As Christian and Hopeful continued their journey they came to a place where there was a fork in the road.  Although there were now two roads before them they both seemed to lie in the same direction.  So the two bewildered travelers stopped.  Which road should they take?

 While they paused, unable to decide which way to take, they saw a man clothed in white going along the way.

“Well, gentlemen,” he greeted them, “to what city are you bound?”

 “We are pilgrims,” answered Christian and Hopeful.  “We have come from the City of Destruction and are going to the Celestial City; but here we are at loss to know which way to take.”

 “Oh, I can help you, for I am going to the same place myself, and I will be glad to have such fine fellow travelers,” said the man in white.

 He was such a pleasant person that Christian and Hopeful trusted him fully and followed the path he took.  As they went along he talked to the two travelers.

”Ah,” he exclaimed, “I have heard of both of you.  I have heard of the magnificent fight you put up against Apollyon, Christian.  How brave you must be!  I have also heard how carefully you walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and how courageously you behaved at Vanity Fair.  I am a great admirer of yours.

 “And I think it is marvelous the way Hopeful came out of Vanity Fair to come on pilgrimage when he had just seen what happened to Faithful.  I think you are both wonderfully brave and good.”

 Christian and Hopeful listened with pleasure and their heads went up a little higher, and their chests swelled, and they never noticed that the road on which they walked led gradually from the highway.  They did not even notice that walking was growing more difficult, and that frequently they had to lift their feet to step over some obstruction in the way.

 Suddenly there was a lull in the conversation and Christian and Hopeful looked at the road and their surroundings.  They were enmeshed in a huge net!  Try as they could, they could not free themselves from the entanglement.  They looked at their guide, and were surprised to see his white robe fall from him and show him as he really was—as ugly as could be.

 

Christian and Hopeful looked at each other and slowly the truth dawned upon them.  Christian said, “The Flatterer!  The shepherds warned us to beware of him, and the Word of God tells us, ‘A man that flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.’  How foolish we have been!  We are surely caught in the net.”

 “Yes,” agreed Hopeful, “and besides the warning they gave us they gave us also a note of direction for the way.  We would not have needed to be in doubt about the way.  WE had no excuse for following him.  We are very much to be blamed.”

 But realizing what they had done did not help them to get out of the net—nor did anything they tried to do.  There was nothing for them to do but lament their foolishness in listening to the voice of the Flatterer as he told them how wonderful they were and led them into trouble.

 After lying there for some time they saw a Shining One coming toward them with a whip of small cords in his hand.

“Well,” he said to them, “this is a strange place for pilgrims.  How do you happen to be here?”

”We are going to the Celestial City but were led out of the way by an ugly man dressed in white,” replied the two men in the net.

“It was the Flatterer,” said the angel.  He often changes himself into an angel of light to deceive men into following him.”  As he spoke he tore the net and released Christian and Hopeful.

“Where did you spend last night?”  he asked them.

“With the shepherds on the Delectable Mountains,” answered Christian.

“Did they not give you a note of direction for the way?”

“Yes,” replied the pilgrims rather shamefacedly.

“Why did you not read it when you needed instruction?” asked the angel.

Christian and Hopeful had to admit that they had forgotten.

The Shining One continued, “And did they not warn you of the Flatterer?”

“Yes,” replied Hopeful, “but we never guessed this gentleman was he.”

As they had talked, the angel had led them back to the highway and now as they were again on the right way, he commanded them to lie down.  This they did with fear and dread.  Then the Shining One whipped them with the whip he carried and said to them, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

After that he bade them go on their way and warned them to heed the directions the shepherds had given them.  So they thanked him for releasing them and guiding them back to the right way, and then they went on their way with chastened spirits.

There is always a Flatterer around.  When boys and girls learn that they are sinners and need to be saved, the Flatterer is always there to whisper to them that they are not so bad after all; they are better than others whom they know.  If they listen to him he will lead them in the wrong way.  He will make them believe that they do not need to be saved.  He will keep them from coming as lost sinners and accepting the Lord Jesus as their Savior.

He troubles not only those who are not saved; he is a very real enemy to those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus.  When they resist one temptation to do wrong he is almost sure to trouble them.  “See,” he will say, “you are such a strong Christian, and you don’t need to be afraid of anything.”  They are so busy listening to him that the next temptation finds them off guard, and before they know what is happening they find themselves tangled in his net as Christian and Hopeful were.

There are two things for us to do.  They are the two things Christian and Hopeful should have done:

1.    Always seek direction from God’s Word

2.  Watch for the one who always tells us how good
and wonderful we are.

If we get too high an opinion of ourselves we are headed for trouble.  It is sinners for whom Jesus died that they might be saved; it is Christians who know their own weakness and trust the Lord Jesus Christ for strength and grace that God can use.

“Some will hate thee, some will love thee.
Some will flatter, some will slight;
Cease from man, and look above thee,
Trust in God, and do the right.”
--N. Macleod