A
Pilgrim’s Egress
By
Sandy Simpson, 3/20/25
First,
a little background …
The
Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come is a
1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is commonly
regarded as one of the most significant works of Protestant devotional
literature and of wider early modern English literature.
According
to literary editor Robert McCrum, "there's no book in English, apart
from the Bible to equal Bunyan's masterpiece for the range of its readership,
or its influence on writers as diverse as William Hogarth, C. S.
Lewis, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Charles
Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, George Bernard Shaw, William
Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte, Mark Twain, John
Steinbeck and Enid Blyton.
Highly recommended!
The
book Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan describes us as being
pilgrims on a journey through this world, on our way to Heaven. An old
spiritual hymn has the same theme.
POOR WAYFARING STRANGER
(19th century)
I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through this world of woe
But there’s no trouble, toil or danger
In that bright land to which I go.
"The
Pilgrim's Regress," C.S. Lewis's allegorical novel inspired by John Bunyan's
"The Pilgrim's Progress," follows John's journey from a life of
intellectual and spiritual dissatisfaction to a realization of the Christian
path, encountering various characters and philosophies along the way.
Though,
as born-again believers, we are set on a path of progression to holiness and
maturity to which we must hold (1 Thes. 2:15, 5:21, 2 Tim. 1:15), we are also
called to come away from the world, the flesh, the devil, false teachers and
false prophets. Unfortunately, many
modern churches avoid mature discernment topics dealing with distancing
ourselves from false teaching and heresies.
In their bid to accentuate the positive they neglect the consequences of
not separating ourselves from sin in its many forms.
Come
Out
Revelation 18:3-5
For all the nations have fallen because of
the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of
the earth have committed acts of sexual immorality with her, and
the merchants of the earth have become rich from the excessive wealth
of her luxury.” I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of
her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and
receive any of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as
high as heaven, and God has remembered her offenses.
Rev.
18:3-5 is specifically referencing coming out of the apostate end times church,
the “woman who rides the beast”. Though this is set in the end times, it has
always been a directive for true believers in every century to get away from
the compromised churches, as evidenced below.
2 Corinthians 6:17
Therefore, come out from
their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is
unclean; And I will welcome you.
This
was a restatement of Is. 52:11.
Isaiah 52:11
Depart, depart, go out from there, Do
not touch what is unclean; Go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves, You who carry the vessels of the Lord.
God’s
people, at that time the Jews, and by extension born again Christians, are to
get away from the world. John Gills
states:
The people of God are a separate people in
election, redemption, and the effectual calling, and ought to be so in their
conduct and conversation; they ought to separate themselves from all
superstition and will worship in religious matters, and from the evil customs
and manners of the world, though they are sure to become a prey, and to expose
themselves to the contempt and rage of it. (John Gill’s Expositor)
Avoid
There
are things we are to avoid as believers.
Titus 3:9
But avoid foolish
controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they
are useless and worthless.
These
kinds of disputes usually lead to useless and even dangerous divisions. We are to argue for the truth regarding the
core doctrines and the Truth of the Gospel.
We are not to spend our time arguing over non-core secondary issues.
2 Timothy 3:4-6
treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers
of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness
although they have denied its power; avoid such people
as these. For among them are those who slip into
households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on
by various impulses,
We
are to avoid those who are hung up on themselves and getting people to listen
and admire them. Women in particular need to be careful not to get caught up in
their emotional manipulations.
Romans 16:17
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which
cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned;
and avoid them. (KJV)
Romans 16:17
Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances
contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from
them. (NASB)
Avoid
those who cause divisions using gossip and slander especially when it involves
the core doctrines. We are to avoid them
by turning away from them.
Do
Away With
1 Corinthians 13:11
When I was a child, I used to speak like a
child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I
did away with childish things.
When
we become mature in Christ we are to do away with childish attitudes and
beliefs. As believers we are to move
steadily toward maturity, away from a reliance on milk in favor of solid food
(Heb. 5:13-14) as a baby does when it begins to grow toward being an adult.
Keep
Away
There
are types of “Christians” we are to keep away from.
2 Thessalonians 3:6
Now we command you, brothers and sisters,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from
every brother or sister who leads a disorderly life and
not one in accordance with the tradition which you received from us.
This
is particularly relevant to those people who are involved in the Third Wave,
New Apostolic and Word of Faith churches and their “slain in the spirit”
disorder. True biblical believers are to
stay away from people who engage in that kind of activity. A Christian will be one who studies and
applies the truths of the Scriptures to their lives.
2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God
stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His;” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to keep away from
wickedness.”
We
are also to keep away from wickedness.
Just because the Lord knows who are his does not give us a license for
immorality (Jude 1:4).
Turn
Away
1 Peter 3:11
He must turn away from evil
and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it.
We
must turn away from evil and practice good.
We must be peacemakers, pursuing unity in the Spirit and in the
Faith. That means though we become
connected through the Spirit when we have fellowship with born-again believers,
we must follow that up with unity in the Faith, that is unity in the core
doctrines. Where there is disagreement
over the core doctrines it is a sign to us that a person is not truly born-again and we must turn away from them.
Go
Out To Him
Hebrews 13:13
So then, let us go out to Him
outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
Just
as Jesus was crucified outside the camp, we must follow Him while taking up our
cross and putting to death the old man.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ;
and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Galatians 5:24
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the
flesh with its passions and desires.
Leave
Proverbs 14:7
Leave the presence of a fool, Or
you will not discern words of knowledge.
False
teachers and false prophets are just two examples of fools we are to leave
behind. Continuing to listen to fools
will dull a person’s ability to discern.
Stay
Away
1 Timothy 4:7
But stay away from
worthless stories that are typical of old women. Rather, discipline yourself
for the purpose of godliness;
We
must not be taken in by worthless stories and old wives’ tales. True believers are not to be superstitious
but rather discerning based on the written word. We deal in truth and
facts, no in idle speculation and unproven conspiracy
theories. We have a whole generation
these days that is enamored by what they watch on social media platforms such
as YouTube and Facebook. We have whole
movements that are roping people into following myths rather than proven
Biblical truth, such as the World Christian Gathering of Indigenous People.
Reject
Titus 3:10
Reject a divisive person
after a first and second warning,
The
word translated as “divisive” is “hairetikos” from
which we derive the word “heretic”. A
heretic is a person who has left sound doctrine and in teaching false doctrine
divides the churches. This is what we
have seen play out, especially in our time through the Toronto “Blessing” and
Brownsville “Outpouring” movements.
These movement plat many churches worldwide and thus we must reject
them.
Renounce
2 Corinthians 4:2
but we have renounced the things hidden
because of shame, not walking in trickery nor distorting the word of God,
but by the open proclamation of the truth commending ourselves to every
person’s conscience in the sight of God.
Those
who use tricks of interpretation and distort the written Word we are to
renounce. We do not do those things but rather proclaim the truth simply and
plainly so that people might be pricked in their conscience and possible repent
and believe.
Deny
Titus 2:12
instructing us to deny ungodliness
and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly
manner in the present age,
As
believers, there is always a continual battle against our former ungodliness
and worldly desires as long as we are here in the
flesh. This is why we are to deny
ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Christ, crucifying the old way of live
and living in the new life Christ bought for us.
Luke 9:23
And He was saying to them all, “If
anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his
cross daily, and follow Me.
Rid
Yourself
Colossians 3:8-10
But now you also, rid
yourselves of all of them: anger, wrath, malice,
slander, and obscene speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one
another, since you stripped off the old self with its evil practices,
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed to a true
knowledge according to the image of the One who created it—
We
must continue, with the Lord’s help, to rid ourselves of anger, wrath, malice,
slander, obscene speech and lies. Often
malice begins in slander, which is brought about by lies. We also need to get away from people,
especially Christians, who continue to practice these attitudes because they
can become infectious to us if we are not careful.
Flee
1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a
person commits is outside the body, but the sexually
immoral person sins against his own body.
There
are a number of things we need to run away from. Sexual immorality is a big one. We are inundated with it in movies, TV shows,
books, magazines and almost everywhere we look these days.
1 Corinthians 10:14
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
Idolatry
in our days is not so much involved in worshipping idols, though the Catholics
are caught up in their statues, but rather in things that become idols to us
such as greed and power.
Colossians 3:5
Therefore, treat the parts of your earthly body
as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed,
which amounts to idolatry.
1 Timothy 6:10-12
For the love of
money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it
have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with
many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God,
and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight
the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which
you were called, and for which you made the good confession in
the presence of many witnesses.
Taking
hold of the eternal life to which we as born-again believers have been called,
means we are to forsake those idols of our former lives and dedicate ourselves
to fighting the fight of Faith so that we can lead others to believing in Jesus
Christ and forsaking our former idols of money.