Learn from John Bunyan to deal with the feeling of hypocrisy and vanity preaching

This was the last article in John Bunyan’s book, Abundant Grace to the Principals of Sinners.

The return to the classics will be interrupted for a short period of time, meanwhile, check out the previous articles:

In chapter 10.
“In the Service of Christ: A Preacher of the Word.
” John Bunyan describes his “way of preaching the Word?And? God’s actions? In his life about her” (131).
He summarizes: “To be brief.
In due course.
For the church always wanted and after a solemn time of prayer to the Lord.
With fasting.
I was separated and assigned to public and regular preaching.
Not only to and among those who believe.
But also to bring the gospel to those who have not yet received faith?(132).
Bunyan also recounts the trials he went through.
Mainly slander and defamation.
And the temptations he suffered.
Especially with pride.

In chapter 11, “In the Service of Christ: Prisoner for the Love of the Gospel”, he reflects on the time of his imprisonment, on the pain of separation from his family, fearing for his well-being, especially his blind. Daughter. But, by mastering himself, he thought, “Should I entrust you to God, even if you let me hurt my heart?”(150). On the other hand, tell about the blessings that resulted from such a period: “In all my life, I have never had as much understanding of the Word of God as I do now. These verses, in which I had seen nothing before, began to shine for me, in prison, and as a prisoner. Has Jesus Christ been more real and obvious than he is now?(148).

In conclusion, Bunyan summarizes his observations, temptations, and struggles. Finally, he meditates on the abominations in his heart and the wisdom of God ordering them for his good: (1) they make me hate myself and myself; (2) keep me from trusting my heart; (3) I am convinced of the insufficiency of any inherent justice; (4) show me the need to run to Jesus; (5) make me pray to God; (6) show me the need to be vigilant and sober; (7) encourage me to pray to God, through Christ, to help me and guide me in this world.

In chapter 10 of the book “Principal preachers,” John Bunyan recounts his struggle against temptations that arose because of the Ministry of Preaching. Two deserve to be emphasized: their struggle against the feeling of hypocrisy by preaching something that also condemns him and against the pride and pride of his heart.

Have you ever preached about something that you were also guilty of? Certainly there are sins that disqualify a person from the ministry, according to the qualifications listed by Paul in his letters to Timothy and Tite; However, how can we preach on unbelief without remembering ourselves? The lack of faith in our hearts? In such cases, we are tempted to neglect the material or soften it. Bunyan describes how the devil tested him at the time and how he reacted:

Sometimes when he was about to preach on a penetrating and empowering passage of the Word, the tempter would suggest 😕 Than? Are you going to preach that? It condemns you; your own soul is guilty of this, do not preach about it at all, or if you do, interpret and apply the text in a way that allows you to escape, so that instead of exciting others, you do not blame yours so much soul , so that you can never recover ?. But, thank the Lord, I have been prevented from consenting to such hideous suggestions, and, like Samson, I have been inclined with all my might to condemn transgression and sin wherever I find them, though in doing so, in fact, it is my fault. in my conscience. Die, I thought, with the Philistines (Judg 16:30), instead of corrupting the blessed Word of God. “So you, who teach others, don’t you teach yourself?” It is far better to judge yourself, preaching fully and faithfully to others, than to withhold the truth out of iniquity, to protect yourself from the damning power of the Word. Blessed be God for your help here too! (p. 139)

When preparing the sermon, first apply the word to your own heart, confess your sin, and remember divine grace, which justifies and sanctifies grace; In this way, when you go to preach, you will be able (if it is a wise attitude) to illustrate with your own life, teaching the congregation the need that each one has to humble himself before the Word of God.

As we do Christ’s blessed work, we are also often tempted to be proud and proud of our hearts. Bunyan brings two antidotes to this evil: (1) meditating on his own corruption and weakness and (2) reflecting on the sustainability of our gifts. He writes:

Every day, my part has been to be exposed to the wickedness of my heart and to be able to see a multitude of corruption and weaknesses, it made me feel ashamed of all my gifts and all that I have accomplished. I felt this clavada. la the flesh, including God’s mercy to me (2 Corinthians 12:8-9) (p. 139).

And:

In addition, I have been shown remarkable passages of the Word that contain insightful and penetrating statements about the doom of the soul, despite gifts and talents. These words, for example, have been of great help: “Although I speak the languages of men and angels, if I do not have love, will I be like the metal that resonates or the saucer that resounds? (1 Cor 13. 1). Cymbal is an instrument with which a skilled musician can play uplifting and uplifting melodies, and whoever hears it will hardly stop dancing. However, the cymbal itself is lifeless and does not produce the melody; it is born from the skill of the player. Ultimately, the instrument can turn out to be nothing and perish, even though in the past such happy melodies have been played. This is how I saw the present and future situation of those who have gifts, but not saving grace: they are in the hands of Christ as the cymbal in David’s hands; and, as David was able, in the service of God, to remove the music from the cymbal that lifted the hearts of the worshipers, so that Christ could use these skillful men to touch the souls of his people in the church and aft After having done what he wanted, he put them aside as if they were something lifeless despite playing like cymbals.

This consideration, along with some others, eliminated most of the time, pride and desire for vainglory. [?] Moreover, I knew that love would never die, but other gifts would cease and disappear; then I concluded that a certain grace, a certain love, a true fear of God is better than all gifts. [?]

So, did I understand that although gifts are good in themselves, for the purpose for which they were conceived? Building others are empty and powerless to save the soul of the one who has the gift, if that is all he has. . [?]

Therefore, I have seen that one who has gifts needs to be enlightened about the very nature of gifts, that is, that they are insufficient with respect to the salvation of the soul, so that he does not depend on the gifts and is deprived of them. The person who has gifts has reasons to walk humbly with God, to be small in his own eyes, and also to remember that his gifts do not belong to him, but to the church, which through gifts becomes a servant of the church and that, in the end, will report its administration to the Lord Jesus. (Responsibility will be a great blessing!) So let all men evaluate the Fear of the Lord. Gifts are really desirable; but great grace and small gifts are better than great gifts without grace. This does not mean that the Lord grants gifts and glory, but that the Lord grants grace and glory; and blessed is he to whom the Lord grants grace, true grace, because he is the true forerunner of glory (p. 140-141).

So the antidote to pride is understanding grace. Grace is the overwhelming majority of pride, grace tells us that we cannot save ourselves and that it is God who saves us and also tells us that we cannot fulfill the ministry of the Word without the power of the Spirit. and gifts come from God, not from us. So what reasons should we brag about?As Paul says, “Who sets you apart?And if you got it, why do you brag, like you haven’t received it?”(1 Co 4. 7).

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