There is so much that's implied
in a word from the Scriptures. Let me give you three examples.
Turn first of all to the eighth chapter of the book of Acts. There's much more in the Word
of God than immediately meets the eye. There's so much contained
in just a word. The prophet John, the apostle
John said, if everything Christ said and did had been written,
the world wouldn't contain the books. But here God has condensed
what he has pleased to reveal to us in this small volume. So being the word of God, It
doesn't bother to explain at the point and on the scene everything
that's said. What you have to do is not just
read that particular passage, but read it in the light of other
scripture, and then it'll live for you. And all that is contained in that very brief
statement, as you study the rest of the Word of God, be revealed
to you. Now watch this in Acts chapter
8 verse 37. Here was a man who had requested
baptism, a pagan Gentile who heard the gospel from the lips
of Philip. And Philip said in verse 37, if thou believest with
all thine heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, now
here's his entire testimony as far as we know, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Now, my friends, on the surface,
that doesn't seem like he's saying very much. But this is not just
the flippant decision of the hour. This is not just the flippant
mental agreement with some facts. This man is saying that he personally
believed that Jesus, now he knew who Jesus of Nazareth was. You see, this happened just a
few short years after Christ was crucified, buried, and rose
again. I'm talking about just a very brief time. And he's saying,
I believe, I am persuaded that Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary,
despised, rejected, ridiculed, mocked of men, and nailed to
a cross, Jesus of Nazareth, is the Christ. The Christ, the Messiah. That prophet of whom Moses wrote,
that Christ for whom Israel looked, that Christ typified by the tabernacle
and the sacrifices they're offering the priest to, Jesus of Nazareth
is that Christ. And I believe that Jesus of Nazareth,
who is that Christ, art thou the Christ? Art thou he that
should come? I believe he's their God of their
God. He's the Son of God. You see what he's saying? I know
there are a lot of people who And people say, well, I believe
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And you pin them down and say,
now, you use these words, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. What
are you saying? And they don't have the slightest
idea what this man knew what he was saying. And Philip knew
he knew what he was saying. That's the reason we preachers
are going to have to give people some background. We have to give
them some foundation, not just tell them to believe, believe,
believe, but what to believe, whom to believe. And this, when
Philip had turned to the scriptures and preached Jesus Christ to
him on that journey from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, I don't know how
long they stayed together, but I'll guarantee you this, when
this man said, I believe that Jesus is the Christ, and he is
their God of their God, the eternal Son of God, Philip said, that's
enough for me. He knew what he was saying. He
knew exactly what he was saying. All right, here's another. Turn
to Romans 10. And where is the preaching today? I listened to
one this afternoon. I feel plumb sorry for him in
a way. It's nothingness. It's nothingness. It's just saying
what comes to their mind off the top of their heads, what
people want to hear. Look at this in Romans 10, 13.
I hear this quoted all the time, for whosoever, and that's a wide,
wide word. Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, male,
female, bond or free, whosoever shall call, shall call, that's
out of a broken heart, out of a need, out of a smitten heart,
out of a convicted heart, out of a convinced heart, shall call
as a drowning man, as a helpless man, as a hopeless man, shall
look, shall call, shall seek, And that's not just before he
heads out to meet God. That's in an intelligent, and
a willful, and a loving, and an awareness, in a way of awareness. Shall call, knowing upon whom
he call, knowing for that for which he call. Whosoever shall
call, whereupon the name of the Lord. Do you know how much is
contained in that word name? Someone says the name, it's more
than just saying, oh, Lord, when trouble comes. Here's a fellow,
maybe a soldier in a foxhole, and he looks like it's about
time for his ticket to be cashed in. You know, oh, Lord, have
mercy. That's not calling on the name of the Lord. That's
not calling. That's not when the baby gets
sick and you run to the preacher and say, oh, pray for my baby.
That's not calling on the name of the Lord. This is a, this
is, this name, He says, the name of the Lord signifies the Lord
Himself, Jehovah, my God, my Savior. His name reveals who
He is. His name reveals what He does.
His name reveals where He is. And like I told you this morning,
there's a sevenfold name. I know we make a lot of play
on numbers, but seven is important in the Scriptures. And there's
a sevenfold name of Jehovah. And He chose these seven names.
And we'll show you something, I'm going to let you jot them
down. First in Genesis 22. And this thing of calling on
the name of the Lord now, it's more than an emotional fit. It's
more than just suddenly deciding to get religion. This is when
the Spirit of God has brought a man down, when the Spirit of
God has stripped a man, when the Spirit of God has removed
the foundations off of a man, when the Spirit of God has shut
his mouth. When the Spirit of God has shut him up, when the
law of God's broken him, when he has no one to turn to, he's
wasted everything on physicians and he's none better. And his
only hope, his only source of hope, his only source of grace,
his only source of mercy is the Lord God. And he calls on Him
in His true name, in His true character, in His true glory,
in His true saving power. Call on Him! He's my only hope! He's not just a straw that a
drowning man is grasping for. He's the Lord. He's the foundation. He's the rock. He's sitting on
the throne. Now listen to Genesis 22, verse
13 and 14. Abraham lifted up his eyes and
looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by
this horn. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him
up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham
called the name of that place. Jehovah-Jireh. Jehovah-Jireh. You see in your right there in
the center margin what that means? The Lord will provide. That's
His name. Jehovah, God my Savior, Jireh,
the Lord will provide. The Lord will provide Himself
alone. The Lord will provide. God will provide. And that's
the name on whom I call, conscious that that's the name upon whom
I'm calling. The Lord who can and will provide. himself a lamb. And we preachers
better tell folks, that's the one you're calling on, and you
better be conscious that that's the one you're calling on. We
don't play games with his name. Let me show you another, Exodus
15. Exodus 15. Now if you have a Scofield Bible,
somewhere in there these seven names are given. In Exodus 15,
26, watch this. And he said, Exodus 15, 26, If
thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy
God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt
give ear to his commandments, and keep his statutes, I will
put none of these diseases upon you which I have brought upon
the Egyptians, for I am the Lord. This is my name. I am the Lord
that healeth thee. This is Jehovah Rapha. R-A-P-H-A
Jehovah-Rapha. R-A-P-H-A I am the Lord that
healeth thee. That's what I was talking about
this morning. Sins are called diseases. Sicknesses and diseases. And they take that scripture
in Matthew and say healing is in the atonement. And if you're
sick, it's because you don't believe in the atonement. No.
Sin is a sickness and a disease. And the healing for sin is in... He has healing in His wings,
Cecil. Healing in His wings. He said,
I'm the Lord that healeth thee. I forgive your sins and heal
your diseases. All right, here's the third name.
Exodus 17. It's Jehovah-nisa. Exodus 17,
verse... Look at verse 8. Exodus 17 verse 8. Well, let's
just go on down here to verse 14. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Write this for memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of
Joshua. For I will utterly put out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar
there, and called the name of it Jehovah-nisa. That's the Lord
our banner. The Lord our banner. the Lord
our banner, the Lord who rules over us, the Lord our banner,
the Lord who gives us the victory, the Lord to whom we pledge allegiance.
I know, folks, we don't want to split hairs on this thing,
but we have an American flag here. That's the banner. That's
the ensign of our nation. I don't have what's called a
Christian flag over here. Because the church doesn't have
a flag. Christ is our banner. Christ is our ensign. We don't
pledge allegiance to a flag. I pledge allegiance to the Christian
flag and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands. Don't do that.
Don't do that. Just a shade away from idolatry. We pledge allegiance to our King,
who is our banner. We have a banner. We have an
ensign. It's Christ. That's right. And this is just
a subtle way. You say you're splitting hairs.
Let me tell you something. You have to split hairs with Satan.
He's subtle. Now, he's a crafty enemy, and
he'll catch you where you least suspect it, and he'll divide
your allegiance, and I'm telling you the truth. You're not playing
with some dumb Irishman. Now, you're talking about Satan,
who is a suave and subtle and crafty enemy, who, if he possibly
can, will take your mind away and your heart away and your
allegiance away from the one upon whom it must be given to
him. It must be Christ. And I'm going
to shoot the wolf when I see him out on the hill, not when
he gets among the flock. I just have to do it. Because once he
gets in the flock, you've got a bigger problem. Turn to Judges,
the book of Judges. Chapter 6. I'm just showing you,
and I'm taking too long with this, but Barnard said we got
no place to go except to heaven or hell. And I can't find too
many people in any hurry to go to either place. Judges 6, 24. Listen to this. Now, Gideon built
an altar. Well, let's read verse 23. And
the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee. Peace. Fear not, I shall not die. Then
Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord and called it Jehovah
Shalom. You hear the Jews say Shalom
or something like how they pronounce it. The emphasis is S-H-A, long
A, the emphasis on the first syllable, L-O-M, Shalom. Unto this day it is yet in Oprah
of the Barazites and the name if you look in your in your Marginal
reference there. It's the Lord our peace He is
our peace Jehovah our peace. That's the fourth name. All right,
Psalm 23 Well, you know that without turning to it. The Lord
is my shepherd Jehovah Raya R a dash a h Jehovah Raya the Lord my
shepherd I turned to Jeremiah Jeremiah chapter 23 Jeremiah
23, verse 6. In his days, Judas shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name. This is
his name. Now, you say, you know where
we came from? We read that scripture, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm giving
you his name. I'm giving you the name upon
whom we call. It says, and this is his name whereby he shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. He is our righteousness, our
justification, and our righteousness. Now that word is Jehovah Sidkenu. You'll see it in your marginal
reference if you have a Cambridge Bible. Jehovah Sidkenu, T-S-I-D-K-E-N-U. You say, you shouldn't go into
all this. This is not heavy at all. This
is just the truth. Jehovah said, Kenu, the Lord,
our righteousness. He is my righteousness. I have
no righteousness. Mine's filthy rags. Before the
Father, He's my justification, my sin offering, my atonement,
my wisdom, my righteousness. And I call on Him for that righteousness. And I call on His name, which
is my righteousness, alright? Ezekiel, for the last one. Here's
the seventh name. Here's the seventh name, Ezekiel
chapter 48. Ezekiel 48. Now listen to this, Ezekiel 48
verse 35. He gives all this information,
I won't read it, but verse 35, Ezekiel 48, it was round about
18,000 measures, and the name of that city from that day shall
be the Lord is there. You see your marginal reference?
Jehovah Shema, S-H-A-M-M-A-H, the Lord is present. The Lord
is present. This is what I'm saying, and
what I pointed out in the beginning, is there's so much in a word.
Whosoever shall call, and I'll tell you this, if you can be
brought by God's Spirit to call in sincerity and truth on the
name The name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord will provide,
the Lord that healeth, the Lord our banner, the Lord our peace,
the Lord our shepherd, the Lord our righteousness, the Lord who
is present. You'll be safe. You'll be safe. It's like Israel when they were
bitten by the fiery serpents. They were helpless, hopeless,
without any way of escape, and Moses lifted up the serpent.
That's it. And they look out of a need,
they look with a yearning, they look with a sincerity, they look
with a total commitment. They look, and whosoever
believeth on the Son of God in that fashion shall be saved.
All right, here's the third thing that I want to mention, 1 John
4. What's in a word? What's in a word? Now here in
1 John 4, It tells us how to examine preaching and preachers. It says in 1 John 4, Beloved,
don't believe every spirit. Now the word spirit here, we're
talking about men through whom spirits speak. He just said don't
believe every preacher. See, now see if we can't read
it this way and make it more understandable. Beloved, believe
not every preacher. because every preacher preaches
by some spirit, either the Holy Spirit or an evil spirit. But
try the preachers, whether they are of God, because many false
prophets have gone out into the world. Well, how are you going
to tell if a man is of God or not of God? Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God and the man who speaks through the Spirit of
God. Every spirit or preacher that confesses that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh is of God. Do you know what that contains?
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is not of God and the spirit of Antichrist. Jesus
is his name of humanity. There was an infant born of a
Jewish maiden by the name of Jesus. And is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose mother and father we know, brothers
and sisters we know? Is not this Jesus the carpenter?
That's who we're talking about, that infant born of Mary. That
Jesus is none other than all that the Scripture writes about. He's none other than the slain
lamb that covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve. He's none other
than the seed of woman. He's none other than Abel's lamb
that was sacrificed. He's none other than the Passover
lamb in Egypt. He's none other than the tabernacle
and the one of whom Ephraim of Moses was a type, David was a
type, Aaron was a type. He's none other than Melchizedek
who met Abraham. He's none other than Abraham's
Lord. I'm saying that that Jesus, born of that woman, is the Christ. He is the Savior, He's the sacrifice,
He's the sin offering, He's the one whom God had promised, prophesied,
pictured through the Scriptures, and let me tell you this, and
He's none other than God Almighty Himself in human flesh. That Jesus Christ is not born,
but is come. He left His throne, and I can't
explain how this took place, but the Word who was with God,
was God, and all things were made by Him. The Word actually
entered into the body of that infant and was born from the
womb of that mother. and sat in her lap and nursed
from her breast and walked in her home and grew up as a child,
that's none other than the very express image and brightness
of God himself. That's what I'm saying. I'm not
saying he's a representative of God or a son of God or an
ambassador of God or a preacher of God. I'm saying this, and
anyone who says different is an antichrist, he is very God
of very God. You get that? That's what I'm
saying. I claim to speak for God. And on that authority, I'm
saying I'm not an antichrist, I'm saying that Jesus, and that's
who I said, Jesus, is the Christ, and he has come into this world
in the body of a man, and he suffered and died on a cross,
was buried and rose again. How can God die? I don't know.
How can God forsake God? I don't know. We'll find out
someday. But I know that that was God on that cross. God purchased
the church with His own blood. That's exactly right. I'm not
mincing words. I'm saying this plainly. It says
it right here, every spirit that confesses that Jesus, that's
properly identified, that Christ has come in the flesh. Why did
everybody's born in the flesh? But this is God in the flesh.
That's the reason He distinguishes that. You can't comprehend it,
you can't explain it, you can't understand it, but Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh. You say, how else would he come?
But this is God we're talking about. This is God. That's what makes it mysterious.
Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Turn to Galatians. Let me show
you that. That's not Galatians, that's in 1 Timothy. That's in
1 Timothy. First Timothy 3.16, look at it. Now watch this, and
without controversy. There's no debate connected with
it. There's no argument. You got any argument? Forget
it. No controversy. Great is the
mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Is that what you're saying, Preacher?
That's exactly what I'm saying. I'm saying God Almighty walked
this earth as a human being. And that's the only way you and
I can be redeemed. That's the only way. You see,
if he had committed the work of redemption into the hands
of man, it would never have succeeded. Because there's no man, or group
of men, or armies of men, or nations of men, or all men put
together that can produce one atom of good. Everything we produce
is evil. And if he had put this scheme
of redemption only in the hands of Christ as God, it couldn't
be done. Because you see, the burden of
guilt was upon man. The burden of responsibility
was upon man. God's law was given to man, not
to God. Man's got to fulfill it. God's
justice says the soul that sinneth shall die. Not God shall die,
the soul that sinneth shall die. So the God-man was brought here,
made under the law, subject to the law, as a man. God can satisfy,
man can suffer. And as the God-man, he fulfilled
all that we were obliged to fulfill. And he paid the debt that was
upon us and satisfied God's justice. And that's what I'm saying. And
I'm going to say it loud and clear as often as anybody will
listen to me. I'm not stammering or stuttering
or apologizing. God Almighty became a man. And
when I get to glory, I'll explain that to you. But I'm just saying
you're going to have to receive it by faith. I tell you this,
it's utterly, absolutely, totally essential to your redemption.
because salvation is of the Lord. That's what a word can mean.
Now turn to Genesis 50, and I'll take a few minutes on my message
for tonight. But that's not a lost cause. I'm sorry that preaching has
degenerated into screaming and yelling and entertaining. I'm
sorry. I'm sorry that it has. It's unfortunate,
and it's unfortunate in that people are not programmed to
really listen and think. They're just not programmed in
churches nowadays, they're programmed to be entertained. And I'll give
you some names. You watch Jimmy Swagger, he's
an entertainer, he's not a preacher. He's totally an entertainer.
Watch this R.A. West, he's an entertainer, he's
not a preacher, he's just a blabbermouth. That's what most of them are.
And that's what they are, they're not teaching. Preaching is teaching. Pastors and teachers. And I tell
you, one of these days, you're going to be thankful for a preacher
that taught. And you're going to wish some
of you, some people are, that they had heard one that would
teach. Because God's going to require these things in our hands.
They're right here to be learned, why not learn them? But the flesh
is so given to being entertained. They want to cry or laugh or
something, don't want to think. He said, come let us reason together. Think on these things, if anything,
be pure and wholesome and holy and so on. Think on these things.
We've got to do some thinking. All right, listen. Joseph was
dying, and Joseph said to his brethren, I die, and God will
surely visit you, and God will surely visit you and bring you
out of this land into the land which he swore to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the
children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you. Where
are you headed, preacher? I'm headed to this word, visit.
It's like these other words I've been talking about, name the
name of God. This word, Jesus Christ, is calm
in the flesh. This word, visit, God will surely
visit you. And other writers have used it.
Turn to Psalm. David used it. God will visit. Visit. Psalm 80. Let's look over here a minute.
Psalm 80, verse 14. Return, we beseech thee, O God
of hosts, look down from heaven, and behold, visit this vine,
visit this vine and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted."
Visit it. Visit it. Turn to Psalm 106. Psalm 106. Joseph was dying, and he left
the people of Israel down there in Egypt, and he said, God's
going to visit you. Surely God will visit you. And
David prayed, Lord, visit this vine, this vine which you planted. Visit it. Psalm 106, listen. Verse 4, Remember me, O Lord,
with the favor that Thou barrest unto Thy people. Visit me. O Lord, visit me with Thy salvation,
that I may see the good of Thy chosen, that I may rejoice in
the gladness of Thy nation, that I may glory with Thine inheritance. Lord, visit me. Now turn to Jeremiah
27. Jeremiah 27. It's used by a lot
of the writers. Jeremiah 27, verse 22. You with
me? Jeremiah 27, 22. They shall be
carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that
I visit them. I'll visit them, saith the Lord.
Then I'll bring them up and restore them to this place. I'm going
to visit them. All right, let me wear you with one more, Acts
chapter 15, then I'm going to apply this. Acts 15, will you
turn over there? Acts 15, verse 13 through 18. I've thought about this, what
I'm bringing in this message, but I've never really been able
to zero in on it like I believe I am tonight. Acts 15, verse
13. Now watch. they had held their peace, James
answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me. Simeon hath
declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take
out of them a people, for his God visited the Gentiles." Now
then let me assure you this. I know that our God is omnipotent. I know he's omnipotent. I would
like to declare so that the whole world can hear I believe in the
almighty, eternal, omnipotent power of God Almighty. None can
stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? God will do
what he will, when he will, with whom he will, as he pleases in
heaven, earth, and the seas and all deep places. God is omnipotent.
Secondly, I believe God's omniscient. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. There is nothing God does not
know. God knows my thoughts. Bob, before I think of them,
not when, before I think, my words, such knowledge is too
wonderful for me. What does that psalm say? Thou
knowest my thoughts altogether, my down sittings and uprisings,
you know them from afar off. God knows everything. And then
God is omnipresent. I know in him we live and move
and have our being. I know that God is present everywhere,
all the time. Let me read that in Psalm 139.
This would be a good psalm for you to mark and refer to frequently. I know there's Psalm 139, beginning
with verse, yeah, this is what I was quoting there, verse 4.
There's not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest
it altogether. Now verse 8, verse 7. Whither
shall I go from thy presence, thy Spirit? Whither shall I flee
from thy presence? Psalm 139.8, if I ascend into
heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, the
grave, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the othermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me, thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely
the darkness will cover me, even the night shall be light about
me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, the light, and
the night shineth as the day. You see what I'm saying? But
what I'm pointing out is this, and this is what these men seem
to be saying, indicates to me. Joseph knew God is all omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent, yet he said to Israel, God will visit
you. God will surely visit you. And
Jeremiah said, God will visit us. And Paul said, God visited
the Gentiles. And David said, oh, visit this
man. What I'm pointing out is there is a special confrontation,
there's a special revelation, and there's a special time of
God acting directly with a man or with men or groups of men
in unusual sovereign power and mercy. Now, there's a time of
divine visitation, Cecil, it's not all the time. God is omnipotent,
God is omniscient, He is omnipresent. From the Scripture there is a
time of special, it's an awesome time, it's a solemn time, it's
a serious time, and it's a time of salvation. And when it passes,
it passes. Now let me show you two illustrations
of that. In Genesis 21, let's look over
there first, Genesis 21, and I want us to be alert And I want
us to be sensitive to the Lord's day of visitation. It talks about
the day of visitation, a visitation in power, when God speaks. I'm
not saying God speaks through me in a special visitation all
the time, but occasionally he does, or somebody. In Genesis 21, verse 1, ìAnd
the Lord visited Sarah.î Never visited Sarah before? Never had
a child, 90 years old. God visited Sarah as he said,
and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken, and she conceived.
God visited her. See what I'm saying? Power. A special day. Now, that doesn't
discount God was all the time there, was it? God provided their
room and board. But he visited Sabaoth. He visited
her in power, in revelation, in conception. God fulfilled
his purpose right there. God was there. The power of God
was there. Now let me show you another one
in Numbers. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers.
Turn over that to Numbers 16. Now listen to this. Now here were some fellows that
were fighting Moses, the sons of Korah. They told him, they
said, you're taking too much on yourself. God speaks to everybody. We're all children of God. And
Moses got them all together one day and he said, all right. Verse
28, Moses said, Hereby you shall know that the Lord hath sent
me to do all these works. I've not done them of my own
hand. Now if these men die, sons of Korah, the common death of
all men, or if they be visited at the visitation of all men."
And the Lord didn't say, what's Moses saying about, he's saying
if God's there, you know, God says, I kill and I make alive.
There's people dying every minute, every day. There's hundreds of
people who die every minute, I guess every second. That's
just the way of all flesh. Now, he said, if they die that
way, God didn't send me. But, the Lord make a new thing. If God visits them in power. See what I'm talking about? If
God visits them. Not after the common visitation,
which everybody has, and everybody lives and dies. But he makes
a new thing and opens the earth. The earth opens her mouth and
swallows these men up. And all that appertained to them,
and they go down into the pit, you'll understand that these
men have provoked the Lord. He visited them in wrath. And,
brother, it came to pass, as he made an end to these things,
the ground clave asunder, it was unto them, the earth opened
her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all
the men that appertained unto Coler, and all their goods, and
everything else, went down alive into the pit." God visited. God visited. Now, here's what
I'm saying. I want us to be alert. And I know we go about our business,
we go about our schoolwork, we go about... You can't sit off
in the study somewhere with the door shut and a little light
burning, waiting on God to call. I know that. I'm saying we go
about... But let's be alert and sensitive to the Word of God,
to the hand of God, to a visit of God, to a message from God. Let's be alert. The woman at
the well was, wasn't she? Wasn't she alert? He visited
her. How many times that woman had
come to that well? How many times she had dropped
the bucket? How many times she had gone home
with that pitcher of water and a heavy heart? One day he visited,
and she went home without her pitcher, but with a glad heart
and with a river of water of light flowing in her soul. She
was alert to his sensitive, well, that blind Bartimaeus, how long
he had sat on that street corner. Everybody that passed by there
knew him. There he sat, Barnabas, the son of Timaeus, blind, begging,
begging, trying to get a nickel from somebody or a penny. And
all he got was a few shackles and cuss words and somebody kicking
him out of the way. But one day, that boy said, God's
best in this place. God, Jesus of Nazareth is passing
by. And brother, he was so sensitive
to it, he began to cry. Men began to discourage him.
He began to cry, and he said, I will not stop till he blesses
me. And he kept on crying, and God visited him. What about those
four men that Christ was speaking in that place and just packed
out? And they got up there with their sick friend on a bed, four
of them, and took the skylight out of that building and led
him down on ropes in front of the Lord. Now that's alert to
a visitation of God. They said, we're going to get
our buddy to Christ. And the Lord healed him. What
about the leper in Matthew 8? What about the thief on the cross?
It's a good thing he was alert to a visitation of God. That's
all I'm saying. And I could give you so many
times, did not the Lord visit our first parents after their
fall? That was unusual visitation. Did he not visit Moses and Aaron
down in Egypt and told them to take a lamb and put its blood
on the door? Did not he visit this earth in the person of his
Son? Turn to Luke 1 just a moment, in Luke chapter 1. I tell you, listen to Zacharias
here in Luke 1, Luke chapter 1 beginning with verse 67. And John the Baptist's father,
Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying,
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. He hath visited, O he hath visited
and redeemed his people. Look at verse 78. Through the
tender mercy of our God, whereby the day sprang from on high,
has vested us. I tell you that's something to
think about. He's vested us. He's vested us. And Lloyd read back in the study
there in Acts chapter 2 how he visited the apostles and put
his approval on their ministry by filling them with the Holy
Ghost and allowing them to speak in other languages. That was
a special visit. And one day he'll visit the earth
again. But this is what I'm trying to get across. I believe there's
a day and a time of divine visitation when God is pleased to reveal
himself in Christ through the gospel by the power of his Spirit.
I really do. And Paul said that. He said God
was pleased to reveal his Son. God met Paul on the road to Damascus. And he spoke to him. And he meets
his people today, speaking to them through his Word. Turn to
2 Corinthians. Let me read something here. 2
Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4, listen to that. Verse 3, 2 Corinthians 4, 3,
If our gospel be here, its head to them that are lost, in whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and our servants for Jesus' sake,
Ourselves, yourselves, for Jesus' sake, for God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus." That's a divine visitation. That's a divine visitation. Look at 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20. Now
listen. Now then, we're ambassadors for
Christ. as though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. We then, as workers together
with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of
God in vain. For he said, I have heard thee
in a time accepted. And in the day of salvation have
I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation. And I say right this moment is
a time of special, for somebody perhaps, divine visitation. And
the question is this. Has God visited you? I believe
God's visited me. in a special revelation of His
grace through Christ. I believe many of you can say
that. And give Him the thanks and the praise. Maybe is God,
I ask you this, is God visiting you now? Is God speaking to you
now? And it's not the time to tarry
or procrastinate. The time is to call upon the
Lord now. Now. I really believe that. Now. Because There's a good possibility. Turn to Proverbs 1. Now, I want
you to listen to this. And he warns about this. There's
a good possibility that that day of visitation will
be over. I don't find in the Scripture
that every blind man on that street corner was healed. He could have been. They could
have been. Because if a man calls on Christ,
he'll receive mercy. At the pool of Siloam, as far
as I can read in the scripture, one man was healed. There were
sick people all over that place. They could have been. Our Lord
has no limit to his power, to his ability. He can heal one
or ten thousand. He can heal one in the house
or all in the house. He did no mighty works because
of their unbelief. And I'm saying that, and we've
seen this happen, I saw it happen down in Cherokee a few weeks
ago. Two people just in an unusual way just called out, God's calling
on me, God's visiting me, I've heard enough, one man said, I've
heard enough. I'm confessing Christ, I'm calling on Christ.
Well, you reckon everybody there was saved? No, they could have
been. They could have been. I just know they could have been.
Because if God's there to save one, he's powerful to save all. But you will not come to me that
you might have life. Isn't that what Christ said?
You will not come. There's some came, but they wouldn't
come.