The Helper & our Weakness
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Holy Spirit Intercession
The Big idea: The Holy Spirit helps our weakness through stirring our minds and affections and instructing us to enjoy doing what God wants and who He is.
The Big idea: The Holy Spirit helps our weakness through stirring our minds and affections and instructing us to enjoy doing what God wants and who He is.
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.
Romans 8:2
I. The Holy Spirit speaks into the hearts and minds of God’s children.
I. The Holy Spirit speaks into the hearts and minds of God’s children.
The Scriptures are speaking to times when we don’t know what to say or do.
When we are weak: physical, emotional, or spiritual
When calamities strike
when we or someone we know and love has a major illness
when confusion seems to reign in our hearts and minds
when our faith is small and weak
when sin is strongly appealing
To grow our affections for Christ
To Instruct in what we need to do or say
To comfort us in affliction
2. Because of sin in our hearts and in the hearts of others, we often find ourselves critical and selfish or sad and confused. No special person of God or of anything has the right answer and easy decision making all the time. We all have struggles and questions. We all go through sadnesses and sufferings. In particular what Paul is looking at our weakness in suffering. How many times do we wonder what to do when we or someone we love has cancer or some other terrible ailment? When we are faced with suffering for the Gospel at work or with friends and family, what do we do? The good news is that God is for us. He gave us the “helper” and “advocate” to help us with several things.
a. Remember and apply the truth of God’s Word.
a. Remember and apply the truth of God’s Word.
b. Exalt Jesus
b. Exalt Jesus
c. Comfort us in affliction
d. Empower us to walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel
e. Remember our identity in Christ and God as our Abba, Father
it is easy to not remember God as your Father who loves you when life is hard.
f. lead us to words and deeds that will honor Jesus as we obey by faith the will of God
3. How does the Spirit do this?
a. It is primarily through our time in God’s Word. This is still the main way that God speaks to His people and stirs us our desires for His Will and Kingdom to be done here as it is in heaven.
b. Not only current Bible reading but also past Scriptures that He brings to mind. This is certainly through memorizing Scripture but also through meditating on key passages.
c. We are to daily confess our weakness and great need for the work of the Spirit. If this is our humble posture daily, when suffering comes, or challenges to faith, we are already seeking the Spirit and listening to God’s Word.
4. Application: How do we walk in this?
a. Have a Scripture memory plan. Desiring God has fighter verses and many study Bibles have them as well. If you are going to do this, you need a plan and a partner.
b. Meditate on the Scripture and promises you know throughout your day and see if your heart is fuller and more attentive to what the Holy Spirit is calling you and leading you to.
II. The Holy Spirit intercedes for God’s children.
II. The Holy Spirit intercedes for God’s children.
Jen intercedes between me and the kiddos.
A. He inspires deep heart desires for God to move
B. Paul calls this deep desire in the face of struggle and suffering, groaning here and in verse 23.
C. His intercession is creating connection between our wordless cries for great help and the Father’s desire and activity to bring great help as he looks into our hearts.
D. He stirs up our hearts to groan for God to move on our behalf. It is these kinds of prayers that the Father is searching for and will answer.
We don’t have to have big words or all the right ideas or perfect theology for God to hear us and answer us.
The feeblest prayer, if it be sincere, is written by the Holy Spirit upon the heart, and God will always own the handwriting of the Holy Spirit. Frequently certain kind friends from Scotland send me for the Orphanage some portions of what one of them called the other day "filthy lucre," — namely, dirty £1 notes. Now these £1 notes certainly look as if they were of small value. Still, they bear the proper signature, and they pass well enough, and I am very grateful for them. Many a prayer that is written on the heart by the Holy Spirit seems written with faint ink, and, moreover, it appears to be blotted and defiled by our imperfection; but the Holy Spirit can always read His own handwriting. He knows His own notes, and when He has issued a prayer He will not disown it. Therefore, the breathing which the Holy Ghost works in us will be acceptable with God.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
b. It is therefore in these deepest of groanings that God the Holy Spirit does not despise us but instead draws attention of God the Father to what His children truly desire and need. This is His intercession for us.
c. This echoes the earlier cry of “Abba, Father” that God delights to hear from us.
d. Is was promised by Isaiah that God will not quench the struggling but will help so we find hope and He is glorified.
e.
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
f. This was the promised one who was full of the Spirit that God the Father would use for the help of His people. Now we see that in all our hearts that belong to Jesus, the Holy Spirit continually reminds us of God’s care and help.
g. God will always show care for us His children.
So you can know in your darkest hour as David, and Paul, and Jesus knew that God knows and hears your deepest struggles and even better, He is with you!
h. Application: how do we walk in this?
Set aside uninterrupted and undistracted time to pray and seek the Lord. Make it regular and guard it. This was Jesus’ practice and it helped before and during difficulty to be alone with God.
III. The Holy Spirit promotes and empowers all that God intends for His children.
III. The Holy Spirit promotes and empowers all that God intends for His children.
He prays according to the Will of God.
He knows all things and has no weakness as we do.
Changing our hearts and minds along the way; renewing us into the right image God intends. Truly transforming our minds.
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
We are to pray in the Spirit. If we want to know that God hears our prayers and will accomplish all he desires, we must depend on and walk by the Spirit even in our prayers.
We are to pray in the Spirit. If we want to know that God hears our prayers and will accomplish all he desires, we must depend on and walk by the Spirit even in our prayers.
This means a daily dependence on the Holy Spirit to lead, teach, and empower our lives and prayers. We do this by pausing early and often to remind ourselves that “anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him (Jesus).” Also the converse is true that all who belong to Jesus have the Holy Spirit. He is with us. We must fight for this confidence so our prayers will be hopeful, God centered and joyful.
The other answer to the question of how to pray "in the Holy Spirit" is to bring all your praying into conformity to the Word of God which the Spirit inspired (; ). Right here is where God's call to be in the Word every day and his call to pray at all times in the Spirit become intertwined. If you live in the Word of God, meditating on it day and night by reading it every day and memorizing portions to carry with you all day and savoring them hour by hour, then your prayers will be shaped by the Word. Which means they will be shaped by the Spirit. And that is what it means to pray "in the Holy Spirit."-John Piper
If we do this, we know that there is meaning in our prayers that God approves of and acts upon.
Our participation is daily to seek the Lord. As the Holy Spirit stirs our affections and intercedes for us, we pray along those desires he has awakened.
And while in struggle and suffering it can seem trite to quote 8:28, it is also very comforting to know that God is working out all things for our good and His glory. This flows out of the statement
Application: how do we walk in this?
We are called to walk by the Spirit or to be led by the Spirit. To do this we must remind ourselves of our identity in Christ and have others in our life that will remind us that God is our Abba Father. For as we cry that out in recognition we are full of the Spirit and being led by Him.
MIM: The Holy Spirit helps our weakness through stirring our minds and affections and instructing us to enjoy doing what God wants and who He is.
Romans 8:26-27
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.
The Holy Spirit speaks into the hearts and minds of God’s children. When they are weak Calamities Major illness Confusion Weak faith To grow our affections for Christ To Instruct us in what we need to do or say To comfort us in affliction The Holy Spirit intercedes for God’s children. Inspiring deep heart desires for God to move He calls this groaning here and in verse 23 His intercession is creating connection between our wordless cries for great help and the Father’s great help as he looks into our hearts. The Holy Spirit accomplishes all that God intends for His children. Jude 1:17-21 We are to pray in the Spirit. If we do this we can know that there is meaning in our prayers that God approves and acts upon.