Today's encouragement comes from Job 25:4a, where we read these words:
"How then can man be righteous before God? . . . "
This is a really good question, asked by Bildad the Shuhite. Sinners cannot do enough good works, to be made righteous before God. (We would have to do *every* good work possible, without exception, and without imperfection.) Fake gods and false religions cannot make us righteous before God. Being "better than average," or, "better than the other guy" certainly will not work—since God demands perfection, and absolute holiness.
There is only one way we may be made righteous before God: through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ being applied to our souls by grace through faith in Him (Christ), plus nothing. There you have it, Bildad, that is how a sinner can be made righteous before God.
[Puritan quote of the day: "He who sees Jesus Christ sees all the glory of paradise.” —Thomas Watson, in his sermon, "The Saint's Desire to be with Christ"]