Does God control the coronavirus? If so, what's God's purpose in
sending it? What will God accomplish by it? What should I do personally? Now, if you haven't asked these
questions or been asked these questions, you probably will.
Our passage tonight gives the answer to these questions. Does
God control the coronavirus? What's God's purpose in sending
it? What will God or why will God, why has God done it? And what should I do personally?
I've called this coronavirus, who, what, why? Those are the
three questions we're going to answer. Who, what, why? I had
a different title but I heard that Brother Gabe preached it
on Sunday, last Sunday and used the exact title I was going to
use. Ezekiel 14. Now God listed four judgments
and then he said this four times. He said, verse 20, though Noah,
Daniel, and Job were in it, in the land, those three notable
righteous men, three sinners saved by grace. He said, though
they were in the land, as I live, saith the Lord God. He can swear
by no greater. He said, as I live, they shall
deliver neither son nor daughter. They shall but deliver their
own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God.
Now here's a question. How much more when I sinned,
there's the who. How much more when I sinned,
my four sore judgments. There's the what. What is it? It's judgments. When I send it
upon Jerusalem, what if I send all four of these at once? He's
saying. The sword and the famine and the noisome beast and the
pestilence. To cut off from it man and beast. There's the why. And here's the
why. Yet behold, therein shall be
left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and
daughters. Behold, they shall come forth
unto you. And ye shall see their way and
their doings. Notice their way is singular. You shall see their way and their
doings. And you shall be comforted concerning
the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all
that I've brought upon it. And they shall comfort you when
ye see their ways. There it's plural. when you see
their ways and their doings. And ye shall know that I have
not done without cause all that I have done in the land, saith
the Lord God. So disease, just like these other
three judgments, is of God. They're judgments of God. They're
poured out justly because of man's sin against God. and they're used to bring his
elect under the gospel and to faith in Christ. So first of
all, who sent and who controls the coronavirus? God does. He said there in verse 21, Thus
saith the Lord God, How much more when I sinned? It's God
that sins his judgments. In all four of these judgments,
God said, I will. I will stretch out my hand and
break the staff of bread. I send a pestilence unto the
land. If you've been asked, who did
this? I said this to someone the other
day. I said, isn't it amazing how God sent this and just turned
everything upside down? And they looked at me like I
was crazy. What do you mean God sent this?
Before we complain about the one virus, we need to remember
God could send four, four judgments, and it'd be far worse. We actually
should be thankful for this virus because God says, and all things
give thanks. We know that all things work
together for good to them that are called, to them who love
and to them who are called according to his purpose. All things. He's called the Lord of hosts
because everything in His creation does His bidding. He's in control
of everything and everything in His creation does as He sovereignly
rules it to do. Nothing is out of God's control.
I'm talking about the true and living God. I'm talking about
the God of this book. Nothing is out of His control.
Whether it's good or whether it's evil. He said, shall there
be evil in a city? And the Lord hath not done it. God even deceives the false preachers. These false preachers that surround
the land all over the world, God deceives them. Look at verse
9. If the prophet be deceived when
he has spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet.
And I will stretch out my hand upon him. and will destroy him
from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment
of their iniquity. The punishment of the prophet
shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him.
Well, why would God deceive the prophet and then pour out judgment
on him? He said in 2 Thessalonians 2.10,
Because they received not the love of the truth that they might
be saved. You see, this prophet was deceived
before God ever deceived him. He was deceived already. He wouldn't
receive the love of the truth. And because of that, God deceived
him so that God might pour out His judgment on him. Listen,
because they received not the love of the truth that they might
be saved, for this cause God shall send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
You get the order there, men sin, God turns them over to reprobation,
and then God judges them for it. But the fault's all ours. The fault's ours. The fault is
the sinner. We're the ones who wouldn't come to God. We're the
ones who wouldn't believe God. We're the ones that earned this
recompense, this payment. God's absolutely sovereign in
everything He does. And just as He's absolutely sovereign
in judgment, that same judgment, by that same judgment, He's sovereign
in salvation. Sovereign to call out all His
elect. Have you heard of this God? Listen,
go over to Isaiah 40. A few pages to your left there.
And look at this. Isaiah 40 verse 22. It's He that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in, that bringeth the princes to nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth
as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted.
Yea, they shall not be sown. Yea, their stalks shall not take
root in the earth. And he shall also blow upon them,
and they shall wither. They shall wither. And the whirlwind
shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will you liken me,
or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on
high, behold, who hath created these things? that bringeth out
their host by number. Who created these things and
who calls them to do my bidding? He calleth them all by names,
by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. Not one thing that God's created
fails to do what God would have it to do. Not one. Man or beast. and objects and everything else,
winds and elements, everything does what God would have it to
do. Now I'm already comforted knowing that it's God who sent
this. It's God who did it. That's great
comfort to me. That means everything in this
world, everything in this land, everything in his church, everything
in my life, and everything in your life is right on track. God's working it exactly like
it should be. Exactly. What a comfort. What a comfort. Now secondly,
what is God's purpose in sending this virus? Judgment. Judgment. Verse 13, Son of man,
when the Lamb sinneth against me by trespassing grievously,
Then will I stretch out my hand upon it, and will break the staff
of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will
cut off man and beast from it. Look down at verse 19. Or if
I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon
it, in or by blood, to cut off from it man and beast. He said,
or if I send all four of my judgments, These are judgments of God. God
sends judgments due to sinners committing grievous sins against
God. That's why he sends judgment. The land sinneth against me by
trespassing grievously, he said. He's talking about the people
in the land. Four times he declares the purpose of his judgment is
to cut men off. That's the purpose of it. Cut
men off. To kill them. Now that doesn't mean that everybody
that gets this disease has sinned grievously against God. It doesn't
mean that at all. But most in Israel were very
religious. The majority were very religious. Their sin was in their heart,
not outwardly. In their heart they were idolaters. And we live in an age when the
majority in this world are religious. But they say things like, well,
you have your truth. I have my truth. There's only
one truth. It's the word of God. He's our
creator. Only one truth. There's an attitude
of entitlement. Entitlement, like I deserve these
things because of who I am. If you don't believe that men
are righteous and that men see themselves as righteous in this
world, just ask them. They'll gladly tell you. But outside of Christ, outside
of Christ, all our righteousnesses, all our very best deeds are filthy
rags. That's what they are. And God
will judge men for sinning against Him. Right now, God is judging
by sending disease. In some places in the world,
He has sent famine. He sends noisome beasts that
devour the land. And He sends a sword. He sends
war into the world. We're seeing right now what Romans
1 talked about. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness." God says sinners receive in themselves
that recompense of their error which is meat, which is fit.
What does it mean by that? Recompense is a payment. Men
earn this by their disobedience to God. And there comes a time,
I don't know when that time is, and you don't know when that
time is, but God turns sinners over to reprobation. They wouldn't
worship Him, so He made it so they could never worship Him.
And He does it that He might judge them and condemn them. And then God He does it for a
good cause though. Romans 1 says they denied God. They changed the truth of God
into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than
the creator. Does that not describe the majority
in our world today? Men grievously sin against God
and God turns sinners over to their wickedness. He said, men
with men, women with women, burning in their lust for one another.
God said that's because I turned them over to a reprobate mind.
When you see homosexuality in the world, that is a sure sign
of reprobation and a sure sign that God's judgment's coming.
It's coming. who knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death. They're
worthy of death. They not only do the same, but
have pleasure in them that do them. Before this coronavirus
came, there was already a pandemic. Already. Of grievous sin against
God. That disease was already here.
And that's the reason God sent it. Now again, that doesn't mean
everybody that gets it has sinned grievously against God. It means that judgments come
from God when the whole land, majority of the land, rejects
God and sins against God. God delays judgment. And so men
think, oh, God's not going to do anything. But we see from this virus, brethren,
that it's impossible to sin against God and God not take action. It's impossible. Sooner or later,
God will take judgment upon a man outside of Christ who is sinning
against Him. changing the truth of God into
a lie. And all of this right now, this
judgment right now should make us, it should be a reminder to
us that we are coming into a final judgment in the last day. We
are going to meet God in the last day. And He is going to
judge the world in righteousness by that man, Christ Jesus, whom
He has raised from the dead. There is coming a day when He
is going to do that. So that's what it was, brethren,
it's judgment. It's judgment, the judgment of
God. Thirdly, why did God send it? Why did He send it? Well, the simple answer is this.
It's woe for the wicked and it's well for the righteous. It's
woe for the wicked and well for the righteous. That's what Isaiah
said time and time again. Woe for the wicked, well for
the righteous. Judgment begins at the house
of God. Judgment begins at God's house. And so in these chapters
leading up to this chapter and then at the beginning of this
chapter also, God said He was going to destroy first the chief
sinners. Well surely that's those people
out in the brothels and in the bars and in the gutters. No. It's the preachers. It's the
preachers. and the people that follow the
preachers. He lists some men who were prophets. He listed
some women who pretended to be prophets. And the elders, the
elders even came to Ezekiel and sat down and acted like they
were trying to learn from Ezekiel as he preached the gospel. And
God said in their heart they've worked wickedness. God sees it. It's open. They work wickedness
in their heart. Look at Ezekiel 13 and look at
verse 19. He says, Will you pollute me
among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread? That's what they're doing it
for. For money. For gain. He says, To slay the souls that
should not die and to save the souls alive that should not live. by your lying to my people that
hear your lies. Drop down to verse 22. Because
with lies you've made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I've
not made sad. And you've strengthened the hands
of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way
by promising him life. God says, therefore, for that
reason, you shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations,
for I will deliver my people out of your hand, and you shall
know that I am the Lord. See, outwardly, these people
looked like they were very, very religious, very holy outwardly,
but it was all vain. because in their heart they were
idolaters. You know you don't have to carve
out an idol to be an idolater. Men worship money, worship careers,
worship homes and places where they live, they worship children, worship their pleasures. You
can be an idolater in the heart without carving out an image. And God said, He said, look at
Isaiah 29, 13. Now what we're reading about
here, this all happened to the children of Israel. This all
happened to the children of Israel. They rejected Christ, and this
is what God did. But this is happening to us today. And it's going to happen on a
grand scale in the last day of judgment. Look here in Isaiah
29, 13. Wherefore, saith the Lord, forasmuch
as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips
do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me. And
their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men. Most of
what you hear preached today is just man preaching whatever
he feels like preaching. It's not this word. It's not
this word. Therefore, behold, I will proceed
to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous
work and a wonder. For the wisdom of their wise
men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be
hid. He goes on there to say it's
turning things upside down. It's the pot saying to the potter,
why have you made me thus? That's turning things upside
down. But you see, that's judgment God's talking about. And what's
the cause of it? It's because they were outwardly
religious, but inwardly idolaters, worshipping their idols. But
what's woe for the wicked? The same thing that's woe for
the wicked is well for the righteous. No sinner can save himself and
no one that's saved can save any other sinner. He says there,
verse 14, though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were
in the land, they should deliver but their own souls by their
righteousness, saith the Lord God. He says in another place
there, four times he says it, they shall not deliver their
sons or their daughters. You can't be delivered because
your mother or your father believed the gospel. They can't do anything
for you to deliver you. Where Noah and Daniel and Job,
were they delivered because they worked out a righteousness all
their own? He says it's their righteousness.
Is he saying they worked out a righteousness for themselves?
Well God said there's none righteous, no not one. That includes Noah,
Daniel and Job. Every one of us are sinners.
Every one of us deserve the judgment of God. We've earned that by
our sin against God. Every one of us. And no other
sinner can deliver us because they're sinners too. They need
God to save them too. And we can't deliver ourselves.
But God can. But God can. Look here in verse
22. Yet behold, I like God's beholds,
don't you? Yet behold, therein shall be
left a remnant that shall be brought forth. Both sons and
daughters, behold, they shall come forth unto you. They're
coming forth unto you, Ezekiel. They're coming forth unto my
church, unto my gospel. They're coming to Christ. You
shall see their way and their doings. and you shall be comforted
concerning the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem, even
concerning all that I've brought upon it. You'll be comforted
concerning this. And they shall comfort you when
you see their ways and their doings, and you shall know that
I have not done without a cause all that I've done in it, saith
the Lord God. He hadn't done this without a
cause. When we read of a remnant, In the Scripture, it means God's
elect. It means God's elect. Those for
whom Christ bore judgment. Listen up. If you want to turn
there, Isaiah 10. Listen to this. Verse 20, God says, It shall
come to pass in that day, this is the day of Christ, the day
when Christ comes to deliver. It shall come to pass in that
day that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the
house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote
them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel
in truth. The remnant shall return, God
said. Even the remnant of Jacob unto
the mighty God. Now who's going to gather this
remnant? How's this remnant going to be made to come under the
sound of the gospel and unite with God's people in the worship
and service of Christ our Lord in truth? How's that going to
happen? Look back at Ezekiel 11. Look at verse 17. Therefore say, thus saith the
Lord God, I will even gather you from the people and assemble
you out of the countries where you have been scattered and I
will give you the land of Israel. He said they shall come forth.
There's no doubt about it. God's people are going to come
out of religion or out of whatever sin they're in. They're coming
out of it. God's bringing them out of it. Well how do we get
this new heart that we need? Look at verse 19. And I will
give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you.
And I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give
them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep
my ordinances and do them. They're going to believe on Christ
and they're going to love their brethren. They're going to be
baptized and they're going to serve the Lord's table. And they shall be my people,
and I will be their God. And again he says, But as for
them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable
things, and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon
their own heads, saith the Lord God. You know what the punishment
for sin is? Sin. God turns men over to sin. And then judgment. So that's
how we got this heart of faith. God said, I will give it to them.
Well, where do we find this righteousness he's talking about? He said Noah
and Job and Daniel, it was their righteousness. It was theirs. Does that mean they worked it
out? No. No sinner can work out a righteousness
for himself by his works. It's an impossibility. In Noah's
day, he talks about Noah there. Think about in Noah's day over
in Genesis 6 I believe it is. God looked down from heaven and
he saw that the thoughts of men were only evil continually. That's you and me. That's you
and me. Only evil continually. That included
Noah. How do you know it included Noah?
Because a few verses later it says, But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. You see, only sinners need grace. And grace is the only way sinners
are saved. Only helpless sinners need free
grace. Listen to this. Christ is the
righteousness of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
righteousness of God that God has provided for His people. And Christ is the end of the
law. He's the end of our working trying
to get acceptance with God. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. We've been brought to the end
purpose the law was given. Christ. That's where we've been
brought in. He's our righteousness. And when
God has brought His people to faith in Christ and brought them
unto the sound of the gospel, God never loses one of His people. Never. Look at Ezekiel 14 and
look at verse 11. He's doing this. He says that
the house of Israel may go no more astray from me. neither
be polluted any more with all their transgressions, but that
they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord
God. See, he's not going to lose anybody
that he's chosen, and that he's bought with his blood, and that
he's regenerated and brought to faith in Christ. He will not
lose one. Well does that mean that God's
people are going to never suffer any kind of disease in this life?
Is that what that means? Daniel is listed here and Daniel
was carried away in this captivity. Daniel suffered this famine and
this noisome beast and the war that went on and the pestilence. He was there amongst them. You see, when God brings judgment,
as He does right now, as He has to turn the economy upside down,
that affects God's people too. But here's the thing, while Daniel
was suffering that, Daniel was perfectly righteous in Christ
and was so secure that nobody could pluck him from Christ's
hand. And that's what matters. That's what matters. How to save
sinners, comfort us who believe. He says, I'm going to bring them
to you. They're going to comfort you. How? Look at verse 22, Ezekiel
14, 22. He says, Yet behold, you shall
behold, about middle ways of the page there, they're going
to come forth unto you, and you shall see their way and their
doings. And you should be comforted concerning
the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all
that I've brought upon it. And they should comfort you when
you see their ways and their doings. And you should know that
I've not done without cause all that I've done in it, saith the
Lord God. What's that way that we're going to see? When a sinner
is brought to Christ and he believes on Christ, he confesses that
all his righteousness is Christ alone. He's the way. Christ is the way. And that comforts
us. That comforts us. To see sinners
brought out of this world and brought to faith in Christ to
profess that Christ is my only righteousness. That's a great
comfort because we know God's working. God's not going to lose
any of His people. God's going to keep us. Scripture says, He that doeth
truth cometh to the light. Christ said this. He that doeth
truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be manifest. That they're worked in God. God
worked his deeds. They're going to see, they're
going to see, we're going to see their way and we're going
to see their doings. How? They're going to confess,
all my doings were done by God. He did them all. I didn't do
them. He did them. He's my only righteousness. It's
good for me to draw near to God. I put my trust in the Lord God
that I may declare all Thy works. Art read it to us in the men's
meeting. He says, Psalm 71, 16 said, I will go in the strength
of the Lord God. I will make mention of Thy righteousness,
even Thine only. That's how they're going to comfort
the Lord's people. When He calls them, they're just going to talk
about Christ and exalt Christ and brag on Christ and His works.
Well, what does that mean in the next thing when it says,
and you're going to see their ways and their doings? Ways,
plural. Another thing a sinner's going
to do when God's called him is he's going to justify God for
bringing the judgment and for turning him from all his sins.
He's going to justify God. We saw David said, Against thee
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that
thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when
thou judgest. And when God makes a new comfort and they begin
to talk like that, that comforts us. When He makes a new convert
and they begin to say, I'm just filthy rags. Christ is all my
righteousness. That's great comfort. And God
said there, when I just read a while ago, He said they're
going to keep my statutes and my ordinances. What's the law
God writes on the heart when He regenerates a man? The law
of faith and the law of love. They're going to believe Christ
and they're going to love me. And you're going to see them
do that. They're going to keep my ordinances. And you're going
to see them do that. And you're going to be comforted
at what the Lord's done for them. Then shall you remember your
own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall
loathe themselves in your own sight for your iniquities and
for your abomination. God said that in Ezekiel 36.
He said that's going to be the outcome of this disease that
I've sent. I'm going to make my people loathe
themselves. and brag on Christ's righteousness. Remember he said, Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people. Cry unto Jerusalem that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. What's comforting
about that? For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sin. That's what's comforting
about it. All our righteousness is of the
Lord's hand. Any faith we have, any repentance
we have, any longsuffering and mercy and forgiveness that we
have, that's all fruit of the Spirit of God. God worked it. If we persevere in faith, it's
because God's preserving us, working in us that which is well-pleasing
in His sight. He does it. And so we brag on
God. To a new sinner that's saved
by grace, He comforts believers. because we're reminded there
was a cause to the evil that God brought. There was a cause
to it. In everything God did, there
was a cause. In everything that happens, God's
the first cause. Don't ever forget that. God's
the first cause. We get hung up at looking at
all these secondary and third, tertiary things and causes and
think that caused it. God is the first cause. He's
the first cause. It was just judgment upon the
wicked. It was to save His elect remnant
out of the midst. And God alone separates the wheat
from the chaff. If we try to do it, we'll do
what the false prophets did. We'll save alive them that should
die and kill them that are to stay alive. We'll make the righteous
sad and make the unrighteous happy. So lastly, what should
I personally do? What should I personally do in
the midst of this that God has sent? Back at verse 6, Therefore
say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, Repent,
and turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces
from all your abominations, He's saying turn from every false
refuge and flee to Christ. Believe on Christ. You've got
the disease already. Every one of us sitting here
have already got a disease that's far worse than that virus. It's
called sin. And Christ is the great physician.
Christ is the balm of Gilead that heals every wit. Flee to
Christ. Flee to Him. In the midst of
this judgment, brethren, we shouldn't be looking at other sinners.
We shouldn't be blaming other sinners and looking at other
sinners and condemning other sinners. God said, where you
judge another, you're guilty of the same thing. God has sent judgment in the
form of pestilence in this world. In righteousness, God's destroying
the wicked who separate themselves And by that same righteousness,
God's saving His elect. It may not happen right away.
It may take years from now. You and I might not even see
any elect brought into this place. But you mark it down. That's
what God's doing in this. That's what God's doing in everything
He does in this world. It's all woe to the wicked and
it's well for the righteous. Every bit of it. So does God
control the coronavirus? Oh yes, yes He does. What purpose
does God send it for? For judgment. Why? What's He going to accomplish
through it? He's going to cut off the wicked and He's going
to save the righteous. And what should I do personally?
Repent and turn yourselves from idols, turn to Christ and stay
upon Him. If you can, I'll tell you who
you're going to glory in. You're going to glory in God.
You're going to declare His works, if you can do that. Those two
things, brethren, is what God's going to work through judgment
upon this world. Destroy the wicked, save the
righteous. I pray that be a blessing to
you.