Sermon
Where The Spirit Of God Is At Work
July 1-2, 2000
Pastor Donald Sheley

It's nice to have you all in God's house. Let's take our Bibles, and we're studying together the gospel of John and we're in chapter 3. If you're going to use the pew Bible, the red pew Bible, it's page 715. If you'd like to turn there with us, and we have spent a considerable amount of time on this conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus. And the reason for this is because I am deeply convinced that this is possibly the most important conversation ever recorded in human history. Why? Because it deals with the priceless commodity that you and I have, and that's our eternal souls. Jesus said what doth it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? So the subject of the conversation has to do with the priceless treasurer of a soul, and we have decided that because of the importance of what Jesus said we're just going to take it almost word for word. This is our seventh week, I think, in this conversation, but we're going to seek to understand it to its depth. Let's read it.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from a God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' "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 the Spirit." Let's stop there.

Take your notes, will you? The conversation has to do with a soul and this rich, powerful, religious leader of Jerusalem came to Jesus under the cover of darkness. His introduction was nice; Jesus, Rabbi, Master, nobody could do what You do unless you're of God. Do you notice that Jesus doesn't reply to that? He says unless you're born again he'll never see, understand, be a part of, become acquainted with the kingdom of God. And we learned a few weeks ago that that word 'again' means from above, that which is spiritual. So what Jesus was saying, Nicodemus, unless you have a spiritual birth that comes initiated in the heart of God where He sends His grace and His mercy, and the work of the Holy Spirit completes a saving grace in your life; Nicodemus, you will never be a part of the kingdom of God. So the word 'again' means from above, born supernaturally.

Now Nicodemus, here he is a brilliant religious leader and he says, how can that be? Is it possible for a man to shrink his being back to the size of birth when birth begins, enter his mother's womb, and go through the process of being born all over again? The Jesus still does not answer that question. Verse 5, Jesus says unless a man is born of water and the Spirit. Now we wrestled with that one last week because we've learned that that verse 5 is a controversial verse with many interpretations. We learned that some people say when Jesus referenced water, He was talking, the old divines of the seventeen hundreds says He's talking about natural birth, because when a child, a baby comes forth it comes forth and water from the mother's womb. And so the old theologian said well He's talking about physical birth, but that has not been a popular interpretation.

The second interpretation is that what Jesus might have been talking about, or was talking about, is water relating to water baptism because Nicodemus knew everything about old John the Baptist's baptism. So He's relating the two and He says, Nicodemus, unless you go down there and get baptized you're not going to be a part of the kingdom. But we learned something very interesting. Go in your notes to page 2 down about one-third of the page. We learned that the word 'water' as it is used in verse 5 refers to the Word of God. The Word is ever the instrument used by God in regeneration. In every passage where the instrument of the New Birth is described, it is always the Word of God that is mentioned. Such as in 1 Corinthians 4:14, we find the apostle saying: "I have begotten you through the gospel." Again, we are told, "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." The word 'begat' is to birth. He birthed us by the word of truth.

Peter declares, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." And in Ephesians 5:26, That he might sanctify and cleanse it, speaking of the church, with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. And so in every reference to the New Birth, the instrument that God uses is the Bible, the Word of God, and it doesn't relate to water. Water is not used in connection with the instrument of the new birth. We go into the waters of baptism because we witness to something that has already happened spiritually deep within us.

Now I love the Amplified text and so I placed it here. "For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart." What the writer of Hebrews is saying is the Word of God is alive and it's sharp, and as it has its effect upon it, it pierces to the very depths of our spiritual being. And that's why Jesus said, Nicodemus, a man comes to God, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Now he moves on to verse 6 and He says, that which is flesh produces flesh. Let me read it in the text here. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Now why did he put that in there? Well Nicodemus had asked this question about the possibility of going back into a mother's womb, and here is Jesus' logic. He says now listen, Nicodemus, if it were possible for a man to reduce his size back to the early moments of conception and go through the process of being born all over again, the product would be the same. Sinners produce sinners. It doesn't change.

And there's a law in spiritual genetics as well as in the genetics of creation. Look at the bottom of page 2 in your notes. Genesis 1:24-25 says, "Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creatures according to its kind; cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth, each according to its kind, and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth. I'm on section 1 page 3. According to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good." I might suggest that that really gives the evolutionists really a great problem. The very laws of genetics says cats produce cats, horses produce horses, and the evolutionists says no, monkeys produce human beings. But Jesus said the law of genetics is kind produces kind, and that's one of the stopping points that makes evolution absolutely ridiculous. They never can get around that. They can't prove the mutations between changes. They can't. Jesus said there's the law of genetics - kind produces kind.

Back to our notes. So in the same way, God tells us that which comes out of the natural man can produce only that which is natural to man and which is sinful and as a result, sinners produce sinners. Nicodemus, if I trace your logic and say even if it were possible to have a rebirth in the human side, you'd still end up with a sinner. Now the flesh sometimes, the reference is to the old man or our old nature, and at times it's the heart. We are said to be cardinal, and fleshly, and soulish. And the flesh is sometimes called the "natural man." So whatever the term used, however, the teaching is that the fleshly or the natural man cannot please, obey, or even understand God. Now, in Kenneth Wu's commentary, he's a great commentator, and I haven't got that. People were looking for that in the other services and I have it here. It's inside my notes. I felt what he said was very interesting. He said, the teaching here is that man in his totally depraved condition cannot be improved, reformation will not change him into a fit subject for the kingdom. The flesh is incurably wicked and cannot by any process be changed so as to produce a righteous life. What that person needs, Jesus says, is a new nature. A spiritual nature which will produce a life pleasing to God and which will be a life fit for the kingdom of God. This is what Jesus teaches in the following words, and that which was born of the Spirit is as a result spirit, that is, that which is born of the nature, nature stays nature. That is the new birth is a permanent thing, produces a permanent change in the life of the individual, and makes him a fit subject for the kingdom of God. And that I find interesting.

When you go to the depth of His argument, what Jesus is saying is when the Spirit of God completes His work, that life always remains permanent. And He is saying that when that life as it comes into us does not change the fact that flesh always remains flesh. Now you understand when the Spirit of God comes to live within us His presence is here, but it's housed in a tent that has its passions and has its evil propensities. It's called the flesh. And that's why the apostle Paul says even though one is to a new creation in Christ Jesus there is a spiritual civil war that goes on all the time. Because flesh always remains flesh and Spirit remains flesh, and now the Spirit of God dwells within it and old Paul says there's a constant warring that goes on in the spirit of my mind and the Spirit of God. And that's why Paul warns in Galatians that if we heed to the flesh, we'll do the deeds of the flesh. So He's saying to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, I'm telling you a great spiritual truth. The Spirit of God produces a life that is permanent, but it's still there in a fleshly housing that has its propensities to evil and its propensities to wrong, and that's why you and I wrestle with the temptations we do every day of our lives. And we'll never outgrow them. We'll carry them to our coffin because it's housed in the flesh that will always be flesh.

I know that there are teachings, old Wesley used to teach years ago that you could eradicate the sinful nature, that the work of sanctification could so affect a man's life that every part of him that had a tendency to sin would be gone and he'd be eradicated from propensities to sin. That's a hard one. I haven't seen that guy yet. And I remember I had a pastor, a lovely pastor, over in Colma about 30 years ago, and he pastored a church that that was the basis of the doctrine, the eradication of the sinful nature known as sanctification, the second work of grace. So everybody strives to be sanctified. After being in the ministry for about 20 years he came to me one day and he said, Brother Sheley, I'm having a terrible time in my ministry. I'm preaching something I can't live. It's never happen to me, and I don't believe it's true. I said, what are you preaching? He said I'm preaching that you can eradicate the very nature to sin out of a being, call it sanctification. And he showed me some of the books, and I said, you know pastor, I'd leave that preaching out if I were you because if we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and there's no true in us. We have an advocate, 1 John chapter 2, because we're sinners. This flesh will always be flesh, but there's something wonderful when He puts His Spirit within us. It's a permanent gift of His life within us.

Now Nicodemus, let's continue this subject, I'm going to analyze the work of the Spirit of God that you're wrestling with Nicodemus. I'm going to make an analogy of the wind. It's an interesting - it's a fascinating, fascinating analogy. Verse 8 says, The wind bloweth where it willeth, in the King James it's listeth. You hear the sound of it. You can't tell where it came from, and you can't tell where it's going. So is every one that is born of the Spirit of God. In your notes, page 4, in the middle of the page, section 1-page 4, I note here that one of the great Bible teachers of the past A.W. Pink, he is a great writer and if you enjoy great Bible commentaries here is one. He says, "The wind bloweth where it pleaseth...so is every one that is born of the Spirit." this describes the sovereignty of His actions. The wind is an element almost beyond the control of man...so is this Spirit of God! He sovereignly moves in a city, community or church in divine power and conviction that brings sinners to their knees in repentance. History is filled with times of great spiritual awakenings...the work of the Holy Spirit...sometimes the result of much prayer and fastings...other times His work is unexplainable.

When you think of the wind it is absolutely sovereign in its actions. You can't control the wind. You cannot protect yourself from it. Watch the newscast and you see these great tornadoes and hurricanes that come in on the East Coast, and I'm suggesting to you that the wind has its own sovereignty. It does anything it wants to do. You can study the movements of the wind and you can know that there are certain currents that surround this globe, and there are certain overall laws that govern where wind comes from and where wind will go, but we know very little about it. We're simply subject to whatever event it produces. There is a sovereignty in its movements. In other words, we don't control, man does not control nor can he hinder nor can he change the direction of the winds. What Jesus is saying is, Nicodemus, I'm going to talk to you about something of which you have no control over. You can watch the wind. You can see its affects. Trees will be blown, cars will be hurled, signs will be toppled, roofs will come off of houses. You can see what wind does, but you can't see the wind. And you don't know exactly the force it will take, the course it will take, and the results of the wind. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit of God.

Now let me stop here for a moment. This I believe is the great spiritual truth that I as your pastor wrestle with, and have from the day I started preaching 50 years ago, I would often, and its most natural for us to say; well God, if I do certain things, if I pray, if I fast, if I am faithful to my task then surely You will do what I request of You spiritually. I've learned in 50 years that's not to true. There are times when my passion for souls and my desire that God by His Holy Spirit would move in hearts within our congregation, with families, and within homes in our city and within our community, and that passion drives me to lengthy times of prayer. And way back in 79 I said, God, I want more than anything else, I want Your Holy Spirit just to blow as it were the wind across the congregation and across the families of our church and across our community. Do something God that's so spectacular that all the world will know You did it! And the intensity of that prayer took me away for a long prolonged fast of 40 days, and when I finished that fast I came home with the anticipation that the wind would blow. That was 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, and now I'm in the year of 2000 nearing 70 and I sat in my office the other day and I said, God, will I go to my grave before I ever see the spiritual tornado I've been praying for?

What I've learned is that God does what He does in His own timing, and the works of His Spirit are according to His plan not mine. Now when I accept that it brings to my heart a certain degree of peace, and I have thanked God for everything that He does within our congregation and within the lives of our church, and miracle after miracle takes place. But O at the heart beat inside me is O God I'm praying for a spiritual tornado. You say, what are you talking about pastor? One of the exciting things is reading and studying the great histories of spiritual awakenings down through time, down through history. When God sovereignly chose by His Spirit, just like a wind, to blow across an entire community or across an entire nation and the phenomenal, the spectacular, the dynamic, the miraculous takes place. One of the great historians of church awakenings is James Orr and he writes a book and he tells of many of the great movings of God, and he speaks about the great Welsh revival back in, I think it was 1859. And he says that across the land of Wales it seemed almost that every place that you went people were weeping and farmers were falling down in the furloughs behind their plows as the presences God would strike them with conviction, and they would be crying out. And they said in one town God so moved and so transformed the entire town they closed down the courts and let all of the police go home. Now that's wonderful because there was no more crime. All the lives in that community had been transformed by the power of God and now the love of Jesus Christ motivates their every action. That's what I call a spiritual tornado. Can you imagine what it would be like to have God save so many people in San Bruno they wouldn't even need a police force anymore? Wouldn't that be something?

But listen, when you read of the great movings of God in history there have been times when the spectacular, I read of what is called the American awakening and it took place in the middle of last century, and out across the Eastern Seaboard God was moving in the city of New York. They were having noon prayer meetings with 50,000 men in prayer meetings across the office of New York and over 100,000 people came to Christ within one year. Now that's a spiritual tornado. And the historians tell us that as the ships were making their way to the harbors for the Eastern Coast, that sailors way out in the sea started feeling the presence of God and conviction for their sin, and by the time the old ship arrived in the harbor every sailor was a Christian. Now that's a tornado. Do you see what I'm talking about? Nicodemus, I'm going to talk to you about the wind. It's sovereign. Sometimes it blows in tornado force and that's when God does something and changes a whole landscape, a spiritual landscape, and there are other times when there is that soft breeze where God just kind of moves in such a wonderful way, quietly.

You know, as long as I've lived here in 'Wind' Bruno (congregation laughs) I've stood out here in the parking lot when it was silent, and I'll tell you when there is no wind it's eerie. It seems like everything is dead. But that's the wind, it's sovereign. Sometimes it's powerful - sometimes it's quiet. It's the same way with the Spirit of God. There are times when God begins to work within a family or a human heart. We don't know how He does it, but He begins to put things together and we melt in His presence and become very sensitive to spiritual things. The wind like a soft zephyr. You know, when I pray throughout the week for our church service, I say, God, may it so be that as people come to this sanctuary may they sense Your wonderful presence. May there be a wind of God a gentle flowing of Your spirit. And I am told over and over again, almost weekly, say Pastor, when I walk through that door I sensed the presence God. And lady after lady has said, Pastor, I quit wearing mascara to church because all I do is cry when I come here. (Congregation laughs) Do you know what that is? It's the Spirit of God, the wind of God blowing. It's amazing. There is nothing more precious than to be in the presence of God when the wind is blowing.

Nicodemus, He is saying you may not understand the wind, but don't reject something you can't understand. Look at what it produces and that will give proof to the fact of its authenticity. Watch the Spirit of God. We may not understand how it works, but watch it change life for a sinner who was once an absolute outcast from the kingdom of God. The Spirit of God moves upon him, his life is changed, and he's transformed into a new creation! Nicodemus, look at the product even if you don't know how the process took place, and now believe. Because old Nicodemus was wrestling, how can this thing be?

I don't understand computers, and I could add another sentence there but I won't, (Congregation laughs) but I look at those little plastic boards with all these wires. I don't know anything about them. Shove them into a computer and all of a sudden, just hit a few keys and I mean you've got a world of information. And they send me these little computers. I don't know how it works. I press a bunch of numbers and press the sum and (snaps fingers) a gives me the total. I don't know how it got there, but I really believe in computers. (Congregation laughs) I don't know anything about electricity. If I put two wires together it will burn the house down, (Congregation laughs) but I believe in electricity - turn on the switch and I got lights. It's the same thing with everything in life, isn't it? There are a lot of things we don't understand, but we believe in them because we see the effects. Nicodemus, you may not understand spiritual things, but don't disbelieve them just because you don't understand them. Now He really says that to the searching heart, doesn't He? You may not understand ladies and gentlemen as you sit here today all the things concerning God, but you've seen God do so many things in individual lives. Just look at what He produces, look at the results and believe. Jesus said if you don't want to believe My words, okay, but don't reject My miracles. See what I do and that will prove the truth of what I say.

You see the wrestling that old Nicodemus is going with - he can't understand. Jesus said it's just like the wind, you can't understand the wind, but if anybody told you, you didn't believe in the wind, you wouldn't say that - because you lost your roof last week. Do you see the point? Nicodemus, believe, even though you don't understand. Let's pray. Lord God, sometimes we deny ourselves some of the great spiritual blessings because our head gets in the way of our heart, because we can't reason it through with our puny minds we deny our hearts the great spiritual adventures of Your presence. Forgive us for being so arrogant. Would You give us a heart that believes dear God, and would You move in a way and let the winds of Your Spirit move across this community and across our congregation and across our own individual lives, doing what You want to do sovereignly in each of us. And God, nothing would thrill me more than before I come home to witnesses a great spiritual tornado in this community where You sovereignly touch and melt hearts of thousands at the foot of Your cross. That's my prayer. O wind of God blow, and everybody said, amen. God bless you. (Congregation claps)