I would now as briefly and as simply as I can bring before you some of the operations of the Spirit. Let us guard against the tendency, too common at the present time, to both separate and on the other hand to confound too much Christ and the Spirit; I mean, to separate Christ and the Spirit in operation in us too much, and to confound the work of Christ for us with the Spirit’s work in us.
Now, the first operation of the Spirit to which I would draw your attention, is what is called new birth, and set forth in detail in John 3. Let us observe how it is introduced. In John 2 we have man set forth on his own side, and also in relation to God; the wine is out at the wedding feast—“they wanted wine”! What a revelation! Man’s brightest day is a failure; this sad picture is completed in the record given in the close of chapter 4, where we are given the story of the nobleman’s son who was sick at Capernaum: all this tells us what man is on his own side, how it is with him there; but we have him also exposed in relation to God in verses 23, 24. Even faith in Jesus, as founded upon a demonstration which could be addressed to human intelligence, was worth nothing. Men might be truly convinced (there were such at that time and there are such still) whether by education or by the exercise of their mind; but in order to be in relationship with God, there must be a new nature—a nature which can know Him, and which answers to His own. Many believed in Jesus when they saw the miracles that He did (v. 23); they concluded, like Nicodemus, that a man could not do what Jesus was doing if He were not what He pretended to be. The conclusion was perfectly right. Passions to be overcome, prejudices to be laid aside, or interests hard to sacrifice were not concerned in the question. Man’s reasons judged rightly enough of the proofs given, the rest of his nature was not aroused. But the Lord knew man; He knew with divine intelligence what was in him. There was no lack of sincerity perhaps, but what there was with these men was but a conclusion, a human conviction, which had no power over man’s will; nor against his passions, nor against the wiles of the prince of this world. “Jesus did not trust himself to them.” There must be a divine work, and a divine nature, to enjoy divine communion, and to walk in the divine path across the world.
Now it is in connection with this that we find the revelation of the first operation of the Spirit; it is sovereign, it is irresistible. Observe the comparison to the wind, and the force of the little word “so” in verse 8.
Further, it is well to see the three main aspects of this divine operation.
1. We have secrecy of process, it is an invisible wave or current, and not the keenest sight or wisdom can penetrate or understand it; it is in fact inscrutable.
2.We have no thought of man’s will in the in mystery of the new birth, but entire independence as to it; it is in fact sovereign.
3.We have set before us distinct evidence in result, illustrated also in the wind; it is in fact in its nature irresistible.
This operation, then, is inscrutable, sovereign, and irresistible.
Let us now just simply state what is wrought in this inscrutable, sovereign, and irresistible operation of the Spirit. It is, in the words of the blessed Lord, a being born again, and “this life is a beginning again of life, of a new source and of a new nature—a life that came from God . . . We receive a new life, which is really Christ Himself in power of life in us, that which Adam innocent had not.”
How blessed, then, this operation. May our hearts take in somewhat more of all that is conveyed through it.
Condensed Notes of an Address, No. 6.