You can't see the wind. How do you know there is such a thing as wind? Sound, leaves stirring in the grass, branches flopping in the

dust getting stirred up.

Pressure on your face, very cold in Minnesota,

called wind chill.

So we know the wind exists not because we see it

but because it has these effects on the world

and that's he's gonna draw the analogy out to the Holy Spirit. You can't see the

Holy Spirit but you can see his effects. How does the wind help us understand how the

spirit of God works.

That's the question John Piper answers

from John 3, 1 to 10 in this episode of Light and Truth.

This sermon was originally preached

at Bethlehem Baptist Church on April 26, 2009.

I'm going to focus on verse 8 and talk about the freedom of the spirit in the new birth,

the free will of the wind in verse 8 and how the spirit like the wind brings about the new birth.

So let me give you six summary statements of what is in

verses 1 to 10 and then look at verse 8 in that context. Okay? Number one, first summary statement. In verses

one to three, Nicodemus was a religious man, but not born again.

Implication, you can be a religious person and not be born again.

In verse 2, Nicodemus says, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God.

So he's recognizing that God is at work in Jesus.

And then in verse 7, Jesus says to Nicodemus,

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