And while I'm thinking of it,
let me remind you there'll be no Wednesday service before Thanksgiving. That'll be a week from this Wednesday.
There'll be no Wednesday night service before Thanksgiving. And I'll be gone next week up
to Todd's Road Grace Church preaching up there and Brother Gary Spracker
is going to be taking the services here next Sunday. I'm going to
read these first eight verses. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus
by night and said unto him, Rabbi, 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 answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto thee, Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How
can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Our Lord answered, Verily
I say unto thee, 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. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeneth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone. that is born
of the Spirit. Our Lord and our God, the one
true and living God, God full of mercy, God who delights in
mercy, full of grace and pity, full of patience and longsuffering,
holiness and righteousness. Lord, though we are so thankful
that there is forgiveness with you, Lord, not only forgive us
what we do, but Lord, forgive us of what we are, what we think,
what we feel. Our attitude, everything is so
unlike you. Please have mercy on us and forgive
us. And I thank you for this day, your day, the blessed day
you've given us, another day of grace, another day of mercy,
another day of life, another day to worship, another day to
call on you, look to you, trust you, another day to walk by faith
and not by sight, another day to live by the grace of God,
not by the works of this flesh, And our Father, we ask that you'd
be pleased to meet the needs of this congregation of people.
We thank you for what you've done for those among us who've
been sick, what you've done for Oban Station, what you've done
for Jim, what you're doing for Kathleen. And Lord Jesus, if
there's any that I don't know about and what you're doing for
Peggy, Lord forgive me, but you know every home, you know every
heart, you know every need. He calls the gospel today to
be powerful, effectual, and may it fall on a heart. May
a seed be sown. May a seed be sown today. For
if you sow the seed, we know it will result in life, result
in fruit. So Lord, bring glory to yourself
in the salvation of our loved ones as it pleases and honors
you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. I want to say a few things about
the new birth. I want to say a few things about
the new birth. Our Lord Jesus Christ here, dealing
with a ruler of the Jews, a master of Israel, one of the Sanhedrin,
one of the 70 elders, a very religious man, dedicated man,
devout man, a Pharisee. And he came by night to see the
Lord Jesus Christ, didn't want to be identified with him, didn't
want to let people see themselves with him. And our Lord told him that You
must be born again. Without the new birth, a man,
he says there in verse 3, he can't be born again, except a
man be born again, he can't see the Kingdom of God. He can't
see it, he can't know it, he can't understand it, he can't
enter into the things of God. It's just an impossibility. The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
neither can he know them. They don't get it, they don't
enjoy it, they don't relish it, they don't like it, they don't
understand it. And he says, you know, except
a man be born and there in verse 5, except a man be born of water
and the spirit, he can't enter into the kingdom
of God. First, he can't see it, he can't understand it, he can't
grasp it. Then he can't enter into it.
And the word, the word water, of course, that's talking about
the word. With the washing of the word by regeneration. The
water here is the word of God. It's the word of God that cleanses
us. It's the word of God that separates
us, sanctifies us, set us apart. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, spiritual words, and they are life. That's why
it's so necessary to hear the gospel. When our Lord Jesus Christ
spoke, he says, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit,
spiritual words come from the spirit of God. And in those spiritual
words are life, life, life. And it's the spirit of God. and
he says the worsening of the water in verse 5 he says the
Spirit of God the Spirit of God's got to come on a man the Spirit
of God's got to come on a man and do something for him got
to hover over him and there's an order followed in the new
creation and it's pictured for us in the old creation in the
new creation what God does for a man in the new birth He pictured
it for us in the first five verses of Genesis. Now look over here,
Genesis Chapter 1. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. There's an order that God follows in this new birth,
in the new creation. As God shined the light out of
darkness, even so he has shined the light of his son into our
hearts to give us the light, the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. And there's an order followed
for us here in the new creation. And it's pictured for us in the
creation. Look what it says. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. Since God created the heaven
and the earth, God's got to create the new creature. God's got to
create life in a man. In fact, the scriptures tells
us in Ephesians 4, it says that we are new creations. As God created the world, He
has to create a new creature. He has to make a person new.
Only God can speak and cause a man to have life. That's why
our Lord Jesus Christ, when He saw three dead people, He's the
only one in the world that could give them life. And that's the
way it is here. God creates. life in a man's
heart, in a man's soul. Look what it says in verse 2.
And the earth was without form and void. Darkness is upon the
face of the deep. Now that's the way a man's life
and soul is. It's without form. It's without
void. And darkness is upon the depth
of their soul. Darkness and understanding. Darkness
in their minds. Darkness in their hearts. Darkness. They love their darkness. And
there's no form, there's no life, there's nothing there. And God's
got to take that and take that darkness and that soul that's
got no form, no life to it. He got to take that and cause
something to happen to it. Look what happens here. And oh,
listen, that's the way it is. And then what has to happen to
a man? And the Spirit of God moved. upon the face of the deep. And that's what's got to happen.
That soul that's in darkness, that soul that don't have no
form, though Christ is not formed in it, that's void without the
Spirit of God, void of life, loves darkness more than light,
the Spirit of God must come and move over that soul. The Spirit
of God's got to come where that darkness is and create light. Got to come where that void's
at and put Christ, who is life, into the soul. And then look
what it says in verse four. And God said, let, verse three,
excuse me. God said, let there be light.
And there was light. Here's this darkness and God
said, light. Light comes on. God says in that
darkness, he says, let the light shine. Light shine. Shines in that darkened understanding. Dye shines in that darkened heart. And all the light comes on. Light
comes flooding into a man's soul. And look what happens here. Now
what happens is, and God saw the light. It's good. Anything God does is good. Oh
my. And God divided that light. from
darkness. He hath translated us from the
kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. God,
God called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. And
oh, listen, God's got to do that. And I tell you what, and He divides
the light from the darkness. I mean you, when He, when He
saves a man, regenerates a man, He takes him out of that darkness
and he makes it over here to be light. Darkness and light.
And you know the only person that needs light and can't see
light and don't enjoy light is somebody that's blind. And only God can take a blind
man and give him eyes. Only God can take a man in darkness
and bring him out of that darkness. And so look back over here with
me in John chapter 3. And old Nicodemus said to our
Lord Jesus Christ in verse 2, he said, we know that you're
a teacher come from God. And no man can do these miracles
except God be with him. And our Lord Jesus said, you
want to know what? You want to talk about a miracle?
You want to talk about miracles? I'm going to tell you a miracle's
got to happen. I WANT TO TELL YOU ABOUT A MIRACLE THAT MUST
TAKE PLACE AND THAT'S THE MIRACLE OF A NEW BIRTH. THAT'S THE MIRACLE
OF REGENERATION, THE MIRACLE OF LIFE IN A DEAD, DARKENED SOUL. AIN'T THAT RIGHT? AND OH, IT'S
NECESSARY, ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY THAT A MAN BE BORN AGAIN. AND
LOOK WHAT HE SAYS DOWN THERE IN VERSE 3. OUR LORD SAID ACCEPT
A MAN, BE BORN AGAIN. He can't enter the Kingdom of
God. Verse 5, excuse me. He can't
enter the Kingdom of God. He can't enter into everlasting
life. He can't enter into the spiritual
realm of God. He cannot enter into anything
that God has. He can't see it. He can't understand
it. He can't go into it. And that's why the Lord says
in verse 6, That which is born of the flesh is flesh. You know,
I was born of the flesh for my mother and my father. And I'll
have this flesh with me till the world ceases to be. But look
what our Lord said over here in John 1, 113. Just turn back
over a couple of pages. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. You can't improve it. You can't do anything about it.
You can't make it better. You can't brag about how good
it is. Flesh is flesh, and flesh means the old nature. Flesh means
the fallen nature. Flesh means what you're born
with naturally. And what you're born with naturally,
you can't change. You can't change it at all. You
can't go back and undo anything that happened. And look what
it said here in John 1 13. Which were born, not of blood,
nor the will of man, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will
of man, but of God. I mean, man can't be born again
by blood, by his blood relations, by people he's related to, and
the will of man cannot change a man's nature. A man, it's not
of him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth, but it's
of God that showeth mercy. And look what he went on to say
here, and the will of man can't do it. But how's a man going
to have this new nature if he's got the flesh can't do it, the
blood can't do it, inheritance can't do it. How's it going to
happen? God's got to do it. God's got to do it. He said,
how can a clean thing be brought out of an unclean? I'll tell
you the only way you can bring a clean thing out of an unclean
is you can't do that. You got to be made new. and look
what our Lord Jesus Christ when you know in Psalm 51 5 and David
said this I was shaping in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me do you know a man when the minute he comes into this life
is that life in the mother's womb that life that comes into
this world it comes into this world born a sinner He don't
become a sinner when he gets a certain age. He don't become
a sinner when he gets 12 years old. He was born a sinner. And
he'll live a sinner. And he'll grow up a sinner. And
he'll grow up sinning. And he'll grow up hating God.
He'll grow up rebelling against God. He'll grow up without God
being at all in his thoughts. He'll grow up hating and hateful
and malice and everything that you can think of will go in the
heart of that man. And he can't, through the life
of him, change his nature. Huh? I tell you, a man is born
a sinner, he's born without God, he's born without Christ, he's
born without righteousness, and he don't understand any of those
things at all. And he don't understand why people
make such a big deal out of it. I tell you what, I don't make
a big deal out of it, God does. Our Lord Jesus is the one that
said, you must be born again. I didn't say it, God said it. And look over here in Ephesians
4.18 with me. I'll show you exactly what I'm
talking about. Ephesians 4.18. Oh, my. You know, this is... We love our children. We do.
We love our children, our grandchildren. We love them. Oh, how we love
them. How we love to be with them,
love to be around them. Love to pray for them. And you
know why we pray for them? Because they're sinners. And they can't change their nature.
They don't know. A man don't even know he's a
sinner. He thinks he's good. He thinks he's doing the best
he can. He thinks he's righteous. He thinks he's doing good things.
He thinks one day eventually he's going to end up being accepted
of God some way, somehow, before it's all said and done. But except God gives a man a
new nature, there ain't nothing going to do good for him, nothing
going to come out right for him, especially in the end. And I tell you, this idea, you
know, that man is some way or another, you know, he's got something
in him that gets better and better and better. No, no, he gets worse
and worse and worse. And when you get self-righteous,
you can't get any worse than that. As not one of us would crawl
into a septic tank, not one of us would crawl into a sewer. But to have a righteousness that
you think is acceptable to God outside of Christ, that's exactly
what you're doing. You're crawling through the sewer
of your depraved nature, thinking that you're smelling right inside
of God, and God can't stand to look at you or smell you or have
anything to do with you until you're born again. And God saves
you by His grace. He'll walk around in the darkness
of his mind, darkness of his will. Look what it said here in Ephesians
4.18. Look what it says now. Having
the understanding darkened. Oh my. Having the understanding darkened,
I know what that's like. I remember it very well. I remember it very well. And
then look what it says, being alienated from the life of God. That alienation means that you
can't understand it. You go to a foreign country,
you become an alien in a foreign country. You're not a citizen
of that country, you're not a citizen of that place, you don't understand
their language, you don't understand their culture, you don't understand
anything about it, and people can say anything they want to
and you won't have a clue what they're saying. And that's what
we're talking about here because man's understanding is darkened.
He's alienated from the life of God. He's not in God's family.
He's not in God's kingdom. He don't understand the language
of God. He don't understand the nature of God. He don't understand
the culture of the new birth. He don't understand the culture
and the life of a church and how people are head over heels
in love with the Lord Jesus Christ and want to live to his glory
and live to his honor. They don't get it. And oh, and
here's the reason, the ignorance that's in them because of the
blindness of their heart. And they're fenced off. They're
fenced off and they can't get in until, you know, it's like when God fenced off Sinai, And God spoke from Sinai. They
said, oh, no, no, no, no, listen. Don't let God speak to us. Moses,
let him tell you. Fits the offer. And it's just like behind the
veil, there's the holy place. And then there's the holiest
of holies. Now listen to me, and behind that veil, that's
where God dwelt. Nobody could see God. Nobody
could come into the presence of God. There was only one man
could come in there once a year behind that veil. That's where
God was. He said he dwelt between the
cherubim. That was his throne. And that
high priest was the only one to go behind that veil, and he
had to take blood behind that veil. and sprinkle it on that
mercy seat and that's the way it is you can't get there's only
one person ever got behind that veil and that's the Lord Jesus
Christ and the only one and he destroyed that veil and the only
way you get in the presence of God now is through the Lord Jesus
Christ and you can't get there until he brings you. Huh? And oh, listen, a man can't
come into God's kingdom without a new birth, without regeneration.
This is true now, always will be true. And I'll tell you something,
heaven is a prepared place for a people that's been prepared
to go. And I'm prepared to go, I'm really
truly prepared to go. Ah, listen, God's got to prepare
a man. Our Lord Jesus said, I'll go
to prepare a place for you. Are you one of them that he went
to prepare a place for? Well, I'll tell you what's for prepared
people, Nicodemus wasn't prepared. And that's why our Lord old Nicodemus
going to brag on Jesus, going to brag on what a fine fellow
he is and all the miracles that he done to our Lord. Stop, Nicodemus. I want to tell you something. I don't want to hear you bragging
about your Phariseeism. I don't want to hear you bragging
about me. I don't want to hear you tell me what a great fellow
I am, what a great teacher I am, what a miracle worker I am. I
don't want to hear about that. I said, I'm going to tell you
something. Except you be born again, you don't have a clue
who I am. Except your regeneration, all I'll ever be to you is a
teacher and a miracle worker. I'll never be your savior. I'll
never be your redeemer. I'll never be somebody that'll
sit on the throne of your heart. And that's why our Lord shut
him up. He's got to shut people up. Don't be talking about my miracles.
You need a miracle done in your heart. Don't be talking about
what a great moral teacher I am. You need more than a moral teacher.
You need life from the dead. Oh, listen. Unregenerate men
have no desire, have no love, no appreciation for the things
of God. Oh my, you can take a fish, Big
old fine fish, beautiful fish, colorful fish, yellow fish, blue
fish, gold fish, don't make no difference. Take it out of the
water. Have you a solid gold plate.
Lay that fish on that plate. But before you do it, perfume
it real, real good. Make it smell good. Put some
flowers all around it. Start playing music for it. Let
that fish hear some good music, some good, oh, pass me not. No, listen, just supper time.
Children, come home. Play us some wonderful music,
and oh, it'll be happy, and it'll be content, enjoying all these
things. No, no, it won't know a thing
in the world's going on. You know why? Because it's out
of its environment. It's a fish out of water. And
the only place it can have life is in the water. And the only
place you can have life is in Christ and Christ must give it
or you're like a fish out of water. Huh? Like a fish out of water. And oh, listen, what's the character
of the new birth? What is it? Our Lord said a man
be born again and that is born of the flesh. But let me tell
you something. A lot of confusion on this new
birth. A lot of confusion about it. The average person thinks
that the new birth is something that he himself can affect and
do. That he can change himself. That
all he's got to do is just start going to church, be like Nicodemus,
go to the tabernacle, go to the synagogue, read the Bible a little
bit. It's something they can affect.
They can do it by moral reformation. They can reform themselves. There's
been a multitude of people over the years that's reformed themselves.
I mean, they've reformed themselves so many times, you know, a drunk
can become a sober man. A drug addict can stop reforming
himself from his drugs. People can reform themselves,
morally reform themselves, but that's not the new birth. That's
a million miles from the new birth. By becoming religious, joining
the church, raising your hand, Nicodemus was super religious.
Things say, well, I've changed my heart. I gave my heart to
Jesus. Well, I'll tell you one thing.
Jesus don't want your heart the way it is. He won't take it the
way it is. He don't want nothing to do with
that rotten, corruptible, stinking, wicked, deceitful thing. You can't give him something
that you know, in fact, he's got to give you the new heart. He's got to take out that old
heart. He's got to take out that stony heart. And if he don't
take it out, you're going to have an old corrupt heart till
the day you die. God don't want your heart. He's
got to give you a new one. He's got to do something for
you. And this change of heart, this change of, there's no place
in the scripture about it. It's unscriptural. It's anti-scriptural. What then is the new birth? Well
now listen to me. What is the new birth? Well I'll
tell you one thing, it ain't. It isn't. I'll use the right
kind of grammar. It isn't. Or it is not. It's not removing anything from
the sinner. God does not take anything from
the sinner. But what it is, it's not removing.
What it is, it's the impartation of a new nature. God takes the
man just like he is. And he comes and he puts a new
nature in that man. He comes and he imparts a new
nature in that man. You see, and I'll tell you how
this works. In my first birth, I received
the nature of my parents. I'm so much like my dad that
I don't know how many people say, boy, you're just like your
daddy. I mean, I got the shape of his head, I've got his hair,
I've got his stature. I've got lots of these gestures. I mean, you know, and I receive
the nature of my parents, mother and father both. In the new birth,
I receive the nature of my heavenly father, the nature of God. The
Holy Spirit begets within us a spiritual nature. We become partakers of the divine
nature. God puts in us a nature that
never was there before, a new nature. The Holy Spirit, He comes and
He gives us a new nature. And one of the fundamental laws
of God in creation is that like begets like. Only like can produce
like. Pear trees produce pears. Apple
trees produce pears. Cattle produce cattle. Horses
produce horses. Hogs produce hogs. Beans produce beans. And he said,
light produces light. So God takes a nature of a man
and he gives him a new nature and God produces light. The spirit
of God produces light. It puts the life of God in a
man. And that's why he says that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. You can't improve it. You can't
make it any better. But he says that that's born
of the spirit is spiritual. Look over in Romans 8 with me.
I'll show you what. Here's a perfect illustration
of this. In Romans, excuse me, Acts. No, Romans, Romans 8. Yeah,
Romans 8. Look what it says here. You know, that that's born of
the flesh, he can't understand, he don't see, he don't get it.
But if a man's born of the Spirit, now watch this, look what our
Lord said here in verse, it says in verse 4, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us. Now listen to it now. who walk not after the flesh,
we don't go after our old nature, don't follow our damning nature,
but after the spirit. And the spirit's the one that
teaches us of this righteousness of Christ. For they that are
after the flesh do mind, enjoy, and after the flesh, they mind
the things of the flesh. People that's fleshly, natural
man, he does the thing that's a natural man does, he goes after
that. But watch this, but they that
are after the spirit, They mind the things of what?
The Spirit. He says there, you see the fleshly
people mind fleshly things. Spiritual people mind spiritual
things. And that's why so many peoples here today, to hear the
gospel, they want to mind spiritual things. Huh? And I tell you, you know a born
of God, the seed of God's put in a man. and the character and
nature of the new birth isn?t the reformation of the outward
man. No, no, it?s not the Kenton education of the natural man.
It?s not purifying the old man but the creation of a new man. I?ll show you that in James chapter
1. Look in James chapter 1. Let?s
look at this. Look what it says. You think I?m Oh, the creation of a new man.
There's not reforming the outward man. Not educating the natural
man. Not the purification of the old
man. It's the new creation of God. It's a new man. James, look
what it says in James 1.18. Of his own will begat he us. Begat means to give life to.
To be born of, of his own will begat he us with what? The word
of truth. That we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creation. Huh? Oh, except a man be in Christ. God makes men new creatures in
Christ. That's what he said in 2 Corinthians
5. Then made new creatures in Christ. You see, after a man's born again,
he has two natures. I never had two natures until
I got born again. My flesh never bothered me. My
mind never troubled me. My sin never troubled me. Until I got regenerated. And
then sin. became so odious. My flesh became
a burden. My old nature became so heavy. And the older I get, the more
I loathe myself. I never knew what sin was until
I was regenerated. I never knew what an evil thought
was until I was regenerated. I never knew what pride was until
I was regenerated. I never knew what self-righteousness
was until I was regenerated. till I was born again. Ain't that right? Oh my. The flesh lusts against
the spirit. War is against it. And the spirit
against the flesh. And you cannot do the things
that you would. And look what our Lord says back
over here in John 3, 7. what he says, John 3, 7. Our Lord says to Nicodemus, gotta be born of the Spirit,
gotta be born spiritual man. Marvel not that I said unto thee
thou must be born again. He said our Lord says marvel
not, don't be amazed, don't begin to wonder, don't begin to Just
stand in astonishment that I told you you must be born again. And
you know why this is strange to him? Because all this man
knew was long. All he knew was Phariseeism.
All he knew was the, all he knew was rules to keep, laws to keep,
washings to do, ceremonies to keep, feasts to keep, holy days
to keep. That's all he knew. All he knew
was works, works, works, works, works. And all he knew about
salvation was something that he had to do. And now our Lord comes along
and teaches him that salvation is a gift of God. God must do
something for you and not you do something for God. It's not
what you do for God, it's what God does for you. And it's an
event in which man is necessarily passive. He's passive in this
new birth. What do I mean by that? A person
can't do nothing about his own birth. What did we have to do
with our first birth? Was we not passive in that? We didn't choose our mothers,
our fathers, our nature, our stature, our color of our eyes.
We didn't choose any of those things. We were passive in it. And that's what we are in this
business of the new birth. We are passive in it. God comes
and gives life. It's not a moral duty, but a
divine decree from God himself. And then when our Lord says you
must be born again, he isn't saying by all means, see to it
that you're born again. No, what he's saying, something
has to happen to you. Something outside yourself must
happen to you. Something's got to happen to
you. Oh, Nicodemus standing there, he said, what in the world is
going on here? And oh, listen, how the, look out how this process
of the new birth takes place. Here's the process of it. This
is, this, now I'm telling you something. He said here in verse
8, The wind blows where it listeth, and there hath the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.
So is every one that's born, and that word Spirit, see that's
capitalized. The wind blows where it pleases.
That's what it says. And the wind here means the Holy
Spirit. Now, the wind does. It blows
exactly where it pleases, don't it? The weatherman can say, you
know, the wind's going to come out of here at such and such
speed and they're going to go this way and they're going to
go that way. They can tell you all that stuff. But the wind blows where it pleases. Nobody can control the wind.
When it blows, it blows exactly where it wants to blow. Is that
not right? And our Lord has hid the beginning
and processes of life. That's a mysterious thing. A
woman don't know she's got a baby in her until several weeks after
it happens, a while after it happens. And that's the way it
is in this new birth. A person, the God will put that
life in a man. But when that life starts to
manifest itself, he knows it. Nobody else may not know it,
but he knows it. That we live, we know that we live. But how
we live, we can't tell. We can't tell. I can't tell you
when I was born again. I can't. I just know that I've
got life. I know I've got it now. I can't
tell you an event back there you know that, bam! But I know that one day life
manifested itself because I needed God more than I needed anything
in this world. I needed the Lord Jesus Christ
more than I needed anything else in this world. God can take anything
he pleases from me and out of my life. But one thing I don't
want to ever lose, I don't want to lose my relationship with
Christ. And that's what he's talking
about here, see. Life becomes evident to the consciousness.
Even a baby when it's born, the life becomes evident to the consciousness.
It's manifest in our senses, in our hearing, in our seeing,
in our smelling, in our taste, in our emotions, in our understanding.
Things begin to make sense to us. Things begin to come all
together. We start seeing things we never saw before, hearing
things we never heard before, and tasting of grace when all
we ever taste before is works and law. And that's what he's
talking about, life born of the Spirit. And this verse of scripture
teaches us three things. Three things. The wind blows. That's a fact. The wind bloweth. The wind bloweth. That's a fact.
And it blows where it pleases. It's sovereign in its actions.
The wind blows where it pleases and it's mysterious in the way
of its coming and going. It'll just come and then be gone. Be just calm as it can. Not only does it blow words it
pleases, sovereign in its action, but it's irresistible. Can you
resist the wind? Can you stop the wind? The wind
comes in power. And that's the way the gospel
does. That's the way the Holy Spirit does. It comes in power. It breaks down men's prejudices.
It subdues men's wills. It overcomes everything that
opposes God and everything that opposes Christ. And you'll end
up crying out, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And then look what else he says.
Oh, listen, that's the first thing the wind blows. That's
a fact. And he says, you hear the sound thereof. You hear the
sound thereof. Oh, that's evidence of the fact.
You hear the sound of the wind. When we first moved down here
years and years and years ago, timber all around us, The wind
would go to blow it. It'd go through the trees. And
I don't know how many times I'd go outside to see if a truck
was coming or a train. It sounded like a train coming.
Because it would hit those trees and it made such noise. And I'd
say, man, why didn't it work? I wasn't used to that. I was
going through the tops of them trees. Now I'm used to it. But I'll tell you what, I know
the wind blows. And I hear the sound of the wind. You hear a sound. Boy, that wind's
high today, ain't it? Boy, that wind, that breeze sure
feels good here this August afternoon, don't it? Let's go sit out on
a shade tree and feel that wind blow over us. And the wind, you know, something
about it, it's invisible. We can see all other elements.
We can see rain, we can see snow, we can see lightning. But you
can't see the wind. You can see the effects of the
wind blowing. It'll blow leaves off of trees.
It'll bend trees. It'll make sound going through
trees. It'll lay, you know, it'll lay corn down. Sometimes it's irregular blows
hard sometimes it blows light, but you can hear it and you can
see its effect Sometimes it's just a gentle breeze barely perceptible
Sometimes it comes raging gusting and tearing up everything in
its sight But look what else he said here's the third thing
he says But you don't know where it comes from but you can't tell
where it coming and where it's going That's the mystery behind
the fact. I tell you what, wind is indispensable. You don't know where it's coming
from and you don't know where it's going. And that's the way the wind is.
It comes and it's gone. But I tell you that, that soul
that has experienced the new birth knows he has new life. He knows it. And he enjoys the
evidence of it. It may have been just a gentle
breeze that went across your soul. And then again he may come
as a raging, raging, gusting wind and just overwhelmed your
soul. But you know that the wind blowed
across your soul. You know that the wind came and
done something for you. You enjoy the evidence. But how
the Holy Spirit operates upon a man's soul and subdues his
will and creates the new life in him, that's the deep things
of God. I don't know how it happens,
I don't know who it's happening for, and I don't know when it's
happening. But I know that's the way God does it. Has He ever blowed on you? Was it just a gentle breeze and
you say, Man, I understood everything that preacher said today. Not
only did I understand it, but I enjoyed it. I rejoiced in it. It sounds like he's telling about
my life. He's talking like he knows what
went on in my heart when God saved me by his grace. When God
gave me that life. And I tell you what, when a man
gets life, here's the thing about it. When a man gets life, God
gives him that life and he's passive in this new birth. That
wind blows on his soul. And you know what conversion
is? He said they were converted. That means that when that life's
in that, that life turns to God. That's conversion. It turns to God. Starts crying
out to God. Starts crying out to show its
need. It's like a baby when it's born. It don't know it's mom
at first. All it knows is that it come
into this world, starts crying. Starts crying. First thing they
do for it, check it's eyes, ears, put stuff on it, wash it up,
clean it up real good. But this screams and hollers
and this kicks and gets red all over. It don't know where it
came from, don't know who it's mom and daddy is, but it gives
evidence it's got life. But the difference is this, that
when God gives life to a man, he starts crying out the same
way that baby does. And when that baby's put in that
mama's arms, That baby just eases down and quietens down and feels
that gentleness and that love. And that's the way it is when
you get to Christ. You feel that love and you enjoy it and you
rest. Alright. Oh our blessed, blessed Savior. Oh, your word you told us it
wouldn't return unto you void. It's like the rain that comes
down. It's like the... It's like the snow that comes
down. It'll always do and bring forth fruit that you ordained
for it to do. And I ask for the Lord Jesus'
sake that you do your work. I know you will. And you bring
glory to yourself in doing it. In Christ our Lord's name I pray.
Amen.