On March 6, 2016, The Navigators author and Bible teacher Jerry Bridges went home to be with the Lord.

Apologist David Wheaton shares seven lessons Jerry Bridges learned in his life on earth.

1. The Bible is meant to be applied to specific life situations.

“We aren’t just supposed to take in the Bible for intellectual knowledge; God wants us to apply it to our daily life.”

2. All who trust Christ as savior are united with Him in a loving way just as the branches are united with the vines.

“When we come to Christ, we’re united with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection. He died to sin and so should we. He is raised victoriously over sin and temptation and so can we when we live in Christ.”

3. The pursuit of holiness and Godly character is neither by self-effort, nor simply letting Christ live his life through you.

“There’s that tension, for God is at work in you both to will and to do His pleasure. Do we sanctify ourselves or is it God?”

4. Understanding the doctrine of election was a watershed moment in the life of Jerry Bridges

“Before the foundation of the world, God in His providence and sovereignty chose some believers to come to Him in saving faith, yet that doesn’t mean that Christians still aren’t called to make a decision to repent and believe in the Gospel, that’s the tension that we try to understand.”

5. The representative union of Christ in the believer means that all Christ did in both His perfect obedience and His death for our sins is credited to us.

“We can have victory over sin. Sometimes we get so frustrated because we can’t overcome sin in our lives. We have to realize that we have the same power that gave Christ victory over sin.”

6. The Gospel is not just for unbelievers.

“The Gospel isn’t just about our salvation, it’s about our daily sanctification and realizing what Christ did on the cross has application for us after we are saved.”

7. We are dependent on the Holy Spirit to apply the life of Christ to our lives.

“The Bible is clear that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer and gives the believer power to life the holy life, without the Holy Spirit we can do no good.”

Highlight: Seven lessons from the life of Jerry Bridges

The legacy of Jerry Bridges