This sermon is orthodox, orderly, and clearly resurrection-focused, but it is also notably shallow. Its central claim is that the resurrection proves four things about Christ: he is the Son of God, Lord of the world, Messiah/Saviour, and forever High Priest. Those are true and important claims. The problem is that the sermon largely leaves them at the level of labels. It tells us what the resurrection proves about Jesus, but does not press what the resurrection demands of us.

That is the main weakness. The resurrection is treated as evidence, but not as confrontation. The risen Christ is identified, but the hearer is not searched by him. There is little sense of Acts 2’s sharp movement: “You crucified him; God raised him; therefore repent.” The congregation is informed that Jesus is alive and exalted, but not made to feel the peril of remaining outside him, the guilt of sin before him, or the urgency of fleeing to him.

The sermon also lacks a strong “so what?” If Jesus is Lord of the world, what does that mean for the unbeliever, the nominal Christian, the fearful believer, or the self-righteous churchgoer? If he is High Priest, why must sinners come to him now? If he is Messiah/Saviour, from what exactly must we be saved? These questions are implied, but not driven home.

One encouraging feature is that this is the first sermon in the series so far to mention justification. That matters. The preacher notes Romans 4:25, that Christ “was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification,” and rightly sees that the resurrection declares the success of Christ’s saving work. 

It is a pity this was not developed further. Justification could have given the sermon real gospel weight: all people are sinners and stand guilty before God, Christ died in their place, God raised him as the vindicated Mediator, and all who trust in him are counted righteous.

In the end, the sermon says true things, but does not do enough with them. It gives four doctrinal conclusions about Christ, but little searching application, little summons to repentance, and little experiential force. The resurrection is central in topic, but not central in pressure. It proves who Jesus is, but the sermon does not sufficiently ask whether the hearer has bowed before him, trusted him, and been made right with God through him. The new birth remains in exile from yet another Presbyterian Easter sermon.