Respectable Sins: A 9-Week Small-Group Curriculum

This is a great author whose books are very inspiring. Anyone who is looking to increase their knowledge of God should read His books.

This book is a once in a lifetime MUST READ!!! JERRY BRIDGES IS A GENIUS! EVERYTHING HE WRITES IS UNBELIEVABLE, THINGS YOU WISHED YOU WERE TAUGHT DECADES AGO! Purchase all his titles, especially this one. Will give you a great view!!

Jerry Bridges addresses sins in our lives that Christians have overlooked or made "respectable" due to what we believe are "worse" sins. These sins include ungodliness, anxiety and frustration, discontentment, unthankfulness, pride, selfishness, lack of self-control, impatience and irritability, anger, judgmentalism, envy and jealousy, sins of the tongue, and worldliness. Many Christians have become immune to these "respectable sins" and allow them to creep into our lives, where they may slowly take root and often gain control! Jerry Bridges identifies these and exposes them for what they really are. The concluding chapter "Where Do We Go From Here" gives direction and Scripture references for further meditation in dealing with these sins in our lives. This book is very convicting and great for continuing in Christian growth. I highly recommend it to anyone. It is wonderful to read through and also to use as a reference chapter by chapter, when struggling with a specific sin. The Scripture given throughout the book also directs the reader to the Bible where more study can be done on these specific "respectable sins" and God's view on them.

After hearing Bridges speak in person, I realized that this book would not be a condemning or judgemental work. Mr. Bridges does a superb job of explaining the definition of sin, its consequences as well as some very practical solutions to overcoming sin. It was a real eye opener in regards to sins that I tend to ignore in my own life. But each chapter left you feeling encouraged and hopeful. Definately a worthwhile read.

I enjoy Jerry Bridges books. His classic book THE PURSUIT OF HOLINESS was one of the best books I have ever read on holiness and the Christian's call to live a holy life (1 Peter 1:15-16). This book by Jerry Bidges falls in line with THE PURSUIT OF HOLINESS in that it calls the believer to live a holy life but it also confronts our sins that we often gloss over in taking aim at the "larger" sins. This book will two two things that I believe are key to the disciple. First, the book opens by showing us the gospel of Jesus Christ and what God has done for us to help us to be people of holiness. Bridges reminds us that holiness is not something we can obtain on our own since our flesh wars against the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-17). Bridges shows that the way to holiness is not in rules of religion but only by the grace of God given to us freely in Christ (Titus 2:11-14). The problem of holiness is not that we can't obtain it but that we are by nature children of sin who need to be born again by the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:25-27; John 3:3-7). Secondly, Bridges turns to showing us that sin is not just found in society at large but it can be in our thoughts, our words, and in our actions. It is easy to see sin in others, Bridges points out, but we need to first see sin in us (Matthew 7:1-3). Bridges then takes the light of God's Word and allows us to see that all sin grieves the heart of God (Ephesians 4:29-31). Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). The Law of God shows us our sins (Romans 7:7, 14; 1 Timothy 1:8-10; James 2:8-11). Overall, I was greatly encouraged after reading this book. While Bridges will cut you with the Word (Hebrews 4:12), he also shows us the awesome grace of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). While the Law convicts us, God's grace brings the joy of the Lord to help us overcome our sins.

This book did more to cause me to examine my own personal walk with the Lord and stop focusing so much on the sins of others (something I do frequently)---even the anti-Christian attitudes so prevalent in our culture today. The Ted Haggard catastrophe should have been a wake-up call to many Christians that the Christian life is a life of obedience that flows out of the faith that God gives to his Church (Romans 1:5), and that focusing more on the major sins of the culture, and not on our own personal sanctification, has the potential of leading to a tragic event such as what happened to Ted Haggard. Boycotting anti-Christian movies and picketing abortion clinics only serves to fuel the God-haters of this world and leads to even more God-hating. What the unbelieving world needs to see from the Church is a "peculiar people" who are not of this world, but are truly transformed by the Gospel. The modern-day Church has pretty much abandoned the Gospel and is turning the Church into a moralistic religion that is barely distinguishable from other religious systems i.e. Buddhism, Judaism, Roman Catholicism, etc., which all teach that salvation is merited by our own good works and not Christ's. As we recognize that it's Christ's righteousness, and not our own that merits our salvation, then the result is true humility, which is one of the godly characteristics for which Christ suffered and died to give to his people. "Respectable Sins" has been very valuable to me in that it exposed the huge log I have sticking out of my eye most of the time. This log is capable of blinding me to my own lack of godly character as I seek to magnify the sins of others. I cannot expect to be used by God until I have attained some measure of godliness, and godliness marked by humility is contradicted by my pride which forgets that I am a sinner saved only by grace that comes by faith, which is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-10).