Sermon Central
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Roll Away The Stone
Contributed by Mark Aarssen on Apr 7, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: Do you find yourself living like a half dead Christian. Is your faith something that is buried instead of alive in you? You may need Jesus to Roll away the stone keeping you from a Resurrection kind of faith.
Roll Away the Stone
John Chapter 11
Jesus crosses the line and goes back to Judea where his friend Lazarus has died.
Sometimes God will call us and ask us to cross the line.
To go from a place of relative safety to a place of danger.
The last time Jesus was in Judea they tried to kill Him by stoning but this does not stop Him from returning.
His friend needs Him and he needs Jesus badly.
There are times in life when God will ask you and me to cross the line.
Our world has drawn new lines in the sand in an effort to separate us from those who need what only Jesus can give.
Our world says – keep your religion to yourself – we don’t want it here.
Our world says – if you dare to talk about Jesus in this place their will be trouble.
Our world says forget about your friends they are beyond the reach of your Jesus.
Jesus does not worry about their threats or insults or lack of faith – Jesus crosses the line even though they threatened to kill Him the last time.
Jesus love for Lazarus is greater than His fear of death.
Our faith in Jesus should be greater than our fear of death.
It was for this reason that Jesus crossed the line, to show us that the power of God’s love can reach beyond our present circumstances and into death itself in order to bring us back to life.
This is what Mary and Martha did not understand.
They knew Jesus could heal people on this side of the line.
Jesus had healed all kinds of people of all kinds of things, the blind, the deaf, the crippled, those with leprosy, those possessed by demons.
Jesus had healed them all. But now Lazarus was dead he was no longer on this side of the line.
Martha and Mary had their faith tested as never before it crossed a line for them.
Does your faith in Jesus cross the line of the here and now and reach into the hereafter?
Jesus said to Martha…”your brother will rise again.” John 11:24
Martha replied… “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day”
Martha was trying to put on a brave face. She knew her Bible she knew that one day God will bring back to life all those who have died with faith in Him.
But Jesus was not talking about the final resurrection, Jesus was talking about here and now.
Jesus said… “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? John 11:25-26
“Yes Lord she told Him, “I believe that you are the Christ the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
Martha was saying; I believe that you are the one who has crossed the line from Heaven to Earth, that you are the promised one of God, the Son of God sent to save all of us who live in this world.
Friend do you believe that Jesus is the one who can cross the line for you?
Do you believe that Jesus can reach beyond your sickness, beyond your weakness and infirmity to restore you?
Jesus has crossed the line for you. He has come from Heaven to reach out to you here on earth.
You may feel very much like Lazarus, you may feel that you are dead laying in a tomb. You may feel that you are sealed up behind some big rock where no one can see you or reach you.
But friend that’s not the case for you or for me.
Jesus has crossed the line. Jesus has stepped forward into your circumstance to show you that He has the power over life and death.
Jesus has the power over your life and your death over my life and my death and just like Lazarus Jesus says…
“Roll away the stone”. John 11:39
Jesus is not going to leave us to the grave.
Jesus is calling us out of the grave even now.
Jesus is calling us to a life in Him.
A life that is changed by His power and presence in us.
“Friends don’t be discouraged, He’s still the same, He’ll roll back the stone, and He’ll call out your name.”
Our God is the God of the living. Our God sent Jesus the “I am” of the Resurrection to call us out of our tomb and into a Resurrected life.
We can have that life here and now, it can begin today.
Ask Jesus to call you out of your tomb and into His presence.
There is no stone He cannot roll away.
Step out to the sound of His voice and come alive in Him.
Cross the line from death to life – Amen.
