If you will, let's open our Bibles
to the 11th chapter of John's Gospel. John chapter 11. As I've said to you many times,
I deliberately try to think much about sickness and death and
eternity. And in recent weeks and months,
I've had great reason to do so. We have a lot of friends who
are sick. Some are very sick. You're aware
of most of them. Dave Coleman, of course, has
been sick for a couple of years now with his kidney problem awaiting
transplant. And now he's not on the donor
list because of the other difficulties. Ruth Peterson, hopefully, will
be back today or tomorrow or today or next Sunday, but she's
been down with her shoulder. Bill Raleigh is down with his
back for a while. Mark Daniel has had lupus and
it's a slow, slow-killing disease. Mark and Donna are planning to
move soon simply for that reason so they can be near her daughter
or their daughter. But Mark Iverson out in California
has been for several years now dealing with Parkinson's disease. Just a fairly young man, but
Parkinson has taken firm grip on him. Karen Dutra, our friend
in California again, she's taking treatments for cancer. And then
just this week, our friend Bobby Buckner down in Sylacauga, she's
in the hospital, she had a spinal stroke, and she's doing better
than she was, but she's still in great difficulty. We have
a lot of friends here and around the world who are suffering sickness. For some, Sickness may be brief,
or it may just be a brief prelude to death. For others, it's protracted,
and it's something they live with for a long time. Every time
I get a call, or a letter, an email, or a visit telling me
of another friend, a brother or sister in Christ who is gravely
ill, I fall on my face before God and cry, blessed Father,
another of your dear children is sick. helped me to help these
dear friends. Thinking about those things,
my mind has been taken up a good bit with this 11th chapter of
John in the last couple of weeks. Let's read the first seven verses.
You're familiar with this sweet, sweet story of the blessed family
at Bethany, the instructive story of Lazarus, his sickness, his
death, and his resurrection. Now a certain man was sick. named Lazarus of Bethany, the
town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary which anointed
the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sister sent unto
him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When
Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death, but
for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified
thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. And when he had heard, therefore,
that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place
where he was. Then after that, he saith to
his disciples, let us go into Judea again. Martha and Mary saw their brother
Lazarus sick, apparently gravely sick. When they did, they sent
the Lord Jesus a very brief message. They said to him, he whom thou
lovest is sick. He whom thou lovest is sick. I can't think of a better petition
with which to bring our sick friends before our master. Those
who are dearly loved of God, dearly loved of God, frequently
suffer sickness and disease just like all others. Realizing this
fact, we need to understand something about God's purpose in our sicknesses. And it's important for us to
prepare ourselves in times of sickness to honor God our Savior
and to be of help to those who minister to and try to help us.
It's my desire in dealing with this subject that God will enable
me to help you and others of his suffering children to glorify
him at such times and help me to do so as well. True believers
often suffer from sickness and disease in this world, just like
we do from all the other things that afflict fallen sinful men
upon the earth. Sickness does not in any way
imply any lack of faith or any lack of communion or nearness
to God. Sickness is not a sign in any
way of God's displeasure or disfavor. It is not an indication at all
of a lack of faith on our part. Eventually, all of God's people
in this world get sick and die. Job What a remarkable man of
faith Job was. In all his trials, and even after
the trials, and God had blessed him so greatly, at last died. David, the man after God's own
heart, at God's appointed time, gathered his feet in his bed
and slept with his fathers in the grave. Hezekiah, When he
turned his face to the wall and prayed, the Lord God Almighty
healed him temporarily of his disease. He lived another 15
years, but he too died precisely at God's appointed time. His
prayer didn't change God, didn't change God's purpose, didn't
alter a thing. The Lord God purposed that Hezekiah
should suffer the sickness that should cause him to turn to God
in prayer and God would give him the answer of his prayer
and give him those 15 years and he died not during that time. But at the appointed time, Hezekiah
died as well. The fact is, sickness is sent
to us by our Heavenly Father, and it is always sent to us for
our benefit. Sickness is not something God
does to us, but something God does for us. Sickness, aggravating
to our bodies, is often good for our souls. It tends to draw
our affections away from the world. It sends us to our knees. It sends us to Christ. It sends
us to our Bibles. And anything that does that is
good. Sickness reminds us that life
in this world At its best is but a vapor that's soon gone.
Sickness forces us to look to the grave and look beyond the
grave to judgment and beyond judgment to eternity. Whenever
sickness comes, be it nothing but a cold or something as severe
as cancer, let us be patient before God, ever mindful that
sickness is the fruit of sin. Sickness is the forerunner of
death. Sickness and health, life and
death are alike in the hands of God our Savior. For believers,
sickness, however, is never something that ends in death. This sickness
is not unto death, but rather for the believer, when we close
our eyes in the death of these bodies, we only begin to live. I remember my last visit with
Brother Charlie Payne. My dear friend who was an elder
at Ashland for many, many years, I didn't realize how bad he was
physically. I knew he had been having heart
trouble for a long time. But I went in to see him and
when we started to leave, he said, I'll come out of here either
better or well. And that's exactly the result
for all God's people in all our sicknesses. and our sicknesses,
whatever they are, are for the glory of God. Those things ought
to make sickness something that we bear with pain, or bear with
patience, and pain something we endure with patience. You're
familiar, all of you are, with Mary and Martha and their brother
Lazarus. These were three people who trusted
the Lord Jesus. These three people loved the
Savior and they were loved of the Savior. They earnestly sought
the will, honor, and glory of our Lord Jesus. They were saved
people. They saw the glory of God in
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. These three people were among
very few in their day, very few in their day, who realized that
Jesus Christ of Nazareth is himself God, our Savior, and our Redeemer,
and our King. worshiped him as such and the
Lord Jesus loved them. John tells us now Jesus loved
Martha and her sister and Lazarus but Lazarus got sick and the
sickness got worse. Mary and Martha were concerned
and And they knew that the Lord loved them and their brother. They knew the Lord Jesus could
heal Lazarus if he would. So they sent him a message, this
brief, brief message. He whom thou lovest is sick. Blessed are those who can follow
their example of faith, simple, confident faith. The Lord loved
Lazarus, but Lazarus was sick. It's evident then that sickness
is not a sign of God's anger or displeasure. In their time
of need, Martha and Mary turned to the Lord in simple, confident,
submissive faith. They simply informed the Savior
of their trouble. We need to learn something from
this. They didn't know what was best for him to do. They didn't
know what he ought to do. They didn't know what was best
for Lazarus and they didn't know what was best for them. They
didn't ask the Lord to do anything. They didn't demand anything of
him. They simply brought their heart's burden to the Savior
and bowed to him. He whom thou lovest is sick. Knowing Christ's love and power,
they somehow just knew that he would do what's best. And they
fixed their confidence on him. They didn't say he whom we love,
or he who loves you, or he who serves you, or even he who has
great faith in you. They simply said, he whom thou
lovest is sick. And the Lord Jesus, when he received
this note, stayed right where he was until Lazarus died. And then he said, let's go to
Judea. And he went to Martha and Mary
and went to the tomb of Lazarus. Lazarus was dead already. By
the time he arrived there, he had been dead four days. But
our Savior said before he left to go to Judea, this sickness
is not under death, but for the glory of God. With these things
in mind, let's look at a few very practical things with regard
to sickness. First, why does it come? Why does it come? How do you
answer a little child's question? Daddy, why do people get sick
and die? How do you answer the question
of a wife a husband, a mother, a father, a son, or a daughter. What's the reason for this? What's
the cause? This book alone gives us the
answer. And it does give us the answer. And it's a satisfactory answer
for our souls. Sickness, disease, pain, and
death are always the result of sin. One of the great proofs
of original sin is the fact that even babies get sick and die. I have buried infant children,
young children, and old men and women. and the sickness and death
comes because all have sinned. Comes because we are born in
this world as sinners. If there were no sin, there'd
be no sickness, no disease, and no death. Still the question
must be answered. Why do those whose sins are forgiven,
those who are loved of God, get sick? Elijah was translated. Enoch was translated. Why not
all of God's people? Of this, I am certain, God could
prevent it. Pay no attention to those who
would tell you that it is not God's will for you to be sick.
If it's not God's will, you won't be sick. If it is God's will,
you will be sick. I recall back when I was taking
treatments for cancer, this had been 45, 46 years ago, I'm sorry, 42 or 43 years ago,
and I was sick. I couldn't do much. I'd hug a
commode and lay in bed, and I'd get up, preach on Sundays, and
go back through the ordeal for the rest of the week. But I often
would lay in bed and read and study, and then when I was too
tired to do that, I'd turn the radio on, try to find something
worth hearing, and I remember hearing that babbler from Baton
Rouge, Jimmy Swaggart, one morning make the statement, it's not
God's will for you to be sick. If I'd had the strength of me
standing in front of him, I'd have hit him. I just turned it off, and
my response was, this is my father's will, this is what God has done
for me. Not to me, for me. When sickness comes, it comes
by the hand of God, according to the will of God, in precise
obedience to the purpose of God. and sickness comes from God,
there's a good purpose behind it. Often, very often, those
who are loved of God are afflicted with disease and that which causes
them weakness and pain and ultimately ends in death. Our Heavenly Father,
however, has a good purpose in bringing us down upon the bed
of sickness. C.H. Spurgeon is a name you all
know. But you may not know that Spurgeon,
though he appeared to be very robust in health, died as a relatively
young man. He died at 52. He suffered all
his adult life with severe problem with gout and other difficulties. And Spurgeon made this observation.
I venture to say, come on in, so glad you're able to make it.
So glad to have you. I venture to say, that the greatest
earthly blessing, Spurgeon wrote, that God can give to any of us
is health, with the exception of sickness. Sickness has frequently
been of more use to God's saints than health has. I find that
remarkable coming from a man who spent most of his adult life
in some form of sickness. By this means, the Lord tries
and proves the sincerity of both our faith and our love toward
Him. Sickness has a way of humbling
and melting believing hearts, teaching us patience, increasing
us with faith. Sickness, when sanctified to
our hearts by God's Spirit, reminds us of the vanity of this world,
the brevity of life in this world, and of the helplessness of man.
Through pain and sickness, the Lord Jesus will often become
more precious to his redeemed. And sometimes God makes one of
his children sick for the benefit and good of another. Mary and
Martha needed to learn some things. Some things that could only be
taught by the sickness and death of their brother. Sometimes God
brings pain and sickness, adversity, even death for one of his saints
to be a benefit to another. Matthew Henry wrote, sometimes
Christ sees that we need sickness for the good of our souls more
than health for the ease of our bodies. Physical sickness, I
put in the bulletin today, is an instrument by which God makes
his saints more healthy. By weakness, he makes us strong. By need, he teaches us to pray. By great sorrow, he opens the
door for great comfort. Sickness, always for God's children,
is for the glory of God. But what comfort do we have in
such times? Take this comfort. Whatever it
is that you bear in your body, the Lord Jesus himself has been
there. There's a remarkable passage
of scripture in Matthew 8 verse 17 that tells us that Christ
himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. I don't really pretend to know
all that that implies. The scriptures never tell us
that our Savior was sick as you and I are while he walked on
this earth. Certainly it means that he took the sicknesses of
his friends, his brothers, his sisters, his children into his
heart as one with them. Our Lord Jesus went to heal Peter's
mother-in-law. That's the circumstance. And
Matthew, inspired of God, quotes from Isaiah 53, speaking of the
death of Christ and says, he took our infirmities and bear
our sicknesses. Certainly there is implication
then that when our Savior died upon the cursed tree Suffering
all the wrath of God his body wracked with pain filled with
fever Experienced what we experience in sickness weakness pain fever
convulsion all the difficulties that we endure. You see, our
Savior never calls us to walk in a path where he does not lead
the way. He never calls one of his own
to take a step he has not taken, to go to any place he has not
gone. he being touched with the feeling
of our infirmities is able to help us in time of need and Bids
us then come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need Our Savior comes to his
disciples on the sea and they're terrified and He says to them
It is I Be not afraid. Not only does he bear our sicknesses
in his heart, not only has he been there, but he is always
in your company, even in the midst of your greatest pain,
sorrow, and sickness. In the midst of our sicknesses,
The Lord Jesus promises to nurse and help his children to make
their bed comfortable. I recall turning to this Psalm
one day and reading in Psalm 41, three, the Lord will strengthen
him upon the bed of languishing. Thou wilt make all his bed in
his sickness. If you've ever been in a hospital
bed for, several weeks, unable to really move much. And with
me, it was difficult, because I'm a rather large fellow. The
nurses will come in and turn you in your bed. The reason is
to keep you from getting bed sores. That's exactly what Psalm
41.3 is speaking of. He will come nurse you in your
bed. and turn you upon your bed to
make the bed comfortable. And for believers, sickness is
never unto death. Never, never. You see, we were
crucified with Christ. And those who have died can never
die again. But Lazarus died. The Lord Jesus
said, our friend sleepeth. His disciples thought he was
talking about him just taking a nap. The Lord Jesus, in order
to speak plainly to them, said, Lazarus is dead. Both were true
in a sense. Lazarus was dead physically. His body was dead. But he that
liveth and believeth in me, the Savior says in verse 25, shall
never die. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth on me shall
never die. For the believer, the death of
the body is but the cessation of the dying of the body. For
the believer, the death of the body is but the entrance into
light and life and happiness, bliss and glory in the highest
sense imaginable. It's the commencing of everlasting
glory. The commencing of the glorious
liberty of the sons of God. Let us never imagine it is something
to be dreaded. pushed away, looked upon with
fear. The believer is the object of
the Savior's love and care. And he leads his own in the valley
of sickness, through the dark veil of death, into life everlasting. That's the message of Mary and
Martha and their brother Lazarus. and the Lord Jesus who loved
us and gave himself for us. Amen.