The Pilgrim’s Progress – Chapter 13 (Part 2 – Hopeful’s Story)

The last section of this chapter finds the pilgrims walking through miles of the Enchanted Ground. Hopeful feels sleepy, but Christian gently reminds him of the warning from the shepherds. They decide to pass the time and the temptation by having a good discussion.  It is in this conversation that we learn of how Hopeful comes to faith – with quite a bit of help from his friend, Faithful. 💕

We learn of his struggle with accepting the conviction of sin.  He’d try to ignore it and keep living on his terms, but the conviction would creep back in.  He would oscillate between wanting to have faith to address his sin and not wanting any faith so he could live his life. 😉 The times of being convicted of his sin however, caused deep distress in his soul.  These would occur when: (1) he met a good man in the streets (2) he heard the Bible being read (3) his head ached (4) he heard one of his neighbors was sick (5) he heard the bell toll for the dead (6) he thought about himself dying (7) he heard about someone else’s sudden death, and lastly (8) he thought about himself coming to judgment.

He tried to change his ways and reform his life, but he did not find any peace of mind to ease his soul.

Even though he’d reformed his lifestyle, he’d read scripture about ‘all our righteousness being filthy rags’. He also reasoned that even if he spent every one of his remaining days being ‘good’, he’d still never be ‘good’ enough to pay for all his previous sinful days.

After sharing his concerns with Faithful, he was told that unless he could obtain the righteousness of a Man who never had sinned, neither his own righteousness nor all the righteousness of the world could save him.

Hopeful: I must confess that the words sounded strange at first, but after keeping company and talking with Faithful, I fully believed that there was such a Man.  He told me it was the Lord Jesus, who sits on the right hand of the Most High. And he told me that I could be justified by Him if I would trust in what He Himself had done in the days when He lived on earth, when He suffered and hung on the tree. I asked him how that Man’s righteousness could be effective to justify another before God. Faithful replied that Jesus was the mighty God, having done what He did and dying the shameful death not for Himself but for me who deserved it instead. If I would believe in Him and what He had done for me, then His worthiness would be imputed to me.

Christian: What did you do then?

Hopeful: I objected to his argument because I thought that Man was not willing to save me.

Christian: So, how did Faithful reply to that?

Hopeful: He told me to go to Him and see for myself. Then I objected that it would be presumptuous; but he said it would not be, for I had been invited to come.  Then he gave me the Book of Jesus to encourage me more freely to come. Faithful told me that the words in this book, including the smallest detail, stood firmer than Heaven and earth.

Hopeful: Then I asked him, “What must I do when I come to Him?” He answered that I must plead upon my knees, with all my heart and soul, that the Father reveal Him to me.

Hopeful: Then I asked him further how I must make my supplication to Him. And he said that if I go to Him I would find Him upon a mercy-seat, where He sits all the year long to give pardon and forgiveness to all those who come.

Hopeful: I told him that I didn’t know what to say when I came. Then Faithful told me to say words to this effect: ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner, and make me to know and believe in Jesus Christ. For I see that if His righteousness had not been offered, or if I have no faith in that righteousness, I am utterly cast away. Lord, I have heard that You are a merciful God and have ordained that Your Son Jesus Christ should be the Savior of the world. Moreover, You are willing to give Him for a poor sinner like me (and I am a sinner indeed). Lord, take therefore this opportunity, and magnify Your grace in the salvation of my soul, through Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.’

Christian: And did the Father reveal His Son to you?

Hopeful: Neither at the first, nor second, nor third, nor fourth, nor fifth, no, nor at the sixth time.

Christian: Did you think that you might stop praying?

Hopeful: Yes, a hundred times.

Christian: And what was the reason you did not?

Hopeful: I believed that what Faithful told me was true… I thought if I stop praying I will die, and I only wish to die at the throne of grace And with these words that came into my mind, ‘Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.’ So I continued praying until the Father showed me His Son.

Christian: And how was He revealed to you?

Hopeful: I did not see Him with my bodily eyes, but with the eyes of my understanding, and it happened like this: One day I was very sad, probably sadder than ever before, and this sadness resulted from a fresh glimpse of the great depth and vileness of my sins. I was expecting nothing but Hell and the everlasting damnation of my soul. Suddenly I saw the Lord Jesus look down from Heaven upon me and say, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.’ 

“‘But’, I replied, ‘Lord, I am a great, a very great sinner.’

“He answered, ‘My grace is sufficient for you.’

“Then I said, ‘But, Lord, what is believing?’

“Then I understood from the Scripture that believing and coming were the same thing: ‘He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.’  Thus, those who have come to Jesus, who have run wholeheartedly to Christ for salvation, have indeed believed in Christ.  Then I wept, and I asked again, ‘But, Lord, will You indeed accept and save even such a great sinner as I?’

“And I heard Him say, ‘He that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.

“Then I asked, ‘But how can I know that my faith is truly placed upon You?’ Then many scriptures came to my mind and from all this I understood that I must look for righteousness in His person and for satisfaction for my sins by His blood. I must believe that what He did in obedience to His Father’s law, in submitting to the penalty for sin, was not for Himself but for him who will accept it for his salvation and be thankful. Finally my heart was full of joy, my eyes full of tears, and my affections running over with love for the name, people and ways of Jesus Christi.

Christian: This was a revelation of Christ to your soul indeed. But tell me also what particular effect this had upon your spirit.

Hopeful: It made me consider that this world, notwithstanding all the good things and noble deeds in it, is in a state of condemnation. It made me see that God the Father, though He is perfectly just and thus must punish all sin, can rightly justify the sinner who comes to Him in His Son. It made me greatly ashamed of the vileness of my former life and confounded me with the sense of my own ignorance, for until that moment I had never once been filled with thoughts of the beauty of Jesus Christ. It made me love a holy life and long to do something for the honor and glory of the name of the Lord Jesus. Yea, I thought that if I had now a thousand gallons of blood in my body, I could spill it all for the sake of the Lord Jesus.

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:6   Ecclesiastes 4:9  Romans 6:21-23 Ephesians 5:6 Isaiah 64:6 Galatians 2:16 Luke 17:10 Hebrews 10 Romans 4 Colossians 1 1 Peter 1 Matthew 11:28 Matthew 24:35 Psalm 95:6 Daniel 6:10 Jeremiah 29:12-13 Exodus 25:22 Leviticus 16:2 Numbers 7:89 Hebrews 4:16 Habakkuk 2:3 Ephesians 1:18-19 Acts 16:31 2 Corinthians 12:9 John 6:35 John 6:37 1 Timothy 1:15 Romans 10:4 Romans 4:25 Revelation 1:5 1 Timothy 2:5 Hebrews 7:25

Thoughts to Consider:  I’m so glad they decided to chat as they walked through the Enchanted Ground. What a great story. What a great prayer. 🤎

God, be merciful to me a sinner, and make me to know and believe in Jesus Christ. For I see that if His righteousness had not been offered, or if I have no faith in that righteousness, I am utterly cast away. Lord, I have heard that You are a merciful God and have ordained that Your Son Jesus Christ should be the Savior of the world. Moreover, You are willing to give Him for a poor sinner like me (and I am a sinner indeed). Lord, take therefore this opportunity, and magnify Your grace in the salvation of my soul, through Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen