Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Evidence of Your Faith | New Testament | 2 Corinthians 13

Episode Date: July 17, 2023

Have you ever questioned the genuineness of your faith? You're not alone. In fact, Paul shares in 2 Corinthians 13 that testing your faith might be good. In this episode, Keithdiscusses questions to ask yourself about your faith. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Corinthians 13

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Today we are in 2 Corinthians chapter 13, which brings us to the end of another New Testament letter. This letter was written from the Apostle Paul to the church in the city of Corinth. And if you've been listening along the past few days, you know that starting in chapter 10, this letter got pretty contentious.

Paul had to address charges that he would. is an unimpressive person and an unimpressive communicator. In Corinth, a city that valued wealth and power and intelligence and rhetorical skill, being unimpressive was a capital offense. Paul's challengers have been suggesting that Paul isn't what he claimed to be, namely an apostle. They're even questioning the genuineness of his faith. So before Paul ends this letter, he turns the tables on the Corinthians. He says this in chapter 13, verse 5. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.

Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you unless, of course, you fail the test? So Paul tells the Corinthians that instead of testing him, they should be testing themselves. Now, you might be wondering, where do I find this test and what exactly is on it? How do we test ourselves to determine whether we are in the faith or not? Well, Paul doesn't answer that question in this chapter, at least not explicitly. So we're going to have to briefly look at several verses from other parts of the Bible. This is different than what we usually do on TMBT. So if you don't like this episode, just choose another one.

Seriously, I'm not kidding. One of the questions on the test would be this. Do I have a present trust in Jesus Christ for my salvation? Now, notice the key word there is present. In other words, I'm not asking if at some point in your life you trusted in Christ for your salvation. Maybe you did when you were 10 or 12 or 15 or 20 or maybe it was last week. What I'm asking, though, is do you trust in Christ for your salvation today? Here's another question.

Is there evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work in your life? The Bible says in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit testifies with our Spirit that we are God's children. Do you continue to believe in the teachings of the church? In 1 John 2, it says, No one who denies the son has the father. Whoever acknowledges the son has the father also. See what you've heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, then you will remain in the son and the father.

So what he's saying is there are orthodox belief that if you continue to hold onto are signs that your faith is genuine. Here's another test. Do you have a love for God's word? Do you have a love for the Bible? 1 John 4 says, we are from God. And whoever knows God listens to us, whoever does not know God, God does not listen to us. So who are the we that we should listen to?

Well, the apostles who wrote the scriptures. So people with a genuine faith love the Bible. They love to learn from God's Word. Here's another question. Do you have a desire to obey God's commands? 1 John 2 says, The man who says, I know him, but does not do what he commands is a liar,

and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. So when we have a genuine faith, we will want to follow in the way of Jesus. One of the signs of genuine faith is that it perseveres. Jesus said this in John chapter 8, verse 31 and verse 32.

He says, if you continue in my word, then you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. if you continue in my word. In other words, Jesus makes present faith the issue, present obedience, not a past decision. In Matthew 10, Jesus says, all men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. Jesus is warning people to not fall away during times of persecution, and he's saying that real, genuine faith perseveres. Hebrews 3 says much of the same. same thing. It says in verse 14, we have come to sharing Christ if we hold firmly till the end

the confidence that we had at first. I mean, it's only natural that Paul and other New Testament writers would speak this way because they're addressing groups of people who profess to be Christians, but of course Paul doesn't actually know the state of every person's heart. There may have been people in these churches who came to faith after Paul had moved on to plant another church. So how is he supposed to know who is and isn't a Christian. Paul knows this, that those who have genuine faith will over time continue to follow Jesus. Now it's important to realize that the biblical authors never use that need to persevere in our faith to cause those who are presently trusting in Christ to worry that sometime in the future they might fall away. And we shouldn't use these passages to

instill fear in the lives of people who are currently hoping, trusting, and walking with Jesus. Rather, these warnings are always directed toward those who are considering walking away from Jesus or who have already walked away from him. And these warnings are saying that by walking away from Jesus, we are giving an indication that we were never saved in the first place. Of course, we don't know everyone's story. We don't know how it's going to end up. It's not our responsibility. It's not our job to say who is in and who is out of the kingdom of God. Only God knows hearts. Only God can make that decision. But let's end where we started with 2 Corinthians 13-5. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that

Christ Jesus is in you unless, of course, you fail the test? It's good from time to time to take stock of our faith to give ourselves to the test that we've talked about here the test that scripture gives us the test to see whether or not we are in the faith do i have a present trust in christ for my salvation do i see that the holy spirit is at work in my life making me the kind of person that he wants me to be when i see sin in my life do i confess that to god and ask him to change me do i see long-term growth in my Christian life so that over the course of a number of years, I'm growing in humility, I'm growing in love, I'm growing in faithfulness. I pray first for myself and then for you that all of us together would keep holding on to Jesus, that we would never leave him, that we

would have a faith that passes the test. Amen. Hey, thanks for listening. If you want to go deeper, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talk newsletter. You'll get a show. short email once a week. It'll challenge you to grow in your faith, give you interesting background on today's passage, and a lot, lot more. Just click the link in the show notes to sign up. It'll help you deepen your journey with Jesus.