I want to let you know that I hear voices.  And so do you!  I will be rifling through the cabinets looking for something sweet to eat and I can hear my mother’s voice saying, “Stay out of the cookie jar!  My mother died in 1971, but I still hear her voice.   It is uncanny how I can be out doing something and hear Ellen’s voice.  Or I might even hear your voice going off in my head.

                    How do we know when the Holy Spirit is prompting us?  I want to answer that question by stating that the Holy Spirit has already prompted the true Christian in three distinct ways.  He had to do it in order for you to be a Christian.

                    What fascinates me is that some of you may find yourself right in the middle of becoming a Christian.  You may find that what I have to say today is what you are experiencing right now.  If so, you are close to being a Christian, you are close to being born again.

                    Let me read to you an interesting passage on this.   In John 6, listen to this dialogue between Jesus and some Jewish men.  “41 At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” 43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No-one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

                    I want to point out this last phrase.  No one can come to God unless God draws them to Him.  The work of the Holy Spirit is to draw men to himself.  If you are drawn to God through Jesus Christ, then you are experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

                    In another passage Jesus says, “ But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”   (John 12:32, NIV.)  The work of drawing people to the cross, to Jesus, is the work of the Holy Spirit.

                    How can we tell and sense the promptings of the Holy Spirit?  Jesus gives us three in John 16:8-11. 

                    “8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” (John 16:8-11, NIV)

                    First, anytime you sense that you are wrong not to believe in Jesus, that is the Holy Spirit prompting you and working in you.  Anytime you feel like you have been wrong about Jesus and that you should trust Him; that is the work of the Holy Spirit.

                    Second, anytime you sense that Jesus is righteous, that he is right, that in spite of all you may have heard, Jesus is the sinless Son of God, then it is the Holy Spirit that is prompting that thought in your head.

                    Third, anytime you sense that the world around you is a sinking ship and that Jesus is the lifeboat, anytime you are tempted to seek refuge in Jesus, that is the prompting of the Holy Spirit in your life.

                    Let me explain.  Verse 8 tells us that the Holy Spirit will convict or reprove the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.  What sin? Verse 9 tells us that the sin the Holy Spirit tackles is the sin of unbelief. 

                    Verse 8 tells us that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of righteousness.  Verse 10 tells us that Jesus isn’t going to hell; he is going to the Father.  He was right all along.

                    Verse 8 tells us that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of judgment.  Verse 11 tells us that the prince of this world is under judgment, not Christ.

                    In other words, the Holy Spirit is the one who breaks our resistance to Jesus. 

                    When we have these promptings we need to respond to them.  What has drawn some of you to this church, to hear this Bible, to even be here this morning is the Holy Spirit.  And you have felt something in side that says that maybe you are on the wrong side of the fence, and that you need to come over to Jesus’ side.  That is the Holy Spirit working in you.

                    You may have sensed that Jesus is not as bad as the newspapers and people make him out to be.  You may believe that Jesus is from God, that he is right.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit. 

                    This is what happened to the disciples.  They were with Jesus for three years.  Listen to what happens in verse 28.  “28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” 29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.” 31 “You believe at last!” Jesus answered.” (John 16:28-31, NIV)

                    Why did they believe Jesus was from God and going to the Father?  This was the work of the Holy Spirit.

                    And you may feel that you are under judgment, that the world is under judgment.  That life is hopeless.  But you must admit that Jesus is not under judgment.  The cross was not for a guilty man, but for an innocent one.  That is the prompting of the Holy Spirit in you.

                    Everyone who is truly born again knows that once they didn’t believe and now they do.  They know that Jesus is from God, with God and is right in all he did.  They know that this world is judged and that through Christ, they have escaped the judgment of the world. 

                    And they responded to God.

                    If someone is wrestling with the question, “Should I believe in Jesus?”  Or “Is Jesus really from God?”  or “Is this world under judgment?”  then you can be assured, the Holy Spirit is prompting those thoughts.

                    It is exciting when we see the Holy Spirit working.  If you are talking to someone who is not yet a Christian and you see them thinking about trusting Christ, you are seeing the Holy Spirit at work convicting them of the sin of unbelief.  If you see them struggling with whether Jesus is from God or with God or is God, the Holy Spirit is prompting them.  If your friend is struggling with issues of judgment and sensing personal condemnation and is asking, “Is Jesus approved or condemned by God?”  then you know the Holy Spirit is working.  And it is exciting.

                    If you are here and these issues are your issues, talk to your friend who you know is a Christian.  Ask the questions.  Trust me when I say the Holy Spirit is prompting these questions in order to bring you to faith. 

                    And when you believe, speak up and say so.  Tell us.  Confess it before God and man.