Bunyan about Sin and Repentance
Mr. John Bunyan’s Words and sayings
Published in Offor’s 1861 edition of Bunyan’s Works.
SIN
Sin is the great block and hindrance to our happiness, the procurer of all miseries to man, both here and hereafter. Take away sin, and nothing can hurt us; for the wages of sin is death -temporal, spiritual, and eternal.
Sin, and man for sin, is the object of the wrath of God. How dreadful, therefore, must his case be who continues in sin! For who can bear or grapple with the wrath of God?
No sin against God can be little, because it is against the great God of heaven and earth; but if the sinner can find a little god, it may be easy to find little sins.
Sin turns all of God’s grace into emptiness; it is the dare of His justice, the rape of His mercy, the mocking of His patience, the spurning of His power, and the contempt of His love.
Take heed that you do not allow yourself the freedom to purposefully commit one sin, for that will lead you to another, until, by becoming a bad habit, it becomes natural.
To begin a sin is to lay a foundation for its continuance; this continuance is the mother of habit, and this results in rebellion.
The death of Christ gives us the best discovery of ourselves and what condition we were in, because nothing could help us but that. It is the clearest discovery of the dreadful nature of our sins. For if sin is such a dreadful thing as to wring the heart of the Son of God, how shall a poor wretched sinner be able to bear it?
Repentance and Coming to Christ
The goal of affliction is the realization of sin, and through that to bring us to the Savior. Let us therefore, with the prodigal, return to Him, and we will find ease and rest.
A repenting penitent, though formerly as bad as the worst of men, may, by grace, become as good as the best.
Your intentions to repentance and the neglect of that soul-saving duty will rise up in judgment against you.
Repentance carries with it a divine eloquence and persuades Christ to forgive multitudes of sins committed against Him.
Say not to yourself, “Tomorrow I will repent,” for it is your duty to do it daily.
The gospel of grace and salvation is above all doctrines the most dangerous if it is received in word only by graceless men, if it is not accompanied by a sensible need of the Savior and does not bring them to Him. For such men as have only the awareness of it are of all men most miserable; for by reason of their knowing more than heathens, this only will be their final portion, that they shall have greater punishment.
John Bunyan was born in November 1628, in Elstow, England. A celebrated English minister and preacher, he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), the book that was the most characteristic expression of the Puritan religious outlook. His other works include doctrinal and controversial writings; a spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding (1666); and the allegory, The Holy War (1682).
