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Donnie Bell

Divine Visitation

Isaiah 12
Donnie Bell July, 21 2021 Audio
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In his sermon titled "Divine Visitation," Don Bell expounds on the significance of God’s divine visitation as depicted in Isaiah 12. The primary focus is on God's redemptive work and His revelation to His elect through Jesus Christ. Bell emphasizes that the phrase "in that day" refers to the time of God's merciful revelation, instead of a specific day. He presents three key points: (1) the day of conviction, demonstrating how God's judgment leads to repentance, (2) the day of revelation, where God reveals His saving grace and comfort, and (3) the day of assurance, highlighting the believer's confidence in salvation through Christ. Scripture references, particularly from Isaiah, illustrate the theological underpinnings of each aspect, affirming that God’s mercy and grace are foundational for understanding one's salvation and relationship with Him. The practical significance lies in the believer's call to worship, declare God's deeds, and trust in His salvation amidst daily life.

Key Quotes

“Judgment always precedes a man being justified. God always has to empty a man before he can ever fill him.”

“In that day, when we see God and He reveals Himself to us, this is our God. We've waited for him. He will save us.”

“If He's our salvation, huh? He's our strength, He's our song.”

“Our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our salvation. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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You know it says here in verse
1 and in that day Isaiah 12 1 in that day This says again down
in verse 4 and in that day and in that day I Want to talk about
the day of visitation, God's divine visitation. There are
six verses here, and I don't know if we can deal with them
justly, but you know these six verses are a song of praise,
a song of redemption, and of our salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when he talks about singing
these songs, singing the song here twice, you know, praising
God, This is what you'd call for the family. Because only
the family can really appreciate it, understand it, and only they
can sing the song of redemption. They only, the ones who can do
it. The world can't do it. Those who know Christ, can know
Christ. So this is for the family. Oh,
wonderful things for the family. And it says, verse one, and in
that day, Isaiah uses this phrase often,
and he's talking about a particular time, not a 24-hour day. He's
not talking about today, in that day. Not a particular 24-hour
period, that's not what he's talking about. It's about when
God visits, a divine visitation from God. And when he talks about
in that day, he's talking about a time when the Lord is pleased.
to reveal Himself to His elect in this world, and to reveal
His mercy and His grace to His elect in that day. You know,
the Scripture says, this is the day the Lord hath made, and we
will be glad and rejoice in it. Now that day he's talking about
there, that's not talking about today. Though we could use it
that way. But he's talking about the day
of the Lord Jesus Christ coming. That's what he's talking about.
That day, that day is made of the Lord. The day of Christ coming.
The day of Christ's salvation. The day that God sent him as
the son of David and the son of God to come into this world.
That's what he's talking about. And so in this day here, He's
talking about how God comes and makes known to what He's pleased.
And that's what happens when He's pleased to reveal to His
elect His grace and mercy to them in the Lord Jesus Christ. I will give you three things
about it. First of all, it's a day of conviction. And that
day when He reveals Himself in Christ, it's a day of conviction.
Look over here in Isaiah 2. It's a day of conviction. You
know, people hardly ever say anything about conviction anymore.
You know, we watch these shows, you know, where people get convicted
of this crime, that crime, another thing. But how about God convicting
a man? God convicting a man. That's
what he said when he convinced, it means to convict. Now, when
God convicts a man, when God convinces a man and convicts
a man of his sin, of righteousness and judgment to come, that man
gets in trouble. And I tell you what, it's a day
of judgment. And look what he says here in,
what did I say, Isaiah 2? Look in verse 10. This is what
he's talking about. Enter into the rock and hide
thee in the dust. How's come? For fear of the Lord
and for the glory of his majesty. God's fixed to come through here.
Don't jump up and down, clap your hands, hallelujah. Hide
yourself now, get down in the dust. Get down in the dust. And he said, oh, listen, them
lofty looks of man, he gonna bring it down, he's gonna humble
it. And the haughtiness of man, he's gonna bow down. The Lord
alone shall be exalted in that day. That day he convicts you
and puts you in the dust. That's what we're talking about.
Judgment always precedes a man being justified. God always has
to empty a man before he can ever fill him. And repentance,
repentance always comes before comfort. And I said, a day of
conviction. Oh, I'd love to see somebody
convicted of their sin. I really would love to see that.
Not only is it a day, this day he's talking about, but it's
a day of revelation. Look over here in Isaiah 25.
In Isaiah 25, now when you get over here, stay over here for
a minute, because I'm gonna show you something else. In Isaiah
25, and look what it says here in verse eight and nine. It's
a day of conviction, and it's a day of revelation. Oh, to have
God to reveal Himself to you. And this is what He reveals.
He will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord God,
listen to this now. This is when He reveals Himself
after this conviction. And the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of His people, He
gonna take away from off the whole earth. The Lord has spoken
it. And this shall be said in that day. Oh my, what a day of
revelation. In that day, when we see God
and he reveals himself to us, this is our God. We've waited
for him. He will save us. This is the
Lord. We have waited for him. We will
be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Oh, when he brings conviction,
you wait until he comes and does something for you. Now look over
here in Isaiah 26. Day of conviction, day of revelation,
and look here, here's a day of assurance. And here's another
one of those in that day. Shall this song be sung? Now you're gonna get some assurance.
In that day, we're gonna sing this song. We have a strong city. Salvation, God's gonna report
for walls and the bulwarks. Open the gates. Righteous nations
that keeps the truth, they're coming in here. And listen to
this. Thou will keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in
thee. Now you know, people say you
gotta have your mind on Christ all the time to have that perfect
peace. Now if that's so, we wouldn't have any peace. He'll keep him
in perfect peace, and our mind, and what I'm telling you is,
it says this, how many times in a day does your mind go to
the Lord Jesus Christ? How many times in a day does
your mind go calling out to Christ? How many times? That's what he's
talking about. Because he trusteth in you. Now listen to this. Trust
in the Lord forever, for the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. And you look in the margin, you
know what that everlasting strength means? Rock of ages. Rock of ages. Conviction, revelation,
and assurance. Now look back over here in chapter
12, and look what he says here. And that day thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. Oh my, I'm gonna praise you,
Lord. I'm gonna praise thee. Now listen to this. Though thou
wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest
me. He said, I'm gonna praise you.
There was a time you was angry with me. But he says, your anger's
been turned away. And now you come and you comfort
me. Now you know in light, Of what we know about the gospel
now. We know, you know, that God loved us with an everlasting
love. Chose us in Christ before the
foundation of the world. Gave us grace in Christ before
the foundation of the world. He said, I loved Jacob before
Jacob was ever born. So how in the world does this
say here that he was angry with us? Well, let's see if I can
answer that if I can. It says, we were by nature the
children of wrath, even as others. We're without God, we're without
Christ, we're without hope in this world. Now in our experience,
in our experience, before God ever brought us to where we found
Christ and rested in Him, in our experience, I know what it
is to be under the wrath of God. In my experience. And what I
mean is I remember when God was angry with me and I didn't know
how in the world to get Him on my good side. I didn't know how
to get Him in the notion of doing anything for me. So in our experience,
we experience the wrath of God. We experience the judgment of
God. We experience what it's like to be without God. And then
God in his sovereign mercy comes along and then later he begins
to teach us the gospel. And as he teaches us the gospel,
we learn things that we didn't know in the beginning. Oh listen,
I heard a fellow tell me one time, God's never been angry.
I said, well listen, maybe he hasn't, but I know in my experience,
I know for me, he was angry with me. And he had a just right to
be angry with me. I was a sinner, I was a rebel,
I was in enmity with him. Now I didn't know he loved me
with an everlasting love. I didn't know he loved Jacob
and hated Esau. I didn't know those things, did
you? Did you ever experience the wrath
of God? In one sense, yes, but in another sense, no. But I didn't
know that until somebody told me. That's a mysterious thing,
ain't it? What we go through in our experience
and what we learn in the gospel is two different things. And
I do know this, that God was in Christ reconciling us unto
himself. And he shed his love abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost and gave us a great, great assurance
and gave us the promise that he would never leave us and never
forsake us. Ain't that right? Now look what
else he says here now. Oh, your anger's turned away.
How does his anger turn away? God in Christ. God's wrath that
was due us fell on his Son. God's anger fell on his Son.
And that's now he said he comforts us. And then look, behold, verse
two, behold, God is my salvation. Ah, my. When we say God is my
salvation, I say he's my salvation. And if he's your salvation, you
gotta say God's my salvation. It's like the Lord is my shepherd.
He's my shepherd. I hope he's your shepherd, but
he's my shepherd. And I shall not want, so behold, God is my
salvation. You could say God is my Savior.
And I tell you who, you know who God our Savior is? It's the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When God our Savior shall appear,
you know, and not only that, but God is a just God and a Savior. And this is the most wonderful
thing about the Gospel that you'll ever learn. If you've never learned
how God can be just, and save you. I've said it this way, God
can take a man and slay him in one stroke and give him life
at the same time. He can punish him for his sin
and justify him at the same time in the same stroke. How did he
do it? He did it in his son on the cross. He's just, he's got to be just. He must punish sin. He cannot
lower His law. He cannot lower His standards.
So how in the world can He be God my Savior, and be just, and
yet be my Savior? The only way He can do that is,
is to punish someone else in my place, someone else in my
stead, and punish me in somebody else, and give me life in somebody
else. Because I can't get it in myself.
Oh my, He's a just God. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus
Christ, God appointed Him to be our salvation. God did. God gave Him in a covenant of
grace. God provided Him in a covenant.
Him and the Father entered into a covenant. God promised Him
in His Word. We've dealt with that just over
and over and over again in the Old Testament. How many times
did God promise Christ in His Word? And then in the fullness
of time, God sent him forth. And he sent him forth to be the
author. The author of our salvation.
The finisher of our salvation. And how did he do it? He obeyed
God perfectly. How did he do it? He died. How
did he do it? He rose again. How did he do
it? He sits at the right hand of
God. What does he do now? He makes intercession for us
and he sits there as our justification. The only way I can tell you is
I'm justified before God as port to someone outside myself, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of God. That's
the only place I can do it. And then look what else he says
there in verse two. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. I'll trust and not
be afraid, You know, what are you gonna trust Him for? What
ain't you gonna trust Him for? That's the question. You trust
Him for everything. Trust Him for all things. Now
listen, not all your wants, but we trust Him for all of our needs,
and we get all of our needs, and all of our requirements,
and all that He requires, we trust Him for that. We trust
Him for wisdom, so we can understand the Scriptures. We trust Him
for righteousness so we could stand before God. We trust Him
for our sanctification, our holiness. And we trust Him for the redemption
of this body one of these days when He takes this body and takes
it home with Him. And I tell you, and He says,
I'll trust and not be afraid. I'll tell you some things we
don't have to be afraid of. I'll really tell you some things
we don't have to be afraid of. We don't have to be afraid of
being condemned. There's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ. No fear of condemnation. There
is no fear of sin now. When what I mean by that is that
God will not judge us for our sins. Our sins has already been
paid for. God said he moved him as far
as the east, from the west, cast him behind his back, blotted
him out with a thick cloud, and said that he will remember him
against us no more. Huh? Oh, I don't have to be afraid
of the devil. People, I seen something, I seen
a guy with a t-shirt on the other day and he says, Satan, how did he say it on there? He said, Satan, you can't win. Something like that. Or Satan,
you ain't got, you can't win. Well listen, I wouldn't even
put Satan on my t-shirt. I don't know where you want to
put him. Put him on your t-shirt and tell him you know that he
ain't got no power. He's got all kinds of power over me, but
he ain't got no power over him. So I don't have to be afraid
of him. I don't have to fool with him. I don't have to deal
with him. Christ doesn't whip him. Christ doesn't put his heel
on him and crush his head. And I don't have to worry about
hell. You know why? Because I've been saved by the
grace of God and I'll never have some things I don't have to worry
about. And I certainly, certainly will not be afraid of the wrath
to come. And I will not be afraid because of God Almighty to face
Him in the judgment. Why would I be afraid to face
Him in the judgment? When like Moose was talking,
he was talking this afternoon, he said, God made us the righteousness
of God. What does that mean? Whatever
our righteous God is, God made us that righteous. Ain't that
what it says? Now I'll tell you what, if you
got the righteousness of God, when you face God in eternity,
I believe, beloved, you'll be able to stand there without fear. Oh, we just can't get our brains
around that. I can't get mine around it. Oh
my, not condemned now, not condemned there, never will be condemned.
Why? Because I'll trust Him. The Lord Jehovah's my strength. And if I'm gonna sing, I'm gonna
sing about Him. Ain't we? Oh, we're gonna sing
about Him. And look what else it says there.
He's my strength and my song. Oh my, gotta trust him, gotta
trust him. I cannot not trust him. That's
the thing about it. We say these things, I trust
him. We cannot not trust him. Just like Todd said one time,
said, I cannot not believe. You cannot not believe. What
you believe, you cannot not believe. And what you trust, you cannot
not trust. You just can't do it. Get up
tomorrow night and try to trust the Lord. You can't do it. You
can't do it. Remember what it says, it says,
He has become my salvation. You know in light of us. in the
light of our weakness and our failures and this old sorry rotten
flesh? How can we have confidence? How
can we possibly have assurance? And how can we possibly have
any security and acceptance before God? Because He's our salvation. If He's our salvation, huh? He's our strength, He's our soul. Oh my, marvelous grace of our
loving Lord. God sent him forth to be a mercy
seat. God laid on him the iniquities
of us all, and he turned around and made us accepted in the beloved. And if he made us accepted in
the beloved, Paul asked this question in Romans 8, 32. How
shall he not with him, with Christ, freely, freely give us all things? What does free mean? Well with
God it means free. To me and you it don't mean free.
But to Him it means free. And it has to be free to us because
what could we do to get it? Has to be free to us. He said
I'm going to love them freely. I'm going to love them freely. Freely. No strains attached. No demands from us. Nothing required
of us. Nothing to do. Nothing to get
God to love. He said, I love them freely.
Do I love them? Because I will love them. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished our salvation. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died. And to
ever think that God would not keep His promises or renege on
His promises in Christ and to His church, that's blasphemous.
The gifts of God are without repentance. Ain't that right? Oh, did God renege on a promise?
It'd be impossible. It'd be impossible. Now look
what it says there in verse three. Therefore with joy shall we draw
water out of the wells of salvation Now you know over in Jeremiah,
I think it's chapter 2 Where it calls God the fountain of
living waters He said you've forsaken me the fountain of living
waters for these cisterns over here God said he's the fountain
of living waters. Fountain, you know, when they
come to America, the Spaniards come to America, they went to
Florida and they was looking for the, what was that? Fountain of youth. Fountain of
youth, wasn't it? They was trying to find the water
there and if they got in it, they'd stay forever young. He's looking for that. Well,
I know where there's a fountain and it's got living water in
it. And listen to this, it comes
where you are. You don't have to go where it's
at, it comes where you are. And then look what else it says.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is called the giver of living water.
He told that woman in the well, if that asked of me, I would
have given thee a drink of living water. So God's the fountain
of living water. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
giver of living water. And the Holy Spirit out of him
comes rivers of living water. I will show y'all something.
People say they have a hard time with this, but look in John 6.37,
I think it was. I think that's right. John 7.38.
Some people have a hard time with this. They have a hard time
understanding this. But I hope I can shed some light
on it. I hope I'm right about this.
I wanna be right about it anyway. Look what it says here in verse
37, John 7, 37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, said, if any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
waters. But this he spake of the spirit
which they believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was
not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. Now, does
that mean that when we believe on Christ, our bellies are full
of living water coming out of us? That could possibly be. I ain't got no living water to
give anybody. How am I going to give living
water to anybody? So when it says, out of his belly shall
flow living waters, he's talking about out of, he said, come unto
me if you're thirsty and drink. Out of his belly, out of Christ's
belly, out of his only place living water can come from. It
can't possibly ever come in from us. So I'll tell you this idea,
you know, and I've heard preachers say it, that this belly out of
us flows. There's no way, it'd be impossible. I've just got enough salvation
for me. I ain't got nothing to give you.
I've got just enough water for me. I can't give you any. I've
got to come to the same fountain you do. I've got to come to the
same water you do. I've got to drink the same thing
you do. So I can't give you anything to drink, so it's out of Christ's
belly. There'll be slivers of living water. And these wells
of salvation, Christ the Father, the Holy Spirit, Oh my, by grace
we come thirsting and we get water out of this well every
time we come we have a need. And our needs, and let me tell
you something, our need goes much more than just once and
for all. You know, this idea that once
you get justified, once you get salvation, that your needs stop. That's when our needs start.
That's when they start. Oh my, oh we, our needs go beyond
our justification or sanctification. We need every day, every day,
our needs are every day. Our Lord even taught us to pray,
give us our bread. Our daily bread. And what that
means is that I'll feed you, I'll clothe you, I'll comfort
you, I'll give you faith, I'll give you joy, I'll give you strength,
I'll give you love. And I'll tell you what, we've
got to just keep coming to the fountain. And he said over in
Isaiah there's a fountain opened for uncleanness. I have to go
to that one too. I have to go to that one. Oh
my, then look what it says there in verse four again. I don't
want to take too long. And in that day, and in that
day, shall you say, praise the Lord,
praise the Lord, call upon His name, declare His doing among
the people, make mention of His name. If in that day, if God
has blessed you, and visited you in conviction, and revelation,
and in mercy, and made himself known to you, you know what you'll
do? You'll do this. In that day,
you'll say, praise the Lord. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. You'll say, praise the Lord.
Oh, my. Praising for what? For His mercy
to the chief of sinners, for grace to the chief of sinners,
for our spiritual blessings and all the things that He's given
us in Christ. Praise the Lord. Oh, praise the
Lord. Bless the name of our Lord Jesus.
Then say, call upon His name. When He says, call upon His name,
this is what this means. It takes in the whole of our
worship. That's what it means. To worship
God is to call upon His name. And I tell you, we're constantly
calling on His name. We call on Him in faith. We call
on Him for mercy. We call on Him in prayer. We
call on Him in thanksgiving. We call on Him when we're in
great trial. We call on Him tonight for people
that we know and love. We call on God for them. Give
them grace, give them faith. They're in the trial, oh Lord.
And when we get in trials, we call on His name. Oh my. We're daily, all when we're walking
through this world, we're constantly, constantly, oh Lord, oh Lord,
God help us. Lord, please meet our needs. God, please do this for the church,
do this for that person, do that, and oh Lord, and you know when
you start calling, you're calling on His name, it's our worship,
it's everything to do with our worship and our needs in this
world. Oh, ain't you grateful you got His name to call on?
Huh? Oh, His blessed name, call on.
Oh, call on Him, call on Him, and call on Him, and call on
Him. And then look what it says, declare his doings among the
people. That's what I'm doing right now. And when you get an opportunity,
you declare his doings. His doings. You notice that said,
don't declare your doings, declare his. Declare his doings among
the people. Oh, tell about his creation.
He's the one who created this world. There's no such thing
as evolution. Tell them about God governing
this world. We're not living in, according
to mother nature, lady luck or chance or anything else. We're
living by the providence and government of God in this world
right now. And talk about His miracles.
And you know the greatest miracle you can talk about? It's Him
saving you. Ain't that the greatest miracle
you know that ever happened? Ain't you still astonished that
He did it? Huh? Oh my. But oh, talk especially
about his doing and his dying to save his people from their
sin. Our Lord told his father, said,
I finished the work you gave me to do. Oh, I gave, I finished
it. I finished it. And it's his doings
that saves us. So we won't talk about his doings.
And then look what else they say. Make mention that his name
is exalted. There's no name like the name
of our Savior. No name, make mention that His
name is exalted. Oh, God gave Him a name that's
above every name. There's no other name given among
men. There's none can with Him compare. All others are marred by sin,
they all are scarred. He's fairer than all the fair.
And then look what it says in verse five. Sang unto the Lord,
For he hath done excellent things. That's what you all sing sometimes.
Jesus has done all things well. Jesus has done all things well.
Oh my. Sing unto the Lord. Sing psalms,
sing hymns, sing spiritual songs. Sing them all vocally or together
as the churches gather together. And we sing, hopefully, for the
glory of God. And let Him, let Him always,
always be the subject of our songs. For He's done great things
for us, great things in us, and yet He's gonna glorify the riches
of His grace in us. He is worthy, worthy, worthy
to be praised and sing songs under His excellent and glorious
name for what He's done, what He's done. And then the last
verse, look what it says. Cry out and shout. I don't know how many times I've
walked out of the pulpit and somebody told me, said, it's
all I can do to keep from shouting. It's all I can do to keep from
shouting. You know, if it gets so bad, you'd be scared to death. What in the world are people
going to think about me? But he said, cry and shout, those
of you that inhabit Zion. Remember when we said that the
Lamb stands on Zion? Zion shall be established, Zion
shall be established forever. All you inhabitants of Zion,
the place where Christ is on the mountain. For great is the
Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." Our Lord Jesus is the
Holy One of Israel. He's the head of the church,
and He promised us His presence whenever we gather. And wherever
we're at and whoever we're with, He is worthy for His greatness,
for His mercy, for His grace, for His power, for His compassion,
and for His salvation. He's worthy of it. He's worthy. Our Father, in the precious name,
blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Thank you for meeting
with us tonight. Thank you for your precious,
precious word. Oh God, it's always so precious.
Such a comfort, such assurance, such instruction, such light.
And Lord, you turn on the light. It's in your light that we see
light. So thank you for the light. And please remember our dear
brethren that we mentioned. Lord, keep these dear saints
as they go their way. Keep Daniel and Sandy, as they
travel, go see their kids again and protect them and give them
traveling mercies. And Lord, forgive us of everything
that's unlike you. Create us in a great love for
you and for one another, for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Rock of Ages, 126. Rock of Ages. Let's stand together
and we'll sing this and you'll be at liberty to go. Brad's going
to be bringing both messages Sunday. And I'll be up in Michigan preaching. Rock of Ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flowed Be of sin the double cure Save
from wrath and make me pure Could my tears forever flow? Could my tears no longer flow? These four sins could not atone,
Thou the Savior, Thou alone. In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling. while I draw this fleeting breath,
when my eyes shall close in death, when I rise to worlds unknown,
and behold thee, there you be, rock of ages, clear for me, Oh
Lord, let me hide myself in Thee. Amen. Amen.
Donnie Bell
About Donnie Bell
Donnie Bell is the current pastor of Lantana Grace Church in Crossville, TN.
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