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John Bunyan
John Bunyan (1628–1688). Born in November 1628 in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England, to a tinker’s family, John Bunyan became a Puritan preacher and author, best known for The Pilgrim’s Progress. Largely self-educated, he learned to read and write at a village school but worked as a tinker like his father. After a tumultuous youth, he served in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War (1644–1646) and married in 1649, adopting his wife’s Puritan faith, which deepened after reading her books, The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven and The Practice of Piety. Converted in the 1650s through Baptist preaching, he joined a nonconformist church in Bedford and began preaching in 1656, known for passionate, accessible sermons. Imprisoned for 12 years (1660–1672) under the Restoration for unlicensed preaching, he wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666). Released, he pastored the Bedford church and wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), a global Christian classic, followed by The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680) and The Holy War (1682). Married twice—first to an unnamed wife (died 1656), then to Elizabeth (1659)—he had six children. Bunyan died on August 31, 1688, in London from a fever, saying, “Weep not for me, but for yourselves; I go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
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Sermon Summary
John Bunyan emphasizes the boundless ability of God to provide for our needs, as expressed in Ephesians 3:20. He encourages believers to cast their burdens upon the Lord, especially in times of distress, reminding them that God can do far more than we can ask or even think. Bunyan highlights the importance of asking for salvation, faith, and preservation in a troubled world, assuring that God's love and grace exceed our expectations. He urges the faithful to trust in God's promises and to rely on His abundant power during temptations and trials. Ultimately, the sermon reassures believers of God's willingness to bestow blessings beyond their comprehension.
What Do We Ask?
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Eph. 3:20). It is a text made up of words picked and packed together by the wisdom of God, picked and packed together on purpose for the succour and relief of the tempted, that they may when in the midst of their distresses, cast themselves upon the Lord their God. He can do abundantly more than we ask. Oh! says the soul, that he would but do so much for me as I could ask him to do! How happy a man should I then be. Why, what wouldest thou ask for, sinner? you may be sure, says the soul, I would ask to be saved from my sins; I would ask for faith in, and love to, Christ; I would ask to be preserved in this evil world, and ask to be glorified with Christ in heaven. He that asketh for all this, doth indeed ask for much, and for more than Satan would have him believe that God is able or willing to bestow upon him; but mark, the text doth not say, that God is able to do all that we can ask or think, but that he is able to do above all, yea, abundantly above all, yea, exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. What a text is this! What a God have we! God foresaw the sins of his people, and what work the devil would make with their hearts about them, and therefore to prevent their ruin by his temptation, he has thus largely, as you see, expressed his love by his word. Let us therefore, as has been bidden us, make this good use of this doctrine of grace, as to cast ourselves upon this love of God in the times of distress and temptation.
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John Bunyan (1628–1688). Born in November 1628 in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England, to a tinker’s family, John Bunyan became a Puritan preacher and author, best known for The Pilgrim’s Progress. Largely self-educated, he learned to read and write at a village school but worked as a tinker like his father. After a tumultuous youth, he served in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War (1644–1646) and married in 1649, adopting his wife’s Puritan faith, which deepened after reading her books, The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven and The Practice of Piety. Converted in the 1650s through Baptist preaching, he joined a nonconformist church in Bedford and began preaching in 1656, known for passionate, accessible sermons. Imprisoned for 12 years (1660–1672) under the Restoration for unlicensed preaching, he wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666). Released, he pastored the Bedford church and wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), a global Christian classic, followed by The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680) and The Holy War (1682). Married twice—first to an unnamed wife (died 1656), then to Elizabeth (1659)—he had six children. Bunyan died on August 31, 1688, in London from a fever, saying, “Weep not for me, but for yourselves; I go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”