The Wind Blows Wherever it Will John 3:8

The Wind Blows Wherever it Will John 3:8
The New Testament reveals four commands given to the Christian relating to the Holy Spirit. Two are positive and two are negative.
“Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
“Live by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16).
“Do not grieve the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:30).
“Do not quench the Spirit"(I Thessalonians 5:19).
I will spend the next few weeks talking about the Holy Spirit.  Please feel free to comment.  No need to !  And you may interject your thoughts at any time!
I. The Wind of the Spirit
Tonight we begin by looking at the words of Jesus in John 3:8. This verse occurs during the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews who came to Jesus by night. When Jesus said, “You must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God,” Nicodemus did not understand the concept. So Jesus explained that flesh produces flesh (speaking of human birth), but only God’s Spirit could give new birth in the realm of the spirit (v. 6). Then Jesus added this word of explanation in verse 8: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” Pay special attention to two words in this verse: “wind” and “Spirit.” Though they are two words in English, in Greek they come from the same word: pneuma. We get the English words pneumatic (an air-powered drill) and pneumonia (a disease of the lungs) from this Greek word. Depending on the context, pneuma can mean breath, wind or spirit. In this case, the same Greek word has two meanings in the same verse.
Wind serves as a particularly good symbol of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus points out to Nicodemus, wind by its very nature is invisible and unpredictable. The wind that blows today from the north may blow from the south tomorrow or from the east or west or not at all. We feel its effect and hear it whistling through the leaves, but the wind itself is totally free from man’s control. Wind exists everywhere on the earth, is continually in motion, and may be experienced in varying degrees—from a slight breeze to a mighty rushing wind to the destructive force of a tornado. In a closed room, the air soon becomes stagnant. But when the window is open, the incoming wind blows out the stifling air. On a hot summer’s day, a cool breeze refreshes everyone. Just as the wind is everywhere in the world, even so the Holy Spirit’s work is universal, not limited to one country, region, or race of humanity. Similar to the unpredictability of the wind, no one can say for certain where the Spirit will blow in great power today or tomorrow. As the wind is beyond man’s control, in the same way no one can control the work of the Spirit. As the wind blows from the heavens, so the Holy Spirit is sent from heaven.
According to Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper, “The Holy Spirit leaves no footprints.” Like the wind he is invisible, unpredictable and uncontrollable. Have you ever tried to catch the wind in a bottle?  It can’t be done. The same is true of the Holy Spirit. He is sovereign and will not be taken captive by any person. Like the wind, we experience it in different ways. So it is with the Spirit. He comes as he wills, and he manifests himself in different ways. And as the story of Nicodemus demonstrates, no one can predict when he will invade a human heart. Have you ever heard of a person that had responded to the gospel after just one invitation? Sometimes you have to talk to a person again and again, and even then, they may not respond. Why does one person respond immediately while others take much more persuasion? While there are many explanations, one part of the answer is the Holy Spirit. Like the wind, he blows where he wills, and no one can control his movements.
II. The Descent of the Spirit
Acts 2 describes the descent of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, as the small band of disciples waited and prayed in Jerusalem. According to Acts 2:1-4,
Then the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

four things happened in this order:
A. The sound of a violent, rushing wind filled the house.
B. Tongues of fire rested on each of them.
C. They were filled with the Holy Spirit.
D. They began to speak in other languages.
Wind … Fire … Holy Spirit … Languages. Later Peter preached the gospel, 3,000 were saved in one day, and the Christian church was born. Note the sequence again:
Wind … Fire … Holy Spirit … Languages … Preaching … Conversion.
Why does the wind come first? Because the Holy Spirit begins his work by blowing through each heart, preparing them for further work to come. So it is with us today. We need the wind of the Spirit to blow through our hearts,
Replacing fear with faith,
Replacing anger with forgiveness,
Replacing doubt with hope,
Replacing anger with love,
Replacing judgment with grace,
Replacing bitterness with trust,
Replacing pride with humility,
Replacing envy with kindness,
Replacing cowardice with courage,
Replacing impatience with perseverance,
Replacing harshness with compassion,
Replacing selfishness with generosity.
We need the wind of God to blow through our midst today. All our work will come to nothing without the Holy Spirit to bless our efforts. We may plan and organize and strategize and publicize to our heart’s content. We may meet and write papers all night and all day. We may discuss and ponder and consider all the alternatives. We may use all the wisdom we can muster, but unless we are changed on the inside by the Holy Spirit, nothing will change and our work will mean nothing for the sake of the Kingdom.
We need the Holy Spirit to come in a new way because there is always more of God to experience. In Ephesians 3:19 Paul prayed that his readers might be “filled with all the fullness of God.” This is the whole goal of the Christian life. Don’t water it down. The word for “filled” has the idea of being dominated by something. If you are filled with rage, then rage will dominate your life. If you are filled with love, then love dominates your life. If you are filled with joy, then joy dominates your life. When you are filled with God, then God himself will dominate your life. It pictures the total transformation of the human personality by virtue of the presence of God in your life. This is an amazing thought—to be filled up with all the fullness of God. Don’t shy away from the implications of this truth. As believers we have been created to be the containers of God. He desires to pour his life into ours and to fill us until we’re full. This prayer will never be completely answered in this life. And in eternity we will continue to experience more and more of the “fullness of God,” and we will never (not even in eternity) come to the end of who he is.
No one will ever come to the end of the Holy Spirit.
No one will ever come to the end of the Lord Jesus Christ.
No one will ever come to the end of God the Father.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring us continually into a deeper, more profound experience of who God is. He brings more of God to us as we bring more of us to him.
III. The Sovereignty of the Spirit
Jesus applied the image of the wind of the Spirit in the last phrase of verse 8: “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus did not come that night intending to be converted. But that is what happened. The Spirit drew him to Jesus and he came. The same is true for everyone who comes to Christ. In John 6:44 Jesus declares that “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” The Father draws sinners to the Son by means of the Holy Spirit. And all those who are drawn will in fact come to Jesus, and those who come will never be turned away (John 6:37).
We must change and only God can change us. This is the testimony of the entire Bible. Because we are sinners, we cannot come to God bearing our own sins. If we come with our sins, he will turn us away for sinners will gain no admittance to heaven. Here is the Bible’s testimony as to the true condition of all humanity apart from Jesus Christ.
� Blind: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (II Corinthians 4:4).
� Captive to Satan: We should pray that unbelievers might “escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (II Timothy 2:26).
� Condemned: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18).
� Dead: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).
� Bound for hell: “Whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36b).
� Helpless: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).
� Hopeless: “Without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
� Without understanding: “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14).
A whole study could be taught on any one of those verses. Taken together they show how desperate is the plight of those without Christ. They are blind and think they can see. They are dead and think they are alive. They are captive and think they are free. They are helpless and think they can do anything. They are without understanding and think they know everything. They are bound for hell and think they are going to heaven.
Please understand. We all were once in the “they” of the last paragraph. Apart from Jesus, that’s our natural condition in the world. That is what we were. And now through the power of the Holy Spirit, this is our converted condition:
Once we were blind, now we can see.
Once we were condemned, now we are forgiven.
Once we were dead, now we are alive.
Once we were captives of Satan, now we have been set free.
Once we were bound for hell, now we are going to heaven.
Once we were helpless, now Christ lives in us.
Once we were hopeless, now we have hope in God.
Once we were without understanding, now we have the mind of Christ.
All this comes to us because of the Holy Spirit. This is the true power of the new birth. When Jesus said the Holy Spirit is like the wind, he meant that the Holy Spirit is sovereign, free, unpredictable and uncontrollable. He blows where he wills.
What should we learn from this? This truth should humble us because it means that our salvation depends on God, not on us. You have heard this before.  It is no secret to those who have been around for awhile.  It gives us great incentive to pray because even the most hardened sinner may yet encounter the saving power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel. It ought to make us both bold and patient as we speak the gospel, knowing that after we have done our part, the work of conversion rests with the Holy Spirit. Our words have no power to convert anyone. Finally, this truth of the Spirit being like the wind ought to make us hungry for the Spirit to blow upon us once again.

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