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| Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate | 
 enlarge | Author: Jerry Bridges
Publisher: NavPress Publishing Group
Category: Book
List Price: $18.99
Buy New: $11.97
You Save: $7.02 (37%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 629
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 187
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 1600061400
Dewey Decimal Number: 241.3
EAN: 9781600061400
ASIN: 1600061400
Publication Date: August 31, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
As Christians, we believe that all sins are considered equal in God's eyes. Yet while evangelicals continue to decry the Big Ones--such as abortion, adultery, and violence--we often overlook more deceptive sins. It seems we have created a sliding scale where gossip, jealousy, and selfishness comfortably exist within the church. In short, some sins have simply become acceptable. Acclaimed author Jerry Bridges believes that just as culture has lost the concept of sin, the church faces the same danger. Jerry writes not from a sense of achievement, but from the trenches of his own personal battles. Drawing from scriptural truth, he sheds light on subtle behaviors that can derail our spiritual growth. Throughout, Jerry encourages victory over personal sin through the gospel's transforming power. This release is perfect for readers who long to thoughtfully examine their lives and discover a deeper walk with God.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Bridges Does it Again October 4, 2007
123 out of 124 found this review helpful
A new book from the pen of Jerry Bridges is always a noteworthy event and this month we're blessed to see not one, but two new books bearing his name. The first of these, published by NavPress, is titled Respectable Sins. "The motivation for this book stems from a growing conviction that those of us whom I call conservative evangelicals may have become so preoccupied with some of the major sins of society around us that we have lost sight of the need to deal with our own more `refined' or subtle sins." And in the book Bridges addresses these "respectable sins"--sins, that though they bring dishonor to God, are too often overlooked among Christians. We are apt to focus on the obvious ills of society and our attention to those seemingly great sins somehow convinces us that our small sins are acceptable.
Bridges begins this book, as he usually does, by laying the foundation of the gospel. He addresses the Bible's continual exhortations that we are to "be what we are." We are called saints and are expected by God to act like those who have been set apart to be holy. We are to act like a people who have been separated unto God. While the Bible makes it clear that any conduct unbecoming a saint is sin, and while all Christians acknowledge that we do sin, we are still prone to ignoring certain transgressions that simply do not seem that serious. "We can readily identify sin in the immoral or unethical conduct of people in society at large. But we often fail to see it in what I call the `acceptable sins of the saints.' In effect, we, like society at large, live in denial of our sin."
All sin, no matter how subtle it may seem to us, is malignant. It "wages war against our souls." Some subtle sins we commit without really thinking about them, either at the time or afterward. "We often live in unconscious denial of our `acceptable sins.'" But even these sins are "an assault on the majesty and sovereign rule of God. It is indeed cosmic treason." But, in His sovereign good pleasure, God has graciously provided a remedy for sin in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. After discussing the ramifications of Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf, Bridges transitions to a word about the power of the Holy Spirit, teaching how He works in and with us to cleanse us from our sin.
And here, after about fifty pages of important introductory material, Bridges begins to discuss individual sins he has identified in his own life and in the lives of other believers. Here is the list:
* Ungodliness
* Anxiety and Frustration
* Discontentment
* Unthankfulness
* Pride
* Selfishness
* Lack of Self-Control
* Impatience and Irritability
* Anger
* The Weeds of Anger
* Judgmentalism
* Envy, Jealousy, and Related Sins
* Sins of the Tongue
* Worldliness
Each one of these is discussed in some detail: how the sin can be identified, how it dishonors God, how it affects a Christian's life, and what Scriptures we can use to overcome it. He encourages the reader to go slowly from chapter-to-chapter, pausing to meditate on the Scriptures he provides and seeking to allow them to challenge and, if necessary, to convict. The person who reads the book quickly will be rewarded, but the one who reads it slowly and meditatively will surely be rewarded more.
Jerry Bridges has long served the church in the area of applying the gospel to personal holiness, using the Word to convict of sin and the gospel to restore hope. This book is a welcome addition to his already powerful list of books. The respectable sins he outlines I could often identify in my own life as ones that I have been willing to overlook. I suspect the same will be true of any Christian who takes the time to read it. This book is built upon a simple premise and Bridges executes it powerfully. I don't know of any Christian would not benefit from reading it and from considering those subtle, dangerous, respectable sins.
Every Christian should read this book November 28, 2007
34 out of 36 found this review helpful
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).
Get it and keep it close by! October 19, 2007
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
"This book, as the title announces, is about sin--not only the obvious sins of our culture but the subtle sins of believers, the target audience of this book." (p. 9)
The above quote is an apt description of Respectable Sins. It really is a book about sin, but it deals with the sins that we often do not take seriously. Bridges understands our current Christian culture. Christians have a way of focusing on the sins of society around us while overlooking the sins so prominent in our own hearts and lives. Bridges takes the scalpel of the Word of God and performs spiritual surgery on our hearts by exposing the cancerous sins which are destroying us spiritually. After exposing our sin, he offers hope of obedience through the gospel.
Respectable Sins begins by explaining the seeming disappearance of sin among us. Very few people in our culture think in terms of sin. Even our politically correct terminology has drifted from any awareness of sin. What about Christians? Surely we still recognize sin and are quick to point it out and denounce it. Has the idea of sin evaporated from our Christian churches? Bridges comments, "No, it has not disappeared, but it has, in many instances, been deflected to those outside our circles who commit flagrant sins such as abortion, homosexuality, and murder, or the notorious white-collar crimes of high level corporate executives." (p. 19)
After explaining the disappearance of the recognition of certain sins from Christian culture, Bridges goes on to explain why this matters so much. He devotes the next four chapters of the book to a general explanation of sin. To give you an idea of the flow of these chapters, in order the titles go; The Malignancy of Sin, The Remedy for Sin, The Power of the Holy Spirit, and Directions for Dealing with Sins. These chapters are absolutely packed full of Biblical teaching on sin and the gospel. Bridges wants us to learn to take sin seriously, but also to take the gospel seriously. His teaching on sin in these chapters is gospel centered. "Stepping forward to accept my place as a sinner in need of the gospel each day drives a dagger into my self-righteous heart and prepares me to face up to and accept the reality of the sin that still dwells within me." (p. 34) A proper understanding of the gospel and the power that it gives for obedience is the major emphasis of these introductory chapters. Apart from these first 6 chapters and the application of the gospel to life, any discussion of sin offers no hope and only brings more condemnation.
Bridges closes this section of the book by offering 7 general directions for dealing with sin. These directions include:
*Apply the gospel
*Depend on the Holy Spirit
*Recognize your responsibility
*Identify specific respectable sins
*Memorize and apply appropriate Scriptures
*Cultivate the practice of prayer
*Involve one or a few other believers with you
Throughout the rest of the book, Bridges addresses each of the respectable sins we tolerate. He spends a chapter discussing each sin and gets very specific. Some of the sins discussed are: ungodliness, pride, anxiety, jealousy, sins of the tongue, worldliness and impatience.
Each chapter has a similar flow. He begins each chapter with a short explanation of what each sin means and looks like. For example, he defines ungodliness as "living one's everyday life with little or no thought of God, or of God's will, or of God's glory, or of one's dependence on God." (p. 54) After explaining what each sin looks like he often explains several ways in which it manifests itself in our lives. The helpful thing about each of these chapters is the specific way in which Bridges addresses these sins. He does not simply discuss pride. He explains several ways in which pride commonly manifests itself. He then ends the chapter by offering ways to confront the sin.
I believe this book will be tremendously helpful to Christians of all ages as they read it. It accomplishes several goals if read with humility. First, it brings sins we often neglect to deal with to the front of our minds. How many of us have even thought about our impatience this week? It's a sin we learn to live with. Or how many of us have thought about our lack of self control today? Second, this book focuses on heart issues and not externals. Sins of the heart are serious before the Lord, but we neglect them because no one else sees them. Respectable Sins drives our attention inward to our own hearts. Third, after driving our spiritual gaze inward, Bridges drives our gaze upward to the gospel. This book is gospel saturated and thoroughly explains how the gospel confronts our sins and shapes our lives. Finally, this book helps us to take sin seriously. As explained in the book, our culture seems to brush sin aside with ease. Respectable Sins will help us realize the malignancy of sin.
Respectable Sins is the type of book to keep close by and pull out when you are dealing with a specific sin and need help. It will direct your attention to Christ and offer Biblical ways to confront your respectable sins.
Well Written Attack On Our Sins December 3, 2007
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
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.
Highly Recommeded November 30, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
As a recovering Pharisee, this book has shown me much more of the blackness of my heart, and God has used it to bring me to repentance and to depend more deeply on him in all things. I highly recommend this book for those who are truly looking to serve God and not simply giving lip service to Him.
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