May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of John chapter 3 and we'll read verse 8. The Gospel
of John chapter 3 and reading verse 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof. but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Well, it's wonderful to be able
to read the very words of Jesus as he spoke to Nicodemus. on this wonderful occasion. And
how clear it is that the words that the Lord spoke to Nicodemus
were not only for him or to him, but really they have relevance
and importance to the whole church of God. Indeed, we should recognize
that such words as this really refer to everyone, you and me. This word is not just to be cast
aside and to be ignored as something which is rather interesting,
but it should be under the Holy Spirit's blessed influence, have
a gracious effect upon each one of us, so that we have the personal
evidence that as the Lord says, we are born of the Spirit. This means the work of the Holy
Spirit in our hearts, in our souls. So that brings about this
great and glorious blessing of the new birth. Nicodemus, of
course, could not understand it. A natural man cannot understand
it. And that's why the wonderful
Lord gives us this influence, this wonderful insight really
into the relevance of how this occurs, this new birth, being
born again. He says to Nicodemus, marvel
not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. naturally of course people will
marvel and we will marvel and say well how is this possible
of course it's not a physical situation it's a spiritual situation
and it's that which is the work of the Holy Spirit and so how
wonderful it is to be able to realize that we have a God, God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And here
we see set before us, so specifically, the wonderful work of the Holy
Spirit. The Lord gives this gracious
illustration for us, that how this occurs. He tells us about
the wind. Well, we all know about the winds,
don't we? We've had some windy days recently,
and we know how the wind does blow. And we don't really know
where it comes from. And we can see it generally coming,
and then sometimes changing round direction very quickly, very
suddenly. And so the Lord says, the wind
bloweth. Yes, we know that. Where it listed,
that means wherever it will. And now here is the sound And
we do hear the sound of the wind, don't we? Sometimes it's less,
sometimes it's more, sometimes it's very great. But we do hear
the sound of the wind, but we can't tell where it comes from,
and we can't tell where it goes. And that's why the Lord then
says, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. It's just like that. The wind
blows, the Lord comes to us, and we don't know how he comes,
but there is an effect. There is an effect. We know and feel the effect of
the influence and the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We know and feel the effect of
it, but at the time, we may not really realise what it was. It's a wonderful blessing for
us to have the evidence that this Holy Spirit has come and
has flown into our hearts, into our soul, and we have the understanding
and personal knowledge the Lord has looked upon us. We cannot
see the wind, but we can feel it. We can feel the wind, maybe
very slight, maybe very powerful. But if we're outside in the open,
we can feel the wind. And that's really like it is
with the blessed work of the Holy Spirit in our souls. We know that there is a gracious
effect upon us There is a change in our lives. And that change
has meant that we have different outlook. That change has meant
that we consider things differently. Things that we ignored, things
that we didn't want to think about, now occupy our minds. because it is the work of the
Holy Spirit of God. And what a blessing therefore
if you and I can find out in our lives, and remember this
word is to everyone, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Everyone
who is born of the Spirit will know in measure something of
the gracious effect of the work of the Holy Spirit. It may be
a very, as it were, light breeze, maybe a much stronger breeze. You may ask, well, what do you
mean by that? Well, we do have examples in
the Word of God to suit both these cases. First of all, we
have perhaps the case of Lydia in the Bible. She was down by
the riverside praying with the apostle Paul, and he went and
preached to them by the riverside. And we are told just a very simple
statement, that the Lord opened her heart to receive the things
that Paul spoke. That was a very, might say a
small breeze, but it was a very important breeze. And it was
a very effectual breeze because she was a changed person. She was one of the, everyone,
the Lord in her come and had touched her heart. And she was
therefore born again. by the Holy Spirit of God. And
then of course we have the case of the Apostle Paul himself,
on that dramatic conversion on the Damascus Road, when the Lord
came and spoke to him powerfully and shone a great light into
his heart, a light so powerful it was above the brightness of
the midday sun in the Middle East, which of course is very,
very bright. and it had a tremendous effect
upon the Apostle Paul. But the effect in one sense was
no different to that of Lydia, because the effect on both of
the work of the Holy Spirit was to bring them this wonderful
blessing of the new birth. Now as we consider those cases,
We need to look into our own heart this morning, and to see
whether the Holy Spirit has blown into our soul. The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and there hearest the sound thereof. But canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, so is every
one that is born of the Spirit. To know whether this Holy Spirit
has blown into our hearts, so that we are now a different person,
so that we are a changed person, because we now possess wonderfully,
gloriously the life of God in our soul. The blessed work of the Holy
Spirit produces that heart to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and how necessary this is in our life. Read about the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Word of God. He came into this
world to seek and to save his church and what a wonderful Thing
it is, if you and I, therefore, are numbered amongst those for
whom he came, and those for whom he died, and those, therefore,
whom you will receive unto himself. You know, we're fast, all of
us, hastening through our little life, aren't we? And the day
approaches when we shall spend our last day upon this earth. when time for us will be no more,
and how needful it is therefore that we are able to find this
blessed work of the Holy Spirit within our hearts. Again, it's
not something which you and I can produce ourselves, it's the work
of God, it's the sovereign work of God and what a wonderful mercy
it is therefore to remember that we have such a God who looks
upon us, a God who is now ascending up into heaven. You see Nicodemus
having had these things explained to him, he still said how can
these things be? And the Lord said to him we are
not now a master in Israel, no it's not these things very very
I said to thee we speak that we do know and testify that we
have seen and you receive not our witness and goes on to say
and if I've told you earthly things and you believe not how
should he believe if I tell you of heavenly things and no man
has ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven
even the son of man which is in heaven. And then he goes on
to speak these glorious words about himself. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life. You may remember that Moses was
commanded to make that brazen serpent and to put it on a rod
because there was that plague which had smitten so many of
the Israelites and they were dying all around. And yet there
was that good news to look to that serpent and those that looked
lived. And that's really the same in
our spiritual life. as the Lord blows upon us and
directs us to the saviour of sinners. As we may realise that
we are indeed lost sinners, we need the salvation of Almighty
God and that salvation can only be found in and through the finished
work the Lord Jesus Christ. Well what a blessing it is for
us today on this Lord's Day morning to realize first of all our need
of salvation. That need is brought about by
the work of the Holy Spirit convincing us of our sins, convincing us
that because of our sins Our just dessert is to perish in
them and to spend eternity in hell. That's a very terrible
thought, isn't it? A very terrible thought. But
that's where we're all heading, but for the blessed work of the
Holy Spirit. You might say the wonderful grace
of God, the unmerited favor of God toward us. and spoken of
Lydia, and spoken of the Apostle Paul, and they both received
the grace of God. They weren't special people.
They weren't people who'd done anything to merit the notice
of Almighty God. They were sinners of the earth.
They were like you and me, needing salvation. And the Lord came
to them on those particular days in their little life. We can
say very clearly what it was. It was the sovereign grace of
God. And that's very humbling. If
you and I should have the evidence that the Lord God Almighty has
looked upon us in a similar way to Lydia and Paul, obviously
not in the same way, but in a similar way, insofar that he has produced
that Realization in our own hearts that we are a sinner, we need
salvation. And it's directed us to the wonderful
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the chapter goes on as
we've just come to this 15th verse, whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have eternal life. But this morning,
what a mercy it is if God enables us to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's a wonderful blessing. It's
not something that you and I can just produce ourselves. Many
people just think and say, well, well, I believe. And they think
everything is therefore finished and there's no need to therefore
do anything else well in one sense that's true but the other
sense is of course that we need to know why we need to believe
and we need to know therefore that we are unworthy of any favor
of any notice and to understand the wind has blown the Holy Spirit
has come upon us and As the Apostle Paul tells us
when he wrote to the Ephesians, very beautiful words, he says
this, and you, may that be you, and you hath he quickened, that means
made spiritually alive, you hath he quickened, who were dead,
What a sad condition to remain in a dead condition. What a blessing
it is to have had the work of the Holy Spirit, this wind blowing
in our hearts, so that what the Apostle spoke to the Ephesians
is true of us today. And you hath be quickened who
were dead. If you and I are dead, have been
dead, a dead person doesn't know anything, anything spiritually. The spiritual wind, the Holy
Spirit hasn't blown upon them. What a mercy today, if you and
I can say, by the grace of God and your Praise God for it, because it's
all of his grace. Pathy Quicken, who were dead,
a time when you had no spiritual knowledge, and the Holy Spirit
had not blown upon you, the wind hadn't blown upon you, you were
dead. A wonderful blessing, a wonderful
time to come, so that now you are able to find that we are
in this number who have been made spiritually alive. And the
apostle goes on to tell what we were like. We're in time past. You walked according to the course
of this world, according to the Prince, for the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh, in the children of disobedience.
That means we followed the devil. That means we followed his influences. That means we turned away from
the things of God. That means what we were really
saying was, we will not have this man to reign over us. We will not listen to the words
of Jesus. We will not hear his voice. And
we harden our hearts and we turn away from almighty God. Well,
the word of God tells us today, if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts for a blessing when the Holy Spirit comes in
and softens our hard hearts and gives us a heart to desire. spiritual blessings and to follow
those things which are eternal. Well then, coming back to this
situation this morning, these words are very powerful words
really, the wind bloweth where it listeth. We don't hear about it, but what
we do know is it has an effect upon us and the effect upon us
is to produce a change within us. Because what it means is,
we are a new creature. We're a different person. We're
a different person. Well, is that true? Is that true
in your life this morning? Is that true in my life? Are
we a different person? One thing I know is that the
manuscript is where I was blind. But now I see, a dead person
is blind, he can't see anything, can he? Or she, can't see anything. What a mercy, if therefore the
Holy Spirit has opened our blind eyes, so that we do see. And that means that this blessed
Holy Spirit has shone into our hearts, The wind's blown, the
wind's blown upon us and we are therefore a new creature and
we are wonderfully favoured. Every single person found in
heaven has been born again by the Spirit of God. Everyone who
is found in heaven has been born of the Spirit of God. There are
no exceptions. My friends, you and I today must
have this personal knowledge that the Lord has come, the Lord
has blessed us, the Lord has opened our eyes, and the Lord
has directed us to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. so that he gives us that grace
then to believe. It's the grace of God to believe,
and yet it's a wonderful gospel statement, whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. What that
means very simply and clearly is, if we are not amongst those
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are eternally
lost. That means we shall perish. Perish
in our sins. We shall never be saved. We shall
never be found in glory. We shall never be found with
the Lord Jesus Christ. We shall be eternally lost. It's
a very terrible, terrible thing to consider. Yet how powerfully
true it is. And so we have this wonderful
account of Nicodemus. Nicodemus, it's very interesting
to see how he came to the Lord. There was a man, Nicodemus, a
ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night. He was perhaps
too embarrassed to come to the Lord Jesus because he was a ruler
of the Jews. He was an important person. But what do we see? We see the grace of God producing
in this man Nicodemus a desire to know the truth. He needed to know about himself. What a good thing that is. Whatever
condition you and I may be in, how important, perhaps you may
think we are, and of course before God we're not very important
at all. And yet he says, we know, he
says, the same kind of Jesus by night saying, we know that
thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Jesus answers
him in perhaps not the way that you and I would expect. The Lord
doesn't waste words. He doesn't waffle. He goes directly
to the roots of the matter. He tells him, except a man be
born again and You cannot see the kingdom of God. It's a very
direct statement, a very unexpected statement. And perhaps in our
lives, we may receive from God perhaps a word, perhaps a line
of scripture, which we may not understand initially. This man
was a clever man, but he didn't understand this. And don't be
surprised if you don't understand everything. Things may be misty
to you, they may not be clear to you. Well pray to God that
he may come and give you a clear view of yourself and a clear
view of himself. Jesus reiterated these words
to him. And he said again, except a man
be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. You
and I must be born of the Spirit. We must have a spiritual experience. We must have a spiritual testimony. You know, we hear, don't we,
of people giving a testimony, and that means a testimony of
their spiritual experience. That means a testimony of their
dealings with God, or perhaps we ought to say the dealings
of God with them, and how the Lord has graciously come to them and worked
in their hearts. And so he says again to Nicodemus,
marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. People
will ridicule such statements, but the Word of God is true. The Word of God does not change. The Word of God is so relevant
for us today, as it was in the day when the Lord Jesus spoke
to Nicodemus. A very powerful sermon, we may
say, a very short, But very relevant, it is not the length, it is not
the quantity, but it is the quality of the Word of God which comes
and penetrates into our heart. Remember on that wonderful day
of Pentecost, It was the work of the Holy Spirit, very different
to this. Here was Nicodemus, just one
person. The day of Pentecost, there were
thousands there to hear the preaching of Peter. And on that time, what
occurred? There was a sound from heaven
as of a rushing mighty wind. This wasn't just a little breeze,
it was a rushing mighty wind. And it filled all the house.
where they were sitting. It was nonetheless the same work
of the Holy Spirit. Well, may you and I have the
evidence then of this wonderful work of the Holy Spirit in our
hearts. May we never pass by and forget
this very simple illustration that the Lord Jesus Christ gave
to Nicodemus. The very simple illustration,
And it's not one that you and I should forget, is it? But we
do need to know that the Holy Spirit has blown upon us, it's
touched us, it's had an effect upon us. We know and feel the effect of
it, at a time perhaps we don't realise what it was. Well, this
morning, let us look at ourselves. We don't look around, do we?
We don't look at anybody next to us or people in the room or
whatever. The question must come to ourselves. Let's see whether we possess this new birth. Vital it is. Without it, We are
eternally lost. With it, we are eternally saved. And if we are, then we can enter
into the last verse of this chapter we read together, this third
chapter, the last verse, verse 36. This is what it says. 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
provideth on him. These are the words from the
Savior. They're very simple words, aren't
they? They're very true words. You don't have to really work
them out as to what they mean. And what a favor then for us
to be amongst those who have received the grace of God, which
is the free unmerited favor of God, to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thus to be blessed with the grace and glorious gift
of everlasting life. We spoke of this word recently,
everlasting, as some of you may remember. It is a very powerful
word. It is a very necessary word.
It is a very glorious word and it is a very solemn word because
to be found therefore in glory enjoying everlasting life is
a wonderful, wonderful privilege. And all those who are there enjoying
it are those who have received on earth the blessed gift of
the work of the Holy Spirit. It's blown into their hearts
and revealed to them their need of a saviour. And what it's done
is this. It's made the Lord Jesus Christ
a living reality. It's made the Lord Jesus Christ
a precious reality. It's not something to be just
passed over. No, may the cry be, give me Christ
or else I die. If that emanates from our heart,
it's because the Holy Spirit loaned upon us and produced in
us that which you and I could not produce ourselves. The Word of God leaves no room
for you and I to glory in what we've done. The Word of God directs
us very clearly to glory in what Christ has done for us. Now what
a mercy this morning, if you and I can look into your heart,
look into my heart, and find there the wonderful evidence
of the love of Christ toward us, that love so great that it
brought the Lord Jesus Christ willingly into this sinful world
to die in our place, in order to take away all our sins. Now, my friends, if you and I
know that, it's because the Holy Spirit has revealed it unto us. Again, it's not something that
you and I can learn naturally, it's the blessed work of the
Holy Spirit within us. And if the Holy Spirit has come
and produce that work within us that will never be removed
because the Lord never works in vain. Those things which he
does for us are done and they have eternal values with them
and we can rejoice truly before God that he's looked upon such
unworthy sinners and cause them to hear his voice and cause them
to understand the blessed work of the Saviour on their behalf. And therefore in their life there's
been this amazing change. Jesus at one time meant nothing
to them. Is it nothing to you or you that
pass by? Nothing at all. And then the
work of the Holy Spirit came. The wind blew and revealed Christ. to them. There they were, perishing
sinners, and there was Christ revealed to them as the great
and glorious Savior of sinners. Well, that'll be a wonderful
mercy, and that'll be a wonderful blessing, if the Holy Spirit
has done that. And if he has not, do not go
on your way, assuming everything is somehow going to work out
all right. No, my friends, you and I need
to know. We need to know that it is well with our soul. We do need to know that the work
of the Holy Spirit has come upon us. We do need to know that we
do possess that new life. We do need to know that we are
born again. These things are vital. You may say, well, what do you
mean by vital? I mean, without them, you and I will perish. in our sins and spend a lost
eternity in hell. That's the difference. And therefore,
what a great mercy for us today, if we are blessed with this spiritual
understanding, and that Christ Jesus is a living reality to
us, not just some historical figure, but he is our personal
saviour. He is the one who has redeemed
us of all our sins. Yes, what a glorious redeemer
we have and how unworthy we are and what cause it will be to
praise God, what cause it will be to thank God for his mercy
toward us, to thank him for his great grace which has come upon
us, to thank him that he looked upon us lost and ruined in the
fall, unworthy of any notice. And he came to us as he did Lydia,
as he did Paul, and as he did here really with Nicodemus. You
may well say, well, I don't see any evidence of Nicodemus being
a believer. Well, you have to go on, go on
about three years. And go on about three years,
you will find then but it was Nicodemus who came indeed early
in the morning to bring and to help with the Lord Jesus Christ
being placed in the sepulcher. We can read in the Word of God,
in chapter 19, verse 39, and there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus
by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 100
pound weight. You see, he now was bold. He didn't now come by night. He had done, but now he was willing
to come and demonstrate his love for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. There will be therefore a gracious
effect in our lives to demonstrate that we are indeed those who
receive the work of the Holy Spirit, upon whom the spiritual
wind has blown. There will be the evidence of
it so that Our God is honoured and glorified. We live on this
earth for one purpose, to honour and glorify our God. Therefore, the evidence of the
special work of the Spirit will not be something which will be
secret, it will be something which will be revealed, something
that will be evidence so that the Lord's name is lifted up
and honoured and glorified. You and I, will truly desire to praise our
God for his mercy and for his love and his grace in redeeming
our souls, giving his life and shedding his most precious blood
upon that cross at Calvary. And we'll come and say, why me,
oh blessed God, why such a wretch as me? We must forever lie in
hell. We're not salvation free. Glory to God for his great and
glorious work of redemption. Well, this morning, let us ponder
these words. May they sink into our hearts.
May we remember what they mean. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof. Canst not tell whence it cometh
and whither it goeth. So, so is every one that is born
of the Spirit. May that apply to every one of
us. Amen.