Lord, Liar, Lunatic - Why the Resurrection Matters or it Doesn't (Easter 2026)

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Merrick and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. I'm excited about that.

If you would go to Mark chapter 16. We've been

Mark 16 · chapter mention

walking through the book of Mark and typically

the way I approach Easter sermons as I try to

read from each one of the gospels to see the

resurrection story. But because we've been walking

through Mark, I figure we're gonna read through

the book of Mark, chapter 16. The title of my

Mark 16 · chapter mention

sermon is Lord, Liar, or Lunatic, Why the Resurrection

Matters. The big idea that I'm gonna kind of

drive home this morning is the resurrection is

the hinge on which all of scripture turns. It

doesn't just matter. It's the reason we have

hope in this life and the next. Here's what I

mean by it is the hinge. If you are here this

morning, you are a skeptic. You are someone that

does not believe in the scriptures. You may think,

ah, some of it I think could be true. Some of

it can be historically accurate, but not all

of it. I would say this. If you can disprove

the resurrection, you can disprove all of scripture.

Everything with which our beliefs center, which

is why I put that as our verse of the week, Paul

says, if you can do away with the resurrection,

all of this is in vain. This building is in vain.

Us being here this morning is in vain. But if

it is true, it is of infinite value. Yes? And

so that's what I mean when I say this hinges

all on the resurrection story. Easter is the

one Sunday, Christmas is that way too, but Christmas

is not so stressful, but Easter is the one Sunday

every year that stresses me out beyond belief.

Can you give any guesses as to why that would

be? More people. It's the one story that everybody

knows. So in this building right now are people

that only come to church on Easter. I'm not poking

at you. I'm just, that's, that's just the truth.

And so as a pastor, you feel this tension and

the stress to share something about the resurrection

that is new or seems new. And that includes even

for you guys that are sitting in these chairs

every Sunday. It's not the easiest Easter Sunday.

And so all week last week, all week this week,

I've just stressed and stressed, like what am

I gonna preach? And of course we could say, well,

isn't scripture enough? Do you not have trust

in the scriptures that they would do their job?

Yes, absolutely. But it's also my job to dissect

those scriptures and help. And so today, what

I decided is I stopped asking the question, how

can I present this in a way that's new? I began

to ask myself this question. If I only had time,

the ability to preach, this was my last Sunday.

If this Sunday was the last Sunday I would ever

preach to this congregation, if this was the

only time some of you would ever hear me preach

ever again, what would be the topic I would preach

and what would I say? And I came back with, I

would preach the resurrection. I would preach

why I believe it. But the other thing was is

I would also say, why does it matter? Because

it's not just historical. It's not just something

that happened 2 ,000 years ago. Why does it matter

today, right now, to you sitting in these chairs?

Why does it matter to me standing up here? And

so here's what I would ask of you. I would ask

for an agreement between you and me this morning

that for the next 20 minutes, because yes, I'm

gonna confine myself to 20 minutes, it would

just be you and me. It's not you and your spouse.

It's not you and your friends. It's not you and

your children. It's just you and me. And I want

you to believe or to imagine in your mind that

it's just you and me going to a coffee shop.

And I'm going to give an appeal to you of why

the resurrection matters. Is that fair? That

for 20 minutes it's just you and me and you just

give me 20 minutes of your attention. I would

greatly, greatly appreciate that. So I want to

answer the question of why does the resurrection

matter and why does it matter to me? And so there's

a, in Mere Christianity by C .S. Lewis, he has

this quote and he says, Jesus didn't leave open

the option of being just a good moral teacher.

He is either Lord, Liar or lunatic So it is with

that quote that I was like, you know what? That's

what I'm gonna base our discussion on this morning

Because it's true I want you to think about this

for just a moment a lot of people like Jesus

Gandhi likes Jesus Muslims like Jesus. They will

talk to you about Jesus They believe he's a good

moral teacher. Atheists like Jesus. They like

what he stands for. Everybody in this room likes

Jesus, but here's the thing. He's not a moral

teacher. He is one of these three things that

C .S. Lewis said. He's either a liar and what

he claimed is not true, or he's a lunatic claiming

to be God, and that's not true, or... If those

things are true, He would be Lord. And so we

can't just sit this morning and go, yeah, the

resurrection happened 2000 years ago, it doesn't

really matter to me this morning. No, if it's

true, it is like I said earlier, it is of infinite

importance and you're not just right now, but

all of eternity matters right this moment. So

what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read Mark 16,

and then I'm gonna start going through my notes.

If you would follow along. If you don't have

a Bible, we have some in the back. Those are

your that can be yours to take home. It is our

gift to you. If you don't want to do that, it'll

be right up here. So we're going to go Mark 16.

When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene,

Mary, the mother of James and Salome bought spices

so that They might go and anoint him. And very

early on, on the first day of the week, when

the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And

they were saying to one another, who will roll

away the stone for us from the entrance of the

tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone

had already been rolled away. It was very large.

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting

on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and

they were alarmed. And he said to them, Do not

be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was

crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See

the place where they laid him. But go, tell his

disciples and Peter that he is going before you

to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he

told you. And they went out and fled from the

tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized

them. and they said nothing to anyone for they

were afraid. Now your scripture or your Bible

may have a little note that says some of the

earliest major scripts do not include verses

nine through 20. I will do a podcast on that

this week. Let's go to nine. Now when he rose

early on the first day of the week, he appeared

first to Mary Magdalene from whom he had cast

out seven demons. She went and told those who

had been with him as they mourned and wept. but

when they heard that he was alive and had been

seen by her, they would not believe it. After

these things, he appeared in another form to

two of them as they were walking into the country,

and they went back and told the rest, but they

did not believe them. Afterward, he appeared

to the eleven themselves as they were reclining

at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief

and hardness of heart, because they had not believed

those who saw him after he had risen. And he

said to them, go into all the world proclaiming

the gospel to the whole creation. If you have

a highlighter, you should highlight that. Whoever

believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever

does not believe will be condemned. You should

also underline that as well or highlight that.

And these signs will accompany those who believe

in my name. and they will cast out demons, they

will speak in tongues, they will pick up serpents

with their hands, and if they drink any deadly

poison, it will not hurt them, and they will

lay their hands on the sick and they will recover.

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to

them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at

the right hand of God, and they went out and

preached everywhere while the Lord worked with

them and confirmed the message by accompanying

signs. I just want to say this real quick. If

you're sitting here going, whoa, does that mean

I can pick up a rattlesnake after making it very

mad and I'll be okay? Don't do that. Don't go

into the mounds of West Virginia, into those

snake handling churches because that is not what

that means. If you didn't know, there are snake

handling churches. They're pretty crazy. Well,

then Pastor Logan, Jesus said it, it's right

there. Yeah, no, he was prophesying about someone.

Anybody want to know who that is? Paul because

Paul legitimately got bit by a viper and he did

not die Those are prophecies that were to come

But I want you to notice that it says they were

afraid then he appeared to them and things changed,

right? So here we go point number one. If you're

taking notes liars, don't rise I'm gonna ask

you a question right now. What do these names

have in common? Thudious In the early first century,

he claimed to be a prophet. He also claimed on

the Jordan River that he was the Messiah. He

was executed by the Romans. His followers scattered.

Judas of Galilee, around 6 A .D., led a revolt

against Roman taxation. Seen by his followers

as a deliverer and the Messiah, he was killed.

His movement dissolved. Simon of Pereira. After

Herod's death, crowned himself king, he was killed.

No lasting movement. Athrongus declared himself

king with his brothers. He was defeated. His

movement disappeared. Simon Bar of Koba, 132

to 135 AD, proclaimed to be the Messiah by a

respected rabbi. Let her revolt. He was killed.

His followers abandoned him. Moses of Crete.

5th century claimed that he would lead the Jews

back across the sea. It failed. His followers

perished and his movement ended. Abu Isa Ishafani,

8th century claimed a messianic role. He was

executed. His followers disappeared. What do

all of these men have in common? They all claim

to be the Messiah. They all had followers, they

got very popular, all of them executed, and then

what happened? All of it dissolved. In the book

of Acts, Gamaliel says, hey, if this Jesus is

who he claims to be, we can kill him, we can

try to kill his followers, it ain't gonna do

anything, because if it's of God, it's gonna

continue on, and guess what? If he is not God,

all of this will fizzle out. So, all of these

men claimed to be the Messiah. Some even had

large followings, but in the end, none of them

rose. They were executed, their movements died,

their names almost forgotten, and you probably

didn't even know they existed. Now consider Jesus,

only one who claimed to be the Messiah and then

actually did what he said he would do. He rose

from the dead. Did you know that within 24 hours,

Jesus fulfilled 33 Old Testament prophecies?

Only one continues to impact history. Only one

marked time, because we have BC and AD. He still

continues to impact culture and even more so,

your life today. Only one fulfilled prophecy,

conquered death, and subverted worldly kingdoms,

not with armies, but with grace. So think about

it. You can visit the grave of Muhammad in Saudi

Arabia. You can go see the places associated

with Buddha in India. But Jesus? Multiple sites

claim to be his tomb, yet when people look carefully,

it's empty. Empty. And the evidence isn't just

faith, it's historical. Scholars, even atheist

ones, admit he died, and yet they cannot explain

what happened afterward. There's many theories.

And I can say this with all confidence, liars

do not rise. And Jesus is no liar. And if we

had more time, I would unpack all the historical

evidence piece by piece showing you that he did

in fact die, that he did in fact rise. But this

year, I did that last year. This year, I'm not

going to do that, but if you would like to have

a conversation about that, I would love to have

a conversation about it. But only one has truly

risen only one gives hope beyond this life point

number two Lunatics don't last Lunatics don't

last So let's take it a step further Because

maybe you're thinking okay, maybe Jesus wasn't

a liar, but he could have just been mistaken

What if he really believed all this? What if

he really was just a lunatic? After all, Jesus

didn't just claim to be a teacher, he didn't

just claim to be a prophet, he claimed to be

God. And people today will say, well, Jesus never

actually said that, but that's not true. We've

actually seen, those of you in this congregation

have already seen just in the chapters of the

Book of Mark that Jesus has already made those

claims. Jesus called himself the Son of Man,

a title straight out of the book of Daniel that

points to a divine figure. He walked into a synagogue,

opened the scroll of Isaiah, read the prophecy

about the Messiah, and then said, today the scripture

has been fulfilled in your hearing. He forgave

sins, something only God can do. He performed

miracles, commanding nature, healing disease,

raising the dead, and he spoke with authority

that made people stop and say, who is this man?

So we're left with a choice either Jesus was

exactly who he said he was or he was completely

out of his mind Because same people don't walk

around claiming to be God, but here's the problem

with the lunatic theory Lunatics don't change

the world Am I wrong Lunatics don't launch a

movement that outlives empires. Lunatics don't

produce teachings that reshape morality, compassion,

and human history. Lunatics don't inspire billions

across centuries to lay down their lives, not

just for them, but because they're convinced

he is alive. And most importantly, lunatics don't

rise from the dead. So you see, darkness thought

it had won. They expected a messiah with a sword,

someone who would overthrow Rome, crush governments

and take power. But Jesus came differently. Not

with a sword, but with a cross. And it looked

like weakness, and it looked like defeat. It

looked like he was playing right into their hands.

But what they didn't understand was this. You

don't defeat a spiritual kingdom with physical

weapons. You don't break the curse of sin with

political power. That kind of victory takes something

only God can do, amen? Because every other system,

religion, philosophy, even atheism, points the

weight to you. You have to fix yourself. You

have to earn it. You have to be better, do enough,

and maybe you'll be okay in the end, but God

knew something we don't like to admit. We can't.

We can't fix ourselves. We can't outrun sin.

We can't earn eternity. So instead of waiting

for us to climb to him, God came down to us and

he didn't just claim it. He proved it through

his authority, through miracles and above all

through the greatest miracle, his resurrection.

But that's where it all comes together because

if Jesus really rose from the dead, he is not

a liar and he is not a lunatic. That means that

makes him Lord, he is God in the flesh. He is

seated at the right hand of the father right

now. And one day he's coming back, not as the

suffering servant, but as a conquering King,

the lion of Judah. And when he comes, he won't

be misunderstood. He won't be mocked and he won't

be crucified again. He will crush sin. He will

crush death and darkness once and for all. So

the question isn't just, was Jesus a good teacher

or was he a good moral example? The question

is, who do you say that he is? I can tell you,

I can tell you who I say who he is, he's Lord.

So point number three is this, if he's Lord,

this changes everything. So let's answer the

question we've been building towards. Does the

resurrection matter to you today? I hope you

would say yes, because it absolutely does. Because

most people think the resurrection only matters

for later. Heaven, hell, and eternity. And it

does. It does matter for that. It means eternity

is real. It means your life is not random. It

means that what you do with Jesus has eternal

weight. But this also means to you, you're missing

half of it. Because the resurrection doesn't

just change your destination, it changes what

kind of person you are in the present. It means

you can be forgiven, not partially, not temporarily,

but fully. It means you can be made new, not

just cleaned up, not just managed, but made new

from the inside out. The same power that walked

out of the grave now lives in those who belong

to him, which means this. You don't have to keep

living in the dark. You don't have to keep stumbling

through guilt, shame, and confusion, or trying

to figure it out all on your own. Because when

Jesus rose, the light broke through, and that

light doesn't just shine for you, it shines in

you. And what should change how we live, or that

should change how we live, not for ourselves,

not building our own little kingdoms, not hiding

away in our own little Christian ghettos. I hope

you understand what I'm saying. What I mean by

that is is we don't just huddle together and

we create our little little Christian communities

and we create Christian art and we create all

these the Christian music Christian music's great

Christian movies are fine But you should actually

supposed to impact darkness You guys have heard

me tell the story before about Noah and and his

and his little rock rocket ship alarm clock that

wouldn't Shine light and we put batteries in

it He says, can we go find some darkness to shine

my light? Because he was like, we were sitting

in a room with all these windows and he couldn't

see the light. So it does us no good to sit here

and hear this message every Sunday and do nothing

for the world out there. We need to step into

it, living as light in the middle of darkness.

Like a lighthouse standing on the shore in the

middle of a storm, unmoved by waves, unshaken

by the wind, cutting through the fog so that

those who are lost can finally see where to go.

And that's where we are now. Not because we're

better, but because we've been brought into the

light. We belong to a kingdom, we have a king,

and we carry a light that doesn't come from us,

it comes from him. And here's the beauty of it.

We don't just stand in the light. We get to shine

it outward. To people who feel lost, to people

who feel stuck, and to people who think they've

gone too far, we get to say this, there is a

way, there is hope, and there is light in the

darkness because you have been bought with a

price, and you have been brought out of darkness

and into light. You have been set free. And it

is with that I want to tell you this story. I'm

closing with this. If you have been zoning out

this entire time, this would be the time and

the message that I would say, lock in. Because

I want to tell you a story, a true story, an

absolutely true story that's going to feel fictional,

but I promise you, I swear to you, it is true.

And it is about a friend of mine. This friend

of mine all he wanted to do was get married and

and and have kids but he really wanted to know

it was like to be married to someone and He finally

met this girl who he fell deeply madly in love

with And when He fell for her, he could not stop

talking about her. And he was like, I'm gonna,

I'm going to do all I can to continue to love

her and make her more beautiful. And so, he very

quickly, they date and they get married. It was

a wonderful, wonderful wedding. And as, their

marriage goes on, I mean, he's a wonderful husband.

He's a storybook husband. What I mean by that

is, is like, I mean, he always remembered their

anniversary and how many years they'd been married.

It's a joke. He did the dishes and served his

wife and did all the things. He never complained.

He was always looking for, how do I continue

to serve her and love her and push her? towards

righteousness. So. She gets bored in this marriage.

And. My buddy decides that he's going to take

her out for a weekend. They have they've been

married a couple of years at this point, and

he decided he's going to take her out for a weekend,

surprise her. And so he works it out with his

boss where he gets off early. and he's going

to take her away. And he pulls up to the house

and he sees a car in the driveway that's not

his. And so he walks into his house and there

are portions of clothing that is not his of another

male's and all the way up the staircase. And

you can imagine in this moment that his heart

is beating. fast and hard. And he's thinking

to himself, this can't be, nope, this isn't happening.

This is a dream. And he walks into his bedroom

and he finds his wife with another man. And he...

looks at his wife, and in not in anger, he looks

at her and he says, I don't know what I did to

make you want to find love somewhere else, but

I promise I will do better. And she says, no,

I don't love you. This was just kind of a thing.

And he tells her, Hey, listen, I want to do whatever

it takes to fix this. And so they tried. She

did not give really much effort. And she left

him. She left him for the man that she was with.

Well, this is where the story gets really crazy.

And you may be going, this can't be real life

like this. This is a movie and it's a true story.

This woman. ends up getting sold into human trafficking

by this man. And she is gone. Well, my buddy

finds out about it and he sells everything that

he has. He sells his home, sells his cars, all

of his retirement. Cashes it all in and he begins

to go to work trying to find out where she is

He finds out where she's at So he goes into this

brothel and All of the women Get brought out

and he goes in, you know, there's a John And

they have a there's a madam there that runs this

brothel and they all have numbers And his wife

sees him and he sees her, but they don't say

anything because it would mean they're both gonna

die. But he said where he once saw life in her

eyes is now dead. You can tell that she has been

used and abused. And so my buddy takes about

$500 ,000 and he... puts it into the hand of

this madam and he says, I want her. And the madam

says, are you sure? We've got much more younger,

more beautiful women. She is old and used up.

And he says, no, I want her. She says, okay.

And so he grabs her by the hand and he begins

to walk out and he says, I'm buying her for the

rest of her life, which means wherever we go.

you don't come after us because I have paid a

very high price for her." And the brothel owner

says, she doesn't make us money, take her. We

were going to kill her anyway. And my buddy picks

her up, takes her, and he says, I told you. I

told you when we first got married that I would

always pursue you. I would do everything I can

to let you know how beautiful you are to me and

how much you mean to me and how much I care about

you. And I hope that this shows that. Now, that

story should sound familiar to some of you because

it's in here. It's the book of Hosea. And if

you're here going, yeah, but you said your buddy

did that. Yeah. It was a buddy. His name is Jesus

Christ. Because Hosea was going and he literally

buys his wife multiple times off of the slavery

block. And he kept asking God, why? Why is this

woman my wife? And God says, because this is

what it is to see of what the church that I love.

The people who I love, I continually go back

for over and over and one day I'm going to send

someone to show you that I will pay the highest

price to win them back. And Jesus, it says in

John, Jesus was the propitiation, which is a

fancy word for bought at a very high price. Each

and every single one of you were bought with

a price on the cross. You and I both are that

bride who continually goes after all these other

things, thinking that it will fulfill us and

it's not going to. And Jesus continually comes

back and comes back and he's going, I love you.

Don't you see that? I love you. I have paid the

highest price for you. Stop going back to something

that only brings death. Do you see that? And

when he rose from the dead, he ultimately conquered

the curse of sin. Death and hell and the grave

for you and for me and I hope that this morning

this message you would go home Ultimately going

you know what? I can't live any differently.

I have to go and I have to show the gospel and

I have to live out this hope and show it to other

people because it does change your life. And

L of eternity also hinges on this. And I need

to live in a different way because Christ conquered

death, hell sent to the grave. And it's more

than just an Easter bunny. It's more than just

these eggs. It's more than us just gathering

together to eat ham. Yeah. It means a whole lot

more. Yes? So with that being said, if you would

bow your heads with me.