‘The
wind bloweth where it pleaseth … so is every one that is born of the
Spirit.’ The wind is an element which man can neither harness nor
hinder. The wind neither consults man’s pleasure nor can it be regulated
by his devices. So it is with the Spirit. The wind blows when it
pleases, where it pleases, as it pleases. So it is with the Spirit. The
wind is regulated by Divine wisdom, yet so far as man is concerned, it
is absolutely sovereign in its operations. So it is with the Spirit.
Sometimes the wind blows so softly it scarcely rustles a leaf; at other
times it blows so loudly that its roar can be heard for miles. So it is
in the matter of the new birth; with some the Holy Spirit deals so
gently, that His work is imperceptible to human onlookers; with others
His action is so powerful, radical, revolutionary, that His operations
are patent to many. Sometimes the wind is purely local in its reach, at
other times widespread in its scope. So it is with the Spirit: today He
acts on one or two souls, tomorrow He may, as at Pentecost, ‘prick in
the heart’ a whole multitude. But whether He works on few or many, He
consults not man. He acts as He pleases. The new birth is due to the
sovereign will of the Spirit.
“Each
of the three Persons in the blessed Trinity is concerned with our
salvation: With the Father it is predestination; with the Son
propitiation; with the Spirit regeneration. The Father chose us; the
Son died for us; the Spirit quickens us. The Father was concerned about
us; the Son shed His blood for us; the Spirit performs His work within
us. What the One did was eternal, what the Other did was external, what
the Spirit does is internal.”
- A.W. Pink
The Sovereignty Of God
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