The Discipline of Grace (Chapter 1)

I've been reading the book, The Discipline of Grace, by Jerry Bridges.  It is a wonderful book that I just can't put down.  Here are some of the excerpts that I have highlighted in my book thus far and I'm only on the first chapter! Thought I would share them with you.

•  The gospel is meaningful for us only to the extent that we realize and acknowledge that we are still sinful.  Although we are new creations in Christ, we still sin every day in thought, word, and deed, and perhaps even more important, in motives.  To benefit from the gospel every day, then, we must acknowledge that we are still sinners.  (pg 22)
• Without a continual reminder of the good news of the gospel, we can easily fall into one of two errors.  The first is to focus on our external performance and become proud like the Pharisees.  We may then begin to look down our spiritual noses at others who are not as disciplined, obedient, and committed as we are and in a very subtle way begin to feel spiritually superior to them.  (pg 22)
• The second error is the exact opposite of the first. It is the feeling of guilt.  We have been exposed to the disciplines of the Christian life, to obedience, and to service, and in our hearts we have responded to those challenges.  We haven't, however, been as successful as others around us appear to be. (pg 22)
• Both have forgotten the meaning of grace because they have moved away from the gospel and have slipped into a performance relationship with God. (pg 22)
• We have moved away from the gospel of God's grace and have begun to try to relate to God directly on the basis of our performance rather than through Christ. (pg 23)  
• Our own performance is never good enough to be acceptable to Him.  The only way we can relate to God is through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is only the blood of Jesus that will cleanse us from a guilty conscience and give us the confidence to enter into the presence of God (Hebrews 10:19-21).  (pg 23)
• The gospel applied to our hearts every day, frees us to be brutally honest with ourselves and with God.  (pg 23)
•  We can call sin exactly what it is, regardless of how ugly and shameful it may be, because we know that Jesus bore that sin in His body on the cross. (pg 23)
• Preaching the gospel to ourselves every day address both the self-righteous PHarisee and the guilt-laden sinner that dwell in our hearts.  Because the gospel is only for sinners, preaching it to ourselves every day reminds us that we are indeed sinners in need of God's grace.  It causes us to say to God, in the words of an old hymn, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling." (pg 26)
• "Sin grieves God.  We must not down-play the seriousness of it in the life of a believer.  But we must come to terms with the fact that God's Grace is GREATER THAN ALL OUR SINS.  Repentance is one of the Christian's highest privileges.  A repentant Christian focuses on God's mercy and God's grace.  Any moment in our lives when we bask in God's mercy and grace is our highest moment.  Higher than when we feel smug in our decent performance and cannot think of anything we need to confess." - Mutua Mahiaini  (pg 27)

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14

In the words of Charles Spurgeon...."God be merciful to me a sinner."

That is my prayer.