The Intercession of the Spirit

INTRODUCTION

This morning we are wrapping up our Triune Strength series.

When we decided to pull the trigger and go for it, I imagined God’s Word being a pillow for us.

I imagined the church lying down on a bed and God placing His Word under our heads to relieve us and console us in our suffering.

And I hope that has happened.

As we have looked at the Father’s comfort, which transforms us into comforters...

As we have looked the Son’s example, which shows us how to endure and press on...

My prayer has been that our church has felt strong in the Lord and in His Word, though we may be weak in the world.

And that is the reality. Whether we like it or not. Whether we want to admit it or not—we are weak in the world.

I don’t mean that we are weak in the sense that we are helpless or hopeless.

That can never be because of who we are in Christ.

I mean we are weak in the sense that the cares of this world, the brokenness of our bodies, the heartbreak caused by the people we love---it all adds up to leave us feeling weary. Wobbly at times.

Maybe flat on our backs.

And on those days—when you are flat on your back, staring up at the ceiling, and whatever you are encountering is so immense that you feel like you can’t bear up under the weight of it and you don’t even know what to pray, what do you do?

Where do you turn?

Well, this morning, in Romans 8, Paul will tell us to turn to God.

Romans 8 is filled with all sorts of wonderful promises regarding how the Father and Son and Spirit pour love and blessings on us.

But it is particularly concerned with blessings of the Holy Spirit.

In Romans 8--

Believers are set free from the law of sin and death by The Spirit of Life (8:2)

Believers walk according to the Spirit by setting their minds on the things of the Spirit (8:5)

Christians have life and peace when the mind is set on the Spirit (8:6)

The Spirit dwells in believers (8:9)

The righteousness that Christ provides for us opens the way for the Spirit’s work in our lives (8:10)

The Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is in us, fighting sin with us and for us (8:11)

By the Spirit, the Christian puts the deeds of the body to death (8:13)

If you are a son of God, destined to receive your heavenly reward from Him, you are led by the Spirit (8:14)

You have the Spirit of adoption so that you would not fall back into slavery, but that you would know God as Father and cry to Him (8:15)

The Spirit bears witness to you being a child of God (8:16)

The Spirit lets us taste the firstfruits of salvation (8:23)

And then finally, this morning, we will see the Spirit helping us along in our prayer lives.

Interceding when we cannot speak.

Perfecting what is imperfect

Groaning with us and ministering to us.

And I hope that we will be truly strengthened by three teaching points about the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives in Romans 8:26-27, so let’s read there.

Romans 8:26–27 ESV

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.

THE HOLY SPIRIT BEARS WEIGHT WITH GOD’S CHILDREN

The first thing that we see in these verses that we must linger over is this idea that God’s Spirit is helping us in our weakness.

We have seen how the comfort of the Father turns us into comforters

We have see how the example of the Son spurs us on to endure like Him and cast off every sin so that we can run our race

Now, we have the third Person of the Trinity is not just dwelling in us, but is actually bearing the weight of our hardship in Romans 8:26...

Everything you see in verses 18-30 is really one thought.

It is a section in which Paul is explaining that the present sufferings of this world are going to be replaced by a future glory.

But even now, as we wait on that glory, God is conforming us to the image of His Son and He is already allowing us to taste the firstfruits of our salvation.

We don’t have heaven yet, but the Holy Spirit enables us to get a taste of heaven on this present earth.

Romans 8:23 ESV

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

When Paul says that the Spirit is helping us in our weakness, he is saying that the Spirit’s divine assistance to us is part of that “firstfruits” of salvation that verse 23 is talking about.

In Heaven, I will live in a body without sin or the threat of death.

I will live my entire life in perfect dependence upon God.

He is giving us a taste of that now, by strengthening us for the trials of the present age. Teaching us to live on His life in the here and now. Exposing us to the joy of depending upon His provision.

Now the idea of the Spirit helping us here carries the idea of serving alongside someone.

For example, the Greek word for help is the same from Luke 10:40

Luke 10:40 ESV

But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”

Martha was frustrated because the task of service was left to only her. She wanted Mary to put her hand to the work with her.

The fact that the same word is being used in Romans 8:26 tells us that the Holy Spirit is assisting us in the task of suffering.

As our bodies long for redemption and we are eagerly awaiting our inheritance as the children of God, the Spirit is there to bear up under the weight of living in this world.

Teaching Point #1: The Holy Spirit bears burdens with God’s children (v. 26).

ILLUSTRATION: I remember being in seminary and I decided that I wanted to start exercising.

My roommate and I were watching Monday Night Football and I was on the floor trying to do some push-ups.

He is coaching me, saying, “I think you need to straighten your back out,” and, “Your arms are too far forward.”

But I noticed that as he was critiquing my form, he was hard to understand.

I look up to find him with a mouth full of Oreo’s that he was dunking into a tall glass of milk

He immediately busted out laughing as we both realized how ridiculous the situation was

The Holy Spirit is not like this.

He does not stand far off, coldly suggesting advice, like some sort of online life-coach.

He is not like the football fan who shouts armchair advice at the coach on TV from the comfort of his own home.

He is not even a counselor you see once a week, who offers great wisdom, but doesn’t walk with you through life.

He is better than all of that.

He is in the thick of our lives with us. And He is involving Himself.

He is walking into the labor of our lives and says, “Let me help you with this.”

AT Robertson picks up on this language in Romans 8 and says the Greek indicates that the Spirit actively carrying the weight of our lives with us:

“The Holy Spirit lays hold of our weaknesses along with us and carries His part of the burden facing us as if two men were carrying a log, one at each end.”

If you have ever helped someone move, you know exactly what this is like.

That is the picture when Paul says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

Now before we go further, let’s deal with this word weakness so that we understand exactly what the Holy Spirit is helping us with.

The word is connected to the groaning that we see in verses 20-23.

In verses 20-21, Paul explains what happened to creation when sin came into the world:

Romans 8:20–21 ESV

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

The earth went from being paradise to being crippled.

The animal world went from tranquil to violent.

The created harmony of God’s design was thrust into a siege of chaos and destruction.

Sin and death opened up the door to floods and fires, earthquakes and hurricanes and tornadoes and tidal waves.

Romans 8:22 ESV

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Creation is crying out for redemption and the New Earth like a woman in labor. Creation groans.

But as you keep reading, you find out believers are groaning too. We are eagerly waiting on our adoption and inwardly we “groan” (v. 23).

In the same way that creation longs for redemption to come in full, so do we.

We have tasted the firstfruits of salvation, which includes the help of the Spirit, and as we suffer in our perishing bodies, we groan for the imperishable to come.

So with that in mind, what are our weaknesses?

It’s all of the physical, emotional and spiritual ailments that plague us in this world that is not our home.

It is the days we hurt.

It is the days we cry.

It is the days when we feel alone.

On those days, the Spirit of God is there saying, “I know you are groaning for the Son to return. In the meantime, let me help you with that weakness you have.”

And It is the days that we feel our prayers have gone cold.

In fact, that is the weakness Paul is most concerned about in the verse.

“For we do not know what to pray for as we ought...”

That is a part of the weakness of living in this world. Not knowing what to pray or what to say because the problem is too big or the pain is too deep.

On those days, the Spirit of God is there saying, “I know you are groaning for the Son to return. In the meantime, let me help you with that weakness you have... Let me help you with your prayers.”

THE HOLY SPIRIT PROTECTS AND PERFECTS THE PRAYERS OF GOD’S CHILDREN

We could say a host of things about how the Spirit ministers to believers:

He convicts us of sin

He helps us understand the Bible

He binds our conscience so that we will have wisdom in areas of Christian liberty where we have to be discerning

But in this text, Paul is concerned with one particular ministry of the Spirit that corresponds with our prayer problem.

The Spirit helps us by interceding for us with groanings too deep for words.

Teaching Point #2: The Holy Spirit protects and perfects the prayers of God’s children (v. 26-27).

Let’s start by agreeing with Paul on the diagnosis of our weakness in prayer.

Sometimes we simply do not know what to say to God.

We are too confused.

We are too sad.

We are inconsolable.

We are angry.

Sin and pain and suffering and hardship—whatever it may be—has this way of rendering us speechless before God. Not knowing where to start or maybe not knowing where to end.

In heaven, we will communicate with God without sin getting in the way.

He will be our God and we will be His people and part of being the people of God, from the very start in Genesis 1-3, is hearing from Him and talking to Him.

But when sin entered into the world, that perfect relationship and communication that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God was broken.

And you see that in the fact that they hide from Him.

And ever since, the human ability to pray has been crippled.

People are born with no guarantee that God will hear their prayers because they are cut off from Him.

But once we turn from sin and put our faith in Jesus, His blood opens the way for us to have full access to God in prayer.

And yet, as Christians, we are still be sanctified.

So while I have full access, that accessibility can get hampered by my flesh.

The problem is not on God’s end. It is on my end.

And because of that, sometimes when I go to pray, my prayers are errant or inefficient.

Errant prayers would be the ones that I offer up to God, thinking that I know exactly what I want and need, but in truth, I am asking for things that would not be good for my life.

As the highly respected theologian, Garth Brooks, would say, “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.”

Martin Luther argued that God often doesn’t answer prayers so that He can destroy our pride and earthly desires before He blesses us with what we really need.

“Hence, when we ask anything of God and He begins to hear us, He so often goes counter to our petitions that we imagine He is more angry with us now than before we prayed, and that He intends not to grant us our requests at all. All this God does, because it is His way first to destroy and annihilate what is in us—our own wisdom and will—before He gives us His gifts...”

Praise God, that as I am in pain, and I offer up desperate requests that would not be good for me to have because I do not know what to pray for as I ought, His Spirit steps in and protects me from errant prayers that I might offer up.

When I think of errant prayers, I think of Elijah under the broom tree in 1 Kings 19:1-8

1 Kings 19:1–8 ESV

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

Elijah asks God for death, even though there was more in God’s will for Elijah to do with his life.

It was an errant prayer because it was not in line with God’s wise plan for His own glory.

And when we do not know what to pray for as we ought, and we offer up errant prayers, the Spirit is there to protect us and intercede for us. To go to the Father for us.

Errant prayers are not the only problem though. We also deal with inefficient prayers.

There are prayers where we are so flustered by what is happening that we never even get to asking for what we really need...

There are prayers when news has so devastated us that we cannot even get the words out. Deep in our soul, we know what we need but we are bleeding too much to even voice it.

There are prayers that seem to just bounce off the ceiling because the events of our lives have worn us down to the point that we feel spiritually dry and in need of refreshing

And just the Spirit intercedes when our prayers err from God’s good and perfect will, the Spirit intercedes when our prayers are simply not efficient.

Where we are inefficient, He is perfect.

Therefore, the Spirit protects us from errant prayer and He perfects our inefficient prayers.

And Paul says this intercession comes in the form of the Spirit’s “groanings too deep for words.”

This is the third groaning we have seen, right?

in Romans 8:22, creation is groaning.

In Romans 8:23, we are groaning.

And now, in Romans 8:26, the Spirit is groaning with us.

Kent Hughes says this means you have two Persons of the Godhead standing in the gap for you.

How marvelous this all is! We have two intercessors: one in Heaven—our Lord Jesus who intercedes for our sins, and one in our hearts—the Holy Spirit Himself. How greatly we are loved.

The Scottish hymn-writer, James Montgomery, penned something similar with the 6th verse of his hymn on prayer:

Nor prayer is made on earth alone: the Holy Spirit pleads, and Jesus on the eternal throne for sinners intercedes.

And we can be confident that our groaning Intercessor who dwells in us, is getting the job done when it comes to taking our prayers to the Father.

And interestingly enough, it is not so much the nature and work of the Spirit that leads Paul to that conclusion, but the nature of the Father.

The Father searches every heart.

There are no secrets with God.

He knows all.

1 Chronicles 28:9 ESV

“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

Hebrews 4:13 ESV

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

And the Father also knows what is the “mind of the Spirit” because the Father and the Spirit are One.

As Athanasius teaches us in his creed: The Father is God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God. But there are not three gods, there is one God.

God has eternally existed as three Persons, but those Three Persons of the Godhead have essential and perfect unity as one God.

Therefore, the Father knows the mind of the Spirit.

And it is this eternal unity that the Father has with the Spirit that enables the Spirit to completely and totally protect and perfect our prayers as the Intercessor in our hearts.

THE HOLY SPIRIT’S MINISTRY COMPELS PERSISTENT PRAYER FROM GOD’S CHILDREN

So let’s review what we have seen in the passage thus far:

The Spirit bears burdens with God’s children

The Spirit protects and perfects the prayers of God’s children

And now finally, we see:

Teaching Point #3: The Holy Spirit’s ministry compels persistent prayer from God’s children.

This is where the rubber meets. This is the why—the practical outworking of Romans 8:26-27...

Let me begin our final point by referencing one of Jesus’ parables about prayer:

Luke 18:1–8 ESV

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The point of that parable is, if this earthly judge—who is irreverent and disrespectful—will grant a persistent widow’s request, how much more will God grant the requests of His children that He knows and loves.

It is a call to persistence.

The lesson is clear. We must not play at prayer, but must show persistence if we do not receive the answer immediately. It is not that God is unwilling and must be pressed into answering. The whole context makes it clear that he is eager to give. But if we do not want what we are asking for enough to be persistent, we do not want it very much. It is not such tepid prayer that is answered.

Leon Morris

In Romans 8:27, Paul says “the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

That is one, among many reasons, as to why you should pray persistently.

Because the Spirit is interceding for you and as God, He does it according to God’s perfect will

The Spirit is like the best prayer partner you could ever have.

So then why are we so slow to pray?

We should be eager to talk to God and that eagerness should show itself in consistent, persistent prayer.

This is why Paul said:

1 Thessalonians 5:16–17 ESV

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

That doesn’t mean you retreat from the world and spend every waking moment in prayer, never stopping to do anything else. Of course it doesn’t mean that.

Instead, Paul is talking about a life where you are praying around the clock because the habit is woven into your daily activity.

It is as much a part of your day as breathing or walking or standing and sitting.

It is second nature.

In the last two years, I have started to use written prayers in my daily prayer life. There is not a day that goes by in which I do not pray written prayers.

Some people think that is cold and indifferent.

But when I read those written prayers to God from my heart, it primes the pump and I find that it spurs me on to more spontaneous prayer.

Not just in the moment, but throughout my day.

The written prayers are like a kindling that catches fire and burns throughout the day until I come home and open the prayer book and throw some more wood on the fire.

If you want to pray more persistently, but you feel like you don’t know where to start, get yourself a prayer book.

We have one here for $12, but there are a host of them. See me after the service and I will make recommendations.

But what this text does for me is let me know that when I get to the end of a hard day of laboring for Christ, I don’t have to go to bed wondering if my prayers were too weak or too tired or too all over the place for God to hear them.

I can pray persistent prayers through my pain and hardship, knowing the Spirit of the Living God is interceding and making groanings for me to the Father.

And since the Father and Spirit are one, I know my feeble, suffering prayers are protected and perfected by the Spirit’s intercession and that God hears my deepest feelings and requests.

And glory be to God that He lets me taste that now—just a little preview of the perfect that is to come.

And before I close, let me call on 1 Thessalonians 5 one more time in order to point something out to you:

1 Thessalonians 5:16–17 ESV

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

You will not do the rejoicing without the praying.

People who rejoice always are people who pray always.

Persistently offer up your prayers, trusting the Spirit’s intercession and the Father’s goodness to hear them, and you will find that even in the most horrific physical and emotional pain, you are able to rejoice.

CONCLUSION

300 Illustrations for Preachers (Leaving a Message for God)

In 2009 a Dutch artist set up a local telephone number in the Netherlands and urged people to call and leave a message for God. Johan van der Dong said he set up a phone number with voicemail to give people an opportunity to pause and contemplate life. Callers who use the number will hear “Hi, you are speaking to God. I’m not in right now, so leave a message after the beep.” Van der Dong said, “Like praying, leaving a voicemail message is a way to organize your thoughts.” He added, “It’s a perfect combination for some contemplation.”

I am thankful that I don’t have to leave messages for God.

He is always there to receive what I have to say to Him.

And I don’t have to worry about Him hearing my prayers and smiting me or mocking me or ignoring me.

Jesus’ intercession gives me the access.

The Spirit’s intercession gives me the confidence that even the prayers I offer up to God from the pit will protected and perfected by His groaning.

Therefore, I pray without ceasing. And I can rejoice always.

No voicemails.

No AI.

No direct messages

Just look to the God of comfort, who you know through the enduring Son, and pray—rejoicing that the Spirit is interceding and tending to your prayer life.

Whatever you are going through, you are not alone. The Triune God is with you. He longs to comfort you. To lead you. To hear you.

Trust in no one but Him for the peace you need.

And give no one but Him the glory when He gives it.

And remember that this time is short. This life is a vapor.

And an eternity without sin in the presence of the King is on the way.

Hold fast. Pray. Rejoice.