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Welcome to our daily drive time devotion study through the book of Romans.
Romans chapter four this week, our fifth day to look at this incredible chapter
about faith. You remember back at the start of this chapter we talked about this
word credited, that Abraham's faith, because of his faith he was credited
righteousness by God.

The word credited means given. It's a grace gift by God. Well that word shows up
again towards the end of this chapter but it's not about Abraham this time.

Romans chapter four verses 22 to 25. This is why it was credited to him as
righteousness. The words it was credited to him were not for him alone but also
for us, to whom God will credit righteousness, for us who believe in him who
raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

He was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our
justification. This word credited which means God withdraws from our account all
the accountability that we have for our sins because Jesus died for our sins. He
paid the price and God puts into our account all the righteousness of Jesus
Christ because Jesus was resurrected for our sins.

He wants to give us his life. This word credited is not just about Abraham. It's
about you.

It's about you. It's about you and I who believe in him who raised Jesus our
Lord from the dead. It's important to note that we believe in the God who raised
Jesus our Lord from the dead.

We don't just believe in the fact that Jesus our Lord was raised from the dead
2,000 years ago. Our faith isn't just in a fact. It's in a person.

It is not just believing that he was raised. It's believing that God raised him.
It's even more than that.

It's believing in the God who raised him. Faith is a personal decision to have a
relationship with God because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. Romans
chapter 4 verse 24 reminds us that our faith is in a person who keeps his
promises.

These verses remind us that he was delivered over to death for our sins and he
was raised to life for our justification. That's God's promise. Here's that
picture that we see again and again of what our salvation is all about.

Jesus died for us and he was resurrected for us. He died for us so that our sins
can be forgiven and he was raised to life for us so that God could declare us
eternally not guilty. This chapter, Romans chapter 4, is all about faith alone
in that promise of God in our lives.

The promise that once I say to Jesus Christ I want to begin a relationship with
you. The fact that he has died for me and was resurrected for me means that that
relationship begins in that instant based on the promise of God. This is an
amazing chapter, Romans 4, on how to have faith focusing on Abraham the father
of our faith but ending with Jesus the author of our faith.

We have looked in this chapter at three things that can keep us from faith,
trying to earn God's approval, confusing ceremony and commitment, trying to get
to faith through the law. Those are all what I would call faith plus. We add
something to faith so that it's no longer faith and then this chapter closes
with these verses on how to have faith, how to move from promise to promise, how
to move from knowing the promise to believing the promise to living the promise.

We've been reminded that you can waver in unbelief or you can be strengthened in
faith by giving glory to God and becoming fully persuaded that God has the power
to do what he's promised. I want to give you some things to do about God's
promises in Romans chapter 4. As we end this look at faith alone, here are four
exercises that you can do in the next few days, maybe the next week, to
strengthen your life of faith alone.

Let me give you four ideas. Idea number one, here's how to strengthen trusting
over trying. If you find yourself trying to earn God's approval and that gets in
the way of faith, or am I responding?

Am I trying to earn God's favor or am I responding to God's favor? Am I trying
to earn God's love or am I responding to God's love? Am I trying to earn my
salvation or am I responding to the salvation that God's already given to me in
Jesus Christ?

That's idea number one. That's how you strengthen trusting over trying. Idea
number two, here's a second thing you can do.

This strengthens reality over ritual. I want to encourage you to strengthen
reality over ritual by watching a baptism as soon as you can. Watch someone else
be baptized and don't see it as some, oh I've seen this a million times before.

Watch it as if it's the first baptism you've ever seen and enjoy the fact that
that person is giving a sign and there is a seal in their own hearts of
assurance in that moment as they trust Jesus Christ of what their faith in him
really means. Now if you haven't yet been baptized, I encourage you to be
baptized as soon as possible. Strengthen reality over ritual by making it about
the commitment.

Here's a third idea. This is the idea for how to strengthen grace over law.
Strengthen grace over law by transforming a rule this week into a relationship.

There's a lot of things we do in our lives based on rules. We did them this week
because we did them last week. We get up at a certain time.

We do certain things during the day and pretty soon it can become all about
rules rather than the relationship. If you found yourself in a relationship with
a person or even more importantly in your relationship with God living by rules,
this week take a look at that rule and say I'm transforming that into a
relationship. I'm going to start doing that because of love and not because of a
rule.

And then a fourth idea. One was for how to strengthen trusting over trying. Two
was for how to strengthen reality over ritual.

Three was for how to strengthen grace over law. And the fourth idea is for how
to strengthen hope in God's promise. I want to encourage you to strengthen hope
in God's promise by possibly beginning a stack of what I would call promise
cards this weekend.

And just take some index cards and stick them in your Bible. As you read through
the Bible or as you hear sermons and you hear a promise from God, write it down
on that index card. You see if we're going to have faith in the promises of God,
we have to know the promises of God.

So as you hear a meaningful promise or read a meaningful promise in the Bible,
write it down on that index card. And then every once in a while, maybe every
two or three weeks, read through those promises. You'll be amazed at how God
uses that as food for your soul to live out the kind of life that he wants you
to live.

Now as we end this look together at Romans chapter four, this look at faith
alone, I'd like to pray together about those four things that we just talked
about. Let's take some time to talk to him and just say to Jesus Christ in your
heart, "Jesus, I want to strengthen trusting over trying. I get tired sometimes
of trying to do it on my own.

And so God this week, help me to do it because you love me, not because I'm
trying to earn your love. " Say to Jesus, "Jesus, I want to strengthen reality
over ritual. When we do spiritual things together as a church or I do spiritual
things together with my family, help me to have the fresh sense of your love in
all of it.

Help me to do it because I've already made a commitment to you to express my
commitment to you, whether it's reading the Bible or going to church or being
baptized, taking the Lord's Supper, whatever I do, I want to do it growing out
of my love for you. " And then say to Jesus, "Jesus, I want to strengthen grace
over law, your gift over the law and my trying to keep the law in order to earn
your salvation. And so this week I pray that I'd focus on the gift of your love
and be grateful for it.

That instead of trying to be perfect by what I can do, I recognize the
perfection you've given me in Christ. Help me to live up to all that you've
already made me to be because of Jesus. " And then refresh your commitment to
God's promise.

Say, "God, I want to enjoy your promises. Help me to know your promises and then
help me to live your promises. And thank you most of all for the promise of new
life in Jesus Christ.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. " Well, I'm looking forward next week to continuing
in our study of the book of Romans. Exciting chapter, Romans chapter 5, this
next week.