In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the enduring power of the Bible despite the challenges it faces. He mentions how dynasties rise and fall, storms of hate surround it, and attempts are made to explain it away, but the Bible remains steadfast. The preacher also discusses the importance of the deity of Jesus and the cleansing power of his blood. He encourages the audience to fortify their minds and hearts with the peace of God. The sermon concludes with a call to comfort and prepare the way for the Lord, as described in the book of Isaiah.

I was having Delevation Bible School in Westbrook, Maine, and was teaching the youngsters the death chant to I Am So Glad. And after the meeting was over, one of the children said to me, Uncle Neil, what's a death chant? So tonight you have the death chant in person. My time is to embrace the prophecy of Isaiah. Chapter 40 and verse 1. Isaiah 40 and verse 1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry, and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever. O Zion, that bringeth good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up. Be not afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. God will add His blessing again to this public meeting from His wonderful word. Last night our subject was Behold the Man. This evening, Behold Your God. The prophecy of Isaiah is a very precious book. When we think of the book by Jeremiah, we think of the prophet of the Father in the writings of Jeremiah. Ezekiel, he is the prophet of the Spirit, but Isaiah is the prophet of the Son. There are 66 chapters in this book of Isaiah. They correspond in an amazing way with the 66 books of our Bible. As you know, in the Old Testament there are 39 chapters in the Old Testament. There are 27 chapters in the New Testament. These first 39 chapters depict for us the Old Testament. And from chapter 40 to 66, we have defined for us here the New Testament. The book of Malachi, which closes on a very solemn note. Disaster had come in amongst the people of God. They were offering polluted sacrifices. The priesthood had become apostatized, and God's heart was distressed. At the condition that prevailed amongst the ranks of Israel. But as you know, Matthew's gospel introduces a very precious stirring note. In chapter 40 of Isaiah, which corresponds with the New Testament, he suddenly presents to us this comforting note. He says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. And surely, as the people of God, the moment we observe Matthew's gospel, in chapter 1, we derive great comfort. Because it was in chapter 1 that the message was given, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a child. And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. And the prophet there was the prophet of Isaiah. And Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us. And this was great comfort to a people who were in great distress. Now, there are four voices mentioned in chapter 40 verse 1. First of all, we have the voice of affirmation. Secondly, the voice of annunciation. Thirdly, the voice of assurance. And fourthly, the voice of acclamation. The voice of affirmation, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith God. And why do we take the comfort? Because the iniquity is pardoned. In verse 2, we thank God for his voice of affirmation. Those of us who come to him and we confess our sins, we are conscious that he is willing to forgive us our iniquity and our sins. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleansed us from all sin. So this voice of affirmation corresponds with the first voice in the New Testament. And that is the voice of Matthew in relation to the birth of Christ. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. We were talking today with some of the friends down in the nursing home. I do kindly remember in your prayers a young man by the name of Jackson. His dad was lying almost at the point of death. You went in to pray with him, and I asked the young man, is your dad a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is he born again? He said yes. I said, what about you? And he said he was not a believer in Christ. But the lad is deeply touched by the condition of his dad, and maybe your prayers and the tract that was given to him might be the means of his salvation. He shall save his people from their sins. Now secondly, we have the voice of annunciation in verse 3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. This would remind me of the second voice in the New Testament, the voice of Mark. Where Mark presents the Lord Jesus as God's untiring, indefatigable servant. And straightway, and straightway is the language of Mark. And this was the introduction of the Lord Jesus by the Baptist, John the Baptist. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. And said the Lord Jesus of John the Baptist, of men born of women, there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist. But in the third voice, in verse 6, we have the voice of assurance. But the word of God shall stand forever. It was Luke, the beloved physician, who wrote of the certainty of those things. There is no dubiety in the writings of any of God's servants. But just in case there were those who doubted the accuracy of the words of Dr. Luke, he mentioned the certainty of those things. And we thank God this evening for the veracity of the word of God. It stands, and it will stand forever. E. G. Conrad, in his poem, says, Century follows century, but there it stands. Kings are crowned and uncrowned, there it stands. Empires rise and fall and are forgotten, there it stands. Dynasties succeed dynasties, there it stands. Despised and torn apart, there it stands. Storms of hate swirl round about it, there it stands. Profane, fearless punsters caricature it, there it stands. Unbelief abandons it, there it stands. Modernists try to explain it away, there it stands. Modernism tries to explain it away, there it stands. The anvil of a million broken hammers, there it stands. Well might the people of God this evening sing, the Bible stands. The word of the Lord endureth forever. The grass withereth, the flowers are all faded away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. The fourth voice in the New Testament, as you know, is John. And this is the voice of acclamation. And is it not John that brings before us the deity of the Lord Jesus? That priceless document and the voice of acclamation in relation to the Savior is, Behold your God. On this evening, with the time at my disposal, I would like to examine with you seven attributes of our great God. The first one is found in 2 Corinthians, chapter 13, on verse 11. There he is presented to us as a God of love. One of the most amazing love stories ever told came out of the land of India. There ruled in India from the year 1627 to 1656 an Indian prince by the name of Shah Jahan. He married an Indian beauty at the age of fourteen years of age. She died at the age of thirty-one, giving birth to her fourteenth child. And that fierce Indian emperor, his heart was broken. He never married again. Such was his love for his Mamta Mahal. And so he decided to build a mausoleum for his beloved departed wife, the Mamta Mahal. It cost sixty million dollars to construct four hundred years ago. And it is called the Taj Mahal. Perhaps the most beautiful building edifice in the entire universe. It is my privilege to have spent some time there in the land of India. It is a beautiful edifice. And there finally, the black Taj, Shah Jahan, he laid his wife in a jewel-encrusted crypt. It became a mausoleum, and it is one of the greatest love stories of all time. Friends, there is a greater love story. The love of God is unique. Shah Jahan had an object of love. But when God loved you and me, He loved the unlovable. There was nothing in us to appeal to His divine majesty or instinct. We were rebels. We were enemies. We were ungodly. And yet He loved us. The love of God is unique. Love that no tongue can teach. Love that no heart can reach. There is no love like His. God is its blessed source. Death cannot stop its course. Nothing can stay its course, matchless. It is. And well might you and I sing from that hymn book, Why did He love me so? His love is ineffable. It is unspeakable. And Shah Jahan, bubbling over with enthusiasm, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, said, Behold what manner of love. The Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. And He hath brought us into a relationship through His Son. So near to God, nearer we cannot be, for in the person of His Son we are as near as He is. He has given us a place in His heart equal to that of His blessed Son. What love. No wonder that man in the rat's infested prison in China, in spite of the filth and the squalor, so overwhelmed was he with the love of God, he wrote on the wall, Could we without the ocean fill, or were the skies of parchment made, where every stock on earth it will, and every man a scribe I trained, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. That love is ineffable. During World War II it was my privilege to have met a man in Haifa by the name of Professor Martin Kofsky. Did you know him, Brother Willie? Professor Martin Kofsky. He was Minister of Education for Russia in the year 1934. But because he was a Christian, they demanded that he give up his Christianity and be faithful to the Communist Party, otherwise it would be death or exile. This particular night he was placed in prison because he refused to denounce the person of Christ. There was in the prison with him four men who were insurrectionists, political agitators, and they were sentenced to death by the firing squad the next morning. And Martin Kofsky told us that these men, they faced up and down the cell, they were married men, they had children, and the thought of death had such an effect upon them they were almost driven out of their mind. Martin Kofsky knew there was only one thing to install peace into their hearts. And he began to tell them about the love of Christ and about his death at Calvary for rebels, for sinners. And these men, they accepted the Lord Jesus in that cell that night. And Martin Kofsky thought to pass the night and to avoid this extra anxiety, he began to teach them a chorus, one that we love to sing with the children. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. And in the morning, these men shook hands with Martin Kofsky and they walked out, heads erect, with an inward peace, right out to the firing squad because they knew that at the crack of the bullet they would be at home with the Lord. Love, it is ineffable. Not only is it ineffable, but it is irrefutable. There are those today of an atheistic mind who try to tell us that God is not a God of love. They say that God is a hard and an astir God. Hear afresh the word of Nehemiah. He is gracious, merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. And we defy the atheists because we know experimentally that He is a God of love. The great Billy Bray one day was in a museum in Europe and there he saw the chair of Voltaire. It was surrounded by a chain and some guards, but Billy Bray was undaunted. He finally broke through and he sat on that chair. And the guards tried to pull him off the chair, but he still held on and he began to sing, Jesus shall reign forever, son, though his successive journeys run, his kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moon shall wax and wane no more. Yes, we thank God that that love is irrefutable. And again we stay with the poet, mock on, mock on Voltaire Rousseau. Mock on, mock on, Pissol and Vane. You throw the sand against the wind and the wind it blows it back again. And every sand becomes a gem reflected in the beams divine. Blown back it blinds the mocking eye, but still in Israel's path it shines so bright. The atoms of democracy and Newton's particles of light are but sand upon the red seashore where Israel's tents do shine so bright. We defy those antagonists and we say that God is a God of love. Not only is His love ineffable, unspeakable, unirrefutable, but it is irrepressible. The devil has tried in every age to suppress or to subdue in some way the love of God. But, says the Scriptures, His love, the many waters could not quench, neither could the floods drown. And when all the forces of heaven, earth and hell were marshaled against the Lord Jesus, and the storms were raging, as it threw out of the covenant, He rose above the storm. The devil could not suppress the love of Christ. And His love is incomprehensible. The apostle Paul says, Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, distress, famine, nakedness? He said, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature shall separate us from the love of God. Which is in Christ Jesus. It defies human computation. Its height and depth, its length and breadth, we can never defy. The farmer, thinking of the love of God, and how he could get this message across to his friends in the neighborhood, tied to his weathervane, that text, God is love. So that no matter which way the wind blows, his friends will be reminded that God is a God of love. The second attribute that we could examine this evening is found in 1 Peter 5, 10. Peter tells us there that he is a God of grace. The law was given by Moses. By grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And you and I, my friends, we should thank God a thousand times that we belong to the dispensation of grace. Israel and the law, there were certain demands made upon them that they could not fulfill. The law says, This do and thou shalt live. The law demanded that which we could not give, but grace bestows that which we do not rightly deserve. You and I deserve eternal punishment because of sin. But God hath come in, in grace. Pardon from an offended God. Pardon for sins of deepest thy. Pardon bestowed through Jesus' blood. Pardon that brings the rebel by. Who is a pardoning God like thee who hath grace, so rich and free. It was made known to us in a practical way in the person of the Lord Jesus. Paul said to these carnal Corinthians, Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yea, though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor. We cannot measure the depth of the poverty into which the Savior came. As to his riches, they far exceed the riches of a Solomon before the greater than Solomon is he. The cattle on a thousand hills of his the silver and the gold were his. Rivers of silver, mountains of gold and acres of diamonds they were all his. And yet, he became poor. Inasmuch as he said Show me a penny for our sakes. He became poor that we through his poverty might be rich. Grace is God's wisdom planning, God's mercy pitying and God's love providing. He provided for you and me a salvation at great cost. But it was because of his matchless grace we are saved by grace. The apostle Paul says It's not of works lest any man should boast. By grace are ye saved proving that not of yourselves. Sat down with a lady last week in Worcester who attended her specific church for many, many years. As a matter of fact, for sixty years. And I asked her Was she depending upon her good works for heaven? She said yes. And I took her to Isaiah's prophecy All our righteousnesses are as filtered as They are repugnant to the nostrils of our Holy God. And she was speechless. Then we went to Romans chapter three There is none righteous. No, not one. She finally conceded. She capitulated. And she got down on her knees beside me. And she asked the Lord to forgive her of her sins. Not of works lest any man should boast. Paul said to the Romans To him that worketh is the reward not rank and of grace but of death. But to him that worketh not but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness. We talked to a lady today who was resting upon her church and good works. Let's give up our arguments and listen to what God says. By grace I say through faith that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. And we are justified by grace. And in this verse in 1 Peter 5 verse 10 we shall be glorified by grace. He's a God of love. He's a God of grace. The third attribute is found in Romans 15 on verse 33. Verse 33. There He is presented to us as the God of peace. And in these troubled days, my fellow Christians, there is a peace available that the world does not know. I'm sure the sweetest word, the choicest word that could ever proceed from the lips of President Kennedy would be peace in Vietnam. But the natural man has no peace. Adam proffers it, proffers in his peace in the Garden of Eden. And man has been troubled ever since. In 1939 or 38, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich after consulting with the Führer, waving a piece of paper, peace in our time. A year later the war was over. No peace. Luke's Gospel chapter 1 says through the bowels of mercy of our God. For by the dayspring from on high did visit us to give light to those that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and guide our feet into the way of peace. We should never forget, beloved, the price of that peace. I was going into Boston one day. I noticed on one of these large advertising boards a picture of G.F. King. And this was the phrase. Winning the peace is alone the battle. No doubt referring to communism and the fight with totalitarianism. Winning the peace is alone the battle. And that morning I lifted my head to God as Calvary came before me with all its freshness where winning the peace was alone the battle. When the Lord Jesus Christ was abandoned by His friends, despised and maligned by His enemies, and finally forsaken by God. His heart could not take it. And He cried, Eli, Eli, Lama Sebastian. My God, my God, why? Why thou? Why me? Winning the peace was alone the battle. Like the lone sparrow upon the house-top, He fought the battle alone. And, says the writer, Paul to the Colossians, He made peace by the blood of His cross. We thank God for the blood of Christ. If you visit my native land and you mention Sir William Wallace and Robert Bruce, and you'll sing that famous Scottish song, Scots where hay will Wallace blend. Scots whom Bruce has often led. Welcome to your born again or to victory. And they'll stick out their chest by mention of the blood of Christ. And if Rooks could kill, he'd be a dead man. But we hold on tenaciously to the blood of Christ. Our beloved brother, Mr. Sam Jardine, who was here and had meetings with you, his father was one of the most outstanding Baptist preachers in the North of Ireland. He was very careful who filled his pulpit. But this man came on recommendation and Mr. Jardine, Sr., gave him the pulpit. He began to read his scriptures then pass on a few words. But Mr. Jardine wrote, he said, Excuse me, sir. Do I detect baptismal regeneration in your message? He said, Yes, sir. Well, he says, When you're packing your Bible case, the congregation will sing there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. No death, no blood, no salvation for you or me. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleansed us from all sin. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Philippians in chapter 4 of his wonderful book, he mentioned that the peace of God will garrison your hearts and your mind. Now, beloved, these are the two areas we require garrisoning tonight. The devil is making the mind and the affection, the heart his special target for his onslaught. But we have the proper fortification the peace of God garrisoning your heart and your mind. And so when the affections and the intelligence is protected then we will stand for God. There were three brothers one day standing in discussion. One brother said, I have the peace of God. Brother number two says, I have peace with God. Brother number three says, I have both. I have the God of peace. You and I have Him as our constant companion. And it was a real thrill today down in the nursing home to visit that old lady, ninety-two years of age. And talking about the Lord Jesus, she said, He's my power. In isolation, in that little room, she was conscious of the presence of the Lord Jesus. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. He is the God of peace. Attribute number four, He is the God of hope. This is found in Romans chapter fifteen and verse thirteen. The God of hope. The natural man has no hope. Job says, Man's days are swifter than the weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. Our hearts go out tonight to the unsaved. Many of our loved ones, our close friends, our neighbors, are perishing in their sins, and we remain complacent, have no hope, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Colonel Robert Ingersoll, America's great agnostic, he says, Is there beyond the silent night an endless day? Is death a door to light? We cannot say. The tongueless secret locked in state, we cannot know. We hope and wait. Poor man. He had no hope for eternity. And when his brother died, he stood beside the coffin and he wailed. This was his ejaculation. Life is a narrow veil between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to reach beyond the house. And the only answer to our call is the echo of our wail. And all the tragedy when a man dies without Christ. Isaiah 38, Death cannot celebrate thee. Those that go down to the pit, they cannot hope for thy salvation. Oh, we thank the Lord tonight. He's a God of hope. And that's what stimulates our hearts and encourages us to go on. The Bible says that this hope is a blessed hope. It is a purifying hope. It is a steadfast hope. And we stand this evening on solid ground. This hope, beloved saints, will be realized very, very soon. And in the interest of time, the fifth attribute is that He is a God of all comfort. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 3. Isn't it true that in our moments of despondency, in our moments of perplexity, when we are very, very low, that God comes in and He mollifies the wound with comfort. Now, God has great experience because God knew what it was to part with His Son. God knew what it was to see His Son die. To be the target for the onslaught of men and sinners. God knows what it means to lose a loved one for a season. And because of that experience, He is able to administer comfort. The God of all. The sixth attribute of God is He is the God of patience. This we find in Romans chapter 15 and verse 5. And surely, when we think of what God has to put up with, He certainly is a God of great patience. He willeth not the death of any, but that all should turn to Him and live. And when I think of His patience for the preacher, I am amazed. And here we are, instead of being outstanding teachers of the Word of God, we are still just learning the alphabet, just like some of us. We are still beings when we should be teachers. And we think of His patience with the world. He is a God of patience. Finally, the seventh attribute, He is the God of knowledge. Hannah, in her beautiful song, said, God is a God of knowledge and by Him actions are weighed. Sometimes you and I are misunderstood and we have brethren sometimes judging motives. But let us never forget that He is the One who measures the temple in the Revelation and He measures the worshippers. He knows our every heart and He will divulge at the behemoth of Christ exactly what we are. He is a God of knowledge and by Him actions are weighed. Last night we spoke on Behold the Man. Tonight, Behold Your God. The poet summed up these two areas. Like man He walked, like God He taught. His words were oracles, His works were miracles. Of man the finest specimen, of God the true impression. Full of humanity, clothed in deity, no taint of iniquity, no taint of infirmity. Egehomo, Behold the Man. Egedeus, Behold Thy God. May it be so, for His name's sake, shall we pray. Our Father, we bow in Thy presence. We thank Thee for this goodly number who have attended this meeting. And Father, we thank Thee afresh for those things that we have learned concerning Thyself. And we bless Thee that Thou art our God. Thou art the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our God too. Help us to worship Thee the way we should and to adore Thee and to adore Thy blessed Son and to be more faithful in our Christian life till He comes to take us home to Thee forever at wood and sun. Do bless Thy beloved people who think of our loved ones in the hospital tonight. Do give them their portion where they are. Thou art the God that dost care for Thy people and administer comfort. We thank Thee for this in the Savior's name. Amen.