July 14, 2025 • 25 mins
A study in the book of Romans, chapter 1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching of
our local Southern California pastors. This week we're pleased to
feature a longtime friend of Kwave, Pastor Brian Jamieson, lead
pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship. They meet Sunday mornings
at 250 South Prospect Street in Orange. We'll have more
information on how you can reach them at.
(00:23):
After today's study this week, Pastor Brian is showing us
how Paul's letter to the Romans is the gospel of
Jesus Christ presented in theological terms. How do we know
for sure that Jesus is the Son of God and
everything he claims to be? Once again, here's Pastor Brian
Jamieson with today's study and Romans chapter one.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Now last time we ended with um the the Messiah
Jesus uh being declared to be the Son of God
with power according to the spirit of holiness. And so
this evening we're gonna jump right back in and we
are going to dig into this. So how was Jesus
declared to be the Son of God? We saw that
(01:06):
through the genie.
apologies, which most of us like to skip in our
devotionary reading. Uh, he was declared to be of the
seat of David, skipping the uh the royal curse that
God had placed on the kingly line, but also um
having uh the right to the throne by being adopted
by Joseph, who was in fact the peasant king.
(01:28):
And uh then, but also having a blood tie to
David through Mary, his mother. And so uh that was
a fascinating look. But today we continue on how, uh,
not only is he born of the seat of David
according to the flesh, but he is also declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the
Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, so.
(01:53):
How do we know that Jesus is the Son of God?
How do we know that he's not just another teacher
like Mohammed, like Buddha or somebody else? You know, how
do we know that he is in fact who he
says he is? Well,
I can answer that quite quickly. There's a few different ways.
The first one is that God said that he would
(02:16):
prove that he is God and there is no other. Uh,
many times in the book of Isaiah, happens a couple
times in chapter 44, the Lord declares that, um, he
is the rock and there is no.
He is the one who establishes the heaven above and
the earth below, and there is no God besides him.
And he also in the book of Isaiah declares that
(02:39):
he will prove himself to be God by declaring the
future in advance. So prophecy now.
The prophecies of scripture aren't vague generalizations like uh Nottradamus,
who was uh popularized back in the 80s and the 90s. Uh,
Nostradamus was some guy who
(02:59):
Obviously, you know, he, he knew a little bit of scripture,
but uh he would give these um these vague descriptions of,
you know, one kingdom will rise against another kingdom and
they won't like each other and basically things that, you know,
anybody could guess and you know, have a pretty decent
chance of being right eventually in history. That's not the
way scripture predicts the future.
(03:21):
Uh, in the book of Isaiah, again, chapter 44, uh,
the Lord actually calls King Cyrus, the king of the
Persian Empire by name over 200 years before he is born.
Not only that, he also declares what he's going to do,
when he's gonna do it. It, it's actually quite fascinating, uh,
an incredible prophecy, but it is a detailed prophecy where
(03:44):
the Lord speaks a person's name. He surnames him.
Before he is even born, 200 years before he is
even born. And we have thousands of prophecies like that
in scripture. So God first is kind of setting the stage,
saying that I have the authority to speak about these
(04:04):
things that you can trust me. There is no other rock,
there is no other God besides Yahweh, besides the Lord.
And so the first way that we can look
And know that Jesus is in fact the promised Messiah
is by looking at prophecies. Now there are um many
prophecies referring to the birth, the ministry, and the resurrection
(04:28):
of Jesus Christ. Uh, some people like to say there
are um in the first coming of Jesus, there are
about 150 prophecies. Um, I've never really been able to,
in my studies, been able to find all 150.
Uh, there are definitely, you know, some really, really solid
ones and there's ones that, you know, people kind of
like to attribute to the Messiah, but they're kind of
vague and I try to steer away from those. I
(04:51):
like the ones that are really, really solid.
Uh, like my personal favorite is the, uh, the prophecy
of the Messiah that is found in the book of
Daniel chapter 9, and it's called the 70 Weeks Prophecy.
And that prophecy is a mathematical prophecy that gives you
the exact day that the Messiah is to reveal himself
(05:14):
to the nation of Israel and not
Only that, but after he is revealed to the nation
of Israel that he would be cut off, and Old
Testament talk for cut off means to be killed, but
not for himself, right? It's an incredible prophecy and I
would encourage all of you guys to really dig into it.
But there are many such prophecies like that, that he
(05:37):
would be called out of Egypt, that he would
Called a Nazarene, that he would be born in Bethlehem. Yeah,
there is again just prophecy after prophecy and the statistical
odds of somebody fulfilling even just eight prophecies is beyond
the realm of reason. It's completely and totally impossible, and
(06:00):
yet Jesus has done it.
Right, God has declared Himself to know the end from
the beginning, and he has proven it through history by
declaring these things in advance, and Jesus fulfilled many said prophecies,
far more than 8, maybe up to 150, but far
(06:20):
more than 8, and even just 8 fulfilled prophecies is
statistically impossible. OK.
So, first proof that Jesus is in fact the Son
of God declared with power courting the spirit of holiness
is fulfilled prophecy. Next, he is also a miracle worker. Now,
(06:41):
let me ask you this.
Do you or do do people have within us the
ability to alter physics? Can we create out of nothing?
Can we literally just snap our fingers and multiply fish
and bread? The answer is no, we can't, right? Can
(07:02):
we with a word.
Apart from, um, serving Jesus, of course, can we with
a word heal the sick, raise the dead, cause the
mute to speak, cause the deaf to hear? Can we
cause the lame to walk and leap and dance? Can
we raise the dead? The answer? No. Because our words
(07:23):
are just words, right? But when Jesus spoke, right, when
Jesus moved, right? He is not just the son of David.
The seed of David, he is also the son of God,
and he has the power and the authority to do such.
And so the miracles that we see Jesus perform, which
were um recorded through his disciples, but also witnessed by
(07:47):
ancient historians who were not Christians like Josephus and others, right?
These miracles are a sign confirming that he is who
he said he was.
Not only that, but here it says that um it
was through the resurrection that he was proven that he
was in fact the Son of God. And so the
(08:08):
resurrection is a place that I want to just kind
of sit on for a moment and really dig into
because as the apostle Paul says, the resurrection is the
foundation of our Christian faith. If Jesus did not rise
from the dead, then we are still in our
Sins. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then
(08:29):
there is no resurrection of the dead, and there is
no hope of heaven. We will simply die. And if
that is the case, then truly eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die. And if we Christians who sacrifice ourselves
for the name of Jesus Christ and the gospel of
Jesus Christ, if we serve the Lord and separate ourselves
(08:50):
unto that gospel.
And if we only have hope in this life, then
Paul says that we are to be pitied above all others.
But the resurrection from the dead proves that Jesus is
in fact the Son of God. Not only that, but
it also proves that there is a resurrection of the dead,
and the things that he promised are sure. They're not
(09:13):
just a hope. They're not just a whim. They are sure.
You can take it to the bank.
Now, I, I know many of you probably are familiar
with Lee Strobel. Uh, he was a journalist and an
author who wrote a book called A Case for Christ.
And I I would encourage you if you've never read
(09:34):
that book, and if you have any questions about the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, I I would encourage you to
get that book. It is a a fun read. It's
a pretty fast read and it basically tells the story
of he.
who was um trying to destroy the faith of his wife,
and he was trying to prove the resurrection of Jesus
(09:55):
Christ that it was false, that it was fake. And
so he went and he flew from professional to professional,
from medical to archaeological to linguists. He went all over
the country uh seeking all of the best experts of
the ancient times, and he sought to build enough evidence
that he might
(10:16):
Raise up a case that would finally destroy his wife's faith. Well,
he went on that quest and through the course of it,
he ended up getting saved. He's not the only one.
there was one lawyer, I can't remember his name right now,
but there was this lawyer who was the number one lawyer.
I guess he held a record, a world record for
the most win court cases. So this is the number
(10:37):
one lawyer in the world, and somebody asked this atheist, Hey,
why don't you take your powers.
Of just the like of legal precedents and such, and
use those things to disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well,
he set out on it and uh his journey ended
with his salvation as well. He became a bond servant
(10:58):
of the Lord Jesus Christ, called and separated to the gospel.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You're listening to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring Pastor Brian Jamieson,
senior pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship in Orange. Visit
their website at OCCF.cc. And now, let's continue with today's
study in Romans chapter one.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
The resurrection of Jesus Christ, right, is again evidence that
he was in fact the Son of God, that his
claims of Messiahship are true and that we do have
hope in an eternal life in heaven in His name.
And it is by the resurrection from the dead that
(11:40):
we have this hope. So my brothers and
My sisters, um, I, I, I just want you to
hold on to that hope. Look into these things. God
isn't afraid of your questions. He welcomes the questions. He says, Come,
let us reason together. He, he doesn't ask you to
have a blind faith, but instead, he has given us
(12:00):
a very reasonable faith, right? Based on evidence, based on truth,
based on the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from
the dead.
And guys, this is an incredible place, a foundation on
which all of the rest of the gospel is built.
(12:22):
The resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now I don't know if you guys know this. I
don't even, I don't know if you even need to
know this, but before the Smithsonian Institute, before it became
so secularized that it separated itself from such things, the
Smithsonian actually made a declaration that the resurrection of Jesus
Christ was the most provable fact in all of ancient history.
(12:46):
Wow, can you guys even imagine that? Phenomenal. And yet
that is the truth on which we base our faith.
We do have a true, tried and true hope in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that where he is
one day, we will also be that he will return
(13:07):
for his bride.
That we will be with him in eternity where there
is no more death, where there is no more sorrow,
where God Himself will wipe every tear from our eyes.
This is the hope that we have, and it is, uh, again,
a foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He continues on in verse 5.
(13:28):
Paul says through him, through who through Jesus we have
received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among
all nations for his name, among whom you also are
the called of Jesus Christ. So this is an important
thing because our place.
(13:49):
In the Gospel is not based on us. It's not
based on our works. Now, there are many people who
will try to say that um usually they're critics of
the Christianity of the faith, and they'll say that, uh,
you know what, all religions are basically the same.
(14:09):
And the moment somebody says that to me, the moment
somebody says that to you, you have to understand one thing.
That person hasn't studied world religion in the slightest. The
moment they say, oh, I've studied world religion, and they're
all basically the same. You know from that very statement
that they're lying to you.
Because they are not in fact the same. Because the
(14:32):
vast majority of the world religions are works-based religions. If
you do such and such, you will then be granted.
Whether it be Nirvana, whether it be access into Valhalla,
if you're a Viking or what have you. But the
idea is that you have to behave in such a
(14:53):
way that you will finally be worthy of eternal life, of, uh,
whatever their hope for what lies beyond this mortal coil is, right?
You have to do it. It is a works-based religion.
But that is not Christianity. Christianity isn't through your deeds.
(15:14):
It's not through how good you are or how middle
of the road you are, right? Your, your punishment isn't
because that, uh, oh, you somehow failed to knock on
enough doors. That's not what it's about, or that you
don't know the right.
Handshakes. That's not what it's about, right? Christianity is a
completely unique religious system in which God Himself did the work. God,
(15:38):
our Creator, the one who stretched the heavens above us
and the earth below us, the one who knit us
together in our mother's womb, right? He came and became human.
Now in some religions like Greek mythology, the gods do
come and dwell among people, but this is unique because God,
coming in human form.
(16:00):
Does not receive um all of the graces that that should,
but instead he suffers and dies as a substitutionary sacrifice
for you and for me. And then after he dies
at the hands of his own creation, in whom he
is in the very act of dying, he is saving us.
(16:23):
Then he descends into uh into the lower parts of
the earth, uh, Hades or uh Sheol, uh or the
uh Abraham's bosom in the Old Testament.
Right, he descends there, and then 3 days later, he
resurrects himself from the dead, proving he is master even
(16:43):
over death. And so then he resurrects and then ascends
into heaven and promises that we can go with him
one day. But beyond that, he also sends another part
of his nature, the third person.
of the Trinity, the third person in the Godhead. He
sends the Holy Spirit, not just to be with us,
not to be operating near us, but to actually enter us.
(17:08):
So God enters into his creation, and we, his people, we,
his bond servants, the call.
The separated become the temple of God itself. Guys, there
is no other religion that declares such things. There is
no other faith that has the, the hero, the Creator,
(17:29):
the God of the universe, lay down his life and
die for his creation as wicked as they may be.
And so Paul says, through him, we have received grace.
And again, it's not of works, guys. It's of grace.
What is grace?
Undeserved, unmerited favor. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve,
(17:53):
and grace is getting what you don't deserve, and we
don't deserve salvation. And so, um, in some ways this
can be uh kind of troubling to a person, but
when you work it through, it becomes the most comfortable
and heartwarming thing that we could ever imagine. We are
saved through grace. Grace.
(18:16):
Right, undeserved, unmerited favor. And so we in making ourselves
bond servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, we, we readily
recognize that we don't have the resources to save ourselves.
We openly declare that we need help and then praise
be to God. God sends His Son to be that
(18:38):
help to pay the debt that we never could. And then, guys,
and then.
We enter into salvation through grace, undeserved, unmerited favor. He
has done it. Jesus himself from the cross said to
tell us. That is a Greek accounting term that means
(19:01):
paid in full.
Through him we have received grace, and here for the
apostle Paul, he says apostleship sent ones for you it
could be gift of helps. It could be gift of administration.
It could be whatever God has called you to within
the church. He says we have received grace and whatever
(19:23):
that gifting is, whatever that place in the church is.
For obedience to the faith, right? We are to walk.
We have been given these things by grace, salvation, by
grace through faith, right? We have been given these things
that we might walk in obedience to the faith among
(19:43):
all nations, right? It's not enough just to go to church.
That is a great start. It's a wonderful place to begin.
I it's not enough just to read your Bible in
the morning and hopefully through the day and in the
evening before you go to bed. That's a wonderful practice
and we should all do such things.
But that's not enough. We are to take, right? We
(20:05):
are sent ones. we're not capital A apostles, but every
single one of us are lowercase apostles, right? We are
sent ones of Jesus Christ. We are ambassadors of the
kingdom of heaven, right? We have become sons and daughters
of heaven, right? Because
of the spirit of adoption which was granted to us
(20:26):
through the work of Jesus Christ. And so we who
have been saved, we who have been redeemed, right, we
have been given these things, these graces for the obedience
to the faith among all the nations, for Jesus' name,
for His name.
Right, it is for his namesake, the one who saved
(20:49):
you guys, right? That is why we're doing it for him. Now,
a works based religion says you must do this, that
you might be saved. But here's the thing.
We do have works as Christians, but it's just not
for salvation, right? Salvation is by grace. It's a it
(21:09):
is a gift that has been given to us freely,
and we only have to accept it. However, in salvation,
once we have been redeemed and we are the duos
of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Once we have entered
into salvation and the Holy Spirit dwells within us.
Now as a response to that grace for his glory.
(21:32):
We do good works, good works which God has declared
and set before us from before the foundations of the
earth were laid. He has prepared them for us, for
this generation, for your generation, for your family, for your friends,
for your.
Acquaintances for the people that you work beside, right? God
(21:53):
has given you these things. He has given you this hope.
He has given you His spirit. He has given you
this grace that you might bring His name forward, that
you might declare with your actions and with your words.
He says, continuing on in verse 6, among whom you
(22:13):
also are the called of Jesus Christ. Paul, Peter, James, John,
and the like.
They were called of Jesus Christ.
But guys, they have passed the baton of the gospel
of Jesus Christ from generation to generation.
(22:34):
And now it has been placed squarely in yours and
my hands.
Right, we now, we are the the keepers of the
oracles of God. We are the one who are to
shine the gospel of Jesus Christ in our generation, right?
We are the ones who are to take His name.
(22:55):
We need to be obedient to the gospel.
And we need to be obedient to the great commission
which the Lord Jesus Christ gave to the church that
we are to go into all of the nations, declaring
His name. We are to minister. We are to disciple
men and women in the name of Jesus Christ, and
we are to baptize them in the name of the
(23:16):
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is
what we have been given to do. This is what
we are called to do.
I love this.
Right? We have purpose. Our lives have meaning.
And so guys, I pray that this word, that this
um passage of scripture here in Romans chapter one, I
(23:40):
pray that it would be an anthem for you. I
pray that this theological pursuit of the gospel would inspire
you and encourage you to walk boldly in the name
of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
This is Pastor Spotlight, and you've been listening to Brian Jamieson,
senior pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship. We invite you
to join us right here at the same time tomorrow
for more of Pastor Brian's study in Romans chapter one.
Pastor Brian has a rich history of ministry in Orange County.
He was ordained in 2006 by Joey Barran, pastor of
(24:17):
Worship Generation. While serving at Worship Generation, Brian served in
many ministries all the way up to associate pastor. In 2010,
Brian was sent out to plant Orange County Christian Fellowship,
now in Orange. Pastor Brian says that OC Christian Fellowship
is a beautiful small local.
Church focusing on discipleship, fellowship, and the study of the
(24:41):
whole word of God. You're invited to come worship this Sunday.
Sunday worship at OC Christian Fellowship is at 10:30 a.m.
at 250 South Prospect Street in Orange in the fellowship hall.
Wednesday night worship and study is at 7 p.m. at
4101 Noel Ranch Road in Anaheim in the library on
(25:04):
the
Second floor. For complete details on worshiping with Orange County
Christian Fellowship, visit their website at OCCF.C. That's OCCF.cc. We
invite you to join us right here at this same
time tomorrow for more of Pastor Brian Jamieson's study in
(25:24):
Romans chapter 1. We hope you'll join us. Pastor Spotlight
is a production of Kwave Radio.
Welcome to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching of
our local Southern California pastors. This week we're pleased to
feature a longtime friend of Kwave, Pastor Brian Jamieson, lead
pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship. They meet Sunday mornings
at 250 South Prospect Street in Orange. We'll have more
information on how you can reach them at.
(00:23):
After today's study this week, Pastor Brian is showing us
how Paul's letter to the Romans is the gospel of
Jesus Christ presented in theological terms. How do we know
for sure that Jesus is the Son of God and
everything he claims to be? Once again, here's Pastor Brian
Jamieson with today's study and Romans chapter one.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Now last time we ended with um the the Messiah
Jesus uh being declared to be the Son of God
with power according to the spirit of holiness. And so
this evening we're gonna jump right back in and we
are going to dig into this. So how was Jesus
declared to be the Son of God? We saw that
(01:06):
through the genie.
apologies, which most of us like to skip in our
devotionary reading. Uh, he was declared to be of the
seat of David, skipping the uh the royal curse that
God had placed on the kingly line, but also um
having uh the right to the throne by being adopted
by Joseph, who was in fact the peasant king.
(01:28):
And uh then, but also having a blood tie to
David through Mary, his mother. And so uh that was
a fascinating look. But today we continue on how, uh,
not only is he born of the seat of David
according to the flesh, but he is also declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the
Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, so.
(01:53):
How do we know that Jesus is the Son of God?
How do we know that he's not just another teacher
like Mohammed, like Buddha or somebody else? You know, how
do we know that he is in fact who he
says he is? Well,
I can answer that quite quickly. There's a few different ways.
The first one is that God said that he would
(02:16):
prove that he is God and there is no other. Uh,
many times in the book of Isaiah, happens a couple
times in chapter 44, the Lord declares that, um, he
is the rock and there is no.
He is the one who establishes the heaven above and
the earth below, and there is no God besides him.
And he also in the book of Isaiah declares that
(02:39):
he will prove himself to be God by declaring the
future in advance. So prophecy now.
The prophecies of scripture aren't vague generalizations like uh Nottradamus,
who was uh popularized back in the 80s and the 90s. Uh,
Nostradamus was some guy who
(02:59):
Obviously, you know, he, he knew a little bit of scripture,
but uh he would give these um these vague descriptions of,
you know, one kingdom will rise against another kingdom and
they won't like each other and basically things that, you know,
anybody could guess and you know, have a pretty decent
chance of being right eventually in history. That's not the
way scripture predicts the future.
(03:21):
Uh, in the book of Isaiah, again, chapter 44, uh,
the Lord actually calls King Cyrus, the king of the
Persian Empire by name over 200 years before he is born.
Not only that, he also declares what he's going to do,
when he's gonna do it. It, it's actually quite fascinating, uh,
an incredible prophecy, but it is a detailed prophecy where
(03:44):
the Lord speaks a person's name. He surnames him.
Before he is even born, 200 years before he is
even born. And we have thousands of prophecies like that
in scripture. So God first is kind of setting the stage,
saying that I have the authority to speak about these
(04:04):
things that you can trust me. There is no other rock,
there is no other God besides Yahweh, besides the Lord.
And so the first way that we can look
And know that Jesus is in fact the promised Messiah
is by looking at prophecies. Now there are um many
prophecies referring to the birth, the ministry, and the resurrection
(04:28):
of Jesus Christ. Uh, some people like to say there
are um in the first coming of Jesus, there are
about 150 prophecies. Um, I've never really been able to,
in my studies, been able to find all 150.
Uh, there are definitely, you know, some really, really solid
ones and there's ones that, you know, people kind of
like to attribute to the Messiah, but they're kind of
vague and I try to steer away from those. I
(04:51):
like the ones that are really, really solid.
Uh, like my personal favorite is the, uh, the prophecy
of the Messiah that is found in the book of
Daniel chapter 9, and it's called the 70 Weeks Prophecy.
And that prophecy is a mathematical prophecy that gives you
the exact day that the Messiah is to reveal himself
(05:14):
to the nation of Israel and not
Only that, but after he is revealed to the nation
of Israel that he would be cut off, and Old
Testament talk for cut off means to be killed, but
not for himself, right? It's an incredible prophecy and I
would encourage all of you guys to really dig into it.
But there are many such prophecies like that, that he
(05:37):
would be called out of Egypt, that he would
Called a Nazarene, that he would be born in Bethlehem. Yeah,
there is again just prophecy after prophecy and the statistical
odds of somebody fulfilling even just eight prophecies is beyond
the realm of reason. It's completely and totally impossible, and
(06:00):
yet Jesus has done it.
Right, God has declared Himself to know the end from
the beginning, and he has proven it through history by
declaring these things in advance, and Jesus fulfilled many said prophecies,
far more than 8, maybe up to 150, but far
(06:20):
more than 8, and even just 8 fulfilled prophecies is
statistically impossible. OK.
So, first proof that Jesus is in fact the Son
of God declared with power courting the spirit of holiness
is fulfilled prophecy. Next, he is also a miracle worker. Now,
(06:41):
let me ask you this.
Do you or do do people have within us the
ability to alter physics? Can we create out of nothing?
Can we literally just snap our fingers and multiply fish
and bread? The answer is no, we can't, right? Can
(07:02):
we with a word.
Apart from, um, serving Jesus, of course, can we with
a word heal the sick, raise the dead, cause the
mute to speak, cause the deaf to hear? Can we
cause the lame to walk and leap and dance? Can
we raise the dead? The answer? No. Because our words
(07:23):
are just words, right? But when Jesus spoke, right, when
Jesus moved, right? He is not just the son of David.
The seed of David, he is also the son of God,
and he has the power and the authority to do such.
And so the miracles that we see Jesus perform, which
were um recorded through his disciples, but also witnessed by
(07:47):
ancient historians who were not Christians like Josephus and others, right?
These miracles are a sign confirming that he is who
he said he was.
Not only that, but here it says that um it
was through the resurrection that he was proven that he
was in fact the Son of God. And so the
(08:08):
resurrection is a place that I want to just kind
of sit on for a moment and really dig into
because as the apostle Paul says, the resurrection is the
foundation of our Christian faith. If Jesus did not rise
from the dead, then we are still in our
Sins. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then
(08:29):
there is no resurrection of the dead, and there is
no hope of heaven. We will simply die. And if
that is the case, then truly eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die. And if we Christians who sacrifice ourselves
for the name of Jesus Christ and the gospel of
Jesus Christ, if we serve the Lord and separate ourselves
(08:50):
unto that gospel.
And if we only have hope in this life, then
Paul says that we are to be pitied above all others.
But the resurrection from the dead proves that Jesus is
in fact the Son of God. Not only that, but
it also proves that there is a resurrection of the dead,
and the things that he promised are sure. They're not
(09:13):
just a hope. They're not just a whim. They are sure.
You can take it to the bank.
Now, I, I know many of you probably are familiar
with Lee Strobel. Uh, he was a journalist and an
author who wrote a book called A Case for Christ.
And I I would encourage you if you've never read
(09:34):
that book, and if you have any questions about the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, I I would encourage you to
get that book. It is a a fun read. It's
a pretty fast read and it basically tells the story
of he.
who was um trying to destroy the faith of his wife,
and he was trying to prove the resurrection of Jesus
(09:55):
Christ that it was false, that it was fake. And
so he went and he flew from professional to professional,
from medical to archaeological to linguists. He went all over
the country uh seeking all of the best experts of
the ancient times, and he sought to build enough evidence
that he might
(10:16):
Raise up a case that would finally destroy his wife's faith. Well,
he went on that quest and through the course of it,
he ended up getting saved. He's not the only one.
there was one lawyer, I can't remember his name right now,
but there was this lawyer who was the number one lawyer.
I guess he held a record, a world record for
the most win court cases. So this is the number
(10:37):
one lawyer in the world, and somebody asked this atheist, Hey,
why don't you take your powers.
Of just the like of legal precedents and such, and
use those things to disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well,
he set out on it and uh his journey ended
with his salvation as well. He became a bond servant
(10:58):
of the Lord Jesus Christ, called and separated to the gospel.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You're listening to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring Pastor Brian Jamieson,
senior pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship in Orange. Visit
their website at OCCF.cc. And now, let's continue with today's
study in Romans chapter one.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
The resurrection of Jesus Christ, right, is again evidence that
he was in fact the Son of God, that his
claims of Messiahship are true and that we do have
hope in an eternal life in heaven in His name.
And it is by the resurrection from the dead that
(11:40):
we have this hope. So my brothers and
My sisters, um, I, I, I just want you to
hold on to that hope. Look into these things. God
isn't afraid of your questions. He welcomes the questions. He says, Come,
let us reason together. He, he doesn't ask you to
have a blind faith, but instead, he has given us
(12:00):
a very reasonable faith, right? Based on evidence, based on truth,
based on the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from
the dead.
And guys, this is an incredible place, a foundation on
which all of the rest of the gospel is built.
(12:22):
The resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now I don't know if you guys know this. I
don't even, I don't know if you even need to
know this, but before the Smithsonian Institute, before it became
so secularized that it separated itself from such things, the
Smithsonian actually made a declaration that the resurrection of Jesus
Christ was the most provable fact in all of ancient history.
(12:46):
Wow, can you guys even imagine that? Phenomenal. And yet
that is the truth on which we base our faith.
We do have a true, tried and true hope in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that where he is
one day, we will also be that he will return
(13:07):
for his bride.
That we will be with him in eternity where there
is no more death, where there is no more sorrow,
where God Himself will wipe every tear from our eyes.
This is the hope that we have, and it is, uh, again,
a foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He continues on in verse 5.
(13:28):
Paul says through him, through who through Jesus we have
received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among
all nations for his name, among whom you also are
the called of Jesus Christ. So this is an important
thing because our place.
(13:49):
In the Gospel is not based on us. It's not
based on our works. Now, there are many people who
will try to say that um usually they're critics of
the Christianity of the faith, and they'll say that, uh,
you know what, all religions are basically the same.
(14:09):
And the moment somebody says that to me, the moment
somebody says that to you, you have to understand one thing.
That person hasn't studied world religion in the slightest. The
moment they say, oh, I've studied world religion, and they're
all basically the same. You know from that very statement
that they're lying to you.
Because they are not in fact the same. Because the
(14:32):
vast majority of the world religions are works-based religions. If
you do such and such, you will then be granted.
Whether it be Nirvana, whether it be access into Valhalla,
if you're a Viking or what have you. But the
idea is that you have to behave in such a
(14:53):
way that you will finally be worthy of eternal life, of, uh,
whatever their hope for what lies beyond this mortal coil is, right?
You have to do it. It is a works-based religion.
But that is not Christianity. Christianity isn't through your deeds.
(15:14):
It's not through how good you are or how middle
of the road you are, right? Your, your punishment isn't
because that, uh, oh, you somehow failed to knock on
enough doors. That's not what it's about, or that you
don't know the right.
Handshakes. That's not what it's about, right? Christianity is a
completely unique religious system in which God Himself did the work. God,
(15:38):
our Creator, the one who stretched the heavens above us
and the earth below us, the one who knit us
together in our mother's womb, right? He came and became human.
Now in some religions like Greek mythology, the gods do
come and dwell among people, but this is unique because God,
coming in human form.
(16:00):
Does not receive um all of the graces that that should,
but instead he suffers and dies as a substitutionary sacrifice
for you and for me. And then after he dies
at the hands of his own creation, in whom he
is in the very act of dying, he is saving us.
(16:23):
Then he descends into uh into the lower parts of
the earth, uh, Hades or uh Sheol, uh or the
uh Abraham's bosom in the Old Testament.
Right, he descends there, and then 3 days later, he
resurrects himself from the dead, proving he is master even
(16:43):
over death. And so then he resurrects and then ascends
into heaven and promises that we can go with him
one day. But beyond that, he also sends another part
of his nature, the third person.
of the Trinity, the third person in the Godhead. He
sends the Holy Spirit, not just to be with us,
not to be operating near us, but to actually enter us.
(17:08):
So God enters into his creation, and we, his people, we,
his bond servants, the call.
The separated become the temple of God itself. Guys, there
is no other religion that declares such things. There is
no other faith that has the, the hero, the Creator,
(17:29):
the God of the universe, lay down his life and
die for his creation as wicked as they may be.
And so Paul says, through him, we have received grace.
And again, it's not of works, guys. It's of grace.
What is grace?
Undeserved, unmerited favor. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve,
(17:53):
and grace is getting what you don't deserve, and we
don't deserve salvation. And so, um, in some ways this
can be uh kind of troubling to a person, but
when you work it through, it becomes the most comfortable
and heartwarming thing that we could ever imagine. We are
saved through grace. Grace.
(18:16):
Right, undeserved, unmerited favor. And so we in making ourselves
bond servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, we, we readily
recognize that we don't have the resources to save ourselves.
We openly declare that we need help and then praise
be to God. God sends His Son to be that
(18:38):
help to pay the debt that we never could. And then, guys,
and then.
We enter into salvation through grace, undeserved, unmerited favor. He
has done it. Jesus himself from the cross said to
tell us. That is a Greek accounting term that means
(19:01):
paid in full.
Through him we have received grace, and here for the
apostle Paul, he says apostleship sent ones for you it
could be gift of helps. It could be gift of administration.
It could be whatever God has called you to within
the church. He says we have received grace and whatever
(19:23):
that gifting is, whatever that place in the church is.
For obedience to the faith, right? We are to walk.
We have been given these things by grace, salvation, by
grace through faith, right? We have been given these things
that we might walk in obedience to the faith among
(19:43):
all nations, right? It's not enough just to go to church.
That is a great start. It's a wonderful place to begin.
I it's not enough just to read your Bible in
the morning and hopefully through the day and in the
evening before you go to bed. That's a wonderful practice
and we should all do such things.
But that's not enough. We are to take, right? We
(20:05):
are sent ones. we're not capital A apostles, but every
single one of us are lowercase apostles, right? We are
sent ones of Jesus Christ. We are ambassadors of the
kingdom of heaven, right? We have become sons and daughters
of heaven, right? Because
of the spirit of adoption which was granted to us
(20:26):
through the work of Jesus Christ. And so we who
have been saved, we who have been redeemed, right, we
have been given these things, these graces for the obedience
to the faith among all the nations, for Jesus' name,
for His name.
Right, it is for his namesake, the one who saved
(20:49):
you guys, right? That is why we're doing it for him. Now,
a works based religion says you must do this, that
you might be saved. But here's the thing.
We do have works as Christians, but it's just not
for salvation, right? Salvation is by grace. It's a it
(21:09):
is a gift that has been given to us freely,
and we only have to accept it. However, in salvation,
once we have been redeemed and we are the duos
of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Once we have entered
into salvation and the Holy Spirit dwells within us.
Now as a response to that grace for his glory.
(21:32):
We do good works, good works which God has declared
and set before us from before the foundations of the
earth were laid. He has prepared them for us, for
this generation, for your generation, for your family, for your friends,
for your.
Acquaintances for the people that you work beside, right? God
(21:53):
has given you these things. He has given you this hope.
He has given you His spirit. He has given you
this grace that you might bring His name forward, that
you might declare with your actions and with your words.
He says, continuing on in verse 6, among whom you
(22:13):
also are the called of Jesus Christ. Paul, Peter, James, John,
and the like.
They were called of Jesus Christ.
But guys, they have passed the baton of the gospel
of Jesus Christ from generation to generation.
(22:34):
And now it has been placed squarely in yours and
my hands.
Right, we now, we are the the keepers of the
oracles of God. We are the one who are to
shine the gospel of Jesus Christ in our generation, right?
We are the ones who are to take His name.
(22:55):
We need to be obedient to the gospel.
And we need to be obedient to the great commission
which the Lord Jesus Christ gave to the church that
we are to go into all of the nations, declaring
His name. We are to minister. We are to disciple
men and women in the name of Jesus Christ, and
we are to baptize them in the name of the
(23:16):
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is
what we have been given to do. This is what
we are called to do.
I love this.
Right? We have purpose. Our lives have meaning.
And so guys, I pray that this word, that this
um passage of scripture here in Romans chapter one, I
(23:40):
pray that it would be an anthem for you. I
pray that this theological pursuit of the gospel would inspire
you and encourage you to walk boldly in the name
of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
This is Pastor Spotlight, and you've been listening to Brian Jamieson,
senior pastor of Orange County Christian Fellowship. We invite you
to join us right here at the same time tomorrow
for more of Pastor Brian's study in Romans chapter one.
Pastor Brian has a rich history of ministry in Orange County.
He was ordained in 2006 by Joey Barran, pastor of
(24:17):
Worship Generation. While serving at Worship Generation, Brian served in
many ministries all the way up to associate pastor. In 2010,
Brian was sent out to plant Orange County Christian Fellowship,
now in Orange. Pastor Brian says that OC Christian Fellowship
is a beautiful small local.
Church focusing on discipleship, fellowship, and the study of the
(24:41):
whole word of God. You're invited to come worship this Sunday.
Sunday worship at OC Christian Fellowship is at 10:30 a.m.
at 250 South Prospect Street in Orange in the fellowship hall.
Wednesday night worship and study is at 7 p.m. at
4101 Noel Ranch Road in Anaheim in the library on
(25:04):
the
Second floor. For complete details on worshiping with Orange County
Christian Fellowship, visit their website at OCCF.C. That's OCCF.cc. We
invite you to join us right here at this same
time tomorrow for more of Pastor Brian Jamieson's study in
(25:24):
Romans chapter 1. We hope you'll join us. Pastor Spotlight
is a production of Kwave Radio.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.