March 22^nd 2020 .

10:00 am -----------------------------------O Lord Hear, Forgive, Do – Daniel 9

Wednesday: 7:00 pm -----------------------------------------Fret Not – Psalm 37

Fear God Not Things.

The Lord said, “I kill, and I make alive; I wound and I heal” (Deut. 32:39). Things don't kill us God does. God sends things. Whether cancer, car wreck, heart disease, guns, knives, swords…. These things are the means which God uses to take us. But things don't kill us. We are not to fear things but fear the Lord. We are not to live in fear of things or people but the Lord. Let us not act foolishly. . . but let us act on faith. Let us not put ourselves in harm's way . . . but let us put our trust in the Lord. This is not fatalism it is faith.

But what if we do contract a deadly disease or virus ? What if it kills us? Well, it didn’t kill us, the Lord did, and in reality, it was the God-sent, merciful means to send us to Glory where all our fears will be gone forever!

Fact is, we walk through the valley of the shadow of death all the time. Disease and death are all around us. But what does the Psalm say? . . . I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.

Trial and Mercy By Fire

In seventeenth century England, the church of England issued an order to all churches called the Act of Uniformity of 1662. All churches must sign an agreement stating that they would abide by the prescribed orders of worship handed down by the government, including prayers, sacraments and other things. Many, many preachers refused to abide by such an order and so were expelled from their churches. There were men we know and esteem highly such as, Owen, Manton, Bunyan, Flavel, Watson, Goodwin, Charnock, Brooks and many others.

Three years later, 1665, the Bubonic Plague (black plague) hit London, England. Over 100,000 people died out of a population of around 480,000. The plague went on for a year until 1666. Then . . . the Great Fire of London hit. That fire destroyed nearly every public building and most homes in London. Hundreds of thousands of people were homeless, but in God’s mercy only 6 people died in that fire. However, the black plague was ended by that fire.

Our God is a consuming fire! God has not changed. God still punishes sin. God’s judgments have always been the same against idolatry. All of God’s wrath and severe punishments of mankind down through time have been for sin and unbelief (idolatry). The same God promises to destroy this idolatrous world someday by fire! But God . . . is rich in mercy. The same God, Who is a consuming fire, put His Son (Himself) on the cross for His people; made Him to be a curse, made Him to be sin for His people, and the fire of God’s wrath fell on Him. . . . However, the same fire that fell on Christ, put away the curse and the plague from us… the plague called sin. Then, the Lord in mercy sends fiery trials upon all His people, to testify of His grace, to try their faith in the living and true God (whether they will bow to Him or the god(s) of this world), and to wean them from this world which is soon to perish. Thank God for His mercy, thank God for His Truth, thank God for fiery trials.

The LORD your God in the middle of you is mighty; He will save,

He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest in his love… Zephaniah 3:17

It is obvious, God can save — for He is in the midst of them, and mighty. Here is nearness and power. But He will save — He is inclined, He is engaged. He will save, He will rejoice over them with joy. What is this salvation? It does not exclude temporal preservation and deliverance. We are not to look for miracles, but we may look for Him who performed them. Temporal deliverances are promised conditionally. Salvation includes redemption from the curse of the law, deliverance from the powers of darkness, freedom from the sting of death, release from the dominion and being of sin. This salvation is ensured. This salvation is begun. This salvation is finished. – William Jay

“What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” -- Psalm 62:8