Daily EncouragementSample

The ultimate word of encouragement is the gospel itself. Until this “But now” breaks in with its glorious light, all is thick darkness and hopeless night. Gentile and Jew, indeed “the whole world,” stands unrighteous, guilty, “accountable to God” (verse 19). “But now a righteousness from God . . . has been made known,” and all is changed. This old hymn, echoing the biblical language, expresses this perfectly:

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
“Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in thy great day;
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully absolved through these I am
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.

One reason why the gospel is eternally encouraging is the fact that it speaks of a “righteousness from God” which is “apart from law.” That is to say, it is not through works. As an old chorus put it:

Naught that I do can my salvation win,
No striving of my own can take away my sin.

Another reason why the gospel is eternally encouraging is the fact that it comes “through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Any faith is “the hand of the heart” - the empty hand which receives the grace of God.