Lesson 7 Hopeful Joins Christian

The Pilgrims and the Deceitfulness of Riches (Chapter 13) and The Pilgrims Deal with Giant Despair (Chapter 14)

After leaving Vanity Fair, Christian is given another excellent companion in Hopeful.  As they strike up a conversation with By-ends, they are exposed to his fatal and soul – deceiving error of being double-minded in all his ways.  Christian and Hopeful withdraw from By-ends when they perceive his condition.  By-ends then finds three new companions with whom he makes an agreeable friendship.  They attempt to unite the love of money with the love of Christ.  Though God graciously preserves Christian and Hopeful as they pass by Demas and the hill Lucre, the two pilgrims trust their own wisdom (make a sinful choice_ and fall into the hands of the giant named Despair.

1.       After leaving Vanity Fair, Hopeful and Christian meet By-ends.  How would you describe this character?

2.       By-ends tries to go two ways at once.  He has two goals: to be religious and to hold on to the world at the same time.  Why is this impossible (Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon)

3.       How does By-ends describe Christian and Hopeful to his new friends?

“but the men ahead of us are so rigid and love their own notions so much, and so lightly esteem the opinions of others, that although a man be extremely godly, yet if he doesn’t agree with them in all things, they thrust him quite out of their company.”

4.       By-ends suggests this question: If a preacher or layman has a chance to gain an advantage by appearing more zealous in some points of religion than he has previously been, can he not do so and still be honest?  What are the 4 reasons he gives in the affirmative?

a.       Desire of a higher salary is lawful.

b.      The desire for that salary makes him more studious, a more zealous preacher.  It makes him improve himself which is according to the mind of God

c.       Compromising principles in order to serve shows self-denial, an influential demeanor and that he is more fit for the ministry.

d.      He is not covetous for seeking advancement, but He pursues his calling and the opportunity to put his hand into doing good.

Christians response:  If it’s unlawful to follow Christ to obtain loaves, as shown in John six, how much more abominable is it to make of Him and religion a stalkinghorse7 to get and enjoy the world? Nor do we find anyone but heathen, hypocrites, devils, and sorcerers who hold this opinion.

He then goes on to describe each of the types with examples from scripture.

He concludes with this:

“don’t think this simply a fabrication of my own mind that a man who becomes religious for the purpose of gaining the world will be just as willing to throw away religion to obtain it. As surely as Judas had designs on the world in becoming religious, he just as surely sold religion and his Master for the same thing. To answer the question in the affirmative, therefore, as I perceive you have done, and to accept such an answer as correct, is irreligious, hypocritical, and devilish. Your reward will be according to your works.”

5.       What does Demas invite them to do, and why does Christian refuse?  Have you ever accepted Demas’s invitation?

6.       After a pleasant interlude by the river of God, Christian and Hopeful set out on their pilgrimage again.  The river and the Way part.  Why do they wish for a better way?

The path away from the river was rough, and their feet were tender because of their travels, so they grew impatient on the way. As they continued on, therefore, they wished for a better road.

7.       How do Christian and Hopeful illustrate Proverbs 14:12?  “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death”

8.       When we are tempted to sin, as Christian and Hopeful are in stepping out of the Way, Satan says: “Go ahead and sin.  God loves you, and repentance is an easy thing.”  However, once we have sinned, Satan’s tune changes and he says, “What a miserable sinner you are.  Repentance is impossible.  God will never forgive you.”  How do Doubting Castle and the giant Despair illustrate the truth of the above statements?

9.       Why is it that we seldom read about such despair over sin in our own day?

Lesson 7 Summary

Before we judge Mr. By-any-ends let’s look at how we might be called by that name.  How deep down in our hearts can those ulterior motives hide!  Until we learn to serve Christ and love him because “he is altogether lovely” and not only for the benefits we receive from Him, we have some of By-ends in ourselves. 

When believers have full proof that someone’s profession of faith is false, they must reprove such a person and then, if this has no effect, withdraw themselves from that person. 

The Doubting castle part of Pilgrim’s Progress shows us the depth of misery into which sin may plunge the Christian and also the depth to which the mercy of God in Christ may reach.  Though despair is not good, it is infinitely better than indifference to sin.  When believers turn to prayer in Doubting Castle, deliverance is close at hand.  Though the pilgrims had sinned greatly in leaning to their own understanding, God had graciously taught them some valuable lessons from this bitter experience.  They had learned never to depart from God’s Way and anything that he desired them to go through, to value the light of God’s countenance and to distrust themselves more thoroughly.

In conclusion I would like each of you to consider the brotherly covenant that Christian and Hopeful enter into and seek the same for yourselves.  What details were involved in this covenant?  We see that the two agreed to have one goal – the advancement of God’s Kingdom and his glory.  We see that godly advice was exchanged between them and that they stirred up one another’s affections as they talked about the God they adored.  They spent time together in Prayer.  They agreed to confront each other with the sin they perceived in each other’s lives – a very much neglected act in Christian fellowships today.