Turn with me, if you will, to the 12th chapter of Isaiah's gospel. Isaiah chapter 12. In this 12th chapter of his prophecy, Isaiah describes the day of divine visitation. If you're taking notes, and I always encourage folks to take notes, the title of my message is In That Day. Inspired by God the Holy Ghost, Isaiah uses those three words 43 times in this prophecy. I presume he means for us to understand something about that day. Isaiah is talking to us about God the Holy Ghost is teaching us about that day when God comes to visit his people in mercy. happens when God comes to visit his own? Let's look at Isaiah's prophecy chapter 12 and find out. 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, the work of our God in redeeming and saving his people is an eternal work. I mean by that, it is a work performed by God before the world began. There could be no question about that fact. Long before time began, our great God in his eternal counsel in the covenant of grace, Rex read to us about in Hebrews chapter 10, just a moment ago, purposed to have a people like Christ himself. This is God's will. And he sovereignly works all things after the counsel of his own will in predestination to accomplish that purpose of grace. His covenant of grace is called the everlasting covenant. His son, the Lord Jesus, our Redeemer, is described in the scriptures twice as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. His people are called the elect, chosen in Christ before the world began. There's no getting around this fact. Salvation is God's eternal work. Known unto the Lord are all his works from the beginning. The works were finished, the apostle tells us in Hebrews 4, 3. The works were finished from the foundation of the world. Our God declares the end from the beginning and then he does what he declares. He declares the end from the beginning and then he begins doing the work manifestly. So that all God does in time by the power of his grace, he did from eternity by the purpose of his grace in sovereign predestination. One of these days, the Lord Jesus, the angel of the covenant, shall stand with one foot on the earth and one foot on the sea and declare that time shall be no more. and the mystery of God is finished. Then Christ comes again. There will be a new creation, a new heaven, and a new earth. And in that great day, the dead shall be raised, all raised up to stand before God. All the elect shall be gathered unto God, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. and the wicked shall be cast into hell. In that day, this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory, and we shall reign with Christ our Lord, our Redeemer, our Savior forever in everlasting glory. In that day, the purpose of God in eternal election and predestination shall be fulfilled. All those he foreknew in everlasting love Though years and decades and centuries and millenniums past, he will at the appointed time glorify. This is God's eternal work. I also recognize that the work of our Lord in redeeming and saving his elect is a lifelong work. We have been saved in election, redemption and regeneration. And we are being saved in providence and preservation. And we shall be saved in that great resurrection glory. And now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. What a blessed thought. Now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. That is the final consummation of God's grace for us. The hand of God is upon his elect from the womb to the tomb. The Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in the hearts of his people at a chosen appointed time when it pleases God. But God's hand is upon his own all the days of their lives. As God said to Simeon, it can be said with regard to all his elect, he shall not see death before he has seen the Lord's Christ. Our Savior said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. He said, all that the Father hath given me shall come to me. Being taught of God at the appointed time of love, every chosen redeemed sinner shall come to the Savior. There is no question about it. God says, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall accomplish that which I please. It shall prosper in the thing where to I sent it. And so it shall be. At the appointed time of love, The Lord God Almighty will save every chosen sinner by the mighty operation of his grace, by the power of his spirit. And once we're born of God, called and saved by grace, it is by the power and grace of God that we are kept in salvation, kept in faith, kept in Christ. Our security does not in any way depend upon us. I want that to settle in firmly in your heart. Our security in Christ does not in any way depend upon us. Commonly, when folks who believe the gospel of God's grace historically talk about the eternal salvation of God's elect, they use the term perseverance, but they use the term perseverance in such a way as to make that perseverance depending upon you. Make that perseverance a work of grace performed by you. And make that perseverance to be your contribution by which you continue in the faith. Hear me well, we are kept by the power of God through faith. We are kept by the power of God through faith. Faith, God gives us and God works in us. We are kept by God's power, kept in God's grace, kept by God's hand because our Savior says, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. And no man can pluck them out of my hand. but this salvation, this perseverance, this preservation involves a continual experience of grace. Most people think about salvation as a time when they came to the Lord. Don't do that. Don't do that. I don't suggest that you forget past experiences. Remember them and cherish them. But don't talk about salvation in the past in that regard. Peter says, to whom coming? Those who have come to Christ are coming to Christ and shall continue to come to Christ. They know their need of him and they come to him continually. By the grace of God, we shall come to Christ continually, and God will see to it. He said, I'll give them one heart and one way and they shall not depart from me forever. He said, I will do them good with all my soul and with all my heart, I will do them good. I'll never turn away from them to do them good. Oh, blessed, blessed security. 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. Now though this glorious divine work of redemption, salvation, is an eternal work, Though through the good providence of our God, it is a continual work, a continual revelation of Christ, a continual coming to Christ, a continual growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ. There is a specific day of divine visitation. when our sovereign Redeemer is pleased to cross the path of chosen redeemed sinners and make himself known in his saving grace. Isaiah refers to it here as that day. Oh, what a day that is. The day when the hand of Christ our Redeemer touches his own in saving mercy. Can't you picture that day for that woman taken in adultery? Described for us in the eighth chapter of John's gospel. Oh, how blessed that day was for her when she was brought before the master. before Him, broken before Him, condemned before Him, stripped before Him, and completely forgiven of all sin by Him and before Him. That's the day I'm talking about. I'm not talking about a literal 24-hour day. You don't need a calendar to mark the time of your conversion. You don't need to remember a time or a place or a day when first the Lord saved you by his grace. Now, I chose my words deliberately. You don't need to remember a day, a time, or a place and say, there, that's when God saved me. In fact, if you base your confidence of God's salvation upon something in the past, I assure you, you've not yet experienced God's salvation. I, somewhere over at the house or back here in one of the places where Shelby keeps papers, I have a birth certificate. I've actually seen it. And I know that I was actually born because I've read that birth certificate. That sounds a little bit dumb, doesn't it? I never go check on my birth certificate to see if I was born. I know because I live. that I was born. And I know that I've been born of God because I trust Jesus Christ to whom I am now coming. You understand that? Salvation is not in a past experience. It is in a life, a life that is Christ himself. It is in a living person, Jesus Christ the Lord. Now let's see if I can make good on this. There is a day appointed when God will meet every chosen redeemed sinner in the saving power of his grace. I know I can make good on it. Let's look at some scripture. Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel is describing for us an infant. And I sat down this afternoon Started looking over my notes again, preparing to preach. I tried to get a picture of what Ezekiel saw. We have the idea that somehow there was just a little baby out there that had gotten lost and mama had maybe fallen off the back of a wagon or something, but that's not the picture at all. Some of you have seen, I don't suggest that you go look for them, but you have seen pictures of abortion factories. I vividly remember seeing the newsreel about that fella somewhere up in Chicago just murdering babies one after the other, that doctor, called a doctor. And the things they cleaned up out of his slaughterhouse. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Words can't describe how horrible to see this. That's what Ezekiel saw. A baby cast out from his mother's womb. Aborted, dead, polluted in its own blood. And this is what you are by nature. Now listen to what God does by his grace. Ezekiel 16, verse six. And when I passed by thee and saw thee 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 bud of the field. Thou hast increased in wax and grape, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breast are fashioned, thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee, and I covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becameest mine. At the time of love, the Lord God, our Savior, comes by the power of the Spirit and spreads his skirt over us, just as Boaz did with Ruth on the threshing floor. Picturing for us what God does in grace, he spreads over us his perfect righteousness, robes us with the garments of salvation, and thereby covers our nakedness. covers up our nakedness as Noah's son, Shem and Japheth covered their father's nakedness, refusing to look upon it. So he covers our sin, refusing to look upon our iniquities and says he does not behold iniquity in Jacob. And then you in the sweet experience of his grace become his. Then you, in the sweet experience of his grace, become his. That's what happened to Jacob. The Lord God met him one day in the middle of nowhere and wrestled with him. Now, sometimes people talk about Jacob wrestling with God. I guess there's a sense in which that's all right. If a fellow wrestles with you, you generally wrestle back. But the scriptures specifically tell us the Lord wrestled with Jacob. I used to be a wrestler when I was in junior high school and high school, and even a little bit intermural collegiate wrestling when I was in college. And I'll tell you the secret of wrestling. You want to get the fella peeing down. You want him peeing down. The sooner the better. And the Lord God pinned Jacob down and made him confess his name. His name's Jacob, tricky, deceitful, cunning, crafty, untrusting and untrustable, a man of sin and corruption. That's my name, Jacob. And as soon as he did, the Lord said, not anymore, your name's Israel, a prince with God, for you have prevailed and you have power with God. How on earth did Jacob prevail with God? Show me something in that text that shows Jacob prevailing with God. When Jacob acknowledged what he is, who he is, what he had done, acknowledged and confessed his sin, that prevails with God. That's how God saves sinners. He meets them in their path to rebellion, steps in their way, stops them in their way, and turns them in his way and puts them in the new and living way, Christ Jesus the Lord. Now, let's look at Isaiah's prophecy as he uses these three words in that day. And see what God does when he comes to sinners in mercy. I said, but pastor, you're preaching to folks who are saved. I suspect not all of you are. I suspect there are good many here just a breath from hell. But what I've got to say is fully applicable to both believers and to unbelievers. If the Lord comes in saving grace, or if he comes in reviving mercy, when God visits his people, this is what he does. look back at Isaiah chapter 2, Isaiah chapter 2. Here the prophet shows us that the day of divine visitation is a day of Holy Spirit conviction. Look at verse 11, 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 Lord of hosts, 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. Verse 17, and 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. When God the Holy Ghost comes in saving mercy, he always comes to reprove and convince men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He always does these three things by which he causes the haughty to be brought down. He causes the high and lofty to be made low. If ever you experience Holy Ghost conviction, you will experience this humiliation. And if you never experienced the conviction, you'll never know God's salvation. You see, God always works different for men. In the kingdom of heaven, the way up is down. The Lord always abases before he lifts up. He always strips before he clothes. He always wounds before he heals. He always kills before he makes alive. Throughout the Old Testament, God refers to himself this way. I am he that killeth and maketh alive. I kill and I make alive. It looks like he would have said, I make alive and I kill. But he doesn't make alive until he kills. And it does this by convincing you of sin. Our Savior says specifically, because you believe not on me. He doesn't come in Holy Spirit conviction and convince you that it's wrong to steal, or to commit adultery, or fornication, or to lie, or to get drunk, or any of those things. All those things you know by nature. Romans chapters 1 chapter 2 tell us plainly there's not a soul living upon the earth that doesn't know that Adultery fornication murder drunkenness thieving those things are those things are evil all being by nature know that But when God the Holy Ghost comes he does something nothing and nobody else can do He convinces you that you're seeing He convinces you, not that you've sinned, that you sin, that you are sin, and that's all you are, nothing but sin. Hear me, hear me. In the depth of your soul, no matter how you look on the outside, No matter what others think of you, you are sin. And there is no evil known to humanity that doesn't rage in you by nature. I hear folks say, when we talk about depravity, we don't mean that man's as bad as he could be. That's what this book means by it. You're just as bad as you could be. You don't always act as bad as you could act. Thank God for that. But you're just as bad as you could be, just as wicked as you could be. There's nothing in you but sin. That's the nature of fallen humanity. And when a man's convinced of his sin, then he confesses his sin. I know in Baptist churches and others, Folks are treated like papists. One of the reasons I guess papacy is so prevalent in the world is that it's a religion that requires nothing of you except to go to a priest and live like hell all you want to and go to some priest and confess your sin and get absolution if you do. So many Hail Marys put so much money in the cup. And we Baptists don't do that. We come to priest at the front of a Baptist church at a Baptist altar. And confess we cheated or lied or did something we shouldn't have done and we weep a little bit and the priest says, well, the Lord's forgiven you if you sin. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about making bare your heart before God. And you just can't do that. And you won't do that. until God Almighty comes in saving power and forces you to confess your sin. And he convinces men and women of righteousness. Our Savior said, particularly, because I go to my Father, you'll see me no more. I have come here. Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, came to bring in everlasting righteousness. And he can't go back to the Father, Mark, until he's done his job. I go back to my Father because righteousness by my obedience has been brought in. Salvation is done. And the sinner is convinced now of righteousness, sin and righteousness. But there's something else. He'll convince you of judgment. Not that there's a day of judgment coming. Everybody's born knowing that. That's why everybody's scared to death to die. I find it interesting, I was talking to some of the men in the back back there about our attitude toward death and dying, but Shelby and I were watching something on television, some advertisement for a funeral home. And morticians, they can, I remember, They used to do everything they could to get everybody to cry and bawl, and they'd carry little ammonia tubes so they could break them to get you to pass out and give you a little ammonia so you wake up and cry some more. I mean, that was their design. They wanted to have a horrible, sad, balding time, then you had a good funeral. These days, things have changed. Do you know how they describe funerals now? It's called a celebration of life. Everybody trying to convince themselves no such thing as death. or judgment. The fact is, everybody knows he's gonna meet God in judgment. But when God comes in saving mercy, he convinces men who are sinners, who look away from themselves to Christ, that judgment is over, because the prince of this world is judged. There's no reason. Oh, God help you to get hold of this. There is no reason for any sinner who believes on the Son of God to ever be terrified of God. No reason to ever dread God. No reason for God ever to look with displeasure upon you. Never. Because He has put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself and judgment is over. Number two. Turn over to Isaiah 11. Isaiah chapter 11. The day of God's visitation. day of gracious revelation. Verse 10, And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. In order for us to have faith in Christ, Christ must be revealed in us. revealed to us, but revealed in us. And that's God's work alone. Christ must be revealed in us if we would know Him. It pleased the Lord to reveal His Son in me, Paul said. The Lord God raises up in our hearts before our eyes the banner, Christ Jesus the Lord, Christ crucified, our crucified Redeemer held up before our eyes and graciously causes us to look unto him who says, look unto me and be you saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and beside me there is none else. Brother Mark was just talking to me a little bit ago about Mr. Spurgeon's conversion when he was 16 years old. One winter day, I believe it was January the 9th, he was going to worship God on the service. He'd been raised in a congregational household by a congregational preacher. His grandfather was a congregational preacher. And he was going to church dutifully, but he couldn't get to where he was going. And so he slipped into a primitive Methodist church in London, and the preacher couldn't get there. And there was an illiterate man preaching. An illiterate man preaching. He could hardly read, let alone preach. But he took for his text Isaiah 45, 22. And he repeated the text a number of times. Look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth. For I am God and beside me there is none else. And as he was about to wrap it up, Spurgeon's sitting back in the back toward one of the aisles. He looked at him and he said to him, young man, you look to me like you're in trouble. You look to me like you need to look. Look unto me and be you saved. And God was pleased to reveal Christ in that young man. That's how God saves sinners. He reveals Christ in you, and you find yourself by sweet, irresistible power that no tongue can explain, believing Christ. believing on the Son of God. Oh, God do that for you. Lift up the banner, and when God lifts up the banner before you, you will rally round the banner, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, looking to Him. looking away from yourself, looking to Him and to Him alone. The Lord Jesus Christ comes in grace and makes Himself known and the scripture says there in Isaiah 11, His rest is glory. That is His glory as our mediator. and His rest is our glory. He is our Sabbath rest. Looking to Him, we drop our own works and trust Him. We quit trying to do something to make up to God. We quit trying to do something to please God. Now, turn over a couple of pages further, Isaiah 25. Isaiah 25, here's the third thing. When the Lord God comes in mercy, the day of divine visitation is a day of saving faith. When God causes you to know yourself, knowing his son, you can't help but to believe him. Look here, Isaiah 25 verse 9. And it shall be said in that day, lo, 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. This is Him. This is Him. I fed him of whom Moses and the prophets did speak. Here he is. This is Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, God the Son, the Redeemer, the Savior. We find grace in him, believing him. And we rest in him, believing him. Because God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. How do you know? How do you know? You know, being taught of God. How do you know? You know because God's given you faith. Like Thomas, when he put his hand in the Savior's side, he said, my Lord and my God. This is he, this is he. like Saul of Tarsus when he was smitten by the hand of God in mercy on the Damascus road. Lord, what will you had me to do? You don't need somebody else to tell you, you know, because he'd been revealed in you. I don't need anyone to tell me who my wife is, what she looks like and what she's like. I don't need anyone to tell me. I'm always delighted to hear about her, as long as you talk good. But I don't need anyone to tell me anything about her. I know her. I've been living with her for nearly 49 years. I know her. I know her. And I know my Redeemer. I don't know much, but I know Him. I know Him. You see, faith in Christ is not just embracing a doctrine, or making a profession of faith, or coming to a position, or coming to a new doctrine, or new system of theology, or reforming a misspent life. Faith in Christ is submitting to, trusting, and embracing a person. It is submitting to, trusting, and embracing a person, Jesus Christ the Lord. I make no apology. for the doctrine I believe and preach. I make no apology at all. In fact, some of you have been with me places preaching. When I go someplace that I'm not real sure how things are going to turn out, I unload everything I possibly can just as soon as I get in the pulpit. I just don't back up. I want to proclaim the doctrine of God's free grace loudly and clearly and do so. But I'm not in love with a doctrine or a system of doctrine. I'm in love with Him who is my Redeemer. I don't trust a doctrine or a system of doctrine. I trust Him who is God my Savior. Fourth, look at Isaiah chapter 26. The day of divine visitation is a day of joyful assurance. In that day, Isaiah 26, 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 the truth may enter in. Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Now watch this, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. I acknowledge, like many of you, I often struggle and have severe struggle with doubts, unbelief, lack of assurance. And I'll tell you where the struggle always is. Always. It's looking somewhere other than to Him. who loved me and gave himself for me. It's looking back to a time, or place, or an experience, or looking at a life. What insane human being, what insane human being can look at his life? Let's narrow it down. Just one day in his life, any day, pick it out. And say, now there, I have reason to believe I'm a believer. That's insanity. The name for it's called self-righteousness. Or look within with our feelings. How we feel toward God. how we feel toward one another. Anybody here, anybody hears this message anywhere in the world, tell me if there's something in you that gives you assurance. I want to hear about it. Your love, your faith, your righteousness, your devotion, your consecration. Oh, what horrible thought! But that's, Lindsay, where a lack of assurance always comes in. Looking here, looking here. I'll tell you what always gives strength and peace. God comes in His grace. and causes you to turn your eyes again, not to the broken, empty cistern of your own righteousness and works, but rather to the cistern of His free grace, the fountain of His grace, Jesus Christ the Lord. Looking to Him who says, I am thy salvation. What's your hope? 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. Now, let's turn back to our original text, Isaiah 12. One more thing. When God comes in mercy, the day of divine visitation is a day of heartfelt praise. We'll come back to this again. Let's just read the text one more time. Oh, when God comes in mercy and makes us to know ourselves and to know his son, when God comes in mercy, giving us faith in his son, In that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. Unto thy name give glory forever. 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 ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. Just drink from this life-giving fountain. this fountain of living waters, and draw waters out of the wells of salvation. Covenant love, covenant mercy, effectual redemption, free grace, draw water from 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. In that day, when God comes in mercy, there is praise and thanksgiving to God alone. There is the lifting up, the exaltation of God alone. There is the declaration, the proclaiming of God alone, God in the person of his Son, the salvation of our souls. Amen.