I stand utterly amazed at God's
goodness in condescending to be mindful of us. That God Almighty, from his lofty
throne, should have his heart His mind fixed on us. Isn't that astounding? And yet
there is a thing revealed in our text this evening that is
even more astounding. In Hebrews chapter 2 and verse
6, we see that the Lord, our God,
so great, so glorious, so infinite, so holy, so majestic, condescends
to visit sinful men like us, so insignificant, so worthless,
so sinful. But one in a certain place testified,
saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son
of man, that thou visitest him? O wonder of wonders! God Almighty
Visit such things as we are in mercy love and grace That's astonishing
beyond imagination Wonder if he might be pleased to come and
visit this his vine tonight Wonder if he might be pleased
to visit you with his grace tonight Here we are brought down in the
dust of humiliation and challenged to the deepest admiration and
warmest praise. What is man that thou art mindful
of him and the son of man that thou visitest him? I can easily
understand God visiting us in his wrath. That doesn't surprise
me at all. I'm never surprised when I see
tokens of divine judgment in our society, in our own nation,
or in nations around the world. I'm never surprised when I see
terrible earthquakes. I'm never surprised when I see
pestilence. I'm never surprised when I see
famine. I'm never surprised when I see
violence and judgment. Never. We deserve God's wrath. We deserve God's wrath. If any
man treated me even slightly as I treat God and you treat
him, he wouldn't stand in front of me if I had an opportunity
to put him down. It wouldn't happen. I'm not surprised when
God visits men in wrath. But I am astonished that he visits
us who deserve his wrath in utter grace. Now this word visit means
much more than just dropping by. If I'm driving within a general
vicinity of a friend I haven't seen in a while, I'll just drop
by and say, I thought I'd drop by and pay you a visit. That's
not the word that's used here. It means to show mercy, to refresh,
to deliver, to bless. Remember how we read in the book
of Ruth, Naomi heard how that the Lord visited his people and
giving them bread, and that gave her hope. The Lord visited Sarah,
we are told, in Genesis 21, and thus fulfilled his promise. The
blessings of God's providential grace are called visitations
from the Lord, because in them God himself comes to us, and
they are free, a visit. Oh, that's the freest thing in
the world. A visitation is also an act of care, of instruction,
comfort, and direction. Let me show you how the word's
used in the scriptures. You don't need to turn there.
But in Acts chapter 15, the apostle Paul said to Barnabas, let's
go again and visit the churches. Let's visit them. Let's go again,
see how they're doing, care for them, instruct them, tell them
of God's blessings and grace upon them. We're told in Job
chapter 7, Job says, What is man that thou shouldest magnify
him, and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him, and
that thou shouldest visit him every morning? Now this is what
Job says. Here's this man who's lost everything.
This man who, in God's providence, has lost everything except his
life itself. Everything except God's grace.
He says, God Almighty has set his heart on me. And having set
his heart on me, he visits me every morning. And he was astonished. Visits me in his grace, visits
me in his mercy, and tried me every moment. Remember how the
Apostle James Tells us what pure religion is, what true religion
is. He says, pure religion and undefiled
before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless
and the widows in their affliction. It is to care for, to comfort,
to minister to another person. And so when we talk about God
visiting man, we're talking about God graciously caring for a people
upon whom he has set his heart every day. When the Lord God
visits his people, he comes to be merciful, he comes to bless,
he comes to deliver, to comfort, and to care for his people. Now
let me show you in the scriptures how God visits us. Turn first
to Luke chapter 1. We are in this month of the year
when everybody is compelled in God's good providence to acknowledge
that one time 2,000 years ago, God Almighty stepped into human
history in such a way that no one can deny it. All the calendars
of the world are regulated by the fact of it. The Lord God
Almighty came here in human flesh. But that babe born at Bethlehem
2,000 years ago did not come here merely to make a good impression
on men. He did not come here merely to
provide men with a moral example. He did not come here merely to
give men an opportunity to be saved. The Lord God visited us
with redemption by the incarnation of his dear son. This is exactly
how Zachariah describes it in Luke chapter 1 and verse 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
who hath visited and redeemed his people. John the Baptist
came, the forerunner of Christ, and when Zechariah beheld this
thing, he said, the Lord has visited and redeemed his people. Now this is primarily what our
text is talking about in Hebrews chapter 2. Look at the context
for just a moment. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 6. As
we have seen before, this is a quotation taken directly from
Psalm 8, which was a prophecy of the great event for which
the world was made. This world was made to be a stage
upon which God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit would display
the wonders of his grace for the glory of his name in the
unfolding drama of redemption, the redemption of his people
for the glory of his own great name. Here in Hebrews 2 and verse
6, one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou
art mindful of him? Or the Son of man, that thou
visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands.
Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he
put all things in subjection under him, he left nothing that
is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things
put under him, but we see Jesus. We see now God's purpose in all
this. We see now God's purpose in the
creation of the world, who was made a little lower than the
angels for the suffering of death. He came here made in human flesh
that he might suffer and die. But now, having suffered death,
he is crowned with glory and honor. He came here made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that he,
by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. Now, the
Lord willing, we will look at that in a week or two, but lest
I should drop dead before that happens. The word man here should
not be in the scriptures at all. It is put there simply by our
translators to make the passage read more smoothly. The sentence
actually stops this way, that he by the grace of God should
taste death forever. Actually, it ought to stop right
there with a little semicolon. And then the rest of the chapter
fills in the gap. He, by the grace of God, takes
death for every son whom he brings to glory. He, by the grace of
God, takes death for every child of Abraham, for all the seed
of Abraham, on whom he laid hold that he might bring them to glory.
He tastes death for every son. He tastes death for his church.
He tastes death for those whom he came here to save, who shall
actually stand with him at last in heaven's glory. To suggest
that he tasted death for all men without exception is to deny
the whole testimony of scripture and the gospel of God's grace.
Jesus Christ came into this world to perform that work for which
the world was made to the glory of God, the redeeming of his
people. The Lord of glory assumed our
nature so that he could redeem us. He visited us wrecks in our
flesh so he could taste death for us. We beheld his glory the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And never have we beheld his
glory so splendorously as we do when we behold him dying as
our substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world so that he might save his people by his obedience to
God as our substitute. Though our Lord has now returned
to heaven and sits now upon the throne above, yet he has promised
to visit us continually with his grace. His visits are now
invisible. They are spiritual. They're not
carnal, but they are real visitations nonetheless from our God. Turn
with you will to the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 16. The Lord Jesus Christ, our great
God visits his elect. each one of them at the appointed
time of mercy, in his irresistible grace, with regeneration, conversion,
and effectual calling. As I was preparing this message
today, I thought, Lord, who will you bring here tonight? Will
there be any here of whom you spoke in John 10 when you said
other sheep Also I have, and them also I must break. I wonder if he might visit you
in his grace. Oh, I wonder if now he'll come
to you like he came to that Samaritan woman. on an errand of mercy,
if he might come to you like he did Zacchaeus of old, and
call you by his grace, declaring that you too are a son of Abraham,
may he be pleased now to visit you as he did the tomb of Lazarus,
and call you to life in himself. Just as once he visited those
to give life to those whom he loved, the Lord Jesus visits
spiritually dead sinners now. and gives them eternal life by
the power of his spirit at the appointed time of his love. Let
me show you here a picture of it in Ezekiel 16 verse 6. This is what he did for each
of us here who know him. When I passed by thee and saw
thee polluted in thine own blood, an aborted child cast out into
the open field rotting. That's where we were and what
we were when God saved us by his grace. I heard a fellow one
time dealing with this passage and said that the child laying
out there in the field just crying caught the attention of one that
passed by. No, we weren't even crying. Dead, cast out from our
mother's womb, polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply
as the blood of the field, and thou hast increased in wax and
grape, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. He tells us in verse
9, I washed thee with water. Yea, I thoroughly washed away
thy blood from thee, I washed away your pollution, I anointed
you with oil. He said, I clothed you, I girded
you, I shod you, I decked you. Verse 13, thus was thou decked
with gold and silver, and thy raiment was a fine linen. Verse
14, and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty. Imagine that. He's come and taken that which
was rotting, obnoxious, polluted. so vile, no eye would dare look
upon it. And I made you beautiful, beautiful
before God himself. Oh, how is that? For it was perfect through my
comeliness, which I put upon thee. Look here now, look here. When the Son of God comes to
visit in grace, this is what he does, by the power of his
Spirit, he turns you to him because he has turned to you. And he
washes your polluted conscience from the guilt of sin, and robes
you in his perfect righteousness so that in your conscience Oh
my soul, buddy, here we are now, and our consciences declare as
we look to him what God's word declares right here. In God's
sight, we stand perfect. Perfect as Jesus Christ himself. One of the hymn writers put it
this way, with his spotless garments on, I am as holy as God's own
son. The Lord Jesus Christ gives life
to whom he will. He gives life as a matter of
pure, free, sovereign grace. And the giving of life is a work
of irresistible, effectual, almighty power. The Lord comes to Lazarus
and says, Lazarus, come forth. And if he's pleased to visit
you, oh, if he's pleased to visit you, you will come forth and
follow him. Absolutely. That's the reason
we don't try to play games with men. We don't try to manipulate
folks. We don't try to talk folks into something. We just preach
and pray and wait on God. Preach and pray and wait on God.
He will visit His own at the appointed time. All right, thirdly,
turn if you will to Psalm 17. The Lord God graciously visits
us in acts of His good providence as our loving father. Oh, what a blessing. What a blessing. Psalm 17, verse 3. Thou hast proved mine heart. Not to himself, he knows our
hearts. To me. Thou hast visited me in the night. Thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing. I am purposed
that my mouth shall not transgress. In Psalm 89, the psalmist tells
us as God speaks concerning his people when they see He says,
my faithfulness, my loving kindness, I will not take from my son,
my surety, my people's substitute. I will not withdraw my faithfulness
from him. Nevertheless, I will visit them
with the rod. Then will I visit their transgression
with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. You see affliction
is the believer's lot in this world because as long as we are
in this world, we sin. It is a visitation from heaven
when God comes with the rod. It is the needful visitation
of his love. David put it this way, before
I was afflicted, I went astray. That's just the nature of every
child. That's just the nature of every child. Foolishness is
bound up in the heart of the child. You've got these children
sitting here. Foolishness is in their hearts.
Every one of them. Every one of them. The rod of
correction drives it away. That's the reason for the rod.
It's the reason for it. No loving father abuses his child. A loving father corrects his
child with firm discipline. And our heavenly father is determined
to drive the foolishness that's in us away from us. Thank God
he does. The psalmist said, it is good
for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. How can I say this? I am more convinced than ever,
Larry, we never learn anything in this book except as we experience
it. Never. Not really. Not really. We get lots of things in our
noggins, but learning it's a different story. We get lots of theory,
but learning it's a different story. You learn, you know, a
man and a woman fall in love with one another, and they, oh,
I love that girl. And I kindly did love her when
I was 18 years old. I kindly did. I was flipped over
her. But there's a big difference.
I've been living with her now for nearly 31 years. And I've
learned to love her. And I've learned her love. You
understand what I'm talking about? We learn by experience. By experience. Our hearts are fashioned to this
world. by strong and various ties. But every sorrow cuts the strings
and urges us to rise. The top lady said afflictions
are like nails driven in the hand by the hand of grace which
crucify us to this world. And our father is going to see
to it that it takes place. Trials make the promise sweet. Trials give new life to prayer. Trials bring me to his feet.
Lay me low and keep me there. I was out working in the yard here
a few weeks ago and Shelby went to work on her blackberries and
grapevines. I mean went to work on them.
went those huge vines, that great vine that just covered the whole
fence back there where it's growing, couldn't see a thing except the
vine. Now you can't see anything but the fence, because she cut
it back. She cut it back. And if the vine
could speak, and she's taken those pruning shears and starts
to cut, the vines say, no, don't do that. But it's necessary for
the vine to bear fruit. And I'm telling you, When our
Heavenly Father prunes his vine, it's absolutely necessary. Otherwise, we bear no fruit.
All right, fourthly, turn to Isaiah 41. Not only does our God visit us
in his good providence as a loving Father to chasten us, he constantly
visits us with his preserving, sustaining grace. You see, trials,
afflictions, adversities don't produce anything. They don't
produce anything. They just show what's already
there. That's all they do. That's all they do. You take
a ship that's been built in the and the plant just offshore,
and that ship looks so good. Man, it's a beautiful thing.
Looks like it's set. Everything ready. And you drop
it in the ocean. The ocean didn't do anything
to the ship, but it'll tell you whether or not it'll sail. It'll
tell you whether or not it is a sound ship. And trials, afflictions,
adversities don't produce faith. They just tell you whether or
not it's there. You see, the believer is one who is sustained
in grace in the midst of trial. The unbeliever is destroyed by
it. Look what our Father says. Isaiah
41, verse 10. Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. What a word. Be not dismayed, no matter what
comes, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee, look at it now,
with the right hand of my righteousness. Why did he say that? Because
God who has sworn to be our God, God who has redeemed us, God
who gave his Son for us, cannot but in righteousness sustain
and keep us by his grace. He tells us in Isaiah 43, When
you pass through the waters, I will be with you. Through the
rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the
fire, you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon you. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
your Savior. I'm not gonna let anything happen
to you. I'm your God, and you're my people. All right, fifthly,
look in 2 Peter 3. The Lord graciously visits his
people with daily renewing, transforming grace, causing us to grow in
grace, causing us to grow in conformity to Christ. 2 Peter 3 verse 18, the apostle
here admonishes us to grow in grace. and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. But we can't do that. We can't do that. You can't make
yourself grow. We're commanded to grow, but
we can't grow unless God supplies us the grace with which to grow.
We're commanded to be transformed by the renewing of our minds,
but we can't be transformed unless God transforms us. We're commanded
to put off the old man and put on the new, but we can't put
it off and we can't put it on unless he subdues the old and
strengthens the new. But blessed be his name, he will
do it. For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. In this world,
our God graciously causes his people to grow up and to mature. in conformity to Christ. No,
we do not become more holy. We do not become more righteous.
We do not make ourselves more perfect before God. That's nonsense. Sanctification is never spoken
of in the book as a progressive thing, but it is continual. Believers
continue in grace and they grow in grace. Believers are men and
women who are living and living things grow. Grow because God
in his grace sustains his grace and causes his grace ever to
be sufficient for us. All right, let's go to the Song
of Solomon, chapter 2. The Lord visits his people in
the blessed ordinances of public worship. You know the passage
in Matthew 18 where our Lord said, where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Here in the Song of Solomon chapter two, the song is speaking of
God visiting us, the Lord Jesus Christ visiting us, his church. My beloved, verse nine, is like
a row or a young heart. Behold, he standeth behind our
wall. He looketh forth at the windows,
showing himself through the lattice. What a picture. Here we are reading
the Word. Lindsay read 1 John 1 back in
the office. Larry read Psalm 73 out here.
Here's the window. Did you see it? He stands behind our wall. He
looks forth at the windows. Here I am declaring the Word
to you. He shows himself through the
lattice of the Word. the songs of the redeemed. All
these things are means by which the Lord makes himself known
to his people, by which he shows himself to his people. Let me
pause for a moment here. You men, when you read the word,
when you lead us in prayer, I know that we have a natural tendency
to Don't do it. Don't do it. We're leading folks in public
worship. Don't mutter. Don't murmur. Don't
whisper. Doesn't do any good to read if
I can't hear you read. Doesn't do me any good if you leave me
in prayer if I can't hear you pray. We worship God. Therefore, we
worship him with confidence. We don't, we don't, act like
those who imagine somehow they just force God to do something. Neither do we act like we're
not accepted of God, Larry. We're accepted of Him. Our worship's
accepted of Him through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Oh, sweet,
precious beyond expression are the visitations of our God to
our hearts, the sweet influence of His Spirit by which he leads
us to remember and dwell upon his electing love and redeeming
blood, his adopting mercy and his saving grace, his justifying
goodness and his free pardon of our sin. Sweet visitations
they are, they're called times of refreshing from the presence
of the Lord, seasons of revival for our souls. I never come here
I honestly never come here, I never come to the house of God, but
what I come seeking and praying for such a visitation. Oh God,
come visit this vine. If he comes and visits us, then
we will worship him. If he doesn't, then we will just
put in the time and go home. Then the Lord graciously visits
his saints when he calls them away from earth to heaven. The
Lord Jesus said, I will come to you. I will come to you and receive
you unto myself. To the believer, to the believer, death is no more than a friendly
visit. from the God of love. It's Christ
coming to carry us home. Oh, what burst of joy, what scenes
of glory, what beams of light, what revelations of grace, what
covenant promises, what blessed assurances. Flood the souls of
God's elect when our bridegroom comes calling. Oh, I can only
imagine I've had the blessed privilege
of watching a few believers die, beholding God's smile, backed
by his everlasting love. Hearing the Son of God beckoning
us home, feeling the sweet gentle tug
of God's Spirit pulling the soul from the body. The angels of God come to carry
home the chosen sinner. And when we cross Jordan's chilly
streams, the saints on the other side welcome us with shouts of
joy as we enter the new Jerusalem. I'll come and receive you unto
myself. Thank God for the sweet visitations
of his grace, for the sweet visitations of his people. What is man that
thou art mindful of him? Or the Son of Man, this one here. He's out here, that thou visit
us there. Oh, may God be pleased to visit
you with His grace this hour, for Christ's sake. Amen.