Old-Time Power
The Spirit of God
Old-Time Power
John 3:8
 
I want to begin this morning a several week study on the ministry and function of the Holy Spirit.  In many ways, the Holy Spirit is that unknown, mysterious person of the Trinity that is very often ignored and forgotten.  And yet, Scripture places this tremendous emphasis on the Holy Spirit and the necessity of His power and presence in the life of the believer. 
 
And the truth is, whether we realize it or not, we desperately need the Holy Spirit.  The early Protestant Reformers adopted as their motto this phrase:  “Reformed, yet always reforming.” No church ever truly “arrives.”
 
We are always on a journey with the Lord. Every church has faults and flaws and weaknesses that cannot be hidden. This is true regardless of the age of your church, the size of your church, or the denomination of your church. Every church is in continual need of further reformation by the Holy Spirit.
 
And what is true of the church is true of us as individual followers of Christ.  No individual believer ever arrives.  That’s why it’s not uncommon for folks to be surprised by the actions and words and attitudes of people down at the church.  Do you ever hear that?  “Do you know what old so-and-so said or did?”  I always tell them, “No, but I’m not surprised.” 
 
 
We are in process and nobody is where they need to do or should be.  But hopefully your goal, your ambition, your drive as a child of God is for the Holy Spirit to do such a work in your heart and life that by the time today is over you will be more lie Christ than you were yesterday. 
 
So it is in that spirit that we begin this sermon series. I want to begin today with one of the first references to the Spirit of God in the New Testament and no surprise, it comes from Jesus Himself and it is found in one of the most recognizable Bible texts and that is John 3.  Notice verse 8
 
John 3:1-8
 
1. The Wind 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 English words like pneumatic and pneumonia from this Greek word and 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.
 
Also, like the wind, the Holy Spirit is invisible, unpredictable and uncontrollable.  As someone said, “The Holy Spirit leaves no footprints.” He is sovereign and will not be taken captive by any person.
 
We see a lot of demonstrations of the wind here in Oklahoma.  One day we may have a gentle breeze and the next day the winds may blow at 50 or 60 mph!  It’s all the same wind, but 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 Jesus tells Nicodemus, no one can predict when he will invade a human heart.
There may be someone listening to me today and you’ve heard the gospel over and over again, but it could be that today, when the invitation is extended, the Holy Spirit will grip your heart and convince you of the claims of Christ and today will be the day of your salvation. 
 
There may be someone else and church and Jesus and salvation is brand new to you but the same Holy Spirit may speak to you and today will be your spiritual birth day, even though it is the first time you’ve experienced the work of the Holy Spirit. 
 
Sometimes you have to talk to a person again and again, and even then, they may not respond and others respond very quickly and receive Christ immediately.  Why is that?  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.
 
Now with that in mind, turn over to Acts 2 and let’s see how that plays out. 
 
Acts 2:1-4
 
2. The Witness of the Spirit
 
Here we find what happened when the Spirit of God descended on the day of Pentecost.  Here is this small group of disciples waiting for what Jesus said would happen.  And as they are praying four things happened, and it is important to note the order.
 
 
First, the sound of a violent, rushing wind filled the house.
 
Second, tongues of fire rested on each of them.
 
Third, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
 
And fourth, they began to speak in languages other than their native tongue.
 
Then, as you can read in the rest of the chapter, Pete preached the gospel and 3,000 people were saved in one day. 
 
Now note the sequence again:
 
Wind, fire, Holy Spirit, languages, preaching and conversion.
 
Why does the wind come first? It is because the Holy Spirit begins his work by blowing through each heart, preparing them for further work to come. Everything roots back to and is dependent upon the wind.  So it is with us today. We need the wind of the Spirit to blow through our hearts.  What happens when He does?
 
Fear is replaced with faith,
 
Anger is replaced with forgiveness,
 
Doubt is replaced with hope,
 
Anger is replaced with love,
 
Judgment is replaced with grace,
 
Bitterness is replaced with trust,
 
Pride is replaced with humility,
 
Envy is replaced with kindness,
 
Cowardice is replaced with courage,
 
Impatience is replaced with perseverance,
 
Harshness is replaced with compassion,
 
Selfishness is replaced 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.”
 
That 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 miss what that means.  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.
 
Now let’s go back to the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus and consider one more point.  We’ve seen the wind of the Spirit and the descent of the Spirit.  Now let’s think about
 
3. The Work of the Spirit
 
Notice the last phrase of verse 8
 
 “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
 
I don’t think Nicodemus came 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. Did you know you were saved exactly the same way as Nicodemus? 
 
I don’t have to know the details of your conversion to know how you became a Christian.  There are a lot of different ways to come to Jesus, but there is only one way to get to God.  Nicodemus came at night.  You may have been in a revival.  It could have been a friend who shared in your home.  It maight have been at camp or VBS. 
 
But in John 6:44 Jesus said 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. 
 
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).
 
I could preach a whole sermon on any one of those verses. But when you put them all together they show how desperate is the situation 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 those sentences.  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. That’s what salvation and the new birth are all about.  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.
 
 
 
Unfortunately, most of us have never experienced a real moving of the Holy Spirit of God.  We have to listen to the testimony of others and read in the history books what those experiences were all about. 
 
And it’s sad that we become comfortable with the status quo.  In fact, many believe that it will never happen again.  But I have to ask, “Why not?”  Are God’s best days behind Him?  Is His power not limited or unavailable?  Is there something that limits or binds Him so that we should no longer expect Him to show up? 
 
I understand from a theological perspective that Pentecost can never be literally repeated. But I see no reason why the Spirit could not be poured out in our day as on that day. After all, did we not just discover that He is like the wind, Holy Spirit is sovereign, free, unpredictable and uncontrollable?  Does He not blow where he wills? 
 
If that is true, then why not here and why not now?  If you look into some of the old hymnals around you will find a song by Charles Gabriel called Pentecostal Power. The first verse said,
 
Lord, as of old, at Pentecost, Thou didst Thy power display, With cleansing, purifying flame, Descend on us today.
 
Then the chorus said, “Lord, send the old-time power, the Pentecostal power!  Thy floodgates of blessing, on us throw open wide! Lord, send the old-time power, the Pentecostal power!  That sinners be converted and Thy Name glorified!
 
The symbol of the Holy Spirit as God’s wind ought to greatly encourage us. How we need the fresh wind of the Spirit today! He alone can wake us out of our spiritual lethargy. He alone can dispel the toxic fumes of unbelief and carnality. He alone can bring the sweet aroma of heaven back into our lives.
 
We need to be changed and only God can change us. When the wind of the Holy Spirit blows upon us, he clears out the cobwebs of doubt and discouragement, he cleans out the dirt of sin and compromise, and he prepares us for a fresh outpouring of his power.
 
O Wind of God, blow upon us today.
 
Let’s pray