Gospel Prism

Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges is probably one of a few books I would recommend highly when it comes to the sinners’ struggles with sins. The other would be John Owen’s book Overcoming Temptation and Sin (it’s actually a compilation of a few of his works that Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor edited). Jerry is one of the clearest writers out there. He doesn’t use flowery language and doesn’t get theologically verbose. Perhaps because he is an engineer by trade, Jerry’s writing tends to be logical, rational, and simple. But don’t let the simplicity think Jerry or this book is shallow. Quite the contrary, it is rich with a deep wealth of Scripture, something that has been cultivated over a lifetime of Scripture study and memorization. When Jerry Bridges writes about sin, one must listen because you know he will be drawing heavily from God’s Word.

Jerry begins the book by setting the foundation on the Gospel itself. He bemoans the lack of reflection on sin in the church today, and in particular by the many evangelicals who are quick to judge others’ more ‘heinous sins.’ He writes: “The motivation fro this book stems from a growing conviction that those of us whom I call conservative evangelicals may have become so preoccupied with some of the major sins of society around us that we have lost sight of the need to deal with our own more ‘refined’ or sbtle sins.” (p. 9) And the book does a great job of showing the Christian world that sin is existent with all of us, not just the ‘sinners’ of the world.

Chapters 1-3 then goes about to show just how dreadful sin is and the impact sin makes on our lives and on God’s glory. Then chapter 4 discusses “The Remedy for Sin,” that is the Gospel of Christ. Chapter 5 has some very specific examples on how we can deal with sins and his summary of this remedy on page 51 is a great synopsis of this process. The rest of the book is an explanation of the various ‘respectable sins’ that ‘good Christians’ commit every day. His biblical exposition on these insights and his life examples are quite beneficial to the soul.

He begins with the sin of ‘ungodliness’ and frankly, very few authors would refer to this as the first sin. But Jerry defines ungodliness this way: “Ungodliness may be defined as living one’s everyday life with little or no thought of God, or God’s will, or of God’s glory.” (p. 54) After such a definition, it would be very hard to believe that one does not commit the sin of ungodliness. I know there are many times in the day where the Lord is not in the forefront of my mind. And it is far too easy to live life in such a way. He also addresses the idolatry of sports, doctrinal snobbery and arrogance, unthankfulness, inconsiderateness, and a host of other ‘respectable sins.’ After reading this book, you begin to see just how corrupt your soul and motives really are.

But he never leaves you simply to wallow in your muck. His desire is to show you just how sinful you are, to remind you of how great a Savior you worship. I know that after reading this book, I once again looked at the cross and worshipped Him because I remembered just how much junk Jesus saved me from. This is an excellent book from a man who has loved God with everything he has, and has walked humbly with him throughout the years. I’d highly recommend this book.