THE AWAKENED SINNER

In our study of "Pilgrim's Progress," we meet up with the Puritan understanding for the need of "awakening." Pilgrim is the awakened sinner! God has grabbed hold of him, showed him the reality of his sin and the awfulness of his condemnation, as well as the inevitable outpouring of God's wrath upon him.

In Pilgrim, we probably see the more intense manifestations of awakening. It will be a little different for each man. At its inception, awakening may only be manifested as simple interest. Before a sinner's awakening, he may even have been opposed to, or put off by, gospel truth. He could have been a profligate or one of the many seeking to plead their own acceptability with God. He will almost certainly try to reform his life in some fashion.

Can we know his election of God at this point? No! Awakening is a part of the doctrine of "drawing" not of "regeneration." The gospel call goes out to all. Many are granted the mercy of awakening (like Demas), many are attracted to the blessings of the gospel (like Pliable), many of these are pronounced saved by well-meaning churches and believers (like Talkative, yet to come), but they are not regenerated and so have never truly repented and believed from the heart.

The baptism of children becomes a thorny issue because of awakening. Some children have been truly awakened, but have not yet experienced regeneration from God. Embracing them as redeemed or even covenant children exposes them to deception about their spiritual condition. How can we tell which child is truly saved? We can't! But if the doctrine of a believers-only church is the ideal, we must wisely discern, relying heavily on the Lord. Because we cannot do this process perfectly, we must be ready to distinguish between real and merely self-deceived professing believers. The church itself must always see it is in need of continued gospelizing.

This puts parents in a very difficult position. All godly parents will want to see their child baptized.

Sometimes evangelism awakens someone, but that someone is not yet saved. Watering needs to take place. What is watering? It is not restricted to recitations of the gospel at later dates. All that happens between when Pilgrim left the City of Destruction and when he finally came to the Wicket Gate and the Place of Deliverance may be seen as watering. Can someone get saved without such a protracted process? Yes! But in these days of gospel confusion and anemia, it is the exception rather than the rule.

What are some of the characteristics of the awakened but unregenerate sinner? (He will rarely have all of these. This is just a limited profile). 1) He'll show interest in spiritual things. 2) He'll want to involve himself more with Christians, the Bible, and perhaps even church. 3) He's liable to experience conviction, guilt, fear of dying, and doubts that he can be forgiven. 4) He will be teachable. 5) His life will experience some reformation while sin still dogs his steps. 6) He will be unfamiliar with the range of conditional gospel promises (the only kind there are). 7) He may still be too tied to family, friends, and this world. 8) He will have trouble truly believing and acting upon a promise of God. 9) His thinking remains quite simple, sometimes carnal – like a mere man. 10) He will give off very mixed signals.

Get used to dealing with awakened sinners who are not yet regenerated. Your evangelism should have some of these kinds of people. Don't be too quick to judge them believers. Just as much as a midwife looks for the birth to happen, you will often be the "coach" that helps with labor.

MY PERSONAL OPINION ON "AWAKENING"

The point of my previous article was simply to explain the Puritan concept of the "awakened sinner" – truly seeking, but not yet regenerated. This brings forth the obvious question regarding my own personal evaluation of this view.

In general, I'm in agreement with this notion. It helps explain many experiences and observations. But I think it can be seen as a rigid model that does not admit of many exceptions. Just as Bunyan relied heavily on his own experience before conversion when he wrote "Pilgrim's Progress," so we can forget that Eccl. 11:5-6 & John 3:8 remind us that the ways of God are mysterious and can't be put into a box. The drawing of some of the elect takes longer than with others.

That proviso having been given, I find the category to be helpful in considering what may really be happening in a person's life!