Now, the illustration which Christ used to Nicodemus was the wind.
"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth."
Now, you cannot see the Spirit of God work in this audience; but I
hope and pray He may be working now in the hearts of many, convincing
them of sin! Do you believe more than ever that you are a sinner?
Well, that is the work of the Holy Ghost. The devil never told you you
are a sinner; he tries to make you believe that you are good enough.
If you believe to-night that you have sinned against God, that is the
work of the Holy Ghost. He is here at work. We cannot see Him, but
there are a great many who know He is here. Suppose I should say, "I
don't believe in the wind, and that it must be all imagination; I have
lived thirty-seven years, and have never seen the wind. It is folly
for men to talk about the wind." I can just imagine that boy there
saying, "Why, I know more than that man; I know there is wind, for it
blew my hat off this very day into the mud, and I have often felt it
blowing in my face." My friends, you have never felt the wind more
than I have felt the Spirit of God. You have never seen the effects of
the wind more than I have seen the effects of the Spirit of God, and
of the working of the Holy Ghost, and there are hundreds of witnesses
here who would testify the same thing. Yet this invisible power does
its work in creation, and the mighty invisible power of God does its
work effectively in the spiritual sphere.
New life in Christ means the breaking of old fetters.