In today’s episode I share the audiobook version of my book Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything this is available along with a paperback and hardback and of course kindle on Amazon: https://mybook.to/raisedwithchrist
Here is the text of the Introduction.
Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus? Are you neglecting its implications? Read Raised with Christ and discover:
Why the cross alone could never save us
Compelling evidence that the tomb really was empty
How the resurrection can change fear into love, despair into joy, guilt and shame into forgiveness and freedom.
A renewed hope for our own physical resurrection.
This book is for anyone interested in the evidence for Christianity, for believers who wonder if Easter has become overly familiar to them, for pastors who long to preach the resurrection with clarity and power, and for Christians who want to experience spiritual renewal.
I was asked to preach one Easter Sunday. Usually, I enjoyed preaching, but I was busy, weary, and not looking forward to it. I am ashamed to admit that preparing to talk about the gospel felt boring. I had preached about the cross many times before. I definitely believed in the truth of the resurrection, but I had assumed it rather than exploring it.
I began studying the resurrection seriously for the first time. What I discovered unsettled me. In Acts, every recorded sermon centers on the resurrection of Jesus. Yet I realized that none of the sermons I had heard or preached had fully explained its meaning and implications.
At the time, I could not find many books specifically focused on Jesus’ resurrection, its implications for the doctrine of salvation, and its life-changing power.
Why had so few books been written about the very center of the Christian faith? I became convinced I should write this book and was blessed to have it published.
Since then, it has been a joy to watch the resurrection conversation grow. The twenty-first century has seen a striking increase in the number of books on this vital subject. This is clearly demonstrated by the chronological list of books about the resurrection found at the end of this book. Many of these books complement one another, and I hope you will not only enjoy reading this one but also be encouraged to explore others.
There are, however, still many more books devoted to the death of Christ. The resurrection has always been believed by Christians, but it has often been neglected. That seems to be slowly changing.
Maybe as you’ve picked up this book you are asking:
“What does the resurrection mean for me?”
Christianity ultimately stands or falls on whether Jesus rose from the dead. The empty tomb, the resurrection appearances, the explosive growth of the early church, and the radical transformation of the disciples all demand an explanation. The Church did not create the resurrection stories. Instead, the resurrection stories created the Church.
But if Jesus truly rose, what did that achieve? Paul writes that Jesus was “raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25). Without the resurrection, the cross could not have secured our forgiveness. The cross and the resurrection are inseparably bound together in the doctrine of salvation.
The resurrection also declares that Jesus is “the Son of God in power” (Romans 1:4). If Christ is risen, then He is Lord, and we must follow Him. This prompted me to create the following definition of a follower of Jesus that summarizes the historical view of every denomination:
A Christian is someone who believes in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and lives in light of the implications of that event.
Those implications are profound. Resurrection power drives out fear and replaces it with love. It turns despair into joy. It wipes away guilt and shame and brings forgiveness and freedom. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in every true Christian, bringing new life, healing, and gradually making us more like Jesus..
Christians will experience a bodily resurrection just like Jesus. Life is itself a terminal condition. We might be forgiven for arguing that resurrection is the most important theme in the Bible, at least for our hope in the face of suffering and loss.
Seven years after publishing this book, my confidence in this truth was tested by weakness and chronic illness triggered by a life-threatening pneumonia and a diagnosis of blood cancer, which was successfully treated but may still return.
My body was not healed. Most of the life I had built unraveled. What followed felt like a tsunami of damaging effects across every area of my life. Nothing remained untouched. At times I was not easy to live with, and I have regrets.
At my lowest points I found myself asking: “Do I really believe this?”
Though my faith was faint at times, somehow my hope refused to disappear because of these truths.
I found healing in worship, Scripture, and returning to the eternal truths about the risen Christ I had written about here and in Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus. I pray the same ancient truths of the gospel will help you too.
This is an expanded and revised edition of my first book, initially published by Crossway in 2010. It now includes study guide questions and an afterword by Charles Spurgeon and John Newton, updated into modern English. It has been lightly revised throughout, and new material has been added to every chapter.
I remain deeply grateful to my long-suffering editor, Annette Harrison, who once again helped in the revision process, and to the many others who helped edit the first edition.
If Jesus rose from the dead, it really does change everything. Just not all at once.
Be sure that real suffering will come to you one day, if you haven’t yet felt its painful touch. None of us gets off this planet without experiencing the difficulties that Jesus promises us. Jesus always keeps His promises. But He also reassured us that He is with us, and that He is in charge:
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NIV)
