Wailing

Morning. All right, open your Bibles.

We are still in Romans chapter 8 on another page.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

We've made it past the halfway line.

We're heading to the tail end. I want to dive straight in and

read the portion from verse 24. The context, if we weren't here

last week, we spoke about that day.

Paul was talking about that day. He's saying there's comes a

moment where you breathe your lost and then you as a born

again believer, if you've surrendered your life to Christ,

then you get the privilege of seeing him face to face.

And verse 24 picking up on that comment, he says for in this

hope we were saved, but the hope that is seen is no hope at all.

Who hopes for what he already has?

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it

patiently. In the same way, the Spirit

helps us in our weakness. We don't know what we ought to

pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans

that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts

knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes

for the Saints in accordance with God's will.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those

who love him who've been called according to his purpose.

For those God fore knew, he also predestined to be conformed to

the likeness of his Son, that he might be the first born among

many brothers. And those he predestined he also

called. Those he called he also

justified. Those he justified He will also

glorify and then love this land. What then shall we say in

response to this? If God is for us, who can be

against us? It's lovely on paper.

Horrible in real life. I've never done this before, but

I want to give a they call it a trigger warning.

We're going to go to some dark places because the Bible says if

God is for us, who can be against us for the world and

your situation and the tears running down your cheeks might

say otherwise. I want to read an account going

to share some of my story. But I thought, yeah, we might

not get there, but I thought reading an account we could get

there. This is Tyler Stanton.

He wrote in his book an incident that he had that I want to lean

in on the back story to this. He's in the UK ministering and

I'm actually going to read from the book.

We'll have it up so you can follow.

So large. It's a couple pages worth, but

it says Kirsten. Now that's this is wife Kirsten

is the strongest and most independent person I know.

I could count on one hand the number of times she called me

consecutively. So when my phone buzzed with her

name for the second time, I feared something was wrong.

Tyler, the doctor just called. Kirsten sounded frantic.

There's something wrong with the baby's heart.

She's talking. She was pregnant with the baby

at the time. I flew halfway around the world

first thing the following morning, and within 24 hours we

were sitting together in the doctor's office as they

performed an ultrasound for more than an hour, not saying a word.

The silence was eerie, as if everyone else knew something,

something that would devastate us, but no one wanted to be the

one to have to say it out loud. Our youngest son was diagnosed

with a heart condition seven months out from the delivery

date. Not just any heart condition,

but the most severe heart condition a developing infants

can potentially survive. The tricky aspect of the

diagnosis is that it has to do with the way the heart filters

oxygen in the blood, meaning the infant develops healthily in the

womb, but at the moment of birth, moment that's supposed to

be joyful in a celebration. A clock starts ticking fast.

Survival is a coin flip. And even those children who do

survive, often seriously impaired, physically,

cognitively, or both. The doctor explained all this to

us, instructing us to prepare for the worst likely loss of

life within the first few days after birth.

I was in shock, not able to properly process the news.

Kirsten was composed with silence throughout the

appointment. I asked the questions, she just

sat there taking it in. We walked back through the

waiting room, scheduling the first of what sudden was

suddenly many necessary follow up appointments.

And when the elevator doors closed, at that very moment, the

two of us alone for the first time, Kirsten erupted in a whale

like I've never heard before or since she wept in agonizing

screams I'll never forget. I want to preach today to those

who know what it's like to whale.

Kirsten erupted in a whale like I've never heard before since

she wept in agonizing screams I'll never forget And didn't

stop for hours. When we got home, I relieved the

babysitter took our all the two boys to the playground in an

attempt to shield them from seeing their mother in such

grief. Kirsten never came out of our

bedroom that night. After dinner, I brushed the boys

little teeth, tucked them into bed, and then I had to face it.

I had to be alone with nothing to busy myself with, no one to

serve as a distraction from what I didn't know how to face.

I had to ask my wife's permission to share some

details, details we haven't shared publicly.

While we're talking about. It's in the car.

Suddenly realize, you know what, Actually, we don't have to go

far to come across whaling in our ranks.

Don't even have to go past the the front row.

The elders having faced kidney failure, weeks in ICU, brain

tumors, miscarriages, losing a child at birth.

Our story, it was for those of you who've been around in three

CR for a while, my, my youngest went into kidney failure in 48

hours. It went from just a beautiful

bouncing little girl to near death.

And when it comes to whaling, what happened was she was in

such a bad state that they had to try and stabilize her because

they needed to take a biopsy. Because in that situation, some

medicine can help, but that same medicine can actually harm if

you don't quite know what's going on inside.

So after a few days, we were able to stabilize her.

The doctors weren't quite sure if the timing was right, but

they couldn't wait any longer. And so she had the biopsy and we

waited. And that horrible period where

you're waiting for that death sentence, you've seen the

evidence of what's going on inside, but you just don't know

how bad this is. And so it just so happened that

when the report came back, I was at home.

I think I was prepping to preach that weekend.

My wife was with my daughter at the hospital, and she phoned me.

She said, hey, listen, apparently they've got through

the report. The doctor's going to see us in

a few minutes, if you can come. So I rushed through there and I

arrived and I walked in and my wife has nowhere to be found.

Because what had happened was instead of our doctor coming and

giving her the news, a guy that if I had to find and meets in

the dark alley that I'd end up burying his body.

Because the surgeon came out and saw my wife standing there all

alone, waiting for her husband to arrive, waiting for who knows

what news from the doctor. And he saw her and he just told

her everything without compassion, no bedside manner,

no kindness, just dumped on her. A lady not knowing anything of

the medical on goings on in in this situation, left her right

there essentially with the news, sorry for you, your daughter's

going to die. And he walked out.

She's standing all on her own in reception wailing.

And it seemed to be a little bit of a problem to the nursing

staff because they ushered her into a glorified broom closet

and closed the door and just let her meltdown on her own.

And I come about 10 minutes later and I walk into this.

What do you do in that moment? Where do you go in that moment

when you have nothing? Verse 26 says the Spirit helps

us in our weakness. We do not know, we do not know,

we do not know, we do not know. But the Spirit himself

intercedes for us that groans that words cannot express.

And in the English it says helps, which is a very

two-dimensional flat helps. So it's a short little word.

The Greek is a very long word, senante lambano Mai, and it

means to take hold of and to surround with strength.

I don't know if you've shaken Bucky's hand as he comes into

church on a Sunday. You know, you shake his hand,

but he shakes your elbows like those hands are so big.

That's the kind of the picture. And surround you with my

strength. Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit

in three very interesting ways, three different ways.

He's telling the disciples there's wailing to come, but I'm

going to give you 1 who's a counselor and advocate and a

comforter. And if you're wailing this

morning, we might literally be stopping for the 1 today.

If you're wailing this morning, if you're online and you're

wailing this morning, maybe you couldn't come here because

you're in such a dark space. You couldn't be around Happy

clappy, and you're home watching.

I want to tell you about the counselor, the advocates, and

the comforter. Verse 26.

The Spirit helps us in our weakness.

This is Him as a counsellor. We do not know what we ought to

pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans

that words cannot express. Now look at this verse 27.

And he who searches our hearts, not the Holy Spirit, this is the

Father, knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit

intercedes for the Saints and according in accordance with

God's will. So you got, you got the Father,

you got the Spirit, and you got your heart.

It's this trifector as He comes around you, surrounds you with

the strength I need to come up with for Ed just a little bit.

So I want to show you, I don't know if you know the Action Man.

This is dating me, You know, while the girls were playing

with the Barbie dolls. You guys can pop that up.

I know, right? Yeah.

Modelled after Eugene, actually. Yeah.

This is what I grew up with. But there's something that

Action Man had a GQ photo shoot, so you can show the next

picture. Yeah, those deep, pensive eyes.

But what I want you to see is I want you to see the scar on his

face. You know, that that for me was

what what the Action Man represented.

You know, he's been to battle. He's come back.

He's got, you know, chicks dig. It's kind of a thing.

But what I discovered recently, because now they're bringing

this, apparently they're bringing Action Man back onto

the shelves, that that scar is trademarked.

It's what's unique about this doll that sold millions and

millions and millions around the world was that scar.

And I was reminded of this this week, prepping for today.

Because in the same way, your scar, whether it be internal or

external, whether it be spiritual or emotional or

physical, your scar is the trademark of a Christian life.

It's like a sign of authenticity.

And not only is it the trademark and a sign of authenticity of

the Christian life, it's also the very place where God's power

longs to rest. I want to show you something

that I found that absolutely blew me away, that God leans

into your weakness and your wounds.

Look at 2 Corinthians 12 verse 9.

2 Corinthians 12:9

You've heard this one before. My grace is sufficient for you.

You've heard that one, right? I didn't really like that verse.

You know, it's almost like he's saying to Paul, hey, suck it up

buttercup. You know, you're on your own.

You've got my grace. What you whingeing about?

Put your big boy pants on. That's not what he's saying at

all, because take a look at the second-half of the verse.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in

your weakness. That Greek word they've

perfected means my power reaches its goal in your weakness.

If you want to know the fullness of the Holy Spirit, all that He

is, all that He wants to be, all that He presents himself to you

and I, you know where you'll find that in your weakness, in

the middle of your whaling. That's where you find the Holy

Spirit in his fullness. I had, we were leading youth

many years ago into a conference.

I had the most remarkable story. Youth leader was sharing a

tower. One of the guys in youth got

himself into a really bad space, did a couple things deeply,

deeply ashamed and struggling with guilt.

And he was saying how he got to the point where he didn't know

what to do. And he figured, actually, before

my parents find out what I've done before that guilt and shame

comes to light. He says, I'm going to end it

now. Snuck into his parents bedroom

in the middle of the night, stole his dad's gun and he's

sitting at his his desk in his bedroom with the gun on the

table trying to build up some resolve, genuinely thinking that

when his parents come and find him, they're going to go, oh,

wonderful. At least we've gotten rid of

that issue. There's one in the morning and

the phone rings and it's his youth leader and it's all to the

state. He says, I don't know why

answered actually picked it up thinking there's something wrong

with her Youth leaders like hey, are you OK?

He's like, no, no, I got are you OK?

The youth leader shares the story and says he was busy

playing Xbox, as all youth leaders do at 1:00 AM

ministering. And this one of the the kids,

this teenage boy, his name and face came to mind.

And as it did, he just found himself weeping.

So his mates looking at him like, what's going on?

Sorry, excuse himself, went out into the garden.

He's like, Lord, I don't know what's going on.

And he really felt just to phone this guy.

So he did. He picked up the phone and of

course, he asked the teenage boy.

He was sitting there with a gun on this table.

Are you all right? And the answer is, yeah, I'm

fine. So you're not fine.

But so go and grab your Bible. This is the council of the Holy

Spirit. So go grab your Bible.

Open up to Psalm 5 and read Psalm 5 to me or read some of

the lines that won't be on the screen.

Starts by saying, oh Lord, hear me as I pray, pay attention to

my groaning, listen to my cry for help.

And he stops in the right there. He says, God wants to listen to

your cry for help. He's not put off by your

groaning. And he reads on.

He says, because of your unfailing love, I can enter your

presence. And he stops in there and he

says, do you realize you can come to God not because you got

a squeaky clean track record or because you're part of youth or

because you've gone to church or because you're not behind on

your Bible reading plan? No, no, no.

You can go to God because of his unfailing love.

And he's saying to this teenage boy, do you realize that there's

nothing that can prevent you from getting there because his

love is unfailing, sitting there alone. 1:00 AM.

And then my favorite part of the Psalm 5, it says rescue me.

All my enemies will conquer me. Make your way plain for me to

follow on the new living translation.

It says give me direction to get through enemy lines.

I prayed that so many times prayed in the simmer.

Father, give us direction to get through enemy lines.

See the Spirit helps us in our weakness, helps Sanante lo bano

my surrounds you with his strength and he will show you

just the next step to take because he's our counselor.

We don't know, but he knows not only counselor, but also an

advocate. When you hear advocates, you

often think of the legal side. And that is true that there's

also a verb element to the Holy Spirit being an advocate.

It means to champion, to uphold, to support or to promote.

So let's look at those verses again just to see the fullness

of his fight for you. Verse 26.

The Spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself

intercedes for us with groans and words cannot express that

intercedes means means to intervene.

You know, like you're having that bar fox with a really big

oak and your girlfriend steps in between.

OK, wrong crowd. But hypothetically speaking, if

you were, if you weren't from the bluff, you know, so like,

yeah, you had one too many. You're really stupid.

You don't realize you're about to die and you're mouthing off

of this big oak and the girlfriend intervenes.

That's that's the word. Yeah.

Shut up, stupid. Get out.

Go to the car. But the Spirit himself

intercedes. He intervenes with groans that

words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts

knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes

for the Saints in accordance with God's will.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those

who love him have been called according to his purposes.

He advocates, He intervenes, He works, He fights.

He just says Let me at them, let me at the enemy.

He had kids, he intervenes, he works and he fights.

I don't know if you remember the story Raw shared a few years ago

about a mate of his pastor friend was travelling and as one

does, you often stay with with a lead couple when you're

ministering into the church. And and he had done this, this

guy who'll go unnamed and he's apparently he ate something

funny, didn't agree with him, gave him like the proper runs a

true story. And now you're in a strange

home. They've gone to bed.

And all the sudden. Oh, and he didn't, he didn't

make it in time. Yeah.

And then it just went from bad to worse because now you're in a

strange home and the strange smells.

And so he hatched the plan. Who knows why, what he was

thinking, but he went into the backyard and buried his

underwear. Yeah, he's like, because he

couldn't leave it in the room. He couldn't, you know, stick it

in your bag. So he went and he buried it in

the backyard. Was able to go to bed, sleep

peacefully until breakfast. Sitting at the breakfast table,

having a lovely breakfast with this couple and walks Fluffy.

Fluffy had smelled some wonderful smells and not only

decided to go looking but decided to bring the treasure he

has found right to the breakfast table and drop it at his masters

feet. And before this pastor could

feign ignorance, he looked down and he saw, oh those are the

jocks that his wife so lovingly stitched his name in bold.

See, the enemy loves to go digging in your past.

Drag it out and splash it down in front of everyone so everyone

can see. That's why your daughter's

struggling with kidney failure. That's why your 6 year old

drowned while you were having life group.

True story. Someone here this morning.

That's why you're going through this medical issue.

You can't ask God to heal your cancer.

You did this and that and that, but the Advocate intervenes

between you and the bully, and the Spirit himself intercedes.

Look at that first verse, 26. The spirit himself intercedes

for us with groans that words cannot express.

I don't know what you're going through, but he doesn't stand

there judging and criticizing you.

He groans. He aches, overwhelmed with

compassion for what you are going through.

He's our counselor, he's our advocate, and he's our comforter

who always says when it talks about comfort, the Fort has

come. And that's the picture here.

The Fort has come. I read recently, you know, if

you look at an old Atlas, if you go down to the various

southernmost points of Africa, the older the Atlas, the more

likely you'll find around the Cape that it says the Cape of

Storms. Yeah.

I didn't realize that That's what it was called.

For centuries, it was known as the Cape of Storms.

It was only changed when people made land, when they landed on

solid ground for the Cape Storms behind them.

They renamed it the Cape of Good Hope.

That's what happens when the Fort has come.

And that's what this verse is trying to say in verse 28.

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who

love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.

We know that in all things God works for the good.

God is good all the time. Life rubbish.

You don't think so? I don't think so.

God is good all the time. God is good when my daughter is

dying. God is good when he had the

ability to answer that prayer, but instead you had to endure a

miscarriage. God is good all the time.

At our absolute lowest. I hated that.

I couldn't handle that. I know what you're trying to

say. You're trying to say God is good

all the time. The problem is he's not

operating here. He's operating here.

That doesn't look good to me and on your mind you're thinking of

this, but actually right now you're telling me God is good

even here. And I had to confront some of my

friends and pull them aside and said listen, can I just ask you

to please stop all your nonsense or your rubbish mumbo jumbo?

You're the head and not the tail.

Don't speak the name of the disease.

You know God is going to heal her completely.

I said can you please stop because God hasn't spoken to me

yet. I don't know if I'm going to

lose my daughter or not. And if I do, because God is God,

if I lose my daughter, not only am I going to have to somehow

find the strength to stand, I'm going to have to do that while

caring for my family and for my children.

And now you're going to add on to that the fact that I'm

seriously worried that you're going to have a spiritual

meltdown and go into crisis because you said God is good and

now all of a sudden God has been that good.

What do we do with it? And I don't know if you're

there, but if you are, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I was cornered by a lady at a coffee shop recently and she

asked me this. Is it OK for a Christian to

despise God? And I told her the story and I

took her through psalms. More than 60% of the psalms are

psalms of lament. So God, you don't look good to

me. Where are you because if you're

going in there, if you're there, if you're not even here because

you couldn't come and sit around people and saying God is God

bless you and you're at home. This is what I found and it's

right there in front of you. Put up verse 28, Romans 828.

This is what God showed me. And we know that in all things

God. But we know in all things God.

When you hit rock bottom, you know who you find God.

When it's falling apart and you've lost control and you

don't understand God, God is enough.

And it's not unique to me. The, the, the Jews found this,

you know, the Passover, that moment when they sacrificed the

lamb and put the blood of the lamb on the, on the doorposts as

slaves in Egypt. And the Angel of death came and

those who didn't put the blood on the doorposts lost their

first born and then God released them from Egypt and then into

the wilderness and eventually onto the, the promised land.

They are called to celebrate the Passover and while they're doing

this, in remembrance of being set free, they sing a song

called Dayanu. And dayanu the the Hebrew word

means it would have been enough. My language, God is enough.

Good God would have been enough. I'm going to read some of the

standards, like 15 stanzas. I've just copied and pasted a

few of them for you. This is the song that they sing.

If he had brought us out of Egypt and didn't judge our

enemies, Dayanu, it would have been enough.

Like wait, what if he brought us out of Egypt but didn't punish

those who kept us in slavery for 400 years?

That would have been enough. You know the understanding of

the mights and the goodness and kindness of God.

You have to have a hold off to say that.

It goes on to say if he had judged our enemies, if he had

judged them but hadn't split the sea for us, it would have been

enough. Now that blows my mind because

if you know the story that came out of Egypt and they were

followed by the Egyptian army and they were cornered the back

to the Red Sea, an army in front of them, the greatest army in

the world at that stage and his moms, dads and kids.

And they think that would have been enough.

I mean, I abandoned my faith if I don't get my healing or my

marriage doesn't get restored or I don't get that promotion.

But they are saying like just the fact that you would

condescend to our slavery and set us free would have been

enough. Because somehow they know in all

things God, if he had split the sea but not taken us through,

die Enu. If he had taken us through the

sea but not drowned our oppressors in it, Die Enu.

We know that in all things God, if he had delivered us from our

oppressors but not supplied our needs in the desert for 40

years, die Enu. And it's this shout, it's this

declaration. It's a reason why Job would say,

though you slay me yet will I love you.

How do you get there other than knowing in all things God,

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego about to be cast into the fire.

And the king says, just deny God and I'll set you free.

If you don't, I'll throw you into the fire.

And their words to him essentially was Diana.

He's powerful enough to rescue us, but if he doesn't die in it

would have been enough just to know in all things God.

Now, you might be seriously, seriously offended by that.

All I can say, if you are, you're not at a place of wailing

yet. Those who are wailing, just know

in that place God is enough. You will find him to be enough.

I have found him to be enough. Tyler and Kirsten have found him

to be enough. And He'll let no idol come

between you and him, whether it be your demand for that

promotion or your demand for the perfect bride or your demand for

healing until he is enough. I want to close with just a

moment of ministry. But to give you the backdrop,

back in 2010, I don't know if you've seen the movie Deepwater

Horizon. It's based on a true story where

an oil rig platform exploded and there was something like a

billion litres of oil all over the place.

We've got a photo of it from almost 30,000 feet up The that's

the oil spill. There's tiny little white dots

or ships trying to rescue that mess.

But I was reminded of this because there's one picture that

I want to show you that I think often represents us in this

moment when we're wailing. You can pop it up.

It's a one guy trying desperately to clean up the

mess. And if you're here this morning,

and that represents your heart right now, you see behind them

there's another wave of oil and another wave of oil.

And you know, it's like it's not going to stop.

There's no way out. You have lost control and you

are wailing. I want to pray for that heart

this morning. I'm not going to ask you to

stand. I'm not going to ask you to

raise a hand. But what I am going to do is I'm

going to ask you, would you open your heart to the God who is

enough, the God who comes, who wades into that mess, the God

who wants to rescue and redeem. But first of all, sometimes he

calms the storm. First of all, what he wants to

do is calm his child, wrap you in his arms.

So that's, that's you. I just want to pray the Psalm or

this portion of Scripture from Isaiah 61 that Rob read earlier

of us. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord

is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good

news to the poor. Lord, you said that your Holy

Spirit anointed Jesus because He would come to proclaim good news

to the poor. We are poor and destitute.

Father, I pray for those who are wailing.

I pray, Lord God, that you would come and rescue.

He sent me to bind up the broken hearted.

Lord Jesus, would you do just that?

Would you bind up the broken hearted?

I think those sitting at home, their health not even allowing

them to get out of bed this morning, or those who come here

absolutely shattered from the news they've heard this week.

Lord, your word says that you would bind up the broken

hearted. You proclaim freedom for the

captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

We will remember your name in the darkness.

You're faithful. You're our counselor, our

comfort. We pray and we proclaim the year

of the Lord's favor over your people that you would comfort

all who mourn. You provide for those who grieve

and bestow in them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.

Father, I know what it's like to face ashes.

And for those here this morning, I pray, Lord God, that you do as

you promised, that you'd bestow a crown of beauty instead of

ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning.

But we don't know how. We don't know how it's possible

that you could do this. But you say you anointed Jesus

to do just that. So Jesus, we call on you on

behalf of those who are wailing. It might just be 1 here this

morning. We know that you delight to stop

for the one. We know that your power is made

perfect in our weakness and in our wounds, and I ask for that.

I ask Heavenly Father, that you'd show the fullness of your

fatherhood to your children. Would you come?

Would you rescue? Would you redeem?

Instead of the spirit of despair, give us the garment of

praise. We ask this in your mighty name

because we have no one else who can Jesus name?

Amen.