Behold your God is the central theme, emphasizing the difference between knowing *about* God and knowing Him personally. The sermon contrasts figures like Balaam and Saul of Tarsus to illustrate this distinction, highlighting that true knowledge of God comes through the new birth and a personal encounter, as exemplified by Saul's conversion on the Damascus Road. It further explores God's supreme attributes as revealed in Isaiah and Zephaniah, including His love, peace, hope, patience, knowledge, and grace, concluding that God is a saving, satisfying, and singing God who offers eternal life and security to those who know Him. The message urges listeners to ensure they can truly say, 'My Lord and my God,' before leaving.
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and welcome once again. A year ago, while at Greenwood Hills, our brother and sister, Ali, can be the sender from Narsaw asked that we'd come to Skyland as their guests. We were overwhelmed at their kindness. But the staff at Skyland decided to put us to work. And so we're very grateful for the privilege of being here tonight. It's very... Overwhelming to see so many friends from as far away as beautiful British Columbia, right to the beautiful Bahamas, Spanish Wells, Manawar Key, Nasa Lutera, Nasa, and many, many places in between.
It's also gratifying to see some of her spiritual children here, which really makes my night. Now, shall we turn, please, to two scriptures. First, in the Book of Isaiah. I am fully aware of the immensity and the vastness of the subject that shall be discussed, but I trust that we shall hear the shepherd's voice and know something of the unction of the sovereign spirit. Isaiah chapter forty and reading verse nine. O Zion, that bringeth good tidings. Get thee up into the high mountain.
O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God. The second scripture in the book of Zephaniah. Preaching one night in the city of Boston from the book of Zephaniah. In chapter one. And a gentleman in the front row said, Or his wife said to him, Where is Zephaniah? He said, Next to the book of Joseph. He wasn't too helpful, was he?
Get to Malachi, work your way back. Zephaniah, Haggai. So, looking please at chapter three on verse seventeen. The law thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing. So once again the Lord will bless to us these readings from His Holy Word. I feel exercise this evening to talk to you on the subject, Behold, You're God.
Behold, You're God. Many know about God, but they do not know him. For example, in the Bible there's a man called Balaam, the son of Beir or Bothor, and he was a man who knew much about God. In fact, the Holy Spirit used him to give us five priceless prophecies. And he was a man that knew much about God. He addressed him as Elohim. He believed in the triunity of the Godhead. He called him Jehovah. He believed in the eternality of God.
He knew much about the word of God and the work of God and the worth of God. Yet he did not know him. He said, I shall see him but not now. I shall behold him but not now. He actually got a preview of the person of Christ. He said that he would rise as the star out of Jacob and as the scepter out of Israel. In other words, he got a preview of the humanity of Christ as the star out of Jacob. He got a preview of the supremacy of Christ as the scepter out of Israel.
He wanted to be in heaven when he died. He said, let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his. But he never made it. He wanted to die the death of the righteous, but he was not prepared to live the life of the righteous. And he died fighting against God and against the people of God. And so there's a warning note given to us by Jude in his little epistles. worn to them who have gone in the way of Cain, ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perish in the gain-seeing of Korah.
He knew much about God, but tonight he is in a lost eternity. So many know about God, but they do not know him. A personal link and knowledge with God can only come about by the new birth, by being born again. A classic example is seen in Saul of Tarsus. He was a giant intellect. He was a man that knew much about God. He could say to the Philippines that he would circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel.
of the tribal Benjamin, of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisees, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless. He knew much about God, but it was not until he was traveling on the Damascus road that he was actually brought into contact with the living and the true God. So first of all, there had to be conviction, and there had to be conversion, and thirdly, there was consultation.
There was conviction, and that's how you come into contact with the living God. Conviction of our sin. And so it is traveling along, the Lord Jesus arrested him. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Conviction. Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus. He discovered for the first time that the Jehovah of the Old Testament was the Jesus of the New. And then he said, Lord, what will thou have me to do?
Conviction, conversion, consultation. And so we come in contact with the living God and it's possible to be able to say of a truth like Thomas, my Lord and my God. And I trust before we leave this building tonight and the nights to come that every one of us or be able to say in truth, my Lord and my God. Paul time and time again referred to his conversion as he spoke about the light that shone above the brightness of the noonday sun.
And he had an insatiable desire to know more and more about God. But that introduction came by the impartation of eternal life. So friends, a knowledge of God is the knowledge of a person. This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom they were sent. It's the knowledge of a person. And Paul discovered that on the Damascus Road. And time and time again he desired to develop his knowledge of God. And so he writes to the Philippians that I may know him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, and be made conformable unto his death.
It's the knowledge of a person. But eternal life also is the knowledge of a position. John says love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God. It's the knowledge of a position. And I trust beloved friends that we are all in the family of God. The knowledge of a person, the knowledge of a position, but also the knowledge of a possession. John in first John chapter five writes and he says, These things have I written unto you that believe?
In the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life. And let me challenge your heart tonight, as well as my own, do you possess eternal life? The knowledge of a person, the knowledge of a position, and the knowledge of a possession. Now Zephaniah brings before us this tremendous subject. As he develops, behold your God. The God who is in the midst of the is mighty.
He will save. He will rest in his love. He will joy over you with singing. Nor his friend, he is the supreme God. The God who is in the midst of thee is mighty. He is the supreme God. He also is the saving God. He will save. He's the satisfying God. He will rest in his love. And he is the singing God. He will joy over you.
were singing. What a God. It's common knowledge to Bible students that the book of Isaiah is divided into two sections. One through thirty-nine corresponds with the books of the Old Testament and forty through twenty through sixty-six the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. So it's very evident that there is A new beginning in chapter forty. And there are many voices heard in chapter forty. There's a voice of John the Baptist is predicted, the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
John was the preparatory messenger who was employed by God to bring in the preeminent messenger, the Lord Jesus. They are linked together in the book of Malachi. and brought together in a prodigious way in Matthew's Gospel. Many voices, but surely the voice in verse nine is very, very challenging. O Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, and say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, you are God.
God who is in the midst of the Almighty, he is the supreme God. And he is supreme in his activities. And he is supreme in his attributes. We find in chapter forty that he is all-powerful. Behold, the Lord God, verse ten, will come with strong hands. He is all powerful. In verses twelve through fourteen, he is all wise. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and so on. In verse thirteen, who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor, has taught him?
He is all wise. In verse twenty-two, he is all glorious. He sitteth on the circle of the earth. In verse twenty-eight, he is all eternal. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the earth, or at the ends of the earth, saint is not. Neither is weary, and there is no searching of his understanding. All eternal, and he is all sufficient. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength and so on. supreme in his activities. But tonight we want to look with you for a few moments at him, the supreme God, who is supreme in his attributes.
There are seven outstanding attributes recorded in the Word of God. First of all, we see that He is a God of love. Remember Paul and his great doxology to the Corinthians? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you. All are men. He's a God of love. And God's love is commended. God's love controls. And God's love conveys. What are God's is ours.
God of love. My beloved brother Hazel from Manawar Key in the Bahamas engaged a Scottish blacksmith to construct a weather vane. For the top of his roof and his house is the highest point in the island of Manawar and the Bahamas. And on that weather vane are the words, God is love. No matter what direction the wind blows, They are reminded that God is a God of love. Just before a righteous man would one die, but fair adventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commanded his love to order.
In that, why were you sinners? Christ died for us. Oh, how precious the night to sing about the crosswork of the Lord Jesus. A group of students from this country went to the land of India, and were in consultation with Mahatma Gandhi, the great Indian reformer, and he asked them if they would sum up their theology in one song at him he would listen. And that's to him this election, when I survey the wondrous cross. In which the Prince of Glory died, my riches gave, I count but lost. and pour contempt on all my praise.
God commended his love toward us in the person of his dear son. And love controls. Paul said, Shall these things separate us from the love of God? No, he said, I am persuaded that neither death nor life. nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pleasant, nor things to come, nor any other creature shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Commended. Controls. But also, blessed be his name conveyed.
Universally. The first I would say through back in my native country, Scotland, many, many years ago, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Too sober believe it and it should not perish, but have everlasting life. It's universal. But Israel also knew experientially that it was national. I have loved you, he says, because I loved you. And thank God tonight, it's personal. We can say, O the Apostle, he loved me and gave himself for me.
Universal, national, local. Could we with ink the ocean fill? Were the skies of parchment made wherever is stuck on earth a quill? And never a man ascribed by train. To write the love of God above. would drain the ocean dry. But could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky? The God who is in the midst of the is mighty. He is the God of love. But also, friends, he is the God of peace. Romans, verse three, now the God of peace be with you all.
The God of peace. The natural man has no peace. Adam forfeited his peace in the garden of Eden when he sinned against God. He forfeited his possessions. He was driven out. And he forfeited his position. He was the king of the universe. Great was the fall. And the natural man has no peace. Destruction and misery are in his way. And the way of peace. He has not known. We were down in South Carolina caring for the Bahamas when Desert Storm was on.
And so I turned on the radio to get the bad news of Desert Storm. The war had just started. But instead of getting desert storm news, bad news, I've got desert foolish news. And the announcer says, I am your Bible teacher, John Graham Hall. And I'm going to take you to the finest university that the world has ever known. And there are sixty-six classrooms, and the tuition is free, and the finest instructor you could ever get.
the Holy Spirit. My life and I just bowed your heads and thank God for a day of solace, peace. Peace, you remember, friend, was planned by God for fallen humanity. Isaiah says, chapter nine, verse six and seven, for unto us a child is born. Unto us the Son is given. The government shall be upon his soul, that his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Father of Futurity, the Prince of Peace. Peace was planned by the Supreme God.
And what a day that was when peace was presented. The shepherds on the fields of Bethlehem, you remember, were disturbed. Their hearts were filled with fear when they saw the glory of God. But Gabriel came, God's minister, of internal affairs, and said, Fear not. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saved. Glory to God in the highest.
and an air of peace, good will toward men. And peace came in the person of the Lord Jesus. And Dr. Luke says, through the bowels of mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from and heart did visit us, to give life to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and guide our feet into the way of peace. Peace planned, peace presented. But oh, how our hearts are moved when we think that peace procured and the cost involved.
It cost our God everything. He made peace by the blood of his cross. But marvel of marvel, peace possessed. Not only planned and presented and procured a tremendous cost, but peace possessed. When I was a boy, one of my favorite creatures was an Irishman by the name of Hawthorne Bailey. He had a son who was a member of Parliament in Lord Brookborough's government in the north of Ireland.
And Lord Brookborough put on a special function for the parliamentarians and their families. Running around in this large banqueting house was the granddaughter of my friend, whose son was an MP, member of Parliament, a little girl of five years of age. And as she passed Lord Brookborough, he got a hold of his little girl and put her on his knees. Now he says, My dear, can you sing? Oh, yes. He said, I can sing. So he asked for quietness. And she began to sing at the top of her voice. You'll never know peace.
Real peace. Until you know Jesus. Lord Brookborough was filled with emotion. He said, would you sing that again? You'll never know peace. Real peace until you know Jesus. The last gospel crusade we heard in Mountain New Brunswick in Canada. Our host and hostess took us out for dinner one night with my colleague. And suddenly a young man came bounding down the aisle and he threw his arms around us and he whipped. We hadn't seen him in twenty years.
And our minds went back to the night that he came to Christ. Nineteen seventy-one conducting a gospel crusade. A large number of hippies, as they were then, came into the building. We just wondered, what are they up to? But to our delight, they sat down and occupied the first field for a rows of seats, and they listened courteously. And they look spectacular looking people, I can assure you. But at the end of the meeting, one of these young men came up to me, tears coursing down his cheeks. He says, Mr.
Duggo, do you mean to say that there is a possibility for me to get out of this mess that I am in? He says, I've gone to school and he says, that failed, it flunked out. He says, I've tried religion. He says, that's a mess. And I've tried everything that this world has to offer. But there's a void in my heart. Well, I said to him, if you are willing to come God's way, he can fill the void. He says, I am prepared. Step by step I brought that young man to Christ.
Six weeks afterwards he wrote to me, I still have the letter right here in my Bible. And he signed his letter. Our son of God, Father Elijah. Only God could take him from hippie land and drug addiction. And bring him into the royal family. A son of God. His wife got saved that night. They were not married then, but they're married now. Have a lovely family. We're back to college. Got his degree. And he's now an executive with a large company in Fredericks and New Brunswick. Hadn't seen him in twenty years.
But our mind went back to the night he got peace. The peace of God, which passes all understanding. He's the God of love. He's the God of peace. But notice also in Romans fifteen, there's three there. He's the God of hope. Now the God of hope will fill you with all joy and peace in believing. The God of hope. We're living in a hopeless world. Job says, man's days are swifter than the weaver shuttle and the steppe without hope. During, I've got to be careful here with some of her Canadian friends, but during the premiership of Pierre Trudeau, a Canadian came to me one day and he says, you should be very fortunate.
He says, in the United States, you've got President Reagan, and he says, you've got Bob Hope and Johnny Cash, and I wonder what's coming next. He says, over in Canada, we have Pierre Trudeau, and he says, we've got no hope, and we've got no cash. Well, I wasn't prepared to get into Canadian politics, but I was able to remind him that there is a hope. There is a hope. And that hope is in his blessed son. Working for my blessed hope on the appearing of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ.
So hope is shared abroad in the hearts of God's beloved people. He also is the God of patience. Again, Romans, verse five, now the God of patience. And consolation grant you to be light-minded one toward the other. Patience. And certainly one of the great attributes of the Supreme God is his patience. Patience with you and with me were not what we could be, should be.
And patience with this wicked world at which we live, you really wonder how much longer God's patience can continue. As it was in the days of Noah, the Lord says, and as it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. Beloved friends, I believe, we're living at the very moment of the soon return of the Lord Jesus. We're not looking for signs, we're looking at signs. And the immorality and the violence is surely indicative of the days of Noah and the days of Lot. In the days of Noah, there was a disrespect for the messenger.
There was a dissentress in the world. Priestess heart for over a hundred years. And a diabolical display of evil. And this is seen all around us today. Disrespect for the messenger. A dissentress in the world. and a diabolical display of evil. Patience. But there came a day when God's patience terminated and he says, Come, thy run all thy house into the ark and the floodgates. God's patience is running out. In first Samuel chapter two, the next attribute number six, he is the God of knowledge.
All things are stripped naked and bare before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And Hannah in a great prayer and prayed said, God is a God of knowledge and by him actions are ways. Peter says, Lord, thou knowest all things. He is the God of knowledge. and he knows whether you are here today and only have a knowledge about God or do not know him, he knows everything. He is the God of love, the God of peace, the God of hope, the God of all comfort, the God of patience, the God of knowledge, but he is also the God of all grace.
Peter says, But the God of all grace would have called us unto his eternal glory after that he have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. You remember Moses in Exodus chapter three had three requests. If I have found grace in thy sight, he says, Show me thy way. Show me thy glory. He had been the recipient of grace. And he desired guidance. Show me thy way. And he desired to see the glory of God in his face.
And that was prohibited. No one can look in my face and live much, says God. And there we have the promises of grace. He says, there's a place by me. And I will put thy feet upon a rock. And I will cause my glory to pass by. And I will hide thee in the cliffs of the rock. And cover thee with my hand. The promises of grace. There you got seal activity. There is a place by me. And put your feet upon a rock. Stability.
and cause my glory to pass by supremacy. And I will hide thee in the cliffs of the rock, syncurity. And I will cover thee with my hands sufficient, sir. What a God! There's a place by me. Beloved friend, there is a place by him for salvation. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. And the thief on the cross who actually blasphemed the name of Christ, had a change of heart, and he realized there was a place by him for salvation.
He says, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Today, shall thou be with me in paradise. Place by me for salvation. And if you're here tonight not saved, he point you to him. He's standing by. Dear friends, not only is there a place by him for salvation, but there is a place by him in oppression. In Daniel chapter three, The three royal princes of the realm, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refused to bow down to the king's image.
The king was filled with fury. Caused the strong men of the realm to bind these young men and to intensify the fire seven times greater than its normal capacity. And as much as the strong men, when they cast the young men in, they were burned to death. And King Nebuchadnezzar looks in. He says, Didn't we cast in three men? I see four walking around. Not one hear of their heads with sins. And the fourth one was light unto the Son of God.
There's a place by me. Many of God's beloved people are being oppressed. that he's standing by to help in the conflict. And there's a place by him in depression. Oh yes, some of God's people know what depression is. Satan attacks the heart and the mind. But there's a place by him. And Saul of Tuss is the great apostle for a sad indictment on the church. All men in Asia have forsaken me. Nevertheless, the Lord stood by me, a place by him, and thank God for the security, the stability he puts our feet upon a rock, immovable, a tried, precious cornerstone.
And because it is glory to pass by, and we have a greater privilege than Moses ever enjoyed. Because already by coming to Christ through everlasting life, we are in possession of the glory of God. 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. We are a privileged people, in this dispensate of grace, that you already have become the recipient of the glory of God.
And he says, I will hide thee in the cliff of the rock. Man with a little corny in the book of Proverbs chapter thirty, he hid, he made his house in the rocks. And the old lion could holler and scream outside. And that little pony was saved in the rock. And oh, Satan can holler and scream as much as he likes. He's the accuser of the brethren. And he's a master at it. But we are saved in the cleft of the rock. And I will cover thee with my hand. Oh, the sufficiency that is in Christ. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Weymouth's translation says, I will take thee by the hand, and I will never let you go. What a God. And yet there are those, at least some tell us, who can be saved today and lost tomorrow. That's not the God of the Bible. I will take me by the hand and I will never let you go. We feel him, but he will never, has never, another will feel us. The Supreme God. Quickly to conclude. Not only is he supreme in his attributes, the God who is in the midst of these mighty, but he says he will save.
He's the saving God. The night I met the young man in Moncton New Brunswick after twenty years, preached the gospel that night, and a gentleman whose wife was a Christian for forty years attended the meeting, he went out the door a picture of distress. The next night we were down at our knees praying, about twenty of us, and down the steps came Bertie McMullen, one of the elders. It says, Good news! Gordon Wrigley has just come in to tell us he got saved last night. And so I inquired of him afterwards.
I said, tell me, Gordon, how did it happen? Tell me about it. He said, I got home and I could stand it no longer. Forty years of prayer landed on his head. I could stand it no longer. And he fell on his knees and he cried to God for mercy. She got on the phone to call his daughter in Saskatchewan. He said, Honey, I've got good news for you. No answer. He said, Are you still on the phone? She couldn't speak for emotion. She knew what the good news was. And then his second daughter in Alberta, he called with the good news.
Then he said to me, He said, You know, I have a lot of hard liquor in the house. Now he says, I know the Lord doesn't write waste, but it wouldn't be right to give it to somebody else, would it? I says, no, pour it down the sink. Then he said, I'm involved in a lottery on a Friday night with a boy. He says, that wouldn't be right either, would it? I says, no. You see how it's learning? Today he's in fellowship, baptized, and in fellowship with the saints and monks in New Brunswick. He's the saving God. And tonight you can save your soul if you're not in God's family. The Supreme God, the saving God, the satisfied God, he will joy, he will rest in his life.
God is happy with the work of creation. Upon the sixth day and its completion he rested, he was satisfied with his work. He was satisfied with the work and the work of his son. This is my beloved son in whom I find all my delight. Satisfied with the every movement of his dear son, his work. And he certainly was satisfied with his work. Bow out my son. This day have I begotten thee. Thou shalt love, righteousness, and hated lawlessness.
Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Man gave you the lowest place. I'm going to give you the highest. No place too high for him is found. No place too high in heaven. Crown with glory and honor. And the Lord can rest in his love. He can do no more for fallen humanity than has been done through his son. And finally, the singing God. He will joy over youth with singing.
You remember that the night of his betrayal and heading for Calvary, they sang a hymn. and went out to the Mount of Olives. They tell us it was a great hallel, Psalm one, thirteen through one, eighteen. How could he say? Bind the sacrifice with cause, even unto the horns of the altar. A prediction of his death. They sang a hymn. And beloved saints, what a day awaits us.
When we get home to glory and hear him sing. When a soul is saved down here, I believe he sings. He calls his friends, rejoice with me. I have found a sheet that was lost. He sings. And I believe he can touch every range of voice, imperfection. His voice is at the sound of many waters. And for a day that will be when they get home to glory. And there he will be the presenter of the praise. I will declare thy name unto my brethren, and in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
I've been down in Jamaica several times at the Easter conference, four thousand Jamaicans singing. You think you're in heaven? They can sing. And all what I did that would be, when we hear our Savior saying, Behold, your God. If he's your God, if not make sure tonight, before you leave the building, that you'll be able to see my Lord and my God. Shall we pray? Loving Father, we thank you for giving us the luxury of being gathered in this capacity and to open up the sacred scriptures.
For we thank you, Father, for the day that the Lord came to reveal thyself. And we bless you for everyone in this gathering to know thee in a personal way.