Take Away The Stone (John 11:17-44 Jeff Kliewer)

Good morning. We are gonna get started in one minute. I know there's people flowing in and finding seats. We should see more and more people flow in. So if you see someone looking for a seat and you have something next to you or you can slide over or allow them to get in, that would be fantastic.

Thank you for coming to Cornerstone today. My name is Michael. We're gonna be singing a little bit. And I really am excited to see everyone this morning, visitors. All right, let's stand together. He is risen.

God sent his son. They called him Jesus. He came to love. To buy my Savior. Great today is because it is finished.

We deserved, and Jesus died on that cross. He rose again. He's seated on the throne. He paid the price of the debt that we owed so that we could live forever with him if we put our faith in him. Praise the Lord for that.

We celebrate, sing with me.

All sufficient merit shining like the sun. Fortune. I, I know work I have done. My righteousness I forfeit at my Savior's cross. Where all sufficient merit did what I could not without to die. The most efficient.

The Empty Tomb and the Resurrection of Jesus

For joining us at Cornerstone this morning. For anyone visiting this morning, we wanna give you a special welcome. We have some ushers that are in the back. They're gonna come forward. And if you are new here, you've never been here before, or you've been here a few times, and you've never received our welcome packet, our visitor packet, please just slip up your hand and one of our guys will give it to you.

It includes a pen, a Connect card, and the Gospel of John. Today, Pastor Jeff will be continuing in the book of John and he will be in chapter 11. If you need one of those, I encourage you to get one.

Fill out the Connect card. If you fill out that Connect card, give it to one of these guys here. Anybody up here on the platform will get it to the right people. We wanna thank you for coming and that is our way of just connecting with you.

Thank you so much for coming. Also, another thing you can do is you can text the word WELCOME to the number on the screen, 856 -326 -2228. That also connects us via text. We'll send you a greeting. And we are really appreciating that you came today to spend the Lord's Day with us on this Resurrection Sunday.

John Laskin, our sister pastor, is here. He's gonna share some words and some announcements.

Morning, Michael.

He is risen.

He is risen indeed.

Amen, praise the God for all of that. Some 2 ,000 years ago, Mary and Mary walked early in the morning. They had seen their Messiah, their Lord, on the cross. They had heard that word, Tetelestai. And what did they think that meant?

Because they saw the dead body. They saw the body carried into a tomb and the stone rolled. But they went in obedience because they needed to anoint the body for burial, not having any idea how they were gonna get in because of the massive stone.

God in his sovereignty created an earthquake. The stone was rolled away. The Roman seal was broken. And Mary and Mary got up there and saw an empty, excuse me, they saw an opening. They had access. The stone was rolled away.

But then they went in and they saw an empty tomb. What was going on in their mind at that point in time? But God provided an angel. These words are recorded in Mark 16, verses six and seven. Don't be alarmed.

You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they lay him. I don't know where journeys have brought you here this morning, but I do know that the message is the same for all of us.

He is risen and the challenge is to seek after it. I want you to concentrate on two things in this passage. You are looking for Jesus, be seeking after him. He is, he is the resurrection and the life.

And then come with full assurance because he is risen. And we are here with that assurance this morning. I only have a couple of very brief announcements. We are together today, worshiping and celebrating this wonderful blessing that God gave to us.

And we are going to spend time with family and friends. We encourage you to remember, to take time with your heart, to intentionally remember the Christ child, the Christ man who hung on the cross and has risen from the dead.

Take time as a family, as a person to remember that. And we encourage you to do that with your families. We are not going to meet tonight for our corporate prayer time. We encourage you to spend time with your families.

Let's go to prayer. For I delivered unto you for first importance that which I also received, that Christ died according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was risen on the third day according to the scriptures.

Father, we come to you praising you for these truths. Only you could die the death necessary. And in truth, you were buried in a tomb, but in your sovereign power, you were risen even as was foretold.

Father, we come to you this morning celebrating victory that was won on the cross and eternal hope ensured at the empty tomb. Father, we confess our sins and we stand at awe at the obedient love displayed by your son dying for my sin, for our sins.

We rejoice in the Holy Spirit that now lives within us. And so today, Father, we pray by your grace that we would see with eyes in surrender to your sovereignty with hearts made new, cleansed by the blood of the lamb.

Anoint us, we pray, to hear these words of encouragement, to hear these words of truth. Prepare Pastor Jeff as he speaks them, we pray. Jesus' name, amen.

Will you stand with me as we sing before Pastor Jeff comes?

On the hill of Calvary, my Savior bled for me, my Jesus set me free. At the wounds that give me life, grace flowing from His side, no greater sacrifice. What He's done, what He's done, all the glory and the honor to the Son.

My sins are forgiven, my future is heaven. I praise God for what He's done. Freedom He has won, even death is dead and done, His life has overcome. Speak, say the name above all names, over every broken place.

He is risen from the grave. What He's done, all the glory and the honor to the Son. My sins are forgiven, my future is heaven. I praise God for what He's done. On a throne of majesty, the fathers will complete.

He reigns in victory. Sing, hallelujah to the King. He is worthy to receive all the worship we can bring. What He's done, all the glory and the honor to the Son. My sins are forgiven, my future is heaven.

What He's done to the Son. My sins are forgiven. I praise God.

You may be seated.

Death, Sin, and the Hope of Resurrection

He is risen. Don't you guys love that tradition? Let's pray. God, this morning we thank you for at least two miracles. First, that Jesus was raised from the dead, conquering death, overcoming the grave.

Thank you for raising the Son of God. We thank you also that you have raised us from sin and death. You have made our hearts to believe the news about Jesus Christ, which is itself a miracle because we were dead in our sins.

And you have opened our eyes spiritually to see the truth. You've made our hearts to beat and to believe in Jesus. And now, Lord, we pray that through the preaching of the word, that those who hear would receive a miracle, that you would open their hearts to believe, that all of us who hear these words would believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

The stone that sealed Jesus' tomb was intended by Rome to seal his fate forever. They were sure that he was dead and gone and nothing could change that. And especially considering the kind of death that he suffered.

He was scourged before his crucifixion, 39 lashes on his back. Many people would die just from the scourging, yet he survived that and carried his cross until he buckled under the weight of it. Up to Calvary, he laid down on the tree and he was pierced through his hands and through his feet.

Bleeding profusely, he was hoisted up and suffered and died on the cross. After he breathed his last, when his body was no longer heaving for air, a spear was taken and put into his side and his heart was pierced and out gushed blood and water, draining what blood was left in his body.

The cross was taken to the ground and his hands and his feet were removed, which was itself a gruesome ordeal to remove that spear, that spike through the hands and the feet. And then he was put in the tomb and it was sealed with stone.

Now that stone represents death's finality. It's sealed in stone. There's no coming back from this. Rome considered him done away with forever. Now the stone speaks the finality of death, but the word of God had spoken of the resurrection of the Messiah.

In Isaiah 53, we learn that the Messiah would suffer and he would be buried with the rich and with the wicked in his death. But after the suffering of his soul, he would prolong his days. He would see light.

He would see light. This was the promise of God. Likewise, David wrote of the coming Messiah, you will not let your Holy One see corruption. Psalm 16. So the word of God said that the Messiah, the Holy One, would not decay in the grave, but that he would resurrect.

Which is unbreakable, the word of God or the stone that sealed the tomb? Which is stronger, death or the word of God? Nahum 1 verse six says, the rocks are broken into pieces by him. On that day, now nearly 2000 years ago, God spoke from heaven, an earthquake on earth and an angel rolled away the stone.

He could have shattered it into pieces, but he knew that it was a borrowed tomb. Somebody else was gonna need that tomb. He had to deliver it back the way he found it. He was only there for a short time.

The stone was rolled away. God spoke, Jesus took back his life. The spirit resurrected the Son of God and Jesus rose from the dead. This is the most miraculous thing that's ever happened. The most marvelous thing, the most consequential thing.

Jesus conquered death.

Do you believe it?

Everyone in this room and listening online faces the same cold, hard reality, and that is death. Everyone dies. It's a destination that appears to be sealed in stone. But turn with me to John chapter 11.

Today we'll be reading from John 11 verses 17 and following. And by the providence of God, I didn't plan this for an Easter sermon. This was not a resurrection day sermon. It just so happens that as we've been going verse by verse, chapter by chapter through the book of John, we come to this resurrection story here in the middle of John 11.

So it was easy just to continue on. The first 16 verses are very important. It kind of sets the stage for what happens next. It appears in the first 16 verses that Jesus doesn't care, at least from the perspective of Mary and Martha, because they sent word to Jesus that their brother Lazarus was very ill and was about to die.

And the text makes a very careful note in verses five and six that when Jesus heard about Lazarus, he stayed right where he was. They sent for him and because he loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, he stayed right where he was.

In other words, it looks like he's indifferent. He could have come to help, but instead he deliberately chooses to stay and let Lazarus die. That's an important point. Make note of it for later on as Mary comes into the story.

He let Lazarus die and this is called love. How could these things be? Let's pick up the story at verse 17. Now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. So Jesus had taken two extra days where he was and then he took his time coming up to Bethany.

And by the time he gets there, Lazarus was already in the tomb four days. Why do you think he lingered for so long? Well, I think it's clear from the text that it was God's will and God's intention that Lazarus would die and be buried for four days.

In other words, this is not going to be a resuscitation or a near-death experience. You guys have heard these stories about people who've had near-death experiences and they have some vision of heaven or something.

It could just be their brainwaves firing in their dying and then they're resuscitated, they're brought back. This is not what happens in verse 17. The text makes clear it's been four days. This is no mere resuscitation.

What has to happen at this point is a resurrection. Lazarus is dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Notice here that people are dealing with death differently. They're consoling one another. They're trying to cope with death.

But what is death? Maybe you've never stopped to think about it. What is death? Why is it that everybody dies? Death is wages. Death is wages. It's what God pays us for what we've done. And what have we done that deserves death?

Well, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Adam and Eve were told in the Garden of Eden that if they ate from the forbidden fruit, what God had outlawed, they would surely die. And in the same way, all of us break God's laws at some point, and the consequence of breaking the law is death.

Early on after the story of Adam and Eve, you come to Genesis chapter five, and you hear about one person after another, and the text repeats, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died.

You get the point. It will go on like this until God comes to the rescue. And he died, and he died, and you'll die, and I'll die. Death comes for us all. Recently, I heard in the news that a Holocaust survivor had made a viral video about what she went through.

She is now 84 years old, and she shows people the tattoo on her arm where the Nazis had marked her for death. She had been reduced to a number, and when her number would have come up, she would have been killed in the concentration camp.

But by God's grace, she escaped. For some unknown reason to us, not all escaped. But one of the people who was running that concentration camp, she was not a soldier. She was the secretary that was processing papers for the camp.

Her name was Irmgard Feuchner. She is now 97 years old, and it was discovered that she was complicit in the concentration camp. Do you know that Germany issued a warrant for her arrest? 97 years old. This just happened in December, 2022.

And when she heard that a warrant was issued for her arrest, she went on the run. Can you imagine 97 years old running for her life? And the long arm of the law captured her and sentenced her to prison.

All of us are Feuchners, not having done that particular sin, but having sinned in some way. All of us, even the ones who were condemned like Tova Friedman, innocently as a child, was still not innocent of any sin.

For all who break even the smallest law written in the word have become a lawbreaker. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. None of us can look at each other and say, you know what, I'm not as bad as Feuchner.

I wasn't part of the concentration camps. I've never done anything like that. The truth of the matter is all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We compare ourselves with one another, and we might think we're doing okay.

But death testifies that we're not okay. I'm getting gray in my beard. That's a sign of aging, impending death. All of us face this reality. And see, what's happening in the text here is people are coping with death.

There's coping strategies. There are professional mourners and friends that have come to Mary and Martha's house. In the text here, they're grieving and consoling. And Mary and Martha deal differently with the death of their brother.

This is very important in verse 20. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated.

In the house.

Martha heard Jesus was coming, and she ran for him. She went to meet him. Mary stayed put.

She was wounded.

Remember earlier in the chapter, I mentioned that they had sent for Jesus, and he deliberately did not come.

They know that.

And they're wondering why. And Mary is hurt. She's sitting in her pain and not willing to come see Jesus as he approaches. Everybody has different coping mechanisms. I love watching videos. I commend this to you.

The videos of a guy named Ray Comfort. He's an evangelist out in California. Good thing there's still evangelists in California, amen? He goes to a place called Huntington Beach. He rides out there on his bicycle, and he's got this little white dog in the basket, and he talks to people and asks them always the same question.

Do you believe there's an afterlife? And then he asks them what they think about the afterlife, and each person answers differently, and all of them are trying to cope with the reality that's bigger than them.

One girl said, I always try not to think about the afterlife, but I keep thinking about it, and it's really creepy. Another guy was asked if he, and he said that he believed in reincarnation, and so Ray Comfort said, oh, well, what do you think you'll come back as after you die?

He said, no, I think it was a girl, actually, because she said, I think I'm coming back as a butterfly, and Ray Comfort said, oh, so you'll live a couple days and then get eaten by a cat. It's no good answer to the problem of death.

People cope in different ways and come up with different ideas, try to chase it out of their mind, try not to think about it. One guy said he's very glad that death is coming because in his life, nothing is constant and sure.

At least with death, he knows there's something constant, something sure to happen. I'm not sure he's thought that through as carefully as he ought to, because though it's constant and though it's sure, it's the end of the matter.

And the Bible says that after death, we must face judgment and give an account for every careless word we've ever spoken. Stand before the throne of God and give an account, and none of us are righteous.

So that ought to be a terrifying proposition. All we can do is console one another, comfort one another, cope with the reality of our coming death, chase it out of our mind, but there has never been a person who could solve the problem.

Even your own mother, she loves you more than anyone. She brought you into the world. She can't help you out of the grave. She would if she could, right? But who can resurrect the dead? This is the good news of John 11.

Let's read it, verses 21 to 27. Martha said to Jesus, so she's the one who's run to him. She said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.

Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. You see, pause there. She's a Jewish person. She's been raised with Daniel 12, verse two, that there's coming a day when God will raise the dead from the dust of the earth, some to everlasting life and others to everlasting punishment.

She knows there's coming a resurrection, but Jesus has more to say. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this?

Now, those are earth-shaking words. He claimed to be the resurrection and the life. Who talks like that? He even said that if you believe in him, you'll never die. In what sense? Well, if death is wages, if death is being paid for what you've done, he's saying that he paid that for you.

To die is not to go into some everlasting darkness or into some hell, a fire. And punishment, it is simply to move from life to life, from life in this world to life with God. So in that sense, you don't die.

You're not punishment. There's no punishment. There are no wages for you to pay. How did Jesus pay the wages that you owed, that you were owed? How did he satisfy that on your behalf? You know, you might one day get a knock on the door from a Jehovah's Witness.

And the Jehovah's Witness will tell you that Jesus is a God. He was created by God, and he did die on the cross as a created being that God made. If Jesus is a created being that God made, he cannot die for your sin.

My friend, Philip, the evangelist, and I were at Princeton, and we were speaking with this young man. He was Chinese, student at Princeton, and he had not heard of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And when we told him about how Jesus is the one who stepped in and paid the fine, it's like as if you're accused in a court of law of having sped repeatedly, and you have this pile of speeding tickets.

Jesus is the one who has come and paid those off, and the judge can justly let you go because he paid the fine. And this young man said to us, okay, I get that, that sounds like justice, but I don't get for more serious crimes.

Like if there was a murderer, and somebody else came and went to jail for the murderer, that just seems like injustice. Like that's two injustices, the murder, and then somebody else is being punished for the murder rather than the person who did it.

And he was troubled by this. He couldn't understand how one could pay the penalty for another and justice still be served. Here's the answer. When Jesus claimed, I am the resurrection and the life, he was not claiming to be some created being stepping in for another or just another ordinary man.

He is claiming to be the offended God who now comes into the world and takes the penalty in himself. Consider what forgiveness is. When you forgive someone, you're bearing that burden. You're taking the weight of it off of them.

If Jesus was a created being, it would be injustice. But if Jesus is the resurrection and the life, he is God in flesh. He's taking the punishment in himself. God is bearing the weight of our sin. And so he can justly forgive the sinner.

When Jesus claims, I am the resurrection and the life, he's claiming, I am God in flesh. It's the only way our wages could be paid. He also said, I am the light of the world.

I am the door.

That means the way. He said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. He claimed to be the I am. Before Abraham was born, I am. He's claiming to be God having come in flesh. And so he can pay the wages of sin that you would not have to die in eternal suffering.

And so he can raise you from the dead. Whoever promised something like this before? Did any other religious leader claim to be able to rescue you from death and resurrect you once you die? This is your perennial problem.

The biggest problem in your life. That whatever else happens to you, whatever good you do, you cannot keep yourself alive. And only Jesus claims to solve that problem. Not just help you cope with it, but solve it.

I'll raise you up. Can you trust him? I mean, first of all, who talks like that? You gotta take him seriously when he makes a claim like that but consider who he is and the reliability of what he said.

What evidence do we have that he really can do this? He is the one who spoke like no one else before him. He is the one that taught us the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Turn the other cheek. Love your enemies. The parables of the lost coin and the lost sheep and the lost son and the father who runs to the prodigal come home. The beautiful imagery, whoever spoke like Jesus spoke.

It's not the words of a lunatic. It's words that changed the world and built the culture in which we live. The words of Jesus testify that this is no ordinary man. Who speaks like this? You can trust him by his words.

You can trust him by his works. Whoever did the things that he did, rescuing the needy, helping the poor, healing the sick. And even after he ascended into heaven, do you know that the greatest acts of charity in the history of the world have been done in his name?

Samaritan's Purse, the Salvation Army, the Red Cross. Helping people in every disaster, in every form of need. St. Jude's Hospital, helping kids with cancer. Or mercy ships that sail across the ocean and park.

They don't really park, they dock. They dock at a port. And little kids with cleft palates that have been embarrassed their whole life by the way they look. They come and in the name of Jesus, they're surgically repaired.

This happens every day all over the world in the name of Jesus. The most read book, the most published book in every language in the world is the Bible. And from cover to cover, it's the story of Jesus.

The Bible is what has taught the most people to read as it goes into different languages and people translate it and then literacy has followed where the Bible has gone. Did you ever think about time itself?

What year is it?

2023.

Time itself is measured by the appearing of this man, Jesus. Time is divided BC before Christ, before Christ and AD in the year of our Lord. Even for those who don't accept his Lordship, they still write 2023 with reference to his appearing when they write a check or fill out a paper.

Time itself, who else has miracles attested and eyewitnesses who are willing to die for what they saw? Peter, James and John. They saw him rise from the dead and they were so convinced that they themselves laid down their lives for the testimony they were given.

Who but Jesus has prophecies written hundreds of years before he came into the world about his birth to a virgin, the time of his birth, the place of his birth in Bethlehem, everything he would do in the flesh, the details of his death in Psalm 22, his rising from the dead in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 16 and so many other places.

Who else is testified by the change that is made in the lives of people who claim his name? Drug addicts, I've known them, set free in the name of Jesus. People set free from every form of addiction, depression healed in his name.

Who else but Jesus has this credibility behind the things he says and I'm here to tell you this morning, he is claiming that he can raise you from the dead. Martha simply believed, look at her in verse 27.

Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God who is coming into the world and all the gospel of John is pointing you to that moment. Something so simple to simply believe. Martha got it and it was simple and it was easy.

So I guess I should say, amen, praise the Lord, hallelujah. My sermon's over, but you guys know me too well for that, right, I got to go at least another 15 minutes because the word of God is so good and you know what, there is something more here that I think is very important for somebody listening.

The intellectual evidence is there and Martha simply got it, but Martha's sister did not get it because there was what appeared to her to be counter evidence. What about the suffering in the world? What about that concentration camp?

And Martha, what about my beloved brother and God, I asked you to come heal him, I prayed and you lingered for two more days and then strolled up to Bethany and he's dead. And Mary is heartbroken. You see, Mary teaches us about the wounded heart before God and there are many people who listen to the gospel and intellectually they kind of want to believe because the evidence frankly is overwhelming, you can't deny it.

The prophecies, the eyewitnesses and yet there's something in your heart that says, I prayed and my dad still died or the person that I knew who, he was the best of men. Why did he have to die? You see, death breaks hearts and Mary is a broken woman.

28, and following when she had said this, she, this is Martha, went and called her sister, Mary saying in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you. And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.

Now there's a sermon to be preached about how the good shepherd cares for all of his sheep and he calls them by name. In her pain, she didn't get up to come see him like Martha did, but when he called her by name, she came.

Verse 30, now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to weep there.

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Word for word, the same thing that Martha said to him, word for word, which means I think they had been talking about it, they knew that Jesus didn't come when they called.

But what's different between Mary and Martha, Martha comes to him, she readily runs to him, Mary doesn't, and when she finally does, it says here in the text that she fell at his feet. It's not so much here a picture of worship, but a picture of being completely devastated.

She's so broken by the death of her brother, she crumples, crumbles before him. And she cries out to him, Lord, you didn't come. If you had come, she is pouring out her heart. And the answer that Jesus gives is not a proposition, it's not just words.

He tells Martha, I am the resurrection and the life and I'll raise the dead. He doesn't say that to Mary. I want you to see what he does. Verse 34, actually go back to 33. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. And in these two words, he touches the heart. Jesus wept. So the Jews said, see how he loved him. Jesus wept.

Jesus wept.

Jesus who can raise the dead. Jesus who made the world, who allows people to die. And it seems to the world that he doesn't care. Jesus wept. This is a beautiful picture of the heart of our God. There are many people who look at the world around us and they decide by their logic, there must not be a God.

What if there was a car approaching a stoplight and a young family was walking in the crosswalk and the man driving the car went to hit the brakes. But when he hit the brakes, the brakes failed and the car plowed through that young family.

Nobody would say, well, there's no such thing as a car manufacturer. You would say something went wrong. And that is how it is in this world today. There is beauty everywhere. There is evidence everywhere that God is God.

The handiwork of God is on display in the sun, in the stars, in the beauty of the world that he's made, in you and the way that you think and process information. In your DNA, which is like a book of code that causes your body to become what it is.

And your eyes to form in your head. These are not accidental, but something went wrong. And that is sin and death entered the world in the garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned, something broke and death came into the world because of sin.

And so he died and he died and he died and he died. Death is in the world because of sin. But here's the point of Jesus wept. The God who made the world cares deeply. He loves you. And even if he doesn't answer your prayers the way you ask him to, it doesn't mean he doesn't care.

He has bigger purposes. And that purpose is the glory of God. We'll learn about that more in coming weeks. But see now what he does for Lazarus. And we'll close here. Verses 38 to 44. Then Jesus deeply moved again.

He's not indifferent. He sees your pain and he feels it. He is familiar with suffering and acquainted with grief. Everything that you've endured, every pain that you felt that has hardened your heart and distanced you from God.

Maybe you've even concluded there must not be a God. This is the God who made you. He does care. He's deeply moved. He came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it. That stone should have sealed the deal.