The Transforming Power of the Gospel
I recently went to lunch with a young man who asked me, “How do I live the Christian life?” That is a great question. It’s a question I’ve been spending a lot of time on recently as I just finished teaching a class on that very topic. The topic of the class was sanctification.
Sanctification is a theological word for the time in a believer’s life between coming to faith in Christ, and going home to be with the Lord upon our physical death. The Bible uses lots of words to describe sanctification, it is called growing in Christlikeness, living a godly life, being holy, and walking in a manner worthy of the gospel just to name a few.
And if I were to recommend one book for most believers to read today to guide them on how to live the Christian life it would be The Transforming Power of the Gospel by Jerry Bridges. The book is long enough to give you a good understanding of how to live the Christian life, but not so long as to be discouraging to work your way through. Another benefit to the book is that Jerry Bridges is a very good writer who makes his points in clear and relevant ways for a modern reader.
Another reason Bridges is a good author to read on the topic is that he has personally gone through a transformation in his own understanding of what the Bible teaches regarding living the Christian life and how to do so.
This comes through clearly in the book in chapter one titled, “Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart.” In reflecting on his early life as a believer in Christ, Bridges admits “the first mistake he made was assuming I could live the Christian life by my own moral willpower.” After years and years of failing to keep God’s law through his own efforts he recounts how he became discouraged and felt like a failure in his efforts to live for Christ.
But the Lord brought him over the years to a deeper and fuller understanding that the basis for living the Christian life was to live by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. He came to understand that he must live the Christian life in light of the gospel. And the same gospel that brought him to trust in Christ in the first place, is the same gospel that now empowers him to live a godly life. Bridges writes:
“So the moment you trusted in Christ alone, you were declared righteous by God because He credited to you the perfect righteousness of Christ. You will never be more or less righteous because of your performance. In fact, today you are as righteous in your standing with God as you will be in heaven.” This seems astonishing but true.
The question may well be asked, ‘Does my righteous standing with God because of Christ’s righteousness translate into the expectation of daily blessings from Him because of Christ’s righteousness?’ The answer is an emphatic yes. God does not justify us on one basis and bless us daily on another. All of God’s favor to us, whether in the spiritual or temporal realms, comes to us through Christ.” (page 58)
I recommend this book to you so you can learn the joy of living your Christian life by faith through the power of the gospel of Christ and the Holy Spirit, not by your own works and performance.
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