Jerry Bridges - The Bookends of the Christian Life

Through his many books, Jerry Bridges has been shepherding my soul since I first became a Christian sixteen years ago. He has done it again. As I have come to expect, he has provided a sea of theological matter in a drop of devotional language. Here you will find God-centered doctrine that is delectably deep and down to earth at the same time. I promise that if you read this book carefully and prayerfully, you will gain both an informed mind and an enlarged heart.

TULLIAN TCHIVIDJIAN, Pastor, New City Church,
Fort Lauderdale, Florida; author, Unfashionable:
Making a Difference in this World by Being Different

Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington have provided another marvelous instrument for guiding believers to the provisions of a gospel-blessed and gospel-driven life. In this volume the surpassing righteousness of Christ joined with the power of the Holy Spirit is clearly displayed from Gods Word. Thanks from all of us who desire to make disciples that will follow Christ purposefully and passionately.

HARRY L. REEDER III, Senior Pastor,
Briarwood Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama

Forgiveness of sin and power to changeI can think of no more essential topics for a Christian to study than these twin blessings of the gospel. And I can think of no one better to write on these topics than Jerry Bridges. Jerry has provided for me over the years a constant diet of gospel-saturated writing, and here is a fresh feast. I trust you will enjoy it as much as I have.

C. J. MAHANEY, Sovereign Grace Ministries

Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington look at the Christian life through a wide-angle lens, examining the framework that supports, stabilizes and secures the believers life in Christ. They teach elements of a distinctly biblical worldview, leaning upon the righteousness of Christ on one hand and upon the power of the Holy Spirit on the other. A wise and powerful book, one I heartily recommend.

TIM CHALLIES, author, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment

Thinking you understand the gospel but applying it only to salvation is like barely releasing your sail and slogging through the waves. Bookends will equip you to release that sail, catch the mighty wind of God, and see every book in your life transformed.

DEE BRESTIN, author, Falling in Love with Jesus

With their latest publication, the authors display how sound theology is transformational and how understanding enhances true piety and produces profound worship.

ROBERT M. NORRIS, Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Bethesda, Maryland

Martin Luther said, Man in his search for truth is like a drunken peasant. You help him up on one side of his horse and he falls over the other side. This book, perhaps more than any other, is designed to keep you on the horse living in the truth of the gospel. There are few books you will find more valuable on your shelf.

JOE COFFEY, Lead Pastor, Hudson Community Chapel,
Hudson, Ohio

THE BOOKENDS OF THE
CHRISTIAN LIFE

OTHER CROSSWAY BOOKS BY
Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington

The Great Exchange:
My Sin for His Righteousness (2007)

The Bookends of the Christian Life

Copyright 2009 by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington

Published by Crossway Books
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher,
except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design: The DesignWorks Group, www.thedesignworksgroup.com

First printing 2009

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy
Bible, English Standard Version), 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from The New American Standard Bible,
The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995.
Used by permission.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the authors.

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-0551-5

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-0552-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bridges, Jerry.

The bookends of the Christian life / Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-4335-0319-1 (hc)

1. Justification (Christian theology). 2. Sanctification
Christianity. I. Bevington, Bob, 1956 . II. Title
BT764.3.B75 2009
234'.7dc22

2008038697

LB 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To all who, like the two of us,
recognize the utter insufficiency of their own
righteousness and strength,
and thus are desperate for the gospel.
And to our Triune GodFather, Son, and Holy Spirit
who provides us with an impeccable righteousness
and an indomitable strength
through our union with Christ.

Only in the Lord... are righteousness and strength.

ISAIAH 45:24

FOR INDIVIDUAL OR SMALL GROUP STUDY

We encourage you to visit:

www.TheBookendsBook.com

where youll find a free downloadable study guide and
other tools to help you get the most out of this book.

Contents

Over the past several years, as the two of us have shared with each other what God is teaching us through his Word and our experiences, weve concluded there are two foundational truths that give stability to our Christian lives. Weve chosen to use the illustration of bookends to teach these two truths.

The Bookends of the Christian Life is a collaborative effort. So in every instance, whether the teaching or illustration is from one or both of us, weve chosen to use the plural pronouns we or us.

We would like to acknowledge Greg Plitt, Chris Thifault, Steve Myers, and Joe Coffey for their valuable assistance with the early drafts and Greg Bryan for the diagram design. Thanks also to Allan Fisher, senior vice president for book publishing at Crossway, for his support of this project, and to Lydia Brownback and Thomas Womack for their outstanding editorial work. In addition, were grateful for each and every member of the Crossway team.

Lastly, we would like to thank Mitch Gingrich for his excellence in providing the free study guide at www. TheBookendsBook.com.

Jerry Bridges
Bob Bevington

BOOKS AND BOOKENDS

Most of us have experienced the difficulty of putting books on a bookshelf without having a set of bookends to keep them in place. You know what happens. The books on the end tip over. Then the books next to those tumble over the ones already fallen. Inevitably some end up on the floor. At this point we do what we should have done in the first place. We set a couple of sturdy bookends in position to support and stabilize the books on the shelf.

Think of your life right now as a long bookshelf. The books on it represent all the things you doboth spiritual and temporal. Theres a spiritual book for each activity of your Christian growth and service, perhaps with titles such as Church Attendance, Bible Study, Daily Quiet Time, Sharing theGospel, or Serving Others. The temporal books might include