Gospel Enemy #1

A good friend passed this article along (click here to read it on Monergism).

It's from a book by Jerry Bridges (w/Bob Bevington) called The Bookends of the Christian Life. The article deals with self-righteousness (Gospel Enemy #1). It is found in the unbeliever who says, "I’m a pretty good person.” “My good deeds outweigh my bad deeds.” “I’m better than most people.” But it is also a big problem with the believer, who will often base his standing with God and closeness to Him on recent performance/obedience. Bridges explains how such thinking 'nullifies the grace of God' (Gal 1:6-8).

I found it very hard not to cringe and squirm while reading this article, as I considered my own self-righteousness. Here is a quote:

Many today are banking on the hope that a just God will consider their good deeds to have enough redeeming value to offset the guilt of their bad deeds. But people who think like this make two dangerous assumptions that are inconsistent with Scripture; they misjudge God’s justice, and they misconstrue the value of their own righteousness.

HT: Travis, thanks for sharing!