“You have to Move the Stone”
John 11:38-44
Christmas 2025:
Opportunities for Faithfulness
God’s Ultimate Purpose is to Bring Glory to Himself. Our Worship must then be Centered on God’s Glory. God gives us plenty of Opportunities to act in faith and bring Glory to His Name.
Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39“Take away the stone,” Jesus said. “Lord, by now he stinks,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man. “It has already been four days.”40 Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42I knew that You always hear Me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, so they may believe that You sent Me.”43After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”44The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.
1. Faith Must be Tested in Light of an Eternal Perspective and in Christ Promises Today
(vs. 17-27)
21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.”23“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.24Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. 26And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”27“Yes, Lord,” she answered, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
2. Faith Must Triumph in the Likelihood of Extreme problems and in Consistent Pursuit of Truth
32 When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” He asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they answered.35 Jesus wept. 36Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” 37But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?”
3. Faith Must Testify to the Living Proof of Everyday Power through Constant Possibility of Trials.
40 Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, so they may believe that You sent Me.” 43After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.
