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We continue our series on the writings of John Bunyan. In today's post we look at the first three of Bunyan's "dying sayings" (slightly modernized) which he wrote while on his death bed. Historical records show that in 1688 Bunyan was caught in a storm while on the way to London, after which he became ill with a serious fever. He died on August 31, 1688 and was buried in a tomb in Bunhill Fields nonconformist burial ground in London. It was during these last days that he wrote the following sayings. It is truly a remarkable testimony of Bunyan's faith that he was not angry at God for what some may view as a needless illness and death for a great servant of God. Not only did Bunyan accept God's will, but he used his final days to continue teaching the truths of God and His Word.   OF SIN Sin is the great block and bar to our happiness, the procurer of all miseries to man, both here and hereafter: take away sin and nothing can hurt us: for death, temporal, spiri...

In today's entry, I continue our series looking at the works of John Bunyan. The following paragraphs contain select verses from John Bunyan's "Mediations" which he wrote while in prison. Written in a poetic format, these verses record Bunyan's experiences of God's grace and goodness in his life while he was imprisoned without just cause. With each word it becomes powerfully clear that Bunyan's time in prison only served to strengthen and embolden him more in his zeal for God. I hope you find these verses as exhortational as I did, and if you want to read the complete work (I encourage you to do so!), you can find the PDF here .   I am, indeed, in prison now In body, but my mind Is free to study Christ, and how Unto me he is kind. For though men keep my outward man Within their locks and bars, Yet by the faith of Christ I can Mount higher than the stars. Their fetters cannot spirits tame, Nor tie up God from me; My faith and hope they cannot lame, Above th...

(This article is part of a modernized series in which John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress, discusses four observable characteristics of Christian behavior) I begin with the first . That good works flow from faith . This is evident in several ways. First, from the impossibility of their flowing from any other thing; they must either flow from faith, or not at all: 'For whatsoever is not from faith is sin' (Rom 14:23). And again, 'Without faith it is impossible to please him' (Heb 11:6). Every man by nature, before faith, is an evil and a corrupt tree; and a corrupt tree cannot produce good fruit: 'Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?' (Matt 7:16,17). Now a man is made good by faith, and by that produces the fruits that are acceptable to God (Heb 11:4; Col 1:4-6). For this reason, sinners, before faith, are compared to the wilderness, whose fruits are briars and thorns; and whose hearts are the home of dragons; that is, of devils (Isa...