WHEN WE ARE HARD PRESSED GOD INTERCEDES
Rom 8:26-28
Creation is groaning for the redemption of the sons and daughters of God The believer groans for the redemption of their body because, as Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn” Matt 5:4. Those who mourn over their sin and their remaining human nature. But as we wait patiently for this glorious day to happen, Paul says the Spirit groans too deep for words as He intercedes for us.
Why would the Holy Spirit do this? If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit there are times when we cannot pray. I remember on one of our family vacations to Ontario to see family and friends…… Our van broke down in the beginning of our trip after we left church, we were half way to Winnipeg, when all of a sudden our van stop accelerating. So we started calling our church family. One of the guys from our church, bless his heart, sent his flat-bed tow truck with a van they rent out to costumers for us to continue on our trip as they took ours back to his shop.
You’re probably thinking to
yourself where
was I lacking in prayer?
I am getting to that! The next day we got up and headed south east for a long day of driving, when we got to Sudbury we stopped and got some drinks and to hit the road again.
A couple of Kilometers down
the road the
van we had now stop working.
We decided to get CAA after our first breakdown to be safe. So we called CAA, but we also had to call a taxi, because the tow truck only occupies the one driver and one passenger. So Julie and the kids (4 at the time) had to go with the taxi driver. The broken van was taken to the GM dealership to see if they can fix, they were busy but said, “We will see what we can do.” So I guess we are staying in Sudbury today. We called the Taxi service to take us to the only Motel available in Sudbury…. because of some teacher’s convention. It was no 5 star motel I can tell you that. As we are getting our stuff out of the taxi van, Julie’s container of homemade cookies fell on the parking lot ground (wasted). So! No cookies, no van, disappointed family and a now irritable daddy. But it gets worse! As we open the door to our room, (DEFCON 4) begins. I lost it and broke down and cried like a baby; stuck in a motel that smelt like cheap perfume and cigarettes. As we all cried, I said we are going home! I just wanted to go home. It was in that moment I remembered vividly the intense/urgent look on Rachel’s face when she said “We should pray!” I just stared at her with this blank face for a minute, which felt like weeks; as I sat there ashamed, embarrassed, faithless and humbled my family and God’s grace.
So
we did pray! This is the point Paul is
making in the text
before us this morning. (v26)
It’s in times of trials,
disappointments and
sufferings, we scarcely
converse with God.
I could honestly say then and now “It’s these and other times we tend not know what to say.” I can honestly say my words were that day, “scrambled and few”. But according to Paul, the Spirit Himself intercedes for us (for me) with groaning that words cannot express.” It is like the Holy Spirit says the things we want to say but cannot express them clearly. One theologian said, “The Holy Spirit lays hold of our weaknesses along with us and carries His part of the burden facing us as if two men were carrying a log, one at each end.” In other words the Holy Spirit doesn’t just sit there and give us arm chair advice. He rolls up His sleeves to help us bear the burden we bear.
Think about the relationship we have with God when it comes to the matter of prayer. When we pray we approach the throne of grace dressed in the required apparel, “The righteousness of Christ”. We are praying to the Father, through the redemptive work in Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit manifestation in the believer’s life.
Prayer is a Trinitarian activity!
But it’s also a personal one as well.
We know that Scripture reveals that Jesus intercedes for the believer at His throne. “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” Heb 7:25
Jesus is the Advocate for Christians, meaning He is our great Defender. This is the intercessory role He currently fulfills for those who are His. “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1
Jesus is interceding for us while Satan (the accuser) is accusing us, pointing out our sins and frailties before God, just as he did with Job. “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it." And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face." And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.”
Job 1:6-12
Jesus prays in our behalf to the Father because our security rests in the Lord’s faithfulness even when we don’t know how to pray as we should. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Luke 22:31-32
Peter was no match for Satan! And even in his devotion he could not withstand
the taunts of the crowd to turn, but our
security is not in me/you, it’s in Christ.
But not only Jesus, Paul says the Spirit does the same in us, when we don’t know what to pray. We have the Third Person of the Trinity who assists to help us to pray concisely and articulately. We have a Heavenly intercession in Jesus Christ and we have present intercession here in the Spirit.
1. When
We Are Hard Pressed We Are Helped In Our Weakness By The Spirit. (v26)
“Weakness” refers to our human condition, not a specific weakness. What Paul is saying, is that even after salvation we are characterized by spiritual weakness. Spiritual weakness that hinder our walk…….Acting morally, speaking the truth, exemplifying holiness, witnessing for the Lord…. as examples. This is that remaining humanness that we groan inwardly to be gone. Despite my inabilities, the Spirit is continually working in and through me despite my human limitations. Several times in Paul’s letter to the Philippians he expresses that relationship he had with God despite his limitations. “for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,” Phil 1:19.
The Spirit supplies us with all we need to be faithful, effective and protected children of God. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Phil 2:12-13. Paul is saying here is that we are weak, and we all stand in need of aid. Paul would later say in his letter to the Romans we are obligated to one another in the same way, “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” Rom 15:1-2
It is God who generously supplies that need in the person and work of the Holy Spirit for our weakness and the ability to help others. This is what sustains us to persevere! Just as we are helped in suffering by the certain future hope of glory….So also, we are helped in our weakness by the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
You know, prayer is an
exercise of
admitting we're in need.
This precisely why Paul says, “We do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings to deep for words.” (v26). “Groaning” of the Spirit goes entirely beyond human compression. The Spirit’s groaning is not utterances in an unknown language or some form of Gibberish. According to Paul it’s not even audible and is inexpressible with words. Yet these groans are divine in nature as the Godhead communicates to one another.
The Spirit appeals for the spiritual welfare of the adopted son or daughter in a way that is infinitely beyond our understanding.
Theologians call this “Intertrinitarian communication” A prime example of this is in Paul letter to church in Corinth. “For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Cor 2:11-16. Understand! The Spirit does not simply provide our security, but is Himself our security.
2. When
We Are Hard Pressed The Spirit Expresses Our Heart's Longings Perfectly To The Father,
And Is Perfectly Understood. (v27)
“He who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” What is Paul saying there? He is saying that the Holy Spirit expresses our heart's longings perfectly to the Heavenly Father. Have you ever been at that point where you didn't know what to pray for? Where you were so beaten down you couldn't pray? Every….. groan, every sigh, every moan, every unuttered and unutterable expression. Every word that gets stuck in the throat and cannot come out the Spirit makes it to be as acceptable and understandable as the intercession to the Godhead. Take Jeremiah for example! He is in such bitter anguish and doesn’t know what to pray except wishing he was never born.
Jer 20:7-18
And the Spirit is taking that prayer and correcting it even as it goes up. Take David on many occasions lifting up his broken sentences to God. You read the Psalms of David and see that he can't even get a full sentence out. “How long, oh Lord? And the Spirit is rendering it up in perfect accordance with the will of the Heavenly Father in such a way that He turns it into Scripture. The Spirit does the same for me and you, when we are hard pressed. This doesn’t eliminate our responsibility to seek God in prayer, but the Spirit comes alongside the Christian to help us through. The Spirit shoulders the load, the Spirit continually is on guard in our behalf in our weakness and even when we don’t know what to say. The Father knows the hearts of men, how much more does He know the mind of the Spirit. (v27b)
This is that “Intertrinitarian communication”
The Spirit and the Father’s will… are identical, as it is with Christ. The Godhead has always been One in essence. We have divine intercession “Intertrinitarian communication” amoung the Godhead in Heaven and here, now, through the Spirit. The whole point of this passage is to encourage us because the Spirit helps us in our weakness. As James Boice said, “We are weakness itself, but the Holy Spirit is all-powerful.
What do we take home from this passage that continues to
encourage us to press on even when I don’t know what to pray….
We Are Supposed To Pray....Regardless of our problems we may have with prayer. We are to remind one another the importance of unceasing prayer. Paul said in 1 Thess 5:16-18 in one sentence the purpose of your life. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” We are to maintain an uninterrupted and constant spirit of prayer. We are to be in such a frame of mind as to be ready to pray publicly if requested, and the same is true when we are alone.
Do Not Expect Prayer To Be Easy……nothing else in the Christian life is, so don’t expect prayer to be any different. Romans 7: 18-19 is prime example of this…if the Christian living this hard expect the same in all areas of the Christian life.
Be Encouraged By These Verses…… We don’t know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit does. (v26-v27). This is why Jesus called Him our Advocate which means “to call alongside of, or Comforter/Helper.” In John 14 :16-17 we read, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
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