I got a little behind in my chapter summary posts for The Gospel For Real Life. I hope you kept reading! (Parents, if you would like discussion questions for later chapters, see the study guide in the back of the book!)

If you have finished or are close to finishing the Summer Reading Challenge, don’t forget that in order to claim your prize, you need to turn in to me a half page summary of what you learned. Give me your write-up by the retreat (or at the retreat) and I’ll give you a gift certificate to the bookstore. Read the bonus book, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, and I’ll give you another gift certificate when you give me a review of that. Got it?

Keep reading, it’s not too late…

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I’m not sure if Justin Carter is a real person, but his story is a great picture of reconciliation.

Reconciliation, by definition, assumes a previous state of alienation and hostility caused by the offensive actions of one or both parties.

When Paul described us as God’s enemies, he was not at that point describing our sinful hatred of God, but rather His righteous hatred of us because of our sin.

A total reconciliation demands a total effort by the offending party to make amends… God did not wait for a change of heart on our part. He did all that was necessary to secure our reconciliation, including our change of heart.

When Jesus satisfied the justice of God and propitiated the wrath of God, He did all that was required to remove the enmity of God toward us.  By His death He bridged the vast gulf of divine alientation between us and objectively restored us to a position of friendship and favor with God.

Think about what this means.  We ourselves should have been on our faces before God, imploring Him to be reconciled to us.  Instead, we see God reconciling us to Himself through the death of His Son, and then appealing to us to receive that reconciliation.  What a pure act of grace and mercy on God’s part!

Happily for us, our reconciliation to God is permanent and eternal.

This is indeed amazing.  Here’s the story so far: Jesus Christ

• Perfectly obeyed the Law of God (substitution)
• Satisfied the justice of God (sacrifice)
• Exhausted the wrath of God (propitiation)
• Removed our sins from the presence of God (expiation)
• Redeemed us from the curse of God (redemption)
• Reconciled us to God (reconciliation)

Quesitons for discussion:

• As you think back over what you’ve read so far in this book, what picture of God emerges?  What’s He like?  What’s important to Him?
• God has committed to us the message of reconciliation to us.  Who helped you become reconciled to God?  Whom have you helped?

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Bridges begins this chapter with the harrowing and tragic story of the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. The story is relevant to this chapter because kidnappings are often followed by demands for ransom. The two words go together for us. But it used to be that a ransom was paid to deliver anyone from any kind of captivity or slavery. The word ransom is related to the word redeem:

To redeem is to buy back or secure the release of someone from slavery or from captivity by the payment of a ransom. Redemption, then, is the action to secure release; the ransom is the price paid to effect the action. It is also true, however, that ransom may be used as a verb, meaning the same thing as to redeem.

How did Christ redeem us? Paul explains in Galatians 3:13:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

Maybe you didn’t realize that the law brought a curse…

Mankind was under a curse because we had not perfectly obyed the Law of God—either in Adam or as individuals. The curse falls on everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.

The old Ivory soap slogan, “99 44/100 pure” apparently denotes quite an accomplishment in the manufacture of soap, but such a percentage is not good enough to satisfy the Law of God. Rather it pronounces a curse on the least failure to do everything written in it.

When we think that the Law of God is too rigorous or its curse too severe, it is because we don’t understand God or the nature of sin. God is transcendent in His majesty and sovereign in His authority. Every sin, be it ever so small in our eyes, is an assault on that authority. In effect we are saying, “I don’t care what You say. I will do as I please this time.” Furthermore, each sin is an insult to His character. It’s as if we are saying to God, “I don’t want to be like You.”

The primary purpose of the Law, however, is not to curse us but to lead us to Christ (see Galatians 3:24). Christ became a curse for us. Literally, He became a curse in our place as our substitute.

If that isn’t amazing enough, he goes on:

Knowing that Christ paid our ransom price, you might now wonder to whom the ransom was paid. The obvious answer to the question is that the ransom was paid to God acting in His capacity as Judge.

God both demanded the ransom price and paid it in the death of His Son. Jesus was both the redeemer and the ransom as He laid down His life in our place.

There are many blessings to this redemption as we are redeemed from our former way of life. Here are some questions to discuss:

• Why isn’t a little bit of disobedience something God can just accept without cursing us?
• What would you say to someone who says, “I don’t agree with all this talk about rules and obedience to the Law of God. The God I believe in isn’t obsessed with rules like that.”
• In Romans 5:10, Paul writes that God hates sin and regards sinners as enemies. Why does simply wanting to live your own life your way make you an enemy of God? Why can’t you be neutral toward God?

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In this chapter, Jerry Bridges explains an important theological idea that we don’t talk a lot about: the scapegoat.

A scapegoat is one who is made to bear the blame for the actions of others, or for events he did not cause… The greatest scapegoat in all of history, however, is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just as the Israelites’ sins were symbolically carried away by the scapegoat, so our sins have been literally carried away by our Lord Jesus Christ.

The question we must ask ourselves is, do we believe this? Do we believe the testimony of Scripture, or do we believe our guilty feelings? Only to the extent we believe God has indeed put our sins behind his back will we be motivated and enabled to effectively deal with those sins in our daily lives.

He explains what this means through a friend’s experience:

Because of a teenage prank, my friend was convicted of a felony, but received what is called a Queen’s pardon. Years later, when he was routinely investigated for past criminal activity, the response came back, “We have no record of this person.” His record has not just been marked “pardoned,” it has been completely removed from the file and destroyed. It’s as if my friend had never been convicted. There is no permanent legal stain hanging over his head. There is no chance that the offense will ever arise to haunt him in the future.

This is what God has done for us. He has blotted out our sins, removing them from His record. He has done more than wipe the slate clean. he has thrown away the slate!

There are some great sections in this chapter about propitiation, penitence and faith, cleansing the conscience, and expiation.  I loved the different pictures Bridges explains about forgiveness:

• carrying away sin
• removing sin as far as the east is from the west
• putting sin behind his back
• blotting sin from his record
• choosing to remember sin no more
• casting sin into the depths of the sea

Here are some questions for you to consider:

• Which of the above metaphors about forgiveness is most meaningful to you?
• On page 60, Bridges says, “Only to the extent we believe God has indeed put our sins behind His back will we be motivated and enabled to effectively deal with those sins in our daily lives.”  Why is this the case?  Do you believe God has put your sins behind his back?  Why or why not?

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I drank from a number of different cups today. The various cups from which I imbibed contained, in order: coffee, orange juice, more coffee, ice water, Mountain Dew, milk, and more ice water. None of the cups I held in my hand contained wrath. Good thing for me.

Jerry Bridges begins this chapter by taking us to the Garden of Gethsemane for Jesus’ famous prayer:

My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.

He explains the significance:

So we see that the cup is a metaphorical expression referring to the judgment of God as expressed in the pouring out of His wrath on sinful nations and people.

THE WRATH OF GOD

God’s wrath arises from His intense, settled hatred of all sin and is the tangible expression of His inflexible determination to punish it. We might say God’s wrath is His justice in action, rendering to everyone his just due, which, becuase of our sin, is always judgment.

It is the necessary response of God to uphold His moral authority in His universe. And though God’s wrath does not contain the sinful emotions associated with human wrath, it does contain a fierce intensity arising from His settled opposition to sin and His determination to punish it to the utmost.

THE CUP OF WRATH

What was in the cup? It was the wrath of God. It was the cup of wrath that we should have drunk.

2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

PROPITIATION? WHAT’S THAT?

The Bible uses a strange word to describe what Christ did for us when He drank the cup of God’s wrath in our place: propitiation.

Propitiation is a good word and one that all sincere believers should understand and contemplate with wonder and amazzement when it is used to describe the work of Christ for us.

I believe a word that forcefully captures the essence of Jesus’ work of propitiation is the word exhausted. Jesus exhausted the wrath of God. It was not merely deflected and precented from reaching us; it was exhausted. Jesus bore the full, unmitigated brunt of it. God’s wrath against sin was unleashed in all its fury on His beloved Son. He held nothing back.

All who trust in Jesus need never fear the possibility of experiencing the wrath of God. It was exhausted on His Son as He stood in our place, bearing the guilt of our sin. That is what propitiation means.

THE LOVE OF GOD

“This is how god showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice [a propitiation] for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)

Herein lies the glory of the cross. Justice and mercy are reconciled; wrath and love are both given full expression—and all of this so that we might expreince the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Some questions for discussion with your parents:

• What pictures or feelings come to mind when you think of “God’s wrath”?
• Jesus exhausted God’s wrath. The cup of wrath is empty. What does this mean for us?
• Why is it important for your daily life to know that God has no more wrath when He looks at you?

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Justice and mercy are the two equal and opposite responses to laws broken. In this chapter, Bridges describes the dilemma we face as we think about the justice we deserve and the mercy we want, we have to come to grips with the reality of who God is and what his plans are for the world.

Justice may be defined as rednering to everyone according to one’s due. Justice means we get exactly what we deserve—nothing more, nothing less… God does not exalt His mercy at the expense of His justice.

The answer to our dilemma lies in the cross. Through His death on the cross Jesus fully satisfied the justice of God on our behalf…

Through His representative union with us, Jesus assumed our obligation to perfectly obey the Law of God and obeyed it to the letter. Through that same union Jesus assumed our liability for not obeying the Law and paid that liability to the utmost. He fully and completely satisfied the justice of God on our behalf as our substitute. Therefore, everyone who has trusted in Christ as Savior can say, ‘God’s justice toward me is satisfied.’”

The death of Jesus was a complete and full satisfaction of divine justice for all who trust in Him. At the cross there is no tension between justice and mercy; instead, they meet in full harmony. Therefore, as believers we can rejoice in the abundant mercy of God through Christ, while at the same time fully honoring the inviolate nature of His holy justice.

Talk to your parents about these questions:

• To what extent do you live with the fear that God will punish you—or is punishing you—for your sins? What prompts you to fear or not fear this?
• How will knowing that Christ has satisfied God’s justice on yoru behalf affect the way you deal with: a) an experience of suffering? b) yourself when you sin? c) an experience when someone else sins against you?

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Obedience that is not delighted in is not perfect obedience. Yet that was the quality of obedience Jesus rendered throughout His life, from birth to death.

In this chapter, Bridges covers two very important concepts: the obedience of Christ and our union with Christ.

The obedience of Christ means was both “active and passive”:

They refer to the two works of Christ in regard to God’s Law. The Law contains both precepts and penalties. The precepts are to be fully obeyed, and the penalties are imposed for the least infraction of the precepts.

Jesus was born under the Law because He came to perfectly obey it in our place. He came to do what we, becuase of our sinful nature, could not do.

He actively obeyed the Father’s universal moral will, which we call the Lord of God, and He passively obeyed the fathers’s specific will for Him, namely to suffer the penalty for our sin.

Meanwhile, union with Christ means:

Jesus was appointed by God the Father as our legal representative. This legal representation is the basis upon whch the life and death of Christ become effective for us.

It is this legal union that the apostle Paul had in view when he wrote that we were crucified wtih Christ, that we died with Him, were buried with Him, were made [spiritually] alive with Him, and will ultimately be united with Him in His resurrection.

Therefore, we can accurately say that when Jesus lived a perfect life, we lived a perfect life. When He died on the cross to suffer the penalty of sin, we died on the corss. All that Jesus did, we did, because of our legal union with Him.

There is wonderful application at the end of this chapter. Talk about these questions with your parents:

Have you ever thought about the wonderful truth that Christ lived His perfect life in your place and on your behalf? Has it yet gripped you that when God looks at you today He sees you clothed in the prefect, sinless obedience of His Son? And that when He says, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am will pleased,’ He includes you in that warm embrace? The extent to which we truly understand this is the extent to which we will begin to enjoy those unsearchable riches that are found in Christ.

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The death of Jesus Christ is the most remarkable event in all history.

In this chapter, Jerry Bridges asks one of the most important questions in the world: “Why did Jesus come to die?” He begins to answer this question under three important headings: Adam’s Sin, Our Sin, and God’s Holiness.

ADAM’S SIN

We will never understand the cross until we begin to understand something of the nature and depth of our sin.

Adam and Eve were created morally perfect. They were completely sinless and thus did not need moral restrictions placed on them.

[When they sinned,] in that instance they lost the moral image of God; they were no longer perfectly holy. They began to sin immediately.

The fall of Adam and the loss of God’s moral image resulted not only in guilt, but also in moral depravity or corruption… His fall brought guilt and depravity on all his descendants.

OUR SIN

Since we all have a corrupt sinful nature, we aggravate our condition by our own individual sins. Every day we sin, both consciously and unconsciously, both willfully and unintentionally.

We must realize that our fallen sinful nature affects and pollutes everything we do. Our very best deeds are stained with sin.

GOD’S HOLINESS

The basic meaning of the word holy is “separate,” and when used oif God it means, among other things, that He is eternally separate from any degree of sin. He does not sin himself and he cannot abide or condone sin in His moral creatures.

To put it plainly, God hates sin… God always hates sin and inevitably expresses His wrath against it.

The cross, then, is an expression of God’s wrath toward sin as well as His love to us. It expresses His holiness in His determination to punish sin, even at the cost of His Son. And it expresses His love in sending His Son to bear the punishment we so justly deserved.

We cannot begin to understand the true significance of the cross unless we understand something of the holiness of God and the depth of our sin.

Some questions for discussion around the dinner table tonight:

• Read Romans 5:12-14. How did Adam’s sin affect you?
• Read Romans 5:15-19. How did Christ’s death pay for your sin?
• Does it seem fair to you that Adam’s sin polluted you before you had a chance to do anything good or bad? Does it seem fair that Christ death cleansed you from sin apart from anything you’ve done? Explain.
• In light of what you’ve studied in chapters 1 and 2, what does, “Jesus dies for my sins” mean for you personally?

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CHAPTER 1: UNSEARCHABLE RICHES

“I know God loves me, but sometimes I wonder if He likes me.”

In this chapter, Jerry Bridges begins by pointing out that live is hard. There is suffering and trial, disappointment and heartache. Worst of all there are the ravages of sin. He explains:

Why do so many believers, including those deeply serious about their Christian commitment, live lives of quiet desperation? One answer is that we have a truncated view of the gospel, tending to see it only as a door we walk though to become a Christian… Another reason for our quiet desperation is that many people have a utilitarian view of the gospel. What can the gospel do for me?

In these views, we fail to see the gospel as the solution to ou greatest problem—our guilt, condemnation, and alienation from God. Beyond that, we fail to see it as the basis of our day-to-day acceptance with Him. As a result, many believers live in spiritual poverty.

But this is not how believers are called to live. Paul refers in Ephesians 3:8 to “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” These riches, the truth of the good news that is the gospel of Jesus Christ should radically alter the way we live.

We can begin each day with the deeply encouraging realization that I am accepted by God, not on the basis of my personal performance, but on the basis of the infinitely perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.

The gospel tells us that Jesus Christ paid our debt, but it also tells us far more. It tells us that we are no longer enemies and objects of His wrath. We are now His sons and daughters, heirs with Jesus Christ of all His unsearchable riches. This is the good news of the gospel.

Only those who understand to some degree the enormity of their spiritual debt can begin to appreciate what Christ did for them at the cross.

Some questions for consideration and discussion:

• How confident are you in God’s love for you?  Do you think God likes you?  Why or why not?
• What’s wrong with a utilitarian approach to the gospel that focuses on solutions to personal problems, a more successful life now, and assurance of going to heaven?

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Most books have some stuff before and after the actual chapters of the book. Sadly, most people don’t even bother to read these parts of the book. But this is must-reading. If we want to understand what an author is trying to communicate to us, it is essential that we carefully read the Preface or the Introduction (or both). Here we’ll usually discover what the book is about, what the authors goals are in writing, and we may find some key vocabularly that will help us track along with the author. I always find it interesting to notice who has influenced and helped a writer on his way to completing his book.

In his Preface to The Gospel for Real Life, Jerry Bridges couldn’t be much more explicit about why he is writing:

So preaching the gospel to yourself every day is what this book is about. It is intended 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?

This book is not meant to be a theological treatise. To borrow an expression from the collegiate world, it is intended to be “Gospel 101.”

If you’ve been paying attention at five15 meetings or Sunday mornings, you might think you know the answers to these questions. And maybe you do… partly. But keep reading. We are all like leaky buckets: the gospel slowly drains out of us without our hardly noticing. We need to be reminded, and The Gospel for Real Life is that reminder.

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