The Still Small Voice

READ 1 Kings 19:8-18

(Text: verses 11-12)

Introduction:

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah was running from Jezebel, the queen of Israel, unto Mount Horeb, which is Mount Sinai in the wilderness. He was discouraged and angry with the people of Israel because they rebelled against God and worshipped dumb idols. He was discouraged with Israel’s leadership, and afraid of Jezebel the queen, the wicked heathen wife of wicked king Ahab. At the point of our Scripture reading Elijah had just reached Horeb, where he met with the Lord.

I would like to ask, who is looking for God today? Who among the lost in this world wants to find God today? The answer is, no one!

Romans 3:10-11 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

The world is not looking for God. They are not seeking after God. They are seeking after the ways of sin and rebellion, and of the flesh which is at enmity with God.

I would like to ask another question, how many of us as believers are truly seeking after God today? How many of us are dedicated to seeking the Lord to know Him better? To know Him more intimately through study and meditation in His Word? To know His personal will for our lives through Bible study, and prayer and fasting?

Isa 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

Beloved, the best time to seek the Lord as God’s people is now, while He may be found!

This morning we want to extract 2 simple thoughts from our text.

1. First we want to see some of the places where God is not found.

1) God is not found in keeping the law of Moses.

Romans 3:19-20 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Mt. Horeb in our text was Mt. Sinai where God’s law was given to Moses, and therefore this place represented God’s law. But God is not found in His law, nor in the deeds of the law. Men cannot be saved by keeping the law of God, “for by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin”. The law cannot save, but rather it reveals that we are sinners in need of salvation.

2) God is not found in His wrath.

God’s wrath was signified by the wind, and the earthquake, and the fire in our text. For the most part, beloved, God is not dealing with mankind according to His wrath. One day, however, in the day of His judgment He will judge all men in righteousness. He will judge His people at the judgment seat of Christ, and the lost at the Great White Throne Judgment.

But I’m glad that we don’t have to find God in His wrath this morning, but rather He may be found in His mercy, love, and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.

3) God is not found in signs and wonders, as those shown in our text.

Notice the following passage of Scripture:

Matthew 12:39-41 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

So many people say “if only God will just show me as sign, then I will believe”. Beloved, Jesus has given the sign of Jonah. He has given the world the miracle of His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead. If they will not believe this, then they won’t believe though they see lightning strike at their feet! The question is, can you see the sign of Jonah this morning?

4) God is not found in religious commotion.

1Co 13:8-10 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

God is not found in the so-called Apostolic gifts of special revelations, and prophesies, and tongues, and so on. These shall fail, and these gifts that were originally given by the Holy Spirit, have ceased many, many centuries ago. The so-called gifts of recent years are not the true Apostolic gifts of the first century. And even if these truly were of the Holy Spirit, God is not found in special gifts, as we will see.

God is not found in the grandeur religious pomp and hype, and the multiplicity of religious programs, and activities, and special entertainment. This is the way of religious modernism, but I do not believe God is to be found in it.

God is not found in religious fanaticism, such as snake handling. All such practices are of the devil, not of God; just mark that down. The Scriptures nowhere command or approve of such foolishness.

2. Secondly, we want to see that God is found in the still small voice of the Spirit.

This is the voice of His Holy Spirit, Who speaks through the revealed Word of God. This, my beloved friends, is where God will be found by men today.

1) First, the still small voice of the Spirit reveals the perfection and righteous demands of God’s Holy law.

Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Think of a prisoner, who is on death row for murder. He appeals the judge to set him free on the grounds that he will never break the law again. But the judge says “man, you are already guilty of breaking the law and are worthy of death.” So it is with God’s law, we have all broken His law already, and are worthy of death.

2) Secondly, the still small voice of the Spirit reveals our sinfulness.

Romans 7:7-9 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

Paul had not known lust, except the law had said “Thou shalt no covet”. We are alive and think we are doing just fine until the still small voice of the Spirit reveals God’s holy law upon our wicked sins, and then we suddenly learn that we are wicked, vile, filthy, sinners in the sight of a Holy God!

3) The still small voice of the Spirit reveals our condemnation.

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The still small voice of the Spirit not only reveals that we are sinners, but also that we are under the wrath and judgment of God, which is eternal death in the lake of fire.

4) The still small voice of the Spirit reveals our need for repentance.

Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Oh blessed gift of repentance that enables lost sinners to turn from their sins and wicked ways, and to turn unto God for mercy and grace in salvation. Beloved, if left to ourselves none would repent. None would turn from their destructive course of sin, but all would perish in their sins if not for the still small voice of the Spirit in repentance.

5) The still small voice of the Spirit reveals Jesus through the Gospel.

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

Ro 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

My beloved friends, it is the effectual, inward call of the still small voice of the Spirit, which calls sinners unto faith in the Gospel of Jesus. None would hear, and none could or would believe on Jesus, except for that still small voice of the Spirit enabling us to do so. How precious and how powerful is that still small voice, that reveals the Gospel of Jesus to the souls of men, and gives them the desire, and the power, and the faith to believe the Gospel and be saved.

6) The still small voice of the Spirit reveals the way of service in the Lord’s Church.

Eph 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

It is the still small voice of the Spirit that reveals to saved sinners the need to serve the Lord in His Church. This is the place where God has chosen to put His Name, and to entrust the truth of His Holy Word, and where He receives worship and praise in this dispensation. Has the still small voice of the Spirit shown you your need to serve the Lord in His Church; to be Scripturally baptized and join the blessed fellowship of His Church? May He be pleased to do so even this day!

7) The still small voice of the Spirit changes believers into the image of Christ in progressive sanctification.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

It is the still small voice of the Spirit that changes these old balls of flesh into the image of Jesus Christ, in the process known in the Scriptures as sanctification. How we as saved sinners need to be changed from what we were as lost heathen, to what we need to be in Christ. How much we need to learn, and grow in the truth of God’s Word. How we need to be transformed and renewed in our minds from the old carnal way of thinking and living, to the new spiritual way of thinking and living for the Lord. Beloved, this is accomplished by the still small voice of the Spirit, through the truths contained in the Holy Scriptures.

Conclusion:

Have you heard the still small voice of the Spirit this morning? Have you seen your sinfulness? Have you seen the judgment and wrath of God that is upon you even now? Have you seen your need for repentance? Have you heard the Gospel of your salvation, and have you believed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for your sins? Have you seen the way of service through the Lord’s Church? As a member of this church, is your life being sanctified by the Spirit of God through the Word of God? Oh, may God help us to hear His still small voice this morning.

May the Lord be pleased to speak to each one of us through the still small voice of His Spirit, and reveal to us our need. And then may He give us the desire and ability to obey His voice this morning.

Beloved, I can not reveal any of these truths to you. Though I may try with all that is in me to expound, and to preach these truths at the top of my voice, I cannot reveal these things unto you.

Yes, the still small voice of the Spirit must reveal them unto you, or you’ll never know these truths. May He be pleased to reveal these things unto each soul in this house today is our prayer!