Title: Who Will Role the Stone Away from the Tomb? 04/19/06
West Side
Text: Mark 16:1-8 A.M. Service
Purpose: Easter Service: Only Jesus has the power to remove the stone in your life.
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Introduction
The Story:(1)
April 26, 2003, started as a routine Saturday of climbing for Aron Ralston, an avid outdoorsman and mountain climber. He planned to spend the day riding his mountain bike and climbing the red rocks and sandstone just outside the Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah. The area is some of the most desolate and intriguing wilderness in the lower 48 states with areas of buttes, mesas and convoluted canyons.
Ralston had climbed alone before plenty of times. He had scaled all 59 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks, 45 of them solo in winter, and this outing was a warm-up for an ascent of North America’s highest mountain, 20,320-foot tall Mount McKinley.
Ralston, 27, of Aspen, Colorado, parked his pickup truck at the Horseshoe Canyon Trailhead and took off on his mountain bike for the 15-mile ride to the Bluejohn Canyon Trailhead where he locked his mountain bike to a juniper tree.
Dressed in a T-shirt and shorts and carrying a backpack he planned to canyoneer down remote Bluejohn Canyon and hike out adjacent Horseshoe Canyon to where he parked his truck and then go back for the mountain bike. His backpack contained two burritos, less than a liter of water, a cheap imitation of a Leatherman brand multi-tool, a small first aid kit, a video camera, a digital camera and rock climbing gear. The backpack did not contain a jacket or extra clothing. Canyoneering is where a climber uses rock-climbing skills, ropes and gear to negotiate narrow slot canyons.
Ralston was 150-yards above the final rappel in Bluejohn Canyon. He was maneuvering in a 3-foot wide slot trying to get over the top of a large boulder wedged between the narrow canyon walls. He climbed up the boulder face and it seemed very stable as he stood on top. As he began to climb down the opposite side the perfectly balanced 800-pound rock shifted several feet, pinning his right arm - he was trapped.
Within the first hour after becoming trapped Ralston had calculated his options and came up with four possible solutions.
• Someone would happen along and rescue him.
• He would be able to chip away at the rock and free his hand.
• He would be able to rig up something with the ropes and equipment he had to move the rock.
• If all else failed, he would need to sever the arm.
Death was a 5th possibility that Ralston didn’t want to consider.
In another article, Sheriff’s Sgt. Mitch Vetere told NBC’s “Today” show that the team that went to the site concluded “he had no other option” but to cut off his arm because the air-based search team “wouldn’t have seen him from the air.” (2)
He had concluded that his only decision was to take drastic action.
The last line of another article said, “He never gave up, and he saved himself.”
What a touching story. “Aron Ralston sacrifices his right arm to save his life.”(3)
It’s a wonderful story of the human will and spirit to live. He is a remarkable young man.
But it’s one of those last statements that caught my attention. “He never gave up, and saved his himself.” That may be an important statement of survival if you’re pinned under an 800 pound boulder in the desert, but spiritually speaking that is the kind of thinking that gets us into trouble.
Remember his options?
• Someone would happen along and rescue him.
• He would be able to chip away at the rock and free his hand.
• He would be able to rig up something with the ropes and equipment he had to move the rock.
• If all else failed, he would need to sever the arm.
We try the same things spiritually:
A. I’m going to continue to live my life my way, and if I’m really in trouble, then someone will find me and tell me. But who are you to tell me what’s right and wrong.
B. Or we try to chip away at being good. We’re really not interested in drastic decisions yet, we’ve got time.
C. Or we try to rig something up. We’ll try to figure something out. It might not be perfect but I’ve gotten by this far in life, a little while longer won’t hurt me.
D. And if nothing else works, well then, I just might try God.
Question: But what happens when the stone of life comes crashing down around us? Where, we too, thought we were on stable ground one minute, and the next we can’t get up, and the prospect spiritually is that unless something changes we’ll not be able to save ourselves, and we find ourselves giving up.
You know on Palm Sunday, when Jesus was riding in on the colt, and people lined the streets waving and singing, the reality was that they too were just living for the temporary and the immediate. Jesus, give us what we need now, and we’ll figure something out in the long run. They really didn’t know who the enemy was. They thought it was Rome, they didn’t realize that the stone of sin, had pinned them into a situation they could not escape on their own.
Question again: “Who will roll the stone away from the tomb?”
TEXT: Read Mark 16:1-8
Background:
1. Jesus has been crucified, they saw him die, and now has been laid to rest in a borrowed tomb.
2. They really didn’t think he’d return. Look at their actions
a. They were returning to the tomb the very day Jesus said He’d return. (burial ointments)
b. They were asking, “Who will roll the stone away from the tomb?”
Like many today, they loved the Lord, and followed him, but only with their head, not their heart.
When Jesus died for our sins, he not only
a. brought life so that we could have it more abundantly
b. He conquered sin and death
c. And told his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them. That when everything was ready, he’d come again to take them home.
What separates this story from all other religions? It is that Jesus Christ arose from the dead and is alive today.
Illustration:
Nothing But an Empty Tomb (4)
A Moslem said to a Christian, "We Moslems have one thing you Christians do not have. When we go to Medina (Saudi Arabia), we find a coffin and know that that Mohammed lived because his body is in it. But when, you Christians go to Jerusalem, you find nothing but an empty tomb."
"Thank you!" exclaimed the Christian. "What you say is absolutely true, and that makes the eternal difference. The reason we find an empty tomb is because we serve a risen Christ."
Question again: “Who will roll the stone away from the tomb?” Or better yet, “Who will roll the stone away from my life?”
I. Allow Jesus to Role Away the Stone of Separation
A. MT 27:51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
B. Throughout the Old Testament, God had required that in the temple, the Holy of Holies, the place where God himself would send his presence, to be separated from the rest by a huge, thick, curtain.
C. The High Priest, once a year would enter this place in holy reverence, and with strict protocol so as to match the desires and requirements of the law.
D. In fact, he would wear bells on his robe, and a cord would be fastened to his ankle, so that they could continue to hear him moving. For if for some reason he would die, they would be able to pull him out.
E. No one could just enter into God’s presence.
But when Jesus Christ died on the cross, that veil of separation was torn. And it was not just torn it was torn from top to bottom.
Its significance was that now through the body of Christ, we can have free access to God our heavenly Father.
Hebrews 9:11-12; 28 “So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered the great, perfect sanctuary in heaven, not made by human hands and not part of this created world. Once for all time he took blood into the most holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves. He took his won blood, and with it he secured our salvation forever…Christ died only once as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people.
Hebrews 10:19-232 “And so, dear brothers we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because the blood of Jesus. This is the new, life giving way that Christ has opened up for us through the sacred curtain, by means of his death for us.
And since we have a great high Priest who rules over God’s people, let us go right into the presence of God, with true hears fully trusting Him.”
In Christianity one can worship God anytime, anywhere.
Application:
1. If you feel isolated and alone, trapped by what life might have brought your way, I’ve got great news.
2. Jesus rolls the stones of separation away, and replaces it with the ability to come to him.
3. Many today are being lead astray because of what they think are alternative ways to come to Jesus. But the problem is that they remain separated.
a. Di Vinci Code: Jesus married
b. Jesus Papers: Jesus survived and was seen later
c. Gospel According to Judas: That it was a setup plan
But Jesus says, in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
If you thought that God was unapproachable, that you’d done too many things that would cause God to stop loving you, those are things that Satan is trying to use to continue that separation.
God says, nothing can cause God to stop loving you, and he sent his Son to die for you. And with his death and resurrection, you too, today, can find a release. Come to Jesus.
II. Realize that Jesus Rolls Away the Stone of Sin.
Romans 6:5-8 “Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was. Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life.”
Stephen D. Green (5)
“We don’t have to look very closely in our world before we discover a startling fact: sin is everywhere. Its universality is seen not only in evil acts and thoughts but also in a power that seems to hold human beings in its grip. There is not a person who has not known the reigning and ruling power of sin. They pass us on the streets, they work with us in the marketplace, they sing with us at church, they eat with us in our homes, they are us!”
Paul in the Roman writing was counteracting the thought that if God’s grace abounds over sin, then if we sin more, we’ll get more of God’s grace. To which he heartedly answers, NO!
“The great mistake in this perception is that it fails to understand that the grace of God not only forgives the sinner but also frees him from the reign and rule of sin.” (6)
Green continues, “The consequence of sin is death, and it entered the world through Adam’s disobedience. The consequence of grace is life, and it entered the world through Christ’s obedience.” (251)
In verse 11 it reads, “So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus.”
This word consider is in the present tense, which denotes action in progress, or habitual action The believer is commanded to continually consider himself dead to sin and alive to God. (Green, 254)
The domination of sin will affect the believer until by the grace of God one places one’s life and resources at God’s disposal. It is then that sin loses its dominion over the believer, for grace has had its full effect. The law demands obedience and is dependent upon human effort to accomplish this obedience. Grace is the giving activity of God, which accomplishes His will through those who will let Him. Placing one’s self and resources at God’s disposal allows Him to both will and do.” (Green, 255-56)
What Paul is trying to say here is that, “Into this bondage comes the good news: in our coming to Christ we are passing through His death and resurrection. In the grace of God that is allowing us to die with Christ, we have died to sin. It no longer has any sovereign power over us. We are free, yes free indeed! Our old self was crucified with Christ, and this has caused the body of sin to be rendered powerless in our lives.
But there is a problem, believer are continuing to allow the dethroned power of sin to dominate their lives.
When we consider ourselves dead to sin, it means that we’ll allow what God has done in Christ Jesus to so affect my thoughts, faith, and actions that the sanctifying of my life will be the result.
Application:
1. This means, that we don’t save or sanctify ourselves, like in the illustration of the hiker, where we don’t ever give up.
2. But rather, we do give up, we do surrender, and we allow Christ’s work in us to deliver us from the bondage of sin.
3. We no longer have to be captivated by it. We can live free from sin.
I’ve heard people say, “that we sin in every thought word or deed” so if that’s true, and I’m tempted now, why not just give in to it? Rather, Jesus came and died, and rose again, so that we can be delivered. We don’t have to walk on egg shells, that we can live victorious.
Allow Christ to roll the stone of sin hardened heart away, and replace it with the sweetness of his presence and work in our lives.
Illustration:
Eliminate the Little Sins (7)
When a person becomes a Christian, he usually undergoes some radical life changes, especially if he has had an immoral background. Through the first steps of spiritual growth and self-denial, he gets rid of the large, obvious sins. But sad to say, many believers stop there. They don’t go on to eliminate the little sins that clutter the landscape of their lives. Gordon MacDonald, in his book “Ordering Your Private World”, told of an experience in his own life that illustrates this truth. “Some years ago, when Gail and I bought the old abandoned New Hampshire farm we now call Peace Ledge, we found the site where we wished to build our country home strewn with rocks and boulders. It was going to take a lot of hard work to clear it all out....
The first phase of the clearing process was easy. The big boulders went fast. And when they were gone, we began to see that there were a lot of smaller rocks that had to go too. But when we had cleared the site of the boulders and the rocks, we noticed all of the stones and pebbles we had not seen before. This was much harder, more tedious work. But we stuck to it, and there came the day when the soil was ready for planting grass.”
It seems that many have this process reversed. Before Salvation they are very concerned about the small sins in life, and work hard at showing God how "good" they have been on the small stuff, (i.e. I go to church, I don’t drink or swear...etc...) The problem is that they are still pinned beneath the larger stone of sin. It would be like Aron Ralston, while pinned under the large rock, sweating the little pebbles on a different ledge.
The converse is also true that after salvation, we think, "thank you Lord for removing the large stone of sin" yet continue to walk around with the small stones or pebbles in our shoe that the Lord wants to remove, yet saying, no, no, you took the large stone, I don’t want to get rid of the small pebbles of sin.
Jesus came not only to free from sin, but to destroy sin as well.
Conclusion:
You see, the people were so concentrated on the obstacle “the stone” that they almost missed the Savior. The angel said, “He’s not here…He’s alive.”
They sent them off to tell others…, and that “Jesus had gone before them…”
Question: “Who will roll away the stone from the tomb?” It’s Jesus. He’s cleared the way for us to come, and he’s provided victory over sin.
Today, won’t you allow Jesus to remove the stones of life, so that we might experience the savior? You don’t have to wait for a drastic decision, or the last chance in life.
The rescuers were amazed at Ralston’s will to live. A helicopter likely would not have found him because of his position in the deep and narrow slot canyon.
Like Ralston, many people are stuck in sin, but Jesus came to roll the stone away.
Instead of the stone we get the Savior!
Footnotes
1.Climb-utah.com (Nationwidespeakers.com (Info taken from story about Ralston)
2. Rockclimbing.com
3. CMU.edu
4. Source: (The Speakers Quote Book, Nelson, page 64) Contributed by: Francis Avila to Sermoncentral weekly newsletter, 04/03/06
5. Stephen D. Green, Biblical Resources for Holiness Preaching (Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, MO 1993) pg. 249
6. IBID, pg. 249
7. Bible.org illustrations, “Our Daily Bread”
