Romans 8: E5 Declared "A Finished Work"

Jacob Creighton: Hey everyone, welcome back to episode five of the Romans 8 series. we had some tech technical difficulties in our other studio. So here we are back in our old confines. Take three. Yeah, it's been frustrating getting this episode, but we're committed. We're committed, and so here we are.

Chris: This is what take three? Is this take three, Jacob? Yeah, take three. We're doing it. No matter what.

Jacob Creighton: yeah, episode five. Declare it supported. Romans eight, twenty-six and twenty-seven. I'm gonna read it just a To kick us off.

Chris: Do it.

Jacob Creighton: and here we go. So if you've got your Bible, go ahead and open it up to Romans eight, verses twenty-six through twenty-seven. Here it is. In the same way, the spirit also helps us in 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. Romans eight, twenty six and twenty seven. Chris, as you're reading that, what's what's kind of hitting you?

Chris: Man, I this is one of those verses that like shows the depths of things. I feel like I could almost just in these two get lost. And I think for me, the initial thing that sticks out is kind of the the the overwhelming thing in all of it is that there's an obvious draw to the Trinity here where It it it's not just limited to one, but the spirit helps. There's a reason why the spirit's helping because of the final work of Christ. There's this initiation of this authority of God in that he who searches the heart knows what the mind of the spirit is. There's this knowledge base here, and it's just it it's overwhelming. I mean, to think that that this God that I have this like small conception of as me on his mind to the point that he wants to help me and intercede for me and guide me and and yeah, it just kind

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: of blows my mind.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. That is true. I something that's hitting me just reading this this morning. I we're kinda gearing up for twenty twenty seven year of prayer at Steel City Church. And so we're doing a lot of like planning on how that's gonna be, you know, rolled out to our church and everything that's involved in that. But part of what I wanted to do now, kinda getting ready for that, is just noticing it myself, man, I I'm terrible at prayer. And

Chris: Huh huh.

Jacob Creighton: so I've been like, you know, trying to create some better rhythms and trying to take some steps and some things and yeah I feel the same way. Paul saying, For we do not know how to pray as we should. I feel like even our best efforts at prayer, we still

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Jacob Creighton: don't know the the full totality of need for how we should pray. So that's kinda hitting

Chris: What?

Jacob Creighton: hitting me. And then yeah, the spirits and s interceding in those moments with groanings too deep for words is it's encouraging. It's not discouraging.

Chris: Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, is is, you know, you just like you said, like, I am not good at prayer.

Jacob Creighton: Ha ha.

Chris: And it's like, but this verse in some ways, I think, kind of wars against that statement for us because

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: there's this thing where it's like, okay, so what is the purpose of the prayer here? Like, where where is the spirit meeting us? And it's not in our strength. It's not that we know what to do, it's that we don't know what to do. It's that

Jacob Creighton: Yep. Exactly. Exactly.

Chris: We're at a point because I would say if we were to take a straw pole of our listeners, like, you know, the percentage of the time you

Jacob Creighton: Okay.

Chris: feel like you know exactly what you're doing versus the time that you have no freaking clue.

Jacob Creighton: Right.

Chris: I I would assume if you're really honest with yourself, if you're like me, the the no freaking clue is probably gonna like overwhelmingly be the majority. And

Jacob Creighton: Right. Yeah.

Chris: he's like, he, it's almost like, yeah, that's the point. That's where he wants to meet you.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: Is when you don't know, is when you have no other way. When you when you you you can't come at a like with a with a form of strength. You're you're coming in a weakness.

Jacob Creighton: Mm, yeah.

Chris: And that that's where he meets us. That's where I think the you know, in studying this, the groaning's too deep for words. Well, if you go back into Romans eight. You know, we we saw that creation is groaning, you were groaning. Now what do we see? God too is groaning. And it's like he's meeting us in our like lowest spots, not demanding, hey, Jacob, if you would just get better at prayer, maybe you you know, like I yeah,

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: that's that's a mind blowing thing right there.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. And I think to that for me saying like I'm I'm not good at prayer. It's not that I I don't know the like the right or appropriate things to say. I think I sometimes don't give myself the appropriate spaces to pray because I yeah, because I don't know the totality of my feelings, I don't know the totality of the circumstances, I don't know the solution, and so I'm like, I don't even know what I would say. and I think it's those moments where Yeah, you're invited into to just go here it is.

Chris: Nice.

Jacob Creighton: I don't know, you know? I don't know. Here it is. Yeah, I think kind

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: of what you're saying, hitting on a little bit, yeah, I don't know if it's culture or personally or just how we're wired, but yeah, we We're expected or we expect ourselves to be kinda tough enough or resilient enough or anything so that like to acknowledge weakness to God feels kinda backwards. yeah, maybe maybe it feels like the initial demand on us from culture ourselves is just like, Man, I need to just give thanks to God for how good everything is. I'm not gonna take to him the weak things or my weakness. Yeah. W how does how do these kind of verses

Chris: I

Jacob Creighton: that Paul's laying out kind of push back against that?

Chris: Yeah, well, no, and I think, yeah, I think that's the thing. I think of it, I'm thinking of it as like a parent. I mean, you're no, you're in the, you're in the the, you know, just past one year of parenthood and and you know, being in that for a little bit. I I I'm trying to think like, how many times do I put this demand on my kids of strength? And and you know, do I want them to be strong? Do I want them to be capable? Do I want them to excel and succeed? Absolutely. I mean, that's what we do as parents,

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. For sure.

Chris: but there's also those times where, man, in their like some of their lowest moments or most frustrating moments, man, it is it is so cool of an interaction to meet them in that moment. And I mean, sometimes, I mean, even as like a, you know, you're like I said you've got like a one year old, man, it's gonna be a while before Justin's able to communicate with you exactly what he's going through. But how many times can we as adults that have full the fully developed frontal cortexes, you know, like

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: prefrontal cortexes, like how many times are we able to actually in the moment of like suffering or hardship or or frustration or emotional distress, like actually able to, well, what I'm actually going through right now is this. And so what I need from you, God, is to actually do this, this, and this. And we don't I yeah.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, right. We've got it figured out. Yeah, no, we don't. Yeah.

Chris: And and so I mean, I think as a parent, man, sometimes my my kid, you know, my my my girls are just hysterical. And I'm like, with them.

Jacob Creighton: Right.

Chris: And it's like, okay, let's let's kind of get through this piece first. Let's feel this out. And then we can potentially get to maybe a logical thing or maybe a logical progression isn't even needed here. And it's just they need someone to meet them in that emotional need and

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, that's good.

Chris: go from there.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, I think this is really for I mean not only for, but really gives encouragement to those moments when you're experiencing just like deep brokenness, deep hurt, deep wounding, maybe it's a loss of a loved one, maybe it's a you know, just a a broken relationship, maybe it's you know, whatever. and you can't make sense of it. And yeah, you just go to God, man, I d I don't know.

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: the encouragement for you is that he's interceding for you right now. he's acquainted with your pain. He's there with you in the moment with groanings too deep for words. I think that it's absolutely for these deep, heavy moments that we don't even know how to process or carry. I think it's also for just moments when we're confused and don't know what to do with our day or, you know, like

Chris: Yeah. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: don't know how to just process a word we heard from our spouse or from a friend, you know. I think it's for those as well. So

Chris: Yeah. And and again, I go back, like this is encouraged here. You know, I I think like just in a a a basic sense, like how many times when you know there's a a certain play call that's called for Mike McCarthy calls a play or whatnot, and it just bl is blown up by the defense. And it's just like you can hear the whole stands,

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: whatever it is. Or you miss that pass, that like groaning that comes out. Like well, yeah, there's probably I mean, there is this is a I think a G rated, we to keep it where we don't get the little E on our podcast. That

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, there might be a little bit more expletives laced with the groanings from the fans, but yeah. Yeah.

Chris: would not be cool. We might get canceled there. But you know, like how often do we groan? But then when it comes to a piece where, you know, like like, God's supposed to be part of this, it flips back to I gotta get myself together. I I c I can't show we and it's

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Chris: He already knows. I mean, that's what I verse 27. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is. And

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: so there's this connectivity there where the spirit is indwelling you inside of you. The father knows. This the son has paid. He's interceding too. Here the spirit is interceding. Everybody's interceding on your behalf.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah, that's a great point. It's not okay, here's my weakness. I'm leaving it there. Okay, now I'm gonna go make myself stronger again. It's in those moments you're taking weakness, he's he's meeting you in it and he's transforming you through it. yeah, then you you s you talked well in your sermon about this, not only is he just meeting you in your suffering and like grieving with you, groaning with you, but he's using it as a tool for transformation as well.

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: talk about that a little bit.

Chris: Yeah, I th I think that's where we have to realize is there there's a purpose behind this. And so even in the midst of suffering, like it it was not supposed to be like this. Well, God is going to use the suffering, the hardship, the pain, the the the broken relationships, whatever, for his will. And so if you look at the end of verse 27, he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. So he's standing. There there's a there's someone standing between us on behalf of us to say, hey, we're gonna turn this into something good. And we define the will of God as all things for God's glory and our eternal good. So for God's glory and our eternal good. And I there's a piece here where if he's he's taking these weaknesses, these hardships, and he's driving it for God's glory and our eternal good, there's something that has to change here within us. And it's not that we need to be just stronger on our own self. Like I say, we don't just need to check the better box or do better, think better, act better, whatever it is. There's there's something else. And I think what he's wanting to do is he's wanting to use this weakness that's driving us into groaning to transform us into a deeper relationship with him. And which which then what does that do? But that brings God glory and that brings our good for eternity because we're we're looking more and more like Christ in the process.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, that's good. We'll we'll get to this in in future weeks, but I think there's there's a eternal perspective with

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Jacob Creighton: that that we don't have in the middle of the groan. That I think that's what's being transformed in us. It's like right now we feel we s we experience the groan and we're offering it. God's

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: using it somehow in our lives to transform us.

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: We don't have the answers yet.

Chris: Yeah. No, I mean I think too, I mean, it's it's the principle that, you know, it's like it it starts with he meets us in our weakness, he helps us in our weakness. He meets us and and Corbin Hobbs at a out of Denver, a church a pastor at a church in Denver that that we're partnered with, he he says that God meets us in our mess, but he never leaves us there. And it's like he takes he meets us in our weakness, but he doesn't leave us in our weakness. You know, there's you know, when when we are weak, he is strong. I mean that's that's his his grace is sufficient for us. So in the midst of that weakness, that's actually a chance for for God to to be who God is, to pick us up, to to prop us up, to, to care for us, to, to, to, to, you know, intimately get to know us. yeah, and it's just a it's a mind blowing thing.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. yeah, you are a you've got that South Carolina picture in the background. South Carolina football,

Chris: yeah. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: you are groaning every weekend. it has not God has not transformed

Chris: man, long suffering game caught. Long suffering.

Jacob Creighton: you into any other fan but a better

Chris: Done.

Jacob Creighton: Carolina fan. No. it yeah, this is this is all really good. I I wanna kinda take this in hopefully a really like practical route.

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: you kinda talked a little bit about the the will of God and like what do we do with that? And then there's this like groaning piece. Yeah, how do we kinda take these verses as encouragement and

Chris: Hmm.

Jacob Creighton: do them?

Chris: Well, I I mean, I think just practically speaking, if you just look at it from the service, we know that the Spirit helps us.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: And so that means if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you're indwelled by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit is there helping you. Whether you

Jacob Creighton: Yes.

Chris: take it or not, that you know, I use

Jacob Creighton: He's here.

Chris: the illustration of the sermon, but think about the kid who is struggling in math and the tutor sitting next to him.

Jacob Creighton: Man, that's awesome.

Chris: It's like, nah bro, I don't need you. And it's like it's like a foreign language that you like just the person that can help you is right here.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's right here. Yeah. That's good.

Chris: So we we we get confidence knowing that we have a helper.

Jacob Creighton: Right.

Chris: And obviously when we use the helper, we get more confident that the helper is there and it's actually sufficient to help and money to save, but the helper is there. you know, we have we have someone interceding for us. So whether you whether you know it or not, at this moment when you're listening to this podcast. The Holy Spirit that is indwelling you, living within you, is interceding on your behalf, which means in this moment, right now, on this normal day, you have the triune God as the Spirit is interceding. He's speaking to the Father, the Son knows, the Spirit knows. You have the entire Trinity that knows exactly what you're in right now. And then, it's nuts. Like it I like

Jacob Creighton: Pretty crazy. It doesn't get more top level than that. It does not.

Chris: I don't even know what that means yet. Like that's kind of where I've been after this is like,

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true.

Chris: okay, they they're inner, he's interceding on my he's interceding, interceding according to the will of God. He intercedes for us, the spirit himself intercedes for us. And it's just I don't know. It it's one of those things where it's like, man, my conception of the Trinity of God is, you know, at times like Zeus with a lightning bolt.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: But this kind of blows that out of the water. It's like, no, wait a minute. There is this holy, almighty, eternal God that

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: is thinking about me right now, right now.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah, that's the crazy thing. It's like the the the passage, the pathway to God in communion with them is in a ten step process, isn't a certain set of words.

Chris: No. No.

Jacob Creighton: It's as simple as a groan wherever you're sitting right now. Yeah. And he's with Yeah.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that weakness. I mean, human being a human is weakness. I mean, we are we are we are not in control. I was just talking to a woman in the office about that. I mean, just she's been through a lot this year. She's realized more, more, more, more she's not in control. I mean, being human is essentially weakness. We're limited by space and time and place, gravity and hunger and sleep. And you know, I it's it's a in this moment, in all of those things, what is true is that our eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing God, there's intercessory happening for us.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah, you're t to grasp onto control and try to project strength to God. You're you're trying to swim up a just a rushing current of grace and presence. Yeah.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. It's it's like when my daughter, it's like when my daughter, Edie used to say, you know, it would get to be 7 30, 8 o'clock, and we'd start to see her kind of starting to wind down, you know, like that we just started to see. And and we were like, okay, baby, it's it's about time for bed. And we knew if she said, but I'm not even tired. We knew those were the magic words. That meant that

Jacob Creighton: She's sorry.

Chris: when I lay her down, she is going to she might not even make it to the bed.

Jacob Creighton: Ha ha ha.

Chris: And I mean, in some ways that's still true for her, but you know, I'm not even weak. I'm gonna be strong.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: And it's just like that's that self fulfilling prophecy there of God's like, okay, that's

Jacob Creighton: All right. Okay. All right.

Chris: why I'm interceding with you right now, you know. That's why I'm here helping you. I'm helping

Jacob Creighton: You can't even see it. Can't even see it.

Chris: you, interceding for you. And then the last one is he's guiding you. I think there is this like effective thing within us where the Holy

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: Spirit is. As he's interceding, he's guiding us to God's will, God's glory, our eternal good. Now remember, that's that's not our good right now. We'll talk about that the next episode, exactly what that definition of good is. But, you know, driving us towards God's glory. That is the best thing for us. That's what he longs for us, is for, is for his glory, because his glory is the best thing. it's the most pure, it's the most righteous, it's the most just, it's the most holy. So he is constantly guiding us. So in the midst of our weakness, he's, he's not leaving us there. He's he's giving us those that breadcrumb trail to say, hey, follow this. This will lead you to God's will. And God's will is for us to glorify him, to look more like him, to be transformed in his likeness.

Jacob Creighton: Yep, that's good. That's good. yeah, we'll certainly hit more on that next week, on our on our next episode. But any closing thoughts, encouragements, comments?

Chris: Man, I think I think for me, I even had to do this today. I was, I was reading through, it was funny. I was reading through First Corinthians. a little I'm I'm behind in my F two sixty plan. and so I'm reading in First Corinthians, and there there's just I've just felt this like level of stress on me and in the past day or so. And I'm trying to discern what it was. And it was so cool because there was this random verse in I think it's chapter seven of First Corinthians that had no context for what I'm going through. But the heart that Paul used in that meant so much to me. And I mean it just stopped me in my tracks. And it just reminded me of some truths that I think the Holy Spirit is trying to speak to me in the moment. Not changing my circumstances, trust stressing me out, but essentially

Jacob Creighton: Right. Right.

Chris: doing this very thing. And I I I didn't even pray a word. I I was just, I actually started my time this morning like Lord, I just I just want to listen. I just wanna listen. So I listened to his word be read. And in that, I listened to him speak that truth to me. And I I had no, I had nothing. I had no no response there other than just whoa. And so I think sometimes that I guess the last the thing is to, as I keep rambling, is to let sometimes we have to let our words be few.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: I think as we acknowledge that we're in weakness and it's like, ugh, I'm gonna grow in this weakness and look intentionally for the Holy Spirit to meet us there.

Jacob Creighton: That's good. I think my f parting words of encouragement to our listeners, yeah, spend spend time with God in that way to just sit down, express your

Chris: Mm.

Jacob Creighton: weakness, maybe even through a groan, and some silence and Yeah, experience his his presence there with you. So yeah.

Chris: That's good. That's good.

Jacob Creighton: that's all I got. That's all I got. Go stealers. yeah, we'll see we'll see you next week on the the Forms podcast. It's it's a joy going through these and we hope they're encouraging to you as you're listening through your week and to

Chris: Right.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, to beneficial for your your life as a follower of Jesus. So if you got a comment, a thought, leave it. We'd love to interact with you. share it with a friend and coworker. And we hope to see you on a Sunday. It's it's been really cool stuff happening on Sunday at our church. we're we're celebrating baptism this upcoming week. so yeah. Can't wait for that. So

Chris: Right. Come join us.

Jacob Creighton: come join us. Come join us. So all right, we'll see you we'll see you next time. Thanks.