The Banner of Truth has published a new book that is sure to be a great blessing to the church! It is John Calvin’s sermons on the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and it is called Crucified and Risen. It has been translated by Robert White.
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Crucified and Risen
This book contains a collection of Calvin’s sermons which were preached between 1557-1558 and based upon the Gospel of Matthew. These sermons are sure to stir your affections for the Lord!
I often consult Calvin’s commentaries, and I highly value them. However, his sermons are very different from his commentaries! This is a gold mine of sermons from a man to whom the church owes a great debt.
The reader will feel as if they are sitting in the pews of the Genevan Church, listening to Pastor Calvin exposit Matthew’s account of the Lord Jesus’ passion, death, resurrection, and ascension. You will get sucked into the pages of this book, and what a rich blessing that will be to you!
These sermons were first published in 1558 in French. They were translated into English in 1581, but in the year 2020, Robert White took on the task of translating these sermons into English from the original 1558 French publication.
The translation reads extremely smooth and in an incredibly easy to understand manner. It doesn’t read like the Institutes of the Christian Religion (Calvin’s magnum opus), but it reads like the average pastor who was preaching to his congregation to be well fed and nurtured. Everybody and anybody will be able to understand these sermons and will greatly benefit from them! (This is not to disparage you from reading the Institutes, but simply to highlight the fact that these sermons are exceptionally easy to understand!)
Here’s an example for you from his chapter “This Man or Barrabas”:
There is no room for boasting, as if what God has given us is our own. Our boast should rather be that God has been pleased to adopt us as his children, given us grace to walk in his fear and gives us the strength to abstain from evil. These are the things in which we should glory.
Crucified and Risen consists of ten sermons, and the last chapter is a nice, short chapter on prayer. The chapters are very experiential, focusing on the heart of the worshipper as the Easter message is expounded.
Calvin is brilliant in his application of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lives of the saints. He is a true pastor, a shepherd to Christ’s sheep. Pastors must read this book! Learn from Calvin. Emulate him in his approach to teaching and expositing the Word of God. But also allow Calvin’s treatment of these passages to stir your own heart up to worship the Lord!
Likewise, may all Christians take time to read through these glorious sermons about a glorious God! Calvin will show you the way to grow and mature in your love for the Lord. You won’t be disappointed! Tolle lege, take up and read.
Disclaimer: My thanks to Banner of Truth for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The opinions expressed are my own.
Matt became a joyful follower of Jesus at the age of 21. He is very grateful to be a husband to Lindsey, and a father to four boys. He is an ordained minister (teaching elder) in the PCA. He previously served as a pastor of biblical counseling and is currently a corporate chaplain in southern Delaware. Matt received his Master of Divinity degree in Biblical Counseling from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and holds an advanced certification in biblical counseling from the Association of Biblical Counselors. In his free time, he loves playing with his boys, traveling with his wife, and reading (and buying!) books.
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