The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

Easter

It's about both life and death

Great sermon from C.J. Mahaney at the 2008 Ligonier conference. He preaches on just one verse, 1 Corinthians 15:17, and one verse is all he needed:

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

That's the big if, if He is not risen, then all of this is in vain for those who really believe. If the story of the Resurrection is merely a social issue, Easter is a time to go to church and make a show, who cares if He is risen, or still dead or never lived at all. But for those of us who put out faith for the forgiveness of our sins in Him, it means EVERYTHING. A Christ who is not risen means a Gospel that is not true, and a Gospel that is not true cannot save anyone.



How many people will get sermons like C.J.'s tomorrow morning? How many people will get sermons tomorrow morning, sweet as a jelly bean and as nutritious as a Peep? Big crowds don't mean it is time for a watered down, palatable message. Big crowds are a big opportunity, to declare the life, death and resurrection of Christ, to tell people the bad news of our sins but also the Good News of Christ. No one, Christian or not, should walk out of church on Sunday morning unchanged from the way that they walked in.

It is, as Brother C.J. said, not about avoidance of death but about victory over death. When we sing Victory of Jesus, it means that we realize that He was dead, as dead as any man has ever been, but He rose again and in that we share in His victory.

He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. (Matthew 28:6)