Romans 8 | Week 5

It's good to see you guys. I hope that you're well.

My name is Kyla, service lead Pastor here and I'm glad that

you're here to worship with us. If you're visiting today we are

in a series right now through the book of well, through the

chapter of Romans chapter 8, and it's been very good for us, this

Romans 8 · chapter mention

is the fifth week that we've been in this series, we are

examining how in Christ. We have everything we need for

life and godliness and so we're saying all of Christ for all of

us. Life.

And Romans 8 helps us see this. Now, one of the things that

might be a bit confusing for us, as we're going through this, if

we lose the context of what happens in Romans 8:1 is that

Romans 8:1

it's a whole lot of talk about the spirits.

And so, you might think, well, it's all of Christ for all of

life. It is the spirit doing all of

this work in us. That's right.

All right, so the spirit of God comes to us, is given to us

bestowed on us because of the work of Christ and we when we

read in 81 there is therefore now no condemnation for those

who are in Christ Jesus. And then we talked about and

then immediately we see how the law of the spirit of life has

come to us to reside in us that we might live, according to the

spirit rather than according to our flesh has.

So all this has been worked in us because of Christ by the Holy

Spirit through the grace of God. Amen.

And that's what we're seeing happen here.

So, Romans 8, Yes, we're going to look at 26 and 27 here in

just a second. What we find here is a little

bit more about what Christ means.

When he says in John 16, John 14 that when I go away, there will

be a helper who comes for you or an advocate.

Even as use there we find out a bit more about what he means.

And today, what we're going to see is that the holy spirit is

our Advocate, he's an advocate especially in our prayers, and

so if you're taking notes, you can write this down.

The holy spirit is our Advocate and In prayer carrying our

prayers to God and working. His will in us.

Holy spirit is an advocate in prayer, carrying or prayers, to

God and working, his will in us. So, when I ask that you stand,

one more time, we're going to read Romans 8, 26, and 27.

When I finish reading, I'll say this is the word of the Lord,

and I ask that you respond. Thanks be to God.

Likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness.

For we, do not know what to pray for as we ought.

But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings

too deep for words. And he who searches Hearts

knows, what is the mind of the spirit because the spirit

intercedes for the Saints, according to the will of God,

this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let me pray for us and we'll be seated.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you

Lord. As we see in this passage that

you have given us your spirit lives in us and his he's an

advocate for us as we pray. Even now to you or to Sweet

petition, you we know that Lord, he brings those things before

you even in our weaknesses he makes them strong And Lord so

that you might work, your will in us.

And so we pray. Lord that as we read your word,

as we study, your word, as we hear it taught today.

Lord would you Enlighten Us by the spirit of God as we listen

today? Help us to understand these

things and to live, according to these truths.

I do believe that we have some magnificent encouragement here

for us in our prayer life. And so help us to be attentive,

help us Lord to put these things into action.

So now, Of Christ. I pray.

Amen. And you may have a seat.

I think that if I were to take a poll and to ask, what is the

most difficult spiritual habits for you to maintain a suspect

that the most frequent answer is you would give would either be

Bible reading or prayer. Maybe the kind of go

hand-in-hand for you Bible reading and prayer.

Now, I don't think this is a coincidence.

I don't think it's a coincidence that we all find it difficult to

maintain a life of Bible reading a Devotion to the scriptures.

I don't think it's a coincidence that we find it difficult to be

men and women, boys and girls who pray, we seek the Lord in

prayer. I think the purpose is or the

reason that this isn't a coincidence is that they are two

of the most useful tools that God has given us.

They're two of the most at hand ready tools that God has given

you for your daily spiritual growth.

Satan knowing this seeing their power at work in the lives of

Believers of God's people works to destroy their effectiveness

by distracting us so he cannot touch the effectiveness of the

works, but he can keep you from the works.

All right, he can do things to Tim's, you to not participate in

Reading God's word to not participate in prayer.

Though the benefits that they bring, he cannot touch, those

are God's men and so he'll work to destroy your effectiveness

at, maintaining these Habits by distracting me.

He'll fill you, with all manner of things, right?

Anything that would look fulfilling in a season, anything

that would look fulfilling in a moment, we just studied

Ecclesiastes and home groups and this is one of the things that

we saw is that there is no end to the vein Pursuits of Why is

there no end to the vain pursuit of mankind?

Because the vein, Pursuits of mankind, never fulfill you, they

never leave a lasting satisfaction and so you must,

you have to go on to the next thing, whatever that is right.

And so if you want more money, you will work more hours.

All right, if you want to lust more, you will pursue more

pornography you will pursue. Eventually the end of that,

which would be adultery against your spouse.

And there are things that you will not if God were to just

remove his hand, you would run headlong into running.

And so, we see this, there's no end to these Pursuits and so

will seek to fill ourselves with any manner of things.

I think social media is a good example of this I have quoted

before. Before, and I'll do it.

Now, John Piper mentioned that one great use for social media

on the last day. On the day of judgment is going

to be to hold it before us. And to show us that we had

plenty of time for Bible reading and prayer in our lives, we had

plenty of time to submit ourselves to the will of God.

It plenty of times to do the things that he has asked us to

do. And yet we spin it right and On

social media TV podcast, music busy schedules, right?

Whispers of, hey, you can sleep in this morning, you deserve it,

you've earned it. Alright, and that's not to say

you shouldn't rest occasionally but to be always sleeping in, is

to be what Proverbs calls a sluggard.

All right, it's to miss the point of life to be getting up

after things and doing things. There's a reason, the early bird

gets the worm. You're right.

It's not just worldly wisdom. It's Godly wisdom and so there's

all manner of things that will distract us.

There's all sorts of things that will keep us from pursuing

Christ early in the morning as the psalmist talks about, or as

we see Jesus do in the gospels when it says that he rose early

and went away by himself to spend time in prayer with the

father, when we Ponce away the responsibilities to build

routines of Bible reading and prayer into our lives, we're not

freeing up more time for ourselves.

We're not freeing our schedule of things.

We are only further, burdening ourselves with more invaluable

things that make sense. In fact, the more disciplined

you are the more freedom you have.

It's not just a joker, Willie saying, it's a, it's again, it's

Godly wisdom, discipline does equal, freedom, and to be

disciplined in prayer to be disciplined in Bible.

Reading brings about freedom. And so, when you park that away,

you're not freeing up more time. You're actively, you're engaging

in the act of cutting away, one of the strongest tethers that

you have for your soul to God. You're working to cut it away,

you're working to say, I can swim on my own.

And Bible reading and prayer, you are helped Along by the

spirit. You find it difficult, right

man? I'm assuming this, because I to

find that difficult Bible reading and prayer can be

difficult. We find it difficult though

because we're not, depending on the spirit of God to help us in

any kind of way. Now, that's not to say the

spirit of God is not helping us unbeknownst to us.

He does But when we actively engage our minds and our hearts

in this dependency, as we sang about a moment ago and as Alan

prayed for, when we engage ourselves in that, then we find

the spirit of God to be ever present in our time of need.

A help to us as we read and study as we pray the spirit

illuminates, the scripture, so that we may understand them

illuminates them, not just for our understanding because

knowledge puffs up, right? He's not trying to create a

puffed-up people. He's not trying to create a

prideful. Arrogant folk or hi.

He wants to create people who are humble servants to the Lord.

Who live? Humble lives to the King of

Kings, who are about bringing his lordship and Dominion into

every area of life. So it's not about creating a

puffed-up people. God forbid.

We become puffed up, as we read the scriptures.

Let's not at all the points of the scriptures.

But as knowledge, grows Godly, knowledge, Godly wisdom grows,

so does Love, and so it works itself out.

And so, without the spirits, help, what we understand, these

are spiritual things written in this book, and we are meant to

discern them, but we cannot discern them in the flesh.

We must have the spirit of God. Help us discern these things.

So what Paul talks about in second Corinthians 3 and 4, as

he explains that there's a Vel over the eyes of the

unbelieving. I can't see these glorious but

those who believe the veil has been torn Away by the spirit of

God, which is now alive in us, and we can follow after the

things that God has written, we can obey him And so we can abide

in his word, not only are they a looming for us?

But we live them out. We hold fast to them as our text

today, reveals, the spirit intercedes for us in prayer.

So, I've coupled Bible reading and prayer together just to kind

of help expose what I'm talking about.

But from here forward, we're going to focus on prayer.

The spirit intercedes for us in our prayers.

Many he carries as we see here, our prayers before the Lord for

us. He's present in our heart.

Interceding. For us Christ is present in

heaven, interceding for us, according to Hebrews 7:25 and

Hebrews 7:25

both of those together. Our great hope for you.

They're great help for you there.

Great encouragement and comfort for you.

That as you pray your prayers, make it to the throne of God.

That you don't have to wish that they do, you don't have to

wonder if they do. You can pray with confidence.

You can pray knowing that you're being helped and not only are

your prayers, making it to God and the spirit mean, we'll get

into it, but the spirits even cleaning those up for us.

Right? We don't know what to pray as we

ought, but the spirit helps us in our weaknesses and so the

spirit is helping us, he carries them to the Lord, but he also

brings the will of God into our lives.

He works in us as he resides in us, that we become men and women

and boys and girls who are living according to To the word

of God acting out his will in our life.

He is our Advocates. That's what I'm saying.

He's our advocate. He is our help.

He's our Advocate to God and he's working his will in us

whether we are reading the scriptures or praying, we must

depend on the request. Sorry.

On the on and request the help of the spirit.

So if you neglect prayer what I'm telling you today is that

you're forfeiting. One of the greatest blessings

that God has given you as a Believer, you're forfeiting.

Your just saying, I don't need it and he's bestowed On You by

his spirit. And so while we're in this world

and Remember the context of Romans 8?

What have we just talked about? We're hoping, and we're waiting,

and we're groaning right for the day, that Christ is revealed and

that the sons of God, meaning the children of God are revealed

were hoping for the day when Christ returns.

And we're looking forward to the day, where there is no more

pain. There is no more toil or

struggle. There's no more loss of life.

There's no more. Here's, there's no more sin,

right? It's a perfect redeemed.

World Christ. Makes All Things New in the new

Heaven and the Earth and we're hoping for that we're longing

for that. But what happens in this life

will Paul said last week as we're looking at those verses

and verse 18 that we suffer We suffer in this present life, we

endure. Hardships and heartaches we

endure loss of life. We practice sins.

Like we were Unholy at times. And so there's suffering.

And while we're waiting for that as we're going through, our

sufferings awaiting the present life, what does he intend for us

to do? What does what does God want us

to be doing to be praying? Three men and women and boys and

girls are prayer to depend on the Lord.

You see hope supposes desire when we said last week that

we're this is our hope that Christ returns and does.

This is a sure and steady, hope for us, it's something we can

fix our eyes on. He says, you don't look to the

things that you see and hope for those because you already have a

right? But you're looking to the thing

that is unseen and you're hoping for to something that isn't yet

complete. Dated.

But you know that it will be it's a promise of God and so you

hope for that. But if you hope in something

then what naturally comes as part of that desire, God,

there's a desire for it. If I'm hoping for something, I

have a desire for it, right? As I was, I was finishing up

college and was actively seeking hoping that Patricia would be

interested in me. I had a strong desire for her.

I had a strong desire to help her have the same desire for me,

right? It's my greatest accomplishment

to this date. All right, and I owe it all to

the Lord and possibly her own blindness, but Cuz you far

prettier than I am sweetheart. So Let's it's weird for a man to

say men there, but okay. So hope supposes desire, right?

I hoped and I desired. And and so the same is true for

this. Like, we hope for the end of all

things. We do hope for that, we're

longing for that day yet we understand there's a life to

live now. So there's desires for the Lord

to work things into our lives, that would bring about his

kingdom on earth, right? That would be about establishing

life as he has it in. Heaven just as Christ.

Pray not my will, but yours be done.

Not my kingdom, but your kingdom be established here on the

Earth, right? That's what we want on Earth as

it is in heaven. That's what we're hoping for and

when we offer those desires to God, that's called prayer.

You hope for something you desire.

It you offer those desires to God.

That's called prayer. When I was offering my desires

to Patricia that was called pleading rights.

But it's prayer its pleading to God for something.

It's petitioning God for something.

Now, the thing is here is sometimes you might only grown

for that. I mean, there were times you

come boldly confidently before the Lord, maybe on behalf of

your children. May be seeking wisdom for a

decision, maybe because someone sick or you've received, you

know, a bad Health Report you come boldly before the Lord and

those moments your petitioning, God, but there are moments where

suffering is so great. And so difficult that all you

can do is grown before the Lord. You grow.

And that's where our groanings here.

Tied to our groanings in the spirit and we'll see that in a

moment. So backing up a little bit.

What keeps you from praying? More frequently?

Answer that to yourself. I don't need you to answer out

loud, but what keeps you from? Answer for praying more

frequently. The time.

Distractions. Maybe it's guilt or shame.

Guilt and shame have a way of paralyzing us thinking that we

don't deserve to go to God for his Mercy.

So encourage you, he was 14, he was for 14 through 16 says,

absolutely. Otherwise says to come boldly to

the high priest who is unable to sympathize with you in your

weaknesses that you might receive mercy and Grace in your

time of need. So even when you feel that

shame, go to the Lord, don't let Satan keep you from going to the

Lord. Is it a lack of confidence and

what to pray for? Maybe you don't understand the

will of God maybe don't know the will of God and so you don't

pray. Maybe it's the lack of

confidence that God even hears you when you pray after all

having a conversation with someone face-to-face fills a bit

easier, right? Like sometimes we'll go seek the

counsel of a friend before. Will seek the counsel from what

Isaiah calls are wonderful. Counselor in heaven, a perfect

counselor. The reason I think we do that is

because we're looking for itchy for the Silver Bullet Right.

Like we want the saying that somebody can say in a moment in

a quick moments, going to fix the issue.

And God, grants biblical wisdom to men and women of God for such

moments. Not denying that.

How much stronger would your faith be if you sought the Lord

as well? If you ask the Lord for help,

right? So, have I have a confidence to

pray, have a confidence that God hears you.

There may be other reasons, you don't pray, but those were a few

that I brainstormed And you may fight against one of those, some

of those, all of those are, none of those.

You might have something different.

The point is that we are weak. We're weak.

We must humbly acknowledge our weakness before the Lord.

That's why Paul writes here. The spirit helps us in our

weakness. It's just confessing we're weak.

We're we can prayer where we can spiritual strength or weakened

the ability to approach the Lord.

And he gives some reasons. And so, we'll go over those in

just a moment. But when Jesus went into the

garden to pray and his disciples continued to fall asleep, He

finally said to them that the spirit is willing, but the flesh

is weak. So the spirit of God Rest In You

and the spirit of God is willing to petition God on your behalf

and in many ways, the spirit of God is petitioning.

God on your behalf, unbeknownst to you.

But in those moments where your flesh is so weak that you won't

even get the words out, you won't even make a practice of

Prayer. You're really forfeiting.

Again, a great blessing that God has given to you.

What I want for you today. 101 for you today is to grasp

deeply, deep in your heart. Deep in your mind, deep in your

spirit that you have you possess this wonderful truth that were

reading here, that God has given you, his Spirit to intercede on

your behalf to help you in your weaknesses in prayer.

Because I think this is wife change.

I think you think God and His astounding Grace has provided

for you real help for your prayers as he gives you his

spirit. And so, as I said, a moment ago,

the holy spirit is an advocate in prayer.

He's an advocate in that, he carries our prayers to God, and

he carries God's will back down to us, right?

He works his will in us. So let's examine this weakness

that we're talking about. And then let's look at the hope

that we have also Our weakness in prayer in a word is our

infirmities. Our weakness in prayer is our

infirmities. Romans 8:26 again, likewise the

Romans 8:26

spirit helps us in our weakness. The word for weakness there is

infirmities. In capabilities.

For we do not know what to pray for as we ought but the spirit

himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Now alluded to it a moment ago but let me explain when he

starts likewise here. It's kind of like starting a

sentence with for or because Right.

Well, he's referencing back to something.

So, the likewise we saw last week that has creation as the

creation. The universe groans in agony

awaiting, the day of the children of God to be revealed

when Christ establishes, new Heaven and the Earth.

And as we saw there that the children of God also grown in

their sufferings, in this present day, who are also

awaiting the glories of Heaven to be revealed.

So, too, does the spirit grown? Spirit groans, is he intercedes

for us. So, here's the difference.

The creation groans totally unable to help itself subjected

to futility not of its own, right.

It wasn't its own doing God, subjected to futility in his

judgment because of the sin of man in Genesis chapter 3, when

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Adam and Eve ate of that fruit, which he told them not to eat

it. Disobeyed God, they rebelled and

creation was subjected to futility.

And it was broken mankind. Now, lives in this broken,

Stakes relationship with God now, fractured by our sin, we

have a nature about us, our flesh, in which we want to do,

we want to live, according to the Flesh and we want to live

according to the spirit if we're saved.

And these two things are at war with one another.

And so we groan also we groan inwardly because we are

subjected to the same kinds of utilities we're broken and we

groan outwardly as well because we Look at the world that is

broken around us. Things happen to us, things

happen from within us sure. But things happen to us as well.

And we grown for these things, but we're not alone in our

groaning. The problem is our groaning is

unable to do anything. But the spirit of God groans

likewise the spirit of God's groaning is able to take those

groanings of mankind. Those groanings of the children

of God to the throne of God and which God then in Acts his will

in her life. So the spirits groanings are

effective. My point is you don't want to

grown alone. Don't don't grown by yourself

grown in prayer. If you must grown seek, the Lord

in prayer trust that he is helping you.

So the groaning of the spirit comes as a result of his

sympathy to our weaknesses that come as a result of his deep

desire to work out the will of God in us of the word weakness.

Again means infirmities and capacities as those things that

hinder our prayers. The spirit helps us in our

weakness. For we, do not know what, Pray

for as we ought. And so, the first weakness that

we see here is that we do not know what to ask and that's what

he says for. We do not know what to ask Or

what's a prey, right? And so, the point here is that

we are not competent judges of our own condition.

Ecclesiastes, 6, just really a tremendous book for helping

expose these things and Ecclesiastes, 6, verse 12, the

Ecclesiastes 6:12

preacher, their rides. He says, for, who knows what is

good for man while he lives in the view days of his vein, life,

who knows what is good? Who knows what is good, right?

Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is deceitful above all things and

Jeremiah 17:9

desperately wicked, who can understand it.

As we see an issue here with the inwardness of us, we are unable.

The comprehend. What we need.

We're not competent judges of our own condition on our own.

We are extremely weak in spiritual Insight on our own.

We think too, highly of ourselves most of the time on

our own. We live with this bias toward

our own flesh. We think that we know what's

best. We're short-sighted.

We're studying the book, The Pilgrim's Progress in biblical,

manhood walking through that and there's a couple of characters

in there. I'm Christian and hopeful and

they're traveling together. And in the book.

The the path that they're on is called the way.

And this is the straight and narrow path to that leads to

heaven. And then the the book is an

allegory for all the different things that come along.

And so the path begins to get a little rough.

Its Stony, it's not comfortable to their feet.

It's an uncomfortable pass. How many of you have been in the

way and it's uncomfortable at times, right?

But they look over to their left and there's a very conveniently.

So, a ladder that goes over a fence onto a Green Meadow with a

Path. That looks like it goes parallel

to the path that they're on and so naturally Christian says, hey

look at this, let me go look at it.

So he goes and loads. It's like, oh, it does.

It runs parallel to the path. This will be much more

comfortable for us. And so they exit the way and get

on a path that very soon becomes terrible for them as they end up

in the doubting Castle, repeatedly, bludgeoned by the

Giant. Despair, and it's a really

fascinating part. In the book point, I want to

make, is that soda. We also separate the end from

the way. There was one way for them to

reach the end, and they separated themselves from it.

We're guilty of this as well. We think that, we can choose our

own way at times. We're all too happy to think

that we know best far too frequently.

And so we're in that way. We're like full of children who

are prone to cry for fruit before it's ripe and before it's

fit for them to eat. James says of prayer, you have

not because you ask him but then he adds you ask and you do not

receive because you ask with selfish ambition, there's two

reasons, why you don't get your answers to prayer.

One is you don't ever ask. So you're not praying to you're

asking, selfishly you ask for that which would only benefit

you that which is your desires are not God's desires.

And so God does not answer those prayers.

The implication then is that we often do not pray because we do

not know what to ask. But the second weakness we see

is that we do not know how to pray as we ought Listen, it's a

good thing to start doing that, which is good.

It's a good thing to begin praying, even if you're

stumbling in prayer, even if you're working to figure it out

like it's better to start something and begin to work it

out and try to figure out how to do it.

Then it is to never do it at all.

To wait until you think. You've got a perfectly mastered

before you do it. You can never Master anything

without beginning, something just not possible.

You must practice it so it is a good thing to start but it's not

good enough just to do that which is good.

We must not think that because we are able to stumble around in

prayer that we should. Always just be satisfied with

stumbling around in prayer. We must learn to do it.

Well, we will learn to pray according to the word of God.

In other words, start praying. Now, if you're not praying,

don't don't forego prayer any longer.

And as you praise today seek to pray, well, The best way to do

that is to read God's word, read the songs, which are literally

written as prayers of God's people read the gospels.

See who Christ is no, his heart for you, and for his people that

will help you approach him more, right?

Read the word of God and that will instruct your prayers as

the point I'm trying to make but I want you to take heart as

well. Even though were weak in this

area, right? And so we avoid praying all

together, we were weak in our affections.

They're cold at times work. Our thoughts can wander around

of, right. Like you might try to sit and

pray and then your lumbered with all these thoughts, right?

And and, and now you're just distracted and then you're

frustrated because you can't focus on prayer and now your

time's up and you've got to go right now.

All those things can happen. It's difficult at times to find

the heart to pray. Like the want to pray the desire

to pray, but I want you to take Hearts take heart, but because

the Apostle Paul speaks in the first person, here, he is saying

to us. We do not know what to pray for.

As we ought, we do not know what to pray for as we ought and so

he's putting himself among the saints of God, which he talks

about later, which is the people of God.

If you're a believer in Christ, you're numbered among the saints

of God. And so we all complain of a

Folly and weakness and distraction and prayer, but if a

great Saint like Paul didn't know what to pray for at times,

that gives us a very little reason to not press on and

establishing a life of Prayer in our own strength, right?

We have very little reason now to say well I can't get it right

even Paul was expressing weakness in this manner and so

the holy spirit is our Advocate and Prairie carries our prayers

to God. He works his will in US I want

you to see your help in prayer, that was Psalm about our

infirmities, our inabilities to pray the things we struggle in,

but let's look at this, Our Hope and prayer is intercession.

For that we read again, Romans 8, 26, and 27.

The spirit himself intercedes for us.

And he who searches Hearts knows that, what is the mind of the

spirit because the spirit intercedes for the Saints,

according to the will of God And so the great help and prayer the

great encouragement in prayer, comes to us through the

intercession of the spirit. He helps our weaknesses.

He helps your infirmities meant here, especially as a help for

your praying weaknesses, right? The spirit no doubt helps all of

our weakness as part of his sanctification, but let's not

neglect. The spirit of sanctification in

our prayer lives as well. Let's not think that he's not

also helping us there and that's especially what Paul is honing

in on here. Is that he helps us in this.

Remember, just a few weeks ago, the spirit was helping us put to

death, the Deeds of the flesh. So he was sanctifying us.

Now, the spirit is helping us pray.

He's helping his grow in prayer. When you pray, the Holy Spirit,

Carries your prayers to God as they should have been prayed.

And then he works God's will in us as we desire or should have

desired originally. And so, we have many helps from

the spirit just like about a couple with me, right?

The spirit of the word helps write, as we read the word of

God, we find many Commandments and Promises to help us in this

life and we find them in God's word, the spirit illuminates,

the god of the word of God for us.

Second Timothy 3:16 and 17 says that the scriptures are God.

2 Timothy 3:16

Breathed for us that they're God's instruction for us that

they're able to teach us to correct us to recruit.

Move and rebuke and to train us for all godliness.

So that the man of God may be perfect and complete, lacking.

Nothing that lacking. Nothing is found here.

That'll hit you square between the eyes, right?

Because how many of us Wonder away to something else?

When we lack something and we go looking for it everywhere else,

but the scriptures, I'm guilty of this The spirit in our heart

helps as I'm just talking about as he dwells in us.

He works in us as a spirit of Grace and supplication,

especially with respect to our weaknesses that we have in a

suffering State. When life is not good.

When our faith is most prone to fellow us.

The spirit is there as a ba chourus as a help, as a buoy to

are sinking faith. It is to the sin that the Holy

Spirit was poured out on Believers.

It's what Paul says in Romans 5 1 through 5 he says therefore

since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus Christ justified by faith.

There's peace with God through him.

We also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which

we stand. So Not only was Grace saving us

but now we stand in Grace also and we rejoice in the hope of

the glory of God. So saving sanctifying glorifying

graces are ours because of Christ.

Jesus from God, not only that, but we rejoice in our

sufferings, knowing that suffering, produces endurance

and endurance, produces character and character produces

hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has

been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has

been given to us. Amazing.

So you see, right there, how all Of these things work together,

how the Trinity of God, right? This Triune God is at work and

your life. God, giving the son who dies for

us, makes a way for us to be saved.

That salvation Comes To Us by the spirit who grants new life

and in that new life, he is also keeping us.

He's sanctifying us until one day, we will be glorified with

Christ in heaven as we were intended to be.

The sense in which he helps us is really significant for you to

understand today. On one hand, he helps you

totally, which is what I was just explaining that in all of

life, the spirit of God is helping you.

The theologians call this montages, it means that it is

his work alone and it comes to us.

It's a monitor gistic work. All right.

On the other hand, though we must make use of him, right?

He's giving us new life. He gives us new desires for

God's will. He's working those things into

us, but on the other hand, we must make use of him.

We can't be sluggards. We must put forth the effort to

obey the Lord to follow his commands.

So say you're attempting to pick up a large log off the ground,

right? Maybe trying to build a house or

something, but you got this log solved down, you're ready to

pick it up and you go to pick up one end and you can't pick it

up. You move to the middle you still

can't pick it up, right? And so you realize like I'm

going to need some help for this.

So you call, Buddy, Buddy, comes, he grabbed one and you

grab one end, guess what? Now you're on the move, right?

You've picked up the slock. The spirit is helping us in a

similar way. He's lifting up burdens, he's

helps us, he helps with us, I should say, as we do that which

God commands here, it is prayer here.

Paul has in mind, the help that we have from the spirit in our

prayers. We pray in the strength, we have

though. It is an utterly weak strength.

I admit this yet the spirit of God helps us where we are weak.

We become strong. Because we're depending on the

spirit, what I mean is that it is sinful for us to sit steel

and to expect God to do all the work apart from his people.

That's not the way he's a door deigned to do things.

You God, answers. The prayers of his people

because he ordains the prayers of his people and he ordains the

outcomes of those prayers. This is why we can have

confidence in prayer when we pray according to the will of

God. We're praying things that God

has said he will do. Amen.

But he wants to bring those about through the prayers of his

people. He doesn't want to do those

things. Apart from his people, he wants

to use. His people has given us a spirit

of himself to do these things. And some of the spirit is

promised to us, we were foolish. If we do not put the spirit of

God to work in our efforts to gain his help and our

weaknesses, you've been given the spirit of God to overcome

the flesh right to put to death, the Deeds of the flesh that was

23 sermons. Ago.

You've been given the spirit of God.

Now, for prayer. To overcome your infirmities and

prayer. I don't have time.

I'm too weak. I can't stay focused.

I don't know what to pray for. The spirit of God, helps you in

your weaknesses, especially in your sufferings.

We cannot do anything without God.

Yeah. That does not mean that we are

to do nothing. Amen.

Only that we are to submit every effort.

We do exert every prayer that we do.

Pray were to submit those, huh? Blade to the Lord.

And then expect the spirit of God to help us because that is

what God has promised to us here.

The great help that we have is the intercession of the spirit,

he petition God on our behalf and he works all those

petitions. According to the will of God

into our lives. The spirit, dictates our

request, he rides are petitions. He draws up a plea for us as we

utter those prayers. You see Jenna's Jesus Christ,

intercedes for us in heaven, he's able to save to the

uttermost, all those who draw near to God through him because

he always lives to make intercession on their behalf.

That's what Hebrews 7:25 Tulsa's incredible.

Hebrews 7:25

He's always before the Lord interceding for his people and

now we have the spirit interceding for us in our hearts

while we're on Earth. So God has graciously provided.

All the encouragement that you need to pray every day.

Every moment of your life. We have no excuse, not to pray.

We have no excuse not to have confidence in prayer.

God has said, I see your lack of confidence.

Here is my word I see your need for help.

Here is my spirit. Right?

So he gives you the desires to pray through the spirit, and

then by the spirit, he hopes your prayers.

He's with you, through and through, and all of it, the

spirit enlightens us. He teaches us what to pray.

The spirit sanctifies us. He gives us a desires to pray

and he transforms our prayers. The spirit Comforts Us by

silencing our fears of praying and he helps us in our

discouragements. What we have seen in Romans as

far as that the holy spirit is the spring of all the Godly

life. He's the spring from which we

drank all our desires to God or then from him unto the glory of

the Lord. So the center session that he

makes for us as with groanings too deep for words.

So let me be clear Paul is not talking about speaking in

tongues here. I've heard this verse used my

whole life, referring to praying in the spirit as charismatic

would Define praying in the spirit or Pentecostals or

similes of God, whatever we're not going to debate praying in

the spirit as a thing in this message.

But I'm just telling you, that's not what these verses are about.

There's nothing in the context of Romans 8, that gives us any

reason to think that Paul is talking about praying in

tongues. He never once mentions Besides

the fact, he says that all of us have the spirit of God helping

us here. And then in First Corinthians

12, he says that some will receive the gift of tongues, not

every believer. Okay, so we know again, this is

not about tongues rather Paul is describing the strength and the

fervency of those desires which the Holy Spirit works for us and

in us, that's what he means by these groanings, too deep for

words. He said, the spirit is actively

praying for you. He's strong in his prayer.

He's fervent in his prayer. It's like, groanings that are

too deep to understand. We're commanded elsewhere to be

praying in the spirit at all times.

So what Ephesians 6 tells us is it talks about the armour of GOD

that we've been given there. It says there to be praying in

the spirit at all times but praying in the spirit may not

necessitate words. Moses is an example.

Exodus 415 you shall speak to him and put the words in his

mouth and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, that

will teach you both what to do. So as he's helping Moses along.

We see it with Hannah. And first Samuel 1, Hannah was

speaking. In our heart, only her lips

moved and her voice was not heard there for Eli, took her to

be a drunken woman. Right?

That it's not doesn't always necessitate that you're, you're

audibly praying. This is a great comfort to all

of us. What this means, listen to this.

What this means is, it doesn't matter how eloquent or not

eloquent your prayers are Right? Like some of us are afraid to

pray because we think that our words matter in those prayers

that the were not eloquent enough that I don't pray like

Pastor so-and-so or I don't you know, person who leaves my small

girl for whatever. Like I don't pray like those men

are those women. But here, what we see is that,

it's not the eloquence of the prayers of matters, the faith

and the fervency of your prayers that the spirit Works in us

through his intercession. It's the faith, the fervency

that you bring to the Lord in these phases.

Groaning too deep for words, meaning their Indescribable.

And when we find ourselves confused, where we find

ourselves with our souls harassed by Temptations and

troubles. We may not know what to say, nor

how to express ourselves. Elves in prayer.

We may stumble in this, we may struggle to get it out yet.

Here we see that the spirit intercedes with groanings too

deep for words. In other words as we saw earlier

in Romans 8 you have not been given a spirit of fear but a

spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba Father Which is a way

of addressing God as your father, and an intimate way.

I mean, there's a closeness there, right?

and so, when you can only cry, Abba, Father, And come to him

with a holy Vault, humble boldness, that's the work of the

spirit in you. That's what I'm trying to teach

you. So let me see if I can get

through this illustration. Shoot Many Times.

Chuck it down since when he's passing in September many times.

I can't count. At all.

But I have felt so distraught. So despairing.

That that my chest feels as though, there's 200 pound

weight, just sitting on top of it.

And that I will literally physically crumble into a

thousand pieces at any moment, I'm not kidding.

Like, I'm not trying to be. I'm not trying to exaggerate

anything here. but in those moments, And I still remember

many of them vividly, but I can. I can only, I've only been able

to cry to the father. Father, help me.

Lord help me and that's it. Like I I've lamented that at

times. I went to Josh about it, and I

was just like Josh that I'm struggling in this.

Let me see, help me to see in the scriptures where a prayer

like Lord help me is enough. Because I felt like I lamented

that and I felt like if that's all I can do in those moments

that must not be enough. But the Lord has helped me

greatly. He's comforted me greatly, and

these words from Romans AIDS. And I know, I know that he is

helping me by his spirits on those occasions.

And he'll help you to like this is not special Grace reserved

for Kyle calls, a, he's a fool. Kyle is an idiot's often but I

know he's like you guys have high opinions of me but you

don't see what I see. If you saw what I saw.

You wouldn't have those opinions with me.

But my God is strong is what I'm trying to tell you Kyle's, not

strong, but you're from, I've told people this, hold up, we're

not stroke the Lord in us has been strong.

But I know that he's helping me on those occasions.

I know that he strengthened my faith.

I know that he strengthened my resolve to fight and to move

forward. I know that he strengthened my

peace and my Joys and switch more in ways that I will not

fully understand this side of Heaven.

I know that. And he's done it, simply through

mine, coupled with the spirits groanings unto him.

And so smart. Paul says for I, I know that the

present sufferings are not worth comparing.

With the eternal glory to come. Because even in your suffering

and Paul suffered a lot, even in your suffering, even when all

you can get out is, Lord help me Abba, Father, I just crying to

your father to help you. Even when that's all you can get

out what you find is, strength Beyond strength, Grace Beyond

Grace, help beyond all help, and its immediate and it's personal

and it's satisfying and it's lasting and it makes you realize

I can do this because Christ is in me.

That's it. There's no other confidence,

there's no greater confidence, that's for sure, but I suspect

there's no other confidence than that.

We also see that the spirit here help intercedes for us,

according to the will of God. Spirit intercedes for the

Saints. According to the will of God,

that is to say that the spirit in the heart, never contradicts

the spirit in the word of God. But there's never a

contradiction between what the spirit is working in you.

This is why you must depend on him because there are all sorts

of contradictions in your own heart, compared to the word of

God, all manner of filthiness. But when the spirit of God is

what you're depending on, and when you're trusting in the

spirit of God, as you pray, you can be sure, 100% sure that the

spirit is helping you and that why you're praying those

desires. You have are now according to

the will of God. There's no greater confidence in

prayer than this. Why desires my longings?

Even in prayer may be selfish but the spirits in my heart is

never selfish on my behalf, he is never interested and what I

think is best for my life, he's only interested in that which

God deems is best for my life that which God ordains is best

for my life, that is what the spirit will work into your heart

and mind. And he acts only according to

God's will, he went all Grammy anything less than what God

means. For my good, which even includes

hardships, I recognize this job. The Book of Job helps us.

See this vividly, But the spirit interceding for us, melts our

Wills to the will of God so that we can say with Christ.

Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done.

Father. The holy spirit is our advocate

in prayer. He carries our prayers to God.

He works. His will in us.

I want you to see one final thing about the intercessory

help that is yours. In Romans 8, 27 it begins this

way. He says and he who searches

Hearts knows, what is the mind of the spirits?

This is tough. Okay, this is a tough one to

think about because to the Hypocrites a hypocrite is one

whose entire religion lies in what he says not and what he

does. All right.

It's in his mouth. Not at his actions.

That's what a hypocrite is. To the hypocrite.

There is nothing more Dreadful than seeing that God searches

the heart and sees through all of his false professions, that's

a terrifying place to stand. And you must let it terrify you.

If you are a hypocrite, Are you you must think about that and

let it lead you to repentance because you may fall others.

But you will never fool God. You'll never fully.

And Proverbs 5 we read there that the man's ways are always

before the Lord and that he suffers death due to a lack of

discipline. Know that God is watching you

and be disciplined men. Be disciplined women, be

disciplined, boys and girls. Young men, young women, be

disciplined in these things. So it's frightful it's Dreadful

to a hypocrite but to a faithful Christian to a sincere believer

to someone who is saying, I want what God wants.

Even if I don't always see it in my life, I want what he wants.

Even if I fail to act on it at times, his ball doesn't Romans

7, I want. What God wants, I desire him.

I desire. What he desires, I'm delighting

in him right to one who is doing that, there's nothing more

comforting than to see the Gods. Searches the heart for then we

know that God will hear and that he will answer those desires

which we want our words to express.

And so often they don't The desires that he gives to us as

we Delight ourselves in him. Psalm 37:4, right?

Psalms 37:4

The light yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires

of your heart. That literally means people

place the desires, his desires into your heart, and they become

your desires as you Delight in him.

The truth is, that God knows what you need before you ask.

He has it all mapped out, Matthew 68, Jesus, I don't be

like the Pharisees. Those Hypocrites, do not be like

them for your father, knows what you need before you ask him.

Paul shows us here in Romans 8 that God knows what is in the

mind of his own Spirit within us.

He's placed him there as an advocate for us, a help for us.

And as he always hears the Sun interceding for us in heaven.

So he also always hears the spirit interceding for us in our

hearts because the intercession from the Sun and the

intercession from the spirit are both.

According to the will of the father.

Amen. You Don't Have To Doubt.

To what more could God do to comfort you in your prayers?

My question for you today. What greater encouragement could

you receive for your prayers? Then these truths in Romans

Romans 8:26–27

8:26-27 today. I submit that these are the

greatest Goods he could do. And the reason I say that is

because he only does that, which is best he only does that, which

is perfect. so we can't look and say, well that's insufficient,

it's not he's telling you it's not Jesus, Christ said, whatever

you ask the father according to his will, he will give to you.

But how do you learn the will of God through the spirit of God,

by the word of God? Right, spirit will teach you as

you pray and as you read the scriptures, what God's will is.

So I plead with you, put prayer to work.

But prayer to work. Be a Praying Christian.

Pray for your life. Pray for the lives of your loved

ones, pray for the lives of unbelievers that, you know, pray

for your church, pray for its leaders.

Its fellow members among you pray for your state and your

nation. Pray, as you go throughout your

day, right? There's a discipline issue with

your child. You come home from work,

father's. You've got to handle this

discipline issue, pray to God as you go into the room for

strength and for wisdom and for help in that moment.

It is not going to be good for you to fly off the head.

It's not going to be good to provoke.

Your child to wrath. Those things are going to go

really bad for you. Come teenage years.

But I'm telling you pray for help.

You're having a conversation with your wife or your husband

about something, pray during the conversation.

It's a conversation that needs to happen.

You've been putting it off too long.

It's time to have the conversation, right?

Pray as you're going in your mind and your heart, be a

prayerful person. Ask for the wisdom of God.

As you're driving to work and we pray, Lord help me put my hands

to good. Use, protect me from Evil today.

Help me keep my eyes pure today. Like, pray for these things, as

you go. There's no shortage of things to

pray for throughout your day. You can literally pray for each

situation that comes as, I mean, you stop and pray and have to

kneel. I'm just talk about an ongoing

prayer with God. Be always praying.

Chances are real, I like 100% that you already Mumble to

yourself throughout the day. Right now, you might not want to

admit it, but in your mumblings might be Inward and, you know,

some of us suffer from the that outward mumbling.

And so, I'm always afraid in the grocery store that somebody's

going to hear me, but What you Mumble to yourself, you talk to

yourself, you encourage yourself, you're trying to help

yourself. You give yourself a pep talks,

or you might just degrade yourself.

You might beat yourself up. Even if not audibly, what I'm

saying, is that in your mind and in your heart when you're angry,

when you're happy, when you're confused, when you're looking

for wisdom. And any number of situations,

you're expressing that he just threw groanings or mumblings.

Turn those things into prayer. Let them be trigger points for

prayer for your life. It's that practical.

It's that simple to just pray about those things.

One of the things that I think is is pretty amazing.

Anytime brother, John Ed will pray for you.

He begins with Lord. I do and he, I did Lord.

I do just come to you today or a lord I do.

And it's just like, it's an ongoing conversation, it's not

me. Bragging on John Ed, I'm just

saying like that, that's the kind of like, just familiarity

with prayer. We should all seek to cultivate

Right, like they're just beginning where you left off.

This understand that as you're praying that way, the spirit is

helping. You understand that as you pray,

that way the Spirit Carries your prayers, to the throne of God

understand that he works his will into you and this is for

your ultimate good. Amen, let me pray for you,

heavenly father. I praise you.

And thank you for today. God, I asked for you to make us

men and women and young men and women and boys and girls of

Prayer. But father, we seek your help in

this. Lord help us to be confident

that, as we come to you that, you hear us.

Let us not be like the Hypocrites.

Let us not be like the Pharisees who other veins sayings and just

all manner of words before he helped us to be sincere in

prayer or troubled to bring it before you when we're happy to

praise you. when we're seeking counsel to come to you first,

whatever that may be Lord, I pray that you would make that

known to these men and women by your spirit today, Help them to

see that they can pray. That prayer is a great benefit

to us given to us by your spirit in which you help us.

You strengthen us, give us Godly lives through it.

Lord help us not to give legal echt prayer.

Any longer. Father, we love you, we thank

you that we have Christ interceding able to save to the

uttermost, all of those who draw near to the father through him.

And so Lord, if there is anyone in here who has not done that, I

pray that they would find Christ to be their savior.

Grant them faith in his Works faith and what he's doing.

And Lord for us as Believers. Help us to be confident that

Christ intercedes for us whether we're living an Unholy or holy

life as Christians were, there were failing or succeeding.

It's not by our works. It's by his work.

His continued intercession in heaven, And when we pray, were

helped in that. Also, by the spirit that dwells

in us, we thank you for this life-giving Spirit.

We have some the name of Christ I pray.

Amen. And when we pray, were helped in

that. Also, by the spirit that dwells

in us, we thank you for this life-giving Spirit.

We have some the name of Christ I pray.

Amen.