Part three in a series on John Bunyan’s writings.
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 man, 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.
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, 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 his readers 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 did John Bunyan want 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 a part of 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 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 live for ourselves. We think we can live to attain the riches of this earth and gain the riches of heaven.
But 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 the 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. 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.
Meeting the Gatekeeper
“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, ESV)
In Christ
Quiana
*Scripture references in NKJV unless otherwise noted.
We have come to the end of our series, but it is only the beginning of John Bunyan’s story and writings on the gospel.
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!
If you want to learn more about John Bunyan and his family, I can help!
Search John Bunyan to find related posts.