Our country is in the grip of hysteria and panic over the coronavirus. The public health officials have flip flopped repeatedly on their demands upon the public.----We are publicly shamed about wearing masks, when the science doesn't support it. We are told we must -love our neighbors- and comply with silly and unnecessary regulations.----A recent Facebook meme asserted that -Jesus would have practiced social distancing.-----Meanwhile, the government has outlawed visiting our poor, elderly, dying relatives in the nursing homes, and those who are imprisoned. Gospel outreach to prisons and nursing homes has been banned. Many churches have been shut down by the government.----President Trump reluctantly went along with all this- Biden has promised to double down and make it worse.----This ought to recall to mind the stark difference of our Lord Jesus- When unclean persons approached Him, and begged healing, Jesus touched them and made them whole. He touched all sorts of sick, diseased, demon possessed people, and healed them.----Not only so, but He welcomed the touch of the unclean woman with the issue of blood when she trusted in Jesus' mighty power to heal her.----But not only physical uncleanness -- Jesus associated with sinners and ate with them- The self-righteous Pharisees objected over and over again, but Jesus insisted on keeping at it-----Jesus did so to show mercy and compassion on sinners, and to call them to repentance. He preached the Gospel to the lost, no matter how much the selfish rulers tried to stop Him.----Better still, Jesus received sinners because He wanted actually to save them, bring them into fellowship with God, and rejoice over their salvation-

When believers hear of death and tragedy today, we ought to be reminded of the perfection of what Jesus did, and will do, to rescue us.----Last night in Greenwood, someone went to a family's home and shot ten people, killing two.----One of my very young friends, a 19 year old EMT, was dispatched to care for the wounded.----Just last week it seems, he was a mere boy, but now he's all strong and grown up. Perhaps what he has seen, the blood and death, has made him grow up too soon.----But it is good to have rescuers - we should pray every time we see the flashing lights and hear the sirens, that God will protect them and use them to bless the sick and dying they are racing towards.----Emergency Medical Technicians save a lot of people. But some they cannot save.----This calls to mind our dear Savior, the Lord Jesus- There's nobody Jesus cannot save- Even death cannot stop Him from delivering His people-----Once we die, the EMTs and doctors can do us no good, but Jesus specializes in saving dead people.----Dead in our sins, dead to the Gospel, or believers dead in the grave - Jesus can save every one of them-----When the world murders believers, Jesus promises not an hair of our heads will perish-----Oh, the beautiful promises Jesus made to us, that He'd not lose a single one of His people who have trusted in Him-----His Father has given to Him the power of resurrection, which He promises to His people.----He gives everlasting life to His Sheep, and they will never perish-----Even having died, Christ assures us that whoever believes on Him will never die, and though he were dead, yet shall he live-----Everybody Jesus sets out to save, He succeeds, and loses not a single one-

Peter instructs us that we are called to suffering for the sake of righteousness, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example.----In this suffering, there is an extreme contrast between how the world sees the Lord's people, and how the Lord sees us.----The world persecutes, belittles, counts as nothing, enslaves, and punishes the Lord's people because of our obedience to God.----But all the while, the Lord's people are held in the highest esteem by God Himself-----According to God's view, we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a special people, who once had no mercy, but now have obtained mercy from God-----In other words, we are princes in the royal family of the God of all glory- God has specially chosen us to be His Own family members- He has made us royal priests, to render praise, thanksgiving, and obedience unto Him Who loves us-----Not only that, but He has made us holy - set apart, justified, counted faultless by the blood of Jesus shed to redeem us-----Being thus exalted by God, so cherished by our Savior, how can we refuse obedience unto Him-----Intertwined with all this is the parallel difference between how the world views Christ, and how we view Him.----Jesus is revealed to be the precious cornerstone, upon which all our salvation depends.----But the world disregards Him, despises Him, and rejects Him.----But no matter- the Father has made Christ the chief cornerstone anyway- Nothing man does can budge Jesus out of His ordained and exalted rule over all things-----The Lord Jesus Himself explained what the cornerstone's rejection entailed- the murder of God's blessed Son sent to rule over the world.

Our dear sister Maryann Stanton went home to Glory last Friday morning, and because of the COVID lock-down rules, she was forced to die alone.--There is a fiery judgment reserved for those who have used the force and violence of the State to prohibit visiting the sick for months and months on end. Poor sick people can have no comfort from their friends and family, and that denial speeds along their despair and death.--This is an attack on the King of Glory, Whose judgment has already been recorded. Jesus warned the powerful, leaders, and rulers, that one day He would send them to eternal wrath, because -I was sick, and you visited me not.- When they deny His accusation, the King will pronounce this awful judgment- -Inasmuch as you did it not for the least of My brethren, you did it not to Me.---Thinking of life and death calls to mind Christ's power to raise His people from the dead. Jesus won't require any help from His people at all- He won't require our permission. He won't require some great act of faith on our part. --Rather, He will simply command our resurrection, and we will come forth, just like Lazarus did.--We don't have to assent to die, for death is the lot of us all since the fall.--Poor Mrs. Maryann didn't decide to die -- the Lord took her when it was time.--Perhaps it is a good thing He did so, because now, she is no longer alone- She's with all the saints who went before, with her dear daughter Ellen, and most importantly, with Jesus, He Whom her soul loveth---No wicked government officials can ever cruelly deprive her of companions and friends any more---That's because Jesus did consent to die for us, to rescue those whom He loves-

Peter teaches us that our entire Christian life is to be lived in the context of the suffering of Jesus for us. Christ's suffering, especially His sacrificial death for us on the cross, is the sine qua non of our salvation and rescue-----We could not be saved BUT FOR the suffering and death of God's Lamb in our place.----His death is supposed to contextualize our own lives, our trials, our sufferings, our sorrows. They are given to us by God for the perfection of the faith He grants to each of us, that all that is of ourselves - our good works, our self confidences - might be stripped away, so that in the end, only Christ's suffering and death account for anything to us.----Furthermore, the sufferings of our Savior are the greatest reason for our obedience to Him. His blood rescued us from sin - not only its consequences of judgment and wrath and death - but also from the working of sin in and by us. We are not only justified, but we are also sanctified by the blood of Jesus at Calvary.----Ought we not to be obedient unto that One Who died to save us- Peter repeatedly urges upon the saints Christ's suffering as the motive for obedience and good works unto God.----The next instance of reference to the sufferings of Christ comes at the end of 1 Peter 2. Again, Peter is exhorting believers unto patience in suffering as well pleasing unto the Lord, and he calls to mind that Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example to follow.----Of course, we are not to suffer for wrongdoing, but we are to live lawful, orderly, peaceful lives, obeying the rulers as far as conscience will permit us.----No matter, the world will hate us for obeying God, but that is wellpleasing to Him-

After Peter establishes the sufferings of Christ for our salvation, and the joy of the saints in receiving so great a salvation, and so glorious an inheritance, Peter now makes an appeal for obedience and holiness in believers.----We are to be holy, obedient to Christ, and turn away from our former ignorance and sin. Peter says to gird up the loins of our minds, be sober, and be firm in our hope in the end.----We ought to follow along after the One Who died to saved us, the One Who loves us so, the One Who has adopted us and promised us such an inheritance-----So our obedience comes while we have in mind all those solemn and glorious truths.----But God is not only our Father, He is also judge of the world. He has delegated the authority to judge all things to His Dear Son, our Lord Jesus, because it is proper and fitting that the world ought to be judged by That Man of glory, incarnate in our humanity.----This puts us in a peculiar position- we are the sons of the Judge, and younger brethren of the Prince-----This places a solemn and fearful duty upon us. We dare not be flippant because we know the Judge-----We cannot live our lives without care to do well, just because we have already been acquitted and justified by the blood of Jesus.----No- Scripture does not approve of lawless living by believers.----We are to live as dead to sin, but alive in Christ.----We are to remember that the One we call Father also judges according to the works of every man. Peter says we therefore ought to live in fear.----Because we are clothed with the righteousness of the Redeemer, our judgment will be unto eternal life. Yet we dare not insult God our Father by habitual sinning.

Our God is in complete control of everything, and He works His divine purposes according to His will.----The evil works that men propose for bad, God proposes those same works for good and His glory.----Joseph was kidnapped, enslaved, and imprisoned, so that God could by him save many people alive from terrible famine.----God used the wicked acts of sinful men to crucify Jesus, thereby accomplishing His design that Christ should be sacrificed to redeem poor sinners from wrath.----Though this is true, we often misapprehend what God's purposes are in man's evil deeds. We cannot understand how God intends them for the good of His people and the glory of His name-----Peter thought God could not work gloriously by the murder of His Dear Son at Calvary, but Peter was wrong-----Consider that statement in the martyr Stephen's great defense- -Moses supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them- but they understood not.-----Stephen was referring to the time when Moses intervened during a beating of an Israelite man by an Egyptian, killing the tyrant and rescuing his kinsman.----Stephen had been falsely charged of blasphemy against Moses, the law, and the temple.----Stephen's response- Your fathers betrayed Joseph- You fathers rejected Moses- Your fathers overthrew the law, worshiped a golden calf and then the pagan gods, until God sent you to exile in Babylon-----Worst of all, you've rejected Moses' commandment regarding listening to Messiah, and instead you have betrayed and murdered Him on the cross-----This truth so enraged the rulers of Israel, that they took poor Stephen out and murdered him too.----But consider Moses' confusion.

At the end of Psalm 2, the Lord promises, -Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him,- speaking of the Lord Jesus.----We who trust in Jesus receive the blessings of salvation, the Gospel promises, and everlasting life.----But primarily, we are blessed because God has caused us to trust in Christ. He has blessed us with the faith to believe on Jesus-----But earlier, the evil of rebellion against Christ is described, and yet nothing the wicked do will stop our God from setting up Christ as King of the world.----We seldom grasp how the evil acts of wicked men are used by God to bless us. We don't connect the blessing of those who trust with the rebellion of those who are judged.----But there is a glorious connection to be found in Scripture.----God uses the acts of wicked men to accomplish His purposes. For example, Isaiah 10 describes how God used wicked Assyria to judge rebellious Israel.----God carefully articulates His intention to judge Israel for its wickedness and folly, and announced He will bring Assyria to perform that task, then He will judge Assyria for its wicked acts.----It was not Assyria's design to act as God's rebuke - no, Assyria just meant to pillage and plunder and rape and kill and steal other people's lives and property.----The Assyrians boasted of their prowess, but God mocked them for it, as if the axe boasted against the man that swung it-----In the end, once Israel is judged, and Assyria is judged, God brings forth an overflow of righteousness upon the remnant of Israel.----So in the end, Assyria's monstrous evil against Israel is used by God to bring about repentance and righteousness among His people, so that they trust in Him alone.

There ought to be great joy in the hearts of the saints for the salvation give by God's grace to us. We are set free from the bondage of sin, from the wrath we were due, and we have been justified and set at peace with God. Not only so, but we have an exceeding great inheritance with the Lord Jesus, soon to be revealed to us in glory.----Sometimes, we see in the news examples of astounding fortune that befalls someone, and we might cast an envious eye, forgetting that whatever happens in this world, our blessing is far, far greater-----Last Friday, Curtis Flowers, who had been convicted four times of murder and sentenced to die, finally had all charges against him dismissed. His convictions had been overturned due to misconduct by the prosecutor, but now he can never be charged again.----Think of the joy he must feel, and his friends and family and supporters, at finally having the cloud of trial, imprisonment, and death taken away-----He once was as good as dead, but now he is set free-----He had a supportive family, excellent, tenacious lawyers, and some reporters who dug down deep to unearth evidence that supported his claims of innocence.----But thinking about his great joy, my heart was filled with that joy unspeakable and full of glory that believers have from their Savior-----Nothing in this old world can begin to compare with what Jesus has done for us- We have been delivered from eternal hell fire and judgment forever-----The Scriptures promise God's wrath for all sinners, with death as the penalty. The whole world stands guilty before God.----But when it seemed like hope was lost, our Lord Jesus came down to die in our place at Calvary- Now we are rejoicing-

God's salvation is all of His power, and none of our own-----He chooses His people, He fore-loves us, He takes possession of us by the Holy Ghost changing our hearts from stone to flesh, and He gives us faith in the Gospel promises of salvation and eternal life.----God plants in the hearts of His loved ones faith to trust in the obedience and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.----By His power alone, He rescues us, redeems us, and forgives us.----But beyond that, God promises us a great inheritance in glory- It is a perfect, everlasting inheritance that never runs out.----The power of God to provide all these blessings is sealed by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the grave.----Not only that, but the Lord keeps His people through faith in Jesus. The same power that gave us our first faith, sustains that faith unto the end. Our grasp by faith upon the sacrifice and promises is upheld and strengthened by the infinite power of God.----We rejoice in the Gospel, though in this life, our faith is proved through many trials and snares and persecutions and sorrows and weaknesses.----Peter explains that God's gift of faith is more precious than gold, because by it we lay hold upon eternal life.----Peter says that, though gold perishes, our faith will never fail, but will withstand the hottest furnace.----God's power will sustain it to the end, and Jesus has prayed that our faith never fail. Christ's prayers are always answered.----Because God's power will uphold our faith through testing to the end, when Jesus appears, the testing of our faith will be yet another thing that honors and glorifies and praises our dear Savior.----Our faith will be vindicated in the end-