I'd just soon be up here by myself.
There's a spider up there I wouldn't crush. I'd just soon be up here
by myself, not worrying about him while I'm trying to preach.
All right, if you would, open your Bibles with me to Genesis
chapter 50. Genesis chapter 50. This will
be the last message in this particular time through the book of Genesis. It took us about 13 years. to
get here, or 33 years, excuse me, three years to get here.
I think it's been a blessing. We'll begin reading in verse
22. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he
and his father's house. And Joseph lived 110 years. And
Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation, the
children also of Makar, the son of Manasseh, were brought up
upon Joseph's knees. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I die. and God will surely visit you
and bring you out of this land under the land which he swore
to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the
children of Israel saying, God will surely visit you and you
shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died being 110
years old and they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in
Egypt. Let's bow together in prayer.
Our father, Lord, we've gathered here together
this evening to worship your matchless name, to open your
word, to read it and study it, to have Christ preach to us out
of it. Father, I pray that you would be pleased tonight to visit
your people in mercy and grace and enable us to worship thee.
Enable us for these next few minutes to forget about the goings
on of this life And Father, enable us to set our affection on things
above. Feed our souls with your gospel,
we pray. And Father, we dare not forget
to thank you for all your blessings to this congregation, how richly
you've blessed us over many, many years. Generations of your
people have been blessed here by your mercy and your grace,
the preaching of your gospel. Father, I pray you cause it to
continue. by your mercy to us, not because we deserve it, but
because of thy mercy. Because of your goodness to sinners
in this area, that they might have a place where they can come
and hear your gospel preached, hear the good news of Christ
the Savior. Father, we thank you for the many blessings of
this life. You've blessed this congregation
beyond measure. And there's no reason for it
but your goodness. And Father, we thank you. Pray
that you'd give us the wisdom and grace to use the many gifts
that you've given us wisely for your glory, not just waste them
on our flesh. And Father, for those that you
brought into the time of trouble, we pray for them. Oh, how we
pray, Father, that you'd heal, that you'd comfort, that you'd
deliver. But Father, above all, you'd give a special portion
of your presence to comfort the hearts of your people. until
you seem fit to deliver them. We pray especially for Andrea
as she's going through these treatments and for Peg and for
Jackie as she's recovering. Father, there's others that need
you especially. You know, be with them, we pray.
All these things we ask and we give thanks in that name which
is above every name. In the name of Christ our Savior,
amen. I've titled the message tonight,
God Will Surely Visit You. Joseph says that twice here,
in verse 24 and verse 25, God will surely visit you. Now, it's
come time to end of Joseph's life. Here he is on his deathbed.
I would imagine a person on their deathbed may think back over
the course of their life, all the things that they've been
through. And you look at Joseph's life, now, it was hard, wasn't
it? Eventually, Joseph rose to great
power Privilege and respect. Joseph ended up at the end of
his life being a highly respected man for his wisdom, his integrity,
how he helped so many, many, many people. But now getting
there was a tough road, wasn't it? I mean, Joseph went on a
tough road to get there. Joseph had to suffer hatred from
the people he loved the most. I mean, you know it's one thing
when people are openly hateful to you, This was his brothers,
the people he loved the most. He suffered such hatred from
them. Joseph endured, he was, you think of the change in this
young man's life. He was his father's favorite
son. And the blink of an eye, he's a slave in Egypt. I mean,
can you imagine? No, we can't. None of us can
imagine being made a slave, like having no, No say over what you
do, where you go, how you do it. He was made a slave. Joseph
endured being put in prison for a crime he did not commit. You
know, I see on the news that a person who's been wrongfully
convicted, new evidence has come up and revealed they've been
innocent all along. We put them in jail for a crime
they did not commit. I always feel happy, but I also
feel sad, too. This person spent decades in
prison. They didn't do it. They're innocent,
you know. Joseph had to suffer that. But
when Joseph looked back over his life, I'm sure, he saw, oh,
God's blessed me. God blessed me richly. God put
Joseph on one of the highest seats of power in all of the
world. Joseph thought he'd never see his family again. He got
to see his father again before Jacob died. He got to see Benjamin,
his little brother again. He got to see grandchildren and
great-grandchildren he got to see. It says in verse 22, Joseph
dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's house. And Joseph lived 110 years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children,
a third generation, the children also of Makar, the son of Manasseh,
were brought up upon Joseph's knees. Joseph was bouncing his
grandchildren and great-grandchildren on his knees, just, oh, how he
enjoyed that. But now Joseph has served his
generation. He done what God has given him
to do, and he knows he's dying. So he says in verse 24, unto
his brethren, I die, and God will surely visit you and bring
you out of this land, the land which he swore to Abraham, to
Isaac, and to Jacob. Now I wanna look at this word
visit, that Jacob used, God will surely visit you. The word means
God will attend to you. It means God will look out for
you. And it means God will take you as his charge. This same
word is used in another place in scripture. What Joseph is
saying is God's gonna visit you. God's gonna be responsible for
you. God's taken responsibility for you. Back in Genesis 40,
remember when Joseph was in prison, The captain of the guard charged
Joseph with him, with all the other prisoners. That word charged
is the same word translated visit in our text. Joseph became responsible
for all of the prisoners, just like the Lord's responsible for
all of his people. Isn't that comforting? To think
whatever it is that we're going through, whatever it is that
we'll face in the future, God's responsible for you. If you believe
him, now God's responsible for you. You gonna fall through the
cracks if God's responsible for you? Of course not. And Joseph
knew this. He knew God was gonna visit the
children of Israel in Egypt, and he's gonna bring them out
of that place. Joseph knew that. God's gonna visit this place.
Now, God was always present in Egypt, but God's omnipresent. God's everywhere all at once
at the same time. God was always in Egypt. God
was never out of Egypt. But Joseph said there's a special
day coming when God's gonna visit his people in this country, in
this land. He's gonna bring them out. God's
gonna visit his people in a mighty and special way. Now that nation,
Israel, is a picture of God's people, spiritual Israel. And
for every child of God, for everyone of God's elect, for everyone
that the Father chose to save, everyone that the Son died to
put away their sin, every child of God will experience a special
day of visitation from God, a day of mercy, a day of God's power,
a day of His grace. Actually, every son of Adam is
gonna be visited by God at one time or another. Could be in
judgment. God said, I'll visit upon them,
their iniquities and their sins. He means I'll judge them. Or
it could be for the believer, not could be, definitely will
be for the believer. There's gonna be a day of visitation
when God visits in grace. Now that's an amazing thing.
I hope we didn't just read over that and just kind of skip on
to the next thing. Almighty God is gonna lower himself
to visit his sinful people here on earth. You know, David, the
man after God's own heart, that amazed David. David said in Psalm
8, verse four, what is man that thou art mindful of him and the
son of man that thou visitest him? What is man that God would
visit us? But now he's going to. There's
a special day grace and power and mercy when God's gonna visit
his people. So my question is, what happens
in that day? What happens when God visits
his people on this special day of visitation? Well, the first
thing is here in our text, when God visits his people, he's gonna
deliver them. He's gonna deliver them from
sin. Now Joseph tells his brethren, I die and God will surely visit
you. and God's gonna deliver you.
God's gonna bring you out of this land. How did Joseph know
that for sure? How did he know that? Faith. God-given faith. Joseph believed
the word of God. Joseph believed the spoken word
of God. Today, we believe the written
word of God, don't we? But Joseph believed the spoken
word of God. When Joseph was growing up, he
knew his father, Jacob, He knew his grandfather, Isaac. And he
heard from these two patriarchs that God had spoken to Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob. And they told young Joseph, now
God has promised to give this land of Canaan to our descendants. He's gonna do it one day. He's
gonna give this land, our descendants are gonna own all of it. They're
gonna possess all of it. Now, at this point, Joseph's
dying. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have
already died. Now Joseph is dying, and what's
left is his no-count brothers, hopefully his sons and grandsons,
or a little higher cut of meat than that, but you know, Joseph's
dying. This is the man who's led this
nation. They don't own a stick of that
land, except for the burial plot that Abraham bought the very
Sarian and several of his, the descendants were buried there.
Only thing they own was a great plot. How does Joseph know they're
going to go and have it that whole land? Because he believed
God. See, that's what faith does.
Faith believes God's word. We believe God's promise. Even
when we don't know how God, how's he going to do it? Well, I don't
know, but he's going to do it because he promised he would.
He promised he would. You know, we, Believers hang
on to this promise from God. The Lord will provide. Now, how's
he gonna do it? I don't have any idea, but I
know he will. Because he promised. That's what
faith, faith believes God. And look back Genesis chapter
15. Not only did Joseph believe God was gonna visit Egypt and
visit his people and bring them out of that land. Joseph had
a real good idea when God was gonna do it. He had a real good
idea when God was gonna bring all this to pass because Joseph
believed God. He believed the spoken word of
God. In Genesis 15, let's look at the beginning of verse 12.
And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram,
and lo and horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto
Abram, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger
in a land that's not theirs, and shall serve them. and they
shall afflict them 400 years. And also that nation whom they
serve will I judge, and afterward shall they come out with great
substance. Joseph had heard that story about
those 400 years, and he believed God. I really try not to do this with
my family, but this is something especially older men do. Tell
the same story over and over again. Have you ever done that?
This story is just too good. It's got to be told again. The
kids got to hear this again. This is so good, you know. Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob had this promise. After 400 years, God's
going to bring, he's going to visit his people. He's going
to bring them out. Those old men told that story over and
over and over again. I'm sure of it. Old Jacob would
talk to Joseph, and he'd say, oh, Joseph's heard this before,
but this is too good. He's got to hear it again. And
Joseph believed God. God said, after 400 years, I'm
gonna bring my people out, and they're gonna come out rich.
They're gonna be afflicted. Joseph knew exactly what that
meant, that they're gonna be slaves, and they're gonna come
out rich. God's gonna bring them out. He
believed, he just believed God. He had a pretty good idea when
God was gonna do it. Now, since Joseph believed God,
He believed our relationship with the Egyptians right now,
it's real good. Now he doesn't know how it's
going to happen, but Joseph knew this at some point, this relationship
is going to go south and my people are going to become slaves in
this land. But Joseph also knew God's going
to visit my people. I'm going to visit them. I'm
going to deliver them. I'm going to bring them out. He's gonna
bring them out so those Egyptians will not have any influence,
any rule, any way to touch the Israelites ever again. God's
gonna bring them out. Joseph knew that. He believed
God's promise. In Joseph's dying words were,
God's gonna visit you and take you out of this place. When you
go, take my bones with you. I mean, I'm gonna be dead and
gone, but don't you even leave my bones here. Take them with
you. because he believed God. That's what he says in verse
25, Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel. And that
story got passed on for 400 years, didn't it? It got passed on and
on and on, and Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel,
saying, God will surely visit you, and you should carry up
my bones for me. That was Joseph's dying words.
And the writer to the Hebrews said, Joseph said all that on
his deathbed in faith. By faith, he said that. By faith,
he said, you bring my bones up out of this place when you go.
He said it by faith, because he believed God. God was gonna
do what he said he's gonna do. Now here's the picture. This
is a picture of God's promise to all of his elect, to spiritual
Israel. This promise is to you tonight,
if you believe Christ. I know you're born in sin. I
know all of us were born under the bondage of the law. We're
like the children of Israel. We're trying to make bricks without
straw. Just spinning your wheels. We're trying to do the impossible.
I mean, I guess you can kind of form a brick without straw.
But we're trying to do the impossible. We're trying to obey God's law
and establish our own righteousness, and we're failing. I mean, failing
miserably. We're under the bondage of the
law. We're under the sentence of the
judgment of the law. And when God lets you see what
bondage you're under, When He lets you see the judgment that
you're under, God's gonna make you cry out to Him for mercy.
You're gonna cry, Lord, save me. Just like Peter did when
he was going down and thought he was gonna drown. Lord, save
me. Now let me ask you, can you have any hope that God will be
merciful to you and deliver you from your sin? Can you have any
hope that God will be merciful to you and deliver you from God?
Deliver you from God's justice. Can you have any hope of that?
You can have a real good hope in it if you believe God. Look at Hebrews chapter two.
See, God has promised that Christ is coming to deliver his people
from the power of sin. Hebrews chapter two, beginning in verse one. Therefore, we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. These things
which we have heard from God's word, don't let them slip. Give the earnest heed to these
things, lest at any time we should let them slip, let them run out
of our fingers. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord,
and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. God also
bringeth them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with diverse
miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.
For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to
come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place, David,
testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou made him a
little lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor and did set him over the works of thy hands. Thou
has put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he
put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that's not put
under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
Now there's no question he's talking here about the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Savior. This is the one that God exalted. Well, what's he coming to do?
Look at verse 14. This is what he's coming to do.
This is what the father sent him to do. For as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. Christ is coming to deliver his
people. He's gonna put their sin away
by the blood of His sacrifice. He's gonna suffer as their substitute
and He's gonna deliver them. He's gonna deliver them from
God's justice by suffering justice for them. Christ, by His precious
blood, the blood of His sacrifice is gonna pay for the sin debt
of His people. God's people are delivered. You
don't have a debt to pay anymore. Christ paid it for you. The blood
of Christ is gonna blot out all of the sin of God's elect. There's
no blot of sin on your record before God. Christ put it away,
washed you white as snow. You're delivered from God's justice
because Christ suffered it for you. Now you can have a good
hope in that sacrifice if you're a sinner. My only question for
you is this, are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? If you are,
you have a good hope, because you know what this book says?
Christ died for sinners. If you're a sinner, you have
a good hope. Your sin can never condemn you. Christ already died to put your
sin away. Now that's really my main point,
that's the main point of the text. Christ is coming to visit
his people and deliver them. Deliver them from sin, deliver
them from justice, deliver them from God, But there's a few other
places in scripture this word visit is used. I want to give
you just a few of them. We won't turn to them for time's
sake, but you can jot them down if you want. My second point
is this, when God visits his people, he gives spiritual life
to the dead. In Genesis 21 verse one, the
Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah
as he had spoken. Now this is after Sarah, she'd
already gone through menopause. It was physically impossible
for Sarah to get pregnant and give birth to a child. Physically
impossible. But Sarah got pregnant. Sarah
gave birth to a son because that verse says the Lord visited her.
He visited her in life-giving power. Now again, you can't get
away from faith God did what he promised to do, didn't he?
God promised many years before, he told Abraham, you're gonna
have a son by Sarah. You're gonna have a son. That
son was born all by God's power, wasn't it? The flesh didn't help,
the goodness of the flesh, the power of the flesh, nothing helped
the birth of Isaac out at all. This is the power of God, this
is what God did. All Abraham and Sarah did was
believe God. That's what the writer of Hebrews
said, they believed God. And they waited, and God visited
them in life-giving power, and she had a son. But you know,
that's not the only time that happened. In 2 Samuel 2, verse
21, the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bared
three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before
the Lord. Now, you remember the story.
Hannah could not get pregnant. Oh, she wanted a child more than
anything. Oh, she wanted a child. Oh, it
was just all she could think about. She wanted a child. And
no matter how bad she wanted a child, no matter what she did
to have a child, she could not have a child. And when all hope was gone, the
Lord visited her. She gave birth to the prophet
Samuel. She gave birth to five more children
too on top of that. Now that can only happen because
the Lord visited her in life-giving power. And the same thing is
true of spiritual life. You and I are dead in sin. We're born dead in sin. And there's
not one blessed thing we can do to give ourselves life. We
cannot do it. But God's people, they're gonna
have spiritual life. They're gonna have it. and I
can tell you when they're gonna happen. When the Holy Spirit
visits them in life-giving power, they'll be born again. Romans 4 verse 17 says, it's
God who quickeneth the dead. It's God that gives life to the
dead, and he calls those things which be not as though they were.
God's talking about not the way the situation is right now, but
what he's gonna make it by his life-giving power. In John 17
verse 2, our Savior prayed, as thou hast given him power over
all flesh, that he should give, give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. God's gonna quicken the dead.
Christ is gonna give them life. But can you tell me when? Have you ever realized Oh, I'm
a sinner. I'm in trouble. And you start
trying, best you know how to do, to call out to God for mercy. And you think, the Lord's never
gonna answer me. The heavens are brass. Maybe
it's too late for me. Will the Lord ever give me life? You parents, you're like Sarah,
like Hannah, the Lord visits you, gives you a child. Oh, you
love that child, that child, oh my word. You just, especially
when you're a first time parent, you did not know it was possible
to love a child like you love that child. Maybe the Lord visits
you again and you have a second one and you think, I love that
second one as much as I love, I mean, I love this first one
with all my heart. And you find out, oh, I love
that second one just as much. Oh, I love them. I love those
babies. And more than likely, while they're in the womb, you
start praying for them, don't you? And they grow and they do
what children do, what young people do, and you keep praying. And you keep praying and you
keep praying. You keep trying to teach them the Word. You keep
trying to point them to Christ. And you wonder, will the Lord
ever give them life? I mean, I'm raising them here
under the Gospel. They're hearing three messages every week. Is the Lord ever going to give
them life? I'll tell you when He's going to give them life.
When it pleases Him. Just like on a hot summer day,
you never know when that wind's going to blow. It'll blow when
God sends it, won't it? It'll blow when God sends it.
That's what our Lord told Nicodemus. John 3, verse 8. The wind bloweth
where it listeth. It blows where it wants to. It
blows where God sends it. You can't control it. The wind
blows where it listeth. You can hear the sound thereof,
but you can't tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. You don't know what's
happened, you don't see Him coming, you don't see Him leaving, but
the Holy Spirit blows through, and there's life. God's visited
in life-giving power. If Christ died for you, God's
gonna visit you just that way, sooner or later. All right, number
three. When God visits His people, He
feeds them. I mentioned this earlier. We
know this. We know this. God always provides
for His people. The Lord will provide. I believe
that as much as I believe anything. The Lord will provide. That's
the very name of God. Physically and spiritually. The
Lord will provide. You remember the time in Scripture. There was a great famine in Israel.
In Bethlehem. A man named Elimelech lived there
with his wife and sons. But he didn't trust the Lord.
Elimelech didn't trust the Lord to eventually come and visit
his people and feed them. So Elimelech left Bethlehem.
Bethlehem's the house of bread. Elimelech left that place, the
house of bread, because he didn't believe God. He went down to
Moab. I reckon they did find some food there, but very shortly,
Elimelech died. His two sons got married, and
those two sons died. And now all that's left from
Elimelech's poor decision is three poor, starving widows with
nobody to provide for them. There they are. in Moab, in their
misery. But two of those widows went
back to Bethlehem. They went back to Israel because
they had heard God visited his people, just like he promised. Ruth 1 verse 6 says, then she,
Naomi, arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the
country of Moab, for she'd heard, while she's down there in the
country of Moab, how that God had visited his people. and giving
them bread. God did what he promised to do.
He visited his people. He gave them bread. And when
Naomi and Ruth got back to Israel, when they got back to where God's
people were, they got back to that house of bread, not only
did they find something to eat, they met Boaz, the kinsman redeemer,
that great picture of Christ our Savior. Now you and I, We
live in a day of famine, just like the prophet Amos prophesied. It's a day of famine. He said,
not of bread or water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
What a famine we live in, the famine of the words of the Lord.
And the situation looks bleak, doesn't it? I mean, it looks
hopeless. Every once in a while, I go searching
on the internet. Is there somebody besides a few
people that we know? Is anybody preaching this? Is
anybody preaching grace? Is anybody preaching Christ?
Is anybody trusting Christ? And I just get depressed. I don't
know why I keep doing it. It seems so hopeless. But this
is what I promise you. If you are spiritually hungry,
you know you're living in this famine. I am not hearing the
words of the Lord. If you're spiritually hungry,
I promise you this, Almighty God is gonna visit you with the
bread of life. He surely will. When you're hungry
enough, you know what you're gonna find out? That the preaching
of Christ satisfies the hunger and emptiness of your soul. You all know My story, I grew
up hearing the gospel preached, and Jonathan will attest to this. We didn't miss service, did we?
I mean, we didn't miss service. I mean, just, you know. Boy, as a little boy and as a
teenager, I thought this is the most boring thing in this world.
I wonder how many pages of notes Henry's got. I mean, is this
thing, is this man ever going to be... I wasn't hungry. I wasn't hungry. And God made me hungry. Well,
he showed me my emptiness. You know what I found out? That
message I used to think was so boring is the sweetest news I've
ever heard. Can you tell me more about that?
In John 6 verse 35, this is what the Lord said. I am the bread
of life. He that cometh to me shall never
and coming to Christ is believing him, because the next thing he
said, he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Never. Never. That's a long time. Never. I mean, that's a promise. And
the Lord will keep it too. He's kept it to every one of
his children. See, it goes back to faith, like Joseph had, doesn't
it? If God gives you faith to believe
his word and you trust Christ, and you quit trying to establish
your own righteousness, you quit trying to fill your own emptiness,
and you trust Christ, Christ's gonna visit you, and he'll fill
you. So you'll never want for anything
spiritual ever again. Now you're gonna need to get
filled up every week, but you're not gonna want for anything,
because God's gonna fill you with the bread of life. Then
fourthly, when God visits his people, he brings them salvation. In Luke 1, verse 68, they said,
blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited his people
and redeemed them. When God visits his people, he's
gonna redeem them. They could see this is how God's
gonna redeem his people, is by this child that's born, this
virgin born son. A few verses later, they said,
through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day sprang from
on high, visited us. When Christ that day spring on
from on high visits his people, he gives them life and light. So suddenly they see. This was
so boring to me. Now I see what all the fuss was
about. God's giving me light. I see God's giving me life. Give
me faith to believe him. He's redeemed me. He brought
salvation to me. Now a long time ago, over 2,000
years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross. He shed his
blood to purchase the redemption of his people. And the great
transaction is done. Before he gave up the ghost,
he said, it is finished. The debt's paid. Justice is satisfied. It's finished. Redemption is
finished. Salvation is accomplished. Now
that's done. It's done. But there was a time I didn't
know it. How about you? Was there a time
you didn't know it? Of course there was a time you didn't know
it. We were born not knowing anything. We were born dead in
sin, not knowing anything about salvation in Christ, not knowing
Christ, not caring about it, not caring to find out about
it. We were dead in sin and we were just too busy going about
to establish our own righteousness to stop and listen to somebody
telling us about Christ our righteousness. We're too busy trying to accumulate
things in this world to ever stop and find out something that
will help my eternal soul. What we needed was the Lord to
visit us in power and bring salvation to us. Not dangle it out here
and says, here, come get it if you want it. We needed God to
bring it to us and put it in us. You know, that was David's
great desire. You think about King David, the
man after God's own heart. And this was David's cry, Psalm
106, verse four. Remember me, O Lord. King David
had the same cry as the thief on the cross. I said this Sunday,
the gospel is the great equalizer. Puts all of us on the same level,
puts all of us on the bottom of the barrel. David is no better
than the thief on the cross who's being crucified for murder and
sedition. They both cried, remember me,
oh Lord. And then David said, oh, oh,
visit me with thy salvation. Would you visit me and bring
salvation to me? I'll tell you what, the Lord's
gonna do that for his people. He promised he would. In Psalm
111 verse nine, He sent redemption unto his people. He sent it. He commanded his covenant forever. Holy and reverent is his name.
He sent redemption to his people. In Titus 2 verse 11, for the
grace of God that bringeth salvation. Grace doesn't offer salvation.
Grace brings salvation to the hearts of God's people. Says
here that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared
to all men. Well, it's appeared to all men, all men of all races,
of all believer and unbeliever alike. Anybody can hear the gospel,
but you know who's gonna believe it? You know who's gonna be saved
by it? When the Lord visits his people in power, in that special
day of grace and salvation, and he's gonna put salvation into
the hearts of his people. That brings me to my last point.
When God visits his people, he sends them a preacher. The way
God sends redemption to his people and applies it to the hearts
of his people is through preaching, the preaching of Christ. Faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. In Isaiah
52 verse seven, Isaiah wrote, how beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings. that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth." Oh, if God sends us
a man to preach that gospel, we say, oh, thank you, Lord. I never could have known you
if you didn't send somebody to tell me. Somebody had to tell
me. You know, when God raises up
a pastor, pretty good indication. that God's getting ready to visit
somebody in mercy and grace. God's gonna visit somebody. He
does it through the preaching of his word. There's a story
about that in the Gospels in Luke chapter seven. Our Lord
was leaving the city somewhere and there was a funeral procession
passed by him. The only son of a widow mother
had died. They were carrying him off to
Barian. Everybody was so broken hearted.
This poor widow, her son was alive. She had somebody to provide
for her. Now she's got nobody to provide for her. I mean, just
looks completely hopeless to everybody. That poor mother was
broken hearted. And Almighty God visited them
in life-giving power. And raised that boy from the
dead. Gave him back to his mama. And when he did that, the people
said, God sent us a prophet. God sent us a preacher. They
said there came fear on all and they glorified God saying there's
a great prophet risen up among us. And God has visited his people. When God visits his people, he
sends him a preacher to tell them about Christ. That's what
happens. And I thought about this congregation. God has visited
this people. He visited us. mercy and grace. He's visited us with the preaching
of the gospel for generations. Generations. Aaron, your grandparents
sat under this gospel. Generations. Now your children
are sitting under it. Generations. Let not one of us go to sleep
tonight without thanking God for that. And it is my prayer
that the Lord will keep visiting us, keep visiting us in mercy
and grace and revealing himself to us. That's my prayer. How
about you? All right, let's bow together. Our Father, oh, we thank you
that you have seen fit to visit your people in mercy and grace. Lord, you be pleased tonight
to visit us. to deliver one from the power,
condemnation of sin, to visit and give life, spiritual life
from the dead. Would you visit to feed your
people, to strengthen us and edify and instruct us and comfort
our hearts, keep us looking to Christ. We say with David, oh,
visit us. Visit us with thy salvation.
Visit us with your power and your mercy and your grace that
we pray. Father, it's in Christ's name, for his sake and his glory,
we pray, amen. All right, Shawn leads into closing
hymn.