WHERE THE WIND BLOWS
#859 WHERE THE WIND BLOWS
Scripture John 3:1-15 NIV 11/15/1989
Passage: Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 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.”[d]
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
Purpose: Continuing a series from John’s Gospel, here describing the action of the Holy Spirit in personalizing the experience of the new birth.
Keywords: Bible Study New Birth Christ as Saviour Holy Spirit
Timeline/Series: Gospel of John
Introduction
One thing was clear from the start, the limit past which this message could not go. Clearly, a message from 3:16 must grace such a series, therefore I could go no further than verse 15. But, even at that, there is so much to cover. There is the man, Nicodemus, the impact of the Holy Spirit on the proceedings, the requirement of an experience called the “new birth,” and lastly, a means toward that end likening it to an Old Testament event when a brass serpent, placed on a pole and elevated before the Hebrew people (Numbers 21) brought deliverance from danger.
There is, for all that, but a solitary subject here. Jesus encounters a Hebrew religious leader genuinely concerned about the kingdom of God. Jesus deals with the subject of the new birth as the need of every person. F.B. Meyer advises us as to the seriousness of this contention.
“When Christ says must, it is time to wake up. He is so gentle, winsome, tender. He is always persuading, inviting, entreating. He so seldom uses the imperative mood. When, therefore, He speaks thus it becomes us to inquire into the matter on which He insists so earnestly.”
While we are today seeking to fathom the physical birth, Jesus declares as of greatest importance, the spiritual birth. We are making our opinions known about abortion, defining ourselves as either pro-life, or pro-choice, we take our stand. And scientists are attacking the presidential position that disallows the use of the tissue of aborted babies for federally financed research. But you, and I, and they, and he and she, MUST BE BORN AGAIN.
I. The Blowing Wind Begins with a Compliment. V2 “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.”
A linking word: The compliment comes from one named Nicodemus, “a ruler of the Jews,” a Pharisee, probably of the Sanhedrin; committed to scrupulous observance of Old Testament law (v10); he will be referred to as “teacher.” John ended chapter 2 with an insightful word about Jesus. “He knew what was in man.” Suddenly, one appears, known to Jesus.
We must speculate as to his reasons for coming to Jesus. John 1:19, “The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jeremiah to ask ‘who art thou?’” He comes representing them, or on his own for certification; or, because he wanted to hear for himself.
This is not a man with a noxious spirit. This man is a seeker, and Jesus is whom he is seeking. Are you one of those sad people who will learn only from those who know YOU know, and hence learn nothing?
His reasons for coming “by night” are likewise constructive. Rabbis taught best study at night. Could have been arranged by Jesus; didn’t want this time to be hassled.
I know none closer to the kingdom than those who hold Jesus in high esteem.
II. The Blowing Wind Next Comes in the Form of a Command. V3 “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
The clamor for human rights is the voice of the throng today. It failed in Tiananmen Square last summer. But the signs of success grace the world: Hungary, Poland assert their rights; ethnic tribes of people under Communism are speaking out; the Wall has come tumbling down; Li Phong (Chinese patriot) this week received the RFK Human Rights Award.
When you celebrate Thanksgiving Thursday, will a grateful heart grace your home?
In this statement of Jesus to Nicodemus is expressed the greatest of human rights: that God, in Christ, has come to save. But it is not our right to choose the means of that salvation. Unless one come to God as God decrees, he shall not come at all. Jesus attests to man’s re-birth. Nicodemus is confused: re-born from beginning; or, a second time; or, from above.
His presence here asserts that being born a Jew was not enough. Remember Paul’s attestation in Philippians 3:4f “a Hebrew [born] of Hebrews . . . (Philippians 3:7) what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” John described this (Matthew 3:9) of the religious “generation of vipers” saying “we have Abraham to our father.”
Jesus does us all the kindness here to make it plain that a new birth is required. It is not church membership, or Nicodemus would not be here. It is not moral excellence, or Nicodemus would not be here. It is not birth fortune, or Nicodemus would not be here. It is not religious heritage, or Nicodemus would not be here. It is a sinner, by any name, facing up to his sin, and passionately turning to God to erase the guilt of his burden.
III. Now, the Blowing Wind Surges Forth with a Comparison. V6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit.” Nicodemus’ mistake has been an inability to separate who and what he is. Up to now, being a Jew covered both. What he heard of and from Jesus unsettled all of that. It should as well be unsettling to all of us. V7 “Ye must be born again.”
Jesus shows us that in the comparison, the salvation birth is a non-fleshly one.
- It is of the Holy Spirit. V8 “The wind bloweth where it listeth.”
- It is required. V7 “Ye must.”
- It is of human volition. V15 “whosoever believeth in Him.”
- It is a miracle of God. V8 “so is everyone born of the Spirit.” Blowing wind cannot be prearranged. It is fraught with danger, unpredictable. Invisible itself, its impact is seen.
- It is of sovereign will.
- Its passing clears away litter. James Stewart: “When the winds of the Spirit begin to blow, they may blow up some trash, but we must remember, the wind is not the trash, and the trash is not the wind.”
- It declares its presence by familial manifestations. With physical birth there are genetic characteristics. Even so with spiritual birth. Rev. E.V. Hill, civil rights leader and pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist in Los Angeles, “We are not brothers [if] we do not have the same Father.”
IV. The Blowing Wind Concludes with Compassion. V14f “. . . so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Jesus describes this as an arrangement of God. Man, by his will, could never have reached God. God has reached down to us. V13 “He came down from heaven.”
Jesus pictures himself as God in the flesh. He shows Himself alive with Nicodemus. He declares Himself to be in eternity.
The illustration used is an Old Testament event. Numbers 21:8,9 tells the story of the murmurings of Israel, of self-affliction. The antidote fit the offense; a bronze serpent raised before the people. All they had to do was lift the level of their vision to the antidote. V14 “So must the Son of man be lifted.” Our murmurings of sin have afflicted us with death, but when the vision is lifted to the cross, there is forgiveness. In Jesus, the old life becomes new. In Jesus, God’s mercy heals ravages. In Jesus, grace transforms death to life.
Isaiah 45:22 “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God.”