If you will, let's turn to Romans
chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. We're working through Romans
and us arriving at these verses is a timely thing. I met a man
this week and having some work done to our house, and he gave
me some unsolicited advice on prayer. He found out I was a
pastor. And he said, well, I know you
didn't ask me, but I want to tell you some things. He gave
me some advice. And if he's tuning in, if he's
listening, I did not pick these verses to prove my point. I didn't do it to pick on him.
I hope he understands that. He can look back through the
history of the messages, what's been uploaded, and see this is
where we are. We've got verse 26 and 27 here
in Romans chapter 8 tonight. But the timing of this text and
our Lord's sovereign providence, I would urge them, if they were
to tune in, to listen carefully. And I would urge us to listen
carefully. I urge myself, as I study this,
to listen carefully. Let's look here at Romans 8 and
verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And
he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God." As we went through Romans, there in chapter 7, Paul
shows us the daily life of a believer, our daily thoughts, the daily
battles that rage inside of us. How the struggle with our flesh
is so overwhelming at times. How weak we are sometimes. How
we do the things that we don't want to do. How the new man looks
to Christ in all things, but that old man looks to the flesh.
The old man looks around us. What's going on? That's what
that old man does. And the apostle shows us the infirmity of our
flesh. what our sickness is, what our
illness is, and the two natures that every true believer has
inside themselves. But here in chapter 8, we see
the believer's life in the Spirit, walking with the Spirit. In verse
2, we see the beginning of this thought. Look there in Romans
8 too. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Jesus Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and
death." Now in verse 4, he says we don't walk after the flesh.
We don't walk after this world. We don't walk after our own desires
and our own lusts, what we want to do. But we walk after the
Spirit. Look here in Romans 8 verse 4. That the righteousness of
the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh. but after the Spirit. And walking
after the Spirit there is a capital S. Not our spirit, that new man
in us, that's a little s. It's a capital S. God the Holy
Spirit. And we walk after the Spirit. That means we follow. We're being
led by the Spirit. Having life in Christ, being
led by the Holy Spirit in our new man, We then have life and
we have peace. Look here in verse 6, Romans
8, 6. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. Against what So many commonly
believe against what's so commonly preached throughout the world,
throughout time, since Cain. Being spiritually minded does
not begin with man. It doesn't begin with me. I don't
make a decision for Jesus. I don't decide, wake up one morning
and decide I'm going to be spiritually minded. It's not maintained by
my will. I don't start it and I don't
keep it up. I don't keep walking after the
Spirit. And it doesn't finish with me. It doesn't culminate
with man's will. The beginning, the continuance,
and the culmination of salvation of faith, of walking in the Spirit,
of regeneration, of resurrection, of eternal glory is the working
and the doing of God Almighty. He does it. It is solely the
work of Christ and Him alone working in His people. That leaves
all the glory, all the credit for taking this sinful worm that
I am and making me as righteous as Christ is righteous. All that
glory is only to Him, because He did it all. I didn't have
a hand in it. Our Lord receives all the glory
for the saving of His people, for the staying of His people,
and for the keeping of His people forever, preserving us for eternity. Now there in verse 10, Romans
8.10, it said, And if Christ be in you, He is in you, the
body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life, because
of righteousness. We have life because of the righteousness
of Christ, Him in us. Verse 11, But if the Spirit of
Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. You see who does the
work here? The Lord does. He raises. He quickens. He dwells. He dwells
in us. So then it's not That we've done
something to make Him in debt to us. We're indebted to Him. We don't do things to make Him
owe us. We owe Him. Look in verse 12.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, not to ourselves,
not to something we did, not to anything in this world, to
live after the flesh, but to Him. We're debtors to God. Not
those things that lead themselves, those people that lead themselves,
they are not the sons of God. But everyone that is led by God,
by the Holy Spirit, they are the sons of God. Look here in
verse 14, Romans 8, 14. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Now, not every person
born on this earth is a child of God. Only those that the Spirit
leads. Only those that's had a work
done in them. Only those that know God. Those are His children.
In a sense, all men are His. He owns them. But they're not
children. They're not sons. Those He leads. We are joint heirs with our Redeemer. joint heirs with Christ. Look
at verse 17, Romans 8, 17. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we
suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. How is this revealed to His children?
How do we know that we're joint heirs? What makes us know that?
Look in verse 16. Just look up one verse. The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. There's that capital S spirit.
It witnesses to that lower case s. Our spirit, our new man. God,
the Holy Spirit, that great comforter, speaks to our new man that was
put in us. And we are comforted by being
reassured we're sons of God. We're sons. We're children of
God. And from that we cry, Abba, Father. Our new man, our spirit, our
littlest spirit, it cries to our Heavenly Father. So we that
the life So we see that the life that we have in Christ is given
by God. We are led throughout our walk
on this earth by the Spirit. We are comforted by the Spirit. We know we are the sons of God
by the Spirit. And we cry to our Father, Abba
Father, through The Spirit. We're led by the Spirit to cry
to Him. Now that brings us to our text here in verse 26. We
remember that scripture reading from Jeremiah we had this evening.
Jeremiah 31. It says, They shall come with
weeping. He said, You're going to come
to me weeping. And with all supplications, with
the prayer, I will lead them. He said, you're going to come
to me crying, but I'm going to lead you in prayer. The first part of this message
is going to be a little rough. It might sting a little. But
we will see comfort at the end. And this text has helped me greatly. It's been a great comfort to
me, and it will help you too. It will be a good comfort to
you. So there in Romans 8 verse 26, Likewise, the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities. We have physical infirmities. We have illnesses. We have sicknesses.
We have pain, disease. But we also have something much
worse, a much worse infirmity. Not just what we experience in
our bodies, we have inward infirmities. We are sick on the inside in
our souls. We're weak inwardly. And that's
what the Spirit takes care of. That's what He helps with. Helpeth
our infirmities. Here in our text, Paul is talking
specifically about prayer. That's what he's talking about
there in verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, colon. He's going to help our sicknesses.
Now he's about to tell us what our sickness is, what our infirmity
is. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Believers. Not every child of Adam. Not
every sinner that's born on this earth. I'm talking about believers.
Children of God, sons of God, Paul speaking about them, about
me. We have sickness. We have an
infirmity, an inability to pray as we ought. We do not know what
to even pray for. We don't pray the way we ought,
and we don't ask for, and we don't have the prayer that we
should have. And as the sons and daughters of God, we ought
to know. As His children, we ought to
know what to pray for, but we don't. We don't know. Here's
a great example of how truly depraved that I am. When I read
that text, the first thing I thought of was, I know what I should
pray for. Isn't that horrible? He's talking about somebody else.
I know. I've been through this. The Holy Word of God just told
me that I don't know what I should pray for. And my flesh, it pops
up, it puffs, it gets big and it says, I know what to say.
Others might not know, but I know. I know how to pray and I know
what to pray for. That's not being brought in weeping
to prayer. It's not being led by the Spirit
through weeping to prayer. I must be brought weeping. I
must be brought helpless. I must be led, took by the hand
of the Spirit and led to supplications, led to prayer. I must be brought
all the way down and then be led in prayer. We do not like
to think of ourselves as weak. I haven't ran in about six years. And in my head, I can still run
really well. Years ago, I could run a long,
long way. Didn't bother me one bit in the
world. Wake up the next day feeling fine. And so I ran a long time,
and I started running again. And I got about a quarter of
a mile into that two-mile run, and I was weak. I didn't like
to accept that. I didn't want to think about
that. I didn't want anybody seeing me. I wanted to hide so my neighbors
didn't see me. Didn't want to be weak. I don't
like to think of myself as weak, but I am. That's when you find
out. Let's turn over to Ecclesiastes
chapter 6. Ecclesiastes chapter 6. We're not only talking about
being physically weak and unable to do anything outside of God's
hand of providence. We are spiritually unable in
ourselves. We do not have a few infirmities. We are nothing but infirmities. Our flesh is complete sickness,
complete infirmity. Now there in Ecclesiastes 6,
we'll look at verse 12. Ecclesiastes 6, 12. For who knoweth
what is good for a man in this life? All the days of his vain
life which he spendeth is a shadow. For who can tell a man what shall
be after him under the sun? We pray for things we think will
be good for everyone in the long run. Things that will work together
for good. But read that verse again. For
who knoweth what is good for a man in this life? How do I
know what's good? How do I know what to pray for?
All the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow,
for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? We have no idea what the Lord's
providence is for tomorrow. This thing we're going through
now in our nation, I didn't see that coming. I didn't know to
pray for that. I didn't know to pray against
it. And I have my thoughts and my
opinions, but I don't know how the Lord's working I don't know
what His will is. If we don't know how His providence
will be fulfilled, what He's using it for, what's going to
be underneath the sun after I'm gone, how can I know what to
pray for? Praying in public is a hard thing. To lead a congregation in prayer
is a hard thing. And so many times, I'm at a loss
for words. How can that be possible? When
we consider the great magnitude of our salvation, we consider
the great magnitude of our Savior, His person, His work, His holiness,
what He did for just worthless sinners, how He's just and a
justifier. He's accomplished everything
for us, for eternity. We're secure in His hand. How
could I be at a loss for words for that? How could I not have
something to be thankful for? Many times, so many look for
words coming out of the mouth. We look for the words of the
mouth when we pray, not the words from the heart. And that's because
we're about to be heard publicly. I'm about to be heard publicly. And if we don't have the words
from our heart, we just say something that sounds good. We say something
that's worked in the past. something that comforted someone
before in the past. Our Master called that vain repetition. How guilty, how sinful, how unthankful
I am, how evil I am. What a blessing it would be if
the Lord would let me pray in public like I'm able to pray
in my closet. If I could forget everyone around
me, not worry about my mouth, worry about my heart, and speak
to Him. But even that is infirmity. When I'm in my closet, that closet
of our heart, we go into the room and closet of our hearts,
that's an infirmity. When you pray in your heart silently,
in private, when you're at home, your mouth doesn't open, does
your mind wander? You try to pray to the Lord and
Next thing you know, you're thinking about fishing or laundry or oil
changes or anything around you. I need to replace this carpet.
Something. The flesh that we live in is
far more infirm. It's far sicker and diseased
than we know. We're bad off. Go back to our
text. We just heard some Brutal honesty. Some plain, hard truth. But, we're about to get some
good news. That part's about over. We are not alone. I'm not alone. Look here in verse
26 again. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities. For we, we know not what we should
pray, for as we ought The great Apostle Paul, so many people
look up to. There's been so many books written
about him. The one who labored more than them all. That's true.
He wrote more than New Testament anybody. In my head, that's probably
the strongest believer that ever lived. John the Baptist of Adam's
seed, born of man. But he's in the same boat I am. He's in the same boat we are.
He said there in Romans 7.15, For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that I do not. But what I hate, that I do. That's me. I do so many things
I don't want to do and I don't do the things I do want to do.
And we, we know not what we should pray for as we ought. We're not
alone in this. In the sense of our sin nature,
it's sad how low I am. But in light of salvation in
Christ, how wonderful that statement is. Our brethren suffer and are
hindered the same as we are. Those that I esteem much higher
than myself. Those that I think much highly
of. Much more than me. They have the same infirmities
I have. They have the same sickness I do, the same illness I have.
It's almost like we're brothers and sisters in the same house,
ain't it? It's almost like we're related. And together, united
in our Lord, as a member of one body, we depend solely on our
God for all things. together, we look to Him for
all things. So how, if I'm so low, if I'm
so unable, if I'm only weeping, how can I look to Christ and
trust Him and be comforted? God's mercy towards His people
is that He sends us His Spirit. He sends us His Spirit, His Comforter. Outside of ourselves, Our sick
and infirm selves, God sends His Spirit to help our infirmities. Everything we lack in our flesh,
God provides for us and in us through His Spirit. Look here
in verse 26 again, Romans 8, 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought. But the Spirit, but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. Every time I'm brought to see
how horrible my flesh is, how low I am, how I don't do what
I ought to do, what a wretched man I am, I read the words, but
God, but God. Here it's, but the Spirit, but
God, but Christ. I cannot and I do not pray as
I should. I don't even know what to pray
for, but God, but the Spirit. God the Holy Spirit maketh, maketh
intercession. The old English with the ETH
at the end. At the end of that word, it means
it happened before, it was made before, it's being made right
now, and tomorrow it's going to be made, and the next day
it's going to be made. It's made all the time. He maketh intercession
for us. What a blessing. It says there
that the intercessions made for us are groanings which cannot
be uttered. What does that mean? There's
a language that we do not know And we are unable to think, and
we're unable to speak. We're not able to talk it. And
it's not possible for a man or a woman to utter the holy communication
between the Spirit and the Father. We have no clue what to say,
and we have no clue how to say it. But God, but the Spirit,
makes intercession for His people. He prays for the saints of God
in a way that's so glorious and heavenly that you and I cannot
even understand what's taking place. Not on this earth, not
in our infirmities, not while we're here. Someday we will.
There's a language we've never heard. There's a holiness we
talk about but we don't understand. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
12, just a few pages. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, beginning
verse 2. I knew a man in Christ above
fourteen years ago. Paul is speaking of himself here.
Paul is talking about himself. Whether in the body I cannot
tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such
a one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man,
whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God
knoweth. how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable
words, which is not lawful for a man to utter." That word lawful
means it's not possible. It's not right and it's not possible
for a man to even utter the words that Paul heard up there in paradise
in that third heaven. Verse 5, "'Of such a one will
I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities.'"
It's not possible for a man to speak the words that Paul heard
there that day in paradise. But God has sent His Spirit to
His children for the purpose of speaking this heavenly language
to God for them and in them. He maketh intercession. What
are these words? What are these words that Paul
is talking about? What are these words that the Spirit groans
It said there, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered. What's he talking
about? Turn over to Matthew chapter 6. What we are to pray for and the
manner in which we are to pray as we ought to us sounds like
groanings. Don't sound like much of a prayer
to us, not what we think, not what our self-righteous selves
think. We could never enter into that. What true prayer is. We
can never say the right thing. We're not able. Look at Matthew
6, verse 9. After this manner, therefore,
pray ye, our Father. We're not alone, remember that?
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Wouldn't
that be a great blessing if the children of God could get a hold
of that? The God of heaven and earth created everything around
us that we see. Every tree, every bird, the brick
in this wall, the dirt underneath us, the sky above us. He created
everything. He controls everything. He controls the molecules in
the air. The God, that's our Father. We're His sons. We're His daughters.
If we could grasp that, would we ever worry? If my earthly
father was president of this country, if your grandpa was
president of this country, I wouldn't worry too much. I'd try not to
cause a scene, but I wouldn't be too concerned about what's
happening around me. My spiritual father, my eternal father, my
heavenly father is my father. It's your father if you're his.
Paul was called up, I wish we could remember that and not forget
it. We're his sons, we're his children. Paul was called up
to that third heaven. You think he forgot about it?
He only mentioned it once. And he never, he couldn't utter,
he couldn't speak those words. If I could be brought to remember
that my heavenly father is my father. And that the One whose
blood was shed, whose sacrifice was accepted for me, the One
that willingly laid down His life for me, He ever makes intercession
for me at the right hand of the Father. What a thought! But the Spirit groans for us.
And He says, O Father, when I'm unknowing and I'm unable, the
Spirit on our behalf, says our Father. You and I cannot fully
enter into all that entails, but the Spirit speaks for us
and says, our Father. It says there in verse 9, our
Father which art in heaven, our Father that is in paradise, as
Paul said. The cross told that thief on
the cross. He said, today you will be with
me in paradise. You talk about something we can't
understand. As my brother Gabe says, if Christ says it's paradise,
it ain't the Bahamas. It's better than that. Christ says it's paradise. It's
unlike anything that you and I could dream up. It's beyond
our comprehension. It's groanings. Hallowed be thy
name, holy, reverend, perfect. Words we have to describe God
as not fully what he is. Holy. He's holy. Someday, Christ's sheep will
worship God for His holiness in perfection. We will worship
Him completely for His holiness. But until that day, we're unable. We have infirmities. The Spirit
intercedes for us. The Spirit is from heaven. He
knows the Father. He knows truly what holiness
is. He knows what He's speaking about.
And on our behalf, He groans, Holy, Holy, hallowed be Thy name,
in perfect attitude, in perfect knowledge, and on our behalf. And all the reverence that God
deserves, and all His majesty deserves, and all the fear that
He deserves, He cries on our behalf, Holy, hallowed be Thy
name. Verse 10, Matthew 6.10, Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Now, the
Lord's kingdom come. My flesh wants to stay here a
little longer. I've got children to raise, and
I'd say whenever you all are grown, I'm probably going to
have a couple grandbabies I'm going to watch, make sure they
get through 18. And if I had great grandbabies, I'd want to
watch them make it to 18, make sure they got a good start. And
if I had great grandbabies, and on and on. There's a part of
my flesh that always wants to stay here, to be honest. My flesh wants to stay here a
little longer, but the Spirit on my behalf groans, Lord, come. My flesh prays for what I want,
the way I want it, and I twist it to make it look like I want
His will. And the Spirit groans, Thy will
be done. It hurts me and it abases me
to be reminded of the things that I ask for in prayer and
to tack on, Lord, Your will be done at the end of it. Lord,
Your will be done. In verse 11 there, it said, give
us this day our daily bread. My flesh asks for physical bread,
for comfort in this earth. The Spirit groans, give us a
taste of Christ, our living bread today. Teach us our Redeemer
today. Isn't that truly needful? It's more needful than our physical
bread, isn't it? Lord, bless your bread to this
body. this new man. When the Spirit
of God earnestly asks on behalf of His children, His child receives
it. He told us, He said, you ask
and you shall receive. Look in verse 12, and forgive
us our debts as we forgive our debtors. I cannot imagine, I
cannot utter how often and with how much groaning Forgiveness
for my sins must be asked for. Or forgive us. And He includes us
in that. And it says, delete us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. Anything that's a temptation
in my life, I do not see as an evil temptation. You get that?
We don't know what our temptations are. If we did, they wouldn't
tempt us. Our flesh talks to anything.
Oh, that's a good idea. I'd be healthy. That's a temptation. We're not tempted to grab a scalding
hot tea kettle. That's not tempting. We think it's just fine, whatever
we want, and that's why we desire it so much. We think it's okay. Look there in verse 13 again.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. I can't enter into what
His kingdom truly consists of. I can't enter into how much power
the Lord truly has. I can't comprehend those things
and the glory that He deserves for all of it. But the Spirit
does. The Spirit knows and He groans
through intercession for me. What beauty! What a thought! Now back to our text here in
Romans 8. There's more good news. I'll
go quick. Romans 8 verse 26. Likewise,
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit." Because
he makes intercession for the saints. Why does he do that?
According to the will of God. according to the will of God.
He searches my heart, and He knows what the Spirit says on
my behalf, and He applies that to me. I said it. It's counted to me. It's imputed
to me. When the Spirit prays on my behalf, the Father looks
at me and says, well done, my good and faithful servant. So
it be, as you've asked. occur in Romans 8 verse 15 again.
For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,
but ye have received the spirit of adoption. Whereby we cry,
Abba Father. The spirit cries on behalf of
God's elect and it's counted to us. The Lord makes you understand
that. We cry. We come weeping to Him
and then He leads us in supplication. He leads us in prayer. Isn't
that something? I hope that's pleasant to you.
Let's pray together.