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The Invisible Workings of the Holy Spirit [Jn 3:7-8]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Just what is meant by Jesus in John 3:7 & 8 when He's talking to Nicodemus about being born again, when He says you can hear the wind but you can't tell where it comes from, or whither it will go next, and so it is with the Spirit, that we will not know on whom next He will bestow His life from Heaven?
HC: Yes. That's a very good question. That's not a question that's asked very frequently. Generally people are concerned about John 3:5, where Christ said you have to be born of water and the Spirit. Your question has to do with verses 7 and 8, where He is saying, "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 everyone that is born of the Spirit."
Now you see, when Christ gives us salvation, when God gives us salvation, the Holy Spirit does not work so that we can see or feel His presence. There is no manifestation. There is no burning sensation. There is no falling over backwards. There is no sensation of any kind. But we know that we're born again because the results of being born again are there.
The same as with the wind. We can't see the wind, but the results are there. We see the leaves blowing, and so on. And so it is in our life. The Holy Spirit does this work of grace in our life. It's very quiet; it's very mysterious. We actually become a new creature.
Now just think of it. In our soul we are a real personality. The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said in II Corinthians 5, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." And when you're absent from the body you're in your soul existence. And so he's speaking of his soul as if his soul is his whole personality. And so our soul has real substance.
Now think of it. Before we're saved, in our souls, as well as in our bodies, we're dead, spiritually dead. We're sold under sin, but we still exist as a personality, both in our soul and in our body. And of course in our soul and in our body we're completely interrelated. But at the moment of salvation, when we're born again, that soul of ours is effectively put to death and it's resurrected a brand new soul. Now that's a fantastic transformation. Our body has not been changed yet, but our soul has been altogether made into a brand new soul.
Now you would think that when this happens there would be all kinds of sparks and sensations and activity going on in our personality, as God is doing this dramatic miracle in our life. But the fact is, we don't even know the moment when this happens, ordinarily. All we know is that we begin to sense an earnest desire to live for Christ. We find that we are tremendously interested in the Word of God and all that it teaches. And we discover that there's a real urge in our life to be obedient to it.
The effects of what God has done are seen. The fruit of the Spirit is seen in our life. But we certainly were not there to witness the work of the Holy Spirit.
CALLER: And I was wondering if this means that salvation comes when God wills it to come rather than we may will it to come. As we would say, "Tonight I'm going to go to church and take an altar call and be saved tonight."
HC: Yes. You're right, of course. God is the one who is sovereign in this matter. He is the one who saves us in His timetable. Now He of course works through our will. He works through our prayers. He works through our listening to the Gospel.
Frequently, when He expects to save someone, as He draws us to Christ, as the Father draws us, God may be getting our attention by sending chastisement into our life. But it is the Father who is doing the drawing, and it is the Holy Spirit who is actually effecting that salvation in our life. And this is done in God's timetable.
CALLER: Yes. I see.