for each of his elect when he
will visit them in grace and mercy and bring them to repentance
and faith in Jesus Christ. Now today I want, if God will
enable me, to talk to you about that day. The title of my message
is The Day of Divine Visitation. My text is found in Isaiah chapter
12. Now what I have to say today
will be of equal application and importance to you who believe
and to you who believe not for this reason. The Lord God has
appointed a day, a specific day, when he would send his son to
redeem his people and in due time Christ died for the ungodly. He appointed a day, a specific
day, when he would send his spirit to fetch chosen sinners to Jesus
Christ in faith. And so in the fullness of time,
God sends his spirit into the hearts of chosen sinners and
calls them to life and faith in Christ. And God has appointed
specific days, specific times of refreshing. when he would
pour out his spirit upon his people and grant a little reviving
in Zion. So let's read together Isaiah
chapter 12 beginning at verse 1. In that day thou shalt say, O
Lord, I will praise thee. Now this is Isaiah's conclusion
to the sermon which he began back in chapter 8. He says when
God visits, when God comes 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 everywhere. 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 I realize, I declare to you
all the time, that salvation is an eternal work. The work
of God Almighty in redeeming and saving his people did not
commence in time, but in eternity. There can be no question about
this fact. Long before time began, our great God, in his eternal
counsel of grace, purposed to save a people and make them like
his dear son. This is what the scriptures describe
as the will of God. This is the will of God. Folks, all the time in this Religious
age where everything centers around me and my feelings and
my ideas and my thoughts. Well, I wonder what the Lord's
will is. The Lord's will is the salvation of his people. It's
plainly revealed in scripture. This is the will which Jesus
Christ came to accomplish. This is the will of God by which
the whole plan and purpose of predestination marked out everything
in eternity that would come to pass in time. The will of God,
then, is the salvation of his people. He sovereignly works
all things together, according to the counsel of his own will,
to accomplish this purpose, that purpose being our ultimate, everlasting,
perfect conformity to Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. The Apostle Paul
says, God hath saved us, not shall, hath. hath saved us, and
called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. So this salvation in the
mind and purpose of God was accomplished before ever the world began.
His covenant is called a covenant of grace, the everlasting covenant. His son is described as the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. And God's people,
all of God's people are called the elect of God, those who were
chosen in Christ before the world began. So there's no getting
around this fact. Salvation is God's eternal work. Known unto the Lord are all his
works from the beginning. Our God declares the end from
the beginning. All that God does in time. Now listen. All that God does
in time by his power and his grace, he did from eternity by
the purpose of his grace in sovereign predestination. So the apostle
writes concerning God's elect and says, for whom he did foreknow,
them he also did predestinate, whom he did predestinate, them
he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom
he justified, them he also glorified, declaring that which we are yet
to experience in time as being already accomplished by God back
in eternity. So salvation is God's eternal
work. The Lord Jesus Christ soon will
come again. He who is the angel of the covenant
will stand with the book of God finished in his hand. With one
foot on the earth and one foot on the sea, he will declare time
shall be no more. And when he comes again, all
God's elect shall be gathered unto God in perfect conformity
to him. When the wicked are cast into
hell and God's elect stand before him, all the will of God shall
be perfectly done. Everything purposed in eternity
will have been brought to pass exactly according to God's purpose
and his people will stand to his praise for the glory of his
name forever. I also understand that salvation
is a lifelong work. These days almost all religious
talk is foolish talk, almost all of it. I have never heard
a religious cliche in my life that was not contrary to scripture.
I've never heard one. Not one. Not one. So be careful
how you pick up on religious talk. Folks talk about salvation
and say, well, I got saved. Where do you find language like
that in the Bible? Where do you find it? Well, I decided to let
Jesus into my heart. What nonsense. Salvation in Bible
terms. Now listen to me. Salvation in
Bible terms is not something that happened when you were a
little boy or a little girl and somebody talked you into a profession
of faith and taught you how to say a sinner's prayer at the
front of church. That's not salvation. Salvation
in Bible terms is a lifelong work of grace. We have been saved,
we are being saved, and we shall yet be saved. The Apostle Paul
writes by divine inspiration and puts it this way, now is
our salvation nearer than when we believed. You see the hand
of God is upon his elect from the womb to the tomb. He said
concerning Jeremiah and what he said concerning one of his
elect is true concerning them all. Before I formed thee in
the belly, I knew thee and sanctified thee. I knew you and sanctified
you. The Lord Jesus Christ is revealed
in the hearts of chosen sinners when it pleases God. When it
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by his grace, he revealed his Son in me. Salvation then
comes by divine revelation. It shall be properly said. Indeed,
it has been said concerning God's elect in Luke 2, 26. He shall
not see death until he's seen the Lord's Christ. God's elect
are those to whom angels are sent as ministering spirits,
sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation,
making certain that they shall not see death until they have
seen the Lord's Christ. I look back on my past life, and I can point to times I didn't
realize it then like some of you rebels don't now. I thought,
man, how lucky I am I got out of that. And bowed down to worship
my God of luck. Oh, how lucky I am. I look back on my past life and
understand that God Almighty, by the preserving hand of His
grace, sent His angels to watch over me from before the world
began. to preserve and keep me that
I should not see death though I played with hell every day
I lived until I'd seen the Lord's Christ. It's called prevenient
grace. And once we are born of God,
once the chosen sinner redeemed by blood is called and saved
by grace, it is by the power and grace of God alone that we
are kept in Jesus Christ. One of the fellows out here working
the other day, he asked me a question, he said,
he started asking questions, you know folks, that's religious
stuff. He's got a head full of doctrine, no knowledge of grace,
but he said, he said, now let me ask you this, you believe
once saved, always saved? I said, if you ever got it, you
got it, but most folks never got it. Most folks never got
it. Believers are saved eternally. because God keeps us in his grace. Not saved because you made a
profession of faith. Not saved because you had some
kind of an emotional experience. Saved because God revealed his
Son in you. And saved because he continues
revealing his Son in you. Listen to this. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, one that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith. Faith which is the gift and operation
of God which he keeps on giving and operating in you Unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time Yes, we have come to Christ. I Came to him I think the first
time when first I came to him 33 years ago And I'm coming to him right now
Bobby just like I did then Sinner saved by grace. Nothing
in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come
to thee for dress, helpless come to thee for grace. That's all. As you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in him. And I want to tell you something.
Merle, if I've ever come to him, I'll be coming to him when I
leave this world drawing my last breath. That's what the book
says. To whom? Coming. To whom? Coming. to whom coming. In the
religious world, people get salvation sewed up by saying, I believe
in Jesus and I want to serve the Lord, saying amen to some
prayer somebody gave them on a card and signed their name.
I don't let anybody deceive you. You're saved now forever. The
believer says, oh, but I may know him. I want to know Him. I count not
myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, including all my past thinkings
concerning salvation, including all yesterday's experiences.
including all yesterday's knowledge, including all yesterday's feelings,
all my past, I forget it, and reaching forth into those things
which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. How come? Because he'll keep
me. He said, I will not turn away
from them to do them good. And I will put my fear in their
hearts and they shall not depart from me. Oh, don't you believe in eternal
security? Yeah, buddy, I sure do. I sure do. God's works forever. He will
keep me till the river rolls its waters at my feet. Then he'll
bear me safely over where my savior I shall meet. But I don't
believe anything like eternal religious security. I don't believe
anything like peace that's based on a false foundation. I don't
believe anything like a security based upon a birth certificate.
It's nonsense. Ask somebody, well, how do you
know you were saved? Well, when I was seven years
old, I remember I was in church. I just got this feeling and I
started to weep and cry and I was scared of going to hell. And
I went forward and made a profession. I felt so good when it was over.
I remember, if you were to ask me if I know I'm alive, and I
went back over here and reached in the box where I keep my papers
and pulled out a birth certificate and said, here, that proves it.
June 10th, 1950, Bladen County, North Carolina. Dr. Simon said
I was born right there. I know I'm alive. Well, you idiot, we'll
put you in the funny farm. But religious folks talk like
that all the time. What is salvation? It is Christ in you, the hope
of glory. And I want to tell you something.
If you've got to look for your assurance to yesterday, this
morning, or 20 years ago, your assurance is a delusion. And
your salvation is a delusion. Salvation is Christ living in
you, drawing you to himself, visiting you, bringing you to
himself continually. There it is indeed a day appointed
by God when he will meet chosen sinners redeemed by his grace
in saving power and grace. And he will continually visit
us in his grace. Now let's look here in Isaiah's
prophecy. Let me show you four or five things which Isaiah declares
to us by Holy Spirit inspiration which will characterize God's
visits. First, back in Isaiah chapter
2. Isaiah chapter 2 verse 11. Here's the first thing that always
characterizes the day of divine visitation. If God visits you
today, if God visits me today, it will be a day of Holy Spirit
conviction. Look here in chapter 2 verse
11. The lofty looks of man shall
be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down. Religious leaders everywhere
want you to stand up and be counted. I wish you'd bow down and shut
up. That's exactly right. When God
comes, the lofty looks of man shall be humbled. 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 hosts
shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone
that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. Look at verse
17. The loftiness of man shall be
bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low, and
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. You see, when God
the Holy Spirit comes into a sinner's heart in saving power, when God
comes in grace, he always comes to reprove, convict, and convince
men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Where there
is no conviction, there's no conversion. Where there is no
reproof, there's no regeneration. I'm telling you, if you've never
experienced Holy Spirit conviction, You've never experienced God's
grace. If God's never brought you down, so that you're made
to stand before God naked and stripped and empty, so that you're
made to acknowledge what you know you are and will never acknowledge,
just sin. Just sin. Just sin. It won't strip much of your pride
to acknowledge you cheated on a test when you was a little
boy, lied to your mama when you was a kid, stole cookies out
of the cookie jar, skipped Sunday school when you was supposed
to be in Sunday school. That won't take much, but I'm going
to tell you something. You will never ever stand before
God Almighty and lay bare your heart like you wouldn't dare
lay it bare before your own wife. You never Stand before God Almighty
and lay bare your heart like you wouldn't dare lay it bare
before your husband unless God does a work of grace in you.
You'll never cry, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, unless God
makes you know you're a sinner. When God visits his people in
grace, whether in regeneration or in revival, he humbles man
and exalts his son. Judgment precedes grace. Always
emptying precedes filling. Always humbling precedes exaltation. Always stripping always precedes
God clothing you with the righteousness of his son. Now look in chapter
11, Isaiah chapter 11 in verse 10. The day of divine visitation
is a day of gracious revelation. In that day, there shall be a
root of Jesse which shall stand as an ensign of the people. You
remember the old war movies? You fellas who, like me, never
went in the military conflict, so you can't really appreciate
what's involved with it. But you remember the old war
movies when they'd take a hill and the soldiers would battle
and fight and then Plant the flag. Man, that's something. We've taken it, now it's ours.
Blood has bought it, and we'll possess it to death. That's what
Christ is. He's the ensign set on the hill
of Zion. Around him shall the gathering
of the people be. This is what he says. To it shall
the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. In order for
us to have faith in Christ, Christ must be lifted up. He must be
revealed in us. We can't trust an unknown, unrevealed
Christ. Can't be done. Can't be done.
Folks all the time debate this issue and fuss about it and try
to cling to a religious experience that was nothing but a delusion,
try to cling to old religion that's nothing but garments of
death and grave clothes. And I'm telling you, you cannot
trust an unrevealed Christ. You cannot know an unrevealed
Christ. And the only way he is revealed
is by the power of his Holy Spirit working in you through the preaching
of the gospel of his free grace. Christ reveals himself to sinners
in saving power and grace at the appointed time of mercy by
the revelation of himself through the word. I love that passage. I think Ron referred to it recently
in a message. In John chapter four, he must
needs go through Samaria. How come that was out of the
way? No, it wasn't. That was the path ordained for
his feet to walk before the world began on that day, because there
was an old harlot in Samaria, a Samaritan woman, who was a
chosen object of grace, and the time when the Son of God must
be revealed in her had come. And now he must needs go through
Samaria. Oh, may he be pleased this day
to make it so that he comes to you. and makes himself known
to you in saving power and grace. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
one, the banner, raised up by God, the ensign, to whom the
people of God are gathered in saving mercy. And once he's revealed,
we look to him. Looking to him, we find that
his rest is glorious. Perhaps the prophet is talking
here about his rest as our mediator. He's entered into his rest. And
he, by entering into his rest, Bill, has entered into glory.
But I'm certain he's also talking about our rest in him as our
mediator. Let me tell you something. Let
me tell you something. His rest I have found and am
finding right now to be glorious. Walk in the old ways, seek the
old paths, walk in them and you'll find rest to your souls. Come
to me all you that labor and have it laid, I'll give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, learn of me and you'll find rest for
your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. And I'm going
to tell you now, Merle Hart, every false refuge will give
you a pretense arrest to which you'll cling to your death unless
God sets you free. And yet, know all the time, it's
no rest at all. Some of you are walking around
today. You get up this morning, so go to church. Now, I know
when that preacher talks, he's gonna stick his finger right
in my heart and stir around heavy. But I'm not going to let him
talk to me, because I've got this thing sewed up. I'm all
right. And you'll go to bed tonight, and you're going to still hear
these words. His rest is glorious. And there'll be no rest for your
soul. There'll be no rest. Your rest is just a delusion,
and you know it. The bed you've made is too short.
Stretch yourself on. The covers are too narrow. You
can't wrap yourself up in it. And so you find no rest. But
let me tell you, here is a bed. big enough for you to lay on,
and stretch yourself upon covers wide enough and long enough to
wrap your soul in, and that's Jesus Christ alone. His finished work of righteousness
and redemption. Let me show you something else
here about this day of divine visitation. Chapter 25, verse
9. The day of divine visitation
is a day of God's sending saving faith. And it shall be said in that
day, when the Lord comes in saving power, when he comes and makes
himself known, when Christ is revealed in you, this is what
you'll say. This is our God. Lord, this is our God. We've
waited for him. He will save us. This is the
Lord. We've waited for him. We will
be glad and rejoice in his salvation. You see, this saving faith, the
faith that's spoken of in the Word of God, Bible faith, true
faith is the gift and operation of God Almighty. It is not something
that man conjures up by his free will. It is not something the
preacher gives you by giving his telling stories and stirring
your emotions and saying things just at the right time. As in
Bible college, Both colleges I attended, it was just not like
most of them, they gave us soul winning courses, you know, and
they said, now what you got to do? I remember this, had this
yahoo from out in Indiana, he said, now what you got to do
is you sneak up on folks on the blind side and get them to make
a profession of faith for them to know what they're doing. Well,
isn't that honest? Isn't that wonderful? Oh, no, no. Salvation comes when
Christ is revealed. And when he's revealed, You look
up and say, this is our God. This is what I've been wanting
all my life and didn't know it. This is what I've been waiting
for all my life and I didn't know it. He will save us. Let me show you one more thing. Chapter 26, verse 4. The day of divine visitation
is indeed a day of joyful assurance. Isaiah 26 verse 1. In that day,
when the Lord comes to visit his people, this song shall be
sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint for her walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates
that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou will 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. In that day of conviction,
revelation, and faith, God's election have a song to sing,
a rock upon which to rest, whatever the trial. You see, faith in
Christ gives the believer a joyful assurance before him. When the Apostle Paul was about
to be offered up as a sacrifice upon the altar of his faith to
God Almighty, and he knew it. In his last epistle, he spoke
plainly concerning God's electing love, mercy, and grace. And he
said, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. And then he wrote these words.
I am now ready to be offered the time of my departure's at
hand. I've fought a good fight. I've finished my course. I've
kept the faith. Henceforth, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me at that day.
So boy, he was a He was a good, faithful man, and therefore he
got himself a big crown. Got a lot of yo-yos and stars
in his yo-yos. Not to me only, but to all them
that love his appearing. How can he be so confident? He
says, I've got a strong city of refuge. His name is Jesus
Christ the Lord. I'm surrounded with the walls
of salvation, God's election, God's purpose, God's predestination,
God's justifying work, God's redemption. I've entered into
the gates of life and I'm kept in perfect peace by faith. Because
the Lord, the everlasting God, Jehovah, the Lord, he's my rock. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Amen. Lindsay, you lead us in
the hymn, please. Take the Songs of Grace book
and turn to number 42.