 Shalom everyone. And thank you and Rosalind, Jeffina for thought we'll be it for some but we'll just begin with and then maybe the others can one of you please lead us in one of you please lead us in the throne of grace of the name of Jesus Christ. God even as we begin this class Father we ask your presence to be with us a lot and be a teacher to teach us Father God Holy Spirit lead us lead our man Father God hallelujah Jesus we pray Father God that whatever we have learned this session be for our students to help them Father God. Thank you very much for doing this and Jesus made it for me. Thank you Rosalind. So we were looking at Romans chapter four on Monday with the studying Romans chapter four we began this chapter by string this to us a brief recap and then we move on. We began this chapter by asking a question. You know Paul asks a question saying was Abraham justified by works and then he quotes from the Old Testament Genesis chapter 15 verse 6 where he says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So Abraham received righteousness based on one thing that is he believed God and by saying this you know no one could argue with Paul because this is what scripture says. So Paul is saying that Abraham received righteousness purely by believing that it is by faith and not by works. So the righteousness that God gave Abraham was by grace and then Paul goes on to say that he did not even receive this righteousness by faith you know because he was circumcised. Yes, Lyndon, you have a question. You put your hand up. Sorry, not intentional. Sorry. Okay. Did he receive it when he was circumcised or did he receive it when he was uncircumcised and then he says he received it when he was uncircumcised and later on he received a side of the covenant which is circumcision or so he says you know he received the circumcision later which was the seal of the righteousness of faith. So God gave him this covenant after God made him or gave him this through faith by grace. Okay. So reason God gave him is so that Abraham could be the father of all who believe it just so beautiful how Paul just brings in all of these thoughts how he's just you know using the school Testament scripture very logically very beautifully he's just you know bringing about his thoughts so that no one will argue because Abraham was made righteous by faith and so because Abraham was made righteous by faith he's the father of all who believe so Abraham before he had circumcision he had faith so Abraham is the father of all who have faith so he's saying that you know both Jews and Gentiles can be justified can be made righteous before he justified can be made righteous before God by their faith through their faith in Christ Jesus and then we looked at verses 17 to 21 where the Holy Spirit is basically summarizing sorry the faith of the life of Abraham or he's giving a summary of Abraham's life of faith okay so we learn a few things on this we learn that when God speaks we need to keep two things in mind you know he's inviting us to believe in who he is when he gives us the promise he's inviting us or calling us to believe as the one who gives life to the dead okay so he's a God who gives life to the dead a situation may look hopeless it might be helpless but that's not a problem to God but something we need to keep you know when God gives us his promise he's basically calling out things that do not exist as though they were or they did okay it's not there but God says it is there so when God speaks of promise in our life or over our life he's calling something to exist that does not exist but he's saying you know this is who I made you be selling Abraham I made you a father of many nations so God for God it was already a completed done thing it was already completing in the spiritual realm he's already made him the father of many nations even before Abraham put even have one son of promise so when God speaks his promise so what do we need to do we need to join in faith so when we say God you know we God tells us you know I made you strong when you tell God God you know I'm a loser God says I made you victorious you know when you say God I'm this is impossible in my life God is saying I've made you to you know do things all things to Christ is possible and you can do all things to Christ who gives you a strength so you know that is what we need to do we need to join in faith with God and we need to speak things that are not and believe that are not that it exists in our lives and it will come about so this is what we looked at till you know it was 17 to 21 but we will look at how did Abraham journey into becoming that how did you know Abraham journey into walking into that life of faith we said that Abraham came to the fullness of his faith the perfect way to the mature thing you know we saw that Abraham was not perfect in his faith he had some weaknesses he faltered you know twice he lied that Sarah was not his wife was his sister we also saw that you know he didn't wait for the promised son to be born through Sarah but he went ahead and he had Isaac through Haggard so he was weakened in his faith but we see that you know for sorry Abraham came to the perfection of his faith the mature faith and how do we say that he came to perfection of his faith and mature faith is you know when the son of promise was born Isaac and Isaac was a young lad almost 13 years and God tells him take your only son and sacrifice him and no questions asked Abraham just obeys takes his son goes to the mountain it's God shows him places the firewood you know places his son on the altar in this oil ready to sacrifice him because he knew that God is able to bring back you know from the dead he says from the dead he is able to you know he bruised chapter 11 was 19 says he received him as though he raised him up from the dead so as far as Abraham and God were concerned it was all it was though a resurrection had already taken place okay so as far as Abraham was concerned Isaac was as good as dead and it was from the dead that he received him back okay so that is the kind of mature belief that it led him to so Paul is saying that hey we just don't post that Abraham is the father of you know faith and he's our father of faith and we follow we receive the blessings because of him being made righteous by faith but he says we need to walk in the steps of Abraham so beautiful you know so look at how he's so wonderfully presenting his arguments his teachings and now he's telling us how did Abraham journey into becoming that was 18 when somebody read was 18 please Romans chapter four was 18 when one of you please read Romans chapter four was 18 who contrary to hope in hope believed that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken so shall your descendants be so the first thing that Abraham did you know there was a there was no reason for him to have hope okay but in spite of there was him having no reason to have hope he had hope okay but he just did not have the hope he also believed okay so hope is important and hope and believing is are not the same things hope is having a desire for something but hope is something in the future but faith and believe is in the now you know it's settled in your heart faith is substance of things hoped for the definition of faith faith is substance of things hoped for which means I'm hoping for something but my faith is the substance of that which means faith is a reality the substance of what I am hoping for that means the substance is there it's real I can see it I can know it I can feel it I can experience it so faith is a reality the substance of what I am hoping for so hope is way out in the future I cannot see but my faith is the substance of it that means I can I can see that I can feel it I can realize it it's real okay my faith is saying I got it it's here and where is it it's in my heart okay so believing it's in my heart so there was no reason why Abraham could not have such hope but he believed okay and faith and belief come basically come from the same root word so we can use it interchangeably so we see that there was no reason why Abraham could not have such hope but he believed hello Lyndon can you thank you Lyndon okay so there was no reason why Abraham could not have such hope but he believed faith and belief come from the same root word so we can use it interchangeably now if God speaks a word in your life even if there's no reason to have hope we must believe okay and I guess it says against all hope you know Abraham believed and that is how he became the father of many nations are you able to understand okay and the second thing that we learn is from verse 19 he says he did not let his faith be weakened by constrain the natural okay can somebody read verse 19 please for us Romans chapter 4 verse 19 can somebody read that I will not be weak in faith he did not consider his own body already dead since he was about a hundred years old and the deadness of Sarah's home so thank you Subashish so he says he did not let his faith be weakened by considering the natural yes the natural was there you know you could not deny it that Abraham was hundred years old and that is a fact and you know it's impossible to have children at that age but he did not let his faith be weakened by considering the natural he did not focus on the natural okay so it's basically teaching us something that when we focus on the natural it tends to weaken our faith right yes or no when you look at things in the natural it tends to weaken but we prevent our faith from being weakened by not focusing on the natural but on focusing on God by focusing on the promise of God but from focusing on the greatness of who this God is who made this promise and that he's faithful to keep his promise and that he's more than capable to keep his promise and he's more than you know sufficient for us to keep his promise and this is what God did you know we read this in we see in Genesis chapter 15 when Abraham was having one of his low times you know when he thought that he and Sarah will not have a son and it did not be from his from Sarah's womb you know he was considering the natural at that time and you know God made him a promise you know God told him when he was 75 years he would have made a promise 90 years you know nothing has happened and Abraham was looking at things in the natural and what does God do you know he tells Abraham step out of your tent and he asked him to look at the stars in the sky and ask him to count the stars right and Abraham says God I can't count the stars and what does God say that's how things will be okay so what God did in that conversation with Abraham he helped Abraham to take his eyes off from the natural and helped him to put his eyes on God and on his promises and that God is more than faithful to accomplish what he has promised Abraham okay so if we feel weakened in our faith you know we can check out on where our focus is where our eyes are on okay are you focusing on the natural when you focus on the natural yes things will seem impossible some things will seem difficult or are we focusing on the promise and the God who made the promise and on who this God is who made the promise the greatness of God and his faithfulness and what he can accomplish and that you know he says he's faithful to do it and he will keep this word okay let's move on verse 20 in some day the Romans chapter 4 verse 20 please Romans 4 verse 20 Mr. God not had the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God Amen Amen thank you Abraham so he says that you know not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but the strength in faith giving glory to God okay so Abraham did not let unbelief come in you know so we also have a choice when God gives us a promise you know we can have two options whether to believe or not to believe but we see that Abraham did not waver in the promise of God he had the faith he had the belief that God would come through with his promise and then we see that he was strengthened in faith giving glory to God okay so the scripture does not record this for us but you know I can imagine you know Abraham saying father I praise you and I thank you that you have made me the father of many nations okay since father I thank you that the seed that you have promised is mine the seed that you promised Sarah and me is ours and that God you are faithful to keep your promise thank you God in advance the sun that will be born to us in this household thank you in advance that I would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore now all this is not written in scripture it tells us that he gave glory to God so what does it basically mean giving glory to God is basically praising God for who he is what he can do what is able to do giving him thanks and praise now when did Abraham give glory to God gives him the glory before all of these promises happened he sees us in reality it happens in reality before all this happened he gives glory to God so you know for the saying all this is the steps of faith and this is the journey of faith that we journey along even as we follow a father of faith with Abraham okay and then he says you know in somebody read verse 21 please verse 21 and being filled that what he was also able to perform. Amen so being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform so Abraham came to that place of full convinced faith that was fully mature and perfect he came to that place of being fully convinced of the promise of God that what God had promised he will perform he is faithful to perform he is capable to perform he is more than able to perform so verses 17 to 21 is a very beautiful summary you know of Abraham's journey of faith and you know it has some very key important things that he did and you know some things that we can learn we can follow we can invite in our own lives how we can walk in this life of faith and how we can come to this place of mature perfect faith okay just so beautiful how Paul just you know brings it all for us and this places is that in front of us so that you know we can learn we can you know receive for ourselves and we can also grow and follow in the steps of Abraham and be mature and perfect in our faith okay we'll move on to verses 22 to 25 before that anyone has any questions any questions okay we'll move on to verses 22 to 25 righteousness by faith in Jesus so one of you please read verses 22 to 25 please and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but also for us it shall be for us we believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification okay amen so in verses 23 to 24 you know the story of Abraham is not just for him but it's also for us okay but it's also because of our righteousness through faith and Paul then points out to Jesus okay so what is Paul saying here is he's saying he was crucified for our sins he was crucified for our wrong doings wrong actions sinfulness that Christ was crucified he says he was raised because of our justification okay which means the right the resurrection of Jesus sorry the resurrection of Jesus is a pronouncement of our justification now when Jesus was resurrected it means that you know that the work of God the redemption plan of God the salvation plan of God was complete okay so resurrection is not just Jesus dying on the cross that the whole plan of salvation was complete but resurrection actually proves that the sins that Jesus made on the cross was satisfied the penalty for sin satisfied this God who is just who looks for justice in sin it justified our sins it you know it paid the perfect price for our sins and God the Father was satisfied fully satisfied with the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross so resurrection is very very important as important as crucifixion because if there was no resurrection it means that what Jesus did on the cross you know was not a full sufficient perfect sacrifice it did not please or satisfy it was not a complete offering that you know satisfied this God who is just a God of justice but we see that the resurrection of Jesus is a pronouncement of our justification so after you know the resurrection is that we are justified or made righteous in God's sight so the resurrection of Jesus it is a testing to the fact that we have been made justified that we have been made righteous that means yes that you know to be made right in God's sight there was a price that had to be paid and we could not pay that price that price was very great and big and when Jesus paid it on the cross when he was resurrected you know that's the that proves to the fact that we have been justified which means with the resurrection of Christ the case was closed our case was closed you know we were acquitted we were declared not guilty before the father because the penalty for us since was paid so you can imagine it as this you know you can imagine yourself standing in a court as a criminal each of us you know standing in the court of law we are criminals and we have been proved to done things that have wrong charge has been brought against us and you know we have been proved as people who have done something wrong you know we are criminals and there is a punishment and we have to pay to say you know 50,000 rupees or 50 lakhs or whatever for the wrong that we have done and someone walks in with the receipt and that says you know this five lakhs this 50,000 has been paid for this person and the judge has no other option but to put the case is dismissed the case is closed you said free so this is what happened when Jesus resurrected from the dead you know it is a proof that you know the punishment for us since please the heart of God was fully satisfied he was fully satisfied with the payment for us since and that's when we were acquitted that's when we were just not guilty before God which means that's when we were declared as being justified as being righteous in God's sight okay so when we were pronounced free Christ's resurrection took place Christ's resurrection is the announcement of our justification says he was raised because of our justification that means resurrection is the announcement of our justification so you see resurrection is you know if Christ had not resurrected from the dead we won't have been righteous we won't have been justified so no more worrying about the charges that are leveled against us because Christ has been raised from the dead which means he has pleased the heart of God is a peace the heart of God and has just got his please in the peace with the sacrifice that has been made okay now having spoken faith now he's you know Paul is changing his attention or moving on focusing his attention to Jesus he's changing the focus to what Jesus Christ did in order to justify us okay so in chapter five the focus is on Christ and what he did the grace of God and the righteousness by faith and he's putting all together in the person of Christ so he's talking about faith talking about righteousness and grace in the light of what Jesus has done for us in chapter five okay so that is chapter four very beautiful passage of scripture so beautiful that we learn so many things and how beautifully Paul just brings about the life of Abraham and you know his life of faith and how he walked in faith and how we can you know walk in the steps of faith of Abraham just very beautiful okay anyone has any questions chapter four any doubts anything that you want to ask no online students okay there are no questions we'll move on to chapter three so we'll just read chapter five so again you know couple of us read a few verses okay can we all read chapter five so even as we read chapter five you know I like you all to just you know share the end after reading you know if there's something that got spoke to you some you know verses phrases or a words that you just let out of scripture and spoken to you maybe something that you read in the past God has taught you can share with us even as we look at chapter five okay so we'll all turn to Romans chapter five and like all of you to read a few verses please so there is totally 21 verses so each of us could read three or four verses and then we would just share you know what God spoke to us even as we were reading it or some you know was to just let out at us spoke to us in the situation that we are in or a Reema word that we received or something that you learned in the past when reading Romans chapter five you can share with us okay so can someone begin reading Romans chapter five maybe you can read four or five verses you can take turns to read one to five therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom also we have accessed by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God and not only that but we also glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has given to us. Amen. Thank you. Six to ten. Six to ten. For when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly for scarcely for in the last precious month we won't die yet. I venture for a good man some we won't dare to die but God commanded his love towards us in that while we were yet seen as Christ died for us much more than being unjustified by his Lord we shall be saved from wrath through him for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Can somebody else read what says 11 to 15? I have two more people read 11 to 15 and somebody else can read from 16 to 21 please. Not only that but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation therefore just as through one man seen entered the world and dead through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sin for until the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed when there is no law nevertheless death ran from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the translation of Adam who is a type of him who was to come but the free gift is not like the offense for it by the one man often many died much more the grace of God and the gift of the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded to many. Amen. Thank you Super Sheesh and somebody else read from verses 16 to 21 please. Okay so the first verse 16 and the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned for the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification for if by the one man's offense they bring through the one much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will bring in life through the one Jesus Christ. Therefore as through one man's offense judgment came to all men resulting resulting in condemnation even so through one man's righteousness righteous act the free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life for as by once man's disobedience many we are seeing is so also by once one man's obedience many will be made righteous wherever the law entered that the offense might abound but we are seeing abundant grace abounded much more so that as seen win in death even so grace might win through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Thank you Zedutoli. So just open up this time for any of us to any of you to share you know anything that God spoke to you to these verses anything that you know read you read before or what it spoke in the past like to share from these verses or to see the rainbow word something that really touched your heart you can take some time to share please anyone? Yeah so I like two things in this whole chapter in the first part we see in this first part that now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been put in our hearts so that's one of the world I always hold on to that he will never disappoint me one of the hope that I have and even that helps me to understand even if I'm disappointed in life it's not a disappointment from God it's just the fact of God and in this at the end and the why we don't get disappointed because the love of God has been put it ultimately it's all about the love of Christ and that I believe that's what keeps reading more and more as we keep reading the scripture and in verse 12 from verse 12 it's like a master plan of God like one through one man sin entered and through one man salvation game I still remember reading this for the very first time I was in my arms and I was just wondering about the mind of Christ mind of God how big it is how awesome it is that he planned everything from the beginning one man sin will enter and from one man I'll give a salvation and that just makes me wonder like how he plans things and that gives me a great hope like if he is such a God who planned all these things has a plan for me it will always be the best so yeah thank you Jefina thank you for sharing anyone else we have more people share please okay I just want to share a little bit well I was reading verse 3 like it says and not only that but also glory in tribulation you know it was through the word tribulation it just reminded me of when I was 13 I was very young I was like I knew in 5 and in my family I was the first to encounter the presence of God you know like we are from Christian background but my parents were also nominal Christian and I came from such a background it was very dysfunctional family so like as I encountered God you know as I went to the fellowship churches you know my parents used to complain why you always go to church something like that and it really discouraged me and you know like it wasn't that kind of persecution but you know like it was such a trials it was such a difficult time for me but you know as I continue to preserve her and you know slowly the Lord started to develop in me and you know over the years I see the hand of God over my family members are born again believers by the grace of God we have been praying and God is working in my family so yeah it really encouraged me these words you know really used to encourage me and remind me the faithfulness the goodness of God over my life. Amen thank you Zela Toghi thank you for sharing that's beautiful. Thank you anyone else I just like to share the verse from verse 3 as well says but we also glory in tribulation you know what glory means basically praise you know it just means to take you know beauty you know credit this praise we don't see tribulation of difficulties as as due to something beautiful we don't praise the difficulties that we go through we are struggling we are grumbling we are murmuring we are complaining but the word of God says hey take glory in tribulation because you know there is a good thing that is coming out of it there is something positive you know it is going to produce perseverance and I you know that perseverance is so important for us in our work with God because you know there are so many things that comes in our life so many difficulties so many challenges that you know we can fall out of our faith we can go away from God we can be disappointed we can be angry with God but we can even give up on ministry we can you know do things but you know perseverance is so important to hold on to what God has given to us and that's what even Paul says you know I take hold of what God has taken hold of me and I continue to run my race with perseverance with endurance fixing my eyes on Jesus I love that that worse because you know you when you take hold of what God takes hold of you sometimes it's difficult to give up that hold let go to you know but it's so important to perseverance is what is more important because God is not looking at who finishes a race first but God is looking at who perseveres perseveres who endures and you know looking at all the past years of my life you know seeing how faithful God was in helping me to persevere to endure to all the challenging times difficult times just filled my character filled my hope my trust and my faith so and it's also the reminder for me this morning that you know just take praise in tribulations in difficulties yeah anyone else next to share okay no okay if it's no we'll just end class today we'll maybe begin Romans chapter five we'll begin studying it from next week for Monday onwards so we can look at Monday and Friday together and finish Romans chapter five anyone has any other thoughts questions anything you like to say for the end class okay there's nothing okay we'll end class here thank you all for joining class today have a blessed week and I'll meet you all on Monday thank you thank you Buster thank you