My Friend Martin
The life of a Christian gentleman who just happens to have been one of the longest surviving kidney donor recipients in the world.
I recently had the privilege of paying tribute to the life of my dear friend Martin Notman who lived with his wife Evelyn in the Fife town of Cowdenbeath, Scotland. He died around 7.00am on Tuesday 28th May 2024, in the Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline.
He was buried in Beath Cemetery on Monday 17th June 2024. Ian Lithgow, one of Martin’s lifelong friends, took the service at the graveside and, after we had laid Martin’s body to rest, we drove to Garvock House Hotel, Dunfermline, where I gave the address below.
Evelyn bravely began the tribute to Martin, by introducing the following rendering of “Scars in Heaven” by American group “Casting Crowns”, courtesy of YouTube. She alluded to the many scars Martin had on his body due to numerous operations and treatment, and how much this song had meant to her in the weeks before he died:
Note: When Martin asked me to take his funeral service, he was particularly desirous that I should preach the gospel to the friends who would attend. I was very glad to do this for him.
Here is the recording and the transcript of my address.
It’s a very touching song, very touching when you think of what Martin went through.
Now, I think it’s already been said, but Evelyn did ask me to thank all her friends and neighbours for coming here today and for their support, and especially to David and Carol for being by her side in these last few weeks especially. You’ll forgive me if I'm a bit hoarse. I'll keep drinking the water!
Now, it’s not possible to do justice to the life of anyone, let alone someone like Martin Notman in twenty minutes to half an hour, but we can only really give a sketch. So, I’m going to put what I'm going to say under five headings.
MARTIN’S LIFE
MARTIN’S CHARACTER
THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS
THE MYSTERY OF SUFFERING - Why did God allow Martin to suffer so long? I want to ask that question, I might not be able to answer it.
And last of all, I want to end on A NOTE OF TRIUMPH.
So, first of all,
1. MARTIN’S LIFE
Martin Notman was the youngest of seven children. He was born in the border town of Innerleithen, and he was born there on 22nd of July 1947. After his mum became unwell, Martin came to live with his aunt and uncle, Jean and David McClelland in Cowdenbeath. And when he left school, he got a four-year apprenticeship with the National Coal Board, and at the end of that (a four-year electrical fitters apprenticeship). After that, he went down the mines near Alloa. That's where he started work. But he hated going down the mines, he hated working in the mines. And so he left that job and got another job at the Rosyth dockyards, where he worked for an air conditioning firm.
Now, the story of how Martin and Evelyn met is quite something. Evelyn and her friend, I think Evelyn was about seventeen, they decided to go from Methil, where she lived, into Kirkcaldy, to the bowling alley in Kirkcaldy. And after they’d been there, they were waiting at the bus stop for the bus home. And this car drew up, and inside the car was—in the driver's seat—a young fellow called Scott from Cowdenbeath, and in the passenger seat, Martin Notman, who was Scott’s friend—and they'd come down for a night, an evening out. Martin was sitting, eating a bag of chips. When Evelyn saw Martin—well first of all, Scott, the driver, said to the two girls, “Would you like a lift home? Are you going somewhere? D’you want a lift?”—this would be maybe ten, half ten at night. Anyhow, her friend said “No, we’re not taking a lift”. But when Evelyn saw Martin, she thought he looked quite dishy! And so there was a bit of debate between her and her friend about whether they should go. And Martin got so impatient, he threw the bag of chips out of the car and he said, “Would you make up your mind?” So Evelyn got in the car and her friend followed her. And whatever transpired between Kirkcaldy and Methil, when Evelyn got out of the car, went up the driveway—this was around eleven o'clock at night—her mother was standing waiting for her at the door, and she said to her mum, “Wave to that man, because that's the man I’m going to marry.” She knew, she just knew!
So they went steady for a couple of years and then they married on 22nd October 1969. So, October this year would have been their fifty-fifth wedding anniversary.
So they settled in Cowdenbeath—and just one year and two months later—a crisis—a great crisis occurred in the Notman household. (It wasn't the birth of David, because he'd already been born!) Martin, around Christmastime 1970, became very, very unwell.
They didn’t know what it was to begin with, but he deteriorated so fast he had to be rushed into Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and he sank into a coma. He was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Good Pasture Syndrome, first identified by an American doctor in 1919 I think. So, there was little hope that he would recover, but to everyone’s surprise he regained consciousness and the doctor who was attending at the time was a Christian and he was surprised, but, the medical team decided that the only hope was to remove Martin's kidneys, because this autoimmune disease attacks the kidneys and then the lungs and Martin was already beginning to be affected in his lungs. So to arrest the progress of the condition they removed his kidneys, which meant he had to be on a dialysis machine until a transplant became available.
So he was on that dialysis on and off for ten months, and six months of those ten months in 1971 he was in hospital. And during that time Alec Renfrew from Edinburgh used to come in and pray for Martin's recovery. And it was during Martin’s illness at that time that he put his trust completely in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour, because he knew he was in a critical condition and he put his trust in Jesus.
So, at the beginning of October ‘71 Evelyn was advised to have Christmas early, because they didn’t think that Martin was going to last till Christmas. They went down to the Co-op to buy some toys for David, who was just a baby at the time, and Martin collapsed. And Evelyn had to take him into the car and take him home.
But later that day, on the 23rd of October 1971 the phone rang. “Could I speak to Martin Notman?” they said to Evelyn. He was so weak that he had to crawl to the phone in the days when the phones were attached to wires, no wireless phones in those days. And they said, could you come in immediately? We’ve got a kidney for you. And that transformed Martin’s life. After a five hour operation in the Western General in Edinburgh, he survived and got better. And that was over fifty-two and a half years ago.
So, God gave him another fifty-two and a half years that he might not have had otherwise. And he’s only one of a handful of kidney transplant patients in the world to have survived that long. So it’s a record, it really is a record. Martin had no doubt that his good health lasted so long because of God's goodness to him.
But there’s also no doubt that Martin remained in good health for so long because of Evelyn’s care and attention over all those years. Meticulous, taking care over all the medications that he had to take. And when he was in the hospital in these last three months, some of the nurses had their noses ‘put out of joint’ metaphorically, because Evelyn knew more than they did about what medications Martin was supposed to have. Your day of reward is coming Evelyn.
Martin and Evelyn also appreciated the care that one of the consultants who was there for the majority of his health care over that time, A Mr. Murat Akyol, who was a Greek consultant, Renal consultant. And when Mr. Akyol retired, he sent Martin a lovely letter—and he retired to his vineyard in Turkey. And since then, the consultant, Lorna Henderson, took over and Martin and Evelyn were both very appreciative of all the care that they had from the consultants in the NHS.
But two years ago, Martin took prostate cancer and had to have his prostate removed. And they had to do a very careful operation to avoid injuring the kidney. But from that time, he went down the hill. So that was just a potted history of his life.
But coming on to
2. MARTIN’S CHARACTER
Martin was good with his hands. He was good with car engines. He looked after his own cars and some other people’s too. But he wasn't just good with the mechanics of things. He was very careful about the detailing, what the professionals call detailing. And Martin could make the car sparkle inside and out every inch. That’s the kind of man he was. He was what the Bible calls “a workman that needs not to be ashamed”. He made several lecterns and wooden collection boxes for various halls. The hall in Buckhaven, the table that we use on a Sunday morning. He made that table. He made the lectern and he made the collection box. Lovely, creative craftsmanship. That was Martin. But it wasn’t just in these practical things that Martin was “a workman that needs not to be ashamed”.
He was a man who took care in the things of God. And he was an avid student of the Bible. He used to submit various, very good articles to our Bible Studies magazine in the Churches of God. And he had an expert knowledge of Bible prophecy. Of course, he was born less than a year before Israel became a nation in 1948. So he was always interested in what was happening in the Middle East. He was a man who “looked for and earnestly desired the coming of the day of God” as it says in Peter's epistle. Martin was a powerful preacher. He spoke with authority and power, spiritual power (which I feel is lacking in some of the preachers we hear today). But he was a man of absolute integrity. He didn’t sugarcoat the truth. He preached from the Bible - what the Bible tells us about the depravity of human nature. That we’re all sinners in the sight of God, inherited sin from Adam and Eve, our first parents. And unless we avail ourselves of God’s grace, we're going to end up in a lost eternity. Martin didn’t miss the mark.
But he also held out the invitation of the Saviour who died on the cross, who Ian was speaking to us about at the graveside. He told us that
“God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him should not perish [that's eternally] but have eternal life”.
That was Martin.
His thanksgivings on a Sunday morning were informed by his knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures. He had a great love and appreciation of the tabernacle symbolism and how it spoke of the beauties of Christ. And he was able to bring those things out in his thanksgiving on a Lord’s Day morning, in the New Testament counterpart to the Old Covenant, the spiritual house of God.
But I hasten to add, Martin was not a narrow minded man. He was very proud of David and Carol’s work among the young in Kelty. And they’ve led young people to the Saviour there. And Martin was proud of that. And he rejoiced when he heard about the Gospel tent campaigns in Cowdenbeath and Levenmouth where his friends in the Munro family from Ballingry preached the Gospel to our fellow men and women, ‘holding out the word of life’. He rejoiced when he heard of these things.
But he was faithful to the things that God had revealed to him in the scriptures. It says in 1 Corinthians 4, “it is required of stewards that a man be found faithful”. It’s not gift, not ability, but faithfulness that counts with God. Faithfulness in his things. And so Martin was a faithful steward.
But he was also a man who was waiting and watching. On Tuesday 28th May this year, the day that Martin died, the text on our Golden Bells calendar was from Titus 2:13. It says,
“We wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
And there was a wee comment underneath the verse about a fisherman, I presume in the north of Scotland somewhere. And when he came off the boat after a week at sea, the wives of the other fishermen were waiting on the quayside, but Angus’ wife wasn’t there. And he walked up the village, he went in the house and his wife said, “I’ve been waiting for you Angus.” And he said, “Aye, but Willie’s wife was watching for him.” Willie’s wife was watching.
Martin was like that, he was watching for the Saviour. One of Evelyn’s neighbours said to her recently, “Martin was a lovely man. Everyone thought he was a lovely man”. Well, Martin wasn’t a saint, not the way that people idolise the celebrities nowadays - or, God forbid, beatify them or canonize them.
But Martin would be the first to tell you of his shortcomings compared to that lovely man whom he followed. Because Martin was a follower, a disciple of the loveliest man who ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ, the man of Calvary.
I was going to say Martin was the first person I heard saying this little ditty:
“To dwell above with saints we love—
Won’t that be glory?
To dwell below with saints we know—
Well that’s another story!”
He was just, you know, he recognised that even though a person has put their faith in Christ, they still have that old nature that they’re carrying about with them. As Paul said in Romans, Like a dead body, you’re carrying it about with you. You’ve got a new nature, but you’ve got that old nature. And that’s us, that’s Christians. There’s none of us perfect. But the difference between a Christian and someone who's not a Christian is they’ve put their trust in the Saviour who died for them on the cross. And only because of His blood shed on the cross will they be in heaven one day because of God’s grace.
So in the things that matter, in the things that are eternal, and in spite of a life of suffering—and most of us here, if not all of us—have no idea what Martin went through these last fifty odd years. But he was a faithful disciple, a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. And God knew his man, and God knew that Martin, like Job in the Old Testament, was a man who would say,
“Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.”
Martin was waiting and watching for his Saviour because Jesus promised to return. He said in John chapter 14:
“If I go, I will come again.”
“I go to prepare a place for you,” he said to his disciples—and “I’m coming back”.
And first of all, He’s coming to the air, as Ian referred to—it’s on the back of our hymn sheet here, 1 Thessalonians 4:16,
“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
The dead in Christ, listen to that— that’s sweet — Martin, and all the others who’ve trusted in Jesus, who’ve died, they’ll be the first to rise, to be raised from the dead in a new body that cannot sin, an immortal body that will live forever with Christ in glory.
But then, after the seven-year reign of the Antichrist, who’s coming on this earth, and you can see the signs coming—Jesus is coming back to the Mount of Olives, He’s coming back to rule as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”, and He’ll rule from Jerusalem; as “Prince of Peace”. This world needs the Prince of Peace, doesn’t it?
So I want to come to
3. THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS
I’m just going to read 1 Peter 1. I read this to Martin when I was with him in the hospital just a few weeks ago.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy, begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you.”
I read those words to Martin when he was in the hospital.
Over 2,000 years ago, when the Lord was here on earth, He told a story, a true story, about two men who had died. One was a rich man, the other was a poor man, a beggar, who was laid at the gate of the rich man, and the beggar died.
And do you know what it says? It says:
“the angels came and carried him away into Abraham’s bosom”.
So the Lord Jesus revealed something about what happens after death to Old Testament saints. The word “saints” just means a sanctified person, a person who has put their trust in God and has devoted themselves to following God’s will in their life. That’s a saint. That was a saint in the Old Testament, and he [the beggar] was carried there. But under the New Covenant, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch of the imagination to think that the angels have a service to do for those “who die in the Lord”, as the scripture says. Martin died believing in Jesus, “died in the Lord”. And I think on the basis of what it says in Hebrews, it says about the angels in Hebrews 1:
“Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to do service on behalf of those who will inherit salvation?”
So I don’t think it’s too much of a leap of faith to believe that the angels were involved there, and that in the Queen Margaret Hospital, even though, Evelyn and David and Carol, you couldn’t get to the hospital in time—the angels were there. I’m sure of it. And they carried him, not to Abraham’s bosom, but to the presence of his Saviour who died and who rose again: “the first fruits of them that are fallen asleep”. The body’s asleep in the dust of the earth, but the soul—the person—goes to be with Christ if they’ve put their trust in Him.
The Bible says:
“In your presence is fullness of joy.”
So Martin has exchanged “the spirit of heaviness” —because he suffered from depression in his life—he’s exchanged “the spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise”, as it says in Isaiah.
So we come to
4. THE MYSTERY OF SUFFERING
Why did God allow Martin to suffer so long? Apart from the rather glib answers that we might give to that question, such as, “Because of original sin, we all suffer from the effects of sin in our bodies, in our lives.” And that’s true because in Romans Paul tells us, that “the whole creation groans in travail and pain until now”. That’s common to us all, but Martin suffered more than most. Why?
We're forced to admit that we don’t have all the answers. It’s a mystery why some of God’s saints are allowed to suffer and others get an easier life of it. One of the answers is, “God knows His man”. God knew His man. That’s just one answer.
But it won’t be fully answered until we get to the glory, ‘and God unrolls the canvas’, as the little poem says. I know Evelyn knows it very well.
“Not till the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas and unveil / explain the reason why;
The dark threads are as needful in the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.”
So without doubt, Martin is in a place of peace and rest and comfort. And he’s in the place where “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”. It says in Paul’s letter to Timothy, the second letter to Timothy, he says to Timothy, “If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.” Now he was talking in the context of people suffering the reproach of Christ. And Martin suffered reproach for his belief in Jesus, but he also suffered pain and suffering in his body. And the scars that we heard about in the song are testament to a life of suffering. But whatever reward God has in store, it will be worth it.
I want to end on
5. A NOTE OF TRIUMPH
I said that Martin was waiting and watching for his Lord. And he often used to say to me when I went up to visit him when he was in better days, he would say, “How long do you think it is before the Lord's coming back?” —”How long?” And I had to agree with him that it was very near. It’s very near. Especially given the things that are happening in the world right now and how the whole world is turning against God’s ancient people Israel.
But God has His purposes in Israel. They’re going to go through a time of what’s called “Jacob's Trouble” in what’s called “the Great Tribulation” under the Antichrist, who Martin knew about. But Martin also knew that, and he pointed this out more than once to me, that the accelerating moral landslide which we see in the world around us is another indication of the imminence of the Lord’s return. Because if the emergence of “The Beast”—the Antichrist—the one who’s against God and all that he stands for—if his emergence is imminent, then by the same token—the return of the King of Kings must be very near.
And Jesus said when he was here on earth,
“When these things begin to happen, look up, for your redemption draws near.”
And so any day now, our Lord is going to “descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet sound of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we that are left that are trusting in Christ - we’ll be "caught up” - (as Bob Armstrong said once, in a giant airlift!) - into heaven “to be with the Lord forever”, it says in 1 Thessalonians 4: “forever with the Lord”.
So if we’re going to be with him forever, we’re coming back with him to the Mount of Olives when he returns to this earth at the end of those seven years of terrorism and destruction that’s going to come on this world. So I just want to say to anyone here—to appeal to you, if you haven’t got the assurance of eternal life that Martin had, I just want to invite you to put your trust in his Saviour today.
I want to read the words of John 5 to you, because this is a promise that the Lord Jesus made. John 5:24 says:
“Truly, truly I say to you, he that hears my word and believes him that sent me has eternal life, and comes not into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
Now in a few moments we’re going to sing the second hymn on our hymn sheet. But before that I want to just close the meeting, this part of the proceedings in prayer.
Our gracious God and loving Father in heaven, we give thanks for Martin’s life and we thank you for your love toward each one of us in sending the Lord Jesus, your beloved Son, to bear our sins in his own body on the cross, that cruel tree. He has scars in his hands and his feet because He loved us so much. And because of Him we can say today about Martin, ‘Goodbye’ is not ‘Forever’. We will meet again in a better place. And so we look forward to that day with growing anticipation and we give thanks for all your mercy and grace toward us. And now, we give thanks for the refreshment provided by the hotel and we ask your blessing upon our conversation in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
So I think that’s everything. We’ll just be upstanding and sing the last hymn, “Amen, One Lasting Long, Amen.”
Amen, one lasting, long Amen -
Blest anthem of eternal days;
The fulness of the rapturous song
To Christ the Saviour’s endless praise.
Amen, one lasting, long Amen -
Heaven’s blissful cadence, deep and loud,
While every heart before the throne
In holy, solemn awe is bowed.
Amen, Amen, it rolls along,
Re-echoing from the throne again;
Be ours to mingle with the throng
In that eternal, loud Amen.
[Note: this was one of Martin’s favourite hymns. He often gave it out at the end of our weekly Remembrance of the Lord Jesus in the church of God in Buckhaven.]