Transforming Grace Quotes

“Lord, I am willing
To receive what You give.
To lack what You withhold.
To relinquish what You take,
To suffer what You inflict,
To be what you require.”
― Gerald Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

“Jesus did not die just to save us from the penalty of sin, nor even just to make us holy in our standing before God. He died to purify for Himself a people eager to obey Him, a people eager to be transformed into His likeness.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

“Jesus paid it all. I mean all. He not only purchased your forgiveness of sins and your ticket to heaven, He purchased every blessing and every answer to prayer you will ever receive.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

“The realization that my daily relationship with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of on my own performance is a very freeing and joyous experience. But it is not meant to be a one-time experience; the truth needs to be reaffirmed daily.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

“He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater; He sendeth more grace when the labours increase; To added afflictions he addeth his mercy, To multiplied trials his multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has failed ere the day is half done; When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, Our Father’s full giving is only begun. His love has no limits, his grace has no measure, His power has no boundary known unto men; For out of his infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again. Annie Johnson Flint”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“Even as Christians our best efforts are still marred with imperfect performance and impure motives. But God no longer “sees” either our deliberate disobedience or our marred performances. Instead He “sees” the righteousness of Christ, which He has already imputed to us.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“Christ’s death was the result of God’s grace; grace is not the result of Christ’s death.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“The realization that my daily relationship with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of on my own performance is a very freeing and joyous experience.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“C. Samuel Storms has so aptly written, Grace ceases to be grace if God is compelled to bestow it in the presence of human merit. . . . Grace ceases to be grace if God is compelled to withdraw it in the presence of human demerit. . . . [Grace] is treating a person without the slightest reference to desert whatsoever, but solely according to the infinite goodness and sovereign purpose of God.4”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“Sin, in the final analysis, is rebellion against the sovereign Creator, Ruler, and Judge of the universe. It resists the rightful prerogative of a sovereign Ruler to command obedience from His subjects. It says to an absolutely holy and righteous God that His moral laws, which are a reflection of His own nature, are not worthy of our wholehearted obedience.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“The Bible never speaks of God's grace as simply making up our deficiencies--as if salvation consists in so much good works (even a variable amount) plus so much of God's grace. Rather the Bible speaks of "a God who justifies the wicked" (Romans 4:5) who is found by those who do not seek Him, who reveals Himself to those who do not ask for Him (see Romans 10:20).”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

“We are brought into God’s kingdom by grace; we are sanctified by grace; we receive both temporal and spiritual blessings by grace; we are motivated to obedience by grace; we are called to serve and enabled to serve by grace; we receive strength to endure trials by grace; and finally, we are glorified by grace. The entire Christian life is lived under the reign of God’s grace.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“If you are going to experience the joy of your freedom in Christ, you have to decide whether you will please God or people.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

“Grace is not a matter of God's making up the difference, but of God's providing all the "cost" of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

“Contentment with what we have — whether it is possessions, or station in life, or mental or physical abilities — is worth far, far more than all the things we don’t have.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”2”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“Thus, our good works are not truly good unless they are motivated by a love for God and a desire to glorify Him. But we cannot have such a God-ward motivation if we think we must earn God’s favor by our obedience, or if we fear we may forfeit God’s favor by our disobedience. Such a works-oriented motivation is essentially self-serving; it is prompted more by what we think we can gain or lose from God than by a grateful response to the grace He has already given us through Jesus Christ. Living under the grace of God instead of under a sense of duty frees us from such a self-serving motivation. It frees us to obey God and serve Him as a loving and thankful response to Him for our salvation and for blessings already guaranteed to us by His grace. Consequently, a heartfelt grasp of God’s grace—far from creating an indifferent or careless attitude in us—will actually provide us the only motivation that is pleasing to Him. Only when we are thoroughly convinced that the Christian life is entirely of grace are we able to serve Him out of a grateful and loving heart.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“A lawdriver insists with threats and penalties; a preacher of grace lures and incites with divine goodness and compassion shown to us; for he wants no unwilling works and reluctant services, he wants joyful and delightful services of God.”[28]”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“Think just now of what you feel your greatest needs are, both spiritually and temporally. As you bring those needs to God in prayer, which would you rather present to Him as a consideration for meeting those needs: your spiritual disciplines, your obedience, and your sacrifice, imperfect as they are; or the infinite and perfect merit of Jesus? To ask the question is to answer it, is it not?”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“The Bible is full of God’s promises to provide for us spiritually and materially, to never forsake us, to give us peace in times of difficult circumstances, to cause all circumstances to work together for our good, and finally to bring us safely home to glory. Not one of those promises is dependent upon our performance. They are all dependent on the grace of God given to us through Jesus Christ.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“Are you willing to believe this wonderful truth and live by it? You probably reply, “I do believe it. I do believe my sins are forgiven and I will go to heaven when I die.” But are you willing to live by it today, in this life? Will you accept that God not only saves you by His grace through Christ but also deals with you day by day by His grace? Do you accept the fact that the Bible’s definition of grace—God’s unmerited favor shown to people who are totally undeserving of it—applies to you not only in salvation but in your everyday life? This meaning of grace never changes. As I’ve said, grace is always the same, whether God is exercising it in salvation or in His dealings with us as His children. Jesus said, “I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Do you have life, that is, eternal life? Have you renounced all confidence in your own moral or religious efforts and turned in faith completely to Jesus to be clothed with His righteousness? If so, you do have eternal life. But do you have it to the full? Are you experiencing both the peace of God that comes with salvation and the joy of God that comes with living by grace each day? If not, you may be saved by grace, but you are living by works.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“And note that our sins do not just happen to be behind God’s back. The Scripture says He has put them there. How can He do this and still be a just and holy God? Again, the answer is that Jesus Christ paid the penalty we should have paid. As another hymn put it, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”[9]”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. COLOSSIANS 1:21-22”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“The most shining deeds and valuable qualities that can be found among men, though highly useful and truly excellent, when set in their proper places, and referred to suitable ends, are, as to the grand article of justification treated as nonentities. . . . For divine grace disdains to be assisted in the performance of that work which peculiarly belongs to itself, by the poor, imperfect performances of men. Attempts to complete what grace begins, betray our pride and offend the Lord; but cannot promote our spiritual interest. Let the reader, therefore, carefully remember, that grace is either absolutely free, or it is not at all: and, that he who professes to look for salvation by grace, either believes in his heart to be saved entirely by it, or he acts inconsistently in affairs of the greatest importance.[6]”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“Grace ceases to be grace if God is compelled to bestow it in the presence of human merit. . . . Grace ceases to be grace if God is compelled to withdraw it in the presence of human demerit. . . . [Grace] is treating a person without the slightest reference to desert whatsoever, but solely according to the infinite goodness and sovereign purpose of God.[5]”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“To say a person is morally bankrupt is to say he or she is completely devoid of any decent moral qualities.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

“The sinner does not need more grace than the saint, nor does the immature and undisciplined believer need more than the godly, zealous missionary. We all need the same amount of grace because the "currency" of our good works is debased and worthless before God.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

“God's government is perfect and just. His moral law is "holy, righteous and good" (Romans 7:12). No one ever has a valid reason to rebel against the government of God. We rebel for only one reason: We were born rebellious. We were born with a perverse inclination to go our own way, to set up our own internal government rather than submit to God.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

“The Bible is not merely a book about God; it is a book from God.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love

“When we discover we are weak in ourselves, we find we are strong in Christ.”
― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love