Good morning,
This week Grace Gems is beginning the presentation of the book, Pilgrim’s Progress. This is a classic and a must read for all believers. However, we will be able to see it in video format.
The Pilgrim’s Progress
Chapter 2. Obstinate and Pliable (SermonAudio.com, 8 minute video)
Chapter 2. Obstinate and Pliable (YouTube, 8 minute video)
The Puritan John Bunyan wrote his enduring allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress, while imprisoned in England for preaching the gospel. First published in 1678, this beloved work has instructed, warned, and encouraged generations of Christians in virtually every aspect of the Christian life. In 2018, Grace Gems prepared a careful update of the original text, preserving Bunyan’s message while making it more accessible to modern readers. We are now freely presenting that edition in a high-quality video format. Above you will find links to the video of Chapter 1, “The City of Destruction.” Lord willing, we plan to publish a new chapter each month until the whole book is complete. Here is an overview of the book:
The Pilgrim’s Progress beautifully portrays the Christian life as a pilgrimage from the City of Destruction, to the Celestial City. It opens with the sobering truths that every person is born in sin, and under the wrath of God. When Christian is awakened by reading the Scriptures, he discovers what every sinner must learn: this fleeting world with all its gaudy trinkets, cannot soothe a wounded conscience or reconcile a soul to a holy God. His departure from the City of Destruction reflects the call to repentance–the summons to forsake false hopes, turn from sin, and seek life in Christ alone. As Bunyan’s story unfolds, the cross stands forth as the sinner’s only refuge, the blessed place where the burden of sin is atoned for, and grace triumphs over condemnation.
From that moment onward, the pilgrim’s path is marked by trials, temptations, fears, and sorrows, yet never by abandonment. The Lord faithfully sustains His people through every dark valley, using affliction not to destroy faith, but to refine it. Through companions, warnings, and providential mercies, Bunyan reveals the tender care of God for weary pilgrims on the dangerous and narrow way that leads to eternal life. He also warns that external religion and mere head knowledge are no substitute for a heart truly renewed by grace. In the end, The Pilgrim’s Progress lifts the reader’s eyes beyond the hardships of the present pilgrimage, to the everlasting joy that awaits all who persevere by faith in the presence of King Jesus in the Celestial City.
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” (1 Peter 2:11)
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13)
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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