Help For Weak Saints

Children’s Bible Page 1230

Have you ever gone out to a restaurant with someone, and you are really hungry, and you can’t wait for the waiter or waitress to come to your table so you can order, and they finally get there and say, “Do you know what you want?” and the person you are with says, “No, give us a few more minutes to look at the menu.”

Half of us are like, Oh yeah, that’s annoying. The other half are like, no, that never happens to me. That’s because you are that person.

The truth is that many times I struggle to make decisions.

I can take a long time to make a decision, and even after I’ve prayed about it, talked to others who I think can give me good counsel, and then make the decision, I can still be tempted to second guess myself even long after the decision is made.

I’ve never just been one of those people that feels super confident in their decisions.

And, once I perceive that I have made a few mistakes in my decisions, and wish I would have decided something else, the problem gets worse and worse.

The truth is that we have such little control over so many things in our lives, and trials and hardships can tempt us to wonder if any of what we know and trust in is true.

Last week, we considered together the hope of future glory that encourages us and sustains us in this life of following Jesus.

We were encouraged to grow in our biblical and spiritual imaginations around the idea that what God has prepared for His people in the future is so glorious that a lifetime of pain and suffering on earth would not even be worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us.

And because we have such a certain and secure hope of future glory, we run with endurance and resilience with patience as we look forward to what God has planned for us.

It is the spirit of God that bears witness with our spirit giving us confidence that we are children of God and that this is our great and glorious future as we cry out to Him as our good Father.

Yet, while we have this great hope for future glory, so oftentimes in our day to day life, we don’t understand what God is doing,

And when things are difficult and things get hard, we can be tempted to question all that we thought we knew.

So, as we continue in our passage, we are now going to focus in on something else the Spirit of God does in us, even in the midst of all the uncertainty and confusion of day to day life.

The Spirit of God helps us in our weakness.

Romans 8:26–30 ESV

26 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. 27 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. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

1. Trust God As His Spirit Intercedes For Us

Just as the Spirit of God assures those who trust in Jesus for salvation that they are God’s children and that future glory awaits them, the Spirit of God also helps us in our weakness.

In our society, women can be tempted to believe that their God given role as a helper is a demeaning role, but we read many places throughout the Scriptures that God himself is identified in the role of helper, which is a role that should be highly honored and appreciated.

Here, is the the Holy Spirit of God who is identified as our helper.

The Spirit of God helps us in our weakness.

And Paul does not leave us to guess for ourselves what kind of weakness he is talking about.

He goes on to tell us that he helps us in our weakness which is that we do not know what to pray as we ought.

You see, we are still in a section of Romans where Paul is telling us that though we suffer in many ways in this life now, we have the hope of future glory in eternity where there will be no more suffering.

But, right now, as we suffer, we do not always know how to pray as we ought.

There are many things about God’s will that He has not made known to us.

We do not always know in sickness if we should pray for healing or pray for strength to endure.

Of course, it is good and right to pray for both.

If a Christian is in prison, we pray for their release, yet we also pray for their witness in the prison, for it may be God’s good purpose to keep them there for a time to be a witness, we don’t know.

If a Christian is in pain, we pray for their relief, but we also believe God is accomplishing something ultimately good through the pain, though we have no idea what.

While it is true that Jesus told us to ask anything in his name, He will do it, His name is certainly perfectly entwined with His will.

So, if we ask in line with His will, He will certainly do it.

But, we do not always know what God’s will is in any situation.

John Piper says God is always constantly doing at least a thousand things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.

Consider Paul’s weakness in prayer in the book of 2 Corinthians.

Paul had what he called a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan to harass him.

And, just like we would do, Paul pleaded with the Lord in prayer to take it away from him.

2 Corinthians 12:8–9 ESV

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Paul prayed that God would take the thorn away, but that was not God’s will.

God’s will was for the thorn to stay and lead Paul to rely upon the sufficiency of His grace in the midst of the struggle.

So, while we pray in weakness, not always understanding what God’s will is, the Spirit of God intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words.

I want you to consider how active God is in your prayer life.

Psalm tells us that our Father God inclines His ear to hear us in prayer. Verse 34 is going to tell us that Jesus intercedes for us in prayer before the Father. And here, we read that the Spirit of God intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words.

Verse 27 goes on to say that God, I believe He is referring to God the Father, searches hearts, and knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

In other words, as we pray in weakness, not knowing fully what God’s will is in each and every situation, the Holy Spirit of God also prays for us, but He prays in line with the perfect will of God, because He knows it and desires it.

So, while we are praying for healing, sometimes He is praying for strength, endurance, and joy in the midst of the sickness, because he knows it is God’s will for it to last a long time.

Or sometimes, when we are praying for endurance, the Holy Spirit is praying for healing, because He knows it is God’s will for a quick recovery.

But, you may say at this point, what is the point of praying in the midst of suffering and trials if the Holy Spirit already knows perfectly God’s will and is praying for it?

Two reasons: God uses intimate prayer to align our hearts to say like our Lord Jesus: Father, not my will, but yours be done.

And, God has purposed that there are many things he does in response to the prayers of His people.

And do not be tempted to believe that God has all this predetermined in a way that He does not care deeply for you in the midst of your pain and suffering, even if it is not His will to immediately take it away.

Psalm 42:7 ESV

7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.

The picture is of a suffering child of God.

As the waves of difficulty break over their life, the deep of sorrow and pain, calls out to the deep of God’s compassion and care.

That’s why the Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words, because God cares, God has compassion, God understands how you feel.

He knows you groan inwardly as you want to honor and glorify God no matter what, but you also desire relief.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit identifies with your groanings, and He helps you by interceding for you according to the will of God.

So, when you do not know what you ought to pray, pray for healing and help, and pray for endurance and resilience, and above all that God’s will be done and His name be honored, as we look forward to the joy of future glory.

Trust God as His Spirit intercedes for us.

2. Trust God As He Works All Things For Our Good

As we are promised that the Spirit of God prays for us in line with God’s will for us, this is only good news if we are completely sure that God’s will for us is good.

And this is why verse 28 is one of the most cherished verses in all of the Scripture.

Verse 28 - And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

In verse 29, Paul is going to tell us that God foreknew all of His children, meaning He knew and set his love on all who would be His from eternity past.

So, if he has always known and loved you from before you were born, you can know for certain God will finally work all things out for your good.

For those whom God set his love on are those who have come to love God because He has awakened their souls to Him through the gospel.

1 John 4:19 ESV

19 We love because he first loved us.

So, for all who have experienced the love of God in the gospel and are learning to love God in return, we know God works all things out for good.

Notice, God does not work all things out for good for every human who has ever lived.

For we deserve death and hell, and all who never bow the knee to Jesus will get what they rightly deserve.

But, for all who have experienced the love of God in the gospel and love God in return, He works all things together for your good.

I cannot think of many people in all of Scripture who had things go worse for them than Joseph in the book of Genesis.

Joseph’s brothers hated him because he was the youngest and most loved by their father.

So, they threw him in a pit to die, then they decided to pull him out of the pit and sell him as a slave to some Egyptians.

Joseph grew up apart from his family as a servant to Egypt, until his master’s wife lied about Joseph and had him thrown in prison.

Joseph stayed in prison for about thirteen years before he was finally released and brought into the Pharaoh’s service.

After all that Joseph had been through, when he finally came face to face with His brothers again, he was able to say this:

Genesis 50:20 ESV

20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Think about it: have you ever had something happen in your life that you would have never chosen for yourself.

It was difficult and painful at the time, but now you can look back and see something good that came out of it?

Do you not think that if from your very limited perspective that you have now, you can see at least one good thing that came from something difficult, that in eternity, you will be able to look back and see the ultimate good God worked out even out of the most difficult parts of your life?

For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Well, who are those who love God and are called according to His purpose?

It’s Christians. It’s believers in Christ. It is not some special class of Christian, it is all the people of God.

Yet, because life for some believers in Jesus has been so filled with trouble and difficulty and hardship and persecution that it would seem near impossible to believe that it could all be worked out for good,

Paul now explains to us in detail how our salvation is God’s sovereign work from beginning to end.

Because we must understand that our salvation is not contingent on our circumstances, not one bit.

Our salvation is always and only contingent on the work of our sovereign God.

3. Trust God As He Has Purposed Our Salvation From Beginning To End

This passage is to show you just how sure and purposeful God’s salvation of His people is.

Verse 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Now, let me just acknowledge that there is a historical debate in Christianity regarding what the foreknowledge of God and predestination means and doesn’t mean.

But I believe I would be doing a disservice to the heart of this passage by going off on arguments on the different sides of that debate.

Instead, what I am going to do is simply show you what I believe the text is saying and ask you to consider the beauty in it.

And yes, it will raise some questions in your mind, but I promise, they are questions Paul knew would be raised, and he covers them in chapter 9, but for today, let’s seek out the beauty of the plan of God for our salvation in these verses.

First, what is the good that God has purposed to work all things out in the life of the believer?

The good is being conformed to the image of His son.

You see, from the very beginning, mankind was created in the image of God - meaning we are able to reflect God in relationship to him in an intimate way that no other created being can.

And, because we were created in the image of God, God creatures, we were to find all of our needs met and desires satisfied in worship to God alone as we reflected His glory back to him.

But, when given the opportunity, mankind sinned against God, desiring to choose right and wrong for themselves, desiring to meet their own needs and fulfill there own desires, mankind chose to worship the creation rather than the creator.

This is why we are all naturally drawn toward caring more about sin and self than we do about God and His glory.

In our sin, the image of God is broken and we try to find our image and purpose in created things.

And our sin and selfishness lead toward sin and death.

We deserve the righteous punishment of God due to our sin and rebellion.

Yet, while we were sinners, God sent His son Jesus, the very image of God.

And Jesus was fully man living and walking this earth just as we do, yet Jesus never sinned, but instead, He perfectly reflected the glory of God as he found all his needs met and desires satisfied in God alone.

Yet, when Jesus came to the end of his life, Jesus was arrested, tried, and crucified as a sinner, though he had never sinned.

You see, Jesus was not punished for sins he committed.

Instead, Jesus took our place as sinners, and Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, all of our sins were laid upon Him, and in great love, Jesus took on the full punishment of sin due the wrath of God that you and I rightfully deserved.

And Jesus died under the weight of our sin.

Then, three days later, God the father rose his son Jesus from the grave defeating sin, Satan, death, and hell on our behalf.

And all who here this message, this good news, this gospel, and respond with repentance of sin and faith in Jesus are born again to new spiritual life, your sins are forgiven, you are declared right with God, you are adopted into God’s family.

But were you simply lucky?

Were you lucky to be living in a place where there was access to the Bible and access to the preaching of God’s gospel?

Did you of your own accord and initiative embrace the message of the gospel while some sitting around you freely chose to reject it?

And if it was of your own initiative that you received it, are you sure that it was enough to remain and be sustained through the difficulties of this life?

No.

Instead, Paul says, those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

God foreknew all his own children which means, “He set his love on His children in a very personal way.”

Ephesians 1:3–4 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

God knows all at all times, so God knew you before He created you and he knew that he had set his love on you before the foundation of the world.

God knows all things at all times, and He never changes, so how could this not be so?

The questions will come, but right now, consider how God has always purposed to set his love on you.

Deuteronomy 7:7–8 ESV

7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

So, if you are in Christ, you are part of God’s family, the church, so that means that God has always loved you and He set his love on you before the foundation of the world.

Consider a contrast.

Just as God will say to some:

Matthew 7:23 ESV

23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Just as God will say to some, I never knew you.

That doesn’t mean God did not have knowledge of them.

Of course He did. God knows everyone and everything.

But, that word know, is the same word Paul uses as foreknow.

Just as some God never knew, meaning He did not set his love on them, those who are in Christ, he foreknew and always knew and set His love on them.

And because He foreknew us he also predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son.

Because God set His love on those whom He foreknew, He destined them from the beginning to be conformed to the image of his Son.

To be redeemed back into the image of Christ Jesus.

There has never been any question in God’s mind from eternity past to eternity future that you would be His and that He would be yours, and that you would have eternal life in His presence forevermore!

I promise, we will ask the questions in the coming weeks, but let’s just bask in this right here.

You say, God I’m hurting, God I’m frustrated, God I’m in prison for my faith, God I’ve fallen into the same sin pattern for the thousandth time, God I’m not nearly as spiritually mature as I thought I’d be, God my relationships are a mess, my emotions are all screwed up, I’ve lost everyone I’ve ever loved, maybe my church is going through conflict, whatever it is that difficult, and is tempting you to doubt.

Don’t get caught up in the debate right now.

Instead consider God set His love on you before this world began.

And you have been destined from the beginning to end up conformed to the image of His Son finding all your needs met and desires satisfied in worship to God for eternity.

This is the very reason why down in verse 35 he can then ask, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” And the answer is nothing and no one.

We are predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

The idea of Jesus being the firstborn means he is preeminent and in the highest place.

God is glorified in elevating His son who has died to adopt us into His family as brothers and sisters.

Verse 30 - And those he predestined he also called.

Because Paul is obviously writing about those who are believers who are destined for future glory, the call of God here is not speaking of simply the call to salvation that everyone hears who sits under the preaching of the gospel.

Instead, He is talking about the inward call of the Holy Spirit that leads a sinner to answer the call of the gospel and be saved.

It is what theologians call the effectual call, because all who receive this call through the Holy Spirit work in them repent of their sins and believe on Jesus for salvation.

So, all he predestined, He called.

And those whom He called he also justified, as sure as you felt conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit and as sure as you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ through the work of the Spirit, you have been justified, forgiven of your sin and declared right with God.

And those whom He justified and made right with God he also glorified.

Now wait, we have seen throughout this series that though being declared right with God happened at the moment of our salvation through repentance and faith, our glorification does not occur until our bodies die or Jesus returns and we see him face to face.

So, what is Paul doing saying those whom He justified He also glorified?

What he is doing is He is completing the glorious order of salvation that God works perfectly from beginning to end.

While you have not yet been glorified, your glorification is as sure and certain as your predestination, your calling, and your justification that have already occured.

You see, God left absolutely nothing to chance when it came to the salvation of His church.

God left absolutely nothing to chance when it came to saving all those whom he has set his love upon.

Why does He want you to know this?

Because He is a good father who has always loved His children.

And he wants you His children to have the confidence that He who began a good work in you will bring it to perfect completion on the day of Jesus Christ no matter how dark, or confusing, or difficult these days on this side of eternity get.

Can I point out one more thing?

I’m struck by the fact that in the book of Romans, Paul went from being declared right with God in our justification to then the reality of the war between our flesh and the Spirit in our sanctification as we progressively grow in Christ during this life.

But, when He is encouraging us to trust him in the midst of the most difficult things of life that we don’t even know how to pray as we ought, Paul simply jumps straight from justification to glorification.

Why?

Because all who God has declared right with Him by grace through faith will be glorified.

I believe this passage makes clear that all who are genuinely saved can never lose their salvation.

God started it, and He is going to finish what He started.

But, I believe Paul goes straight from justification to glorification, because no matter what your battle between the flesh and the Spirit looks like,

No matter if you have years of spiritual growth and obvious godliness and service.

Or whether you struggled and took 2 steps forward only to take 3 steps back.

Or no matter if your fruit was so slow coming and so small in quantity.

The truth is: you did nothing to earn your salvation, and you can do nothing to improve upon it.

If you have been declared right with God, you will finally be glorified.

So, where do you find yourself today?

Are you trusting in the God who has done everything necessary for your salvation no matter what?

Let’s pray.