COVID-19, What in Heaven Is God Doing?
What may be happening now, all around the world.
2 Chronicles 7:11-15
Other various passages
“If my people…”
• The Corona Virus 19 had rocked our world.
• Has it not shown us that we cannot control our lives?
• For control freaks, this has been emotional death.
• For those who are germaphobes, this is a nightmare.
• For the social butterflies, this is lasting forever.
• For school children, it’s like a huge “timeout box”.
• For the elderly, this is a lonely period.
• If you are in a nursing home, you cannot see your family, and you fear someone will unintentionally bring death to work.
• If you are a small business owner, you are wondering what your business will look like in 2021, if you even have a business.
• To the furloughed employee, you wonder if your job, or any job, will be there for you.
• Too many fears to mention.
• You may be going through a fear that no one else realizes.
• I’m not here to remind you of your fears or give you new ones.
• I am here to give you hope.
• Not just, “Hang in there. We are going to get through this together.”
• I have heard this thousands of times,
• the actors aren’t saying they were going to send me a check from their personal account.
• And that is fine. Want to know the truth?
• My hope is not in a wealthy rescuer.
• It’s not in money.
• It’s not in me being able to control my circumstances.
• It’s not from me being able to isolate myself from germs.
• Nor, any other comfort that I would naturally hope for.
• I want us to pray now……..
• I want to share something with you from God’s message of hope.
• In 1 Chronicles 6, when Solomon was blessing the temple, he said,…
“2Ch 6:16 Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’
• David was, by no means, perfect.
• His sins are often taught, more than any other topic, except about Goliath,
• because it comforts us to hear about a sinner reaching God.
• David slothed in the palace, looked at a naked bather, Lusted, called her to himself…
• Committed adultery, lied, murdered, and ignored what he did for nearly 9 months.
• And yet, God said David was a man after His own heart.
• David had the vision of building God a temple in Jerusalem.
• Here is how that happened, found in 2 Samuel 5-7 and 1 Kings 5.,
• The King of Tyre, Hiram, was an ally of David.
• He sent lots of cedar lumber, carpenters, and engineers to give David a gift.
• Not just any gift. He built him palace.
• When David moved in, I am fairly sure he responded like many of us did when we get a new house.
• When Laura and I bought our first house together, I had taken a load to move in while Laura remained at the rent house we were in to pack up more boxes.
• When I walk into the house, I cried. (I cry easily).
• I walked from room to room with my hands stretched towards heaven, tear running down my face, and praised and thanked God.
• I praised Him for doing, at that time, what seemed to us, the impossible.
• David had been a tent-dwelling shepherd as a boy.
• As a soldier, he lived in a tent.
• When he ran from King Saul, he was a nomad, living in a tent.
• As king, he lived in a tent.
• Hiram said, “I want to build my buddy a house.”
• As David inspected the house, and no doubt, thanked God in every room, a thought occurred to him.
• “Now I live in a palace, and yet the Ark of the Covenant dwells in a tent (tabernacle).
• “I want to build God a Temple in Jerusalem.”
• God corrected David and told him he was too much of a warrior,
• with blood on his hands, to build a holy temple.
• But he was to raise the money and material
• He would have a son, the next king, who would build it.
• So, decades later, Solomon did.
• Now is the time for the dedication.
• The Ark of the Covenant was moved to the Temple.
• A cloud covered the Temple.
• God moved in.
• Solomon blessed the people and praised God.
• Now it is God’s time to speak. We are in 1 Chronicles 7.
• After Solomon finished his prayer, fire came from heaven.
• It consumed the offerings the Israelites had brought.
• The priests wanted to enter the Temple and do their jobs, but the fire prohibited them.
• Oh, what a glorious picture here.
• The slain animals were ready. The priests were ready.
• But God said, “This is my job.”
• We want, at some level in us, to make the sacrifices that secures our forgiveness.
• We want to do some work that saves us.
• But God will not allow us
• He left that to the sacrificed Savior.
• Jesus, on the cross, said, “It is finished.”
• Jesus does the redemption. He gave His life.
• You may want to blame the Jews for killing Jesus, or the Romans.
• But let’s hear it from Jesus.
• Look at John 10.
Joh 10:17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
Joh 10:18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
• God says, “Trust in Jesus to forgive your sins. He has done the job.”
• Back to 2 Chronicles 7.
• The people’s response was to fall down and worship him.
• They said, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
• Now, after God had dedicated His own temple, the the priests made offerings for the people.
• 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep.
• There were prayers, music, celebration.
• This was meaningful to the people because God’s chosen people now had a Temple to remind them of God’s presence and promises.
• After 23 days, Solomon sent people home.
• You thought our services were long.
• After the dedication was over, a tired Solomon went to the palace.
• That night, he had a vision from God.
• That’s what I want to look at today.
2Ch 7:12 Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.
2Ch 7:13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people,
2Ch 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2Ch 7:15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
2Ch 7:16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
• I want you to notice something.
• God never said He would not allow draught, pestilence, and locust, in their land.
• As a matter of fact, He promised they would come.
• Why? Why would God even allow it? Covid-19?
• The answer is a lot more complicated than, “So He could show His power.”
• That may satisfy some of us who have learned to fully trust the Lord.
• But, if we take a step from it, we must say, it appears very cruel and egotistic for God to play the hero nurse.
• Richard Angelo from Islip, NY, was called the "angel of death", or “angel of mercy”. He devised a plan where he would inject the patient with drugs, then rush into the room and attempt to "save" the patient so that he could be a hero to the patient's family. He was convicted as a serial killer in 1989 to serve 50 years in prison.
• This is called the Munchausen Syndrome.
• It means that the care giver cares less about his or her patient less than they care for their reputation.
• Could you ever accuse God of this?
• Not me. God is supremely better than that. Perfect in love.
• What we forget is the curse of sin.
• We forget about the blackness of sin.
• We don’t want to admit that mankind brought this upon themselves.
• The same was true for Israel.
• The same was true, and began with, Adam and Eve.
Gen 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
Gen 2:17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
• English does not do justice to the last part of verse 17.
• The Hebrew word for “die” means, yes, to die thoroughly.
• It also means to unleash death.
Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
… Rom 5:17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Rom 5:18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
Rom 5:19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.
• If you think the death Jesus was called to die is extreme, and more than necessary, you don’t understand the death Adam and Eve unleashed on the world.
• If you question this, you can look up the Hebrew for the word die in genesis.
• Or, you can see it in the immediate, and recurring, disasters it released.
• Before this, every animal was tame and did not kill to eat.
• Every square inch of soil was weed free.
• Every day had perfect weather. No tornadoes, hurricanes, draughts, tsunamis.
• There was no sickness, no disease, no epidemics, no pandemics. No cancer.
• There was no death.
• No war. No mental illness. No evil dictators.
• The perfect existence of daily basking in God’s love ended.
• They couldn’t even stay in their home.
• To make a living was painful and exhausting.
• Childbirth was tortuous.
• Sickness shattered the home, as Eve had to watch her precious babies experience illnesses she had never known.
• Fear, or terror, filled their hearts.
• Can you imagine being chased out of your home by a powerful angel?
• Not allowed to return.
• Going from a blessed land and existence, into a desert with just an animal skin to cover your nakedness, and nothing else in your possession?
• Place in a wild land where lions, wolves, bears, and germs ruled,
• with nothing in hand to protect yourself?
• That act of selfishness by Adam and Eve is responsible for all wars, pandemics, Hitlers, and death.
• “You shall surely die…” You shall surely open up pandora’s box, and it will be a long time until it can be closed.”
• “It has to be dealt with thoroughly before it can be defeated.”
• That is how black and evil sin is.
• See, we do forget how evil sin is.
• Even in the Age of Grace, for forgiven people, we have to remember that, in this life, we must reap what we sow.
• Sure, we are forgiven and allowed to enter the perfection of the next life if we trust in Jesus.
• But we still get sick, have to live through, and some of us, die in, pandemics.
• We must face cancers of all kinds, loss of jobs, a crashing economy, storms and destructive weather, aging (ugh), arthritis, auto-immune diseases….
• One of the godliest men I knew, we had to watch him suffering Parkinson’s disease.
• Before he got in the worst condition, his wife died unexpectedly. Our hearts broke.
• We watch another sweet lady die of Lou Gehrig’s disease.
• My mother died with Alzehimer’s disease.
• The list of diseases go on almost without end. And they are merciless
• Merck’s Manual, the new addition, now has 3530 pages.
• It lists all known diseases, symptoms, and treatments.
• But what about new diseases. I remember HIV, Saar’s, now Covid-19.
• Nearly 50,000 men, women and children were dying every day from infectious diseases, according to WHO before COVID-19.
• Not only are new diseases are developing, old diseases are mutating into new strains.
• Again, I am not trying to scare anyone to death.
• I am just trying to give us a touch of how evil sin is.
• It unleashes death.
• Death is ugly, taking on the countenance of it’s father, sin.
• Sin takes on the image of it’s father, Satan.
• But God did not leave us without hope.
• Look.
2Ch 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2Ch 7:15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
• So, in light of this, seeing how God works, what is happening now?
I. First, God is calling His people to fear Him.
• Not as the world fears, but as a child fears a father he truly knows love him.
• You’ve heard some young person say, “I am not doing that. I don’t want to disappoint my parents.”
• Some will say this passage was given to Israel, not the Church.
• That is not exactly true.
• He gave it to Israel AND the Church.
• Look at it, Christians.
• He says to “humble ourselves”.
• There is a whole series of sermons there.
• But look, He literally means, to bow ourselves before Him in submission, as a servant.
• Former missionary to Russia, and my dear friend, Kenney Mitchell knows more about the fear of God than any living person I know.
• He would say, “Humility means to fear God.”
• Not as the world fears, but to give Him His place of supremacy He deserves.
• The Bible speaks much of fearing God. That is true, godly, humility.
• If God meant this for the New Testament Church, the New Testament would say something about it, right?
• James quoted the OT scripture in James 4:6.
Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
He adds, “James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
• Did you know true humility before God makes us humble towards one another?
1 Peter 5:5 “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Ephesians 4:2 “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
• Many passages in the NT speak about humility and fear of the Lord.
• But listen to the very words of our Master.
Matthew 23:10-12 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
• God instructs us to humble ourselves, giving God His proper place in our lives.
• It starts there.
II. Then He calls us to Fellowship with Him.
• The text says, “humble yourselves, and PRAY.”
• Prayer is our communion with God.
• We talk with God, and He talks with us.
• Solomon prayed, and God spoke.
• It is easy to forget God daily.
• I love to sit with my Bible open, speak to God, and hear what He says to me.
• I never feel more complete and whole. Satisfied.
• But when I get up, run about my tasks, I often forget to take God with me.
• I forget to let Him fellowship with me throughout the day.
• I forget to let Him live through me.
• I am no better than Adam and Eve, who risked walking daily with God in the garden, instead to raise their status.
III. Third, He calls us to Find His Will.
• The text says, “seek my face.”
• baw-kash' = seek, to search out (by any method; specifically in worship or prayer); by implication to strive after: - ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure, (make) request, require.
• God wants us to long to know Him.
• We learn of Him when we seek His face, know His will, and follow His guidance.
• It always pains me to hear of one talk about praying to God, making demands.
• God is not our Jeanie in a bottle, or our butler.
• He is our Holy, righteous Father, who promises to guide us if we request.
Php_4:6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
1Jn_5:15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
• We cannot request properly unless we seek His face.
• We cannot ask properly unless we know His will.
• Even when we labor to know God and His will, we need extra help. Powerful help.
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Rom 8:27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
• That doesn’t mean we don’t need to seek God’s face.
• It means, if we love God, we WANT to seek His face.
• We want to do His will. Our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak.
• And when we fail, He hears the Spirit of God fixing our failures in prayer.
• I want to end on the SUM of putting on humility, fellowship with God, and desperately searching for His will.
• I want to point out that, if we Fear God, Fellowship with God, and Find His will, something will change in us.
• The texts says, “turn from our wicked ways.”
IV. God calls us to Flee from Sin.
• I was raised thinking fleeing sin was a discipline.
• In my old age, or older age, I find it is a product of Fearing God, Fellowshipping with Him, and finding His Will.
• It’s more of a process of displacement. Than discipline
• I have some friends in DeSoto from when I was a young youth pastor.
• I taught that we reap what we sow one week.
• My student, Kevin, went home and taught his younger brothers.
• He must have done a good job.
• The next younger boy had been corrected for trying to ride a wheelie on his bicycle.
• His parents told him it was dangerous and would ruin his bicycle.
• The day after Kevin’s lesson, that boy rode off down the road.
• Without thinking, he popped a wheelie and was riding on his back wheel.
• The front wheel fell off.
• Now he was on one wheel and couldn’t think of how to land without a crash.
• That evening, the father called the boy into his room.
• “Son, is there something you want to tell me?”
• Kevin also told them, if they confessed their sins, it goes down a lot better.
• The boy thought.
• “I popped a wheelie and my front wheel came off.”
• Darren, the father, raised his eyebrows in surprise.
• “No, that’s not what I’m talking about.”
• “I didn’t finish my homework yesterday.”
• Again, in surprise, Darren said, “No, that’s not it.”
• After about four wrong confessions, the young man figured out he had confessed the wrong things and was digging himself into a deeper hole.
• He refused to confess anything else.
• His dad told him what it was, and gave him a good lecture…
• A far easier punishment than he had originally planned.
• You see, we hate confession, don’t we.
• But John wrote:
1Jn 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• When we Fear God, Fellowship with Him, and Find His Will, confession is easy, and natural.
• It’s healthy, like exhaling.
• It gives our lives room to inhale.
• It’s uncomfortable to think that we hurt our fellowship with our loving Father.
• We can’t say we don’t have anything to confess.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
• It just means there something wrong with our Fear of the Lord, Fellowship with God, and knowledge of His will.
• Drawing close to God shows us our sins.
• Let me finish with this.
• We talked about our responsibilities as God people, who are called by His name.
• Now, let’s look at God’s Response.
V. God will make us Free of Destruction.
then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
• I am not saying that we will not see problems.
• Jesus said it rains on the just and the unjust.
• He said, In this life, you will have tribulation.
But notice, he says, I will hear you from my throne room, forgive your sins, and heal your land.
• That was to Israel. What does that mean to us?
• It means, God is longing to hear from us when we have the right approach.
• He is not talking about physical posture.
• He is talking about fearing Him in humility, fellowshipping with Him in Bible study and prayer, and desperately seeking what He wants.
• He said He will forgive our sins.
• This isn’t universal forgiveness in two senses.
• First, it isn’t for unbelievers.
• Secondly, it’s not talking about our eternal destination, because it is tied to the last phrase.
• If you are saved, forgiven, and adopted by God, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.
• He is talking about suffering continuing destruction from the condemned world and sin nature.
• He is saying, Galatians 6:7 would not be your destruction.
Gal 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
• I had a squamous cell carcinoma on my face.
• It has not responded to any of my self-treatments.
• Not even my efforts to burn it off myself.
• Just like my sin. My cure creates damage. My remedies prolong suffering.
• So Dr. Maes scraped and cut it down to healthy skin Wednesday.
• Then it will heal with a scar.
• Sometimes God has to prune us.
• We will not heal properly until God removes our malignant sin.
• We don’t have Christian land or physical property,
• I hate to inform my displacement-theology friends.
• We are not the new Israel.
• WE are the Church.
• Our Kingdom sphere is spiritual.
• In this age, the promise to heal our land, for us, is tied to Romans 8:28.
Rom 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
• God promises to us that, what we view as good and bad,
• …when we love God and walk in humility, fellowship, and His Word,…
• …even the worst looking situation will simply prove to be good, by His hand, for us.
• I need that promise today.
• Listen, we must Fear God, Fellowship with Him, Find His Will, and Free ourselves from the destruction of sin by confession.
• Then we are loving God, and He will use this pandemic to grow us, not destroy us.
• He will use it to shape us more into the image of His precious Son.
• That’s what God is doing.
• Will you let Him do it in you?
• I want to remind believers.
• Our perfect healing and delivery comes after this life.
• What a glorious thought.
• We are in the battle against sin and death today.
• But eternally, we will enjoy the victory purchased by Jesus Christ.
• If you need to visit with the pastor, please let me know.
• We will set up an appointment.
• If you are not sure of your eternal destiny, let’s let God fix that today.
• Let me know. I am available anytime.
• Pray.
