Jerry Bridges has taken on the subject of the gospel with his typical style, clarity and freshness, so the reader can rejoice in the goodness and grace of God. He states that he does not intend to write a theological treatise, but to cover all the theological concepts involved in the gospel. He describes them with such accuracy and insight that the reader will be drawn, both mind and heart, to understand the good news of salvation.

In the preface he states the purpose of the book is to answer three questions:

• What is the gospel we should preach to ourselves?
• Why do we, who are already believers, need to preach it to ourselves?
• How do we do it?

The reader will find Bridges does not suppress the sinfulness of mankind. He claims it is against that sinfulness that the gloriousness of the cross can be fully seen and appreciated. It’s what makes the good news, good news! Your heart will be stirred as you read the chapter on “The Empty Cup” and how Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath for us. The way he ties the meaning of propitiation to the cup is powerful. Most believers have never heard a sermon on propitiation, but Bridges will help you remember it forever.

In reading his account of the scapegoat, the doctrine of expiation, and the removal of sin you will be set free to enjoy the riches of God’s grace in Christ. As you also digest the meaning of being ransomed, redeemed and reconciled, you will experience the old truths in a new way.

In Bridges’ writings on the application of the gospel, and justification by faith, he depicts faith as the gift of God in the best of reformed tradition. He does it so winsomely and insightfully that he even uses Charles Wesley’s hymn “And Can It Be That I Should Gain?” to show the sovereign regenerating work of God in leading a person to faith. Take note of this quote from chapter 11; “We are accustomed (and I was included in the “we” early in my Christian life) to believe that faith is generated in us solely by an intellectual understanding of the truth of the gospel and by a mere decision of our will to trust Christ. Then as a result of what we do on our own, God responds by giving us spiritual life or the new birth.

Though the notion that the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (the new birth) precedes and results in our faith may be new to many of our day it is in fact the historic teaching of the church since the sixteenth century Reformation” (page 134). It is good to see someone like Bridges communicate the doctrines of grace to the general evangelical world with such clarity.

You will have to read the book for yourself to bathe in the gospel of being adopted as sons of God, and all that means as far as your position in Christ, and the promises of God. There is much to read and digest in this book that it makes a spiritual feast for all who read.

In his conclusion on sanctification he says, “the gospel, received in our hearts at salvation, guarantees definitive sanctification. And the gospel believed every day is the only enduring motivation to pursue progressive sanctification. That is why we need to “preach the gospel to ourselves every day.” It is in the gospel that we find those unsearchable riches of Christ that produce not only justification but also sanctification.”

Here is a book written not in theological abstraction and obtuseness, but with theological accuracy and attractiveness for real life.

R. Aeschliman

Resource Coordinator, CE&P

 
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