We must always remember Jesus so that we can better follow Jesus. In a world where we can get so distracted so often and so quickly, there is nothing more important in life than to keep our minds strongly focused on and devoted to Jesus Christ. So let this be your reminder to constantly be thinking about Jesus, who is the living Son of God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and is the very core of what makes the gospel such GOOD NEWS. 

The way you live your life matters. Not just because you will have to give an account of your life on Judgment Day before God, but because your lifestyle will truly reflect what you believe and care about. The goal of the Christian is to grow to be more like Jesus. Our motivation for that is the gospel. 

When the Scriptures say that we were born into this world as children of wrath (Eph. 2:3) but are now made sons and daughters of God by the Spirit (Gal. 4:6),  we must live in light of that. When it says that we have been made into a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) with a new heart and a new spirit to joyfully obey God (Ezek. 36:26-27),  we must live in light of that. Everything that comes with believing in Jesus we must live in light of from our justification (Rom. 3:28) to our sanctification (2 Cor. 3:18) to our special access to God (Heb. 4:16) to our citizenship in heaven (Phil. 3:20) to our bodily resurrection (John 11:25) to the promise of His Second Coming (Titus 2:13) and so much more!

The apostle Paul said to the Corinthian church that believers are now "ambassadors for Christ" (2 Cor. 5:20), meaning that we ought to rightly represent what we believe and confess in regard to the gospel. So how about you? Does your life reflect someone who has been radically changed by the gospel? Does your faith truly show in the works you do, not because you're trying to earn favor but simply because you are a recipient of the love and grace of Jesus?

Two major truths are presented in the Bible: (1) God is holy and (2) man has sinned against Him. This leads to THE most important question humanity has to answer: How can a man be right before God? (Job 25:4). Or in other words, how can a holy God justify ungodly sinners while still being just? The answer is found in the grace of God revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, justification is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. There is absolutely NOTHING that you can do to earn or add to your salvation. All we must do to receive this gracious gift is to place our faith in Jesus and trust that He has secured our salvation through His life, death, and resurrection. It is by this wonderful truth that we can not only be in heaven but most importantly, be reconciled to God. But how much joy do you have in this profound spiritual reality?

CONTEXT: Earlier in the Book of Isaiah, God saw a lack of justice and righteousness among His people (59:1-15), so He would send His own arm to bring salvation by clothing him with a breastplate of righteousness, a helmet of salvation, garments of vengeance, and a cloak of zeal to bring justice to the wicked and salvation for the righteous (59:16-20). The Holy Spirit is then seen filling and anointing the Messiah to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, and proclaim liberty to the captives (61:1-3). And of course, we know that Jesus when He was in Nazareth spoke those words and applied them to Himself (Luke 4:17-21). By Isaiah 61:10, the prophet Isaiah envisions God clothing the same Spirit-filled Messiah (not us initially as some scholars interpret it) with divine clothing to equip and prepare him for His ministry to bring salvation to God’s people. And “as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations” (61:11). But how does God accomplish this? By the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, where He was pierced and crushed for our sins (53:5). It would be by His suffering where He would "make many to be accounted righteous" (53:10). And so just as God clothes the Messiah with clothing to bring salvation and righteousness to the people of God, so we who believe and trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) will be clothed with His righteousness that we may stand justified by grace through faith before God (60:21).

What is the gospel? The apostle Paul answers best in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." We deserve death for our sins, but God offers salvation as a free gift through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Our sins require a divine payment, and without a Redeemer, we will receive exactly what we deserve: death. But by His grace and mercy, God sent His Son who came in the likeness of man and yet without sin, and was "delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). And when we believe in Jesus, when we place our faith in Him for salvation, God will count us as righteous just as Christ is righteous, and give us eternal life. Hallelujah to the King of kings and the Lord of lords!

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