Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Formula for Faith | New Testament | Romans 4

Episode Date: July 24, 2023

Do you have faith even when you don't know the outcomes of current problems? In today's episode, Tanya looks to Romans 4 to share 3 things that exemplify a life lived by faith in Jesus. Find out what genuine faith looks like. 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: Romans 4

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. When our dad died five years ago, our beloved pastor and friend looked at my sister and I, our hearts broken, doubt and insecurity lurking at our doorstep. And he said something very different than everyone else. It was different from all the greeting cards and nice sentiments about angels and guardians and butterflies. It was different from the kind but awkward words of coming. comfort people offered about how he would always be with us and proud of us, etc., etc. Pastor Bob looked at us and said to us, girls, if you want to feel closer to your dad, draw near to

Jesus. That's who your dad is with. That's who is with you. Jesus is the one you need. It's not always something so large as death that reveals this deep truth. In fact, we have a daily need for Jesus. We have all kinds of horizontal problems that we try to solve horizontally. We have children that need comfort. We have children that need discipline. We have friendships that need mending. We have work relationships that need patience. We have goals that need planning.

We have responsibilities that need to be managed. And we have horizontal solutions that work for all of these things, at least for a little bit. It's kind of like the traffic problem in my city. We have a ton of residential growth and the same four roads to get. north and south, east to west. We build roundabouts and widen the shoulders, but the real need is a bypass that flies over all of it. It's in the plans, I think, but it's not happening for a while, so we get by with what we have. As followers of Jesus, we aren't meant to get by with horizontal solutions. We aren't dealt with short-term roundabouts. We are meant to draw closer to Jesus.

We are meant to foster a deep, vertical relationship with him. Think about all the problems you face and then put that in light of your biggest problem. What is it? Well, the Bible tells us our biggest problem is sin. And if we could solve this problem ourselves, then we would truly have something to boast about. This is the logical conclusion Paul comes to in Romans chapter 4. If Abraham was justified by works, then he would have something to boast about before God and others. But Paul kind of threw this idea out the window, letting us picture Abraham standing before God,

all proud and mighty, boasting about what he had done to save himself. Paul's letting us picture the insanity of this kind of scene. In verse 5, Paul contrasts that mindset and gives us the formula for faith, if you will. We read that saving faith consists of the end of one kind of trust and the beginning of another. So who or what do we stop trusting? Our work, our effort, our ability to solve our biggest problem. If we place our faith in ourselves, we will either be prideful braggers or despairing self-haters. Why do we experience so many high highs and low lows?

Not always because of our circumstances, but often because of what or who our faith is in. Faith in Jesus Christ, or in the case of Abraham, faith. that God would give him a worldwide family, even though he was an old man, this is what marks us as members in God's sin-forgiven family. When you know this and know that it's been done, not by your efforts, but by Jesus, you have a lot of comfort about things, even things like death. I mentioned my father's death at the beginning, and you've heard me talk about him before, but when he knew he was dying, there were a lot of things he didn't know. He didn't know if my mom would be okay. He didn't know what we would decide about the farm, the cows, the hay that

was going to need to be bailed. He didn't know how the grandchildren would make it in college. He didn't know how many days he had or how sick he would get. But I watched him become more confident instead of less. He was more confident that Jesus loved him and that he would be with Jesus. He was more confident that my sister and I would find our own comfort in Jesus and not in the farm or the things he left behind. He was more confident that the grandkids would have Jesus their whole lives, even though they wouldn't have their Papa. In other words, the horizontal problems and all their possible solutions at this critical moment paled in comparison to his relationship with Jesus. There were a lot of non-answers about things that weren't visible, but it became increasingly

clear that faith in Jesus overshadowed the unknowns. At the end of Romans 4, Paul explains how Abraham's life illustrated saving faith. And we can look at these verses as a kind of case study for what genuine faith looks like. Abraham believed God and showed living by faith is to do three things. First, to recognize that real truth is greater than what we see or what we feel. Romans 4.18 says, In hope, he believed against hope that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own

body, which was as good as dead, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. And in 2 Corinthians 6, Paul says we live by faith and not by sight. Abraham believed God's promises to give him a family, even though he was almost 100 years old. Sometimes our situations look hopeless, and sometimes the things God puts on our heart or in our minds seem to not make sense. It may look strange to us. It may look really strange to our culture. It may look impossible to us, but Abraham didn't go on appearances or assumptions.

Faith is not an optimistic attitude. It's not a belief in yourself. It's a death to self-trust and confidence to go on in your weakness and God's strength. Two. Faith is to focus on what the Bible says about God. Romans 421-22 says about Abraham, no unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God. But he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. This verse shows that we don't have to shut off our brains and stop digging. But where we should insist on digging is in God's word. Abraham pondered and when he did, he considered what God said about himself and his power. We can imagine Abraham reasoning and reasoning, out what God said about himself, what God had already done to show himself, and then looking forward. And we can and should do the same. We should look at the way the Old Testament points to Jesus

and the resurrection, how Jesus fulfilled the promises, and what he says he will continue to do. We have even more to go on than Abraham dead as we consider who God is and what he will do. And third, to live by faith is to live as people who believe God's promise. are true. When my dad died, he still had lots of questions about what death in Jesus looked like and what life after death was like. And yet, he believed he would be with Jesus. He believed in the resurrection and believed that Jesus had taken his sins, so he would not face a second death. When we believe God and take him at His word, we are like Abraham, willing to go where God says to go, to give up what needs to be given, and do what needs to be done.

We don't allow cultural opinions or anything else to contradict what God's word says. We allow God and His Word to shape our reality. And that's what we live by. So what about you? Can you think of ways you've acted in faith even when it was really hard? Are there ways you're called to act in faith right now? How does the reality of the resurrection encourage you? you or comfort you in those things. And what do you believe qualifies you for eternity with God?

If it is trust in God's promises to save, then you're placing your faith only in God in His power. And that brings with it humility and confidence, which lets you be honest about yourself and sure about God. We know the blessing of being sinners whose sins are not counted against us. Before you forget, sign up for the brand new TMBT newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help you beat the midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.