It's good to see you guys. I hope that you're well.
My name is Kyla, service lead Pastor here and I'm glad that
you're here to worship with us. If you're visiting today we are
in a series right now through the book of well, through the
chapter of Romans chapter 8, and it's been very good for us, this
is the fifth week that we've been in this series, we are
examining how in Christ. We have everything we need for
life and godliness and so we're saying all of Christ for all of
us. Life.
And Romans 8 helps us see this. Now, one of the things that
might be a bit confusing for us, as we're going through this, if
we lose the context of what happens in Romans 8:1 is that
it's a whole lot of talk about the spirits.
And so, you might think, well, it's all of Christ for all of
life. It is the spirit doing all of
this work in us. That's right.
All right, so the spirit of God comes to us, is given to us
bestowed on us because of the work of Christ and we when we
read in 81 there is therefore now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus. And then we talked about and
then immediately we see how the law of the spirit of life has
come to us to reside in us that we might live, according to the
spirit rather than according to our flesh has.
So all this has been worked in us because of Christ by the Holy
Spirit through the grace of God. Amen.
And that's what we're seeing happen here.
So, Romans 8, Yes, we're going to look at 26 and 27 here in
just a second. What we find here is a little
bit more about what Christ means.
When he says in John 16, John 14 that when I go away, there will
be a helper who comes for you or an advocate.
Even as use there we find out a bit more about what he means.
And today, what we're going to see is that the holy spirit is
our Advocate, he's an advocate especially in our prayers, and
so if you're taking notes, you can write this down.
The holy spirit is our Advocate and In prayer carrying our
prayers to God and working. His will in us.
Holy spirit is an advocate in prayer, carrying or prayers, to
God and working, his will in us. So, when I ask that you stand,
one more time, we're going to read Romans 8, 26, and 27.
When I finish reading, I'll say this is the word of the Lord,
and I ask that you respond. Thanks be to God.
Likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness.
For we, do not know what to pray for as we ought.
But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings
too deep for words. And he who searches Hearts
knows, what is the mind of the spirit because the spirit
intercedes for the Saints, according to the will of God,
this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Let me pray for us and we'll be seated.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you
Lord. As we see in this passage that
you have given us your spirit lives in us and his he's an
advocate for us as we pray. Even now to you or to Sweet
petition, you we know that Lord, he brings those things before
you even in our weaknesses he makes them strong And Lord so
that you might work, your will in us.
And so we pray. Lord that as we read your word,
as we study, your word, as we hear it taught today.
Lord would you Enlighten Us by the spirit of God as we listen
today? Help us to understand these
things and to live, according to these truths.
I do believe that we have some magnificent encouragement here
for us in our prayer life. And so help us to be attentive,
help us Lord to put these things into action.
So now, Of Christ. I pray.
Amen. And you may have a seat.
I think that if I were to take a poll and to ask, what is the
most difficult spiritual habits for you to maintain a suspect
that the most frequent answer is you would give would either be
Bible reading or prayer. Maybe the kind of go
hand-in-hand for you Bible reading and prayer.
Now, I don't think this is a coincidence.
I don't think it's a coincidence that we all find it difficult to
maintain a life of Bible reading a Devotion to the scriptures.
I don't think it's a coincidence that we find it difficult to be
men and women, boys and girls who pray, we seek the Lord in
prayer. I think the purpose is or the
reason that this isn't a coincidence is that they are two
of the most useful tools that God has given us.
They're two of the most at hand ready tools that God has given
you for your daily spiritual growth.
Satan knowing this seeing their power at work in the lives of
Believers of God's people works to destroy their effectiveness
by distracting us so he cannot touch the effectiveness of the
works, but he can keep you from the works.
All right, he can do things to Tim's, you to not participate in
Reading God's word to not participate in prayer.
Though the benefits that they bring, he cannot touch, those
are God's men and so he'll work to destroy your effectiveness
at, maintaining these Habits by distracting me.
He'll fill you, with all manner of things, right?
Anything that would look fulfilling in a season, anything
that would look fulfilling in a moment, we just studied
Ecclesiastes and home groups and this is one of the things that
we saw is that there is no end to the vein Pursuits of Why is
there no end to the vain pursuit of mankind?
Because the vein, Pursuits of mankind, never fulfill you, they
never leave a lasting satisfaction and so you must,
you have to go on to the next thing, whatever that is right.
And so if you want more money, you will work more hours.
All right, if you want to lust more, you will pursue more
pornography you will pursue. Eventually the end of that,
which would be adultery against your spouse.
And there are things that you will not if God were to just
remove his hand, you would run headlong into running.
And so, we see this, there's no end to these Pursuits and so
will seek to fill ourselves with any manner of things.
I think social media is a good example of this I have quoted
before. Before, and I'll do it.
Now, John Piper mentioned that one great use for social media
on the last day. On the day of judgment is going
to be to hold it before us. And to show us that we had
plenty of time for Bible reading and prayer in our lives, we had
plenty of time to submit ourselves to the will of God.
It plenty of times to do the things that he has asked us to
do. And yet we spin it right and On
social media TV podcast, music busy schedules, right?
Whispers of, hey, you can sleep in this morning, you deserve it,
you've earned it. Alright, and that's not to say
you shouldn't rest occasionally but to be always sleeping in, is
to be what Proverbs calls a sluggard.
All right, it's to miss the point of life to be getting up
after things and doing things. There's a reason, the early bird
gets the worm. You're right.
It's not just worldly wisdom. It's Godly wisdom and so there's
all manner of things that will distract us.
There's all sorts of things that will keep us from pursuing
Christ early in the morning as the psalmist talks about, or as
we see Jesus do in the gospels when it says that he rose early
and went away by himself to spend time in prayer with the
father, when we Ponce away the responsibilities to build
routines of Bible reading and prayer into our lives, we're not
freeing up more time for ourselves.
We're not freeing our schedule of things.
We are only further, burdening ourselves with more invaluable
things that make sense. In fact, the more disciplined
you are the more freedom you have.
It's not just a joker, Willie saying, it's a, it's again, it's
Godly wisdom, discipline does equal, freedom, and to be
disciplined in prayer to be disciplined in Bible.
Reading brings about freedom. And so, when you park that away,
you're not freeing up more time. You're actively, you're engaging
in the act of cutting away, one of the strongest tethers that
you have for your soul to God. You're working to cut it away,
you're working to say, I can swim on my own.
And Bible reading and prayer, you are helped Along by the
spirit. You find it difficult, right
man? I'm assuming this, because I to
find that difficult Bible reading and prayer can be
difficult. We find it difficult though
because we're not, depending on the spirit of God to help us in
any kind of way. Now, that's not to say the
spirit of God is not helping us unbeknownst to us.
He does But when we actively engage our minds and our hearts
in this dependency, as we sang about a moment ago and as Alan
prayed for, when we engage ourselves in that, then we find
the spirit of God to be ever present in our time of need.
A help to us as we read and study as we pray the spirit
illuminates, the scripture, so that we may understand them
illuminates them, not just for our understanding because
knowledge puffs up, right? He's not trying to create a
puffed-up people. He's not trying to create a
prideful. Arrogant folk or hi.
He wants to create people who are humble servants to the Lord.
Who live? Humble lives to the King of
Kings, who are about bringing his lordship and Dominion into
every area of life. So it's not about creating a
puffed-up people. God forbid.
We become puffed up, as we read the scriptures.
Let's not at all the points of the scriptures.
But as knowledge, grows Godly, knowledge, Godly wisdom grows,
so does Love, and so it works itself out.
And so, without the spirits, help, what we understand, these
are spiritual things written in this book, and we are meant to
discern them, but we cannot discern them in the flesh.
We must have the spirit of God. Help us discern these things.
So what Paul talks about in second Corinthians 3 and 4, as
he explains that there's a Vel over the eyes of the
unbelieving. I can't see these glorious but
those who believe the veil has been torn Away by the spirit of
God, which is now alive in us, and we can follow after the
things that God has written, we can obey him And so we can abide
in his word, not only are they a looming for us?
But we live them out. We hold fast to them as our text
today, reveals, the spirit intercedes for us in prayer.
So, I've coupled Bible reading and prayer together just to kind
of help expose what I'm talking about.
But from here forward, we're going to focus on prayer.
The spirit intercedes for us in our prayers.
Many he carries as we see here, our prayers before the Lord for
us. He's present in our heart.
Interceding. For us Christ is present in
heaven, interceding for us, according to Hebrews 7:25 and
both of those together. Our great hope for you.
They're great help for you there.
Great encouragement and comfort for you.
That as you pray your prayers, make it to the throne of God.
That you don't have to wish that they do, you don't have to
wonder if they do. You can pray with confidence.
You can pray knowing that you're being helped and not only are
your prayers, making it to God and the spirit mean, we'll get
into it, but the spirits even cleaning those up for us.
Right? We don't know what to pray as we
ought, but the spirit helps us in our weaknesses and so the
spirit is helping us, he carries them to the Lord, but he also
brings the will of God into our lives.
He works in us as he resides in us, that we become men and women
and boys and girls who are living according to To the word
of God acting out his will in our life.
He is our Advocates. That's what I'm saying.
He's our advocate. He is our help.
He's our Advocate to God and he's working his will in us
whether we are reading the scriptures or praying, we must
depend on the request. Sorry.
On the on and request the help of the spirit.
So if you neglect prayer what I'm telling you today is that
you're forfeiting. One of the greatest blessings
that God has given you as a Believer, you're forfeiting.
Your just saying, I don't need it and he's bestowed On You by
his spirit. And so while we're in this world
and Remember the context of Romans 8?
What have we just talked about? We're hoping, and we're waiting,
and we're groaning right for the day, that Christ is revealed and
that the sons of God, meaning the children of God are revealed
were hoping for the day when Christ returns.
And we're looking forward to the day, where there is no more
pain. There is no more toil or
struggle. There's no more loss of life.
There's no more. Here's, there's no more sin,
right? It's a perfect redeemed.
World Christ. Makes All Things New in the new
Heaven and the Earth and we're hoping for that we're longing
for that. But what happens in this life
will Paul said last week as we're looking at those verses
and verse 18 that we suffer We suffer in this present life, we
endure. Hardships and heartaches we
endure loss of life. We practice sins.
Like we were Unholy at times. And so there's suffering.
And while we're waiting for that as we're going through, our
sufferings awaiting the present life, what does he intend for us
to do? What does what does God want us
to be doing to be praying? Three men and women and boys and
girls are prayer to depend on the Lord.
You see hope supposes desire when we said last week that
we're this is our hope that Christ returns and does.
This is a sure and steady, hope for us, it's something we can
fix our eyes on. He says, you don't look to the
things that you see and hope for those because you already have a
right? But you're looking to the thing
that is unseen and you're hoping for to something that isn't yet
complete. Dated.
But you know that it will be it's a promise of God and so you
hope for that. But if you hope in something
then what naturally comes as part of that desire, God,
there's a desire for it. If I'm hoping for something, I
have a desire for it, right? As I was, I was finishing up
college and was actively seeking hoping that Patricia would be
interested in me. I had a strong desire for her.
I had a strong desire to help her have the same desire for me,
right? It's my greatest accomplishment
to this date. All right, and I owe it all to
the Lord and possibly her own blindness, but Cuz you far
prettier than I am sweetheart. So Let's it's weird for a man to
say men there, but okay. So hope supposes desire, right?
I hoped and I desired. And and so the same is true for
this. Like, we hope for the end of all
things. We do hope for that, we're
longing for that day yet we understand there's a life to
live now. So there's desires for the Lord
to work things into our lives, that would bring about his
kingdom on earth, right? That would be about establishing
life as he has it in. Heaven just as Christ.
Pray not my will, but yours be done.
Not my kingdom, but your kingdom be established here on the
Earth, right? That's what we want on Earth as
it is in heaven. That's what we're hoping for and
when we offer those desires to God, that's called prayer.
You hope for something you desire.
It you offer those desires to God.
That's called prayer. When I was offering my desires
to Patricia that was called pleading rights.
But it's prayer its pleading to God for something.
It's petitioning God for something.
Now, the thing is here is sometimes you might only grown
for that. I mean, there were times you
come boldly confidently before the Lord, maybe on behalf of
your children. May be seeking wisdom for a
decision, maybe because someone sick or you've received, you
know, a bad Health Report you come boldly before the Lord and
those moments your petitioning, God, but there are moments where
suffering is so great. And so difficult that all you
can do is grown before the Lord. You grow.
And that's where our groanings here.
Tied to our groanings in the spirit and we'll see that in a
moment. So backing up a little bit.
What keeps you from praying? More frequently?
Answer that to yourself. I don't need you to answer out
loud, but what keeps you from? Answer for praying more
frequently. The time.
Distractions. Maybe it's guilt or shame.
Guilt and shame have a way of paralyzing us thinking that we
don't deserve to go to God for his Mercy.
So encourage you, he was 14, he was for 14 through 16 says,
absolutely. Otherwise says to come boldly to
the high priest who is unable to sympathize with you in your
weaknesses that you might receive mercy and Grace in your
time of need. So even when you feel that
shame, go to the Lord, don't let Satan keep you from going to the
Lord. Is it a lack of confidence and
what to pray for? Maybe you don't understand the
will of God maybe don't know the will of God and so you don't
pray. Maybe it's the lack of
confidence that God even hears you when you pray after all
having a conversation with someone face-to-face fills a bit
easier, right? Like sometimes we'll go seek the
counsel of a friend before. Will seek the counsel from what
Isaiah calls are wonderful. Counselor in heaven, a perfect
counselor. The reason I think we do that is
because we're looking for itchy for the Silver Bullet Right.
Like we want the saying that somebody can say in a moment in
a quick moments, going to fix the issue.
And God, grants biblical wisdom to men and women of God for such
moments. Not denying that.
How much stronger would your faith be if you sought the Lord
as well? If you ask the Lord for help,
right? So, have I have a confidence to
pray, have a confidence that God hears you.
There may be other reasons, you don't pray, but those were a few
that I brainstormed And you may fight against one of those, some
of those, all of those are, none of those.
You might have something different.
The point is that we are weak. We're weak.
We must humbly acknowledge our weakness before the Lord.
That's why Paul writes here. The spirit helps us in our
weakness. It's just confessing we're weak.
We're we can prayer where we can spiritual strength or weakened
the ability to approach the Lord.
And he gives some reasons. And so, we'll go over those in
just a moment. But when Jesus went into the
garden to pray and his disciples continued to fall asleep, He
finally said to them that the spirit is willing, but the flesh
is weak. So the spirit of God Rest In You
and the spirit of God is willing to petition God on your behalf
and in many ways, the spirit of God is petitioning.
God on your behalf, unbeknownst to you.
But in those moments where your flesh is so weak that you won't
even get the words out, you won't even make a practice of
Prayer. You're really forfeiting.
Again, a great blessing that God has given to you.
What I want for you today. 101 for you today is to grasp
deeply, deep in your heart. Deep in your mind, deep in your
spirit that you have you possess this wonderful truth that were
reading here, that God has given you, his Spirit to intercede on
your behalf to help you in your weaknesses in prayer.
Because I think this is wife change.
I think you think God and His astounding Grace has provided
for you real help for your prayers as he gives you his
spirit. And so, as I said, a moment ago,
the holy spirit is an advocate in prayer.
He's an advocate in that, he carries our prayers to God, and
he carries God's will back down to us, right?
He works his will in us. So let's examine this weakness
that we're talking about. And then let's look at the hope
that we have also Our weakness in prayer in a word is our
infirmities. Our weakness in prayer is our
infirmities. Romans 8:26 again, likewise the
spirit helps us in our weakness. The word for weakness there is
infirmities. In capabilities.
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought but the spirit
himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Now alluded to it a moment ago but let me explain when he
starts likewise here. It's kind of like starting a
sentence with for or because Right.
Well, he's referencing back to something.
So, the likewise we saw last week that has creation as the
creation. The universe groans in agony
awaiting, the day of the children of God to be revealed
when Christ establishes, new Heaven and the Earth.
And as we saw there that the children of God also grown in
their sufferings, in this present day, who are also
awaiting the glories of Heaven to be revealed.
So, too, does the spirit grown? Spirit groans, is he intercedes
for us. So, here's the difference.
The creation groans totally unable to help itself subjected
to futility not of its own, right.
It wasn't its own doing God, subjected to futility in his
judgment because of the sin of man in Genesis chapter 3, when
Adam and Eve ate of that fruit, which he told them not to eat
it. Disobeyed God, they rebelled and
creation was subjected to futility.
And it was broken mankind. Now, lives in this broken,
Stakes relationship with God now, fractured by our sin, we
have a nature about us, our flesh, in which we want to do,
we want to live, according to the Flesh and we want to live
according to the spirit if we're saved.
And these two things are at war with one another.
And so we groan also we groan inwardly because we are
subjected to the same kinds of utilities we're broken and we
groan outwardly as well because we Look at the world that is
broken around us. Things happen to us, things
happen from within us sure. But things happen to us as well.
And we grown for these things, but we're not alone in our
groaning. The problem is our groaning is
unable to do anything. But the spirit of God groans
likewise the spirit of God's groaning is able to take those
groanings of mankind. Those groanings of the children
of God to the throne of God and which God then in Acts his will
in her life. So the spirits groanings are
effective. My point is you don't want to
grown alone. Don't don't grown by yourself
grown in prayer. If you must grown seek, the Lord
in prayer trust that he is helping you.
So the groaning of the spirit comes as a result of his
sympathy to our weaknesses that come as a result of his deep
desire to work out the will of God in us of the word weakness.
Again means infirmities and capacities as those things that
hinder our prayers. The spirit helps us in our
weakness. For we, do not know what, Pray
for as we ought. And so, the first weakness that
we see here is that we do not know what to ask and that's what
he says for. We do not know what to ask Or
what's a prey, right? And so, the point here is that
we are not competent judges of our own condition.
Ecclesiastes, 6, just really a tremendous book for helping
expose these things and Ecclesiastes, 6, verse 12, the
preacher, their rides. He says, for, who knows what is
good for man while he lives in the view days of his vein, life,
who knows what is good? Who knows what is good, right?
Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked, who can understand it.
As we see an issue here with the inwardness of us, we are unable.
The comprehend. What we need.
We're not competent judges of our own condition on our own.
We are extremely weak in spiritual Insight on our own.
We think too, highly of ourselves most of the time on
our own. We live with this bias toward
our own flesh. We think that we know what's
best. We're short-sighted.
We're studying the book, The Pilgrim's Progress in biblical,
manhood walking through that and there's a couple of characters
in there. I'm Christian and hopeful and
they're traveling together. And in the book.
The the path that they're on is called the way.
And this is the straight and narrow path to that leads to
heaven. And then the the book is an
allegory for all the different things that come along.
And so the path begins to get a little rough.
Its Stony, it's not comfortable to their feet.
It's an uncomfortable pass. How many of you have been in the
way and it's uncomfortable at times, right?
But they look over to their left and there's a very conveniently.
So, a ladder that goes over a fence onto a Green Meadow with a
Path. That looks like it goes parallel
to the path that they're on and so naturally Christian says, hey
look at this, let me go look at it.
So he goes and loads. It's like, oh, it does.
It runs parallel to the path. This will be much more
comfortable for us. And so they exit the way and get
on a path that very soon becomes terrible for them as they end up
in the doubting Castle, repeatedly, bludgeoned by the
Giant. Despair, and it's a really
fascinating part. In the book point, I want to
make, is that soda. We also separate the end from
the way. There was one way for them to
reach the end, and they separated themselves from it.
We're guilty of this as well. We think that, we can choose our
own way at times. We're all too happy to think
that we know best far too frequently.
And so we're in that way. We're like full of children who
are prone to cry for fruit before it's ripe and before it's
fit for them to eat. James says of prayer, you have
not because you ask him but then he adds you ask and you do not
receive because you ask with selfish ambition, there's two
reasons, why you don't get your answers to prayer.
One is you don't ever ask. So you're not praying to you're
asking, selfishly you ask for that which would only benefit
you that which is your desires are not God's desires.
And so God does not answer those prayers.
The implication then is that we often do not pray because we do
not know what to ask. But the second weakness we see
is that we do not know how to pray as we ought Listen, it's a
good thing to start doing that, which is good.
It's a good thing to begin praying, even if you're
stumbling in prayer, even if you're working to figure it out
like it's better to start something and begin to work it
out and try to figure out how to do it.
Then it is to never do it at all.
To wait until you think. You've got a perfectly mastered
before you do it. You can never Master anything
without beginning, something just not possible.
You must practice it so it is a good thing to start but it's not
good enough just to do that which is good.
We must not think that because we are able to stumble around in
prayer that we should. Always just be satisfied with
stumbling around in prayer. We must learn to do it.
Well, we will learn to pray according to the word of God.
In other words, start praying. Now, if you're not praying,
don't don't forego prayer any longer.
And as you praise today seek to pray, well, The best way to do
that is to read God's word, read the songs, which are literally
written as prayers of God's people read the gospels.
See who Christ is no, his heart for you, and for his people that
will help you approach him more, right?
Read the word of God and that will instruct your prayers as
the point I'm trying to make but I want you to take heart as
well. Even though were weak in this
area, right? And so we avoid praying all
together, we were weak in our affections.
They're cold at times work. Our thoughts can wander around
of, right. Like you might try to sit and
pray and then your lumbered with all these thoughts, right?
And and, and now you're just distracted and then you're
frustrated because you can't focus on prayer and now your
time's up and you've got to go right now.
All those things can happen. It's difficult at times to find
the heart to pray. Like the want to pray the desire
to pray, but I want you to take Hearts take heart, but because
the Apostle Paul speaks in the first person, here, he is saying
to us. We do not know what to pray for.
As we ought, we do not know what to pray for as we ought and so
he's putting himself among the saints of God, which he talks
about later, which is the people of God.
If you're a believer in Christ, you're numbered among the saints
of God. And so we all complain of a
Folly and weakness and distraction and prayer, but if a
great Saint like Paul didn't know what to pray for at times,
that gives us a very little reason to not press on and
establishing a life of Prayer in our own strength, right?
We have very little reason now to say well I can't get it right
even Paul was expressing weakness in this manner and so
the holy spirit is our Advocate and Prairie carries our prayers
to God. He works his will in US I want
you to see your help in prayer, that was Psalm about our
infirmities, our inabilities to pray the things we struggle in,
but let's look at this, Our Hope and prayer is intercession.
For that we read again, Romans 8, 26, and 27.
The spirit himself intercedes for us.
And he who searches Hearts knows that, what is the mind of the
spirit because the spirit intercedes for the Saints,
according to the will of God And so the great help and prayer the
great encouragement in prayer, comes to us through the
intercession of the spirit. He helps our weaknesses.
He helps your infirmities meant here, especially as a help for
your praying weaknesses, right? The spirit no doubt helps all of
our weakness as part of his sanctification, but let's not
neglect. The spirit of sanctification in
our prayer lives as well. Let's not think that he's not
also helping us there and that's especially what Paul is honing
in on here. Is that he helps us in this.
Remember, just a few weeks ago, the spirit was helping us put to
death, the Deeds of the flesh. So he was sanctifying us.
Now, the spirit is helping us pray.
He's helping his grow in prayer. When you pray, the Holy Spirit,
Carries your prayers to God as they should have been prayed.
And then he works God's will in us as we desire or should have
desired originally. And so, we have many helps from
the spirit just like about a couple with me, right?
The spirit of the word helps write, as we read the word of
God, we find many Commandments and Promises to help us in this
life and we find them in God's word, the spirit illuminates,
the god of the word of God for us.
Second Timothy 3:16 and 17 says that the scriptures are God.
Breathed for us that they're God's instruction for us that
they're able to teach us to correct us to recruit.
Move and rebuke and to train us for all godliness.
So that the man of God may be perfect and complete, lacking.
Nothing that lacking. Nothing is found here.
That'll hit you square between the eyes, right?
Because how many of us Wonder away to something else?
When we lack something and we go looking for it everywhere else,
but the scriptures, I'm guilty of this The spirit in our heart
helps as I'm just talking about as he dwells in us.
He works in us as a spirit of Grace and supplication,
especially with respect to our weaknesses that we have in a
suffering State. When life is not good.
When our faith is most prone to fellow us.
The spirit is there as a ba chourus as a help, as a buoy to
are sinking faith. It is to the sin that the Holy
Spirit was poured out on Believers.
It's what Paul says in Romans 5 1 through 5 he says therefore
since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ justified by faith.
There's peace with God through him.
We also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which
we stand. So Not only was Grace saving us
but now we stand in Grace also and we rejoice in the hope of
the glory of God. So saving sanctifying glorifying
graces are ours because of Christ.
Jesus from God, not only that, but we rejoice in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering, produces endurance
and endurance, produces character and character produces
hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has
been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has
been given to us. Amazing.
So you see, right there, how all Of these things work together,
how the Trinity of God, right? This Triune God is at work and
your life. God, giving the son who dies for
us, makes a way for us to be saved.
That salvation Comes To Us by the spirit who grants new life
and in that new life, he is also keeping us.
He's sanctifying us until one day, we will be glorified with
Christ in heaven as we were intended to be.
The sense in which he helps us is really significant for you to
understand today. On one hand, he helps you
totally, which is what I was just explaining that in all of
life, the spirit of God is helping you.
The theologians call this montages, it means that it is
his work alone and it comes to us.
It's a monitor gistic work. All right.
On the other hand, though we must make use of him, right?
He's giving us new life. He gives us new desires for
God's will. He's working those things into
us, but on the other hand, we must make use of him.
We can't be sluggards. We must put forth the effort to
obey the Lord to follow his commands.
So say you're attempting to pick up a large log off the ground,
right? Maybe trying to build a house or
something, but you got this log solved down, you're ready to
pick it up and you go to pick up one end and you can't pick it
up. You move to the middle you still
can't pick it up, right? And so you realize like I'm
going to need some help for this.
So you call, Buddy, Buddy, comes, he grabbed one and you
grab one end, guess what? Now you're on the move, right?
You've picked up the slock. The spirit is helping us in a
similar way. He's lifting up burdens, he's
helps us, he helps with us, I should say, as we do that which
God commands here, it is prayer here.
Paul has in mind, the help that we have from the spirit in our
prayers. We pray in the strength, we have
though. It is an utterly weak strength.
I admit this yet the spirit of God helps us where we are weak.
We become strong. Because we're depending on the
spirit, what I mean is that it is sinful for us to sit steel
and to expect God to do all the work apart from his people.
That's not the way he's a door deigned to do things.
You God, answers. The prayers of his people
because he ordains the prayers of his people and he ordains the
outcomes of those prayers. This is why we can have
confidence in prayer when we pray according to the will of
God. We're praying things that God
has said he will do. Amen.
But he wants to bring those about through the prayers of his
people. He doesn't want to do those
things. Apart from his people, he wants
to use. His people has given us a spirit
of himself to do these things. And some of the spirit is
promised to us, we were foolish. If we do not put the spirit of
God to work in our efforts to gain his help and our
weaknesses, you've been given the spirit of God to overcome
the flesh right to put to death, the Deeds of the flesh that was
23 sermons. Ago.
You've been given the spirit of God.
Now, for prayer. To overcome your infirmities and
prayer. I don't have time.
I'm too weak. I can't stay focused.
I don't know what to pray for. The spirit of God, helps you in
your weaknesses, especially in your sufferings.
We cannot do anything without God.
Yeah. That does not mean that we are
to do nothing. Amen.
Only that we are to submit every effort.
We do exert every prayer that we do.
Pray were to submit those, huh? Blade to the Lord.
And then expect the spirit of God to help us because that is
what God has promised to us here.
The great help that we have is the intercession of the spirit,
he petition God on our behalf and he works all those
petitions. According to the will of God
into our lives. The spirit, dictates our
request, he rides are petitions. He draws up a plea for us as we
utter those prayers. You see Jenna's Jesus Christ,
intercedes for us in heaven, he's able to save to the
uttermost, all those who draw near to God through him because
he always lives to make intercession on their behalf.
That's what Hebrews 7:25 Tulsa's incredible.
He's always before the Lord interceding for his people and
now we have the spirit interceding for us in our hearts
while we're on Earth. So God has graciously provided.
All the encouragement that you need to pray every day.
Every moment of your life. We have no excuse, not to pray.
We have no excuse not to have confidence in prayer.
God has said, I see your lack of confidence.
Here is my word I see your need for help.
Here is my spirit. Right?
So he gives you the desires to pray through the spirit, and
then by the spirit, he hopes your prayers.
He's with you, through and through, and all of it, the
spirit enlightens us. He teaches us what to pray.
The spirit sanctifies us. He gives us a desires to pray
and he transforms our prayers. The spirit Comforts Us by
silencing our fears of praying and he helps us in our
discouragements. What we have seen in Romans as
far as that the holy spirit is the spring of all the Godly
life. He's the spring from which we
drank all our desires to God or then from him unto the glory of
the Lord. So the center session that he
makes for us as with groanings too deep for words.
So let me be clear Paul is not talking about speaking in
tongues here. I've heard this verse used my
whole life, referring to praying in the spirit as charismatic
would Define praying in the spirit or Pentecostals or
similes of God, whatever we're not going to debate praying in
the spirit as a thing in this message.
But I'm just telling you, that's not what these verses are about.
There's nothing in the context of Romans 8, that gives us any
reason to think that Paul is talking about praying in
tongues. He never once mentions Besides
the fact, he says that all of us have the spirit of God helping
us here. And then in First Corinthians
12, he says that some will receive the gift of tongues, not
every believer. Okay, so we know again, this is
not about tongues rather Paul is describing the strength and the
fervency of those desires which the Holy Spirit works for us and
in us, that's what he means by these groanings, too deep for
words. He said, the spirit is actively
praying for you. He's strong in his prayer.
He's fervent in his prayer. It's like, groanings that are
too deep to understand. We're commanded elsewhere to be
praying in the spirit at all times.
So what Ephesians 6 tells us is it talks about the armour of GOD
that we've been given there. It says there to be praying in
the spirit at all times but praying in the spirit may not
necessitate words. Moses is an example.
Exodus 415 you shall speak to him and put the words in his
mouth and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, that
will teach you both what to do. So as he's helping Moses along.
We see it with Hannah. And first Samuel 1, Hannah was
speaking. In our heart, only her lips
moved and her voice was not heard there for Eli, took her to
be a drunken woman. Right?
That it's not doesn't always necessitate that you're, you're
audibly praying. This is a great comfort to all
of us. What this means, listen to this.
What this means is, it doesn't matter how eloquent or not
eloquent your prayers are Right? Like some of us are afraid to
pray because we think that our words matter in those prayers
that the were not eloquent enough that I don't pray like
Pastor so-and-so or I don't you know, person who leaves my small
girl for whatever. Like I don't pray like those men
are those women. But here, what we see is that,
it's not the eloquence of the prayers of matters, the faith
and the fervency of your prayers that the spirit Works in us
through his intercession. It's the faith, the fervency
that you bring to the Lord in these phases.
Groaning too deep for words, meaning their Indescribable.
And when we find ourselves confused, where we find
ourselves with our souls harassed by Temptations and
troubles. We may not know what to say, nor
how to express ourselves. Elves in prayer.
We may stumble in this, we may struggle to get it out yet.
Here we see that the spirit intercedes with groanings too
deep for words. In other words as we saw earlier
in Romans 8 you have not been given a spirit of fear but a
spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba Father Which is a way
of addressing God as your father, and an intimate way.
I mean, there's a closeness there, right?
and so, when you can only cry, Abba, Father, And come to him
with a holy Vault, humble boldness, that's the work of the
spirit in you. That's what I'm trying to teach
you. So let me see if I can get
through this illustration. Shoot Many Times.
Chuck it down since when he's passing in September many times.
I can't count. At all.
But I have felt so distraught. So despairing.
That that my chest feels as though, there's 200 pound
weight, just sitting on top of it.
And that I will literally physically crumble into a
thousand pieces at any moment, I'm not kidding.
Like, I'm not trying to be. I'm not trying to exaggerate
anything here. but in those moments, And I still remember
many of them vividly, but I can. I can only, I've only been able
to cry to the father. Father, help me.
Lord help me and that's it. Like I I've lamented that at
times. I went to Josh about it, and I
was just like Josh that I'm struggling in this.
Let me see, help me to see in the scriptures where a prayer
like Lord help me is enough. Because I felt like I lamented
that and I felt like if that's all I can do in those moments
that must not be enough. But the Lord has helped me
greatly. He's comforted me greatly, and
these words from Romans AIDS. And I know, I know that he is
helping me by his spirits on those occasions.
And he'll help you to like this is not special Grace reserved
for Kyle calls, a, he's a fool. Kyle is an idiot's often but I
know he's like you guys have high opinions of me but you
don't see what I see. If you saw what I saw.
You wouldn't have those opinions with me.
But my God is strong is what I'm trying to tell you Kyle's, not
strong, but you're from, I've told people this, hold up, we're
not stroke the Lord in us has been strong.
But I know that he's helping me on those occasions.
I know that he strengthened my faith.
I know that he strengthened my resolve to fight and to move
forward. I know that he strengthened my
peace and my Joys and switch more in ways that I will not
fully understand this side of Heaven.
I know that. And he's done it, simply through
mine, coupled with the spirits groanings unto him.
And so smart. Paul says for I, I know that the
present sufferings are not worth comparing.
With the eternal glory to come. Because even in your suffering
and Paul suffered a lot, even in your suffering, even when all
you can get out is, Lord help me Abba, Father, I just crying to
your father to help you. Even when that's all you can get
out what you find is, strength Beyond strength, Grace Beyond
Grace, help beyond all help, and its immediate and it's personal
and it's satisfying and it's lasting and it makes you realize
I can do this because Christ is in me.
That's it. There's no other confidence,
there's no greater confidence, that's for sure, but I suspect
there's no other confidence than that.
We also see that the spirit here help intercedes for us,
according to the will of God. Spirit intercedes for the
Saints. According to the will of God,
that is to say that the spirit in the heart, never contradicts
the spirit in the word of God. But there's never a
contradiction between what the spirit is working in you.
This is why you must depend on him because there are all sorts
of contradictions in your own heart, compared to the word of
God, all manner of filthiness. But when the spirit of God is
what you're depending on, and when you're trusting in the
spirit of God, as you pray, you can be sure, 100% sure that the
spirit is helping you and that why you're praying those
desires. You have are now according to
the will of God. There's no greater confidence in
prayer than this. Why desires my longings?
Even in prayer may be selfish but the spirits in my heart is
never selfish on my behalf, he is never interested and what I
think is best for my life, he's only interested in that which
God deems is best for my life that which God ordains is best
for my life, that is what the spirit will work into your heart
and mind. And he acts only according to
God's will, he went all Grammy anything less than what God
means. For my good, which even includes
hardships, I recognize this job. The Book of Job helps us.
See this vividly, But the spirit interceding for us, melts our
Wills to the will of God so that we can say with Christ.
Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done.
Father. The holy spirit is our advocate
in prayer. He carries our prayers to God.
He works. His will in us.
I want you to see one final thing about the intercessory
help that is yours. In Romans 8, 27 it begins this
way. He says and he who searches
Hearts knows, what is the mind of the spirits?
This is tough. Okay, this is a tough one to
think about because to the Hypocrites a hypocrite is one
whose entire religion lies in what he says not and what he
does. All right.
It's in his mouth. Not at his actions.
That's what a hypocrite is. To the hypocrite.
There is nothing more Dreadful than seeing that God searches
the heart and sees through all of his false professions, that's
a terrifying place to stand. And you must let it terrify you.
If you are a hypocrite, Are you you must think about that and
let it lead you to repentance because you may fall others.
But you will never fool God. You'll never fully.
And Proverbs 5 we read there that the man's ways are always
before the Lord and that he suffers death due to a lack of
discipline. Know that God is watching you
and be disciplined men. Be disciplined women, be
disciplined, boys and girls. Young men, young women, be
disciplined in these things. So it's frightful it's Dreadful
to a hypocrite but to a faithful Christian to a sincere believer
to someone who is saying, I want what God wants.
Even if I don't always see it in my life, I want what he wants.
Even if I fail to act on it at times, his ball doesn't Romans
7, I want. What God wants, I desire him.
I desire. What he desires, I'm delighting
in him right to one who is doing that, there's nothing more
comforting than to see the Gods. Searches the heart for then we
know that God will hear and that he will answer those desires
which we want our words to express.
And so often they don't The desires that he gives to us as
we Delight ourselves in him. Psalm 37:4, right?
The light yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires
of your heart. That literally means people
place the desires, his desires into your heart, and they become
your desires as you Delight in him.
The truth is, that God knows what you need before you ask.
He has it all mapped out, Matthew 68, Jesus, I don't be
like the Pharisees. Those Hypocrites, do not be like
them for your father, knows what you need before you ask him.
Paul shows us here in Romans 8 that God knows what is in the
mind of his own Spirit within us.
He's placed him there as an advocate for us, a help for us.
And as he always hears the Sun interceding for us in heaven.
So he also always hears the spirit interceding for us in our
hearts because the intercession from the Sun and the
intercession from the spirit are both.
According to the will of the father.
Amen. You Don't Have To Doubt.
To what more could God do to comfort you in your prayers?
My question for you today. What greater encouragement could
you receive for your prayers? Then these truths in Romans
8:26-27 today. I submit that these are the
greatest Goods he could do. And the reason I say that is
because he only does that, which is best he only does that, which
is perfect. so we can't look and say, well that's insufficient,
it's not he's telling you it's not Jesus, Christ said, whatever
you ask the father according to his will, he will give to you.
But how do you learn the will of God through the spirit of God,
by the word of God? Right, spirit will teach you as
you pray and as you read the scriptures, what God's will is.
So I plead with you, put prayer to work.
But prayer to work. Be a Praying Christian.
Pray for your life. Pray for the lives of your loved
ones, pray for the lives of unbelievers that, you know, pray
for your church, pray for its leaders.
Its fellow members among you pray for your state and your
nation. Pray, as you go throughout your
day, right? There's a discipline issue with
your child. You come home from work,
father's. You've got to handle this
discipline issue, pray to God as you go into the room for
strength and for wisdom and for help in that moment.
It is not going to be good for you to fly off the head.
It's not going to be good to provoke.
Your child to wrath. Those things are going to go
really bad for you. Come teenage years.
But I'm telling you pray for help.
You're having a conversation with your wife or your husband
about something, pray during the conversation.
It's a conversation that needs to happen.
You've been putting it off too long.
It's time to have the conversation, right?
Pray as you're going in your mind and your heart, be a
prayerful person. Ask for the wisdom of God.
As you're driving to work and we pray, Lord help me put my hands
to good. Use, protect me from Evil today.
Help me keep my eyes pure today. Like, pray for these things, as
you go. There's no shortage of things to
pray for throughout your day. You can literally pray for each
situation that comes as, I mean, you stop and pray and have to
kneel. I'm just talk about an ongoing
prayer with God. Be always praying.
Chances are real, I like 100% that you already Mumble to
yourself throughout the day. Right now, you might not want to
admit it, but in your mumblings might be Inward and, you know,
some of us suffer from the that outward mumbling.
And so, I'm always afraid in the grocery store that somebody's
going to hear me, but What you Mumble to yourself, you talk to
yourself, you encourage yourself, you're trying to help
yourself. You give yourself a pep talks,
or you might just degrade yourself.
You might beat yourself up. Even if not audibly, what I'm
saying, is that in your mind and in your heart when you're angry,
when you're happy, when you're confused, when you're looking
for wisdom. And any number of situations,
you're expressing that he just threw groanings or mumblings.
Turn those things into prayer. Let them be trigger points for
prayer for your life. It's that practical.
It's that simple to just pray about those things.
One of the things that I think is is pretty amazing.
Anytime brother, John Ed will pray for you.
He begins with Lord. I do and he, I did Lord.
I do just come to you today or a lord I do.
And it's just like, it's an ongoing conversation, it's not
me. Bragging on John Ed, I'm just
saying like that, that's the kind of like, just familiarity
with prayer. We should all seek to cultivate
Right, like they're just beginning where you left off.
This understand that as you're praying that way, the spirit is
helping. You understand that as you pray,
that way the Spirit Carries your prayers, to the throne of God
understand that he works his will into you and this is for
your ultimate good. Amen, let me pray for you,
heavenly father. I praise you.
And thank you for today. God, I asked for you to make us
men and women and young men and women and boys and girls of
Prayer. But father, we seek your help in
this. Lord help us to be confident
that, as we come to you that, you hear us.
Let us not be like the Hypocrites.
Let us not be like the Pharisees who other veins sayings and just
all manner of words before he helped us to be sincere in
prayer or troubled to bring it before you when we're happy to
praise you. when we're seeking counsel to come to you first,
whatever that may be Lord, I pray that you would make that
known to these men and women by your spirit today, Help them to
see that they can pray. That prayer is a great benefit
to us given to us by your spirit in which you help us.
You strengthen us, give us Godly lives through it.
Lord help us not to give legal echt prayer.
Any longer. Father, we love you, we thank
you that we have Christ interceding able to save to the
uttermost, all of those who draw near to the father through him.
And so Lord, if there is anyone in here who has not done that, I
pray that they would find Christ to be their savior.
Grant them faith in his Works faith and what he's doing.
And Lord for us as Believers. Help us to be confident that
Christ intercedes for us whether we're living an Unholy or holy
life as Christians were, there were failing or succeeding.
It's not by our works. It's by his work.
His continued intercession in heaven, And when we pray, were
helped in that. Also, by the spirit that dwells
in us, we thank you for this life-giving Spirit.
We have some the name of Christ I pray.
Amen. And when we pray, were helped in
that. Also, by the spirit that dwells
in us, we thank you for this life-giving Spirit.
We have some the name of Christ I pray.
Amen.