“The Fall and the Hope”
A Biblical Response to the Coronavirus [on screen]
Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD
First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida
March 22, 2020
Introductory Comments:
Well, it’s a joy to join you all in worship this morning, both in-person and via video.
Please be patient with us as we continue to try and navigate these uncharted waters for our church. Also, please be in prayer for our church as we continue to seek God’s guidance and the good of our church family.
I’ve had a few questions that emerged over the last couple of weeks concerning the coronavirus.
One of our deacons asked me, “What does this mean biblically?”
Also, one of my sons asked, “Why did God create the coronavirus?”
Well, today, we’re going to look at the Bible for the answer to questions like these. Let’s seek God during this time and, specifically, let’s seek God in His Word.
Before we do, let’s seek God through prayer.
(prayer)
Well, how do we deal with the reality of things like the coronavirus? What about the reality of cancer, or murder, or catastrophic natural disasters? Well, let’s examine the Word of God together.
First, let’s learn that . . .
I. Sin brought the Fall and it messed up everything. [on screen]
You know, initially, when God created everything in this world it was good. In fact, it was very good.
Genesis 1:31 says, “31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. [on screen]
Well, there are some things in the world that are not good. The coronavirus is not good, so what happened?
Genesis 3 explains how things in the world became not good. We refer to this event as the Fall. This was not only the fall of mankind, but the fall of the earth as God created it.
Let’s check out Genesis 3 to understand what is going on:
Genesis 3
1 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
11 Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”
13 So the Lord God asked the woman, “What is this you have done?”
And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:
Because you have done this,
you are cursed more than any livestock
and more than any wild animal.
You will move on your belly
and eat dust all the days of your life.
15 I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.
16 He said to the woman:
I will intensify your labor pains;
you will bear children with painful effort.
Your desire will be for your husband,
yet he will rule over you.
17 And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:
The ground is cursed because of you.
You will eat from it by means of painful labor
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow
until you return to the ground,
since you were taken from it.
For you are dust,
and you will return to dust.”
20 The man named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.
22 The Lord God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.
The entrance of sin into the world brought so much calamity. So many things went wrong. Adam and Eve were banished from the garden of Eden. Sin would become a part of every human born after the line of Adam and Eve. Death would become a reality for the world from that point forward.
From that point on, sin would mess up everything.
God did not bring the coronavirus. Sin brought the coronavirus and every other broken part of our creation. Sin messes everything up.
The fall of creation came because sin came into the world. Sin not only separates us from God and condemns us to Hell forever. Sin also brings pain and sorrow to the very world in which we live.
However, that is not the end of the story.
II. Jesus brings hope and it fixes everything. [on screen]
The hope of Jesus Christ is what fixes the mess that sin brought into the world.
Jesus not only fixes our souls, but He fixes everything about this world.
Listen to what the apostle Paul says in Romans 8:
Romans 8:22-23, “22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. 23 Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” [on screen]
Right now we are seeing the symptoms of a broken world. However, the symptoms are not the biggest issue. The biggest issue is the problem brought about by sin.
This reminds me of when I first started going to a chiropractor a long time ago. The chiropractor told me that oftentimes we try to treat the symptoms of problems but often we don’t fix the problem itself. We take ibuprofen to fix a hurt back, instead of just fixing the back. Or, we put bubble gum on the leak of a boat instead of fixing the boat itself.
Well, sometimes we try to treat the symptoms of sin, but what we really need is healing from the problem of sin itself.
Thank God that Jesus offers us that healing!
We’re grateful for healings and treatments for the symptoms, but we need healing from the problem!
You see, death and suffering, including things like the coronavirus, are a part of our world, but Jesus brings healing and life!
Jesus said to a woman named Martha, in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. [on screen]
You see, the healing that Jesus brings even has power over death itself.
The apostle Paul added in 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. [on screen]
Not only will we live in a future sense when we experience the resurrection power of Jesus, but we will live now as well!
Paul says also in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! [on screen]
We are new in Jesus Christ now on this earth!
Beyond that, we will one day experience new life as not only humanity but all of creation is made new.
We read in Revelation 21:1-4: 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. [on screen]
One day there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more death, no more cancer, no more viruses, no more suffering. All will be made new. All things will experience the resurrection power of Jesus.
Concluding Thoughts:
Sin messed everything up, but Jesus fixes everything.
Sin brought the Fall, but Jesus brings hope.
Let us wrap all this up in this truth from this very familiar passage. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [on screen]
Sin brings death but Jesus brings life, for all of creation.
That takes us to our bottom line:
Bottom Line: The hope for all creation is found in Jesus. [on screen]
(repeat)
In Jesus, humans can experience new life and all of creation will experience new life. We don’t know exactly what that will be like, but we know that it will be special.
Before we depart, let’s walk away from this sermon today with some steps that we can take this week:
Weekly Challenge: [on screen]
- Rest in the hope of Jesus. [on screen]
During times like these, and in much worse times, we can still find hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We can have hope because we know that no matter what happens in this life, Jesus will make all things new.
He is the resurrection and the life.
So, in times like these, don’t live in fear, confusion, and hopelessness; rest in the hope of Jesus!
- Share the hope of Jesus. [on screen]
You know, people always need hope. Times like these make it more obvious, but people always need hope.
We should lead the charge as people of hope and love.
We should have answers to why there is craziness like this in the world.
We should live as special people in this world.
We should wash our hands better than anyone else.
We should be willing to let someone borrow some toilet paper.
Most of all, we should be able to point others to the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Closing:
We know what causes bad things in the world: it’s the reality of sin. We also know what brings hope to the world: it’s the Gospel of Jesus! Let us flee sin and let us pursue Jesus!
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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