Quotes from Jerry Bridges

Too often we say we are "defeated" by this or that sin. No, we are not defeated; we are simply disobedient!

devemos ter sempre em mente que somos santos chamados a viver separados para Deus.

Often unwilling to accept the fact that God is working because they don't understand how He is working, they have chosen to substitute the doctrine of chance for the doctrine of divine providence.

protected the moral purity of Sarah, who was to be the mother of the promised son of Abraham.

But, as so often has been observed, we are to establish our beliefs by the Bible, not by our experiences.

God did not excuse Abraham's sin, but He did not let that stop Him from intervening in Abimelech's mind to prevent the serious consequences of the sin.

But that which should distinguish the suffering of believers from unbelievers is the confidence that our suffering is under the control of an all-powerful and all-loving God; our suffering has meaning and purpose in God's eternal plan, and He brings or allows to come into our lives only that which is for His glory and our good.

not have swooped down upon Jacob and his family to avenge the crime of Jacob's sons except that God restrained them through a fear that could not be rationally explained.

God is sovereign over the nations. He is sovereign over the officials of our own government in all their actions as they affect us, directly or indirectly.

Yet God said that no other nation would covet the land of the Israelites, even during their vulnerable and defenseless times. God can restrain not only people's actions, but even their most deeply rooted desires. No part of the human heart is impervious to God's sovereign but mysterious control.

He is sovereign over the nations where every attempt is made to stamp out true Christianity. In all of these areas, we can and must trust God.

Fellowship is not just a social privilege to enjoy; it is more basically a responsibility to assume.

But where sin abounded, grace superabounded.

God is in control; He is sovereign. He does whatever pleases Him and determines whether we can do what we have planned.

Too often, however, we tend to read these accounts merely as biblical history without relating them to our lives and our situations. But

Biblical community is first of all the sharing of a common life in Christ.

Andrew Murray wrote, "In creating man with a free will and making him a partner in the rule of the earth, God limited himself. He made himself dependent on what man would do. Man by his prayer would hold the measure of what God could do in blessing" (emphasis added).2

These stories are meant to teach us that God is sovereign over people and to encourage us by the knowledge that God exercises His sovereignty for our good.

It's not enough to agree that we do tolerate at least some of them. Anyone except for the most self-righteous person will acknowledge that. "After all, no one is perfect," may be our attitude. But to honestly face those sins is another matter. For one thing, it is quite humbling. It also implies that we must do something about them. We can no longer continue to ignore them as we have in the past.

God does not always restrain the wicked and harmful actions of others toward His people.

It is only as we see His holiness, His absolute purity and moral hatred of sin, that we will be gripped by the awfulness of sin against the Holy God. To be gripped by that fact is the first step in our pursuit of holiness.

God is sovereign over the nations. He is sovereign over the officials of our own government in all their actions as they affect us, directly or indirectly. He is sovereign over the officials of government in lands where our brothers and sisters in Christ suffer for their faith in Him. And He is sovereign over the nations where every attempt is made to stamp out true Christianity. In all of these areas, we can and must trust God.

rejoice because we believe He is in control of those circumstances and is at work through them for our ultimate good.

But God has not walked away from the day-to-day control of His creation. Certainly He has established physical laws by which He governs the forces of nature, but those laws continuously operate according to His sovereign will.