[Mark Welch] My wife Barbara just got home from a trip to Alaska to visit our daughter and her family. We have two grandsons and she's quarantining herself for a while just to make sure. I think she's fine. You know how it is, anytime you have a sniffle, or a cough, or an ache, you wonder, you know, "Could I be coming down with this virus?" Isn't that what many of us are thinking? You know, I'm sure I'm not speaking just for myself. I find myself, even as I was sitting there singing, and listening, and standing, and touching the phone, touching the hymnal, thinking, "Well, if I had it, then this hymnal's probably polluted."

So it's amazing just what kind of an impact all of this is having on all of us, on our thinking, just everything that we do these days, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think that's normal. I think it's typical that we would think that way. Of course, we shouldn't become paranoid about things either. So we have to be careful about how we allow our thoughts to go.

This novel Coronavirus, COVID-19, as it's also known, has the world running scared. People have been stockpiling toilet paper. Took me four trips to the grocery store to finally get some toilet paper. Thankfully, I already had some so never ran out. But there's shelves that are missing: no cleansers, little meat at times, canned goods are gone, even ramen noodles. Many shelves at the grocery store are just empty and they've been so for a few weeks now. We hear of massive unemployment and no wonder because so many businesses are shut down, at least for the moment. We've seen plummeting in stock prices. The world's on edge. There's no question about it. There's no doubt about it. And yet, the God who is so awesome and wonderful is on His throne and we have nothing to fear.

Because of the danger of spreading COVID-19, however, we haven't been meeting physically for church services, as we all know. It's been a number of weeks now. As God-fearing members of the Body of Christ, God's Word instructs us to be subject to the governing authorities where we live. In most cases, we've been directed to stay home as much as possible to help stop the spread of this deadly virus. As good citizens of both the Kingdom of God and the physical location in which we live, we are obeying God's instruction and our government's directives. We're showing our love for one another by attempting to keep the virus from spreading. And that's a good thing. You know, we should continue to do that, to do our best, to have that physical distancing, and just be careful how we clean up after ourselves, how we wash up, and all those things. Very important. So we are showing love by not spreading this virus to others.

However, at the same time, even though we're not meeting physically, we have been given opportunity to assemble together with all this wonderful technology with the webcast, with thousands of people around the world assembling together, not forsaking the assembling of themselves together, but truly meeting together today on this Sabbath day. And it's wonderful that God has allowed this technology to help us at such times as this.

Sure, we would rather meet in person, right? We would all much prefer meeting in person. And that's what God had in mind when He inspired Paul, who refers to not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together in the book of Hebrews. And as soon as we can get back, let's all get back together, and let's love each other even more. And as we are isolated, I think that love will grow and we'll appreciate, even more, the opportunity to get back together again. So I'm looking forward to that day and may that day come soon.

Certainly, there are prudent things that we should practice. There is a certain amount of quarantine. It is a biblical principle and so, we've applied that. And I've been very encouraged by the home office, the employees, Mr. Kubik, everyone coming together to do the right thing. Also, the brethren being very supportive, the ministry, being very supportive. As operation manager, I've sent a number of letters to our ministry, advising them on certain things and everyone has been cooperating so well. It's just a tremendous blessing. I believe we are becoming more and more united. Remember, all things do work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose. So we need to always remember that during these difficult times.

One of the phrases we're hearing a lot lately is we have to stop the spread. We really need to slow down the spread of the Coronavirus. Well, brethren, with Passover now less than two weeks away, it behooves us to consider some spiritual lessons that we may learn from battling this unseen physical enemy, this COVID-19. What does Passover have to do with stopping the spread of sin and death in our lives and in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ? That's good question that we should all ask ourselves right now. Adam and Eve set humankind on a course of sin and death nearly 6,000 years ago. With a tremendous amount of love and mercy, God is largely allowing humankind to pay the consequences of their sin and rebellion. Even though He's been very, very gracious, and merciful over all these years, He still is allowing us to pay at least some of the consequences of our sin and rebellion.

God does allow death and plagues to come upon humankind. This isn't the first pandemic. A hundred years ago, there was an influenza epidemic that took 40 million lives, I believe, from what I understand. So this isn't altogether new, this pandemic of global proportions. Now, I wasn't around 100 years ago. Almost, but not quite. But our response as a world does seem better than it was back then. We are perhaps a little bit better prepared for this type of thing. And I've been impressed at the unprecedented measures taken around the world to try to combat this. So I've actually been encouraged by at least some of what I've seen in regard to this enemy that we're all facing. We have no clue what the final death toll will be from this Coronavirus. It's scary and it's very humbling to contemplate for each and every one of us. At the same time, we know that God does hear the prayers of His children who turn to Him in love and repentance. And that does make a huge difference.

There was certainly a very clear difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians that first Passover. Let's go to Exodus 11 and let's consider a few verses here. Beginning in verse 6, Exodus 11:6, "Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again." So an unprecedented time, “But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move,” the dog won't even bark “its tongue,” it's talking about. And dogs do quite a bit of barking, but “a dog will not move his tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptian and Israel.”

So God did make a huge difference between the Egyptians and Israel back at that time. God was bringing His children out of bondage. He was bringing them out of slavery. Pharaoh is not listening. Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he was not cooperating. He was not going along and God was going to show His awesome power and His awesome might. And we know there were 10 plagues that God poured out. We know that the first number of plagues affected both Israel and it affected the Egyptians. But the last several plagues were only upon the Egyptians and God was protecting the children of Israel.

In Exodus 12:12, the Bible says, "For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night." This is God speaking. "I'm going to pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast." So it wasn't just mankind. It wasn't just humankind. It wasn't just the firstborn of man, it was also of the animals and that had a huge impact as well on the land of Egypt. "And against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment." See, that was a judgment that God called down upon the Egyptians. Again, they had taken His children into bondage and into slavery, and God did not take that lightly. And God said He would visit, once again, the children of Israel.

So, brethren, it's important that we understand what the Bible says in its entirety as we look at these issues that we face today. We can't just pick one part out and just go with that. We have to look at all the Bible and consider all of it. In verse 13, it says, "Now the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."

So this is the context of the first Passover. It's fitting that we consider this. And before long, we'll be keeping the Night to be Much Observed, a night to be remembered. I would say that this night will probably be remembered above all others. You know, this would be what? Forty-five years, I think now in the church of God, keeping the night to be much remembered. Then I'm thinking this is probably going to be the most memorable because it will be my wife and I keeping the night to be much remembered together for the first time ever. So that's something to contemplate and to consider as well. This will be a very meaningful evening for all of us. And we should go before God and just rejoice in the fact that God is delivering us out of Egypt. He's bringing us out of sin, out of slavery, out of bondage. There's true liberty in God's ways. And we're so blessed to know His truth.

So, brethren, I'd like to share with you five steps, five principles that we can all implement this Passover season as we go forward toward God's Kingdom. We all need to do our best to learn these spiritual lessons and stop the spread. We all must do our part to stop the spread of sin and death. We're preparing now for Christ's return. We're preparing now for His glorious Kingdom. This is a wakeup call. May we all wake up and realize that Christ is coming back soon. We don't know exactly when, but sooner than ever before, Christ is returning and who knows where this will all lead? None of us know. I don't know. I can't pretend to know. I know that we're getting ever closer to the return of Christ and it is somewhat sobering to consider where this pandemic could lead us.

So let's talk about five principles. Number one, obedience help stop the spread of sin and death. Obedience to God's laws, His commandments, that helps stop the spread of sin and death. Obedience to His command stop the spread of death from going into the Land of Goshen. God protected those who obeyed Him on the first Passover night. They had to obey Him. You know, they had to put the blood on their lintels and on their doorposts in the Land of Goshen, otherwise, there would have been death in those homes. Christ had to die to pay the penalty for sin. We know that. Christ had to die for us. Sin is disobedience. It's transgression of God's holy and righteous law. Paul says it's a holy, just, and good law. There's no problem with God's law. God is the lawgiver. God is perfect. His ways are perfect.

Had one Israelite disobeyed that fateful first Passover evening, death would no doubt have come upon that home. Now, whether it would have spread from there, you know, we don't know. As far as we know, everyone was faithful. Everyone obeyed, and there was no death in the land of Israel, you know, that evening. Certainly not. So in the land of Egypt, where they were in rebellion, and Egypt is actually symbolic of sin, symbolic of leaven, of putting the leaven out. God wants us to put the leaven out. Get that sin out of our lives. So it is very important that we consider these things as we lead up to the Passover. It's important to yield to God. It's important to learn to obey Him implicitly, to trust Him, to have faith in Him

Brethren, if you want to stop the spread of sin, be more obedient, be more faithful, be closer to God than ever before, and help each other draw nearer to God. Set a good example for one another and let us pull together and let us be united as we go forward, pleasing God in ways that we've never done before. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ made it clear that He did not come to do away with God's law. Christ said in John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." If you love me, if you love God, if you love Christ, then you're going to strive to keep His commandments. They're going to be very, very important to you.

Just read Psalm 119 again before the Passover. "How I loveth Thy law,” it should always be with us to guide us, to direct us." Obedience to God's commandments are vital to stopping the spread of sin in our own lives and also to stop death because death is the payment for our sins. The wages of sin is death. So obedience help stop the spread of sin and death. And, brethren, can we all become more faithful in obeying God and serving Him?

Secondly, another principle. Quarantining oneself and one's family stop the spread of sin and death that first Passover. We also need to distance ourselves from sinful ways, don't we? We need to have that distance between us and sinful ways. Mr. Kubik pointed out that they quarantined themselves on the night of Passover. They stayed in, they stayed together alone, following… They stayed in their homes. They quarantined themselves from one another and from others because that was God's command. That's what He told them to do. Obedience, in this case, it didn't mean quarantine, complete quarantine for the children of Israel. They were not allowed to go out of their homes that first Passover evening. When we follow God's instructions and His word to quarantine or isolate ourselves from sinful ways, we help stop the spread of sin and death.

The Bible makes it clear that we're not to be of the world. Even though we cannot come completely out of the world in a physical sense, we all understand that we realize that, the Bible teaches that. In fact, God so loved the world. And we'll talk more about that. Before we end this sermon, we must still live in this world. And so, we're going to rub shoulders with people in the world. We're going to rub shoulders with one another. We're not rubbing a lot of shoulders… well, maybe we are rubbing shoulders, but we're not shaking a lot of hands these days.

So, brethren, we are to love the people of the world. Certainly, God does love the world, doesn't He? He showed it very clearly. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but should have everlasting life." And that is where all people will need to come one day. They'll all need to repent of their sin. They will all need to come to that point where they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world. No, He sent His Son into the world to save the world, not just the firstfruits, but all mankind.

Anyone who will turn to Jesus Christ shall be saved. God is an awesome, loving God. He loves all people. We're all created in His image. We're all created in His likeness. You know, we're told to love one another, and that includes the people of this world. We are to love them, to reach out to them, to help them in ways that we were capable of doing so and we're not to allow the world's sinful ways to influence us, however.

We must not allow the sinful ways of the world to spread to us. We all have to realize that we are indeed fighting a spiritual battle in 2 Corinthians 10, 2 Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul talks about this battle. He says, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds." In other words, God will help us overcome any sin if we will yield to Him. If we will surrender to Him, there's nothing too great for our God.

Maybe you've been battling the same sin for years, 20, 30 years. Never give up, keep fighting the good fight. Keep improving, because remember, the Scripture says, "To he who overcomes." And that means to be improving, to growing. It doesn't mean you're going to reach perfection in this life, but it does mean you need to be growing and overcoming, and putting sin out of your life.

So we can pull down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. So we're told that we are to bring every thought captive, to put it behind bars. If it's evil, if it's wrong, if it's ungodly, if it's not helpful, and if it's hurtful, then we are to imprison it. Not allow it to go on, not allow it to continue. In James 1, it talks about a thought, how sin begins with just a thought. We know that scripture, I believe. In fact, maybe let's turn there. Didn't have this one in my notes, but I think it is something that would be an excellent reference at this point.

So in James 1:12, "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone." God would not tempt a person to sin. Satan is the great tempter. “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and when he's enticed.” Now, God will allow us to be tested. He allows Satan to test us, but He does not tempt us to sin. And it's our own desires, our own evil desires that will entice us. “Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

So it starts with a thought, a wrong thought, an evil thought that we don't imprison. It becomes a greater desire and we dwell on it and then we act upon it. And if we don't repent of it, and if we keep doing it, and we don't overcome it, and we don't put it out of our lives and we don't grow in grace, and in knowledge, and in putting those sins out of our lives, then we're in deep trouble. We're in jeopardy. So, brethren, "Do not be deceived," it says. Sin, when it's full-grown, it brings forth death. It will spread and bring forth death. "Don't be deceived, my beloved brethren.”

In 1 Corinthians 5, you know, it does talk about coming out of the world here or actually putting someone out of the Church. In this case, in 1 Corinthians 5, no doubt you remember the incident where a man was sending with his own stepmother, there was sexual immorality that was not even named among the Gentiles, things going on that were perverse in this situation and it was being allowed. We're not to allow that type of sin, you know, within our congregations. We're to put that out. Put the person out so that he can repent. He needs to understand what he's doing to himself.

And in verse 6 of 1 Corinthians 5, "Your glorying is not good." These people were thinking that… and I guess they thought they were more righteous than God. They were allowing things to go on here, thinking they were doing God a service when it was not God's will at all. So he says, "Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" Just a little leaven and this was a lot of leaven, frankly, that was going on in there, but just a little leaven will leaven the whole lump. “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast.”

And, brethren, we are going to continue to keep the Feast just like Paul was keeping the Feast way back then in the church at Corinth. A gentile church was keeping the Feast because these are God's Holy Days. They're in His word and they're there to be kept. “Let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” You know, God wants us to be sincere, genuine, truthful, and honest, and that's becoming unleavened. So, brethren, we are to put the sin out. The sinful person should be put out if he isn't repentant. We cannot allow someone who's blatantly sinning. This was a blatant sin. Of course, none of us are perfect. We all fall short, but obviously, there are degrees. And in some cases, a person does need to be disfellowshipped for the sake of everyone else and for his own sake.

So, brethren, if Scripture tells us to flee sin of all sorts, it tells us to learn to hate sin. It tells us to withdraw from sin and it in principle tells us that we should quarantine ourselves from sin and sinful ways. So that's the second principle.

The third principle is accepting the blood of the lamb as a sacrifice for them personally and collectively. That's what saved the children of Israel that night. That's what stopped the spread of sin and death to the children of Israel. It was accepting the blood of the lamb, putting it on their lintels, and on their doorposts. That's what saved them that first Passover night. And accepting Christ as our Savior will also save us. Repenting of our sins and accepting Christ as our personal Savior, that's what we talk about when we're baptized, have you repented of your sins? Which is the transgression of God's Holy and righteous and perfect law? And have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your Lord, your master, your High Priest, your soon-coming King? That's what we were asked before we go under the waters of baptism.

So we get together and we celebrate every Passover in a sense that wonderful sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a memorial of the death of our Savior, which was necessary because we're all sinners and we need a perfect sacrifice. Christ is that perfect sacrifice for us, so we renew our baptismal commitment each year, as we observe the Passover. Again, that is why we restrict the taking of the symbols of the Passover to those who are baptized, those who have made the commitment, those who have dedicated themselves, and have received the Spirit of God that dwells in them to help them grow and overcome.

And, obviously, we want that for all people. You know, those of us who are baptized, we want that for all people, because we realize how wonderful that relationship is. Once we've made that commitment, once we're no longer battling fear, but we're willing to be immersed completely in the ways of God. That's to our great benefit. So, brethren, it is our faith in Jesus Christ. It is His faith in us through the power of the Holy Spirit living in us that Christ will give us victory over sin and death. We will have complete victory over sin and death in a final analysis if we allow Christ, and God the Father to live in us by the power of the Spirit of God.

Faith is also contagious. That's something to remember too. This virus is contagious, very contagious, but faith is also contagious. And we need to spread the faith, especially right now. This time of year under this present distress, we need to spread the faith and realize that with God on our side, there's nothing that can hurt us. Nothing of lasting value that can hurt us if we turn to Christ and to the Father. We must move forward in faith, trusting God for His blessing, trusting Him for His protection. We must not be ruled and led by fear, but we need to be ruled by faith. Allow faith to spread. Again, encourage one another, lift each other up. Let people know that you're praying for them, that you really do love them.

It's likely that we may have at least one case in the United States that I'm aware of, of someone who has the COVID-19. The person's doing well. They're recovering, they're improving. They weren't tested because it wasn't so bad that they needed to be tested, but it is a reality. God may allow some of this to come upon us. You know, we have to understand that and realize that God's will is perfect. We should never doubt God in any of this. God will never leave us. God will never forsake us.

So, brethren, we renew our baptismal commitment each year, and so, it's so important that we all come together in faith. In Revelation 21:7, it says, "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son." Verse 8, "But the cowardly…" And notice it mentions the unbelieving. Those who lack faith. You know, lacking some faith is not the unpardonable sin by any means, and we all lack faith to some degree, but we need to, again, turn to God and place our faith and trust in God and in Christ. It says the “unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

So God is a God of justice. God is a God of love, and mercy, and equity. He wants all people to repent. He's not willing that any should perish. That's not God's desire, that any should perish, but that all should come to repent of their sins. So that third principle, brethren, was to accept the blood of Jesus Christ as your sacrifice. That will stop the spread of sin. That will stop the spread of death. Death will not come upon you if you've truly accepted Christ as your Savior and you place your faith and trust in that sacrifice.

A fourth principle, cleansing oneself and others on a continual basis will help stop the spread of sin and death going forward. Cleansing ourselves and helping cleanse one another will help us stop the spread of sin and death. It's interesting how many physical analogies can be made between this virus. And we have to make sure we're keeping things clean, right? We're washing things down. We're doing our best to kill those germs that could infect us. But we also need to cleanse ourselves spiritually on a continual basis. Jesus Christ showed the importance of helping one another in the spiritual cleansing process. He washed the disciples' feet. He washed their feet, that Passover evening. He knelt before them. Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Son of God knelt before man and washed their feet. He was showing how important it is that we become clean.

Peter understood that to some degree but not fully, right? Peter was lacking in understanding, but he had a zeal, for sure, which I'm sure, you know, Christ appreciated. But the point is, it's symbolic of cleansing oneself. You know, we wash other people's feet too. We don't wash our own feet. So that's symbolic of helping others, cleansing others, serving others, laying our lives down, becoming living sacrifices for one another. Jesus Christ died for us. We are to live for him, and we do that by serving his people. Matthew 25, very clear. You know, "If you've done it unto Me, you've done it unto the least of these… My brethren.” This is what Christ said. So we should be our brother's keeper to a large degree. Cain was to be Abel's keeper. He certainly was not to be his killer, his murderer. He was to be his keeper. He was to look after his brother. And were to look after one another.

You know, we should love each other enough, to care enough, to get involved, and to help each other, and to follow Matthew 18 faithfully. Matthew 18 does work, but it does need to be followed faithfully every step of the way. We don't have time to go into exactly what that is. You know, that's its own sermon. But Matthew 18, we’ll, look, if we have a right attitude when we go to our brother who has sinned and we see that a person has sinned and he's in jeopardy, his life is in jeopardy because he sinned. And we go to him alone to help him because we love him and we want to help him. We don't go to him to accuse him. We go there to help him, to support him, to help him understand that we know that we aren't perfect either. You know, that we have to get the plank out of our own eye so we can go before our brother to help him.

So if we go humbly before our brother in Matthew 18, and that's one of the main principles that's often violated, is we don't go humbly. We don't go in love. So we go humbly and in love. And hopefully, our brother will receive us when he sees our true intent. When he sees our heart. Of course, he has to be repentant too, doesn't he? He has to admit that he's a sinner. He has to take ownership for what he's done. He has to ask for forgiveness first to God, but also perhaps to others who he's offended. So Matthew 18 is extraordinary and it does work. And it is powerful.

In James 4:6, it shows that God gives us grace. James 4:6. Let's read this together. "But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’" Verse 7, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." So that's paramount. We have to resist Satan. We have to resist his temptation. He will flee from us if we truly do that. And we may have to do that time after time because he'll be coming back, but we have to be persistent and we do need to persevere. "Resist the devil, he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands." Okay. That's the point we're talking about, cleansing ourselves. Cleanse your hands. With our hands, we do much dirty work.

We must cleanse our hands, all of us. "Cleanse our hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts… purify your hearts, you double-minded." We need to be single-minded in our service to God, completely surrendered to Him, and that is a lifelong process. That's something that I have not mastered. I am not completely surrendered. I want to be completely surrendered. I have surrendered. You know, God is in me. Christ is in me. The Spirit of God is in me. God guides and directs me. He gives me strength. He gives me power. He gives me faith, but I'm not perfect. And none of us are perfect. We all fall short. And we may struggle with things for years and years because the flesh is weak. The flesh is very, very weak.

Paul says that "The law of sin dwells in my members, the things that I don't want to do, I find myself doing. The things I should do, I don't always do." Okay. We're all in this together. We have the same dilemma. We're flesh, but we do need to rise above the flesh and we do need to learn to walk in the Spirit because “with God all things are possible,” and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” So this is not to be used as an excuse for sin. We should not. We must not use it as an excuse to sin. Yes, the law of sin dwells in us, but we can make tremendous strides with God's help with His power.

So, brethren, let's yield to the Spirit of God, and let's grow and overcome as we've never done before. Lament, and mourn, and weep. Verse 9, it says, "Lament, mourn, weep!” Yes. Be passionate. All of us should be very, very passionate. This is your way of life. It's my way of life. We should be passionate. Humble yourselves. It says, "Let your laughter be turned to mourning, your joy to gloom." There's some of that now, isn't there? It's a sobering time in which we live and it may become a lot more sobering. And someone texted me the other day about… she was watching TV and she was seeing the people dying, and the crying, and everything that was going on in the world. And it was frightening to her. It was scary. So let's consider who might be hurting among us, who might be alone, who might be frightened, and let's give them a call, and let's try to help them through this difficult time.

Lament, mourn, weep, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up. That's a promise, that He will lift you up. God is with us. He will lift us up. He will strengthen us. And then in Psalm 51, the Psalm of repentance that we, I hope, always read before Passover… I'm not going to read all of it, but I'm going to read a few verses. Verse 2 of Psalm 51, David says, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity." David finally came to admit his sin. He finally saw that he was the man. He was the sinner that had to repent of what he had done. "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin… Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." That's what David desired. He was a man after God's own heart because he wanted to please God. He wanted to obey Him. He wanted to serve Him. He fell far short, like all of us do.

He said in verse 10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God.” Create in me a clean heart, a pure heart. “Renew a steadfast spirit." That's what we all need, isn't it? A steadfast spirit. God's Spirit is not the spirit of fear. It's a spirit of power, and of love, and a sound mind. It's steadfast. And if we will yield to the Spirit, we will walk in the Spirit. We will produce the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. We will be loving to each other. We will be kind to one another. We'll be joyful. You know, we're going to be patient, long-suffering, able to go through trials and suffering without losing faith.

You know, we're going to be good as we strive to be like God. God is good. There's goodness. That's one of the fruits of God's Spirit, meekness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness. These other fruits of God's Holy Spirit, and that's how we should be known. So and so is a person of faith, of love, of joy, of peace, of patients, of kindness, goodness, gentleness. That's how we should all be known. So, brethren, the fourth principle in helping stop the spread of sin and death is to cleanse oneself and also help each other be cleansed by faithfully following Matthew 18, by faithfully praying for one another, by drawing near to God, through fasting and doing our part to become more like God.

And then the fifth, the final one that I'll share with you today, another principle is continuing on a chorus of spiritual diligence and vigilance. That's number five. That's the principle. We need to continue on a course of spiritual diligence and vigilance, known as repentance. That's real repentance, a course of spiritual diligence and vigilance. That shows our repentance. It shows our repentance when we're walking in faith and we're trusting in God and we're diligent in our spiritual walk with God and we're vigilant and we're growing and we're overcoming. That's going to help us stop the spread of sin and death. So, brethren, don't be deceived by Satan. Don't be deceived by the insidious nature and the deceptiveness of sin. If you want to stop the spread, you must stay diligent. You must be vigilant. You have to strive against sin and have a repentant heart and mind.

So, brethren, in conclusion, it's going to be a long conclusion. Sin contaminates everything in its path, just like the Coronavirus. It contaminates everything in its path. There is no known cure or vaccine for COVID-19 at this point. But there is powerful vaccine against sin and death. That cure, that solution, how has it symbolized? What is it symbolized by? Do you know the cure for sin and death? It's the Passover. That's the cure for sin and death, observing the Passover. Keeping the Passover, doing it in a worthy manner. God will deem us worthy even though all of us are unworthy to a point, but He will deem us worthy if we will humble ourselves. If we'll follow these five principles, we will stop the spread of sin in our own lives and we'll help others stop the spread of sin and ultimately death. So Passover is the cure for sin and death. That's the cure. Passover will soon be here.

The Coronavirus, it's invisible. It's insidious, it's deceptive. We don't know where it is, we don't know where it's been, and we don't know where it's going. If someone would come and show exactly where the Coronavirus was, wouldn't you be grateful? If you had x-ray eyes and could see it, is there any in this room? Is there any in that homes in which I'm broadcasting or we're broadcasting. I'm not doing much broadcast thing, okay? But we can't see it. We don't know. We can't be sure. But we would be grateful if we could know that, wouldn't we? If we knew where we could walk, where we could sit, where we could touch, where we could be safe, wouldn't that be invaluable? Wouldn't it be priceless? If someone would come and clean away all traces of the virus, wouldn't we be so grateful, so thankful? And we should pray for this, that God will do this. The God will intervene. God has the power. God could stamp it out in a moment.

Let's all turn to God in faith, asking Him to stamp this thing out for the good of all mankind. God is not willing that any should perish. Who knows what God could do? If we have enough faith, if we all believe in Him enough, if we go to Him, and if it's His will, perhaps He would stamp it out and things would get back to some normalcy. That may not be God's plan right now, but it's our job to go to God, to get on our knees today, to pray to Him as a united body, as a people and pour out our hearts, our minds to God, and ask Him to stop this plague. Stop this plague in its tracks. Do it now, God, we know you can do it. We believe you can do it. We have faith you can do it. We know you're all-powerful. We know you're almighty.

So, brethren, let's go to God because He can see all traces of the virus and He can wipe out every single trace. We are washed in the blood of Christ. We're washed in the waters of baptism. We're washed in living waters of the Spirit of God. No spiritual Coronavirus can live in that environment. We know how to stop the spread of spiritual disease. We know how to be inoculated. We know how to kill the virus of sin and death because God has revealed it to us. God has given us His truth about the Passover and what it means, what it pictures, and the power of Passover. There is already a cure. There's already a vaccination. There's already an instruction manual. There's already an antiviral cleanser. It's the Passover.

When we keep the Passover this year, we're going to take a little bread, which is symbolic of the unleavened bread, the broken body of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Christ who died for us, who came sent by the Father to live among mankind and to show His love throughout the ages for man. He's the unleavened bread that God sent from heaven. He's that manna that's to live in us and give us strength, to give us courage and faith. He's also the wine, His shed blood of His body. We take that wine. It's symbolic of His shed blood. Blood spilled for us that we might be forgiven our sin.

So, brethren, should we not forgive one another? We're going to be forgiven in the same manner that we forgive others. We need to let go of the hatred, the animosity that we have toward our brothers and sisters in Christ and toward all mankind. We need to learn to forgive and we need to wash each other's feet. We need to cleanse ourselves and if we're married, we'll get to wash our wife's or our husband's feet. That will be very meaningful. I think that happened once when Barbara wasn't able to go to the Passover that I washed her feet, she washed my feet. It's very meaningful time.

God gives us instructions on how and what we can do to help stop the spread of the enemy, the disease of sin, and death. God's Word gives us God's powerful plan of how He's in the process of eradicating this deadly virus that we call sin and death. Again, Christ died once for all. He's the perfect sacrifice. He now lives at the right hand of the Father. God and Christ both live in us by the power of the Holy Spirit of the Most High God, God the Father, and Jesus Christ, composed of the same Holy Spirit. And they've given us an earnest, a downpayment. The Spirit dwells in us. The most important thing we need to focus on upon now is our wonderful Passover sacrifice, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of the Father, the Lamb of God. If we're pleasing to God the Father, and Christ, we have absolutely nothing to fear. Our future is secure in the hands of God almighty. God has promised to never leave us, to never forsake us. Remember, all things work together for good and we do not need to fear if we have a proper love and respect for God.

Brethren, let's continue to look to both members of the God's family, but let's look to God, the Father, and Jesus Christ. Let's praise them. Let's please them. Let's put our faith in them this Passover season. Remember, this is the cure. The Passover is the cure. We have the cure. God's true Church victorious shall be the Church at rest.