Holiness Preacher Declares One Sin that 'Nails Us All'

Tuesday, Sep. 2, 2008 Posted: 1:13:33PM HKT

Dr Jerry Bridges, a renowned Bible teacher, preaching to a crowd of mostly young Christians last Saturday afternoon on the topic of holiness, his area of study and practice for more than 30 years, at the sanctuary of True Way Presbyterian, for an event organised by The Navigators, Singapore, entitled The Chase, pursuing holiness in your everyday life. (Photo: The Christian Post Singapore)

In a world and age where the concept of sin is fast becoming irrelevant, Christians last Saturday heard from a voice speaking out of the wilderness, bringing to bear on the hearts of the crowds the one sin that everyone commits.

That sin that excludes no one from blame is ‘corrupt talk’, said Dr Jerry Bridges, a senior Bible teacher on the collegiate ministry of The Navigators, taking the word out of the twenty-ninth verse of the fourth chapter in the Epistle of Apostle Paul to the Ephesians.

And what is corrupt talk as it is referred to in the Scripture?

Unpacking the term, Dr Bridges, who has been studying about and practicing holiness as it is taught in the Bible for more than 30 years, and is a best-selling author and renowned teacher on that subject, explained it simply as, not exclusively referring to curse words or profanities ‘but also any talk that tends to tear down’ rather than build up another person.

This sin ‘nails all of us’, he stated.

Nobody can declare himself guiltless of such corrupt talk. As soon as we think of someone, we are inclined to find some negative thing to think or say about that person, he indicated.

And this is simply because we have lived in a culture that actively promotes such a habit, said Dr Bridges, urging his mostly young Christian audience, gathered in the sanctuary of True Way Presbyterian Church on that Saturday afternoon, to instead actively pursue holiness and Christ-likeness, and not end at being bothered by and trying to gain deliverance from sinful habits.

He pointed out a prevalent and problematic worldview of Christians and people today that tends to dichotomise the Biblical concept of sin into ‘major’ and ‘minor’ sins, or big and small sins.

Christians today regard such sins as murder, adultery and theft as somehow more sinful than those like lying, anger, unforgiveness, jealousy, and corrupt talk, but there is no such dual classification in the eyes of God, he noted.

To God, sin is still sin, whether big or small. Cursed is the one who does not fulfill all the requirements of the law of God, as it says in the Epistle of Apostle Paul to the Galatians.

In history, there has been and will only be one person who has never committed any sin: Jesus Christ, the sinless lamb of God.

The rest of us deserve God’s curse, he said, defining the grace of God in the following manner: “Grace is God’s undeserved blessings through Christ to people who deserve His curse.”

He explained how God could have been gracious to such sinful people by quoting Galatians 3:13.

“Christ redeemed us. Though He was sinless, He came and bore my sin so that we will not experience the curse of God. Christ earned the blessings we don’t deserve. Through Christ we don’t receive the curse we deserve; we receive the blessings we don’t deserve.”

Through the cross of Jesus Christ, we came to experience how God treats us: firstly, just as if I never sinned, which is known to all evangelical Christians, but secondly also, and this is not so well known, just as if I have always obeyed. This is the most basic expression of God’s grace.

And this is not just a one-time experience isolated in the past, but through the cross, we are able to experience ‘God in action’ who ‘brings salvation’ and also ‘transforms us in godliness’ through discipline.

After the talk, in giving a response to a question posed on what happens if the preaching of grace glosses over sin, Dr Bridges said that ‘grace without sin shortchanges grace’ and he warned that there are always two ‘ditches’ along the path of faith that believers must beware of falling into: one, the ditch of license, the belief that everything including disobedience of God’s moral laws is permissible since God is the gracious God, and the other, the ditch of legalism, the belief that it is our obedience to God that justifies us since God is the moral and just God.

In this regard he said, we need to know first and foremost how much we don’t deserve the blessings of God but rather His curse and keep that in mind.

More than 550 people packed the chapel hall for The Chase: pursuing holiness in your everyday life organised by The Navigators, Singapore, a turnout that far exceeded organisers’ expectations.

Edmond Chua
edmond@christianpost.com