God's presence is not found in overwhelming displays of power like wind, earthquakes, or fire, but in a "still small voice." Using the experience of Elijah at Mount Horeb, the message contrasts the terrifying manifestations of God's law at Sinai with the intimate, internal communication of the Holy Spirit. The core lesson is that true spiritual understanding and transformation come not from external phenomena or adherence to the law, but from the quiet, persistent voice of God speaking to the inner soul. The application is to listen for and obey this inner voice, recognizing it as the true source of salvation and guidance, rather than seeking sensationalism or relying on human efforts.
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Nineteen. First Kings chapter nineteen. And verse nine. And he came thither unto a cave and lodged there. And behold the word of the Lord came to him and he said unto him, What doest thou hear, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord's God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken my covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword.
I even, I only am left, and they seek my life. He took it away. And he said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind went the mountains, and great and pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire a still small voice.
And it was so when Elijah heard it, and it was still a small voice, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou hear, Elijah? You have that question asked in verse nine, and in verse thirteen. Last week we were speaking on the key aspects in which God was dealing with Elijah. First he dealt with him in a physical aspect, then psychologically he dealt with Elijah. Now you have God's spiritual dealings with Elijah.
Here is God, and he's giving a revelation or an explanation of his purpose, as well as an exhibition of his power, as seen in this passage before us. Who is here that Elijah is at Pollard in a cave? Why is he in this cave? Well, he may have had somewhat of a longing for this place called Pollard because it was there where Moses saw that burning bush burning in the wilderness, and as he approached it, a voice came out of that burning bush, and God says, Take off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon standeth is holy ground.
I wonder if Elijah thought I would like to be in that area, and have God talk to me like that. Then it was at heart where God also gave a law, and also he made a covenant with the nation of Israel. And so this is the place called Horab that Elijah fled to all the way from up in the north of the country, down to a place called Horab. As I read this, I began to think of these places and scriptures relative to the place called Horab, and Horab was just one of a mountain range, and Sinai was very close by.
This is where the law was given. I'm going to read to you three passages relative to the law and the giving of the law. Find this in Exodus nineteen and verse sixteen to eighteen, and it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and lightning, a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, no still small voice there. so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the nether part of the mountain, as far as way as they could get.
And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke that off ascended as the smoke of a furnace and the whole month quit greatly. And in chapter thirty-four and verse five, and the Lord descended in the crowd and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children, children unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. And in Hebrews chapter twelve and eighteen, For ye are not come unto the mountain, this is Mount Paul, or Mount Sinai, that might be touched, and that burn with fire, nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, which voice they that heard, and treated that the words should not be spoken to them any more. For they could not endure that which was commanded.
And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, He shall be stoned or thrust through with a dot, and so terrible was the sight that Moses sent, are exceedingly clear and quick. Now here you have the signs of God's visible miraculous power, formed in the natural clothing for the terrors of the law, which is the will of God visibly enforced. Now as one reads these verses, and anybody who is trying to get to heaven by way of Sinai, trying to get to heaven by way of the law that pegs them out, trying to approach this God who is symbolized and exhibited here in fire, thundering, loud blasting of compass, the breaking of the rocks, this is the unapproachable God.
Even Moses exceedingly feared and shook, and the whole earth seemed to quake, as God descended upon Mount Sinai. So this is Mount Forth, where Elijah fled to. It seems to fit in somewhat of Elijah's temperament. In other words, he cried out for visible manifestations of divine power and vengeance. something in a larger long for some display of some great power. A lot of more. That's what he wanted about God. He wanted God to thus display himself.
And here he was at the very place where all these earth shittings took place, the thunderings and the lightnings and the bearing of compass. And instead of all that, there was a still small voices. He wasn't expecting this. Elijah went to see and have God unveil his mighty majesty and power as seen in sight. But he had to learn to be sold and taught the highest letter lesson. And it is the highest lesson that a Christian can learn and anyone learn.
of the power of the Spirit's influence, that spiritual influence in the still small world. That innermost voice, that voice that speaks to the innermost soul where the terrors of external power cannot reach. And here's where we come to a crossroad in Switzerland today. Here you have blow and bluster on the one hand, and the still small voice on the other hand. What does the text tell us over to Nehemiah, verse four, sixteen?
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit. Say it alone. God is now going to unleash before the light. See, he's come to this place where God had previously... display that mighty power, God is now going to unleash those terrifying forces of nature. And he's going to teach Elijah a lesson. There are four phenomena here. First of all, we notice a great wind gushing with rock slipping power. And I would say ear slipping power to you.
Then second you have an earth freak that shook the very ground beneath the lydes of sea. Then you have a fire blazed with transfixing suddenness. And that fire swept down through that valley and around that mountain. The fourth phenomena is still small for us. The wind did not reveal. nor did the earthquake expose the deity, nor did the blazing fire bear of lipidness. It was the still small voice.
Moses would have learned nothing or done nothing if he had not heard the voice that spoke out of that book. He could have stood there and gave that that blazing book and thinking of the marvel of it. But only when God spoke did Moses hear anything that taught him a lesson, that showed him how God revealed himself. God says, Moses, don't come a step further. Remove your shoes from off your feet, for the place where you now stand is holy.
So God is teaching Moses a lesson on this occasion. And it was a lesson, already teaching Elijah a lesson, the still small voice of the Spirit. Here you have the Word of God and the Spirit of God. God speak out of that burning bush. That's God's Word that we have in our Bible. God speaking through His Word and the Spirit. The Bible tells us plainly a little to the new birth. about being born of water and of the Spirit, and the water undoubtedly refers to the word of God. Because Peter tells us, we are born again not of the corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
And so here you have God speaking and reaching the very innermost soul of Elijah with the still small voice. You can imagine the real hush that settled over Mount Paul when all the tundling and the lightning and the earthquake stopped and a hush settled over the place and out of the hush came a still small world. All around us today we hear in Christendom talk about power. Spiritual success is measured by statistics. number of decisions seems to mark today an evidence of the presence of God.
And today the absence of phenomena is supposed to teach that it's an absence of God. And yes, you've got something emotional, exciting, fantastic. Yes, you've got that, God's not in your midst. This current tongue movement. believe that. Oh, God's not in silence. God's in commotion. God's in excitement. And I'm left with a lot of commotion going on, a lot of excitement, a lot of noise. God's not with you. God is not the author of this confusion.
That's in your life. God is not the author of this confusion. God speaks to the still small voice of the still. God's approach to the soul is not the noise. It's not the lightning. Nor is it the thunder. Nor is it the wind of rattling. Nor is it in the chairs moving. God's approach to the human soul is by the still of God. The still small voice. No one was ever converted at Sinai.
No one ever was saved by keeping the law. No one ever gets to heaven by keeping ordinances. You can only get to heaven by the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit that quickens the flesh thought that nothing. We're born by the Spirit. We're born from about. Because people think you're saved through miracles. Oh yes, you've got to have a lot of miracles. Oh, there's no evidence that God's in your midst. John the Baptist did no miracles. But God is written.
And then miracles had a voice in that day to prove the credentials of the Lord himself that he was the Son of God and the descendants. that they were said of God. For when God gave us his revealed word, the miracles henceforth are to be, and the miracles are born again, men and women, change lives. They're the miracles we want today, not a lot of lightning and thunder and commotion. A lot of entertainment, a lot of excitement. And all we want to start to think of is, you know, wondering at how few out of the many prophets, evident divine light, and go on to prove the reality of their conversion.
When the thrill is over, the heart is unchanged. They go see the snake handling, or go to this place where they're going to speak in tongues, or they're going to perform a lot of miracles, or they're going to have a lot of excitement. A great ball, even some use that expression. We had a ball. I had a lady mention that. She went to church. She also said, I went down to the beach. I took my Bible and I walked up the beach and I found a place all by myself. And she said, Lord, we had a war. You can imagine anything that is ever under that. People like that don't seem to know what it is to have a sense of God in the heart and a conscience tenderized.
by the Holy Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus says, If they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rose from the earth. And that's the greatest miracle ever before. The Lord Jesus raised himself from the dead. Not only did he raise others, he raised himself I have power to lay down my life. I have power to take it up again. And so says the Lord Jesus, if you don't believe the plain, simple words of the living God, you're not going to be convinced by miracles.
You may be erred by. Yes. You may be entertained by. And you say, fantastic. saying that's a long way from being born again and tricked by the Holy Spirit of God into a new teacher in Christ Jesus. There's a passage over Matthew seven, very solemn and verse twenty one. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, for he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
And in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works, we for more miracles, Lord. And then will lie, said the Lord Jesus, professed some to you, to them. I never knew you. He taught for me the workers of America. Praise the Solomon. He didn't say I knew you once. I told him only enough. I never knew. After you were doing all these wonderful works supposedly in my name, you were not doing it with the energy and power of the Holy Spirit.
For through the still small verse, you might have been doing it because you had possessed the electoral capabilities, talents, ability to speak, a powerful personality. Yes, you can do a lot of things that some of the talents that men and women have, put on a great act, entertain people in the name of religion. But one of us with chains of heart that are the essential of getting there. The Lord Jesus Christ made this claim. He said, accept ye.
see signs of wonders you will not believe. That's what he said to people in his head. Well, unless you people see signs of wonders, you won't believe. And he could have shown them signs of wonders. Even then they wouldn't have been born again. They would have been entertained and all. He should accept ye see signs and wonders you will not believe. Well, you're just going to have to believe my word. That's it. That's what will take you to heaven. That's what we say. People want sensationalism. But you're not saved by miracles. If you have Christ, you are healed.
You're not saved by miracles. But if you have the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart, you are healed. There's a hymn sung by that, a miracle of grace. Everyone who's born again a miracle of this. Meaning there's the supernatural at work. God has done something that no one else has done. Time and time again you read about some of these missions that handle the most ungodly of people, the most hardened sinners, the most wicked men and women. They've gone to the depths.
They've gone to the church and they've gone up to the front time and time and time again. They've been baptized. They've gone through the mill. Nothing happened. Their life is just the same. They gave it all up. There's nothing to it. Until one day they heard a message in the power of the Spirit of God in their hearts and hearts. Now there's a change. There's a difference. A victim. A new creature in Christ Jesus. Yes, it takes the Spirit of God to turn a man inside out and make that person a new creature in Christ Jesus.
We're not saved either by the righteousness of the law. The Bible makes that very plain. Accept your righteousness. It sees the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was very strict. Some of those scribes and Pharisees talk about separation from the word. Talk about being zealous for the tradition of their father. Talk about being extreme and willing to suffer. Oh yes, they really believed in their religion.
They were jealous of the law of Moses, and the ordinance is given to Moses. You likely couldn't point a finger of blame at their lives the way they lived. The Lord says you need something more. Now, accept your righteousness, exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. You shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You see in the scribes and the Pharisees, take for instance the Apostle Paul. You see in him a man who believed with all faith in the law of Moses. He believed in a tender man.
He lived, don't you? He could say concerning the law, I was blameless. He showed his zeal, but if he were the death who would fight the law, until on Damascus Road something happened. He got righteousness, not the righteousness that he had been engaged in, keeping the law, living good life. He got a righteousness which was a nature, a nature of God. Righteousness, man's righteousness is doing good works, doing that which is right in his mind.
and living rights, doing rights, speaking rights. That's man's righteousness. God says all that righteousness is filthy rights. You've got to have my righteousness, the righteousness of God that's in Christ. And when you have Jesus Christ, you have divine righteousness. Divine righteousness that will fit you for him is a life. It's a nature. It's an equestrian. Jesus Christ is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness. I am going to heaven not because of what I have done or do or ever will do, but because of what Jesus Christ did for me on the clock. And I received him into my heart at the age of nineteen, and I became righteous before God.
These are the words of the Lord Jesus. Accept your righteousness, exceed the righteousness of the strides and patterns, He shall in no one's entrance to the kingdom. He has got to go beyond the righteousness of works, of ends, of naughtiness. He has got to have Christ. He has got to have a new life that will fit you for a new heaven and a new life. How sweeping, how devastating these scriptures are that I have been bringing to your attention. Who is in connection with Elijah on this occasion? He heard the voice. Before he had heard the voice.
Why, when he was in fish feed, he heard the voice of God to go and stand before Ahab. These very words are used. Then the word of the Lord came unto Elijah. Here's that still small voice that spoke to Elijah. The word of the Lord came unto Elijah. Go unto Ahab. Then when she was in Samaria, the same language, The voice of the Lord came unto Elijah. Then when he was at terror by the group, the voice of the Lord again, the voice of the Lord came unto Elijah. Then in verse one of chapter eighteen, and the voice of the Lord came unto Elijah, saying, Go show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send Rahim upon the earth.
Such times over we read those words, the voice of the Lord came unto Elijah. There's God speaking. Now hear a horror. He's in a cave. He went into the cave. Rightly as hard as he could go. Into one of the darkest corners of the cave. And there he was. He had heard God speak on another occasion. At this time the voice said something different. What to it now? hear. And he's in that cave, far back in as he can get.
And the voice says, what are you doing in me? That must have somewhat shaken him up. He likely thought he was the only one away back there in that cave. And the voice speaks. What are you doing in me? What do you sound in here, Elijah? Like me a stern accent. You notice he evaded the question. He was good at that. And he begins, as we've noticed in chapter, in verse ten. He tells the old story over again. And what does he say in verse ten? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts. For the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slaying thy prophets with the sword.
And I and I only am left in the sheep of my life. He evaded the question. And the Lord says, what doest thou fear like? And he didn't ask. Change the subject. Did he ever find people do that? When they're cornered, they change the subject. When the point comes cold, they change the subject. You're getting too close. You're getting too close. You want to change the subject. Well, God will not let you change the subject. And verse ten there he says, I have been, I have been, I have been. And this is what struck me when I read it and I'm delighted in it.
I have been. I have been. struck the Lord says, what about now? Never mind what you have been. What about now? What do is thou here right now? I suppose all of us have been in circumstances in our life. And he heard the still small voice speaking, especially for a Christian. When you're in a place, you shouldn't have been. Maybe you're reading something, and the voice said, what readest thou? You may be doing something as a Christian, you know, is inconsistent, and the voice says, what doest thou?
What doest thou here? Why are you in this place? Do you ever hear that still small voice? I remember one time I heard it. It was kind of amusing when I first came south. I was in Winston-Salem after leaving Raleigh. And there was going to be more or less a dedication of a big, grand new church. And I thought, well, I'm going to see how they dedicate this church. And there were about three hundred people standing outside, and Bishop Pole was there at that time. And quite a lot of the clergy were there and here they had this cornerstone and after an address by the bishop why he handed the hammer to one noted gentleman high in the high army to come over and pronounce his blessing on this cornerstone and he went over and he intoned his blessing in the name of the Father The name of the Son, and the name of the Holy Spirit.
There must have been fifteen other men, Paul. And I was at the outside of the crowd, peeping too curious, too good, and all of a sudden the chairman said, It's nice to have a young preacher in our audience today. I'm going to ask him to come up and pronounce the benediction, Lester Wilson. What doest thou hear of that? Oh, I speak around the crowd. I'm not there and I didn't know what to do with that thing. But I went through the motions. That's what they get, the curiosity. What doest thou give? And I've predicted home for some time, very searchingly, when a Christian knew something, saying something, reading something, he has no business to.
It's inconsistent with Christian principles. What doest thou give? Many a Christian has heard that voice in a modernistic church where they deny the fundamentals of the word of God. What doest thou here? You don't believe what's being taught here. What are you doing? What doest thou? What an unconverted person taking the communion. He knows he's not saved. Certainly there must be a voice as in what are you doing then. This is the Christian thing. what doest thou give so he changes the subject and again that voice speaks go forth and stand upon the mount verse eleven he didn't he didn't obey he stayed in because in verse thirteen he comes out after the storm was all over after all the strong wind and the shattering of the rocks and the earthquake then The still small voice.
It was this that brought him out from that cave way in the back there. All the shattering commotion, the earthquake, the fire, and the wind. He was still hiding in the corner of the cave. And that didn't bring him up. But this still small voice called him. Go! And stand and get out to the front. And he went up. You know what's saying? You will likely point that out tonight, too. He goes over the old story again, that same book of what he wants, what he's had. But it was the still small voice that got him out from the cave, out into the open.
I wondered if you heard the still small voice in your life. As a Christian, And if you're not a Christian, have you ever heard this to the small voice we could do with you? Still, a small voice is more effective than all this excitement, all this noise, first shattering wings and fire and cave and slitting rocks. It says this, God was not in the strong wing. A great wing that threw them up. And it says, God is not in the earth.
A great earthquake. It says, God is not in the earth. A great blazing blast of fire. It says, God is not in the earth. There's still small walls. That was what. All right, Elijah, do you want the spectacular? Do you want something with a lot of noise? A lot of excitement? That seemed to be his temperament. God is teaching him a lesson, a lesson. You listen to the still, small, quiet voice of the Spirit. It's not the blast of the brass in a big orchestra, but it's the fruit.
That's the Spirit. It's not the great commotion and the organization. The forces of nature which were unleashed. that day by God, in the fire of the wind and the earthquake, God unleashed the forces of nature. But he was not in it. Today there are forces of nature, human nature, outworked in the religious world. And God is not in a whole lot. God is in that still small Not in the earthquake, but in the heart rate.
I wonder if we know this. Not in the thunder, but in the falling dew. Spirit of God is likened unto dew, and dew falls in the stillness. That's when the spirit descends upon a dew and a part. That's when you hear the voice of God. Some of the most impressive and fruitful meetings I've ever had in my life have been meetings that were so quiet you couldn't hear pins, you could have heard the pins, just a fuss over the audience and God was speaking and you could feel it in the atmosphere.
The atmosphere was charged with the presence of God and the still small voice of the Spirit was gaining your heart. So you have this still small voice. Not the rolling thunder, but the silent lightning. You never hear light. You can see it. You can hear it in its way, but you never hear. There's the thunder. But it's the lightning that kills, not the thunder. Take the planets out in space. There they are. You don't hear them.
And yet think of the mighty power, the mighty influence in those great bodies as they sleep through space. You don't hear it, but it's there, that mighty power that hasn't yet been passed by man. If it's not, this storm over the ocean may be a hurdle. And the water's being churned and the ships are being tossed about on the angry day. Down in the cushion of the sea, everything is quiet, undisturbed, unaffected by that fearful storm that raises above.
That's the peace, the peace of God, deep in the human heart, the still small voice. You know something of the stillness of the spirit. The Lord said many were coming and going to come near yourselves upon them. Get a look where you can experience something of the presence and stillness and boldness of God. You think of the old Model G-Four, an oracle that you stand in. Going down the road, here's a Roll Royce, you hardly hear it.
Look at the powers. You could take a little pebble and put in a box and make a lot of noise. You don't have much weight. You take a big pebble that fills the box. You don't have any raffle but to have a lot of power and a lot of weight. This is what comes. It's the presence of God. It's the power of God. The still small voice. You heard a voice speaking to your inner soul. And you know what that voice says. That voice is very distinct. It's very clear. You can't misunderstand.
You're speaking the language you know. And that still voice says to you, you're not a sinner. You're not a Christian, rather. You profess to be. But you know you're not. And you try to ward off that still small voice, but it comes again. You haven't been born again. That still small voice. When you yield, then that still small voice will disrepute you. And the lake that was tossed in the disciples were upon you. Jesus says, peace be still.
And there was a great cross. When you hear the voice of the Lord speaking to your heart, oh, that storm, that tempest gives way to a holy tranquility, the peace of God. And with that still small voice come to your assurance, I'm safe, I'm safe. You don't get assurance by commotion, exciting, entertainment, the fantastic, the phenomenon. Elijah prayed that, and God gave him a display of it. And it definitely says God was not him. It's the still small voice of the spirit that speaks down deep.
The human mind. And with that voice comes your soul, called Sally. A consistent light is like the lighthouse keeper. There, if you're in the storm, that beam of light purses the darkness and the clouds out to sea. And that lighthouse keeper day after day and night after night, he's so consistent that light is always beaming up, beaming up, not making any noise. But how many weary sailors, how many weary men on board those ships are incurred? Oh yes, they're made to realize That solid face over there, it has shown us we're getting near the rocks that'll keep us away.
In one way it welcomes and yet it warms that consistent beam of light pouring out from the lighthouse. It's always there. It's guided many a mountaineer through the storm, that beam of light. I wonder that your light and my light is like a lighthouse. We may get discouraged sometime, but oh, there's that light shining, and many a person has been helped to that silent witness, the witness of the still small voice in our heart. I wonder if you know something of that still small voice that changed the light around, when that man who loved that was his contestant was such Ah, it's that inner peace, that inner joy, that inner satisfaction.
And God is me. And you hear him speaking. You catch his whisper. A still small voice of God. You're not a Christian. I hope you obey that voice this morning. It said to Elijah, good afternoon. Second time he did. After that mighty display, the second time he left, it was time to move. Friend, it was time you made a move. It was time to listen to it. It was still a small voice of a spirit. And he said to Christ in your soul, shall we pray. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come before you.
We ask thy blessing upon thy good. May your precious soul be warned by it. We have brought to Christ. thrust of thy people to always be quiet enough and to hear the still small voice of the Spirit. See my word, Christ our Savior. So we're singing Gloria. Just one verse of P. Just as I am without one fee, but that thy blood is shed for me. that thou didst me come to be, all lamb of God I come.