 Okay, let's do it again. Welcome to BC 103 New Testament way. Today, we're going to continue to study on the book of Romans. Arila, Nina, am I audible? Am I clear? Am I audible? Shriha, thank you. Thank you for confirming. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. So today, we're going to continue to look into the book of Romans. So what was our learning from yesterday's class? What did we learn? Anyone from the class can unmute an answer. The online students can unmute an answer or you can post on the chat. What was our learning? What did we learn yesterday about the book of Romans so that we can study a little bit in detail today? It mainly tells about the doctrine of faith and it's also called as a book of justification. Okay, we studied about the doctrine of faith. Yes, the book of Romans is known to be having a strong doctrine and righteousness. And the book of Romans is also known as the book of justification. And it also talks about the righteousness of God. Yes. Anyone else would like to add to it? Okay, today, in today's class, I thought, I thought we look a little bit on the history side about the book of Romans. Okay. So from the book of Acts, we learned that the church in Rome had existed for some time, that it was made up of two type of people. One was Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Jesus. But at one point, the Roman emperor, Claudius had expelled all the Jewish people from Rome. So what happened? They all went different places. The Jewish people got scattered and they went into different places. So about five years later, all those Jews including Jesus followers, you know, were allowed back to return. Once the Claudius died, the edict that he released expired. So the Jews started to return back to Rome. There were Jews who were following Jesus also returned back. So what happened? And when they found a church, had become very non-Jewish in custom and practice. So they created a lot of tension within the church. So that was one of the reasons why Apostle Paul is writing a letter to this church, which he has not visited before. Apostle Paul intended to visit Rome, but he is not visited. He's at Corinth and he's writing a letter to the church in Rome. Okay, because there were a lot of division within the church. There were a lot of misunderstanding because they were no more following the Jewish custom or certain the traditions, but then they became more of non-Jewish in nature, non-Jewish in the custom. So they started, you know, a lot of commotion way, a lot of tension within the church. So he's trying to address certain issues. That's the reason the letter to Romans has a lot of doctrines. And it is a very stern letter for us to follow as a church because he's addressing to the church, which had no unity. So there were people who had disagreed about how to follow Jesus. They were debating about whether non-Jewish Christians should celebrate Sabbath, should follow on each kosher, or should they be circumcised. So there were a lot of debate based on these. So Paul wrote this letter to establish few things in the church. He wanted this divided church to become unified and to have certain practical purpose on what they do and what they follow. So he was hoping that the Roman church would become a staging ground or an example to the other church to follow. So his mission or his purpose of writing this letter was for this. So these, so these were the certain things that motivated Apostle Paul to write this letter to the Romans and to explain the gospel, explain the good news of Jesus. Jesus' death is life, death and resurrection. So now the letter is designed into four main movements. We can call it as four main movements. And he's trying to explain the whole gospel under these four main movements. Let me put that in the slide. Let me display that. Just give me a minute, please. Okay, I'll be back to the key verse. Okay, before we could go here to the main force section, let's talk about the key verse. Okay. So the letter, basically the letter to Romans stands as a clear instruction to the church as an example. So the theme that runs through Paul's letter to the Romans is the revelation of God's righteousness in his plan for salvation. What the Bible calls the gospel. So here in Romans chapter 1 verse 16 and 17, can I request you all to please turn to Romans 16 and 17 please? So those who have turned, can I request you all to please read? For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in the righteousness of God is revealed from the faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. As we also discussed yesterday how powerful these scriptures are. So Paul begins the discussion that which is very important and easily observable by the world. He says the sinfulness of all humanity, that all people have sinned, all people have sinned and have condemned due to a rebellious against God. He also makes it clear that God by his grace offers us justification by faith to his Son Jesus Christ. We also see that we also explain saying that we are justified by God. We receive redemption or salvation because Christ blood covers our sins. He also makes it more clear to all the believers. He says God doesn't stop the salvation but he continues as each of us are sanctified, made holy and we are set apart to follow him. Paul also shares the logical and the complete presentation of how a person can be saved from penalty and the power from the sin, that is by believing Jesus Christ. So here he says human being lacks God's righteousness. So because of our sin nature, because of our sin nature, so we need to receive God. We need Jesus in our life for us to be redeemed. So he says that's how the whole book, okay, the whole 16 chapter in the book of Romans explains that from chapter 1 to 3 it talks about receive God's righteousness when God justifies us by faith and he further talks from 4 to chapter 5 about God's righteousness by being transformed from rebellious to followers and chapter 6 to 8 he talks about confirm his righteousness when God saves the Jews and also and you know furthermore in the coming in the other chapters 12 to 16 he talks about the righteousness and the practical ways through our lives. So in this this is the key verse Romans 1 16 to 17 it talks about we should not be ashamed of the gospel because it is a power of God, power of God for salvation to everyone who believes first to the Jews and then to the Greeks. Greeks are none other than Gentiles for it is a righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written the righteous man shall live by faith that is the just shall live by faith. So here we see the work of the doctrine that has been spread out in chapter 1 to chapter 16 we can discuss this in detail yesterday I just shared about these four points the main message of the book of Romans we these are the key phrases okay righteousness required or righteousness needed in chapter 1 verse 18 to chapter 3 of verse 20 or we can say chapter 1 to 3 it talks about in this section we see that Apostle Paul applies clearly to both the Jews and the Gentiles saying that all self-righteousness is inadequate that means all have sinned and come short to the glory of God and he also says all are condemned to death and apart from the same faith that is exhibited by Abraham that there is no hope so we need the Savior we need Jesus with that he moves on to explain in chapter 5 to 8 or chapter 5 to verse 7 839 he says let us know that the only hope for man is God himself the only hope for man to be redeemed to be reconciled or to be back to be one with God in the way God created us to be is God himself so what did God do John 3 16 God provided us only begotten Son the man who was righteous to redeem us so God demonstrated Christ as the only sacrifice so he sent his only begotten Son and what did Jesus do he offered himself willingly on the cross to redeem us so that we have the access to God's righteousness so that we have the access to be one with God by faith through Christ work what Jesus the work that Jesus did on the cross was to redeem us so that we can be reconciled to be one with God we can be one with God through the work that Jesus did on the cross so Paul establishes that faith has always been God's plan even with the people in the Old Testament even if people with the Old Testament like Abraham or David we all need Jesus to be so that we can be reconciled back to God but that Paul goes further and explains from chapter 9 to 11 he talks about righteousness that has been rejected or vindicated righteousness that has been rejected or vindicated so in this session he talk he expresses the love of Christ he expresses the love for his own Jewish people now how they were used by God to preserve a seed that's the word of God for the rest of the world and he also goes further and makes it clear that God only has the true faith through which both the Jews and the Gentiles can come into one understanding so he says the Jewish branches that rejected Christ were cut off the tree of faith and the Gentiles who received Christ were grafted into that tree of faith so he brings an analogy here the tree of faith those who believe in Jesus will be grafted into that tree and those like even if they were Jewish people and they don't believe Jesus they will be cut off from that tree of faith so the way into the tree is through faith in the finished work of Jesus so the one who believes Jesus is the only son he was the Messiah he died on the cross the one who believes in the finished work of the cross will be grafted into this tree of faith and yeah so it can be Jew or Gentile whoever believes on Jesus will be included in this tree of faith so with that he goes further to chapter 12 to 16 he explains the righteousness practiced or righteousness revealed he says Paul goes and says turns a major doctrine of the Bible into the implication that is that can be applied and he also focuses on how things we call faith should affect our life so he goes further and he focuses on the practical expressions of Christianity by saying what it actually means to display the righteousness of Christ in our relationship with each other in the world so it is so important for us to you know love Christ and apply that in our life the doctrine that we read in the book of Romans should not be just be as a doctrine in the book but it needs to be applied practically applied in our life so some of the very important features that has been discussed in this book is like yesterday briefly we spoke about the five features that is justification, propitiation, redemption, sanctification and glorification so when we talk about justification it is the process through which God declares us that we are not guilty based on when we accept the finished work of Jesus on the cross so when we accept the work that Jesus did on the cross then what happens that we apply the blood of Jesus over our self over our sin because we apply the blood of Jesus over our self our sin has been washed away and we stand before God just as if we are not sent just as if we are not sent so we are justified friend of God propitiation is what yesterday I explained it to you all what is that propitiation did we talk about the mercy seat okay so Jesus became our propitiation Jesus became our mercy seat so it is a process by which God removes the due punishment for our sins because of the sprinkling of Christ's blood on the mercy seat on our behalf Christ became our sacrifice so propitiation means the mercy seat Jesus became our mercy seat the third feature of this book which which has been stated in chapter three and chapter eight of the book of romances redemption talks about redemption so redemption is a process by which Jesus Christ paid the debt paid a full price for you and me so that we are freed from the bondage of sin and death Jesus has redeemed us from sin and death and he has set us free he has set us free so that we are no more slaves to sin or death but we are now become the son and daughters of God so we have gotten to the sonship of God we have been redeemed we have there's a price that has been paid and we have been redeemed and now we have the relationship as a sonship with God the fourth point that the book of romans talks about in chapter five and chapter 15 is about sanctification talks about sanctification so sanctification is a process by which the Holy Spirit of God takes the level of our experience in Christ and it matches to the position in Christ so this is the practical application of the atonement where through the blood of Jesus we have been sanctified we have been purified we have been cleansed we have been set apart so that we can be used the kingdom of God for the master's use so we are the vessel of honor who have been set apart for the master's use so we have been sanctified by the blood of Jesus there is a position that we have in Christ when we are sanctified and also further in romans chapter 8 the last part 18 verse 18 19 and 30 it talks about glorification talks about glorification where again glorification is a process glorification is not a process but it is an act of God glorification it's not a process but it is an act of God by which man completes the process of full redemption and his Holy Spirit soul and body where he overcomes the effects of sin and death so we become one in Christ when we accept Jesus Christ as a Lord and Savior we become one in Christ how by we believing the finished work of the cross so we have been when Christ was glorified and when we are in Christ we are also glorified in Christ so in that way we overcome the effect of sin and death from our life and also we can discuss in detail today can I request one of y'all to read romans chapter 3 verse 23 romans chapter 3 verse 23 we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God yes so it says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God so this verse talks about all people on this earth all people on this earth are sinners so what happens now all people on this earth are sinners and it also says sin as separates us from God and keeps us from fulfilling our destiny so one it talks about that all people on this earth are sinners and second it says how sin has the power to separate us from God it keeps us from fulfilling God's purpose in our life so each of us I have a call purpose there's a destiny so sin keeps us away from fulfilling this destiny can I request y'all to turn to roman 6 verse 23 thank you so we will look at the first part okay first part talks about for the wages of sinness death so it says the wages of sin is death so what does this mean it means the penalty for sin is death it also says the death that is referred is in both physical and spiritual it also talks about eternal death that is separation from God that is something that you and I should be concerned about this sin the wage of sin that is the penalty of sin is death and this death that we talk about is also an eternal death that separates us from God this is something that we need to be concerned about so in the book of romans is where all this is been written so that we can be concerned about our life and get into prized and believe him that he is the true messiah furthermore paul also talks about this in roman's chapter five verse eight but god shows his love for us in that while we are still sinners christ died for us yes so what happened god demonstrates his love his own love toward us and in that while we were still sinners christ died for us so what does it say he says god set his love upon us in spite of a sinful condition god never waited to encounter us for us to become a righteous righteousness is a process until death so when we were yet sinners sinners god encountered us god came to us so god loved us in spite of our sinful condition we also see in this verse that god demonstrate god you know god demonstrate his great love for us where he provided a plan for the condition he had a plan the minute man signed he had a plan at the very foundation of the earth itself god had this plan to offer a son to redeem us unto his own and through this verse we also see that god in his holiness could not ignore us in at the same time and we also see god had the plan what was the plan that god sent his only begotten son jesus to pay a price to die in our place so that you and i can be redeemed back to him we also see in chapter 6 verse 23 chapter 6 verse 23 the second part we looked at the first part for the wages of sin is death but the second part we see but the gift of god is eternal life and christ jesus our lord so what is that so christ died on the cross to pay the penalty or pay a price for our sin so that we can be redeemed he was sinless he became a substitute he was sinless and he took away us and upon it so that we can be sinless and also we see what christ did on the cross god offers us the free gift of eternal life because our sins have been forgiven now we have this eternal life from eternal death we have got eternal life by believing jesus christ and the work that he did on the cross so in order for us to receive this gift we must accept jesus as a lord and savior and believe in his work that he did on the cross can we also read romans 10 turn to romans 10 verse 9 10 and 13 if you confess with your mouth the lord jesus and believe in your heart that god has raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart when believes to righteousness and with the mouth confession is made to salvation for the scripture says whoever believes in him will not be put to shame for there is no distinction between june and green for the same law over all is reached to all who call upon him for whoever whoever calls upon the name of the lord salvi saint thank you so we look into these two words we see that christ died on the cross and he made it possible for us to receive the forgiveness of sin and the second part we see the gift of salvation is given to those who call on the name of the lord and accept him as their lord and savior so it is very important for us to believe confess and then whoever calls on the name of the lord and accept him as a savior as this free gift of salvation so the book of romans tells us about god of who he is and what he has done it also tells us that jesus christ he died on the cross and he accomplished the work that god intended it to be to redeem us from us in nature and he also tells us about ourselves what is our condition on this earth what is our position so that we may believe in jesus we may trust on the work that he did on the cross and it is through faith that we become one paul also brings a point that what god intended at the very beginning that jesus will die on the cross and redeem us because god loves us he also demonstrated the love of god to us so from the very beginning paul also uses lot of whole testament scriptures here he illustrates so that we believe the work that jesus did on the cross he also says that you know abraham believed and the righteousness was credited to him by faith and not by works so he also refers to david who you know the same truth he says in roman chapter four verse six verse six to nine he says just as david also describes the blessedness of the man to whom god imputes righteousness apart from works blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man to whom the lord shall not impute sin so paul refers david who retreated the same truth and he says paul uses another example of adip to explain how the romans doctrine was inherited sin and uses the story of sarah and isik that the child of promise was given he also goes further and illustrates the principle of christians being the children that the promise of the divine grace of god was through jesus christ so what are the practical application that we can learn and apply it in our life through the book of romans what are some of the practical lessons that we can learn and apply it in our life so one of the very important application that we learn from the book of romances that there is nothing that we can do to save ourselves we are not saved by our works or any good deeds but we are saved by believing in jesus we need to believe that he was the messiah he was the son of god he died on the cross for you and me he was the only sacrifice who can through which we can be redeemed and be reconciled through god paul also makes it very clear every good deed that we do on this earth is like a filthy rag nothing can be compared or nothing on this earth that we can do to become righteous we are only been made righteous through the blood of jesus because he is the righteous one he is god he is the son of god we are redeemed only by the blood of jesus and not by any of our work so that's why you know he clearly says we need to confess in in chapter 10 verse 8 9 and 10 when we read that the word is near you he says in verse 9 he says in agreement when we confess with our mouth that Lord Jesus and believe in a heart that God has raised him from death you and I will be saved it's only by believing that the righteous we have been made righteous so it's very clear that we need to believe we need to lead we need to live our life offered to God as a living sacrifice so we are the set apart vessels we need to know we need to lead our life in honor to God so that is the only way that we can surrender ourselves to God and say Lord here I am we need to worship God with ourselves with our body with our mind with our soul so we need to worship God as you know that that should be our highest desire so in the book of Romans we believe that you know not we are not saved by our work but only through Jesus Christ and we are the set apart vessel through which we can honor God by ourselves is there anything that as minister to you that you would like to share from the gospel from the book of Romans please go ahead unmute and and add to so that we all can learn and grow together anyone from the class can unmute and share your views share your learning from the gospel look from the book of Romans sorry from the book of Romans anyone Prabhu, Arila, Karen, Samuel all the online students would you like to unmute and share what was your learning from the book of Romans anyone from the class would you like to share what was your learning from the book of Romans is the key to be Romans 116 that we are not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes so this should be our key thing in dig that we are not ashamed of the gospel yes Sean what I learned was that even we don't have to be like a perfect person in order in order to not just and Paul was a great example of that he was he used to murder he used to just kill you know he's he's not a perfect person but God chose him to lead his people to preach the word to his people so that's what I liked about this book so he is more a relatable character to us as people price is perfect that is true when it comes to us to myself I feel we're more we'll let more to to Paul is what I think thank you thank you Sean for adding that anyone else would like to add okay let's close in a word of prayer if you don't have a question can I request Rin to pray and close the session thank you Jesus Lord we thank you for this time and for this class that we just had about your word and Lord I pray that what do we have learned and whatever we have been taught I pray the Father God that you would help us to apply it into our lives and that another your word the Father God for the activity in us and that um that you continue to changes and that um you want the most and she was so far about to bring glory to your name and thank you Jesus for everything we give you thanks and pray that we have a great day thank you for everything you know pray amen amen thank you thank you god bless see you all in the next class next next week amen