daddy4ms

A few weeks ago, I finished Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges.  I loved most of the book.  I disagreed with Bridges view on suffering and adversity.  However, I would recommend the book to people because of his great explanation of grace through all of life. I have posted previously on the book so I have picked several quotes from the second half of the book. We are responsible to clothe ourselves with Christlike character, but we are dependent on God's Spirit to produce with us His "fruit." We cannot make one inch of progress in sanctification apart from the powerful working of the Spirit in us. Instead, we have developed another brand of legalism, a brand that is concerned, not with salvation, but with how we live the Christian life. I call this "evangelical legalism." They (fences) begin as a sincere effort to deal with real sin issues. But very often we begin to focus on the fence we've built instead of the sin it was designed to guard ag...

Last week, I was reading Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges.  I came across a quote about the goodness of God that jumped off the page.  I hope it will reinforce the importance of not believing Satan's lies about God. "We should not forget that Satan's very first temptation of mankind was based on questioning the goodness and generosity of God (see Genesis 3:1-5). And his vicious attack on the patriarch Job was designed to cause Job to question God's goodness so that he would then curse God (see Job 1:6-11). Satan has not changed his strategy today. This perception of God as the reluctant giver comes right from Satan and must be resisted by us if we are to experience the fullness of God's grace."

Feeling guilty today?  Wondering how God can forgive you for committing that same sin again? How does God view your sin? Listen to these word pictures about our sin from Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges: Our condition was hopeless, but God intervened in grace. So when God says He removes our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west, He is saying they have been removed an infinite distance from us. In His relationship, to us as the moral Governor and Judge of mankind, God has put our sins behind His back. So it is with our sins. God has hurled them into the depths of the sea to be lost forever, never to be recovered, never to be held against us. It has been blotted out, never to be seen again. This is what God does with our sins. When you trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, God removes your record from the file. He doesn't keep it there or daily add the long list of sins you continue to commit even as a Christian. The blotting out of our transgressions is a le...

If you have heard me speak or read this blog often, you know I say a lot, "Grace is for all of life."  Many Christians know grace gets them saved, but then they believe it is up to them to do the rest.  We get in by God's grace, but then we better work hard to show Jesus how much we love Him.  Below is a quote from Jerry Bridges that reinforces this belief of grace for all of life: God is not keeping score, granting or withholding blessings on the basis of our performance. The score has already been permanently settled by Christ. We so often miss this dimension of the gospel. We are brought into God's kingdom by grace; we are sanctified by grace; we receive both temporal and spiritual blessings by grace; we are motivated to obedience by grace; we are called to serve and enabled to serve by grace; we receive strength to endure trials by grace; and finally, we are glorified by grace. The entire Christian life is lived under the reign of God's grace.

Last week, I began reading Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love by Jerry Bridges. Here are some powerful quotes from the preface and Chapter 1: As Bridges says, many Christians believe: "We are saved by grace, but we are living by the "sweat" of our own performance." We recognize that even our best efforts cannot get us to heaven, but we do think they earn God's blessings in our daily lives. Not only are we legalistic by nature, our Christian culture reinforces this attitude in us. God answered (a specific prayer of Bridges) on the basis of His grace alone, not because of my merits or demerits. One of the best kept secrets among Christians today is this: Jesus paid it all. I mean all. He not only purchased your forgiveness of sins and your ticket to heaven, He purchased every blessing and every answer to prayer you will ever receive. Every one of them--no exceptions. That is, the entire Christian life from start to comp...