Tag Archives: Christ

Blessing Is Conditioned on Christ’s Perfect Obedience

Posted on by under Jerry Bridges

To live by grace means we understand that God’s blessing on our lives is not conditioned by our obedience or disobedience but by the perfect obedience of Christ. It means that out of a grateful response to the grace of God, we seek to understand His will and to obey Him, not to be blessed, but because we have been blessed.

Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1991), 99-100.

What Is Truth Faith?

Posted on by under Donald Grey Barnhouse

We must understand what true faith is. It is not mere belief; it is belief plus a total commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ…. Salvation is not a cheap insurance policy to keep you from the flames of hell; salvation is a new creation. This means new life, new love, new desires, a new direction of will, a new center for living, recognizing the sovereignty of God in even the littlest events in life. Faith is the total commitment of the life to the Lord Jesus.

Donald Grey Barnhouse, Mark: The Servant Gospel (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1988), 59-60.

We Have No Claim on Christ at All

Posted on by under John R. W. Stott

Christian exultation in God begins with the shamefaced recognition that we have no claim on him at all, continues with wondering worship that while we were still sinners and enemies Christ died for us, and ends with the humble confidence that he will complete the work he has begun. So to exult in God is to rejoice not in our privileges but in his mercies, not in our possession of him but in his of us.

John Stott, The Message of Romans (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1994), 147-48.

HT: Of First Importance

If Obedience to God’s Law Is Optional…

Posted on by under Jerry Bridges

Ironically, the law of God, viewed as commands to be obeyed, should actually promote promote living by grace. When we view God’s commands as optional — or think that as God’s children we are no longer under the law as a moral requirement — we subtly slip into a works mentality. If obedience to God’s law is optional, then in our minds we begin to accumulate merit or extra points. “After all, we didn’t have to obey, so we must gain some voluntary obedience.”

But the person who knows that he is required to obey God’s commands, even as a child of God, will see more and more how far short he comes in obedience. And if that person understands the biblical concept of grace, he will be driven more and more into the arms of the Savior and His merit alone.

Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1991), 92.