Living by the Spirit – Part 3

If you were to ask the average Christian, what does the Holy Spirit do? What is his role as God, as the third member of the Trinity? And you would get a relatively short list of answers. Many would say that the Holy Spirit equips and stirs Christians to exercise some fantastic sign gift and not much more. Others might say that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is almost exclusively that of conviction.

And historically, both of those things are certainly true of the Holy Spirit. In the earliest moment of the church the Holy Spirit did indeed infuse believers with powerful and amazing gifts speaking in tongues healings and the like. And the Spirit does indeed convict people of sin and righteousness and judgment just as Jesus said he would. But these are not the only things that the Holy Spirit does far from it.

We spoke several weeks ago about the widely varied ministry of the Spirit. The Spirit was part of the work of creation, effecting what God had commanded. He was part of the miraculous conception of Jesus, overshadowing Mary and unto her conception with Christ. He was part of the inscripturation of God’s Word, cooperating with men to writing down God’s messages to mankind. And the ministry that most closely relates to every believer is that the Holy Spirit does the supernatural work of regeneration, bringing a dead sinner to life. and to repentance and to faith.

It’s unfortunate that even those elements of the Spirit’s ministry are often downplayed or forgotten entirely. But there are other things, wonderful things, that the Holy Spirit does that are rarely ever mentioned or considered. As we’ve seen over these past few weeks, There are at least three other aspects of the Holy Spirit’s ministry that tend to be overlooked. But we noted that in this, the greatest chapter in the greatest treatise ever written, Paul spends more time discussing the ministry of the Holy Spirit than anything else. Even the other members of the Trinity, the Father and the Son. And it’s already been very eye-opening in verses 12 through 15, Paul has laid out that one of the Spirit’s roles is to instill confidence in the child of God.

And he does so in order to provide a distinct sign of life, spiritual life. And in that regard the Holy Spirit prompts us to mortify sin. If you have come to hate your sin that is a sign that the Holy Spirit is at work in your life. He grants us spiritual guidance. If you have prayed for such guidance and the Holy Spirit has granted it that is a clear sign that the Holy Spirit is at work in your life as a believer. And then he draws us into a deeper affection for God himself. And if you love God more today than you do you did when you were saved, that too is a sign that the Spirit is at work in your life.

We saw another distinct ministry of God’s Spirit, which Paul presents in verses 16 through 25, that the Holy Spirit gives affirmation that promises spiritual inheritance. That’s the Spirit’s role. Paul says it this way in that foundational statement of verse 16 of chapter 8, the spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and therefore heirs of God.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we are now God’s own children and we possess a legal right to God’s bounties. As a result of the confidence that is bestowed by the Holy Spirit, nothing can be allowed to diminish our heavenly perspective. Not suffering, not longing, not futility, not groaning, not even unfulfilled hope.

There’s a third oft forgotten aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry. We come to that today. That third aspect is that he prays for us. The Holy Spirit prays for us. And in doing so, he overcomes our own inabilities to commune with God as we ought. And he utters a perfectly worded, appropriate prayer on our behalf. It’s a fantastic thought. If you would, let’s turn to Romans 8. And let’s hear how Paul describes this third often overlooked ministry of the Holy Spirit. We find it in verses 26 and 27. But let’s take the whole thing back to verse 12, the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So then brethren, we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of slavery, leaning to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

And not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruit of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it.

And in the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Such an encouraging truth, isn’t it? That the Holy Spirit interacts with God the Father and Jesus Christ our Savior about us, about our needs, This is the third element of divine assistance rendered by the Holy Spirit, that as frail humans, we have an inherent weakness.

And one of the Holy Spirit’s contributions is to aid our inability. There are three phases of the Spirit’s help, as we will see this morning. Let’s begin, if we could, back in verse 26 with Paul’s opening statement there. Paul opens that third section about the Holy Spirit by telling us, verse 26, in the same way, the Spirit helps our weakness. And we’ll return momentarily to this thought about the Holy Spirit helping us, helping Christians in their weakness. But it’s wise for us to pause and consider Paul’s reference here, in the same way.

In the same way as what? We have to ask. The simplest approach would be to look back to verses 22 and to 23 and to the groaning that Paul mentions there, both of creation and of believers. And that in the same way, the spirit helps us with his own version of groaning. And admittedly, that view has in favor of it the fact that just as creation groans and Christians groan here in verse 27 it’s the Holy Spirit that also groans. That’s true. This is a good plausible connection. But is Paul really suggesting that the Holy Spirit does no more than to help us to groan. As we saw, groaning does us no real good. It’s a symptom. It’s a sentimental reaction to our circumstances. Things happen, and we sigh. We groan. Paul didn’t identify it as sinful, but neither is it particularly beneficial. We groan. It’s a fact.

But here, Paul is speaking of a positive benefit that the Spirit renders on our behalf. And so I think there’s a better explanation to this connection, a better connection to these words in the same way. If you step back and look at this passage in its entirety, verses 12 all the way down through 27, Paul is speaking about divine assistance, the divine assistance that the Holy Spirit provides. And Paul also takes each member of the Godhead in turn. All the members of the Godhead are rendering us assistance. And the foundation that was laid by the Lord Jesus in 1 through 11, and the Holy Spirit in 12 through 27, and the Father, passages we’re yet to consider, If we remember all of that, then it’s easier by far to glance down and see that Paul is giving a third and final means of the Spirit’s assistance. And this point is perfectly parallel with the previous ones.

The subject of this little sentence is not hope. The subject is not groaning. The subject is the Holy Spirit. And you have to go all the way back to verse 16 before you can see the Spirit again as the subject of the sentence. And it’s to these verses that this final point in verses 26 and 27 should be connected. Listen briefly. As in verse 16, Paul says, the Spirit bears witness. And here in verse 26, in the same way. The Spirit bears witness and in the same way the Spirit also helps. It’s that simple. Verses 26 and 27 provide us with Paul’s third particular means of the Spirit’s assistance in our lives.

Intercession, I would call it, that overcomes inability. So in the same way that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God he also helps the spirit helps our weakness. The word translated as helps is a it’s a compound word that refers to taking up or taking hold of something with someone else. It’s the lending of a helping hand.

Interestingly, the only other time that this word is used in the New Testament is to refer to Martha’s complaint to the Lord. Remember? Mary was in there busy worshiping the Lord while Martha was slaving away in the kitchen. She wanted her sister Mary to come and help lend a hand. It doesn’t refer to a takeover. to kind of brush or nudge someone aside to take care of the problem yourself. Rather it means to aid, to render assistance, to help.

And that’s fascinating because when Jesus first introduced the promise of the Holy Spirit to his disciples in John 14, he uses an incredible word, parakletos. Literally, the called alongside one, the helper. And in a very general way, it points to the fact that the Holy Spirit comes alongside of us as believers to assist us with the difficulties and challenges of this life, with our sufferings, with our longing, with our groaning, with the futility, with the waiting in hope. The Holy Spirit comes to help. Specifically, Paul says that the Holy Spirit comes alongside believers to help with what he identifies here is our weakness.

That word pictures a task that has been asked of us, assigned to us, but one ultimately that we are unable to complete because of our frailty. The Spirit lends a hand, as it were, to assist us in that inability. The immediate context of this weakness of which Paul speaks is born out of our sufferings. That’s what we considered last week, the trials, the difficulties of this life.

And our insight into God’s way as believers is dimmed We don’t know it all, and we certainly lack God’s full perspective on the things of life. As humans, we are beset with weaknesses. We are over-influenced by emotions instead of wisdom. We lack a full and working knowledge of the world and all of its contingencies. We do not see the best course to take, rarely so. Because of that, our faith dwindles. Life’s challenges tend to lay us low.

They weaken us to the point of infirmity, a depletion of strength, whether physical or spiritual. And especially in these seasons of great difficulty, our thoughts and our sensitivities are overwhelmed. Our words grow sparse. And in these inevitable seasons of life on earth, we seem to hit the wall. We’re exhausted, spent, helpless at the end of our own resources. And nothing is more affected by this than our own communion with God in prayer.

While the Holy Spirit does indeed help believers in a general sense, Paul has something very specific in mind here. It’s a particular kind of weakness that he wants to address. It’s a universal element of the Christian life that is typically and regularly so fraught with weakness that Paul treats it as the common experience of the Christian.

Paul identifies and exposes our weakness right there in the middle of verse 26. The Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should. We’ll look at three aspects of this weakness this morning. You might even think of it as three stages. The Holy Spirit makes intercession that overcomes our inability He helps our weakness. First of all, he does so by exposing that weakness. In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should. It is perhaps never easier to pray than when our relationship with God is fresh and new. Remember those days?

We’ve been forgiven. Since we learned of Christ and placed our faith in him, we now know that we have free access to the creator of the universe, the king. Those thoughts are at the forefront of our mind when we pray, and we’re drawn to God because of it. This God who we used to hold as aloof and harsh. Now we know to be our loving God and our heavenly Father. And so we come to Him and it’s easy to pray.

We talk to Him freely and we’re excited to do so. At least at first. I remember hearing one young Christian introduced himself by name to God. Like, God, this is Joe. He may have even provided his address, I can’t recall. I remember hearing another new convert bowing her head before God as she ate. She simply said, God, thank you for my toast. I believe God answers and loves those simple prayers.

But it’s never easier to pray than when we’re new in the Lord, is it? But as we grow in the Lord, we find ourselves thinking like we figured God out to a degree. We’ve begun to mature in the Lord, and it shows in how we pray. Some of that is helpful.

We begin to realize that we’re not really informing God of anything. But much of that prayer is cumbersome and it can’t help to weaken our communion with God. Much of it we turn to make our prayer life more difficult. We learn a few things about God in the Christian life and so we begin to work around those things in our prayers.

We begin to play the angles. We even attempt to play God against himself by claiming things and citing contracts before him. We struggle and we stammer in our prayer. Because of what we’ve learned, we find ourselves at times like Jacob wrestling with God. Some of that is as it should be, but for the most part, we become downright frustrated in our prayer, and sometimes we leave off. We don’t persevere in it. And so we try to find ways to muddle through.

Prayer summits. Prayer partners, prayer books, prayer calendars, and on and on and on it goes. Some of those things we find tremendous spiritual value. Accountability with others has its place. And we are profitably instructed at times by other well-seasoned saints in reading about their own prayer journeys. We even take classes on prayer, or we sit under lessons or sermons on prayer. And we are rescued for a season, remember, by that acrostic, A-C-T-S, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. That does it, for a while. It gives the needed framework for our prayer.

But it’s never like it was in the beginning. As we grow, we are certain at times that things get worse. Because now we bring our prayers into prayers, our theology, as if to educate God himself. We never have a more difficult time in prayer than once we begin trying to reconcile our prayers with the sovereignty of God. Why bother? It may even prompt us to lay aside prayer for a season. It’s never like it was at the beginning.

Prayer is the single greatest weakness that a Christian encounters in his or her walk with Christ. God knows it. Paul knows it. And he moves to address it in the passage before us. We do not know how to pray as we should. We’re generally weak, it’s true, physically, emotionally. And so Paul needs to explain what he means by weakness here.

It’s our prayer life. It’s our very lifeline to God himself. The open door to God reestablished because of our relationship with Christ. We know that we should pray. After all, we’re commanded to pray. And we do love and long to commune with our God and our Savior. But when we get overwhelmed, prayer seems to be the first thing that goes, doesn’t it?

Our human frailty is not limited to our prayer life. We’re weak, but perhaps weakest of all is our prayer. Our conversation with God is beset with the feebleness that characterizes all the other aspects of our life. And so Paul brings this important feature to the forefront, our weakness is that we do not know how to pray. Communion with God is a relationship that is so wonderful and yet so fragile.

And really at any juncture of life’s suffering, we may falter. at the initial moment of trial, or at the protracted longing, or at the exasperating reality of the futility of life, in our inability to even verbalize our sentiments, which comes out as groaning, or in what seems like a never-ending wait. Our prayer life is like that last soldier standing on a battlefield, We come before God in the course of life’s heartaches and our words become muddled. We stammer, we pause, and sometimes we cease altogether. We search our minds for the words and the sentences to communicate our deepest thoughts to God to no avail. We are weak. We do not know how to pray.

So Paul says the Holy Spirit helps. He helps in this most common weakness. There’s no reason to be overly literal here. Paul isn’t saying that we as believers don’t know how to pray. Paul certainly knew how to pray in a literal sense to express our love and gratitude to God for his being and for his blessings. to unburden our hearts before him in confession, to lay our requests before him for others’ needs as well as our own.

Paul knew all of that, and he knew that his readers knew that as well. We know what it is to commune with God, to cry out to him, whether audibly or quietly in a whisper or even silently. Paul knew. when he says that we do not know how to pray, he refers to this specific request that we might make in a particular situation. It was the content of the requests that we make of God. That’s what Paul says that we do not know how to pray. When we think of just how wide ranging and thorough our prayer life could be if we were omniscient, we immediately see how short our prayers fall in our ignorance.

We do not know the wisest course. We do not know the unforeseen pitfalls. We do not know God’s sovereign design in our trials. And given all the contingencies of life, all of the possibilities that face us, all of God’s purposes in our trials. Our ignorance is therefore magnified, as is our weakness. We don’t know what is right. We do not know how to pray. So our greatest weakness is exposed. We do not know how to pray.

And one of the Holy Spirit’s ministries to us is to help in this regard. And so, secondly, the second phase of this, in the Holy Spirit making intercession that overcomes our inability, not only does he expose our weakness, but he addresses our weakness. Would you look at verse 26 again in the same way the spirit also helps our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we should but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. So the Holy Spirit sees and knows our weakness with regard to prayer and he comes alongside us to help in the most practical manner possible. He prays for us. Paul says remarkably that the spirit himself intercedes for us.

To intercede on another’s behalf is to take the part of an advocate. As a school administrator, I’m routinely asked to write letters of recommendation. Great honor to play the part of an advocate on behalf of a student, whether for a job placement or into a school. Lawyers do the same thing. They play the part of an advocate speaking on behalf of their client.

Can we even imagine this? The Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, goes on our behalf before the other two members of the Godhead. And in doing so, he articulates our needs before the Heavenly Father, before Christ, our Savior. It’s just an absolutely amazing thought. The Bible tells us that we have, we actually have two intercessors, two divine advocates going on our behalf before the Father.

In 1 John 2.1, John says that we as believers have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Jesus Christ prays for us. We know that Jesus prays for us.

Hebrews 7.25, he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. What an astounding thought. But in addition to our Savior, Jesus, praying for us, Paul tells us plainly here that the Holy Spirit is praying for us as well. And Paul adds a description to the Spirit’s prayers that is very familiar by now. The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. We were only just made to acknowledge our own groanings last week in the course of this consideration of this passage.

Speaking of life’s trials in 22 and 23, we groan. Our trials and sufferings are so intense, we have a difficult time even expressing our sentiments to God. The cry of agony, the sob of grief, the wail of bitterness, the whimper of defeat, The grimacing sigh of exasperation, the sigh of frustration, the moan of pain, the groan of burden. Our appeal in these moments only comes forth as a whimper, a sigh, a groan.

But here, the Holy Spirit’s groanings are of a different kind. The Holy Spirit empathizes with our suffering so deeply that he issues forth a similar expression. With groaning, Paul says. Just as our groanings were those barely audible expressions of lament, here the Holy Spirit imitates or echoes those sentiments before the Father and the Son. The groanings of the Spirit represent his intercessory appeals on our behalf. He passes along our sentiments to Christ and to the Father.

Paul describes these groanings further as being too deep for words. Back in verse 23, Paul’s description of our groanings was an inarticulate lament A great and painful sigh. We groan within ourselves, Paul said. Here, Paul is referring, however, to the Spirit’s language. Now he says it’s too deep for words.

Of course, it means that it’s too deep for us. in our humanity to comprehend, to fully understand from our perspective, these are unutterable, inarticulate groanings. Couldn’t write it down if we wanted to. But it’s not that the spirit is unable to express himself like we are. Rather, even if we were able to listen in on his communication with the father and the son, we would be unable to comprehend his words.

They would be meaningless to our ears because it is the language of God. But in that this is God, the Holy Spirit, speaking to the other two members of the deity, the Spirit’s thoughts are completely understandable. The Holy Spirit communicates our circumstances and our sentiments to Christ and to his Father. And while it may be indecipherable language to us, the Father and the Son understand perfectly.

So the Holy Spirit addresses our weakness, that we do not know how to pray, and he does so by interceding for us. The question remains, did it work? Was the Spirit’s prayer effective? For that we come into verse 27. Our weakness is exposed. Our weakness is addressed. It’s exposed in the fact that we do not know how to pray. It’s addressed in that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. Thirdly, our weakness conquered. Our weakness conquered. Would you look at verse 27?

And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is. because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Here’s the wonderful proof to this idea of the previous statement. The spirit there in the latter portion of verse 26 is essentially communicating as we saw with the other members of the Godhead. Remember with groanings too deep for our human ears to comprehend. But these groanings are instantly comprehended by Christ and the Father. Here in verse 27, Paul explains why. He speaks mysteriously here about the hearer of these words. Paul refers to him only as he who searches the hearts.

Well, that can refer only to Almighty God. God admonished Samuel, 1 Samuel 16, 7, regarding his choice of David as king. Remember this? The Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. Saul will not do.

God is the searcher of hearts. King David, Frequently articulated this truth in the Psalms, Psalm 7, 9, the righteous God tries the hearts and minds. Psalm 17, 3, you have tried my heart, you have visited me in the night. Psalm 139, verses one and two, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you understand my thought from afar.

God is the searcher of hearts. As David commanded Solomon, and his nation at the end of First Chronicles. As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind, for the Lord searches the hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. God is the searcher of hearts. Solomon declared, He understood David’s words, and he reiterated those thoughts in 1 Kings 8 at the dedication of the temple, acknowledging that God alone knows the hearts of all the sons of men.

God is the searcher of hearts. The writer of Hebrews summarized it well when he said, there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. God is the searcher of hearts. Paul’s point in telling us this is that if God is able to search the hearts of men, he inherently understands the other members of the deity, the son and the spirit.

As Paul has it, he knows what the mind of the spirit is. Even before the spirit utters a sound. He’s the same one who knows perfectly the mind of his Son and his Spirit. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are all perfectly united, one mind. So Jesus and his Heavenly Father fully know the mind of the Spirit even before it’s articulated. He knows with absolute precision the mind of the Spirit, his thoughts, his intentions, his motives. He knows.

Paul adds a final explanation to the level of communication between these members of the Godhead. Paul tells us why God knows the mind of the Spirit. Glance down please at verse 27, God knows because He that is the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

He doesn’t ask anything that’s outside of God’s will. There’s no duplicity with the deity. There’s no contrary motives. There are no hidden agendas within the Trinity. The three members of the Godhead are always perfectly in tune with one another. The Father and the Son knows that the Spirit is not about to seek something that runs counter to God’s will. Without doubt, We, in our finite and self-seeking minds, do not know how to pray. We don’t even know what to ask for. We’re stumped. We’re stuck. But the Spirit knows. The Spirit knows perfectly because He prays according to God’s will.

Isn’t it great? Isn’t it great to know that someone is praying for you? Isn’t that one of the greatest encouragements that you can ever receive as a believer? To know that somebody is praying for you. But to know that the Holy Spirit is praying for you. The Holy Spirit is bearing you up and going before the other members of the deity according to the will of God and praying on your behalf. Absolutely astounding. It’s overwhelming. How would God not hear that prayer? Of course he would. God’s sovereign plan in our lives will prevail.

Isn’t the Holy Spirit someone that you would want praying for you? He is. when your world has been turned upside down, when tragedy strikes and you cannot be comforted by any human friend, when friends have deserted you or even Christians have failed you, when your heart has been broken, when trial or difficulty or persecution overwhelms, when life, as you thought it should be, seems to be crumbling at the very foundation When nothing makes sense, when reality doesn’t square with your theology, when answers are elusive, when you’re blindsided by some tragedy, when all human counsel is meaningless and empty, when your health or your friend or your business or your reputation has failed, just know in that moment The Holy Spirit is interceding for you. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray. It just means that our prayer partner. He’s there on our behalf. In the very throne of grace. With a perfect prayer. Would you humble yourself before him? Our merciful God. This is an astounding passage. This is hard for us to even grasp.

But the more we know of God, the more we realize how true this is. The God in his mercy, the triune God, all three members of the Godhead, were fully in on our salvation. They’re fully in on our sanctification. They are cooperating, working together, working as a unified team in order to bring us to glory.

Lord God, we thank you for this reminder. We thank you for the knowledge that even though our prayers are weak and feeble, Lord, we know that the Holy Spirit is interceding on our behalf, perhaps one of the greatest things that the Holy Spirit does. Pleading before the Father and the Son. Pleading for his grace for us, pleading for his guidance, pleading for comfort. Lord God, we thank you.

For your gift to us of the Holy Spirit. Lord God, those of us who have come to know Christ, we know this spirit. We know this comforter. We know this called alongside one, this helper. We know him because you have sent him to live inside of us. Lord God, we thank you for the comfort that he gives, the guidance, the encouragement. We thank you even for the conviction that he provides.

Lord God, if there are those in our midst who do not know this comforter, who do not have this helper, if they have not placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they’re trying to do it alone. Lord God, grant them mercy. in drawing them to faith in Jesus Christ, that they too might become indwelled by the very spirit of God and guided by him for your glory. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray, amen.