(upbeat music) - Hey everyone, and welcome to this special episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast. It seems right to address some aspects of the current coronavirus pandemic here, but as it stands, not a lot of attention will be devoted to it. But I think there are a few aspects we need to address based on what you, the listeners, have emailed us over the past few days.

But first, Pastor John, I suspect a lot of people just wanna know how you're doing physically in this season, and I presume you're spending a lot of time at home right now. - We are at home a lot. (both laughing) Well, who knows? On December 20th, 2006, I thought I was fine, and on 2006, December 21, I had cancer.

So I have no idea how I am, but I feel fine, and I don't think we're sick, and I don't anticipate getting sick, but the Lord reigns. Worship is different, of course. Bethlehem is doing it online. So two Sundays ago, we met with a group of 10, and we sang in the Livingston's basement and watching a video of the service as it went, and this time, it was just Noel and me.

And I'll tell you, if a husband and wife have never sat in two chairs, worshiping with their church, and singing alone by themselves, you should try it. It will sweeten, it will sweeten. If you can get over the embarrassment. (both laughing) This is my wife, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.

If you can get over this, then it will be sweet. And it was sweet. So that's been different. My treadmill doesn't change. It's up in the attic. I'm still getting the same kind of exercise. I always get, I'm doing all kinds of video conferencing. I was on there with T4G today.

I was on there with a leadership team with you, Tony, on the internet doing our Zoom video things. I got 60 look at the books done on the first chapter of Ephesians. - Amazing. - I mean, we're not goofing off here in the meantime. - No, there's a lot of work to do.

- But it is sober. I mean, we really, really, I desire people be very, very sober-minded about this and not make light of it, because I think God is in charge. He is saying something. We need to ask, what is God saying? Because he's in charge. He doesn't do things like this willy-nilly.

He has purposes. And so I'm very trustful of him and eager to discern what he wants us to say. - Amen. So much of the work at DG continues on as normal for us, even in this pandemic. Obviously, we can't travel. That's the biggest change so far. I just finished a string of travel teaching in Frisco, Texas, and then in Austin, and was in Seattle two weeks ago today as the city was shutting down.

And I know your big Southeast Asia trip that was planned got canceled in light of all of this. - Yeah, that's why I've gotten so much "Look at the Book" done, because we just said, okay, let's do a deep dive on "Look at the Book" when we should have been in Asia.

- Well, it's great to hear that you and Noel are healthy. Same here. The family's healthy, and things seem to be going really well from all outward appearances, at least. - Great. - Well, as you know, there's an overwhelming sense of fear right now, Pastor John, and we're seeing it in the many emails coming in from listeners in the US now.

The headlines are ominous. The Dow is dropping 1,000 points per day, it seems. The consumer market has largely frozen. Airlines are slowing and may halt soon. And with the stoppages has come the loss of income, and even the loss of jobs. We're hearing now from DG Partners, our donors who are faced with new struggles in the marketplace, facing shutdowns, the inability to work as normal, and even the harsh reality of now letting go of employees they can't put to work.

Meanwhile, on TV, politicians are holding live press conferences all day with the latest news, infection stats, and to convince people to stay home. Outbreaks of the virus continue to spike in Italy, Spain, Germany, but have also moved in much closer to home in states like New York and New Jersey.

Every state in America now has cases, and our hospitals are starting to feel the surge. Older citizens know they're in the bullseye of this, and the virus is causing lung failure in a younger demographic than was previously expected. It seems like the elderly are stressed, adults of all ages are stressed, kids are stressed, parents are stressed, business owners are stressed, dads who provide are stressed.

Few of us know if this virus will infect us personally, but its ripple effects have really impacted every single one of us, and now we're being told that this could all last for months. So to the many listeners who are fighting for faith right now and fighting against fear right now, whether it's physical or financial, Pastor John, what would you say to them?

When I think of the preciousness, the precious experience of being free from fear, free from anxiety, full of peace, full of contentment in the face of danger, my question is, who is it that can have a warranted, well-founded, justifiable, God-given, God-sustained freedom from fear and freedom from anxiety and unshakable peace and sweet, abiding contentment?

Who can lay a rightful claim to these treasures? It's crystal clear in God's Word that He commands and He offers a life of fearlessness and peace. Hebrews 13, 6, "The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?" And Philippians 4, 6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God, of God, will surpass all understanding and guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." And Philippians 4, 11, "I have learned in whatever situation I am, coronavirus or not, to be content." No fear, no anxiety, supernatural peace, supernatural contentment in every circumstance, horrible or happy, that's what God offers.

And the question is, to whom is such an amazing, supernatural experience of fearlessness and peace given? In other words, I'm not interested, Tony. I'm not interested in corona time or any time in the mere psychological experience of fearlessness and contentment that is not based on reality. The aim of our lives is not to have a psychological state of mind that is pleasant without reference to reality.

The aim is to have for ourselves and for others through us psychological, spiritual, physical states of happiness that are based on reality, that make much of our maker, and that will be true in a million years. That's the only kind of fearlessness and contentment I care about. So the kind of fearlessness that you see in movies, where the cocky heroes keep their cool in dangerous situations and flaunt their boldness, has no interest to me at all, none, because it's not based on reality.

God is real, sin is real, hell is real, Jesus Christ is real, the blood he shed in the crucifixion is real, the Holy Spirit is real, faith and the absence of faith are real, heaven is real, the human soul that will exist forever in heaven or in hell is real.

Those are the great realities of the universe, and none of the fearlessness that you see in the movies is based on any of them. Therefore, it's worthless as something to admire or to aspire to. What God is doing, among a million other things in the coronavirus, is forcing the issue of reality.

And one of the litmus tests of whether your life is based on reality or based on the mirage of God ignoring pillars holding up the cultural temple of secularism, one of the litmus tests is fear. The test of the foundations of your life is fear. Oh, what a precious gift God is giving to us to discover while we still have time that the pillars holding up our peace are hollow and made of paper mache.

That's a gift. So I don't want to just start saying when you ask me about fear, fear not everybody, fear not everybody, fear not everybody, when for all I know, the people listening to this should fear because the pillars of their lives are paper mache. Their lives are not based on reality.

I don't know. I'd sure like to help it not be so. There are glorious, rock solid, indestructible reasons and warrants and grounds and foundations for not being afraid of what the coronavirus can do to your health or your business or your family or the economy or to Western civilization or to history as we know it.

There are foundations in reality not to fear any of this. So my question is, who is it that can have warranted, well-founded, justifiable, God-given, God-sustained freedom from fear and unshakable, sweet, abiding contentment? And the answer is given in one verse, one of the most sweeping, all-encompassing, stabilizing, precious, well-known promises in the Bible, namely, we know, we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose, Romans 8:28.

So who is it that should enjoy the fearlessness and peace that absolutely everything around this coronavirus is working together for their eternal good, everything? And the answer is those who love God and those who are called according to His purpose. So here's one of the 10,000 things God is doing through this horrific virus.

He is saying to the world, He is saying to us what He said to Peter in John 21, 16, "Do you love me?" That's what He's saying. And Jesus made it more plain in Matthew 10, 37, "Do you love me more than anything, more than these, "more than your mother or father, "child or son or daughter?" And second, He is saying what He said through Peter in 2 Peter 1, 10, "Be diligent to confirm your calling "and your election." The coronavirus is a wake-up question to the world, especially Christians.

Is your life a confirmation that God has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light? These are the people, the called and the lovers of God, these are the people who have a warrant, a ground, a foundation in reality not to be afraid, but to be steadied by unshakable peace.

And Romans 8, the great eight that I think everybody in this isolation period should be memorizing, I'm making that as a suggestion, best thing you could do with your time. Romans 8 gives greater foundations for this fearlessness than anything in the world, anything the world has to offer. I just, I mentioned four.

Number one, "For the called who love God in Jesus Christ, "all of God's righteous condemnation toward you "was put on Jesus, and there is now no condemnation, "no punishment for those who are in Christ." Verse three, "By sending His own Son in the likeness "of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh." Condemnation for those who are in Christ is over.

It happened at Calvary. That is wonderful. Number two, "God's willingness to sacrifice His only Son "for the called ones who love Him means He not only died "in their place, but will not withhold anything from them "for their eternal good." Verse 32, "He who did not spare His own Son, "but gave Him up for us all, "how will He not with Him graciously give us all things?" So everything we need to glorify God and to have everlasting joy, He guarantees in the cross for us during coronavirus time.

Number three, "Nobody who is called by God "will fail to attain eternal glory." There is a golden, unbreakable chain of covenant commitment that God will keep His called ones forever. Verse 30, "Those whom He predestined, He called, "and those whom He called, He justified, "and those whom He justified, He glorified.

"None of the called is lost ever." And number four, finally, this means, verses 35, 37, "Neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, "nor famine, nor nakedness, nor danger, nor sword, "nor coronavirus, nor economic collapse, "or total anarchy, or the end of the world "can separate us from the love of Christ." And that includes death, especially death, because verse 36 says, "For your sake, "we are being killed all day long." And it doesn't matter whether we're being killed by coronavirus or anti-Christian mobs, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus in all these things, He says, "We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, "therefore, Christian, therefore, Christian, "lover of God, called out of darkness "into His marvelous light, lift up your head, "put a song in your mouth, love your neighbor, "and do not be afraid." Those are some rock solid pillars under the Christian life.

Thank you, Pastor John. And yes, what a precious gift God is giving to us to discover while we still have time that the pillars holding up our peace are often hollow and made of paper mache. Wow, what a word for this season. Well, as we mentioned earlier, much of our labors at DG continue on as normal, and that includes this podcast, Ask Pastor John.

And Lord willing, as God sustains us, we'll keep up our regular schedule of episodes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and then when we have episodes related to this virus or other unfolding events, we'll release those as bonus episodes in the week. So stay tuned for more. And thank you for listening.

Keep sending us your questions. Do that at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn. Thanks for listening and being with us. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you next time. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)