We sing these songs, and I fear
sometimes we just sing these songs, these words. I need thy presence every passing
hour. I wish I could just listen to
these words a little better. Turn with me to Romans chapter
8. Romans chapter 8. We've spent a number of the past
few Wednesdays looking at some of these prayers in God's Word. Romans 8. Look beginning with
verse 24. Romans 8 verse 24. For we're
saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise, the spirit
also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh
intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And
he that searches the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. And just a few points here from
this passage of scripture this evening. And the first one is
this, our weakness. We see in this passage our weakness. He says, we know not what to
pray for as we ought. You know, there's much that we
do not know. There's a lot of things we don't
know. We don't know, we don't know the extent of our fallen
nature. We've fallen, but I doubt we
truly ever know how far we have fallen. You know, when Adam fell,
he lost communion with God. He went, he and Eve, they went
and hid from the presence of the Lord. They went and hid in
the trees. By that fall, by Adam's fall,
we're under the wrath and curse of Almighty God. Paul writing
to the Ephesians, he said this, wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world. according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath. even as others. We've fallen.
We've fallen. We don't know the extent of our
fallen nature. You know, with that fall comes
misery. With that fall comes death. With that fall, if left to ourselves,
not just death, but eternal death. The pains of hell. We're ignorant
of these things. We're ignorant of the power of
Satan. We truly don't know it. These
men, they talk about battling Satan like they got in a street
fight with somebody. There's no one we want to tangle
with. We don't know how to pray. That's
what he's saying here. We don't know how to pray as
we ought How often when we pray do we faint? Do we just fall asleep or just
kind of give up? How often do we find ourselves
unable to pray? There in Matthew 26, turn there
in Matthew 26, our Lord He was with his disciples in
Gethsemane. And it was there, there in Matthew
26, that he said to his disciples, he
said, you all sit here and I'll go yonder and pray. And he took
with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful
and very heavy. And he said unto them, he said
to the Lord, he said, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. Tarry ye here and watch with
me. And he went on his way and he
fell on his face and he prayed. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed
to his father and he said, if it be possible, Let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, nevertheless, not
as I will, but as thou will. And after he said that prayer,
he came to his disciples and he found them asleep. Think about just reading that,
the words of our Lord. As he pours out his soul to the
Father, Let this cup pass from me. And
his disciples couldn't stay awake. And he said to them, could you
not watch with me for one hour? They were in the garden with
the Lord himself and they couldn't keep their eyes open. There's a throne of grace open
before us, before believers. And we still can't find the words
to approach unto Him. We still lack faith. We still stand with fears and
doubts. Even though we've been told,
come boldly. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. Come boldly, come without fear
of being, you ever wanna ask somebody something and you're
just scared to ask because you know the answer's probably gonna
be no? Fear of being turned away? We're told to come boldly. Boldly,
without fear of being turned away. Being turned away because
of our sin. To come boldly without fear of
condemnation. We approach a mercy seat. Do
you need mercy? Do I need mercy? And listen, it's not a matter
of whether the Lord knows we need mercy. He knows that, He
knows all things. Has He revealed that to me, that
I need His mercy? In my weakness, in my sin, would
you still come to Him? Christ, listen, Christ obeyed
the law. Christ died for the sins of His
people. You know, at one time, we'd have
been approaching a throne of judgment, a throne of justice. We wouldn't have anything to
do with that. But we approach a throne of grace,
a throne of grace. He said, we'll find mercy and
grace to help in time of need. Come boldly, seeking mercy. Maybe you say this. I think we
could all honestly say this. In my weakness, in my weakness,
I don't know how to pray as I ought. That's just what we read there,
isn't it? That's true of all of us. Turn
to 2 Corinthians 12. Just a few pages over, 2 Corinthians
12. Paul was given that thorn in
the flesh, wasn't he? We don't truly know what it was,
but listen to this. He said, I besought the Lord,
verse eight. I besought the Lord three times
that it might depart from me, whatever it was. And he said unto me, 2 Corinthians
12, verse nine. He said unto me, my grace is
sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ might
rest upon me. In affliction, in trial, in sickness,
in times of weakness, Is there ever a time when God's
strength and grace are more glorified, are more appreciated than in
those times that we're brought to see our weakness and our inability? Paul said, in these times of
weakness, I will all the more rejoice and accept my weakness
and infirmities. that the power of Christ may
rest upon and be revealed in me. Second, my weakness. That's the first one. The second,
the work of the spirit. We read here in our text, the
spirit itself maketh intercession with groaning that cannot be
uttered, Hannah prayed back there in the Old Testament. And we
often focus on those words, and we should. Turn there to 1 Samuel,
1 Samuel 2. 1 Samuel chapter two. Listen, just listen to this prayer.
1 Samuel two, verse one. And Hannah prayed. And she said,
my heart rejoices in the Lord. Who'd her heart rejoice in? The
Lord, huh? She said, my horn is exalted
in the Lord. That means my strength is in
the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. My salvation. What'd she say? It's his, isn't
it? My salvation. Salvation is of
the Lord. She said, there's none holy as
the Lord. He's holy. There's none beside
thee. Neither is there any rock like
our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of
your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge.
And by him actions are weighed. The bowels of the mighty men
are broken. They that stumbled are girded with strength. They
that were full have hired out themselves for bread. They that
were hungry ceased. So that the barren hath born
seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The
Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and he lifteth
up. Almighty God is sovereign. He does everything according
to his purpose. He controls all things. By Him, men live and men die. By Him, men succeed and men fail. By Him, men are rich and men
are poor. By Him, men serve. They either rule or serve by
the will of God. These things are true, but it's
also true. that before God saves a sinner
and reveals Christ to him, he's going to reveal to that man his
need. He's going to strip that sinner
of everything that he might lean on himself. That arm of flesh has to be removed,
doesn't it? How quick are we to go to the
arm of flesh We have to be stripped of our self-righteousness, of
any hope we have in ourselves, of any so-called merit. Anything
that we think would commend us to God has to be removed. We've seen that with Naaman.
Remember that? Naaman had to be brought low. But after he brought him low,
he was pleased to heal him, wasn't he? God brings his people low, often
brings them low before he's gonna exalt them. He strips them. We're nothing before he puts
that robe of righteousness on us. Remember Adam and Eve there
in the garden, they knew they were naked. They tried to sow
some fig leaves together, but that's not gonna cover their
nakedness, is it? God had to slay a lamb. He had to put a
robe on them. We have to be brought to our
poverty to see that we are nothing, we have nothing, before he lets
us see that wonderful inheritance found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, read on here in 1 Samuel 2, verse 8. It says, he raises
up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the beggar from the
dunghill. to set them among princes, and
to make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of
the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them.
He will keep the feet of his saints. The wicked shall be silent
in darkness. For by strength, by our own strength,
shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces, Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. The
Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give
strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed." Hannah
had prayed, she had been barren, and she had prayed for a son,
and God heard her prayer. And after the Lord gave her that
son, This is a prayer of thanksgiving. She gave thanks and magnified
the Lord as we should. David wrote that in the Psalms.
He said, all that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, for
his wonderful works to the children of men, a prayer of praise and
thanksgiving. But if you turn back, If you
turn back just to the chapter before, to 1 Samuel 1, I want you to just see just a little
bit here. Hannah goes to the Lord in prayer. This is before the Lord's pleased
to give her that son. She's in need. She goes before the Lord casting
all of her cares upon him. We read that. Cast all your care
upon him, for he careth for you. But again, verse 10 of 1 Samuel
1. Hannah was in bitterness of soul,
and she prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. She cried. And she vowed a vow and said,
O Lord of hosts, if thou would indeed Look on the affliction,
look on the misery, look on the poverty, look on the trouble
of thy handmaid. That's my condition, isn't it?
Can we enter into that? Look on the affliction of thy
handmaid, and remember me. And not forget thine handmaid,
but give unto thine handmaid a man child. I'll give him unto
the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor
come upon his head. And it came to pass, as she continued
praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. He was watching her. And Hannah,
she spake in heart. Only her lips moved. But her voice, her voice was
not heard. And Eli thought she was drunk. This is a prayer from the heart. Think
about that. She didn't utter one sound. Her lips were moving, but no
sound coming out of her mouth. She poured her heart out unto
the Lord, and as she prayed, she didn't make a sound. Listen to this passage again
from our text. It says this, the Spirit itself
makes intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered. Can't even be expressed in words. Doesn't that give us more reason
to come boldly? To come boldly to the throne
of grace? To obtain mercy and help in time
of need? Well, third, the success of that intercession. He that searches the heart knows
what's the mind of the spirit, and listen, maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. God, the Holy Spirit, helps his
people in prayer. And I'm so thankful he does because
we don't know how to pray. He must. If our prayer is ever
to be heard before God, it must be through the Spirit. We're ignorant of what to pray
for. We're ignorant of how to plea.
Our Lord in teaching his disciples to pray, he said this, he said,
when you pray, Pray not as the hypocrites are. He said they
love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners
of the streets for this purpose, that they might be seen of men. And I say unto you, they have
their reward. They're going to get what they're
seeking. But when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and shut
the door and pray to thy father which is in secret. and the father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. And when you pray,
use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that
they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not therefore
like unto them, for your father knoweth what
things you need before you even ask. before we even ask. He knows what we need. He's all-knowing,
all-seeing. He knows what we need before
we even ask. And listen, He's able to do abundantly, above all we could
ever hope or ask. according to the power that worketh
in him. We don't even know the words
to use when we've come before the Lord. Yet the spirit of God
puts that cry in our heart. Turn with me to just one more
passage of scripture. Luke chapter eight. I was reading this, I thought
about this in Luke 8. Look at Luke 8, verse 43. There was a woman having an issue
of blood 12 years. She spent all of her living upon
physicians. Neither could be healed of any. this woman. She had nothing and
she had spent everything that she had and she could not be
healed. She was unable to help herself.
She could do nothing for herself. In Mark's account, we read that
after she'd done all these things, rather than get better, she just
got worse. Look at verse 44. And she came behind him. And
she touched the border of his garment. And immediately, immediately,
her blood was stanched. It stopped. It dried up. She didn't say a word, did she?
She didn't say one word. She didn't say anything about
her need. She didn't say anything about
the things that she had tried to do. She simply came to the
Lord and touched his garment and she was healed. And the Lord said in verse 45,
who touched me? Everyone denied it and Peter
and they that were with him, they said, Master, this multitude,
this great crowd around us and you're asking, who touched me? And Jesus said, somebody has
touched me for I perceive that virtue has gone out of me. And
when the woman saw that she was not healed, she came trembling
and she fell down before him and she declared to him before
all the people for what cause she had touched him and how she
was healed immediately. And he said to her daughter,
Be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
Go in peace." She hadn't said a word. She hadn't
made one request. And the Lord healed her. Isaiah
65 24 says this, It shall come to pass before they call. What's the
rest of it? I will answer. While they're yet speaking, I'll hear. Let me close to you by reading
our text just one more time. Back there in Romans 8. We know not what we should pray
for as we ought. And we never will, apart from
him teaching us, apart from him revealing our need to him. We
know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit
maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. And he that searches the heart
knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. According to his
will. His will. He worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. We may not know what to pray
for, but aren't we thankful he does? He knows our need and that
he maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be
uttered. All right. I pray the Lord be
pleased to bless his word.