Sermon Cloud

The Lord is Able: On the Death of Marielle Nish

 

John 11:1-46

 

Grace Fellowship Church

 

June 3, 2007

 

 

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. ³ So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. ⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹ After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” ¹² The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” ¹³ Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” ¹⁷ Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem , about two miles off, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. ²⁰ So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”  ²⁸ When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² 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.” 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. ³⁴ And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” 

 

³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

 

⁴⁵ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

 

Introduction

 

This week has been a most difficult one.  As you all know, Marielle Nish died on Monday.  As a family and a church we have been praying for this eight year old girl with neuroblastoma for a year.  This has left some difficult questions to ask about why God allowed this little girl to die.  What I personally have fallen back on in the past week is two truths.  First God is sovereign.  This came as no surprise to Him.  He knew this would happen before the foundation of the world.  This was somehow in His plan.  That I don’t fully comprehend but then again He is God and I am not.  The second truth that I have been holding onto is the fact that God is good.  The Bible tells us that all things work together for good for those who love God and are the called according to His purpose.  James tells us that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights where there is no shadow of turning.  

 

Earlier in the week I tried to write something on the blog and I could not get the words to flow correctly from my heart to my brain and through my fingers.  I was still in shock about this death.  I am sure some of you were and are this morning. 

 

Even though we do not personally know this family they are brothers and sisters in Christ who have endured and are enduring a very difficult trial.  As I read their email updates they have done so with grace and peace only the Lord could provide.  So for me it as if every email that I read and now read my heart aches for this family.  I can’t imagine the pain that they are enduring and the overwhelming sense of loss but at the same time I do not know firsthand the abundance of grace which our good and sovereign Lord is supplying them and upholding them with. 

 

As I have turned my heart and my mind this week in preparation for this morning my heart seemed to be drawn to the passage that I just read.  I will not even attempt to do an exposition of all 46 verses this morning but I do want to offer hope and encouragement to the flock here and to myself to continue to pray and trust the Lord in difficult situations. 

 

Sometimes when the Lord does not answer our requests the way we desire them to be answered we are confused.  We struggle through the Christian life often wondering why things like this happen.  Why does God not over protect His children from experiencing suffering, illness, and even the death of one of their children. 

 

What I don’t want to be this morning is overly simplistic.  We hurt, our hearts ache for the Nish family.  We know that they hurt and their hearts aches.  There are lots of friends and family members around the country who have bombarded heaven for the life of this eight year old girl.  They have given sacrificially.  They have fasted.  They have pleaded with the Lord.  Her parents exhausted all the medical help available in our day and prayed and trusted the Lord only to lose the battle with this cancer. 

 

So how can we handle this without losing our faith?  How can we hear this news and react in a way that pleases God?  How can we as finite creatures comprehend the infinite ways of a supremely Sovereign God? 

 

The answer is to look into the Word of this supremely sovereign God and see what He says about it. 

 

PNP

 

This morning I am going to attempt to show you seven principles that we can hold onto in the face of overwhelming circumstances like what we have experienced over the last week. 

 

Purpose

 

The reason and purpose for a sermon like this is hopefully to offer some comfort to this congregation in light of Marielle’s passing and in the future if one of our families must endure something like this there will be some biblical truth to dig our toenails and fingernails into so that we do not lose our faith. 

 

Context

 

Let me briefly set the context for the message this morning.  John 10, as we saw last week was the Lord proclaiming Himself as the Good Shepherd.  His sheep are eternally secure because they are completely and fully protected in His and the Father’s hand.  As a result of Jesus stating that He and the Father are one the Jews tried to stone Him. 

 

And now John the Apostle turns our attention to an event that will prove all that the Lord Jesus said in John 10.  There is a key verse here in the text that offers us the question that many of us have asked in our lives at some point and maybe even asked this week.  Some of your children may have asked this question.  Look at verse 37.

³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” 

 

 

RPNP

 

So as this question has been asked and will be asked again, look with me a these seven principles that we can hold onto in the face of overwhelming circumstances. 

 

The first principle that we can hold onto in difficult circumstances is that:

1.  The Lord is always aware of our situation. 

 

Read verses 1-4 with me.

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. ³ So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

 

 

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ I hope what has been firmly established in your mind already is that God is supremely sovereign.  There is no stray cancer cell, cholesterol molecule or anything else outside of His control.  Lazarus’ illness was no surprise to the Lord either.  Jesus said over and over that He came to accomplish the will of His Father.  This event in John 11 was in the sovereign plan of God. 

 

The cancer that took the young life of Marielle was in the sovereign plan of God.  He is intimately aware of every situation that His children will walk through.  He allows us to walk through difficulties but we are never alone on that path.  David said in the 23^rd Psalm, Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.  For thou art with me. 

 

Isaiah 43:1-3 says, ¹ But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine! ² "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. ³ "For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel , your Savior;

 

The promise of the Savior is that He will never leave us nor forsake us. 

 

So we can be assured that since He is with us and has promised us to see us through the most difficult of situations He is intimately aware of our situation. 

 

The second principle that we can hold onto in difficult circumstances is:

2.  The Lord works in His own time and His own authority.

Look at verses 5-6.

 ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

 

 

Here is where we begin to protest.  Mary and Martha had sent for the Lord.  He was their only hope.  They knew that He could heal their brother and no one else could.

 

What they wanted was for the Lord to immediately come to them and handle this situation exactly like they thought it should be handled.  “Just say the word Lord and he will be healed.” There was no lack of faith on their part.  They recognized who the Lord was and knew He healed. 

 

The first objection to the action or seeming inaction on the part of the Lord Jesus is that He really did not care about Lazarus or his two sisters.  Isn’t that what we often wonder?  “Lord, why haven’t you fixed this problem yet?”  Why did Marielle suffer as long as she did?  Doesn’t the Lord care?  Look at verse 5. 

⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

 

In our finite minds love would require immediate action right?  Sure.  But look at verse 6.

⁶ So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

 

Where was He?  He was in the Judean wilderness where John the Baptist had been baptizing. He was not far from Bethany where Mary and Martha lived.  He could have been there in plenty of time but we must remember first that the Lord is sovereign and second that He came to do the will of His Father.  Let me remind you that all things are for the glory of God.  Look again at verse 4.

⁴ But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

 

 

The Lord could patiently wait because He knows the end from the beginning.  The Lord is patient.  He has His children’s best interest in mind. 

 

But the second part of this point is that the Lord will do things in His own time and do so often with great difficulty.  Look at verses 7-10.

⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

 

 

The Lord has now waited two extra days.  He now decides to go to Bethany of Judea again.  The disciples are not happy.  Why?  Because in chapter 10 the Lord had escaped the clutches of the Jews who desired to kill Him.  Now He was going just a stone’s throw from where all this took place. 

 

The disciples protested against this perceived difficulty.  But the Lord reminded them that it is in the light where we find our safest journey.   God is in control and nothing can get us unless it is His will and His alone. 

 

Understanding this darkly makes it a little easier for me to fly commercial airlines.  It makes it easier to drive down the road.  I am not going anywhere until the Lord says I am going and when He says its time I can’t run or hide.  There is safety in God’s sovereignty. 

 

So we have seen thus far that in order to walk through difficult times we must understand that the Lord is always aware of our situation and He works in His own time often in the midst of great difficulty. 

 

The third principle that we can hold onto in difficult circumstances is:

3.  The Lord understands our circumstances through an eternal perspective. 

Notice verses 11-16.

 

¹¹ After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” ¹² The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” ¹³ Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

 

 

What I want you to notice here is a couple of interesting facts.  First, no one told the Lord that Lazarus was dead and that He was going to raise him from the dead.  Look at verse 11. 

¹¹ After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”

 

The disciples were not quite sure about what Jesus said.  Look at verses 12-14.

¹² The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” ¹³ Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,

 

 

The Lord knew Lazarus was sick, he knew that if He went to Lazarus he could heal him.  He knew when Lazarus died.  He also knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.  The disciples did not quite get it I don’t think.  If nothing else Thomas did not fully comprehend the Lord’s statement in verses 9 and 10 about walking in the light.  Look at what Thomas says in verse 16.

So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

 

I think the reason that John included this statement in the text is not so we can see how brave Thomas was, “Let’s go die with Him.” I think the reason John includes it is to remind us of how short sighted we actually are.  All that talk about walking in the light, Jesus escaping from the Jews earlier, and the truth of verse 4 about the Son of God being glorified in all this had not made a big enough impression on Thomas. 

 

But that is exactly how we view our circumstances.  All we see is the temporary situation and not the eternal reality of what God sees. 

 

Some may say, “Sure.  Its easy to stand in the pulpit and tell us from there but what about when you are in that situation?  You are not Lazarus who is dying or Mary and Martha who are trying desperately to get him some help.  You are not the Nish family who last week at this time was watching helplessly their daughter’s body shut down.” 

 

But this leads us to our next point.  The Lord is always aware of our situation.  He works in his own time and authority and often through difficult situations.  He understands that difficulty through an eternal perspective.

 

And the fourth principle that we can hold onto in difficult circumstances is:

4.  The Lord is able to empathize with our suffering.

 

Look at verses 17-36.

 

¹⁷ Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem , about two miles off, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. ²⁰ So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”  ²⁸ When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² 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.” 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. ³⁴ And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” 

 

 

Notice particularly verse 35 again.  Jesus wept.  Two simple words yet packed with so much comfort for us.  Here standing at the tomb of Lazarus, the Lord can fully empathize with the heartache of Mary and Martha.  He sees their mourning and weeps Himself.  He was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.  Surely our griefs He himself bore and our sorrows He carried the prophet Isaiah reminds us. 

 

Here the Lord mourns with those He loves.  He feels their pain I am sure as they themselves feel it.  I believe that if you as a child of God have ever lost someone close to you the Lord feels that pain with you in your time of grief.  He Himself hurts as you hurt and as His child He desires to comfort you.  When Marielle was ushered into the presence of God on Monday morning and her parents and her siblings and others felt the sting of knowing that they would not speak to her again on this side of Heaven the Lord was feeling that same sorrow.  Saturday as they put her lifeless body in the ground and covered it with dirt the Lord felt certainly what I can only imagine that they felt. 

 

Any of us could be in that same situation just hours, days, or months from now.  Life is fragile and frail and weak and the chord can be snapped at the drop of a second. 

 

So how do we cope with this?  How do we walk through our lives knowing that at some point we will all experience agonizing loss?  Do we walk in fear?  Do we overreact and try to overprotect?  No.  Why?  Because of Hebrews 4:14-16.

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

 

 

Our Great High Priest, our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ knows what we feel and how we feel and has promised the comfort that only He can give. 

 

If these four principles were all there was that would far exceed our need for comfort.  But the Lord has not left us with just four.  There are five and probably some that my finite mind has missed. 

 

The Lord is always aware of our situation.  He works in his own time and authority and often through difficult situations.  He understands that difficulty through an eternal perspective. And He is able to empathize with our pain.

 

And the fifth and final principle that we can hold onto in difficult circumstances is:

5.  The Lord is able to do far more than we can even believe for. 

 

 

I want you to have in mind the previous conversation.  Look back at verses 21-27.

²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

 

 

Martha knew some theology.  She understood that there would be a resurrection.  But the Lord Jesus educated her further.  Notice verses 25 and 26.

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

 

 

Let me ask you church, do you really believe this? Cause this is where the rubber meets the road.  When great loss happens can you rest fully in the fact that the Lord Jesus is the resurrection and the life and that whoever believes in him though they die yet shall they live?  Can you take your eyes off the temporal long enough to recognize that this life is not all there is?  If I were an atheist I would have the most difficult time with what happened this week.  I would be like the writer of Ecclesiastes and say vanity, vanity, all is vanity and everything in this life is chasing after wind.  But because the Lord Jesus has revealed Himself to us we know that this is not all there is.  Because of the resurrection Job could endure the loss of all that he had and his children otherwise he should have cursed God and died.  That is why Job declares in Job 19, ²⁵ "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth . ²⁶ "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; ²⁷ Whom I myself shall behold,
And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!

 

It is enough that we will be raised.  But sometimes there are things that are done by the miraculous hand of God that defies our understanding.  You see there were lots of funerals as Jesus Christ walked the earth.  John the Baptist was killed and Jesus did not raise him from the dead.  He could have.  But sometimes the Lord acts and confirms all that He has said in a way that can not be denied.  Notice verses 38-44.

 

³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

 

 

What is important to understand here is not the Lord’s ability to raise Lazarus from the dead.  I have heard someone say that if the Lord had not called Lazarus by name everybody buried in that tomb would have come bouncing out there bound hand and foot. 

 

 

 

⁴⁵ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.