Thank you, Pastor. Well, you've been here a while
today. Back home, especially in the rural areas, it's common
for the churches to post the names of men in the congregation
or in the community who served in the military and were not
brought home. A little boy one day after that
had an all-day meeting. They'd had morning service, and
then had preaching service again, then had lunch. And then they
were gathered again like we are now. And he saw that plaque on
the wall. He said to his mama, he said,
what's that? She said, those are the boys who died in service.
He said, which one? I know you feel like you're about
to die. I won't keep you long, but I've got something for you.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 12. Isaiah chapter 12. Pastor Minnie
asked me to preach to you tonight about the present tense of salvation. And I believe I have a message
if God will enable me to declare it. Isaiah chapter 12. I want to talk to you tonight
about the day of divine visitation. Oh, may this be such a day. And in that day thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God
is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength, and my song. He also has become
my salvation. Therefore with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall
you say, praise the Lord, call upon his name. Declare his doings
among the people. Make mention that his name is
exalted. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath
done excellent things. This is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy
One of Israel in the midst of thee. Now, without question,
salvation is an eternal work of God. The Lord God Almighty,
in saving His people, in redeeming His people, performed an eternal
work. I use that kind of language and
realize it is somewhat redundant. It is that which God did before
ever anything else was done. That which God did before the
worlds were made. There can be no question about
this fact. Long before time began, God Almighty, in His eternal
will, saved His people. The fact is, God's will to save
is the salvation of His people accomplished. I want you to hold
your hands here in Isaiah chapter 12 and turn to Romans the 8th
chapter. Romans the 8th chapter. Romans 8 verse 28, the Apostle
Paul tells us what God is doing. In verse 29, he tells us what
God is going to do. In verse 30, he tells us it's
already done. Look at it. Romans 8, 28, we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. And you don't
have to get out a concordance or a commentary to find out what
his purpose is. Just read the next line. For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
son, that he, his son, might be the firstborn among many brethren.
That's his purpose. He is working all things together
in the accomplishment of his purpose. His purpose is that
we be conformed to the image of his son, that Christ his son,
our mediator, be the firstborn among many brethren. Now look
at verse 30. He says it's done. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now, folks tell me all the time,
that's speaking prophetically. Prophecy is not written in the
past tense. This is speaking of that which
is done already. It is that which God accomplished
in eternity. Accomplished in the mind and
purpose of God, okay. Accomplished in the will of God,
okay. Accomplished from eternity. The covenant of God's grace is
called the everlasting covenant. The Lord Jesus is described as
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Somebody said,
but he wasn't really. I beg your pardon. I beg your
pardon. Did Abraham offer his son upon
Mount Moriah? God says he did. God says he
received him as one raised from the dead. Because Abraham in
his heart slew his son. And before ever the world was
God Almighty in his heart slew his son as our substitute and
accepted us in his son, saved us, glorified us as his own redeemed
ones. God's people are called the elect. Those chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. I said all that because I want
this clearly understood. There is no question that salvation
is God's eternal work. Known unto the Lord are all his
works from the beginning. The prophet says, tells us of
God speaking by the prophet, he declares the end from the
beginning and then he begins it. All that God does in time,
by His power, He did in eternity by His purpose. One of these
days, the Lord Jesus Christ will come again. He will stand as
the angel of the covenant as John describes Him in Revelation
10. With one foot on the earth and
one foot on the sea, John pictures Him holding the little book He
took out of the hand of Him that sat on the throne in Revelation
5. And he's turning the pages of the book. In absolute sovereign
serenity, with the ease and composure of absolute sovereign omnipotence,
he stands with one foot on the earth and one foot on the sea
and fulfills the will of God in all creation. Oh God give
me the serenity of faith in him that I may walk confidently before
him no matter what comes to pass in time. And then he will at
last lift his hand to heaven and he will say time shall be
no more the mystery of God is finished. And the Lord Jesus
will come again. He will come again in great glory.
And He will raise His own from death into everlasting glory. And our bodies shall be fashioned
like unto His glorious body. This corruptible will put on
incorruption. This mortal will put on immortality. And then shall be brought to
pass the saying that is written, is swallowed up in victory. All that victory. All that victory. In that day, the purpose of God
in election and predestination shall be fulfilled. Those whom
he foreknew, though years and decades and centuries and millenniums
past, he will at the appointed time glorify. Salvation is God's
eternal work. Now, somebody said, well, if
that's the case, then you can forget about it in time. Oh,
no, no, no, no. No, what God did in eternity,
he will certainly accomplish in time. I recognize clearly
as the teaching of Scripture, that our Lord in redeeming and
saving his people is performing a lifelong work in the life of
every chosen sinner. The fact is, we who are saved
have been saved. Saved in election, saved in redemption,
saved in regeneration. And we are being saved. Saved
in providence and saved in preservation. And we shall be saved in resurrection
glory. The apostle says, now is our
salvation nearer than when we believed. The hand of God is
upon his elect from the womb to the tomb. The Lord Jesus is
revealed in the heart of chosen sinners when it pleases God. As God said concerning Simeon,
it can be said with regard to every chosen sinner, he shall
not see death before he has seen the Lord's Christ. What does
that mean? That means if you're God's, He's
going to get you. If you're God's, He's going to
get you. He's going to get you. And we don't have to do anything
except proclaim the free grace of God and He uses the word preached
to get you. If you're God's, we'll wait for
God to get you. We won't compromise the message
and we won't try to make something happen that God doesn't make
happen. We will simply proclaim the grace of God and wait. Because
if you're His, He'll get you. He'll get you. I was preaching
one night down in Sydney, Australia. I'm sorry, Newcastle, Australia.
Small building. Probably wouldn't hold more than
75 people, maybe 100. Lots of folks would come from
all over the place, and the building was packed out, and the doors
were open, folks standing outside. And I saw a fellow back in those
days, this had been 20 years ago, when fellows went jogging,
you know, they changed their uniforms all the time, they had
on those little old short blousey shorts. They were running by
in blue shorts and a yellow jersey. And as he went by, I saw him
turn his head. A little bit, I saw him walk back up and took
a seat on the porch outside. Just a few weeks later, the pastor
baptized him. He just heard something as he
went by. And what he heard was the gospel
of his salvation. If you're God's, he'll get you.
God's people shall at the day appointed of God have Jesus Christ
revealed in them by his grace. Paul said, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace
to reveal his son in me. The fact is there are some people
in this world who must and shall be saved. We are on the trail
of Christ's sheep. We're seeking the salvation of
God's elect. And we do that by proclaiming
God's free grace to sinners, and as they hear the word, they're
called out one by one. But our Savior said, other sheep
I have that are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And when the Son
of God says, this is what I must do, you can bank on it, it shall
be done. And once we're born again, born
of God by His grace, called and saved by His Spirit, it is the
power and grace of God that keeps us saved continually. We're kept
by His grace. I have seen many, as most of
you have, stronger, more highly esteemable, who have departed and gone back,
never to return than I am. And here I am. with all my weakness
and corruption and sin. Forty years now, God has kept
me by His grace. And I stand here today kept. That's all. Kept. And I ask God every day continually,
remind me, Lord, who maketh Thee to differ? It is God that worketh
in you, both to will and do of His good pleasure. We're kept
by the power of His grace. And if you continue in the faith,
you will continue in the faith because you are kept by the power
of His grace. I know folks, we must persevere
in the faith. Let me tell you why you persevere. It's because God perseveres.
Your persevering is not what keeps you. The reason you persevere
in faith is because God Almighty will not give up in grace. We
are kept by the power of His grace. I have two grandchildren. I've got to get them in. Will
and all due grace. You'll find out about this shortly.
Talk about it whenever I can. My daughter, you know, she doesn't
realize we actually raised her and she didn't die in the process.
So she's scared to death, you know, that she might hurt the
children. And I'd take my grandson by his arms and swing him around.
Just swing him around. And she'd start swinging him
higher. Even pull his arms out of his
socket. And he was just having a ball and hang on with all his
might. His little old bitty hands wrapped
around my finger. He's just holding on as if he
had something to do with hanging on. And I'm swinging him around. But his safety is not in his
grip on me. His safety was in my grip on
him. Understand this, children of
God, your security is not your grip of faith, it is God's grip
of grace and that alone. We are being saved by the power
of God. The Lord Jesus declares in his
covenant, I will not depart from them and they shall not depart
from me. This present tense of salvation
is described like this in 1 Peter 2. To whom? Coming. That's what we're doing now.
Coming to Christ. I have come to him. I am coming
to him and I shall come to him. Looking unto Jesus. Salvation
begins looking to Him. Look unto me and be ye saved
all ye ends of the earth. For I am God and beside me there
is none else. Salvation is continued and maintained
looking unto Him. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. And salvation consummates in
looking to Him. We shall see Him as He is. And when we do, we shall be like
Him. But there is a day, there is
a day of divine visitation when the sovereign Redeemer is pleased
to meet chosen sinners and reveal Himself in His saving operations
of grace. Now I'm not talking about a 24-hour
day. You don't need to mark a calendar
to know the time of your conversion. You don't need to have a time
that you specifically remember or a place or a day in which
you can say you first met the Lord. In fact, if you have to
look back to some time yesterday or 20 years ago as proof that
you're saved, it's really proof that you're not. That's exactly right. How do
you know you're alive, Brother Fortin? Well, hold on a minute,
let me see here. I happen to have a copy of my birth certificate
here, and it says I was born in Bladen County, North Carolina,
June 10th, 1950. That proves I'm alive. Well,
buddy, you need to go to the funny farm. That's exactly right. I don't prove that I'm alive
by looking at a birth certificate. Yeah, I'm still kicking. I'm
just breathing another breath of air. Our confidence is not
in a day or a time or an event or an experience. Our confidence
is in a Savior. But you can mark this down. There
is a day of divine visitation. a time when the living God gives
life and repentance and faith in Christ to His sheep by the
omnipotent mercy and irresistible grace of His Spirit. He comes
to His own as He did to the infant described by Ezekiel and says,
Behold, thy time is the time of love. And Isaiah describes
this time with five distinct ways. I want to show them to
you and I'll show them to you very briefly. I'll give you the
outline and you can fill in the meat. Turn first to Isaiah chapter
2. The day of divine visitation.
What is it? When God comes to visit His people
in regenerating grace, when God comes to visit His people reviving
our souls with His grace, the day of divine visitation is a
day of Holy Spirit conviction. I don't hear much talk about
Holy Spirit conviction these days. Old B.B. Caldwell used to say, fellows
only preach what they know, so they don't preach much about
it. The day when God visits His own, He comes in conviction. Isaiah 2 verse 11, In that day
the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness
of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted
in that day. For the day of the Lord of the
host shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon
everyone that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. When
God the Holy Spirit comes into a sinner's heart, in the saving
power of his grace, he convinces that sinner of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. He doesn't try to convince, he
convinces. He convinces the center of three
things. Sin, his own. Righteousness,
that which Christ has accomplished. And judgment, that which is finished
in redemption. Every sinner visited by God in
grace is absolutely convinced by God the spirit of sin and
righteousness and judgment. Did you ever notice in this book,
when God speaks of what he does for men, he always says the Lord
killeth and the Lord maketh alive. Find me a place where he says
the Lord makes alive and the Lord kills. Never written that
way. Why? Because God doesn't do things
that way. He kills and then He makes alive. He wounds and He heals. He strips and He clothes. He
empties and He fills. He brings low and He lifts up. He abases and He exalts. But
never the other way around. Look in John chapter 16. When
God visits His people in grace, whether in regeneration or in
revival, He humbles man and exalts Himself. Until you've been humbled
before Him and Christ has been exalted in your eyes, you've
not experienced His grace. John 16, verse 7. Our Lord Jesus
says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for
you, It's necessary for you that I go away, for if I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you." Well, what's he saying?
The only way the Spirit of grace can come to you is if I go away
accomplishing redemption for you. But if I depart, I will
send him unto you. And when he has come, he will
reprove, the word is convict or convince the world, obviously
not everybody in the world, but his elect throughout all the
world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Now look how
he explains it. He will convince you of sin because
of your unbelief. He will convince you of righteousness,
because I go to my Father and you see me no more. When the
Spirit of God comes, nobody has to convince you you're a sinner.
You've been convinced by Him. People write to me, ask me all
the time, you know, Brother Don, I don't know whether I'm saved
or not, and act as though I ought to do something about that. Wouldn't
I wouldn't attempt to convince you you're saved for anything
on this earth. I wouldn't attempt it for anything
on this earth Only God can do that. If God doesn't I can't
unconvince you and if God doesn't do it, I can't convince you Salvation
is not something that's in my hands but if God the Holy Spirit
comes he will convince you of your sin and he will convince
you of Christ's righteousness now notice what it says because
I'm going to my father and What did he come down here to do?
He came down here to bring in everlasting righteousness. He
came down here to fulfill his father's will. He says, I could
not go back to my father if I had not accomplished that for which
I was sent into the world. And the spirit of truth will
convince you of judgment. Now that doesn't mean it's going
to convince you that there's a judgment day out there and
you're going to meet God one of these days. You were born knowing that.
Read the first chapter of Romans. There's no such thing as a human
being who does not know he will meet God in judgment. But what
about the atheist? There's no such animal. Every
atheist is a liar. Read the book of God. They may
hold down the truth and suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
but every man in his heart knows soon he'll meet God in judgment. But the sinner convicted of God
the Holy Spirit knows he never will. Judgment is over. Judgment is done. How come? Because
the prince of this world is judged. Jesus Christ has put away our
sin by the sacrifice of himself. And because Christ put my sin
away, I shall never bear it before God. Alright, turn back to Isaiah
11. Isaiah chapter 11. The day of
divine visitation is a day of Holy Spirit conviction. And the
day of divine visitation is a day of great and gracious revelation. Verse 10, Isaiah 11, In that
day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an ensign, a banner of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. In order for you and me to believe
on Christ, to have faith in Christ. Christ must be revealed in us. You can't trust an unknown Savior. You cannot believe an unrevealed
Christ. He is revealed to us and in us
by His Spirit through the Word. And as He is revealed, we are
gathered to Him. He stands and God lists Him as
a banner and gathers His own around Him. And His rest shall
be glorious. His rest as our mediator is glorious. Do you see Him? Yonder, seated
on the throne? He's in perfect ease Ceasing
from his labor Stopped working Because his work is over. He
finished it when he redeemed our souls and ascended to glory
now the believing sinner comes to him and Finds rest for his
soul And oh, let me tell you, His rest is glorious. His rest is glorious. When the sinner is brought at
last to faith in Christ, he quits trying to work to please God. One of the last conversations
I had with my father before he went to eternity, He started to leave the house
one of the last visits, and he said to me, son, I hope someday
to do something to make up to God. And with tears in my eyes and
broken heart, I said, Dad, quit trying to make up to God. You
can't do it. You can't do it. It's not possible. Trust one who has. And the problem
with unbelieving men is they continually try to do something
to make up to God. The reason you will not believe
on God's Son is because you keep clinging to your old righteousness,
assuming that somehow there's something you can and will do
to win God's favor. And if ever you come to trust
the Son of God, you will find His rest glorious. I quit trying
to do anything to gain God's favor. I quit trying to do anything
to keep God's favor. I quit trying to do anything
to improve my standing in God's favor. I rest in Christ. That's called Sabbath keeping. That's called Sabbath keeping.
We don't keep a literal Sabbath day. Oh no, that was for the
Jews, only for a short period of time, but it was typical,
just like the Day of Atonement, of resting in Christ. And we who believe cease from
our works and rest in Him. Turn to Isaiah 25, verse 9. The day of divine visitation
is a day of saving faith. And it shall be said in that
day, lo, this is our God. We have waited for him and he
will save us. This is the Lord, we have waited
for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. The Lord God comes and causes
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, to shine in our hearts. And the response of the heart
to God's revelation is faith in Christ. Oh, this is our God. This is He of whom our souls
long. This is He whom our souls crave. This is He whom our souls must
have. This is our God. Simeon said,
Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. The Apostle Paul, he said, Lord,
what will you have me to do? Thomas saw Him and he said, My
Lord and my God. That's the response of faith
to God's revelation. Faith in Christ is more than
embracing a doctrine. It's more than making a profession
of faith. It's more than coming to a religious or theological
position. Faith in Christ is something
more than reforming a misspent life. Faith in Christ is submitting
to, knowing and trusting and embracing the living Redeemer. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent. Lo, this is our God. Salvation is knowing a person. It's knowing a person. It is
a living union with the living Redeemer, the living God, our
Savior. He is not a doctrine. He's not
a creed. He's a person. Christ is all. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. Christ formed in you. Paul said,
I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. Back in Isaiah again, chapter
26. Here's the fourth thing. The day of divine visitation
is a day of joyful assurance. In that day shall this song be
sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates that
the righteous nation which keepeth truth may enter in. Thou wilt
keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. because
he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Now let me help you if I can.
I know some folks when they talk about assurance, they say, well,
if you doubt, you're damned. And other folks say, if you don't
doubt, you're damned. The fact is God's people, all of us, at
one time or another has some difficulties in this regard.
And I'll tell you where the problem comes. Particularly in the circles
in which you and I commonly have found ourselves. There was a
band of monks, I forgot the names now what they were called, many
years ago, who used to exercise their disciplines by which they
hoped to achieve greater sanctity and holiness. You know, there's
some beat themselves, and some do this, and some do that, some
do the other thing. You know what they'd do? They'd sit in
their cells and pull up their robes and stare at their belly
buttons. I ain't lying. They'd stare at
their navels. looking within. And most religious
people, most religious leaders When the preacher wants to control
you, when he wants to manipulate you, when he wants to get you
in his grip, he tells you you get assurance from God by staring
at your own spiritual navel, looking in yourself for evidences
and fruits of righteousness. Now, do you really love the Lord? Are you really walking close
with God? Are you really sincere? Are you an Israelite indeed in
whom there is no guile? Examine yourself and see. Do you know that's not what Paul
said when he said examine yourself? He said examine yourselves whether
you, what? Be in the faith. One issue to
be settled. Do you or do you not trust Christ? One issue, that's all. And as
you trust him, he says, thou will keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on thee. You start looking inside for
assurance, you're going to get one of two things, either utter
despair or utter hypocrisy, one of the two. Because there's nothing
inside Peter, Minnie, or Don Fortner to give us any peace.
Nothing we do, feel, think, or experience. We have an anchor
for our souls. But an anchor inside the boat
is useless. The anchor is outside the boat. And the anchor of my soul is
Jesus Christ the Lord, my mediator in heaven. We sang it just a
little bit ago. when Satan tempts me to despair
and tells me of the guilt within. Upward I look and see Him there
who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died,
my sinful soul is counted free, for God the just is satisfied
to look on Him and... That's it. That's it. One more
thing. Look back at our text again in
Isaiah chapter 12. The day of divine visitation
is a day of heartfelt praise. Let's just read this text one
more time and see if we can get a hold of it. In that day, O Lord, In that day thou shalt
say, O Lord, I will praise thee. How come? Though thou wast angry
with me, thine anger is turned away. Someone asked me last night
about this. I said, God never was angry with
us. No. God never been angry with His
elect. He's always accepted us in Christ. But I thought he was
angry with me. I lived under the terror of condemnation,
guilt pressing my soul down to hell. And one day, I found out
his anger was turned away. And he declares to Jacob, fury
is not in me. Fury is not in me. You've turned
your anger away because you satisfied all your justice in your Son
and thou comfortest me. Behold then, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. There was a day Oh, what a day it was when I
was terrified of God. I was terrified of God. I mean terrified. I couldn't
sleep at night because I was terrified. I couldn't think of
anything but hell and judgment. I was terrified. Terrified. I tried to make bargains with
God. I swore to God I'd do this and do that. If He had just had
mercy on me, I was terrified of Him. Look at me now. Look at me. Either I'm an absolute
liar or I'm telling you the truth. You can take your pick. I'm no
longer afraid of God. I'm not afraid. He's my Father.
One of these days, I'm going to meet God face to face. And if you see a tremor in that
head, it's just because I'm getting old. I'm not afraid. I'll reverence Him, yes. Honor Him, yes. Fear Him, yes.
But afraid of Him, no. because God Almighty sunk the
glittering sword of his justice in the soul of his own son and
slew him in my stead. And God said, that's enough. And my conscience says, bless
God, that's enough. God cannot require more. Oh,
thou comfortest me. behold God is my salvation I
will trust and not be afraid for the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song he also become my salvation therefore with joy
shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation and in that
day shall you say praise the Lord call on his name worship
him Declare his doings among the people. Tell folks what he
does. Oh, I wish folks would quit arguing
doctrine. I tell our folks all the time,
don't argue people about election. You're not going to help them
any. Don't argue with folks about this position or that position.
You're not going to help them any. All you're going to do is fuss and
fight. You're not going to help anything. Just tell them what
he's done. Go tell your neighbors and your
friends how the Lord has had compassion on you and what wondrous
things He's done for you. Tell them what He's done and
make mention. Don't fail to make mention that
His name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord, for He hath
done excellent things. This is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, Thou inhabitant of Zion, For great, great, O
great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. Amen.