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Nicodemus Comes to Jesus at Night
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say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter
the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus knew that Christ was referring to
water baptism and the renewing of the heart by the Spirit of God. He
was convinced that he was in the presence of the One whom John
the Baptist had foretold.
The Mystery of the New Birth Explained
Jesus continued, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” By nature the heart is evil.
See
Job 14:4
. No human invention can find a remedy for the sinning
soul. “The carnal mind is enmity against God.” “Out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
witness, blasphemies.”
Romans 8:7
;
Matthew 15:19
. The fountain of
the heart must be purified before the stream can become pure. Those
who try to reach heaven by their own works in keeping the law are
attempting the impossible. The Christian’s life is not a modification
of the old but a transformation of nature, a death to self and sin, and
a new life altogether. This change can come about only by the Holy
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Spirit.
Nicodemus was still perplexed, and Jesus used the wind to il-
lustrate His meaning. “The wind blows where it wishes, and you
hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where
it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
We hear the wind rustling the leaves and flowers, yet it is invis-
ible. So with the work of the Holy Spirit on the heart. A person
may not be able to tell the exact time or place or trace the process
of conversion, but this does not prove that he is unconverted. By an
agency as unseen as the wind, Christ is constantly working on the
heart. Little by little, the Spirit makes impressions that tend to draw
the heart to Christ. These may come through reading the Scriptures
or hearing the Word from the living preacher. Suddenly, as the Spirit
comes with more direct appeal, the heart gladly surrenders to Je-
sus. Many call this “sudden conversion,” but it is the result of long
wooing by the Spirit of God—a patient, protracted process.
Wind produces effects that we can see and feel. So the work of
the Spirit on the heart will reveal itself in every act of the person who
has felt its saving power. The Spirit of God transforms the life. We