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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.”
Sermon Summary
John Bunyan emphasizes the necessity of renouncing one's 'darling sin' in order to truly depart from iniquity, as highlighted in 2 Timothy 2:19. He illustrates that clinging to a favorite sin allows other sins to persist, much like a man who cannot rid his house of pests until he removes the source attracting them. Bunyan urges believers to confront and cast out their most cherished sins to find freedom from the others that accompany them. The sermon calls for self-examination and a commitment to holiness by prioritizing the rejection of sin.
One Sin
"Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity" (2 Tim. 2:19). And, indeed, if a man will depart from iniquity, he must depart from his darling sin first; for as long as that is entertained, the others, at least those that are most suiting with that darling, will always be haunting of him. There is a man that has such and such haunt his house, and spend his substance, and would be rid of them, but cannot; but now, let him rid himself of that, for the sake of which they haunt his house, and then he shall with ease be rid of them. Thus it is with sin. There is a man that is plagued with many sins, perhaps because he embraceth one: well, let him turn that one out of doors, and that is the way to be rid of the rest. Keep thee from thy darling, thy bosom, thy constitution-sin.
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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.”