Open your Bibles to the glorious
8th chapter of the book of Romans, Romans chapter 8. I call this
the glorious 8th chapter of Romans because everything written here
is simply glorious. This chapter begins with no condemnation,
it ends with no separation, and everything between is grace,
grace, grace. eternal, free, sovereign, saving
grace. In this chapter, the Apostle
Paul writes by divine inspiration and gives us a very clear description
of every believer's freedom from condemnation in Jesus Christ. Free from condemnation and free
from all possibility of condemnation is every believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That means if you trust Christ,
you shall never be condemned. Not for any reason, not at any
time, you shall never be condemned. And it tells us of our peculiar,
distinct privileges as brethren. Brethren with Christ. Brethren with Christ. With God's
own Son, we are the sons and daughters of God Almighty, heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ, so that everything that is Christ,
the God-man, our mediator, that is ours if we're in Christ. Believe on the Son of God. Believe
on the Son of God and everything that he has, he gives to you. And the Apostle tells us of our
everlasting security in Christ, assuring us that we cannot come
into condemnation, we cannot be charged with iniquity, transgression,
or sin, and we shall never be separated from the love of God
that's in Christ Jesus. I say to you again, Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, God help you to believe. Trust God's darling Son, and
you shall never be charged with sin, iniquity, or transgression. You shall never be condemned. You shall never be separated
from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. Yet, in the middle
of this glorious chapter, Paul deals with some grievous, dark,
and gloomy things. Look at verse 23. And not only
they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
to wit, that is to say, the redemption, the deliverance of our body.
What are these firstfruits the Apostle is talking about? these
firstfruits of the Spirit. The firstfruits are the first
pickings of the harvest. They're judged not by quantity
but by quality. If the firstfruits are good,
then the full harvest will be good. The firstfruits of the
Spirit speaks of the grace of God that's in us. The fruit of
the Spirit, love, joy, and peace. Faith, hope, and love. These
are the firstfruits. The first fruits are the pledge,
the earnest, the forerunners of the full harvest, awaiting
God's saints in heavenly glory, in the redemption, the deliverance
of our bodies in resurrection glory. Grace on earth experienced
is the pledge of glory in heaven enjoyed. If God gives you grace
now, he will give you glory forever. And yet while we have the firstfruits,
though we have grace, as long as we live in this world, waiting
for the glory He promised us, as long as we live in these bodies
of flesh, we've grown within ourselves. We've grown under
the felt burden of sin, the plague of our hearts, the pollution
of our souls, the power of darkness and its influence on us. Our
indwelling corruptions, our frequent wanderings and waverings from
Him whom we love. These things cause us to groan
within ourselves before God. But we groan in hope. We groan
in expectation. Even the groaning, even the groaning
is groaning in the expectation of the coming of our Redeemer.
waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body waiting
for the completion of our adoption in resurrection glory when we
shall receive the full inheritance of the sons of God and yet while
waiting we grow now look at 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. Though we are freed from all
condemnation, blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ
Jesus, and secured from all possibility of separation from the love of
God in Christ, still we are weak and needy creatures. Our weaknesses
are great, our infirmities are many, Without the indwelling
of God, the Holy Spirit, we are nothing and we can do nothing. Every believer recognizes that.
Particularly, Paul says, we know not what we should pray for as
we ought. Like the disciples of old, we feel our need constantly
to cry, Lord, teach us to pray. I never try to pray. But what I'm forced to acknowledge that I
don't know how to pray. We're all apt to ask for things
that aren't good for us because we never know what's best. We
never know what's best. We do not know what we need.
And that which is our experience has been the experience of God
since in the past. Job that perfect and upright
man who feared God and discused evil. When we get to Job chapter
3, after you've heard the trials that this man endured, and one
on the heels of another, and his wife finally said, why don't
you just cuss God and die? And Job said, you're one of the
foolish women. You act like one of the foolish women. Shall we
not receive good at the hand of the Lord? Shall we not receive
evil? And after that, Job said, I pray that the day of my birth
would be erased, eradicated. God killed me. God had better things in store
for Job. Moses, when the children of Israel sinned against the
Lord, and God was about to destroy the nation, God said to Moses,
Moses, you stand aside here. I'm going to kill them, and I'll
raise up from you another nation. And Moses said, God, if you kill
them, blot my name out of your book. Jonah saw the Ninevites had repented. These people that he knew as
God's prophet would turn again against God's people and attack
them with fierceness. This man, Jonah, was angry with
God and prayed for God to kill him. The apostle Paul, had this
affliction, this thorn in the flesh, for which he prayed three
times, Lord, take it from me. And the Lord taught him, Paul,
you don't know what you need. Live with this thorn. My grace
is sufficient for you. What's worse yet, as James tells
us plainly, our prayers are often, I almost said almost always,
that might be severe. But our prayers are often only
the expressions of our carnal lust, our fleshly desires. Those things are facts. You know
it and I know it. We don't know how to pray as
we ought, but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered. God is faithful. He who began
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
He who is the author of our faith will be the finisher of our faith.
Paul says the Holy Spirit maketh intercession for us. He continually
makes intercession for us. But how? Christ alone is the
one mediator between God and man. God, the Holy Spirit, is
not our mediator, so He does not make intercession as a mediator. He does not intercede for us
with God the Father, but rather, dwelling in us, He intercedes
with us, in us, and for us. As Christ is our advocate in
heaven, He is our advocate in our hearts. He teaches us and
intercedes for us in this way. First, he teaches us to pray. I just stated what is obvious
to you, if you only acknowledge it. Andrew, you're the newest
face here. Most of your prayers are about
you and yours. That's just fact. That's just
fact. Asking according to your lust,
to consume it upon your lust. St. James says you don't have
what you ask for. You ask and miss. That's fact. But when God,
the Holy Spirit, makes intercession for us, He teaches us to pray. That is to say, He indicts in
our hearts that which we seek. He reveals to us what God's will
and purpose is and puts in our hearts a desire, a burden for
that will and purpose. You remember when the Lord spoke
to David and said, David, I'm gonna establish your throne and
your kingdom forever. I'm gonna build you a house that
will abide forever. I'm going to give you a son to
sit on your throne forever. And when he got done with that,
David said, God, do what you said you was gonna do. Therefore
thy servant hath found it in his heart to pray this prayer
unto thee. Do as thou hast said. God the
Holy Spirit shows us our needs. He stirs up our hearts to prayer
and he puts in our hearts that desire for that which God has
purposed and he gives us liberty. boldness at the throne of grace
by sprinkling our consciences with the blood of Christ causing
us to know that we're accepted of God righteous in Christ Jesus
and then he puts within us groanings which cannot be uttered. If I'm
correct, I'm sure I am or wouldn't say it, this word groaning It's
never used anywhere else in the New Testament and only a few
times that I can find in literature anywhere. It's never used anywhere
else in the Word of God, this distinct word. He's talking about
something unique to believers. Something unique to many women
who know God. Something unique to those who
are born of God. He makes intercession for us
with groanings. which cannot be uttered with
sighs that baffle words so that as we pray often we're like Moses
and Hannah who prayed silently but ardently so the saints of
God pour out their hearts to God through prayer by the Spirit
and are often unable to put into words the burden of our hearts
Often our natural desires and our true spiritual desires are
at conflict with one another. That is what we want as men,
as women, in the flesh. And what we want as heaven-born
children of God are at odds with one another. Our spiritual desires
and our carnal desires aren't the same. But our true desires,
if we're gods, Our true desires are not those carnal desires,
but rather those spiritual desires put in us by God himself. You remember our Lord Jesus in
the Garden of Gethsemane prayed. He prayed three times. As he
prayed in the garden, and he said, Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. What was he asking? Was he asking
to escape going to the cross? No. I know that's not what he
was asking. Was he asking to avoid death? I know that's not what he was
asking. But he's praying as a man, a holy man, the only holy man
who ever walked on God's earth, anticipating being made sin for
us. And his heart was crushed within
him. And he prayed three times the
very same words. Asking God the same thing is
not vain repetition. Vain repetition is reciting prayers.
Vain repetition is saying memorized prayers. Vain repetition is saying,
now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. That's
vain repetition. That's vain repetition. but vain
repetition, not asking God to do the same thing. Our Lord said,
knock and knock and knock, and it'll be open to you. He said,
ask and ask and ask, and it'll be given you. Our Lord tells
us to speak to God in prayer with importunity. And he gives
us an example. Three times, he prayed exactly
the same thing, but that was the desire of a man. A man faced
with great trial, heartache, and burden. And that's contrary
to flesh, even holy flesh. That's contrary to flesh, even
the flesh of the only righteous man who ever lived. And he prays,
nevertheless not my will, thy will be done. Because that's
the desire of the new man. That's the desire of the God-man,
our mediator. Not my will, thy will be done. I've said all that to say this. When we pray, when we pray, I'm
not talking about going through the motions, I'm talking about
praying. We don't just say, now we ask this if it's your will.
That's not it. Put those words in it, don't
make it praying after God's will. We don't just say, we ask this
in Jesus' name. That's not it. Saying that we
ask all these things in Christ's name is not asking in Christ's
name. That's not it. Now, we must ask all things according
to His will. And we must seek all things in
prayer in Christ's name. That is, acknowledging in our
hearts that our only ground, our only place of acceptance
with God is Jesus Christ, blood and righteousness. Else we have
no right to come to God at all. In this place, when I lead you
in public prayer, that's the reason most of the time I never
use those words as I pray. I never do. I don't want to put
you in the habit of just using words by an example of such,
but let us ever pray in the name of Christ according to the will
of God. Now this is what it means, Mark.
That means whatever it is we want and we don't know how to
pray. You pray for all those children
God's put under your care. I know you do. I pray for mine
and yours. But as we pray, whatever it is
we ask of God, this is what we ask. Whatever it is for your
glory, whatever it is that's according to your will, God,
that's what we want. That's what we want. He causes us then to subject
our will to God's will. our desires to God's glory that's
the intercessory work of God the Holy Spirit so that we we pray with growlings heavy,
heavy, heavy hearts that baffle words how can I express this you know how dear those two grandchildren
of mine are to me and to my wife. You've got some of your own. I think I can safely say there
has rarely been an hour when I was awake and aware of things
since I heard faith was pregnant with the first child and then
with the second that I haven't prayed for those children. I
pray God will do many things for them, including saving them
by his grace. But there's a real heavy burden
mixed with that. God, what I'm really asking you,
you know my passions and my desires as a man, as a father, as a grandfather. What I'm really asking of you,
my God, glorify yourself, do your will, and I'll bow to you
and worship you. Whatever you do is right. Whatever you do is for your glory
and that's what I want. Now that brings us to verse 27. 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. Let me talk to you
for a few minutes about the heart searcher. That's my subject,
the heart searcher. Here the Apostle Paul tells us
that Christ, the searcher of hearts, who alone knows the mind
of the Spirit, is our intercessor with the Father. Let's look at
this four ways. First, Let's look at the searcher
himself. Christ Jesus, our Savior, is
he that searcheth the hearts. None can search the heart, but
he who made the heart. The searching of the heart is
God's prerogative alone. No one else has the ability to
do it. No one else has the right to
do it. No one else should presume to do it. How often We think
we know somebody else's heart. Skip Gladfelter, you don't even
know your own heart. That's one thing you dead sure
don't know, let alone mine. You don't know anybody else's
heart. Only he who made the heart knows
the heart and searches it. What does he search for? You
watch some of the old westerners during the days when they found
gold out west, folks rushing out there to find gold. And you
see those fellows work and work and dig and dig and dig for the
rich mineral God has put in the earth. So it is that God, our
Savior, searches the heart. He digs deep into the heart to
find treasure. Treasure that he has deposited
in the hearts of his people. Because he searches the heart,
hypocrisy is foolishness before him. David said to Solomon, the
Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth the imagination
of all thoughts. Now this is what that means.
Solomon might deceive David. Solomon might deceive all the
people of Israel. And you and I may deceive one
another, we may deceive men, but we will not deceive God. God searches the hearts. God looks beyond the mask of
religious profession and sees what we really are. Our Lord
Jesus searches the hearts of men by the piercing, penetrating
power of His Word. The Word of God pierces and penetrates
the heart, quick and powerful, dividing us under soul and spirit
and joints and marrow. All things are naked and open
to the eyes of Him with whom we had to do, who by His word
searches the heart. So that as I stand here and preach
to you, as God enables me to speak by His Spirit, some of
you sitting up there, you think, who's been talking to him about
me? Has my husband been talking about
me? Has my wife been talking about me? Has he been reading
my mail? Occasionally, somebody will meet
me at the door and they'll say, You said that just for me, didn't
you? Sometimes they say it with joy, sometimes they can be mad,
they can bite nails. You were talking about me. That's
just what I intended to do. I intend to talk directly to
you and that I can do only as God the Holy Spirit speaks His
Word by me. Our Savior searches the heart
by the piercing, penetrating power of His Spirit who searches
all things, the deep things of God. And when God the Holy Spirit
with the Word searches our hearts, He makes great revelations of
things that we could never know without Him. He shows us our
sin. He shows us our sin. Not many
people in this world have ever come face to face with their
sin. And God will never show you his mercy till he shows you
your sin. I'm not talking about what you
do. I'm not talking about what you do. I don't care what it
is you do or have done. That doesn't get close to what
you are. This is what you are, is sin,
sin. Oh, may God show you your sin.
If He shows you your sin, He will show you His Son, the merit
of Christ's blood and righteousness, the efficacy of Christ's blood
and righteousness to put away all sin, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to make you the very righteousness of God in
Him. He shows us when He searches the heart. by His Spirit through
the Word, all the goodness and grace of God that's ours in Christ. He who searches the heart knows
all about me. This dear lady sitting here knows
me pretty well. But she doesn't know much about
me. He who sits yonder in glory, God my Savior, knows everything. Everything. Nothing is more terrifying to
a hypocrite than that fact. Nothing more comforting to a
saint Do you remember Peter's words when his heart was broken
in repentance before the Lord Jesus? He was grieved when the
Savior said to him the third time, lovest thou me? And Peter
said to him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that
I love thee. I read Psalm 139 to you before
the message this morning because I wanted you to see how David,
God's servant, The man after God's own heart sought for this
searching. When you come here to the house
of God, if you didn't this morning, when you come back tonight, when
you come back Tuesday night, I beg of God that he will call
you to ask God, search me now and know my heart. Search me
by your word and know my heart. Try me and see if there be any
wicked way in me. See if I am in any wicked way. Lord, if I'm deceived, if I don't
know you, if I'm walking in the way of the wicked, show me and
lead me in the way everlasting. Nathaniel looked upon this identifying
characteristic of Christ as that which identified him as the heart
searcher, the one who knows the heart. And he said, now I know
you're the Messiah. Remember, Nathaniel said, here's
an Israelite in whom is no God. And Nathaniel said, how do you
know me? How do you know me? Here's a man born of God. He
said, how do you know me? And the Lord Jesus said, before
Philip spoke to you, I saw you under the fig tree. And Nathanael
said, this is the Messiah, this is the Redeemer, this is the
Christ of God. You remember the Samaritan woman? You remember what it was that
caused her to believe on the Savior? To trust Him as the Messiah
whom all Israel was expecting? That Samaritan woman came and
told all those living in the city where she dwelt, come see
a man. who told me all things that ever
I did. Is not this the Christ? This
is the Christ of God. As Peter took refuge in that
blessed fact that he who searches the heart knows all things, let
us do so. Now, here's the second thing.
Paul shows us the knowledge of this one who searches the heart.
He knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit. He knows all about
us even when we're puzzling to ourselves. He knows the mind
of the Spirit in the experience of every believer. Though our
Lord Jesus was altogether without the need of grace while he walked
on this earth because he was the perfectly righteous one.
Yet as a man while he lived in this world as a man. Our Lord
lived in constant dependence upon the Spirit of God, just
as we do, only he did so perfectly. He lived by faith. He lived by
faith. We received the Spirit of God
from him. He received the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit, poured out on him by his Father, by the triune God,
without measure. so that in the totality of his
life, while he walked on this earth as a man, as our representative,
living by faith, he was ministered to by the Holy Spirit. What does
that mean? All that he was and all that
he did in his earthly life and ministry, our Savior ascribes
to the Holy Spirit. He was born of Mary's virgin
womb, conceived in her by the overshadowing of God the Holy
Ghost. He was consecrated to God in
his baptism by the Spirit of God descending upon him in the
form of a dove and abiding on him. When he was led into the
wilderness of temptation, the scripture tells us that it was
God the Holy Ghost who drove him into the wilderness. When
he returned from temptation, untouched by it, he returned
in the power of the Spirit. He identified himself as that
one of whom Isaiah wrote saying this, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me. He cast out demons. How did he
do that? By the Spirit of God he did it. Shelby and I stopped the other
morning coming back from Harrisburg to get a breakfast biscuit at
McDonald's. And I hope somehow the fella
somehow accidentally runs into this. As I was walking back to
the bathroom, and then coming back to go out the door, he's
talking to some gal sitting there about demons. Oh, that's deep
stuff to religious fools. Talking about demons, demons
everywhere. As I was walking out the door,
you won't believe what he told me, or what he told that gal. He
said, he said, demons call me on this phone all the time. Talk
to me in a demon voice. I wonder who would know that
except another demon or God. Our Lord Jesus cast out demons
not just as a man but the perfect man by the Spirit of God he cast
out Beelzebub. Our Lord Jesus offered himself
to God as a sacrifice for sin without spot through the eternal
spirit. When He rose from the dead, it
was the Spirit of holiness that raised Him from the dead by which
He was justified in the Spirit. Even now our Lord Jesus performs
His work for us and in us by His Spirit so that all the works
of His grace in us are according to the mind and power of the
Holy Spirit. He gives us life by the Spirit. He instructs us by the spirit.
He comforts us by the divine comforter, guide and teacher,
God, the Holy Spirit. Our Lord spoke to his disciples
and said, it's expedient for you that I go away. If I go not
away, the comforter will not come. And then he said, when
he's come, the spirit of truth, you can read this in John 16,
he'll guide you into all truth. And he'll reprove you of sin,
of righteousness and judgment, guide you into all truth. He'll
take the things of mine and show it to you. And then he said,
He said, in a little while I'm going away and you shall not
see me. And in a little while you'll
see me again and rejoice. And the disciples were puzzled
by that. They said, what's he talking about? He said, you shall
not see me and you shall see me and your sorrow shall be turned
into joy. And the Lord said, the scripture
tells us, he heard what they were thinking. And he said, why
do you question among yourselves? What did he mean by that? In
a little while you shall not see me, and sorrow shall fill
your hearts. And in a little while you shall
see me, and your sorrow shall be turned into joy. And the Lord
Jesus began again to explain to them what the work of the
Spirit would be in them, but they didn't understand it. They were more difficult to teach
than we are, or at least as bad. At least as bad. And this is
how, or what our Lord meant by that. You remember those disciples
on the road to Emmaus? They're walking along talking
about the sacrifice, talking about the death of the Redeemer.
And the Lord Jesus walked up to them after the resurrection
and hid himself from them. And he said, what do you thought
I was talking about? And they told him, they said,
what things are you talking about? They said, are you a stranger?
Don't you know what's been happening in Jerusalem? Have they crucified
Jesus of Nazareth? and we had thought he was the
Redeemer and their hearts were filled with sorrow and the Savior
made himself known to them and joy flooded their souls and they
constrained him to stay with them when he made as though he'd
go ways farther. Children of God This is the joy of our hearts,
Christ revealed to us by His Spirit as He convinces us of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Our Lord Jesus lives
in us by His Spirit and seals in our hearts all the blessings,
gifts, and benefits of covenant promises from the triune God
by the Spirit. By the Spirit, we're born again.
By the Spirit, we may partake of the divine nature. The Spirit
of God in us is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's God the
Holy Spirit who gives us faith. God the Holy Spirit who gives
us hope. God the Holy Spirit who creates for us love for Christ
or creates in us love for Christ. If we pray, We pray in the Spirit or we don't
pray. If we sing, our singing is just
so much noise unless we sing in the Spirit. If I preach, my preaching will
either put you to sleep or just be a rattling sound in your ears
unless God enables me to speak by the Spirit to you. Every virtue
we possess and every victory won Every thought of holiness
are His and His alone. These things are the work of
the Holy Ghost in us. And yet there are times when
our spiritual life is at such a low ebb that we can't see any
grace in our souls. Even then, especially then, our
Lord Jesus is the heart searcher. He knows all about us and tenderly
cares for us even when we don't know it. He knoweth what is the
mind of the Spirit. Turn back to Psalm 42. I want
you to see an example of this. Psalm 42. See an example of how
this works in us. We often, we often People talk
about tokens of grace and evidences of grace and marks of spirituality
and marks of Christianity. If I talk about those things,
I'm telling you something against them. Word to God, I'd never
hear another man speak of tokens of grace and tokens of spirituality
and evidences of grace and evidences of spirituality, evidences of
Christianity. If you start to think about them,
that's what you're going to trust. If you start to think about them,
that's what you're going to trust. Well, maybe that's the case.
No, every time, that's the case. Every time. Here's David. He
didn't have any marks, and he didn't have any sweet tokens,
and he didn't have any evidences, and he didn't have anything to
indicate to him that he knew God at all. Now watch what it
says. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted
within me? Hope thou in God. For I shall
yet praise him for the help of his countenance, O my God, my
soul is cast down in me. Therefore will I remember thee
from the land of Jordan, and from the Hermonites, and from
the hill of Miser." He says, I'll remember things yesterday
because there's nothing today. Deep calleth unto deep at the
noise of thy water spouts. All thy waves and thy billows
have gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his
lovingkindness in the daytime. All his waves and billows have
cast me down to the depths. But the Lord will command his
lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall
be within me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say,
I will say, when God causes his face to shine again, when God
speaks to me again, when God lifts me up from the depths with
which he's overflowed me, I will say unto God, my rock, why hast
thou forsaken me, forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of
the oppression of the enemy? As with the sword in my bones
my enemies reproach me, while they say daily unto me, where
is thy God? As with the sword in my bones,
every day my enemies in here reproach me. And every day they cry, where
is your God? Where is your God? Why art thou
cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? hope thou in God for I shall
yet praise him who is the help of my countenance and my God."
Our faith is so often mixed with unbelief and so much mixed with
unbelief that as Peter began to sink in the waters our hearts
sink in darkness until we're compelled by God to cry, Lord
save me I perish. And you know what happens then?
he stretches out his arm and pulls us into the boat. How often
our love for Christ is so cold and indifferent we can't call
it love though love him we do. Like Peter we have a strange
way of showing it and yet the Lord knows how to draw out of
these hearts. This cold steel-hard, adamant, corrupt
heart. He knows how to draw from this
heart this confession, this confession that I can't talk about in front
of men. Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love
thee. Even the unbelieving cry of his
disciples Master, carest thou not that we perish? arouses the
Savior's attention and he steps out on the bow of our little
ship and says peace be still and everything's all right. You
see, he is always more ready to teach than we are to be taught. More ready to help than we are
to be helped. More ready to answer prayer than
we are to pray. more ready to forgive than we
are to seek forgiveness. Our Savior knows the deepest,
truest desires of our hearts. He knoweth the mind of the Spirit,
our faith in Him and our love for Him, our longings to be like
Him, our desire to do His will, our yearnings for His presence,
our concerns for His glory. He knows The words I mean to
speak, if from my opening lips they break. Third, briefly, let
me discuss with you the intercession of this heart searcher. He that
searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints. Now we've seen
what it is for the Holy Spirit to intercede in us, and with
us, and for us. Here the apostle is talking about
another intercession. He's talking about Christ's intercession
for us as our mediator, as our advocate, as our high priest
in heaven. To make intercession is to interpose with the plea. To make intercession is to plead
for one person, to entreat for one person with another person
for their acceptance. We have a marvelous picture of
it in Leviticus 16. as to how our Savior makes intercession.
In that chapter dealing with the Day of Atonement, the sin
offering is Christ the Lamb of God. Aaron takes that sin offering
and lays his hands upon that sin offering and confesses over
that sin offering all the sins of the people. Ceremonially transferring
all Israel's sins to that Passover Lamb. The scripture puts it this
way, putting the sins on his head. So the Lord God transferred
all our sins to our Redeemer and made them his by his hand
of justice and grace. And whenever he laid his hands
on the head of that lamb, he took a knife and slit his throat
and caught the blood in a basin and carried it into the holy
place. The burning coals of fire speak of our Lord's sufferings
as our substitute. The sweet incense speaks of his
intercession. As Aaron goes in, in the Holy
of Holies and sprinkles the mercy seat, covering the broken law,
covering the Ark of the Covenant seven times with blood, that
blood sprinkled speaks of a redemption accomplished, atonement made
by the blood of Christ. And then he comes back out and
he takes the live goat, the scapegoat. and he does the very same thing
he did before he lays his hands on the head of the goat and confesses
over the goat's head the sins of all Israel putting their sins
on his head and then he puts the goat into the hands of a
fit man and sends him out into a land not inhabited where sin is drowned in the blood
of Christ cast behind God's back buried in the depths of the sea
so that God says it's gone forever gone and soon he comes back that's
the resurrected Christ just that man who carried the scapegoat
and that scapegoat Christ he comes back just the man that
fit man Christ Jesus the risen Lord justified in the spirit
Atonement is the basis of intercession, and the two can never be separated. Without atonement, intercession
can't be made. With atonement, intercession
can't fail. The Lord Jesus made atonement.
He intercedes for us, and He does so perpetually. That's the
glory of His grace. Little children, these things
write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous and
he is the propitiation for our sins. How is it that our Lord
makes intercession? That's the last thing. What is
his method? The method of this heart searcher
to make intercession? He maketh intercession according
to the will of God. According to the will of God. Notice the words will of are
in italics, they were added by the translators. Read as our
translation reads, he makes intercession for us according to that which
God's will is, according to that which God's purpose is, according
to that which God will do because he has purpose to do it. But
you read the phrase this way, according to God, Paul is saying to us, the Spirit
of God is saying to us, this heart searcher who intercedes
for us in heaven, intercedes as God. Not as an advocate might
intercede in court on bended knee with uplifted eyes offering
this reason or that why the judge might have mercy upon the one
for whom he intercedes. This is one who intercedes who
knows nothing of failure. He intercedes upon the basis
of his holy character and his obedience, yes. But he pleads
with God as an equal for this man is God. I'm represented in
heaven. by a man who is God who's touched
with the feeling of our infirmities and that which he seeks for us
he seeks for us as his redeemed as God as the just God and our
Savior. I found something fresh just
this morning preparing this message. You remember when Jude speaks
of The angel of the Lord does not rebuke Satan, but he said
the Lord rebuked thee. He's referring to Zechariah chapter
3, where Joshua stood before the high priest. And the Lord
said unto Satan, the Lord rebuked thee. That's what Jude's talking
about. Satan's there to accuse Joshua,
who's full of sin. And the Lord Jesus said to the
Lord God, the Lord said to Satan, the Lord God rebuke thee, the
triune God rebuke thee. And the Lord said, take away
his filthy garments, put a crown on his head, put a robe on his
back. And the angel of the Lord stood
by. He just stood there, because
he's God. And the Lord God accepted, forgave,
received, and blessed Joshua because Christ stood there as
Joshua's advocate and high priest and Joshua stands before God
in Christ. That's our intercessor. All that
he seeks for us, he seeks for us as his redeemed, as his people
because in him we fully deserve everything he seeks. That means every blessing is
sure, every mercy is sure, every grace is sure. Read the 17th
chapter of John again, you have an example of our Lord's intercession. Seven times in that chapter our
Lord refers to his disciples those for whom he prays as those
whom thou hast given me them that thou hast given me not once
in all John 17 1 through 23 not once I'm sorry 1 through whatever
the inverse is not once does he mention any sin any transgression
any evil any weakness any failure in his disciples You see, Merle,
He intercedes for you in heaven, and everything He seeks from
God for you, according to the will of God, is because that's
exactly what you deserve to get from God. Because we're one with Him. who is the heart searcher who
makes intercession for us according to the will of God. It's God's
pleasure to do it. Amen.