I'm going to read for you from the Gospel according to John chapter 11. John chapter 11 and verse 25 and verse 26. Jesus said unto her, that is Martha to Martha, I'm the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die believeth thou this and the title this morning is coronavirus time to examine your worldview. Time to examine your world worldview. And the last week I heard someone say that coronavirus is designed and released to destroy the elderly, the feeble, and the obese people. Now whatever may be the reason of this virus, We as Christians and all God-fearing people must not put our trust in the conspiracy theories. I said this last Sunday and I say it again. One brother pointed out to a verse in the Bible where the Lord says, do not fear the conspiracy or the confederacy, but fear the Lord God. Isaiah 8, verse 12. Yes, we are all called to fear, nothing. but God alone. As Jesus says in Matthew chapter 10 verse 28, and fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body. in hell, like in our reading we saw of Luke chapter 16, where the rich man is sent to hell. So in the midst of this crisis, or any crisis, personal or national, what should be our worldview? How should we look at things happening to us? and around us. This morning let us once again bring to our notice that God warns of destroying the earth and all the nations. He revealed that first, before destroying the moon and the sun and the stars and all the heavenly hosts, He will make the earth waste. He will bring pestilence, famine, earthquake, floods, and so on. And for the last two weeks, we are noticing floods in different parts of the world. Also, we are noticing earthquakes and plagues like coronavirus. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself has spoken of this in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. The striking thing is that every time God speaks about the destruction of the earth, he says the destruction comes due to sin. Due to sin. From the first worldwide destruction of the earth to the last, it is all about sin, about unbelief, about rebellion, immoral activities. We read Isaiah chapter 24. I'll read it again. Verse one of Isaiah chapter 24 says, Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And then the Lord gives the reason why he's going to do this. was five and six, the earth also is defiled under the inhabitants, that is under the people thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinances, they have broken the everlasting covenant. Verse 6, Therefore had the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. In Zechariah 5, verse 3, We are told, Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth. For everyone that stealeth shall be cut off, as on this side according to it. And everyone that sweareth shall be cut off, as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts. It shall enter into the house of the thief. and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name and it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stone thereof. Now this is on the level of the whole earth. But the Lord also directs his wrath and punishment towards a particular nation. Last time we saw But I'll just give you an example of Israel. The Lord give reason as to why Israel as a nation was destroyed. Isaiah chapter 42 verse 24. Who gave Jacob for spoil and Israel to the robbers did not the Lord. He against whom you have sinned. For they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he had poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle. And it had set him on fire round about, yet he knew not, and it burned him, yet he laid it not to the heart. Such things can happen all around us, and yet we will not take it to our heart. This is the most important thing to remember when such calamity breaks on the face of the whole earth. In the past we have had the Black Death in 1347, the Spanish Flu in 1918, and then we have the Ebola and so on. These were worldwide disasters. God has promised that he will not destroy the people of the earth with flood anymore, so he is punishing us with forces so tiny that we cannot even see with our naked eye. He does not need to use big things to frighten us. In fact, at the end, Jesus the Lord will destroy his enemies, the whole world, just with his words. Now, you will notice one thing among the leaders of the world. Hardly anyone mentions the name of God in crisis like this. They are saying that we will beat this virus. We will pack this virus for sure. They are not saying, let us pray. Let us ask for pardon for our sins against his laws. Let us return to the way he has asked us to live, obeying his word. I have not heard anyone coming out now from among the church leaders who otherwise hold grand conferences on every topic and announce saying, this is a time to fast. No one has come forward and said, let us fast. Let us repent. It's a time to repent of our sins and the sins of our nation and ask for pardon from the Lord. But all of us have given ourselves to be totally directed by the world. We thank God that the leaders of the world are doing their part, doing their part. But what about us? We have abandoned the ark. We have abandoned the ark. Now, it could be that there are some who have arks to fast and pray and repent. I am not aware of. Definitely, there is a possibility of some pastors and leaders asking their people to do so. If this is done, praise God, praise God, and we are at this time to do. God says, you have transgressed the laws, you have changed the ordinances, you have broken the everlasting covenant. This means people of the earth are living their lives according to their own imaginations, according to their own heart, not the heart and mind of God, the Creator. On Wednesday gone, on the 18th of March, 2020, the Parliament in New Zealand passed the law that abortion can be done even up to the time of birth. And some of the people in the parliament, they applauded. Up to the time of birth. First they said the fetus during few weeks time is not a human being. What is it now? At the time of birth. Transgressing the laws of the creator, changing the ordinances. God says I will destroy you if you don't come under my ways. The world is saying we will find our own solution to the problems of the world. We will find. Whose view are you following? God says death came into the world due to sin and rebellion. But men, the ungodly men, unbelieving men, the humanists believe that people don't die due to sin or rebellion against the higher power who has created us. People die and animals die due to challenges on this earth. Only those that are fit survive. People die and animals die due to their weakness because they are unfit. Charles Darwin in 1869 explained in his book, Survival of the Fittest, that the living species designed themselves, adapted themselves to live in an immediate, local, threatening environment. If the environment was threatening their survival, they designed themselves to adapt to the situation. If not, they die. So how did it happen? They say it happened something like this. If some species are faced with extinction on the earth, they will develop wings for themselves and fly away to another place. How long will this take place? To develop wings, millions of years. Can they really survive for so many years till they have developed wings? Well, That is left for you to have faith in what they say. So it is what they say. The Bible says, thus says the Lord. Now people can believe it or not. You can either believe or reject. In the similar way, thus says the atheist, the humanist. People can have faith in them or not. It is about whom you trust. It is about which view you are going to believe, which view you will put your faith in. If the worms are threatened by the environment or being destroyed, they will develop legs. They will design themselves to have legs and evolve into an animal. If the birds in certain area have small beaks and are threatened to starve to death, they will develop for themselves longer beaks. So the term survival of the fittest was used for genetic adaptability of the species in relation to its challenging environment. Now, we have not found any genetic changes in animals or plant like which changes from one species to another. For example, in dogs or cows or monkeys, all dogs, big or small, hairy or skinny, they are all dogs. No dog has become into a cow. Neither has any banana become into a dog so that they could bark before someone eat them up. For thousands of years now, we continue to eat fish. We continue to eat vegetables and cows and pigs. Their lives are threatened. But no one of their kind has grown wings to fly away or develop fiery breath to survive. They all go into the human mouth and stomach for the survival of mankind. Now when it comes to mankind, about you and me, they say, our survival rate is very low now on this earth. We are going to be exterminated very soon. And the reason they give is, we are overpopulated. You know that it's a lie. Our genes have become corrupt. That is why there is sickness, weakness, and we die early. They also say that our environment has become polluted. The earth is on the verge of being destroyed. We are on the verge of being eliminated from this earth. God destroyed the whole of mankind during the time of Noah with the flood because of their sin. not because of population explosion, not because of their genes being corrupt, not because of environment pollution. Moreover, the Lord said, after destroying the whole of mankind, but saving eight people and the selected animals, that He will never, ever destroy the whole earth with the floods. He promised, saying in Genesis 8, verse 21 and 22, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake. For the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite any more anything living as I have done. Now look at this. While the earth remaineth, and seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. man will continue to sin but I will see that the earth remains and the seasons will go on so will the day and night until of course God will see fit the day when he will destroy the whole universe. So the population of the earth will not destroy the earth not the pollution, because 70-75% of earth is water where no humans live. God is in total control over the earth and the sky. He will not eliminate the whole earth until the time set by him. And nowhere does he give the reason for destroying the earth because of overpopulation, environment pollution or because of the weak, unfit, and feeble DNA. It is to be noted, at first, The humanists said that only those animals and birds survived who were able to change themselves and adapt themselves for the challenging and life-threatening environment. It pointed that they had the power within themselves in their DNA and in their biological system, which is not true, of course. But today they believe that the future of man is dependent more on his overmind and over cultural ways through technologies. Through technologies. Before this the future of man was dependent on biological mechanism within them. It is no more this now. It is no more the ability to design themselves biologically to survive. It is no more the genes. Now it is technology. There is a sudden shift now from within to outside, from biological to technological. The truth is they always knew that nothing changes by itself. There is no observable proof or evidence of a fly developing legs or a banana growing wings of its own. Now they are saying the future of man is dependent on technology. So the humanists are on the warpath of changing human mind and human culture through technology. And we can see this happening right before our eyes. Since man is not able to make himself a woman, into a woman, with his biological powers within, since there is no biological power within man to transform him into a woman, no matter how much he may desire, they now chop his manhood using technological device to give him womanhood. They give him pills of plastic surgery and provide for him woman's breast, and they do the same to a woman. The humanist Bible is very different and contrary to the Bible of the Christians. These are two beliefs. The Bible of the atheist says man is a measure of all things. Man was not created by God. Man came from nothing and become nothing. While he lives, technology must keep man alive. So for the atheists, we bring blessing by producing more. We bring blessing by controlling the population. We bring blessing by controlling the environment. We bring blessing by perfecting our genes. We must save the earth. We must change ourselves. We must unite together. We must preserve ourselves. You know, this is only the echo of what Nimrod believed thousands of years ago. This is only the echo of what Adam and Eve were led to believe from the very beginning by Satan. Under Nimrod, soon after the worldwide flood, as the population increased, he gathered people as one nation. He united them under one language. The whole purpose of this was to preserve themselves, to survive from the hand of God's judgment. They would not allow God to destroy them again. Their uppermost concern was to challenge God, not the environment or their genes or the population explosion. In chapter 11 of Genesis, we are told, 11, chapter 11 of Genesis verse 1, and the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. What does this mean? If we take it as it stands, what's the problem in having just one language? It's the most wonderful thing where everybody will understand everyone, isn't it? But what does it mean? The whole earth had one language and one speech. The word language here means an edge, a border, bound together, meaning they could not think beyond what they were taught. Their language, their thoughts were controlled. It had a border. You see? And speech means works or occupation, their manner or culture. So you can see that what they thought is what they did. They were occupied with the things that their mind believed in. Speech indicates your belief. Thoughts and works go together. God would not really be bothered if they communicated with only one common language. What did bother was that Their thoughts were not according to his thoughts and they spoke their own thoughts. They had one belief. They spoke of the same belief and lived according to the same belief. Why do I say Nimrod was the one that gathered them under one nation, under one belief and under one deed? Genesis chapter 10 and verses 8 to 10 tells us, And Cush begot Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter, before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Iraq, and Akkad, and Kalmy in the land of Shinar. So Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. The term before the Lord indicates that he was ready to face God in opposition. He withstood God face to face. He was a king of this nation, one nation. His kingdom was in the land of Shinar. Now, he knew what God would do since they had decided to stand on their own. One world religion, one world order is a human decision to stand on our own. It's a decision that each individual makes to stand outside God's rule and commands. It's a decision to live independent life, to do what I want to do. It is my body, I will do whatever I want to do. And it's a worldwide phenomenon, such thinking, isn't it? The world today is trying to become one in everything. No more, your idea, no, we don't want it. You see, there's a border. There's an edge of thinking. You cannot think beyond that, you're in a box. So this is what they did. In Genesis chapter 11, verse 3 to 4, we are told, And he said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. This is technology. They know that they do not have within themselves biologically to change themselves into any other thing, so they turn to their intellect. And intellect is good, no doubt about it. And he said, go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may be reached unto heaven. And let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. You see, they wanted to reach high. Why? So that the floods would not reach them. They didn't want to be scattered, divided. and they wanted to make a name. You see that each idea in this verse speaks about preservation, fame, and the fear of extinction. So let us, as one unit, use technology to preserve ourselves, so we see nations today working together to produce rocket science, biotechnology, robots, and so on. From the time Adam and Eve sinned and rebelled against God, mankind has lived in two camps, one living under the guidance of God, the creator, and the other living under the guidance of Satan, the god of this world. Which camp are you in? Or which camp do you want to be forever? Humans have tried from the time of Cain to fix their own problem and be independent of God. Cain brought offerings of God from his own labor. Abel brought the offering from what God had provided, the animals he provided. He drew near to God by the blood, shed blood of the innocent lamb. For without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. And this, the godly man, from the beginning, from the time of Abel till the last, it will never be forgotten that you cannot come to God unless the innocent blood of an animal is shed. because the promised seed of the woman would be injured and spill his blood for the salvation of mankind. The godly man looked upon this seed from Abel and he will do so till the end. He will look up to this seed, the Saviour, for their salvation. And this seed, this seed was and is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became man. No religion has a Saviour. No religion, it cannot have. Because there is only one religion, God, the Creator. and man, and Jesus Christ is a mediator between God and man. He alone has given his life, shed his blood, korban we say, for our salvation. Sacrifice for our salvation. Jesus alone, dear friends. You will notice that man has labored to take away the curse of labor. By the sweat of the brow shall you eat, the Lord said. Sin, rebellion brought in sweat, hardship and death. Man has fought against this and created artificial cooling so that he does not sweat. Man has made the hardness of the land easy to work on. Man has invented bulldozers and motor graders and trenchers and scrapers and cranes and so many kind of tools to make things easy on the body. And all this and a lot more has given mankind a belief we can manage our life without God. It has given the confidence that we are self-sufficient. And it has made mankind believe, I am God. I am God. And this attitude has made mankind forget God and suddenly we find ourselves being caught up We are caught up with a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction aimed at one another. See how divided we are? One side we get united, other side we get divided. It is like the repeat of Tower of Babel. Their technology united them, but suddenly their language changed. Their ideas and thoughts changed. There was confusion. There was division. But you will notice at this moment, at this moment, there was liberation. There was liberation. God set them free from being enslaved in their minds by a dictator, a tormentor, who would not make them think otherwise. God brought freedom in them to think independently so that they were set free from this false unity. Tower of Babel. So also today. No one nation trusts another. The very technology by which men were trying to build unity is now divided. They got together to defy God, but in turn faced to fight one another. And this fight continues. But of course, of course, a time will come when the Lord will allow them to all come together to fight against the Lord. Psalm 2 says this brilliantly, isn't it? That will be the final battle between, sorry, God and the forces of darkness. The world leaders are making all efforts to bring the world under one head. Which head are you going to be under? Which head? Christ Jesus or the Antichrist. So in all this, what we find is that the sinful nature of man has not departed, not departed. On the contrary, it has increased. God continues to love the world and continues to call the people to return to him. Last week in our talk on Corona, where is your sting? Corona, where is your victory? We saw how God uses many means to punish and to call mankind to himself. But mankind, humans, have decided to make war with God. And the weapons he is trying to use against God is, in a way, technology. He is using technology to overcome God's judgment and survive. Why are men so determined to follow this course? It is because Satan is the God of this world. He rules over the men of this earth. Satan's fight is not with mankind, but with God and God's saved people. If God is going to punish the earth with locusts and pestilence, mankind will by means of biotech prepare people to survive, survive the most terrible virus that God himself may unleash. Man's basic instinct is to survive, to persevere or preserve himself, but independently of God. not with the help of God, but not trusting in God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, not by repenting and turning to him for protection. The Bible tells us that God has prepared a plague, a virus, and kept it at River Euphrates. He has prepared it and locked it in his laboratory. It is prepared for a day, we are told, a month and a year to slay the third part of men. When it is released, many will die, we are told. And in spite of these deaths, people that survive will not fear God. They will not repent. They will continue doing what they did. And we are told that they will continue worshipping devils, idols, continue murdering and dabbling in sorcery and in fornication, in robbing and cheating. Revelation chapter 9. What about you? What about you? The coronavirus, will it turn you to the Lord? Or will you continue to be like these men and women? Are you going to trust in the Lord, live under his rule, and receive life and life forever, or be destroyed forever and ever? Dear friends, the fire is ravaging nations. Viruses are killing humans, birds, and fish. The earthquakes and floods are destroying homes and property, but there is no mention of God. in the media. There is no mention of sin in the media. Climate change is mentioned, biological warfare is mentioned, eating of animals infested with virus is mentioned. But God says he will destroy the earth by fire, by plagues, by asteroid, by poisoning the water of the earth because of man's rebellion against him and against their neighbor. But the humanist does not see the way God sees it. Do you? Men are not willing to have a good look at themselves and see their sins and submit themselves to God. The self-righteous religious people will not submit to God and his son. They still believe that their works, their good works, will save them. You know, the religious people, they believe in the same as the atheists believe, actually. They both together believe in their own good works. And that is why all the religions and the atheists are getting together. Their aim is to destroy the word of God. The two Testaments, the two witnesses, that is the Old and the New Testament, which torments them and makes them guilty. And this is the reason why Christians who are anti-Christ, they don't read the Bible at all in the churches, or are slowly giving it up. Have you heard? There was a man who came here a few months ago and he said he went to a few churches and there is no Bible read, no Bible in the church where people can pick up and read and there's no word read at all. They fear the word of God which speaks against their evil deeds. And such were we, dear friends. I remember taking the Bible from India, from Goa, all the way to the Gulf, that is to Middle East, in Bahrain. When I went to work, I took the Bible, but I did not open it even one day. Not one day. There was too much of other entertainments. You see, because the word of God is bitter, for the soul which is sinful and full of unbelief. So people fear the Word of God which speaks against their evil deeds. It testifies and prophesies against them. It prophesies of their destruction. So they are getting rid of the ultimate preacher, the Old and the New Testament. And this is the reason why you get more of entertainment in many churches and so very little of the Word of God. The fear of the world and religious leaders is that God is going to eliminate this earth. Thus having this fear, they under the leadership of Satan wants humans to survive. He gives them false hope of survival. Satan, you know, needs mankind. Fallen men and women are his food. He thrives on them. In order to hate God and take revenge on God, Satan needs human beings. Humans are his slaves. If humans don't survive, Satan's life has no meaning and is of no use. He can only show his kingship if there are humans. He is no match for God and his angels. So no humans, no rain. Now the thing that prevents him to have total hold over people is death, isn't it? You see? Satan is terribly afraid of death. And he is actually terribly afraid that men die because he cannot have his reign over them. Once a person dies, Satan has no use of him or her. No use. But for Christ, for the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the saved person, when he or she dies, this person is his forever. So for the child of God to die is great gain. To be with the Lord is better, far better than to be here on earth. For the Christian, plagues or viruses are no big deal. I'm not saying go and cough into somebody's mouth or allow somebody to cough into your mouth so that you die. No, not at all. Satan and ungodly people try their best to get hold to the tree of life But God has guarded the tree of life Genesis chapter 3 verse 23 to 24 therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken and So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. No one can come to the tree of life, no one, except through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so John chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus said unto him, I am the way, sorry, I am the way, the truth, and life. No one cometh to the Father except by me. Again, John chapter 11, verse 25 to 26, Jesus said to her, that's to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. What a hope. But you will see, if Satan wants to preserve our earthly life, why does Satan encourage abortion and murders? This is because Satan want to disobey God in every way. He wants to break God's commands and oppose his will, oppose his decrees. God's commands are, thou shalt not kill, so he teaches men to kill. God's just will is that men should be punished by plagues and pestilence and earthquakes and so on. Satan wants to oppose it, be opposite to that, so that he shows that he can overcome these things. Satan says, I will fight your will. I will produce technology that will help overcome death and men will live longer. Tell me, brethren, How does living longer help? How much good do we do? The more longer we live, the more we live for ourselves. But if we are in Christ, we realize that our times are in God's hand, and death has no power over us. Ecclesiastes 3.1 says, To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven, a time to be born, a time to die. And I'm finishing with a few verses that will encourage us. The godly man inspired by the Holy Spirit says in Psalm 116 verse 15, precious is the sight of the Lord, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Why is our death precious to the Lord? It is homecoming. It is homecoming. Which father, which mother does not wait to embrace his child and receive him home? He may be the president of the nation, but his place is in the hearts of his parents, isn't it? And such is our God. Looking forward, such as Christ, our King, who has shed his blood for us, that we might believe in him, receive him, and be his forever. So, he's waiting. He's waiting. Look, when the poor Lazarus, the beggar, died, he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. What a reception! The angels carried him. When the rich man, the unbelieving man died, he was buried. That's it. That's it. He's nothing. He's only dust. He does not even have a name. He doesn't have a name. His name perishes with his death. But your name, if you are in Christ, and my name, if you are saved by the grace of God, is written in the book of life. printed on the palm of our Heavenly Father. Our names are printed on His palm. For the child of God, even the violent death is precious in God's sight. As the psalmist says, He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in His sight. That is a time of being redeemed. We are brought back to Christ to the full. No more sorrows, no more pain. This is the time for you, dear friends, to choose between life and death, between God and Satan, between heaven and hell. Shall we pray? O most glorious and eternal God, O Father, even as we live in a time where there is fear all around, fear of death, O Lord our God, people may turn to Thee. Even those who heard the Gospel today, the children, those who do not know Thee, may turn to Thee, that they may have life and life eternal. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Let's take the hymn, Thy Way, Not Mine, O Lord.