And when he drew nigh, speaking
of our Lord Jesus Christ, he saw the city, that is, the city
of Jerusalem, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known in
this day, even thou, the things which belong unto peace, but
now they are hid from thine eyes. For the day shall come upon thee
when thine enemy shall cast a bank about thee. encompass thee round,
and keep thee in on every side, that is, they will besiege the
city, and shall dash thee to the ground, and thy children
within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon
another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation."
The focus of our study tonight will be upon the last phrase
of that 44th verse. Thou knewest not the time of
thy visitation. But in order to catch the thrust
of those sobering words of our Lord, take note of the immediate
context in which they were spoken. It's the context of the tears
of the Savior. To my knowledge, there are only
two instances in all of the Gospel records where it is explicitly
stated that our Lord shed tears that he visibly wept. It does not mean it is the only
time he wept, for he was called a man of sorrows and grief. And no doubt many a place in
Palestine could bear witness to the weeping of Christ, parts
of the earth stained with the tears of a compassionate and
a suffering Savior, and yet we have the instance of him weeping
at the tomb of Lazarus, and this instance of his weeping over
the impenitence and unbelief of the city of Jerusalem. When
he drew nigh, he saw the city, and he wept over it. And these
were tears not of frustration, but of genuine love and compassion. And I have no sympathy for those
who try to protect the biblical doctrine of the peculiar and
distinguishing love of God and of Christ to the elect, and in
so protecting it, bleed a passage like this of all of its obvious,
plain sense, namely, that there is a kind of love and pity which
Jesus Christ and the Father have to all men. as well as that peculiar
and distinguishing love to his elect. And anyone who denies
either is going to blink at many portions of scripture and end
up having to twist many others. The issue that should settle
it once for all is the command of Christ in the last part of
the fifth chapter of Matthew, where he says to his disciples,
love your enemies, do good to those that treat you wrongly,
that you may be the sons of your father, for he sends his reign
upon the just and the unjust. In other words, the Lord is saying,
be like God. He has love and compassion and
shows kindness even to his enemies. You be like him. And so we see
in our Lord here something of that general love and pity of
God to all men, for the scripture tells us, he that hath seen Christ
hath seen the Father. It's the very nature and character
of God which is revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so we behold the Son of God
moved with genuine compassion and pity, not tears of frustration,
but tears of pity, and tears provoked by two considerations. Notice them. The first one in
verse 42. He wept over it, saying, this is what was in his mind
as he wept, this is what broke his heart. If thou hadst known
in this day, even thou, the things which belong to thy peace, but
now are hidden from thine eyes. His tears are provoked in the
first place by the consideration of all that Jerusalem missed. He says, Oh, if you only knew
the things that would have been your possession, but now they're
hid from your eyes. Tears provoked at the thought
of all that they missed, of the privileges and blessings of grace.
And then in the second place, tears in the light of what they
incurred and brought upon themselves of judgment, verse 43 and 44,
for the day shall come upon thee when thine enemy shall cast up
a bank about thee and compass thee, dash thee to the ground,
not one stone left upon another. You have this twofold emphasis
that I have brought out and sought to bring into focus in our studies
on the doctrine of hell, that God's judgment comes with a privative
sense. He withholds certain things.
Depart from me. That's the privative aspect of
the judgment of hell. Then there is the positive, into
everlasting fire. You have it here. It's a theme
that runs all the way through scripture. As our Lord draws
near the city and He thinks what that city could have been, a
veritable heaven on earth in the light of all of its privilege,
the great history, the great historical sweep of all the privileges
of the covenant people, the scriptures, the prophets, the sacrificial
system, the tabernacle, the temple, the priesthood, all of these
blessings. And as he contemplates what they
should have meant when he, the fulfillment of all the types
and shadows, appears on the scene and is able to say, the kingdom
of heaven is at hand, repent and believe the gospel, as he
thinks of what that city could have been, his heart is broken.
His heart is broken at the thought of what they've missed. Then
when he contemplates by the eye of prophetic knowledge what shall
happen, When the armies of Rome will encompass that city and
wreak havoc upon that city with a vengeance, his heart is more
deeply broken, not only at what they missed, but at what they
will incur in the judgment of God. Now, the latter part of
verse 44 tells us the reason for this. Why did they not enter
into these privileges? Why will judgment come breaking
upon their heads? Our Lord tells us, because, a
word of reason, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. The reason for judgment was that
they failed to recognize their time of visitation. To think our way through the
implications of this phrase of scripture, I shall ask three
questions and attempt to answer them. First of all, what is a
day or a time of visitation? Secondly, how can we recognize
the presence of a time of visitation? And thirdly, what should we do
in a time of visitation? The first question then, what
is a day or a time of visitation? Our Lord weeps as He contemplates
these matters and He says, the reason for all of this is you
did not know the time of your visitation. Well, in the case
of Jerusalem and its inhabitants, the issue is very clear. For centuries, this people had
been surrounded with unusual and peculiar privileges. You
read about that in Romans, where Paul, after proving both Jew
and Gentile under sin, says, what advantage does the Jew have?
He says, much in every way. To them were committed the oracles
of God, the covenants, the adoption, all of these privileges that
they, in a peculiar way, had. And everything that was characteristic
of the nation found its fullest expression in the city of Jerusalem.
It was there that the temple was built. It was there that
the king reigned. It was there that you had, as
it were, the center of that whole theocracy when God ruled over
the nation and made known His mind and His will through His
servants, the kings and the prophets. But all of that in type and shadow
came to its culmination in the days of John the Baptist when
he appeared on the scene and said, The kingdom of heaven is
at hand. And shortly thereafter the Lord
Jesus himself came preaching. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is drawing
nigh. And so for Jerusalem to have
a time of visitation meant that in the Lord Jesus They saw the
most wonderful miracles that had ever been accomplished, the
most wonderful preaching and teaching that had ever been heard,
for they said of Him, No man ever spake as He spake. They
wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth.
The Father spoke from heaven and said, This is My Son, hear
Him. So that for Jerusalem the day
of visitation was the unusual opportunities that came in the
person and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now as a general
principle, a day of visitation is, and I read now from Bishop
Ryle's comment on this passage, there seems to be no doubt that
churches, nations, and even individuals are sometimes visited with special
manifestations of God's presence, and that their neglect of such
manifestations is the turning point in their spiritual ruin.
Why this should take place in some cases and not in others,
we cannot tell. Facts, plain facts in history
and biography appear to prove that it is so. The last day will
show the world that there were seasons in the lives of many
who died in sin when God drew very near to them, when conscience
was peculiarly alive, when there seemed to be but a step between
them and salvation. Those seasons will probably prove
to have been what our Lord calls their day of visitation. And the neglect of such seasons
will probably be at last one of the heaviest charges against
their souls. What is a day of visitation?
Well, in the case of Jerusalem, it is clear. And I believe it
is also clear as we think through the principles of scripture and
see them illustrated in the history of the church, a day of visitation
is a time when in the life of an individual, a church, a community,
yea, a very nation, God brings unusual spiritual pressures and
influences to bear upon the individual, the church, the community, or
the nation, making real to them these very eternal realities. This was the case of those cities
mentioned in our study this morning. Why was their judgment so heavy?
Matthew 11, 22 and 24. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Why?
Because you had a day of visitation. sent my servants to you. I've
performed my miracles in your midst. I've preached the truth,
not in type and shadow, but in clear pronouncement. And you've
faced all of this, and you've turned in impenitence. Woe unto
you! More tolerable for Sodom and
Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for you." The day of their
visitation came and passed. Such was the case for Herod when
John the Baptist preached to him, and his mind was obviously
disturbed and agitated But loving his lust and his paramour more
than the truth John preached, he was willing to cut off his
head. Such was the case when Felix trembled at the preaching
of Paul, times when the reality of heavenly issues come into
sharp focus. Men turn their backs upon them,
and when they do, then the sobering words of Proverbs chapter 1 come
to pass. And I know a few words in Scripture
more sobering than these. I read now Proverbs 1 beginning
at verse 24. Because I have called and ye
have refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man hath regarded,
but ye have said it not all my counsel and would none of my
reproof. I also will laugh in the day of your calamity. I will
mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as a storm
and your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind, when your distress
and anguish come upon you, then will they call upon me. But I
will not answer. They will seek me diligently,
but they shall not find me, for that they hated knowledge and
did not choose. the fear of the Lord. They would
none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof." What is a day
of visitation? That day when God draws near
with unusual spiritual pressures and influences, and for men to
fail to recognize it is to seal themselves up to this terrible
judgment that Jerusalem experienced and that we read of in Proverbs
1. Now let me say by way of caution and qualification, this is not
to say that Christ is frustrated and defeated. I didn't say that. I have not relinquished my firm
conviction of a passage like John 17, where this same Christ
who weeps over Jerusalem says, Father, I finished the work you
gave me to do. I have given eternal life to
as many as you gave me. He wasn't frustrated. You see,
some will take a text like this in Luke and say, aha, see, Jesus
weeps. He wanted to save them. They
wouldn't use their free will. Therefore, Jesus Christ has set
his heart to save everybody, but he can't save anybody unless
they choose him. Therefore, and you draw all kinds
of conclusions. No, don't you do that. Don't
you do that. Don't you do that. You're not warranted in doing
it. Others take John 17. They say, see, Jesus said, I'm
not frustrated. I gave eternal life to all that
I really desire to give it to. Therefore, that can't mean what
it says in Luke. He really wasn't shedding tears
of compassion. They were tears for something else. And then
you got to explain it away. When will we learn just to take the
Bible in its plain and obvious sense? Don't you be an explainer? Just be a believer. And a proclaimer,
not an explainer. Just a believer. And a proclaimer. This is not to say Christ is
frustrated. I am not saying in the second
place that there are only certain times when gospel invitations
are valid and claimable. No, the scripture tells us in
2 Corinthians 6, 1 and 2, in the acceptable time I have called
to thee, behold, now is the day of salvation. Today, if you hear
His voice, Hebrews 3. I am not saying there are only
certain times. I was brought up in a church,
or something that resembled a church, They didn't even call themselves
a church, it was a Salvation Army. And they had decision days
in the Salvation Army. And four times a year there were
decision days and you could get saved on those days. Those were
decision Sundays. They have them in some of the
old Mennonite churches as well. Well, I'm not saying that they're
right in so doing, that there are certain decision days, and
only on those days are the promises valid. Come unto me, him that
comes, I will in no way... I'm not saying that at all. Nor
am I saying that we here at the Trinity Church are necessarily
in the midst of such a day, though as I have prayerfully considered
this matter, I feel we may be in the midst of a day of visitation. But as a pastor I receive in
the course of two weeks a letter from someone who says their heart
has been pierced and they've been seeking Christ earnestly.
fervently and believe possibly the Lord has brought them into
salvation. When I receive reports from others of children that
are awakened and disturbed, when I receive phone calls from others
saying that Christ has been unusually precious in the midst of the
assembly, I have to interpret these things. When I get more
such feedback in two weeks than I normally get sometimes in six
months, the Lord is telling me something as your pastor. When
I have sensed in the preaching of the Word an unusual penetration,
an unusual unction, an unusual enlargement of my own heart,
I believe God is telling us something. And though I would not claim
infallibility, I do believe that we are in the midst of at least
the dawning of a little day of visitation. Now, if there is
such a thing as a day of visitation as seen in the history of the
nation of Israel, and particularly the city of Jerusalem, if we
find this concept throughout scripture and confirmed in the
history of the Church, then the second question is a most practical
one to us. How may we recognize such a day
of visitation? Either individually, corporately
as a church, or as a nation? How can we recognize such a day?
For you see, the curse came upon Jerusalem that she didn't recognize
her day. Thou knewest not the day or the
time of thy visitation. It came, it was among you, and
it went, and you never knew it. What a terrible May God help
us that we shall know what a day of visitation is and recognize
it in our own hearts, in our own assembly. May I suggest four
things that characterize a time, a day of God's visitation to
the individual. Some of these are more individualistic,
some of them are more corporate, but I believe the principles
apply in each case. First of all, when the word comes
with unusual power, The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2.1,
I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, and my speech and my preaching was not with
enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power, that your faith should not rest in the wisdom
of men, but in the power of God. Paul says in another place, the
kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. And when the word
comes with unusual power, the kingdom of God is drawing nigh.
God is giving us a day of visitation. When we find that our ears are
unusually sensitive to the word, and when that word comes with
a life-giving quality that is more than normal, more than usual,
this is a day of visitation. For what was the mark of both
the ministry of John and of Jesus? Anointed preaching. John filled
with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb and John came to
the wilderness of Judea preaching and there was such power attending
that preaching that the multitudes of Jerusalem flocked to hear
him. He had no advanced man, he had no committee, planning
for two and three years this great campaign, getting all the
civic officials to cooperate, getting all this kind of machinery
that would get the average modern evangelist a crowd without one
wattage of Holy Ghost power. From the standpoint of pure business
principles that work in the realm of business, you don't need the
Holy Ghost or a day of visitation in modern evangelism. John had
none of that. And as I've been reading through
the Gospel of Mark, I've been struck with this with our Lord.
He goes into a house and it says, when it was noise abroad that
he was there. Couldn't contain it. Why? Because
he preached with such power. He worked with such unique power
that people were drawn under the circle of that influence.
When the word comes with unusual power, this is a day. of God's
visitation. And I confess to you, this is
a mystery to me as a preacher. There are times when as Christ's
servant, as far as I know, I am not walking any more or less
carefully before God. I am not any more or less prayerful
in my preparation. I am not any more or less dependent
upon God when I step into this pulpit. But when I open my mouth,
I've moved along through the introduction, the review, and
then something happens! Something happens! My own mind
is enlarged, my spirit is stretched, my tongue is loosed, and then
there's a sense that something settles into this congregation,
and every eye is transfixed, and I sense that people are not
only giving me their eyes, but their hearts and their ears,
and there's that peculiar sense, God is here! Other times, never
comes. I can't explain it. The ways
of the Spirit, Jesus said, are like the what? Like the wind.
Like the wind. You don't control the wind. I
don't control the wind, but I sure know when God sends a little
my way. Someone asked the old preacher, what's unction? He said, I don't know what it
is, but I knows what it ain't. You see, I knows what it ain't. And when God is pleased to grant
that unction, when the word grips the mind and the heart and the
affections, that's a day of God's visitation. And I believe that's
been the case in the past few weeks. Some of you have borne
witness to this in writing, by way of others, by way of telephone
conversations with me, by way of conversations at the back.
You said there's been a peculiar something, the Word has come.
Same preacher, same Bible, but there's been something, something,
something there. Oh my friend, that's a day of
God's visitation when you find the Word coming with unusual
power. when conscience speaks with unusual
clarity and volume. This little moral monitor in
the soul, conscience, that little moral arbiter, that little referee
who says foul or fair, inbounds, outbounds, that pesky little
fellow whom we try to squelch and stifle No man is ever saved
until conscience is awakened to need, to guilt, to the crime
of sin. And so when conscience begins
to speak with unusual clarity and he begins to point out our
sins, when he begins to speak with a volume that is almost
deafening, a volume that follows us into the bedroom and into
the place of work and into the school and into the quiet moments
before we drift off into sleep, when conscience begins to awake
from his slumber and speak clearly and powerfully, this is indeed
a time of visitation. There's the record of a man,
an individual, who had such a time of visitation. You see it in
the nation of Israel. It would be interesting for you to trace
out these principles in the Gospels. Remember Jesus said, if I had
not come ye had no sin? But now that I am come, no cloak. What did he mean? That they weren't
sinners? Oh no, they were sinners. But he's saying my presence has
tuned up conscience volume, has clarified conscience voice. No silence now. He writes with
his finger on the ground and conscience thunders and all the
accusers walk out. You can trace this through the
ministry of Christ. But you see it here in Paul's ministry before
this heathen potentate in Acts chapter 24 and verse 25. This man had a time of visitation
and it came when he has a criminal, a captive before him. And the
captive speaks to his captor, verse 24 of Acts 24, but after
certain days Felix came with Drusilla his wife, who was a
Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith
in Christ Jesus. And as he reasoned of righteousness
and self-control and of the judgment to come, these are the issues
you see that make conscience wake up from his sleep. Conscience
responds to an absolute standard of righteousness. Conscience
is there as God's representative of that standard. And so when
a man begins to reason of righteousness, conscience recognizes that language
and he wakes up from his slumber and he begins to thunder. Self-control. The relationship of that standard
to my conduct in terms of my lust and my passions, oh, that's
conscience's hunting ground. And of the judgment to come,
conscience is God's continual reminder that will stand in His
presence. Even in the heathen, we read
in Romans 1.32, who knowing the judgment of God. You see, he
was right in the hunting ground of conscience, right in the area
where conscience does its work. And as Paul reasons of these
things, does Felix? Scratches scraggly beard and
yawn. Brushes hair behind his ears
and say, well that's all nice. Oh no, he had a time of visitation,
for notice what happened. Phoenix was terrified. He trembled. Conscience thundered. Conscience spoke clearly. With
all the areas of his wheeling and his dealing and his dishonesty
and his graft and his immorality and all his other sins, conscience
thundered. Conscience gave him a preview
of the day of judgment until he trembles. And what does he
do? Does he say, oh, bless God for
a day of visitation. Bless God that he's drawn near
now in mercy. No, no. He says, go thy way. For this time, get out of here.
Get out of here. I've got to get a little wine.
to make conscience turn down his volume. I've got to indulge
my appetites to take the edge off conscience voice. And his
day of visitation comes and goes. My friend, what's the state of
your conscience? God used circumstances such as
the tragedy But Jerry Lee, to make the conscience of some of
you young people thunder in a way that it hasn't for a long time,
what if that were you? Is conscience speaking? Some
of you, does God use the influence of that godly father or mother
every time you see them walking strictly before God in the light
of His law? Is conscience thundering out
saying that's what you ought to be? Walking before that converted
wife or husband, you the unconverted spouse, does conscience thunder
and speak? Ah, my friend, when conscience
does, that's a time of God's visitation. A time of His visitation. When the word comes with unusual
power. Secondly, when conscience speaks
with unusual clarity and volume. Thirdly, when the sense of the
reality of spiritual things is unusually vivid. You see, the
mark of the man of this world is that he is wedded to his senses. 1 John 2, 15-17. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
what is it? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life. You see, the man of the world
is wedded to the realm of saints. He's going to gratify his appetites,
what he can see and touch. No man is saved until that other
world, which permeates This physical world, that world of spiritual
reality, that world which extends beyond this world and yet permeates
this world until that world becomes real to a man. He never gets
saved. Never gets saved. As long as he's wedded to the
world of sense, he's not going to be a Christian. When he begins
to think about heaven, that's that true world. Hell. Judgment. Sin. Guilt. The cross. Salvation. You see, that's the
world of spiritual reality just as real as this temporal world. In fact, more real. For this
world is passing away. That is eternal, Paul says in
2 Corinthians 4. We don't look on the things that
we see. They're temporal. We look on the things we can't
see. They're eternal. Two worlds intermingled. One fused, as it were, not fused,
diffused through the other. Yet the man of this world lives
as though there were only one world. Guilt, God, Christ, Heaven,
Hell. He lives as though there were
no such realities. But those are realities. And
when does he get converted? When he begins to get stirred
up to those realities and begins to adjust his life in the light
of them. So what is a day of God's visitation?
when the sense of the reality of that spiritual world becomes
unusually vivid. The phrase used in Hebrews is
this, they tasted the powers of the world to come. I think
that's the most beautiful description of it in all of scripture. As
I've been preaching on the doctrine of hell in these past weeks,
some of you who've heard the word hell, and have perhaps even
given mental assent to the fact of hell, Have you begun to sense
something of the reality of that place and condition of divine
retribution in a way you never have before? So that you realize
it's not just a word in the Bible and a concept of the Bible, that's
a real thing! It's a day of the Lord's visitation,
when there's the sense of the reality of the world, of the
Spirit. And of course this is vividly
illustrated in the life of our Lord, vividly illustrated in
the life and ministry of the Apostles. But I must hurry to
the third indication of a time of hesitation. I'm sorry, a fourth. When the provisions and claims
of the Savior are unusually clear and winsome. What is salvation? Well, the Bible describes it
under many figures. It's such a many-sided thing
that God doesn't give us just one figure to illustrate it,
but one of the most vivid, and one that communicates to us so
really, is the concept of marriage. The Bible describes a Christian
as one who's become married to Christ, 2 Corinthians 6. He that
is joined to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord. He's called
the bridegroom, and his church is the bride. Therefore, becoming
a Christian is being wooed by Christ and being brought to say,
and I say it reverently, I do, to the claims of Christ that
you might enter into all the gracious provisions that he himself
has and is as the heavenly bridegroom. Well, you see, nobody says, I
do, until there's a proposal that they think is serious. You
see, my son might come up to one of you young ladies who's
not married and just for kicks say, uh, will you marry me? Well,
you wouldn't take that proposal seriously. At least, I hope you
wouldn't. If you did, I might have words with you and with
my son. No, there's got to be the consciousness this is a genuine
proposal. And when that's so, then the
individual involved contemplates the issues. Am I prepared to
give up my name, my identity? In terms of my name, am I willing
to give up my, quote, freedoms? Am I willing to submerge my interests,
my goals and ambitions with that of another? And there's the weighing
of the issues involved in that committal unto the marriage relationship. But no girl to whom the suitor
has become precious finds it difficult. If it's someone whose
face she can't stand, whose mannerisms are distasteful to her, whose
way of life is unsavory to her, she's not going to say, I do,
unless she's just plain loco, or just so desperate to have
a missus and a ring on her finger she'll do anything to get it.
Well, you see, I'm saying all of this to illustrate this principle.
The Lord Jesus is the embodiment of all spiritual beauty. He is. He's the altogether lovely one,
the fairest among ten thousand. And he stands before us in the
gospel invitations and says, Do I dare say it without being
irreverent? Will you be mine? And in giving yourself up to
me and coming under my lordship, My rule, you then come into all
the benefits I purchase with my blood, and I'll smother you
with them." Many of us hear that invitation,
and we look at him and say, who are you to expect such from me?
Give up my identity? Give up my independence? Give
up my ambitions, my plans? Not on your life? So a man, you
see, will never become a Christian. A woman will never become a Christian.
until Christ begins to appear beautiful, and his claims begin
to appear so reasonable. See? You're never going to say,
I do, as long as you feel he's unworthy of that kind of submission.
You won't do it. You won't do it. It is psychologically
impossible to say from the heart, I do to Christ, until there is
some sight of his beauty and the reasonableness and the graciousness
of his claims. And in a time of visitation,
the Holy Spirit shines upon the face of Jesus, and he seems unusually
worthy of what he claims. And so when the provisions and
claims of the Savior become unusually clear and winsome, this is a
time of hesitation. See the illustration of this
in that well-known incident in Mark 10. You have it in the other
two Gospel accounts, but I'm deliberately choosing Mark 10.
A rich young ruler A man who had every reason to
be nothing but a pure materialist. He was wealthy. He had the admiration
of his friends. He was put in places of leadership.
He had everything that a man of this world, who's content
to be nothing more of a man of the world, had, and he should
have been content with it. But he wasn't. And he hears about
this one who preaches with unusual power, who performs such unusual
miracles. And so when he comes into that
area, I read now from verse 17 and following of Mark 10, that
he was gone forth into the way, there ran one to him and kneeled
to him and asked him, he saw something unusually winsome in
this teacher. And he asks him, saying, What
shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? You see, he's conscious.
There's another world of reality. It's eternal. Another kind of
life other than this material life. I want eternal life. You
see, these are indications. This was a time of visitation.
These things were appearing in their reality in some measure.
And so Jesus begins to deal with him. And he answers and says
in verse 20, All these things have I observed from my youth.
Jesus, looking upon him, loved him. He loved him. I believe
you have precisely here what you have in the passage from
which we're preaching tonight. The same love that Jesus showed
to that whole population of Jerusalem, that general love and pity upon
man as creatures of God, as creatures that are savable. You know where
I read that there's love to the fallen angels. There is to fall
in that. He loved it. And he says, one
thing you lack. One thing you lack. And he presses
into the very sore spot of this man's root of covetousness. He knows there's something more
than the world of things. Ah, he's fully aware of that.
He comes saying, I want eternal life. And he sees in Christ something
winsome. And he knows that his answers
will come there. But Jesus said, all right, young
man, here's the issue. Sell that you have, give to the
poor, thou shalt have treasure in heaven. Come, follow me."
But his countenance fell at the same, and he went away sorrowful,
for he was one that had great possessions. Ah yes, Christ was
winsome, the world of spiritual reality was unusually vivid,
but listen, here was the crux of the issue. It wasn't real
enough to obtain the blessings of it. on Christ's terms. So
he went away. As far as we know, this was his
day of visitation. As far as we know, judgment followed. No record that Jesus ran down
the road after him, no subsequent record of any repentance, whereas
we do have some indications of a man like Nicodemus Later on,
there was evidence of faith and repentance and others. May I
submit to you that when the provisions and claims of the Savior are
unusually clear and winsome, that's your time of visitation.
Beware. Beware. Let you do as the rich
young woman did. So, I suggest these four things
in answer to the question, what is a time, a day of visitation?
It is that time, that day, that period, when in your life individually
or in the life of an assembly of God's people, the Word comes
with unusual power. Conscience speaks with unusual
clarity and volume. The sense of the reality of the
spiritual world, unusually vivid. And fourthly, the provisions
and claims of the Savior are unusually clear and winsome.
Remember what Jesus said to one man, Thou art not what? Far from
the kingdom of heaven. Well, he was just as much lost
as the devil, technically speaking, but Jesus said, you're not far,
you're not far. Why? Because he was looking at
things in their right light, seeing that religion was not
just doing this and doing this, but involved the heart, you see?
He was beginning to have perception of the core, of the real issues,
and Jesus said, you're not far from the kingdom. Now the third
question, and this is the crucial issue to us as we sit here tonight,
what should we do in a time of visitation? First of all, let
me direct my remarks to you who are God's children, who have
biblical grounds to believe that you are Christians, and I use
those terms purposely. You who have biblical grounds
to believe yourselves the children of God, by faith in Jesus Christ,
may I exhort you tonight, if indeed this is a time of the
Lord's visitation to us as an assembly, And if I've wrongly
read it and it isn't, I pray we shall live through some together.
And so if this directive does not come as a directive for the
immediate situation, I trust the Lord and His providence is
preparing us for future times. In these times of visitation,
children of God suffer the word of exhortation. Number one, give
yourselves to prayer as never before, if necessary, even to
fasting. Jesus said in Matthew 11 and
verse 12, and this text to me can only be understood in the
context of this idea of a day of visitation. Text that troubled
me for years. I still don't understand all
that it says, but I think I have a little light in the light of
what we've studied tonight. Speaking of John the Baptist
and the greatness of his ministry, our Lord then says, even though
John was the greatest of the prophets, He that is but little
in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. In other words, something
new in the way of privilege has entered that even makes the humblest
saint in the new thing greater than the greatest of the old
thing. And in that context of the new thing that comes, pivotal
with the ministry of John, verse 12, and from the days of John
the Baptist, Until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence
and men of violence take it by force. What is our Lord saying? The period of John's appearance
was the beginning of Jerusalem and Israel's what? Day of visitation. John says the kingdom of heaven
is drawing near. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. Now commensurate with that day
of visitation is this strange language about the kingdom of
heaven suffering violence and the violent taking it by force.
What does it mean? I think this is the picture.
When soldiers have been pressing a battle on the outskirts of
a city, in the old days when they had walled cities, And they
have pressed the battle to the place where the opposing army
in retreat has entered through its own city gates and locked
itself behind the walls. They are the nearest to victory.
They're right up to the walls. But listen carefully. Not only
are they the nearest to victory, they will also face the fiercest
opposition they've ever faced. For when the enemy is backed
into the corner to the last bastion of his strength and bastion of
his protection, his opposition is the fiercest. That's not only
true in battle, it's true in football. You don't hear about
30-yard line stands, but everybody's heard about goal line stands.
You see, the team is never closest to the whole object of the game
when they get down within that 5-yard line. But never is the
opposition more fierce. Now, listen. When was the nation
of Israel nearest to the great blessings of mercy? The kingdom
of heaven drew near in John. beginning with John and then
in Jesus. But commensurate with that drawing near was this opposition
of the host of hell, hence the stirring up of demonic activity. Demon activity coming to unusual
manifestation in the work of our Lord and following in the
ministry of the Apostles. And our Lord says, because of
this, you have this parallel between the day of visitation
and the day of opposition. And it's only the violent who
sees it by force. May I suggest that that's exactly
the same with any church, with any individual, in the time of
visitation? When your children are nearest
the kingdom, the powers of hell will be let loose. held in the tentacles of the
devil. When a church is near and in
the midst of a day of visitation that may mean the release of
precious souls, new dimensions of outreach and penetration into
the devil's territory, unusual opposition. Therefore, children
of God, in the time of visitation you must give yourselves to prayer. I must give myself to prayer
as never before. and look upon everything that
clogs your own path to the prayer closet as a vicious enemy of
the blessings of the day of visitation. Do you follow me or am I just
talking words? Just a little sin. Oh, is it?
You know what little sins do? Little sins put thorns in the
path that lead to the prayer closet. Don't they? And you don't want to walk that
path. Hmm? You know, I know, I'm never more indisposed to
pray than when I've, quote, just tolerated a few little sins.
Ever have anybody say, with a handful of cinders, as they're about
to throw them in your face and you react the same? Oh, they're just
little cinders. Little cinders don't need to be very big. on
this organ of vision, listen, the soul that can pray is more
sensitive than the apple of the eye. And a little cinder of uncleanness,
of pride, of bitterness, of jealousy, of anger, the little cinder kills
and quenches the desire to pray. It's true, isn't it? So may I
urge upon you as God's people as I exhort my own heart that
we give ourselves to prayer as never before, and that we violently
and viciously deal with anything in our own hearts that would
make us ill at ease in the presence of God. Secondly, child of God,
in the time of visitation, be unusually careful not to grieve
the Spirit. In Ephesians 4.30 we have the
admonition, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, by which you are
sealed to the day of redemption. And the context of that grieving
of the Spirit is what? Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying, and grieve not, and then it's followed on the
other side with Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and
be ye tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven." One of the saddest things in
the history of God's dealings with men is that when people
have come under serious impressions, there's a time of hesitation,
when the world of spiritual reality draws near, when conscience is
thundering loudly and clearly, The inconsistency of some professing
Christian becomes a snare in a stumbling block, and the person
passes a day of visitation unconverted. I am not negating what the Bible
teaches, that all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. I
know those verses as well as anybody in this building, but
I also know that my Bible says, roll unto that person who is
an occasion of stumbling. And let us never allow our confidence
in the immutability of God's purposes of election and the
certainty of effectual calling to lead us into a path of carelessness. For the God who has ordained
the end has ordained the means, and the Spirit of God works in
saving mercy generally in a context where He is honored and He is
not grieved. Do you read the book of Acts?
It was the vital piety of the assembled believers that is constantly
joined to the vital power of the gospel to conquer the sinners.
There of one mind, one heart, great fear comes upon all, the
Lord adds, daily such as should be saved. You see that pattern
all the way through the book of Acts and all the way through
the history of revivals. So I exhort you, fellow believers,
Be unusually careful not to grieve the Spirit. Never forget, the
figure huge of the Spirit is that of the form of a dove, not
an eagle. The eagle grasps its praise with
its talons, and the more it struggles, the more the talons dig in. It's
not so with the dove. The dove alights in the place
of quietness and rest, and when there's ruffling, he flies away. Oh, it's just a little gossip,
just a little word of bitterness, just a little lie, just a little
dishonesty. The cumulative effect of the
little sins of seventy or eighty of God's people is enough to
grieve the Holy Spirit ten times over, and a grieved spirit becomes
a withdrawn spirit. And then thirdly, The exhortation
to you as God's people is, be careful to seize opportunities
for exhortation and admonition. Is this a time of visitation
when the consciences of our children are unusually sensitive? Let's
not only pray for them, walk carefully, but since God's ordained
the means and the Word is His means, let's exhort them, let's
entreat them, let's plead with them, let's ask them. Is the
Lord dealing? What are you saying? What are
you doing? What are you reacting? Exhort them. Those of us who
are parents, when we sense that through circumstances and the
ministry of the Word and in our gathered assembly that the Lord
is bringing pressure to bear, let's, as it were, draw alongside
of what the Lord is doing and be labors together with Him. Then, a word to you who are not
savingly joined to Christ, what should you do in a day of visitation?
I love the words of the old writers. They said something like this,
strike in with the work of the spirit. Now maybe it's just that
I've got an ear for old quaint language, but to me that's beautiful. Strike in with the work of the
spirit. Or you say, I don't like it,
it doesn't strike me that way. Alright, then let me give you a biblical expression
of it. Alright, you'll be satisfied with that, I'm sure. Luke 14
and verse 24. The Lord Jesus is on a preaching
mission, and they ask a question that's a very vital question
in Luke 13.23, and one said unto him, Lord, are they few that
are saved? Good question, isn't it? Our
Lord doesn't exactly answer it, though. Rather than answer the
question of the number that shall be saved, our Lord answers with
a question, or as though the question were asked, what is
the way into salvation? And he says, strive to enter
in by the narrow door. For many, I say unto you, shall
seek to enter in, and shall not be able, when once the master
of the house is risen up, and it is shut the door, and ye begin
to stand without, and knock at the door, saying, Lord, open
to us. And ye shall answer and say to
you, I know not whence you are. Then ye begin to say, We did
eat and drink in thy presence, thou didst teach in our streets.
And ye shall say, I tell you, I know not whence you are. Depart
from me, ye workers of iniquity. There shall be the wailing and
the gnashing of teeth. Don't be occupied with whether
it's many or few. Be occupied with that way of
salvation which is not just exposing yourself to privilege and assuming
that because you've heard him teach and you've eaten and drunk
with him, because you've been in the midst of his people, the
midst of his ordinances, the midst of his presence, don't
assume you're in. Strive to enter in. Take every
pains to know that you've passed through the narrow gate. And
oh, I say with all of my heart to you young people and adults,
whoever you be, if you're not savingly joined to Jesus Christ,
strive to enter in. Don't stifle conscience. Don't
fill your mind with garbage. that will tone down his voice,
view as your mortal enemy any person, I don't care if it's
your dearest friend, anything, I don't care if it's your dearest
possession, any influence, no matter how innocent it may be,
listen to me, anything that makes conscience tune down his volume,
anything that makes Christ any less winsome. Anything that makes
the world of spiritual reality just three degrees more distant,
look upon it as your most mortal enemy. If the Lord has been coming
near to some of you in a day of visitation, I plead with you,
strive to enter into the narrow gate. Allow nothing or no one
to stifle the voice of conscience. Use the available means that
God has put at your disposal. Start reading that book that
is Christ revealed. Start crying to God as never
before that He would reveal to you His Son and His salvation. Cast yourself on the offered
Savior and cling until the Holy Spirit gives the witness of your
acceptance. Seek mercy from the Savior until
He speaks peace to your heart. Otherwise it may be written of
you as was written of this people, thou knewest not the of thy visitation. I confess, dear ones, that I
just wish God would soon release me from the kind of preaching
I've been doing the past four weeks. But I can't. I cease to deserve the privilege
of being a preacher when I begin to possess the Word to give it
out at my discretion rather than the Word possessing me. The essence of the prophetic
ministry is the word of the Lord came to me, and when it came,
wherever the word carried the servant of God, there he went. And I can only say again, claiming
no infallibility, why didn't the Lord give me some light on
my next series? You were praying, I was praying, I think I know
now why. Why did the Lord put that tape in my hand back in
my vacation after Christmas holidays with the doctrine of hell that
provoked me to get into Scripture? Why all of this? I think I read
God's guidance. Hindsight always clearer than
foresight. Is the Lord drawing near in a
day of visitation? If these are the marks of a day
of visitation, I think we see some of them. If so, may we as
God's people Give ourselves to prayer. Walk unusually carefully
before the Lord. Be quick to speak to enforce
those barbs of conviction. And if you're a stranger to grace,
strike in with the work of the Spirit. Strive to enter the narrow
gate. Don't look back in eternity and
say, oh, that was my day of visitation. How the word came to me powerfully. Oh, how vivid heaven and hell
became. Oh, how winsome Christ appeared.
I could almost, as the rich young ruler, run after Him, saying,
Good Master, what shall I do? But oh, I played the fool. I
let the television, I let my friends, I let my companions,
I let my schoolwork, I let this or that crowd into my mind and
push out the serious impressions, push out the serious intentions.
What a terrible thing in eternity to bemoan the fact that you knew
not the day. of your visitation. Oh, how much
more blessed, through all eternity, as a bride who's been married,
a woman been married for sixty years, can look back to the day
of her wedding, and each time she does, draw fresh delight
from it, go to her closet, and open it up, and there's that
dress all yellowed with time, and the veil practically crumbles
to her touch through the dryness of age, and she relives in her
mind the day of her spousal, the time When her beloved said,
will you? And she said, I will. Oh, how
blessed if in eternity some will look back upon these first couple
of months of 1970 as the time when the Lord Jesus drew near
and cast his mantle over you and said, will you? And you said,
Lord, I will. Oh, may God grant that in eternity
many shall have cause to rejoice again and again and again. Because
this was the time of your visitation, the time heeded, the time responded
to in faith and repentance. May God grant that it should
be so for your good and for his glory. Let us pray.