Heavenly Springs

Holding Fast The Doctrines of Grace

Put This Down as a Bedrock Truth

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This is an excerpt that is worth posting and re-posting.

jerry bridges“Now God sometimes allows people to treat us unjustly.  Sometimes He even allows their actions to seriously affect our careers or our futures viewed on a human plane.  But God never allows people to make decisions about us that undermine His plan for us.  God is for us, we are His children, He delights in us (see Zephaniah 3:17).  And the Scripture says, “If God is for us who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).  We can put this down as a bedrock truth:  God will never allow any action against you that is not in accord with His will for you.  And His will is always directed to our good. ”  – Jerry Bridges

 

HT:  Reformed Quotes

Jerry Bridges on Christian Fellowship

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“Don’t just share your struggles, and above all, don’t just commiserate with one another. Remember, we are to be ministers of grace to each other. We are to seek to be avenues of the Holy Spirit to help the other person appropriate the grace of God. Praying with and for one another, sharing applicable portions of Scripture, and helping each other submit to God’s providential dealings with us, must characterize our times together.”

Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace, p. 193

Bringing a Guilty Conscience in Line with the Verdict of Heaven

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Being a Christian involves more than putting our faith in Jesus at the moment of salvation. It is about actively pursuing holiness and godliness. Yet, how do we strike the right balance between God’s role and our own part in this walk of faith? I believe that true progress in our Christian lives can only be made relative to a right understanding of the relationship between God’s grace, and our responsibility. Without it, aren’t we subject to such spiritual wanderings, and harassments? This is an excerpt from “The Discipline of Grace” in which author, Jerry Bridges, discusses the nature of the relationship between a guilty conscience and what he calls, “the verdict of heaven.” I think it strikes at the heart of the question that every Christian struggles to understand. How do we rise above a conscience that continually screams, “GUILTY!” and walk instead in the light of the truth of the Gospel?

“There are two ‘courts’ we must deal with: the court of God in Heaven and the court of conscience in our souls. When we first trust in Christ for salvation, God’s court is forever satisfied. Never again will a charge of guilt be brought against us in Heaven. Our consciences, however, are continually pronouncing us guilty. That is the function of conscience. Therefore, we must by faith bring the verdict of conscience into line with the verdict of Heaven. We do this by agreeing with our conscience about our guilt, but then reminding it that our guilt has already been borne by Christ.”

The Discipline of Grace, by Jerry Bridges, (page 54)

Train Yourself to be Godly

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In 1 Timothy 4:7, Paul told Timothy, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.”  If Paul saw fit to encourage Timothy with such a reminder, we certainly would do well to pay attention too! When it comes to growth in our own spiritual lives, many Christians sit around for years waiting for God to just magically touch them.  That’s not what the Bible teaches.

Here’s what Jerry Bridges has to say on the Christian’s progress in godliness:

“We Christians may be very disciplined and industrious in our business, our studies, our home, or even our ministry but we tend to be lazy when it comes to exercise in our own spiritual lives.  We would much rather pray, “Lord, make me godly,” and expect Him to “pour” some godliness into our souls in some mysterious way.  God does in fact work in a mysterious way to make us godly, but He does not do this apart from the fulfillment of our own personal responsibility.  We are to train ourselves to be godly.”

May God give us the grace to not take for granted this matter of godliness.  Rather, let us pursue it will all of our hearts.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3)

If you are interested in learning more about how to grow in Christian character consider “The Practice of Godliness” by Jerry Bridges.