Today's encouragement comes from Job 25:4, where we read these words:
"How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?"Bildad the Shuhite asked these questions (above). They are actually very im-portant queries. The answer to the first one, is, "No one can be righteous be-fore God on one's own. What is necessary is an 'alien' righteousness." This "alien" righteousness is that of Jesus Christ Himself, as His perfect right-eousness is imputed to sinful souls by the Holy Spirit, and by the sheer grace of God.
Faith follows regeneration. Regeneration is God's sovereign act of bringing to life a dead and rebellious soul. Faith is part of the gift package of regener-ation. By faith, we fetch to our hearts the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our only righteousness. Therefore the answer to the question, "Can a [person] be righteous before God?,” is “Yes,” “absolutely,”—but only as he or she is cloth-ed in Christ's righteousness (alone).
[Puritan quote of the day: "A godly man loves God and therefore delights to be in His presence. He loves God and therefore takes comfort in nothing with-out Him.” —Thomas Watson, in, "The Godly Man's Picture"]
