The Still, Small Voice

Are you searching for true satisfaction in life?  Are you wondering about your future and what will happen when you die?  Does all the religious noise of today’s world confuse you?  Is your heart hurting and searching for peace?   Well, please take about five or ten minutes, find a quiet place, and read this message from the Bible.  The truth from God’s word is rarely heard today in churches, on TV, or on the radio.  The Holy Spirit uses God’s word and His witnesses (Christians) to speak to the world concerning salvation through God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  The ‘still small voice’ of the Holy Spirit is rarely heard today.  He is knocking at your at your heart’s door, and trying to speak to you through the noise of the world.  When we hear the Holy Ghost speaking to us, there are three things His still, small voice will try to bring to light in our hearts:  Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment.
     
In John 16:8-11, Jesus said, And when He [the Holy Ghost] is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:  Of sin, because they believe not on ME;  Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;  Of judgment, because the prince of this world [Satan] is judged.

The very First thing the Holy Spirit wants you to understand is the truth about Sin.  He will not speak to you about your bad habits or immorality.  He uses the light of the Law (the Ten Commandments) and your own conscience to convict you of common sins (e.g., forgetting God, selfishness, lying, not loving your neighbor, cheating, stealing, taking God’s name in vain, pride, secret sins, lustful thoughts, hatred, laziness, procrastination, etc.).  But the one particular sin that the Holy Spirit convicts the lost about, which the law and conscience will never do, is the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ (Unbelief).

Unbelief  is the sin that condemns the lost sinner, not the committing of other individual sins.  Unbelief is the ‘Sin of sins’ and the soul damning sin. He that believeth not [on Jesus] is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light [Jesus], because their deeds were evil. John 3:18-19   The sin of Unbelief is the sin that the Holy Spirit puts His finger on in your heart.  The Law and our conscience peel back the onion of self-righteousness and sin, and the Holy Spirit reveals the Heart of Sin, which is Unbelief.

You have a deadly, but curable disease, called Sin.  The rejection of the Remedy for Sin (Jesus’ finished work) will condemn and damn you.  You could ‘clean up your life’ and quit your bad habits and still be lost and go to Hell, because you have rejected Christ.  The lost sinner rejects Jesus’ word and sacrifice.

If you ask someone on the street if they are a sinner, they normally will say something like this, “Well, I have never committed adultery or murder. I have never been a drug addict, drunkard, or prostitute.  I’m a pretty good person.”  But they never bring up the most hideous sin in their life:  Rejecting Jesus Christ.  He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. I John 5:10   When you reject Christ, you call God Himself a liar.  You reject God’s mercy and trample the blood of His Son.  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation. Hebrews 2:3. Neglecting Jesus Christ, paying him no mind, is a clever form of rejection.  Neglecting a remedy for a deadly disease has the same consequence as rejecting the remedy:  Death.  Are you neglecting or rejecting Christ?  Who hath hardened himself against Him (Jesus), and hath prospered? No one.  Don’t turn Jesus away, He wants to save you today.

The Second subject the Holy Spirit speaks to you about is Righteousness.  When a lost man is awakened to his sinful state by the law and his own conscience, he immediately attempts to clean up his act and establish his own righteousness.  But, self-righteousness can never cover our sin, God can see right through it.  The realization that you are a Sinner exposes the root need of your soul: Perfect Righteousness.  Christ’s righteousness is all-sufficient, complete, and satisfies the holiness of God.  The holiness of God demands that you have perfect righteousness – you cannot abide in His Presence (Heaven) without it.  The Holy Spirit condemns your self-righteousness (good works), and points you to the Perfect Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Lord Jesus came into the world and worked a perfect righteousness while He was here.  He lived over 33 years and never sinned one time.  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  I Timothy 1:15   Ye are complete in Him. Colossians 2:10

The Bible says that Jesus was sinless, “For [God] hath made [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin.  II Corinthians 5:21; But [Jesus] was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Hebrews 4:15; How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:14;  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. I Peter 1:19;  And ye know that [Jesus] was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin. I John 3:5; And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. I John 2:1.  For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.  Hebrews 7:26  You could never improve on Jesus’ righteousness; it is Perfect and Holy.

Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.  Romans 10:4  Perfect righteousness is what the Sinner needs on his soul to make it past the judgment of God.  The Holy Spirit seeks us out and doesn’t let us rest in our delusion, finds our hiding place, strips us of our self-righteous rags, wounds our self-glorying pride, and brings us naked into the light.  On Christ the solid Rock you must stand, All other ground is sinking sand.  The self-righteous sinner rejects the Perfect Righteousness (finished work) of Jesus Christ and goes about to establish and attain his own righteousness.  This is an insult to God, because His Son has already finished the work of Righteousness.

Your self-righteousness will always come short of the glory of God.  The glory of God is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  The Bible says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. *Romans 3:23*  In order to avoid the judgment of God, you would have to live a Perfect sinless life, but you cannot, because you’re a Sinner.  All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. *Isaiah 64:6* You are a Sinner by nature, and you cannot undo that fact.  A miracle must occur to change our dark natures called the ‘new birth’.  Jesus said, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  *John 3:7*

Jesus lived a Perfect Sinless life, died for your sins on the cross of Calvary, was buried, and rose again the third day.  The ‘welcome and acceptance’ of Jesus’ Perfect Righteousness by God is proved by His resurrection, ascension, and intercession at the right hand of God.  God the Father is ‘satisfied’ with Jesus’ finished work, and Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God.  Right before Jesus died on the cross, he said, “It is finished.”  Jesus gave Himself for our sins on the cross and finished the work of righteousness forever.

Only a man’s self-righteousness can damn him, and only JESUS’ righteousness can save him.  All flesh is grass, all the goodliness [self-righteousness] 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. *Isaiah 40:6-7*  All of our good works are like grass and flowers that wither in time.  The spirit of the LORD like the wind blows upon our fleshly self-righteousness (grass) and withers it.  The Holy Ghost is trying to convince and warn you that your righteousness will not ‘satisfy’ a Holy God.

You must receive Jesus’ righteousness by faith alone (no reliance upon works at all) in order to get past the holy judgment of God.  Christ Jesus has ‘finished’ the work for righteousness already and it is ‘freely’ given to all that trust Him alone for Salvation.  Jesus said, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.” *John 4:34* If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. *John 15:24*  “I must work the works of him that sent me. John 9:4  This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. *John 6:29*  Jesus has already completed all the work ‘for you’.  All you have to do is rely (trust) upon His ‘perfect finished’ work.  God knows the hearts of all men.  God knows if you have trusted His Son ‘alone’ for righteousness and pardon from sin.  The still small voice of God is asking you now to repent (turn to God) and trust Jesus.

The Third and final thing that the Holy Spirit convicts a lost sinner about is Judgment.  Jesus judged the prince of this world (Satan) when He bled and died on the Cross of Calvary and then victoriously rose from the dead.  This world rejected Jesus Christ when He came 2,000 years ago, and the world ‘still’ rejects Him today.  If you are lost today, you belong to Satan and this world.  Satan is the god of all those that live in their sins.  The devil rules in you and takes you captive at his will.  You are walking according to the course of this world (headed to hell), according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit that works in the children of disobedience (the lost).  You seek fulfill the lust and the desires of your flesh and are by nature a child of wrath.

The judgment of God is upon Satan and the sinners of the world that are rejecting Jesus Christ.  God hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man (Jesus Christ) whom he hath ordained.  *Acts 17:31*  Jesus told the lost sinners of His day, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father, ye will do.” *John 8:44*  The Bible calls lost sinners the children of the devil in I John 3:10.  Jesus said, Now is judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth [His death on the cross], will draw all men unto me.  John 12:31-32  The Bible says in II Corinthians 4:4, In whom the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of [the lost sinners] which believe not.  The devil will be cast into the lake of fire in the last day, and all the sinners that are judged along with Satan will abide with him forever.  *Revelation 20:11-15*
       
Only the Holy Ghost can open your heart and reveal to you the Sin of Unbelief and rejecting Christ, and only He can show you that you will never be able to attain to Perfect Righteousness without receiving Jesus Christ, and only He make you realize that you are under Judgment and condemnation because you belong to the world and the devil.  The only Person that can save you from your sinful condition is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  He is alive today and He wants to save you.

The Holy Ghost first convicts you, then He convinces you, and if you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, He will then convert you.  What will you do with Jesus, which is called Christ?  Will you receive Him or reject Him?  This is a decision you have to make in for your soul to be saved from sin and the lake of fire.  Please think about the destiny of your soul, repent of the sin of Unbelief, and trust Jesus’ righteousness today.

"Dear God, I have broken your Law and rejected your Son, and I know I’m a sinner.  Please save me from my sins, give me Jesus’ Righteousness, and save me from the Judgment to come.  I repent of my sin of Unbelief, and receive the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart.  Please wash away my sins in JESUS’ Precious Blood right now.  Help me to serve you and confess you openly.  In JESUS’ Name, Amen.