from the wrath to come: I would therefore, sir, since I am informed that by this gate is the way thither, know if you are willing to let me in."

"I am willing with all of my heart." Goodwill replied, and with that he opened the gate.” – John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

We don’t trust the promises of God for no reason. We trust them because He has said them. 

It is Him and His nature that are the object of our trust, not mere words. For this reason, Christian is not the only one who will find that the Gatekeeper is willing to let him in; and not only willing, but 'willing with all of [His] heart'. For “God our Saviour… desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy ii. 3-4)

In Christ

Quiana

This is the end of our series, but it is only the beginning of the story of Christian and of all the lessons that John Bunyan had to teach us about the walk of faith! If you want to learn more about Christian's journey, I would encourage you to find a copy of the Pilgrim's Progress and read it for yourself.

 I would highly recommend reading John Bunyan's biography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, alongside it!