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Responding to questions about the meaning of Psalm 91, should churches cancel services due to the pandemic, and how do we talk to our children about what's going on? Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
What does the Bible mean when it says God will deliver us from pestilence? Should churches cancel services for the sake of everyone's health? And how do we talk to our children about what's going on? The answers to these questions when we understand the text.
This is when we understand the text. A daily Bible study in the Word of Christ. That you may trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will keep your path straight.
Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. This is a safe space that you are in. Yes. You are not receiving any infectious disease through the podcast. And yet I'm in your home. Yay! Hello, everybody. And for all of us listening, you are free in this space to be able to refer to this pandemic as the Wuhan virus or Kung Flu.
I knew that was coming. Those are perfectly acceptable terms in this safe space. Is it not elsewhere? Oh, yeah. People are going crazy over this. So it used to be. Wait, what? Really? Yeah, I'm serious.
Oh, I've missed it. It's racist. Oh. It's racist to call it the China virus or anything like that. Oh, well. Even though that's not a race. No, it's not. Okay. It's a national label. It's the origin of the country that the virus came from, like Asian flu, Russian flu, Spanish flu, actual names for epidemics in the past.
Oh, my. Even though the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times even at one point were referring to this as the Wuhan coronavirus. Can't do that anymore. Oh, boy. You have to say coronavirus, which there's many of those, or COVID -19 specifically.
Oh, that's why everybody's gone to COVID -19.
Yeah, that was a World Health Organization thing. But again, this has all just happened in a span of like two weeks or something. Yeah, it's been crazy. Back at the beginning of February, we were still calling it the Wuhan virus or the China virus.
Some were even calling it the Chinese flu because we still didn't know what it was yet. Yeah, so you got to avoid those terms that could set people off. Oh, boy. Not people are dying from this thing. No, that's not the urgent thing.
Oh, no. Refer to it with the right terms. Yeah. That's the most critical thing right now. I'm just kidding. Anyway, I thought we would start with some scripture. We are going to talk about coronavirus.
Okay. But we want to encourage with the word of God, not incite panic. Right. So, Psalm 91. And the reason why I'm starting with Psalm 91 is this is a psalm that you've heard used a lot in the context of what's going on with this pandemic.
Okay. But you're hearing it misused. Oh, boy. Because a lot of these prosperity hacks are taking Psalm 91 .3 where it says he will deliver you from the deadly pestilence. And insisting that if you have enough faith, you're not going to catch this virus.
Oh, yeah. I've caught that a few times. Yeah. From false teachers online.
Paula White Cain, in particular, has asked people to sow a seed of $91. Oh, no way. Seriously? And she's chosen that number. Oh, my goodness. Because of Psalm 91. Wow.
I couldn't do it with a straight face. I mean, even if I was trying to be manipulative. I can't get that word out at the moment. You know, and trying to like get everybody to just donate their money to me.
Yeah. I still couldn't do it with a straight face. That's because you're not a fraud, babe. Well, that could be. You actually have a conscience. You know, I would probably give it right back if they tried.
Yeah, that's the way this is going. I mean, if anything, this pandemic has exposed these health and wealth, name it and claim it, believe and receive hacks, has exposed them as being frauds. But people are still totally taken with them.
Well, yeah. And clamoring on their every word. It's not. Yeah, sorry.
Yeah, you're hitting a chord down here. Yeah. It's not. It hasn't hit everybody that they know yet. You know what I mean? Like once it's hit somebody you know, then it gets a little more real.
I don't know. I've never been taken by the prosperity guys, even when I was in charismatic circles in the past. There wasn't any of those teachers that had me convinced they were actually healing the diseases they were claiming to heal.
Yeah, I didn't know they existed. Until when? Until you married me? Probably. I mean, you had Joel Osteen on TV and Benny Hens all over the place. How did you never see those guys before?
I saw Joel Osteen, but I didn't really pay attention to him. Something, whenever he talked, like I wanted to listen to it because he was, I mean, it's the Bible. You don't disrespect the Bible. So I would listen to it.
But then just something about it. I don't know what it was, but I got uncomfortable. And I'm like, oh, I got it.
I'm okay to turn this off. Yeah, he doesn't exactly do that. He doesn't do the faith healing thing. No, he doesn't.
But he does. But he was the only one that I remember that I caught. I don't.
The rest of the names were kind of foreign to you. Not really paying attention. They were in all my circles, even though I didn't believe in them.
And then you would tell me about the hanky business, you know, like the sweat hanky. Oh, yeah.
Send a donation and we'll send you our handkerchief. My snot will heal you of all of your infectious diseases. Oh, no.
That's the one thing that's like my kryptonite that I don't do.
It's like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles retro mutagen ooze. Or drool. I do not. No. So gross. Yeah. People are still clamoring after what these guys have to say. And it's almost like more than ever.
But I would hope that you would recognize.
That they have private jets and mansions. Multiple mansions. Yes. I mean, if you really look into them, your money is not going to healing you. It's going to making them live comfortably. Exactly. Right.
Very comfortably. There is only one person that benefits from the prosperity preaching. And that's the prosperity preacher. Yeah. He's the only one benefiting from it. You donate all your money to this.
Monetarily. Yeah, monetarily. You're donating your money to this and you're not getting anything out of it. You will not find these guys in coronavirus hotspots. As a matter of fact, I mean, this was just what was so laughable about the whole thing.
Was a couple of weeks ago. This was a headline. This was an actual headline. Bethel Church in Redding, California canceling their healing rooms for coronavirus.
Oh, that's sad.
I mean, how could you not get more obvious than that? Yeah. These guys cannot do what they claim that they can do. I don't get it. Never trust a faith healer with glasses. Right. And that's Bill Johnson, the pastor of Bethel Redding.
And that should be obvious right there. The guy standing in front of you saying. He has a bandage on his finger or something like that. The guy standing in front of you saying, I can heal you. And he's wearing glasses on his face.
Clearly you can't. Yeah. Anyway, we were going to do Psalm 91. That was where I was going to go.
Sorry, I kind of derailed you a little bit. Now I'm getting worked up.
Well, read 91 now. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Speaking of this statement here of God being a refuge and a fortress.
We love that hymn. A mighty fortress is our God. And you have that line in the song. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us. We will not fear for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us.
Such a beautiful line. God is our refuge and our fortress, my God in whom I trust. Whether it's in depression, whether it's oppression, whether it's infection, no matter what it is, we trust in God. And he is our refuge.
He is our strength. Amen. Now here's that line in verse 3. For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler. The devil schemes. Be another way from that. And from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions.
And under his wings, you will find refuge. His faithfulness, a shield and a buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
Do these verses, verse 3 and verse 6, which talk about being delivered from the deadly pestilence, does this mean that Christians will not get sick? No.
No, that's not what it means. Of course we're going to get sick. Otherwise, the apostles would not have been ailed with anything. Right. Or been killed. Yes. At all. Or put in jail, for that matter. Yeah.
Or any of that. They suffered quite a bit. They would not have gone through all of that if that's what that meant.
The apostle Paul got sick, and that's what caused him to stop in the region of Galatia. Yes. And plant churches.
Right. And didn't he write to Timothy about his stomach ailment? Exactly. Yes.
Yes. Why didn't Paul just drop one of those magic hankies that he had? Here you go. Here's my sweat. That's right. Drop it in the envelope. Send it off to Timothy. Here, rub this on your tummy. It'll take care of your stomach issues.
I'm cringing over here. I can't do it. Yeah. So sometimes they could heal, and sometimes Paul even raised the dead. Yes. Raising Eutychus from the dead. Yes. But sometimes they couldn't. Right. Because it was all according to the Holy Spirit, the will of the Spirit of God, not according to some magical mutant ability that the Apostle Paul had.
It's not like he was an X-Man. Right.
It didn't make him perfect. Yeah. That was the Lord working through him. So even he got sick.
And by the will of God, his illness led to the salvation of many people. When Paul had to stop there in Galatia, preaches the gospel, plants churches. Yeah. All because of an illness that afflicted him.
So when we read that you will not be touched by the deadly pestilence, that which stalks in the darkness, an enemy that you cannot see, and that's Kung Flu. We can't see it. It's coming. It's going to get us.
We can't see it. Right. Nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. So what are we supposed to understand by this? Well, though you will get sick, and you will even get sick and die. Yeah. Consider that most people who die, died of an illness.
Okay. The number one killer in the United States of America, in particular, is heart disease. Other than abortion, that's the one thing that kills the most people. That is the deadliest thing going on in the US.
The deadliest single thing.
But that's not getting sick. That's not getting sick. It's a heart sickness.
Wow. But you're talking about a physical ailment. The thing that kills, that is the most deadly, is heart disease. Okay. Okay. So what's going to kill you will likely be an illness of some kind. You get older, you die of cancer.
You die of heart disease. Right. You could even die of anxiety. Just take such a physical toll on your body. That's true. Any number of physical things will kill you. So you will get sick and die. Likely, that's the way you're going to go.
Some sort of sickness is going to be the thing that kills you. But you don't despair because that sickness can't destroy you. Right. It might kill you, but then after that, it can't do anything. It can't destroy the soul.
Yeah, consider the words of Jesus in Matthew 10, 26. So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light.
And what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Now, of course, we're talking about persecution there.
That tends to be where our mind goes. Right. When we read that, Jesus is saying, don't fear those who can persecute you. They might kill your body, but after that, they can't do anything to your soul.
But you could also, you could substitute pestilence in there. Yeah, you can. Plague, virus, some kind of sickness. Do not fear that which kills the body. But then after that, cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him, God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
It is the Lord whom we are to fear. Peter even says in 1 Peter 2 that we are to obey the government and fear God. Yeah. So as the government is making these decisions to try to protect people, we do need to respect that particular authority.
We do. There are times when resisting the government might be necessary, but in this particular case, when it comes to saving lives, we do need to respect the decisions that they're making for the sake of the safety of their citizens.
But ultimately, it's irresponsible. Yeah, you can. Right. We're not a rebellious bunch. No. We're not trying to advance the kingdom of God through rebelling against governing authorities, which is why it was so emphatic by the apostles to tell Christians not to rebel against the Romans.
Peter and Paul both during the reign of Nero saying to respect and honor the emperor. Isaiah 66 2 says this. The Lord says, this is the one to whom I will look. He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
And in the book of Philippians chapter two, we are told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Yeah. So this fear of the Lord that we have is a reverent fear, knowing he is the one who is the ultimate judge, and he can destroy both the body and the soul in hell.
Yeah. But the virus or anybody who oppresses us, any persecution or anything like this, all they can do is destroy the body. That's right. But our soul is safe, eternally secure in God, who is our refuge and our fortress.
My God, in whom I trust. Right. So, yes, pestilence will afflict you. You will get sick and die. But we have nothing to fear of it because after that, it can't do anything to us. And then we're promised that eternal kingdom that Jesus tells us about in Revelation chapter 21, where there will no longer be any sickness or disease.
Right. All the former things will have passed away. He will dry every tear from our eyes. Sin and death will be no more. And we will dwell with him forever in glorious perfection. That makes me happy.
Exactly. That is our hope and our peace. Yes. See, things like this, things like this virus that's going on, this reminds us that this world is not our home, and it makes us long all the more for the kingdom of God.
In 2 Corinthians 1 .9, the Apostle Paul was talking about the persecutions that they had suffered for sharing the gospel. And he said, we thought that we had received the sentence of death. But this was to make us rely more on God who raises the dead.
Yep. And then in chapter 4, he refers to the suffering that he goes through as a light momentary affliction. Right.
And let me tell you, going through hard times really does bring you closer to God, or it should.
If you are in the fear of God, if you tremble at his word, and you understand the promises that have been bound up for us in Christ.
Well, because you have no control over the situation. But who does?
God. God does. So we trust in him who is sovereign, who reigns, who is still in control. Yes. And beware those who twist the word. Oh. Because they're going to turn it into meaning something that it doesn't mean.
And in so doing are going to take away from the promises of God that are bound up in Christ and glory. When these prosperity hacks are promising you health and wealth, they're actually promising you less than what God is promising you.
Amen. He's promising you an eternal kingdom in heaven above where Christ is. These prosperity preachers don't promise you that. Right. You listen to what they say. They don't promise you that. Right. Everything that they say is all bound up in this earth.
Earthly. Yes. It's all in this world.
Yep. Because they're like, I'll heal your body. Okay. Well, what does that do for your soul? Well, yeah. And they could heal your body. You're still going to get sick and die. Yep. True. They may have prolonged it.
You know, most, I suppose. Most folks. Yeah. Yeah. Get sick and die eventually. You're all doom and gloom here.
On reality. Okay. This is the reality of the situation. This is a fallen world we live in. We can't put any hope and trust in it. This is very true. That is very true. It is corrupted because of sin. It has been subjected to futility, as Paul reminds us in Romans 8.
It is coming to nothing. And in fact, it is coming to judgment. It is being, the fire of judgment is being stored up in heaven to pour out on the ungodly and unrighteousness of men. As Peter talks about in 2 Peter 3, and those who continue in their sin and unrighteousness deliberately overlook the facts, as Peter says.
They don't want to believe that God created everything long ago, that he is still in control of the situation.
But it's funny because some of the people that I've talked to, I'd say a good majority, they always replace God with something else. Oh, yeah. Like, oh, God didn't make it, but I believe that this happened instead.
Yes, right. And I'm like, why not God instead of this something? Like, you just lessened what it is that I believe. It's not even as majestic. No, it's not incredible at all.
Yeah. It's worshiping the created things rather than the creators.
Yes, and it's like, what are you doing? This doesn't make any sense to me.
I just had somebody just today said to me, be thankful to the universe for every breath is a gift. Oh. And I said, the universe doesn't give you anything. Yeah. God is the one who has given you your next breath.
So, therefore, be thankful to God. Trying to remember what their response was immediately after that. It was something like, see, you're believing in imaginary things or you're attributing thanks to something that doesn't exist.
Oh, see, it used to be to each its own. Yeah, sure, sure. It used to be that, but now it's like, oh, you know, I'm going to dog on you even more. Yeah. Because you dogged on me, I guess.
But this person who said that, who said, you're attributing thanks to things, you're making up things to attribute thanks to. And I replied, you're doing the same thing. Yep. You're thinking that the universe is some sentient power.
That needs thanks. That needs thanks. Yeah. What in the world? How in the world is the... Do you think it's going to give you more because you said thanks? Yeah, right. What is the benefit of that exactly?
That doesn't make sense. Whereas thanking God is to acknowledge that he alone is worthy of all praise. Yeah.
And we can't do anything without him. No.
Yeah. Jesus said that apart from me, you can do nothing. Yeah.
And I mean, not to say that we don't find joy in the things that God has gifted us with on this earth. We very much love our family.
Yeah. I love this person sitting across from me right here. Oh, thanks.
Spending time with my kids. And our friends and our family. Such a great church we have.
Oh, amen. Yes. And these things are all pictures of what kind of... They're just glimpses, just small tastes of the kind of glory that we're going to dwell in forever with God. Amen. But this is... Again, this is not our hope.
And my wife doesn't want that burden. Oh, no. No, please don't. She doesn't want me to think of her as being my salvation. No. Of being my hope on this earth. That's Christ. I am far from perfect. Yes.
Far. Christ is her salvation. Christ is my salvation. We're praying that our kids grow up and recognize that as well. And I hope that in the midst of this, of all that's going on, that's what my children are learning from this.
How fragile life really is. How uncertain tomorrow is. Yeah. And that we put our trust in God, for he is the one who saves. Everything is happening exactly as God said it would happen. In this world, you will have trouble.
Yes. But take heart. I have overcome the world. Yes. So our trust is in Christ. It is not in these things. And it's good to remember this now. I think right now we're still kind of in a state of... We're all under quarantine.
We're all in isolation. It's not really hitting real hard just yet. Yet. We're just kind of sitting around going, okay, it's been a week. Can we get out of the house yet? Can I go back to Bible study yet?
Are we going to have church this weekend? Yeah. And then as the longer we go...
We have been in quarantine less than a lot of people. Yeah. I still went to the store today.
Yeah. I went to Walmart. It's kind of funny. I went to Walmart because Annie, my oldest, 12 years old, she and I are going to go play tennis together. She's really interested in tennis. Super tall. She's almost six feet tall, 12 years old.
But she doesn't want to do volleyball or basketball. Nope. She likes tennis. And so I went to the store. I figured, hey, we're going to use this time. We're going to go out and play some tennis. I went to the store to get some tennis balls, because they're all buried in our garage somewhere.
It's true. Or I threw them away. Something like that. I'm not guaranteeing that. Or the dog chewed them up. Something to that effect. I went to... I was walking into Walmart. This young couple is coming out.
And they're looking at me with kind of a dejected look on their face. They just have, I think, two bags of groceries between them. And the guy looked at me as he's walking toward his car. And he says, dude, I don't even know why you're bothering.
There's not a whole lot in there. And I said, I'm just going to go get some tennis balls. And he looked at his wife and was like, oh, yeah, there's probably plenty of that in there. Go get your tennis balls.
And sure enough, you walk into Walmart. If you go to the right, there's nothing over there. And the grocery side. The grocery side. If you go to the left, all that stuff's still here. Oh, yeah. So I found my tennis balls.
There was a plethora of them.
Nobody had been touching the tennis balls. Nobody's planning on doing anything in groups of 10 or more. Yeah, right.
But the further we get into this thing, the more it's going to sink in. Boy, this is just, it's never going to stop. Yeah. I mean, when do we get some relief from this? When do we get to go out and see the sunshine again?
You know, and visit with our friends and enjoy the company. We're all making jokes right now about how, oh, hey, social isolation. I do this all the time. You're just telling me to do what comes naturally to me.
Yeah, but at the same time, I mean, I look forward to those reliefs of getting together with friends and family and making the few trips across the state. To see your grandparents. Yeah, both sets of grandparents that I still have and all that.
And that's hard. Yeah.
That part's hard. Yeah, and our kids are kind of feeling it, too. We don't have AWANA anymore. Yeah. We can't go.
We don't have homeschool group anymore. Yeah, that's right. We don't have Bible study anymore.
We're still homeschooled, but we had that once a week. You know, we'd get together with our group. Yeah. And now the kids are going, where are all of our friends? Are we ever going to see them again? Yep.
So, yeah. And the longer we go into this, the more you're going to start feeling that. So, right now is the time to be remembering the promises of God, the things you've been studying your whole life and maybe have not yet hit the situations where you're putting those things into practice.
Yes, go back to the Bible and read the same verses over again. Yes. Because you'll glean from it something totally different than even two months ago. Right.
It's got a different application now for you. There's a way that this applies to your situation now that you had not thought of before. Right. There was another time it applied to a different situation.
Of course. I think it was R .C. Sproul who said, how many different interpretations does a verse in the Bible have? One. It only has one interpretation. Yes. There's only one interpretation that is the correct interpretation.
That makes this verse true, meaning what God intended it to mean. Right. But it may have 10 ,000 applications. Yes. So, it has one interpretation, but 10 ,000 applications. Yes. And now you're entering into another place in your life where you're finding a different way in which this applies.
It applied to your life in a different scenario, now it applies to your life in this scenario. And so, we remember now verses 7 and 8 of Psalm 91, a thousand may fall at your side, 10 ,000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
You will only look with your eyes and you will see the recompense of the wicked. What does that mean? Well, you may die and you will go be with the Lord in glory if you have trusted in and believed in Christ as your Savior.
But those who do not trust Christ as their Savior, this sickness will overcome them and they will die and they will fall into judgment. And the sickness and the death is the least of their worries for the judgment of God is coming next.
So, in the midst of this, we need to be sharing the gospel because as we've been going through Romans 1, and I've said over and over again from Romans 1, 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
Right. So, we have to know the gospel. This is the reason for the hope that is within us. Peter's saying in 1 Peter 3, 15, In your heart set apart Christ as holy, always ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you, but do this with gentleness and respect.
That was one of the last verses that I read in our Sunday school group at church before we broke. We've broken that group up now because of what's going on with the virus. Right. I'm not going to say what we're doing at our church.
It's different. It's different. Than what we were. Yeah, it's different than what we were doing, but I'm keeping those things private because I don't want to guilt anybody because they've had to make a certain decision based on the needs they know that they have in their own congregation.
Yeah. So, I'm not saying we're doing this, and therefore every other Christian needs to do it the same way that we're doing it.
And we don't want you to think that either. We don't want you to be like,. Oh, well, comparing churches to your church. Right.
Yeah. Don't judge your elders based on what we as elders are doing with our congregation. Right. Respect your elders. Submit to the decisions that they are making. Know that they are making the right calls for you.
Unless you go to that one church that went ahead and met. Where was that? Missouri?
Oh, no. They're all over the place. Are they? Yeah. Yeah. There's all these charismatic churches that are saying, I mean, you're a wimp if you don't meet. Yeah. And so, you've got, and they're mass congregations like over a thousand people that are getting together in defiance, and they're going to pay a price for that.
Check your heart first, and then go to the Bible and make the wisest choice. And each family can make their own choice as well because as head of household, you would make the choice. Yes. Even if you're not the pastor and we were just attending a church, you would make that decision for our family.
Yeah. Because if we have someone with asthma, that changes.
Right. That changes our consideration in this. Right.
Or if we're going to go visit somebody soon that has health issues. Yes. I mean, that plays a part in all of this.
Yes. By the way, so as we're talking about this, and this is still kind of in the context of our going through Psalm 91 here, as we're talking about this, there are some who will say, well, if the government is telling us that we should not gather in large groups anymore because we could be spreading this virus and we could be putting a person at risk, are we not listening to the government instead of listening to the word of God?
Are we not defying the word of God that tells us to not neglect gathering, as it says in Hebrews chapter 10? Are we not disobeying God's word by breaking up the Sunday morning gathering? Here's the thing.
Here's the thing related to that. And this, I'm getting this, by the way, from Martin Luther. Okay. He wrote a, there was when the bubonic plague was hitting in the 16th century. Oh, wow. Yeah. You had Wittenberg University had been shut down.
Sounds familiar? Yeah. Martin Luther is being urged to flee. And there are pastors that are now asking him, what do we do? Should we stay or should we go? And so Luther wrote a very lengthy response. And it was called whether one may flee from a deadly plague.
It was not a short letter. It was rather lengthy. But this was published to help pastors assess the situation and what their responsibility is. And he said that we have to assess each situation accordingly.
Yeah. And each person according to their task, because different people have different responsibilities. Very true. The minister is going to have one responsibility. The person who is employed by the government is going to have a different responsibility.
Right. The person who is the head of the household, as you mentioned, is going to have a different responsibility. Yeah. So each person according to the situation and according to their roles. And but all of this needs to be in light of the command of God to love our neighbor.
Right. We cannot neglect loving our neighbor. And as Martin Luther was talking about this, he said that there are going to be some people who are going to think to themselves. Well, it's better for me to just go ahead and face the virus, because if I don't face the virus, well, the bubonic plague, I should just face the plague.
Right. Because if I don't face the plague, am I not saying that I don't trust God? OK. And this world has fallen anyway. God has subjected it to these things like pestilence. So, therefore, I just need to face it.
And I'm a sinner and I'm deserving of this anyway. So I just need to put myself in harm's way and trust in God and my soul will be delivered. OK. And here was here is the apologetic argument that Luther gave.
Basically killing yourself. OK. Yeah. Here's the thing. Here's here's the contention that Luther made with that. He said, if you were to fall in water, do you not flail your arms to keep yourself from drowning?
You just fall into deep water and just go, well, I deserve this anyway. You know, I'm a sinner. God, God created drowning as a result of the fall. So I'm just not going to fight for my life and I'm just going to sit here.
I'm going to sink in the water and drown. Or if you're in a burning building, do you not flee? Do you not stand there and say, well, buildings that are burning are falling apart and collapsing in on themselves as a result of the fall.
Right. So therefore, I'm just going to stand here because otherwise, if I try to run out, then I'm not trusting God. Right. That was that was what Luther presented there. So if we are choosing not to gather as a large group of people in one place on a Sunday morning because it could be spreading an infectious and a deadly disease to somebody.
Is that not the same as fleeing from a burning building? Yeah. It's not that you don't trust God. Right. You're running out of the burning building, so therefore you don't trust God. No, that's not it at all.
And the same is the case with this plague, with this virus. If we can take these necessary precautions out of love and compassion for those who may be the most susceptible to catching this disease and spreading it.
Is that not a godly thing to do? Yeah. I think some are beginning to respond to churches that are closing the way that the Pharisees were talking about the Sabbath day. And Jesus and his disciples are walking through the grain field and the disciples start to pluck the heads of grain.
And the Pharisees are looking at Jesus and going, hey, hey, hey, they're working on the Sabbath day. What is this going on here? Aren't they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? And then Jesus says to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
So the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath. As this pertained to a man who needed healing, they asked him, the Pharisees asked Jesus, is it lawful to heal a man on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him?
And Jesus replied, which one of you has a sheep? If it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out. Of how much more value is a man than a sheep? So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
And some people are looking at churches breaking up so not to afflict their members with an unnecessary infection. And they're looking at this and going, see, you're breaking Sabbath commandments. You're breaking the Lord's day.
We're not breaking the Lord's day. Yeah. It's not the same. You can still regard this day as holy and give it unto the Lord. It should grieve our hearts. We can't get together with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
It's not like we're running home. And long for it even more. Exactly. Yes. It's not like we're running home going, ah, great. I get a day off of church. Right. I get Sunday off of church.
It's hard. It's hard and heartfelt. Yes. Decisions that these men are making. It's not an easy decision of, oh, okay. Or it shouldn't be at least. I don't know. Some of those pastors are acting like it's a day off.
So have me concerned.
I'm sure there's some out there, yeah, that are kind of like, oh, hey, this is what I do anyway.
It was just easier to cancel it than anything else. But those that have really put in the thought and the study in God's word about whether or not to cancel, I mean, that's hard. That's hard on them.
It's a difficult decision. Yeah. And I really had to check myself, too, because originally when it started coming about that there were different governors or mayors or health professionals that were saying we're going to say you cannot gather in groups larger than 50.
And I said something on Twitter that was something to the effect of I don't care if it's plague. I don't care if it's the government. I am preaching on Sunday. Now, that's still my belief. That is still the conviction of my heart.
But I did take that tweet down because I didn't want that to cause guilt in the heart of a pastor, because the smart thing for him to do would be to break up his congregation on a Sunday morning instead of having everybody together as a group and thus spreading an infection.
I didn't want that to affect his decision. He needs to make the decision based on the way that he is shepherding his flock. I've got certain convictions that I'm going to follow, but I'm not impressing that upon anybody else.
Each one of these respective situations is different, and I think that we need to….
Even the different parts of town, there's different things. I mean, how many elderly do you have in your congregation? How many…. Of course. Like, we have mostly military, so they are coming from overseas, or they have been, defending our country, visiting families.
Yeah, military tasks can't stop. Yeah. You know, there's still things that the army has to do. So, we're serving people in our church that are mostly military, but as….
So, we would be different than other churches that are more stationary people, always. Yeah.
Civilians, if you will. Our body is different, so the personality of our church is even different. Oh, yes. And that's going to even differ by state. I mean, you know that. Different parts of the United States.
Different towns. Different countries. Yeah. There's a different personality of people in the different places that you live. So, you have to weigh all of these things accordingly as to what you're going to do.
Right. And do it in the fear of the Lord and in love of your neighbor.
Right. Not in stubbornness and pride. And not…. Yeah. Not legalism. Yes. That one's tough. Yes. That's a hard one to check yourself. Because, I mean, yes, I'm going to do it no matter what. Okay. Yay.
But at the same time, are you doing that with the right heart? You know? Or is it for zealousness for God? Yes.
And this is all…. And, I mean, it's easy to make the criticism when you're not the pastor having to make the decision.
Oh, yeah. I mean, think of the sports we're not watching anymore. All those critics have to critique something. Yeah, right.
I'm going to turn my guns on the pastor for canceling church on Sunday. Yeah. But consider these words. This is from the same document that Martin Luther had written regarding the plague and making the right decisions out of love for your neighbor.
He said the following, If Christ shed his blood for me and died for me, why should I not expose myself to some small dangers for his sake and disregard this feeble plague? If you can terrorize, God can strengthen me.
If you can kill, Christ can give life. If you have poison in your fangs, Christ has far greater medicine. Should not my dear Christ, with his precepts, his kindness, and all his encouragement, be more important in my spirit than you, roguish devil, with your false terrors in my weak flesh?
God forbid! Get away, devil! Here is Christ, and here am I, his servant in this work. Let Christ prevail. Amen. Amen. So let's continue with Psalm 91. We'll see if we can get through the rest of this here.
Verse 9. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the Most High, who is my refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you. No plague come near your tent. Once again, does this mean that we as Christians will not face any evil thing in this world?
That evil will not come upon us? You know that's not true. You know that you are going to be afflicted with evil. For Jesus even said, they will hate you, but they hate you because they hated me first.
Yeah. So there are going to be people that hate us. You know, of course, in my sermon series, if you've been listening to that on Sunday, I'm going through the Sermon on the Mount. And it's in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5, where Jesus says, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you. You're blessed when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven.
For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So yes, you are going to face evil in this world. There are going to be evil people who will oppress you. Yeah.
And do not despair. So my question now, is it wrong to pray for relief from such things? No, of course not. I didn't think so, but I wanted you to answer.
So yes, you can ask God that he would take this away, but be prepared that his answer for you might be, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Because remember the Apostle Paul prayed for this in 2 Corinthians 12.
Three times I asked that the Lord would take this thing away from me. And what was Christ's response to him? My grace is sufficient for you. Right. So you may be asked to endure this a little bit longer.
Remember the picture that we have in the book of Revelation of the martyrs under the altar who are asking God, when are you going to avenge us for the blood that was spilled for the gospel that we proclaimed?
And he gives them a white robe and says for them to wait a little bit longer for your number is going to be added to. There's going to be other martyrs for the sake of my gospel. The end has not yet come.
So you may be asked to endure this a little bit longer. And there is something that is being accomplished in that. Peter says in 1 Peter 4, 12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Paul says in Romans 8, 29, that these things that we endure are shaping us more into the image of Christ.
Yes. That we would give glory to God and trust in him, trusting in the father as Jesus trusted in the father. Trusting in the father that he is working all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
Amen. Romans 8, 28. Yes. And then 29. The reason for that. Because it makes us more like Christ. Right.
Another question. Okay. What do you recommend people tell their children? Do they leave them in the dark? Or do they let them know? Or do they scare them into faith? Scare them into submission.
See, some fear is good because we are told to fear the Lord. So you actually do have to teach your children fear and you have to teach them a right kind of fear. A reverent fear. Correct. Yes. So that they would.
Fear, like respect. Yeah, a fear of respect. But I mean, when you come to Christ, there is a fear of judgment. Well, yes.
But I mean, so much that they fear that they respect them, not rebellious and those kind of things. Like, I could really get in trouble here. I'm going to not do that.
Yes, right. Kind of fear. You know what I mean? Certainly. You're just trying to avoid getting in trouble for something. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. So you want to teach your children to love God. Right. Not simply to, hey, say these things.
Believe these things. And be like a magic spell. And then it'll keep you from going to hell. Right.
Sorry, I'm going to tag on to that. Go ahead. If what you're teaching your children is starting to sound a lot like the shows they're watching on TV on this break. If it sounds like Disney. You need to stop.
Okay, that was it. So how are we telling our kids about the virus? Is that kind of what you're saying? Yeah. I mean, we tell our kids what's going on. We do. There are certain things we know they're not going to understand.
But we let them know there is a terrible sickness that's going on. And it's killing people. And some of the precautions that we're taking are so people that we love are not going to get sick. Right. And potentially die because of the spread of this virus.
We tell them the name of it. We've given them some information. Apparently the wrong name. It's Kung Flu.
There we go. I have not yet. You make me giggle every time you use that. Sorry.
I haven't yet told my son that. I think he would really get a kick out of that. He would. I haven't said that yet. No pun intended. It's like, wow, Kung Flu. The one reason. Get a kick out of it. A kick out of it.
Yeah, there you go. I didn't even think of that. It was a pun for the taking right there. There you go. I didn't even think of that. What was I going to say? I'm sorry. I'm totally derailed. So the Kung Flu.
Oh, because it's not the flu. Yes. And I mean, there are a lot of medical professionals out there that are saying we need to help people understand that this is not the flu. This is not your average run-of-the-mill seasonal flu.
Now the flu can be as deadly as this particular strain of coronavirus. Right. Definitely. Yeah, as the Wuhan virus. There are flus that have been that deadly, but we've developed immunities to them. And it's for the most part.
Yeah, right. You know, like the Spanish flu has not disappeared. Right. Swine flu. H1N1. Bird flu. I had that. Those things still exist, but the thing is that we've developed immunities to them. So with this, it's called a novel virus because it's brand new.
We haven't developed any immunity to this. Brand new to an extent. It has been around for a little while, but it hasn't been afflicting people like this the way that it is right now. Yeah. And it originates from China.
It comes from the Chinese wet markets. That is its source of origin. We've been talking about this for months. End of 2019, beginning of 2020. But it's only, again, just in the last few weeks, suddenly that's become deeply offensive to reference its point of origin.
But that is where it comes from. If you've been listening to the briefing with Albert Moeller with any regularity, you knew this before this was even declared a pandemic, that COVID -19 comes from Wuhan, China.
Yeah. The World Health Organization knows that. At one point, all of the media sources were reporting that, but I guess they've backed off of that significantly. So anyway, back to telling your children about all of this.
Yes. Yeah. You tell your children the truth. You tell them the things that are going on. There's a tendency in us as parents to try to protect our kids from the truth because we don't want to startle them or scare them or cause them to panic.
Right. Nightmares at night. Yeah. All that stuff. Do you remember the movie Interstellar? Yes. Okay. So the main character who's played by Matthew McConaughey, and there's at one point where he says, I can't remember if it's to his father, but anyway, he says that there are certain things you don't tell your kids because one of your responsibilities as a parent is to make them feel like they're safe.
Okay. And there's some element of truth to that and some that's not. I think you do need to tell your kids the truth, but whether or not they panic is going to be dependent upon if they see you panic.
Right. Your behavior and your response to things like this are also going to be teachers to your children as to how they respond to these kinds of things. Yes. And especially if they see mom and dad panicking, but they don't know why.
Oh yeah, that's bad. Then that just develops all manner of uncertainty in your children.
Because their imaginations are going to take that and run whether or not you tell them the truth or whether or not you leave them in the dark. Yeah. They are going to know that you are nervous about something and they're just going to, I mean, Zej was thinking that bad guys are going to break into our home in the middle of the night.
And I don't, I don't know what that was all about.
That was a couple of years ago, but yeah, I remember that.
It was just the crazy stuff that he comes up with.
I mean, it causes him to not sleep at night.
It wasn't even that simple. It was in detail about what he's going to do and to protect the family and what the bad guys are going to do in response to him doing this stuff. And I mean, he had it played out, all of it.
And I let him develop those plans of action because I thought that was pretty cool. It was.
But at the same time, his imagination, where did he come up with that? I'm not even sure.
Right. I don't remember. I don't remember. Now, thinking of this, because I remember this whole phase that he went through and I remember. It wasn't, it wasn't just short lived. It was a long time. Yes, it was.
And I remember having a conversation with him in his bedroom one night with the lights off. He's going to sleep, should be going to sleep, but he's, he's concerned about bad guys coming in. One of the things that I talked to him about when I was helping him to understand the world, how it works.
I did not tell him bad guys are not going to come in our house and kill us. I didn't say that. I didn't say that they might, but I didn't tell him that wouldn't happen because it could. It could.
It is a possibility. And then you would be an automatic liar. Right.
And he would be stunned. And then, yeah. And then my son, how much does he trust what it is that I say to him from that point on? How much does he trust the word of God when it says that the Lord will protect him?
So I tell him the truth, but I tell him to trust in God. We don't know what's going to happen. We have no certainty that we aren't going to be afflicted by something bad, that enemies won't come against us, that we won't get sick and die.
We have no certainty regarding those things. We have to trust in the Lord in every situation with all your heart, leaning, not on your own understanding, in all your ways, acknowledge him. You lean on your own understanding and you develop these panic modes.
Like he was developing.
It was so bad. And he was so little. It's like, you don't have to think about these things yet, you're a child, you know? That was just... So my point was, was that if you don't tell them and they see you're nervous, they're going to fill in the blanks with whatever is in their head at that point.
And that... So, yes. I mean, you have to teach your kids.
It's a teaching moment. It is. For your children. You're teaching them real life stuff. I know it kind of seems easier to teach them from a textbook. Can't I just go to the book and point to the answer?
Right. Well, you can't. Open up your Bible. Right. Precisely. Yes. You have to be regular with your kids, with your family about this. And not just reading it and then like, okay, guys, that was it. Yeah.
Okay. Let's pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. You know, and then you do your prayer and you're all done. You have to help them understand it. Do you understand what this means?
Like one of the things I do with Annie and Zeej, since they're our oldest two and they're the ones who can read, is we're opening up the Bible. They have their Bible. I have mine. And we're reading a passage and I'll ask them, now, what are the verbs?
So they're looking for the action words in the verses that we looked at. And then asking them, now, what does that mean? We're being told to do something here. What is it? What is it we're told to do?
So it's not just reading some words on a page, but helping them process it and understand it and getting it into their hearts. It's through catechism and through the basic things that we teach them that they know God is real.
God is triune. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible is his word. His word is true. It is sufficient. It is going to endure forever. The word of the Lord endures forever. Through those basic teaching things that we give to them, they know those truths.
So now when we come to the scriptures with all of that received in mind and heart, whatever God says, whatever the Bible says, I'm going to believe it. So now we're going through the verses, they're finding the application for that, they're understanding what God is saying to us in those verses when we process it and think through it.
So you're teaching your kids what it says and how to understand what it says. So that the promises of God that you have clung to in your life, the assurances that you have that this thing is not going to destroy us, it is not going to overtake us, it doesn't affect the kingdom of God.
It may affect this world that is falling and coming to waste, but God's kingdom endures and the Lord is not shaken off of his throne. Those promises that have sustained you are now the things that your children are learning and are going to sustain them through these trials as well.
And it will bring them comfort. Absolutely. And if you start with them young, then they will grow up in that. Definitely. Yeah.
Start them young. A lot harder to teach them this stuff when you wait till later in life. Now, we say that and you might be going, well, I've got some kids that I've waited too long with. Do it today.
Yep. You do it today. And you just say, I'm sorry I waited so long. Right. We needed to have this talk a long time ago. We need to do this.
Exactly. We need to sit down. We need to go through the scriptures together. Husbands, you have a responsibility to do that with your wife. If you need some help, you need some tools to assist you, a couple of places you can go.
Go to founders .org and get their catechism books or go to Ligonier and subscribe to Table Talk Magazine. Yes. And those are two places that you can go to receive some tools that will help you through those things.
Grace To. You has some stuff too. I don't want to leave them off the table. Wretched, you can go to wretched .tv. They've got resources there. Look for those things that will help guide you through the devotional stuff that you do.
And like I said earlier on the podcast this week, we've got people that write into us and say, we start with you every day. So as we're eating breakfast in the morning, mom, dad, kids, we're listening to when we understand the text.
And this is helping to guide us through our devotionals in the day. That's great too. I'm glad you can utilize this resource for that. We're coming down to the close of the program. We didn't get to any questions here.
My questions. Your questions. That's right. Becky had some questions. I had questions. We answered her questions here. Sorry, guys. But let's finish. Let's go ahead and finish our reading of Psalm 91 and then we'll conclude with prayer.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent.
You will trample underfoot because, and now this is the Lord speaking here in this part. This is verses 14 through 16. Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Amen and amen. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the goodness that you show us in Christ.
And I pray that we would not despair in these days, in these uncertain times. And as this thing gets longer, as it goes further, we're going to, it's going to sink in even more. The reality of the situation, the loneliness we might feel, and even begin to wonder all the more deeply than we're thinking even right now.
When is this going to stop? When are we going to get any relief from this? We're going to know people who get sick. We may even know people who die from this. Let us not lose heart. Let us not fall into despair.
Let it cause us to trust in God all the more and holding out the gospel to those who are being afflicted by these times so that they may know this, this, all of this is happening in the world because of sin, because of man's wretchedness, because of our rebellion against God.
And God has subjected all things to futility as part of the curse, but he loves us and has sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that all who believe in him will not perish under the things that this world is going to come under.
But we have the promise of everlasting life forever with God in a kingdom where these things will be no more. As Jesus said, I am coming soon. Behold, I am making all things new. And we pray with John the apostle in Revelation chapter 22.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus. We pray and ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. As Jesus said, I am coming soon. Behold, I am making all things new. And we pray with John the apostle in Revelation chapter 22.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus. We pray and ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.
All right. Thanks, love. You're welcome. So, you didn't have any questions tonight? Yeah, I did. Yeah, I had a whole. Oh, you had questions? Yes. I didn't think you had any questions. Here it is right here.
Oh. I've got. Oh, no. Yeah. I've got this. Were they all about the Kung Flu? There, you're getting it.
I'm getting it. Yeah, you're getting it. I had a couple of them related to coronavirus. And then there was some about Romans since we're going through Romans right now. Oh, no. Oh, I'm so sorry. No, that's fine.
That's right. Okay, so here's what we can do. We can do a bonus Q &A. Okay. We'll actually do questions and answers now. Okay. That sounds good. When? I think I'll keep the Saturday scripture reading.
That's good. And maybe Monday? All right. Yeah. You've got Philip again. Yeah. So, you probably don't want to record Friday night. No, probably not. This is tough. We'll find somewhere on the weekend we can record.
Yeah. And we'll do a special edition Q &A on Monday. I like it. You want to do that? That's a great idea. Okay. All right.