Category Archives: Jerry Bridges

“Our performance instead of His grace” by Jerry Bridges

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“The grace of God is one of the most important subjects in all of Scripture. At the same time it is probably one of the least understood.

All Christians by definition believe in grace. Many of us frequently quote Paul’s well-known words in Ephesians 2:8–9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

And John Newton’s beloved hymn “Amazing Grace” is said to be the all-time favorite hymn in the United States.

Why then do I say the grace of God is one of the least understood subjects in the Bible?

When we think of grace, we almost always think of being saved by grace. That is why Ephesians 2:8–9 is so familiar to us. Even Christian literature available on the subject of grace seems to deal almost exclusively with salvation.

But the Bible teaches we are not only saved by grace, but we also live by grace every day of our lives. It is this important aspect of grace that seems to be so little understood or practiced by Christians.

My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our personal relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace. If we’ve performed well—whatever “well” is in our opinion—then we expect God to bless us.

If we haven’t done so well, our expectations are reduced accordingly. In this sense, we live by works rather than by grace. We are saved by grace, but we are living by the “sweat” of our own performance.

Moreover, we are always challenging ourselves and one another to “try harder.” We seem to believe success in the Christian life (however we define success) is basically up to us: our commitment, our discipline, and our zeal, with some help from God along the way.

We give lip service to the attitude of the apostle Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10), but our unspoken motto is, “God helps those who help themselves.”

The realization that my daily relationship with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of on my own performance is a very freeing and joyous experience.

But it is not meant to be a one-time experience; the truth needs to be reaffirmed daily.”

–Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2008), 9–10.

“You will never exhaust the supply of God’s grace” by Jerry Bridges

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“God’s grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9).

It is sufficient for all your needs; it is sufficient regardless of the severity of any one need.

The Israelites never exhausted God’s supply of manna. It was always there to be gathered every day for forty years.

And you will never exhaust the supply of God’s grace.

It will always be there every day for you to appropriate as much as you need for whatever your need is.”

—Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991), 152.

“Your worst days and your best days” by Jerry Bridges

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“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace.

And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”

—Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1994), 9.

“We forget the gospel” by Jerry Bridges

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“We should always address our sin in the context of the gospel. Our tendency is that as soon as we begin to work on an area of sin in our lives, we forget the gospel. We forget that God has already forgiven us our sin because of the death of Christ.

As Paul wrote in Colossians 2:13-14, ‘[God has] forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

Not only has God forgiven us our sins, He has also credited to us the perfect righteousness of Christ. In every area of life where we have been disobedient, Jesus was perfectly obedient. Are we prone to be anxious? Jesus always perfectly trusted His heavenly Father.

Do we have trouble with selfishness? Jesus was always completely self-giving. Are we guilty of unkind words, gossip, or sarcasm? Jesus spoke only those words that would be appropriate for each occasion. He never once sinned with His tongue.

For some thirty-three years, Jesus lived a life of perfect obedience to the moral will of God, and then He culminated that obedience by being obedient to the Father’s specific will for Him — an obedience unto death, even death on the cross for our sins.

In both His sinless life and His sin-bearing death, Jesus was perfectly obedient, perfectly righteous, and it is that righteousness that is credited to all who believe. As we struggle to put to death our subtle sins, we must always keep in mind this twofold truth:

Our sins are forgiven and we are accepted as righteous by God because of both the sinless life and sin-bearing death of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no greater motivation for dealing with sin in our lives than the realization of these two glorious truths of the gospel.”

–Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2007), 47-48.

“We don’t have to wonder if He likes us” by Jerrry Bridges

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“The Bible tells us the bad news that we are in trouble with God, and then it tells us the good news that God has provided a solution that far surpasses our problem. Three times in his letters the apostle Paul paints a grim picture of bad news about us, and then each time he says ‘but.’

In effect, he is saying, ‘Here is the bad news, but here is the Good News as well.’ And in Paul’s message, the Good News always outweighs the bad news. Take just one of these instances, in Ephesians 2:1-9. After telling us that we were, by nature, objects of wrath, Paul says, but now ‘God, who is rich mercy,’ has actually ‘raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms.’

That is surely a dust-to-glory story. What could be a greater contrast than an object of God’s wrath seated with His Son in a position of glory? This good news doesn’t begin when we die. It certainly does address that issue, but it also tells us that there is good news for us now. We don’t have to feel guilt-ridden and insecure in our relationship with God.

We don’t have to wonder if He likes us. We can begin each day with the deeply encouraging realization that I am accepted by God, not on the basis of my personal performance, but on the basis of the infinitely perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.”

–Jerry Bridges, The Gospel for Real Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2003), 18.