“His Assurance In Our Weakness” (Romans 8:26)

And let’s go to Romans chapter eight, the title of this message is “His Assurance in Our Weakness” (Romans 8:26). “His Assurance In Our Weakness.” And these are words that are not necessarily embedded. The first one in in the text that we’re that we’re going to go to in verse 26, but this term “assurance” is actually the theme of Romans chapter eight, and so if you get that, you’re understanding the overarching narrative and the authorial intent of the chapter being written, and you’re able to go, “Okay,” so this is written so that you will remember well who you were dead in your sin and deserving God’s just, righteous wrath what Jesus Christ has done for you, this is later in Romans, starting chapter three all the way through five. Right? What Jesus has done-a substitutionary life, death, burial, and resurrection for you. That by faith you get credit for His life. He takes your sin in His death, and one day you’ll be raised from the dead because He purchased you. And so, in that relationship, what we find is we get into chapter six and chapter seven specifically we find we still battle with sin. We still struggle because in our members, that is in our physical body, there are still the remnants of that sin, and it affects us. We have old ways of thinking. We have memory loops that we still play. And we have behaviors that have not yet been actually sanctified. Our mind is not fully renewed, obviously. And so, we need assurance in the midst of that suffering, in the midst of the hardship, and in the midst of putting up with ourselves, to be able to remember that He loves us, and that the price He paid for us wasn’t just a token of His love. It was a full payment, and you’ve been purchased in full. And so, in Romans eight, if you get Romans eight, listen, you’ll understand when we get to Romans 9:10-11, because he’s going to talk about Israel, and it’s not what most people think it is. It is a proof of an illustration that what God started, He’s even going to stay faithful with Israel, sinning, reprobate Israel-He’s even going to be faithful to His Word. How much more His children that He’s purchased, and not just the outward people. Okay, you’ll understand that when we get to that. But assurance is the goal here.

And I’m going to bring us into context, just a little bit, before we get to verse 26. Let’s start in verse 15, Romans 8:15-16;18, It says this to you, Christians: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear (see the assurance there?) but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” That means “Dear Daddy” or “Dear Papa”. What could be more assurance than that intimacy? I don’t know about you, dads, but I don’t let other kids call me that. That would seem weird, wouldn’t it? But our spirits cry out because we know we’re loved by Him. This is all about your assurance. Look at the verse 16, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” This is assurance coming from Him in His Word. Now skip down to verse 18 because it’s not all a bed of roses. By far, we live in a sin-cursed world, and there’s hardship. Okay, no matter how much you are loved by God, that doesn’t change the fact that you live in a sin-cursed world. You still have vestiges of sin in your members, and there are problems that happen here, and natural things that occur that are problems. But nevertheless, verse 18: “For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us.” In other words, if you could have but a glimpse through faith of what He holds in store for you, it would minimize every single trial and hardship here. And in fact, isn’t that the goal? That we look and we focus on the finish line, so that we run the race more diligently. But even in that, it’s not worth comparing it to. No matter how hard it gets, in fact, it gets so hard that there’s a lot of groaning going on, and we start to see that. Look in verse 22, Romans 8:22-23; 26, “For we know that the whole creation (that’s all that’s been made in the cosmos, on earth, and in the heavens-that is the natural heavens) the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Well, since when? Since sin. When you see things like the horrible mudslide in Nepal, and you see these people washed away, people go, “Oh, there we go,” and they want to somehow blame that on the wrath of God. Family, listen to me, when the wrath of God comes, there won’t be any doubt about it, and it won’t involve mud. And if you don’t like that, I’m sorry. God’s righteous wrath. People are going to see it, and you’re going to be like, “That’s no mudslide. It’s God’s mercy.” There were more. It’s God’s mercy that the mountains don’t collapse. God is sustaining the earth, even though the earth is groaning and these terrible things happen, the earth is under the weight of sin. I mean, we like to worry about fossil fuels, but I’m just telling you what: if you got rid of sin, we could probably just pump all the oil we wanted to. Okay? Oh, there you are. Oh, good. Woo! Watch this, so the earth is groaning, but look, “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” So, the earth is groaning, and we’re groaning in ourselves because we look around, and it’s because of our sin, other people’s sins, the circumstance in general, and a longing for home, an innate homesickness, and every single believer realizing you’re an alien, a stranger, a foreigner. That this is not your permanent home. And I’m going to tell you something: if you’re going through a hardship right now, as many of us are, that should encourage you. Look, this is as bad as it’s ever going to get. This is it. If you are in Christ, this is not your best life now. No, this is your worst life now, because your best life is actually coming in the future. But the downside of that is, if you’re not in Christ, this is as good as it’s ever going to get. So, our admonition is this: hear the gospel. Trust Jesus and believe. Repent of your sin. Turn from it. Ask Him to save you. If you cry out to Him, He will hear and He will answer. This is incredible. And then you can groan along with the rest of us. We know we’re not at home. Earth is groaning. We’re groaning. And now go down to verse 26, which is our main text. “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.” So, what do we have? We have the Holy Spirit groaning inside of us as we groan in the midst of a groaning creation, a whole lot of groaning there, huh? In other words, there’s-it’s not just a bunch of happy, shiny people, and that’s what a true church looks like. It’s where you don’t have to varnish yourself. I know we all clean up. Hopefully, we do. We try to smell good when we come to church. That’s a good thing because you never know who you might see, right? But here’s the here’s the truth of the matter: as a Christian grows in maturity, they grow in their ability, rather their willingness to humble themselves and be known for who they really are, and that requires real security that you’re loved by God, and then you start to know to notice that you’re loved by other true believers, and allows you to relax and long for holiness, even in the midst of your stumbling. This is the path of a true disciple, and this is the goal of Romans in teaching us this.

So, let’s look. I only have two points. Number is our weakness, and number two is His assurance.

Here’s 1. Our Weakness

It’s right in the text. Number one, our weakness. Now, when we say “our weakness”, we mean everybody. It’s not certain people. It’s not baby Christians. It’s not those who struggle with certain sins. It’s every single real believer still is beset with weakness. And if we’ll come to grips with this and not try to act like someone we’re not, boy, it sure makes the ride, if you will, a whole lot smoother and a lot more joyful. You know, it’s exhausting trying to be somebody you’re not, trying to prove yourself and trying to behave a certain way. And I don’t mean you’re not to have good behavior, but I mean trying to perform for people rather than just being honest with real brothers and sisters in Christ, you can tell people where you struggle, you can tell people where you’re suffering, you can boast in your weaknesses and still find love. I’m very well aware. A lot of you guys, I love you. I do. I missed you, but you come to the service and you do get something, and the Lord is working in your life. But you’ve yet to find relationships where you can just be honest. I’m telling you, it’s a wealth. And if you have that in your life, you’re one of the people in here that would nod their head and say, “Yeah, those relationships that are gospel-centered are the most valuable ones you’ll ever have.” Some would be closer than your own family because of the Spirit in each of you. So, this again, Romans 8:26. Let’s see it again. “Likewise, the Spirit helps (our weaknesses, or rather) our weakness.” I’m sorry, because in the Greek, this is actually singular; it’s not plural, and that’s important. It helps our weakness. Why is that? Because we have one great weakness. Now, it manifests in many different forms, but the reason why this is singular in the Greek is because really there’s one ultimate weakness. That every believer still has, and it’s this: they can’t do anything worthy of God’s glory or bear any good fruit apart from Jesus Christ. That’s the main weakness. We are completely 100% dependent upon Jesus and the power of His Spirit to bear any good fruit in our walk with Christ. Completely dependent. You can’t do anything by yourself. In fact, I’m going to quote somebody famous. Maybe you recognize the author, and see if you can finish this sentence. Okay, we’re not going to bring it up: John 15:5, “‘I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me, and I in Him, He it is who bears much fruit. For without Me you can do nothing.’” Nothing. That’s it. That’s how weak you are. And here’s what religion does. Religion tells you to do. It’s like the war of the will. Remember, we went through that like six years ago. Religion tells you to stand up straight, say, “Oh, I’m going to do this, and I’m going to keep it, and I’m going to nail it. I’m turning over a new leaf.” But true humility bows before the throne of God’s grace, Hebrews 4:16, and comes to find mercy and grace to help in time of need, and says, “I can’t do it. You never said I could. You can do it, and You definitely did. And so, I’m coming to You, Lord, for Your grace, Your unmerited, empowering favor, Lord, I need You,” and that’s the walk of a maturing Christian.

An immature believer, if they’re really even if they’re really a believer, still tries to post up like they have some strength, instead of boasting in their weakness and voicing very, very plainly, “I can’t do it. He can, and I need Him.” And so, you know, kids grow up, and hopefully they leave the house. Right? No offense, parents with little kids are like, “Not my little sweetie.” Yeah. Well, someday you might be going, “Yeah, it’d be good if you moved out.” But our dependence on our heavenly Father isn’t that way, and upon His Son and upon the Holy Spirit, our Triune God. Our dependence, our awareness of our dependence grows the older we get, and thus we walk closer and closer. And when we swerve, we stay gone way less amount of time, and we pull back to our Shepherd. That’s a growing walk with Him, and so He makes it very clear. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We have these weaknesses. Why does God let us see these weaknesses? It’s very, very simple. It is so that we don’t boast in ourselves. That’s why He wants us to see it. He wants us to see it, and He wants us to see it because it’s an accurate description of reality. God is not trying to put you down. God is trying to let you see things as they really, truly are. That your only hope is in your relationship with Jesus Christ, and that the Holy Spirit helps your weakness. If you see that, you’re in touch with reality. If not, you’re denying reality, and you know, time and truth go hand in hand. And if it’s reality, eventually you’re going to run into it. And so, God wants us to walk in the light of reality that we actually are weak, and there is a way that He has designed to show us what I would say is the fundamental weakness, and it’s this: that we couldn’t save ourselves. We couldn’t save ourselves, and we can’t save the creation. Now we can clean ourselves up some. We can try to you know act better, and we can try to help the environment, and other things are innately wrong. But man cannot fix his depraved condition of being apart from God and under His wrath. Nor can he save ultimately the earth that will one day be consumed by fire. If you’re that concerned with earth, let me just encourage you. Don’t worry, it’s disposable. Now we’re stewards of it, so we want to treat it good. But ultimately, we have to have him doing this. And the limp of a true disciple, the humility of a true disciple begins when they realize who saved who.

Look at 1 Corinthians 1:27-29. Watch these languages here, “God chose.” Some people don’t like to see that, but God chose. Talking about people, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the in the world to shame the strong.” So, if you’re in Christ, congratulations. Why did He choose you? Well, because He was going to show you that you were foolish and weak, and you would recognize what I can’t do it. I need Him. He goes on. Look at verse 28, “And God chose what is low and despised in the world.” What’s lower and more despised in the world than weakness? It is, isn’t it? Because Americans, what do we do? We cheer for the underdog, but we really want to follow the hot dog. Right now, Cowboys are going to win the Super Bowl this year. It’s going to happen because it’s our year. Now, don’t applaud that, dude. I’m reading scripture. And some of you are going to get on the bandwagon, but those of us who have been under this for over three decades and suffered, we’re going to look at you like you’re not the real thing because you want to act like they weren’t low and despise. You only want to follow the hot dog. That is a terrible sermon illustration and has nothing to do with the message. But he chooses these things, right? Lo, in the world, despised in the world, even the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are. Why does He do it? Verse 29: “So that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” Let me say it to you this way: Pride is antithetical to assurance. A prideful person has no assurance. That’s why I’m telling you, there’s no such thing as a humble Arminian. You can only act humble because they’ve not been deeply wounded at the crux, where their hip, as it were, is knocked out of socket like Jacob’s was, and they do that. Then they realize, “I didn’t save me. He’s the one that did it. I didn’t choose Him. He chose me.” You say, “Yeah, but I repented of my sin.” Right after He raised you from the dead to see it. “But then I chose My Savior.” Yes, after He raised you from the dead to love Him, He gave you a new heart and put a new spirit in you to walk in His ways. Of course, you loved Him, but until you realize you did not do it, you have this pride, and if you have that pride, then you think, “I earned it. Now I must keep it,” and there is no intimacy in that. Intimacy comes where there’s a relaxing of assurance, and you know you’re loved. That’s why we tell you the same thing all the time. It’s the Bible’s echo. You’re loved. No flesh boasting in the presence of God.

Where does it begin? Obviously, salvation. I know you know these two verses, Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God.” What is that? The grace or the faith? Yes. Both. Look, “Not the result of works.” Why did you do it that way? “So that no one may boast.” That was the reason He wants you to see it.

1 Corinthians 1:30-31, go back to chapter one. Look at 30 and 31. “And because of Him, (look because of God, because of Christ) you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’” You can boast. You just boast of Him, and I don’t mean that fake little. Oh, you know, glory to God. You know, “It’s my touchdown, but thank the Lord.” You know, speaking of the Cowboys. No, I mean really saying that if there’s any good that’s coming out of your life. It’s something that the Holy Spirit has produced, and you’re not going to be able to honestly say that if you’re not abiding in Him, and if He’s not the one being the strength to your weakness. Here’s the problem we have: flesh loves to boast, doesn’t it? Yes, prideful people love to tell you all about how awesome they are, and that includes supposed Christians. And I say supposed Christians because here’s one thing that all false teachers seem to always, almost always, have in common: they really are in love with themselves. They boast about themselves, either how cool they are, how strong they are, how successful they are, or how righteous they are, or how holy they are, what they do or what they don’t do. There’s always some place where they’re glorifying themselves, and the Bible speaks to this. It’s very scary because these are people that the Bible would call false teachers. I’m going to show you two instances of instances of them in the text of Scripture. You see what’s familiar between the two. 2 Peter 2:18, talking about false teachers. Look, “For speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh (right? That’s how they draw) those who barely escape from those who live in error.” What is that? Loud boasts of folly. Here’s another reference. This is Jude. There’s only one chapter, Jude 1:16. “These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are (what?) they are loudmouth boasters, showing favoritism to gain an advantage.” What does that mean? That means they’ve got some way of making about them that you can look at and be like, “Oh, wow, wow! If I could ever be like that.” “Oh yeah, you can be like that. You got to buy my book for $39.99, or send your money.” There’s always a string. That’s how they post it up. But that’s not how we are called to walk. We’re not called to boast in us. We’re called to boast in Him. Have you noticed that your name isn’t any in any of the worship songs? I’m looking around for somebody I know your name, right? There we go. We sing praises unto Eric. That would be terrible, wouldn’t it? Eric would be like, “I’m leaving.” There’s a reason for that. This isn’t about you. We get in on the family of God, but God gets all the glory, Soli Deo Gloria. Now, some would argue this. Some in the, what we would call the faith camp would argue this, right? They would say, “Well, we’re supposed to be strong Christians, you know, overcomers.” Oh, you’re exactly right. Let’s see where that comes from. Ephesians 6:10: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in (the power or rather) the strength of His might.” You see, how do we get that? Well, because He’s the strength that’s within us. This is the true ministry of the Holy Spirit. He is the one that’s the helper. It is not a lack of spiritual maturity. I want to prove it to you. So, remember the context of Romans 8:26 is what it’s prayer. He helps sin our weakness because we don’t know how to pray, or really we don’t know what we ought to pray for. And so, if you’re here and you go, “Yeah, that happens to me.” I want to tell you that is not a sign of immaturity. Often, it’s the sign that you’re growing and you’re not wanting to say the wrong thing. I mean, I’m afraid of professional prayers. If it’s too fluid, if there’s not some introspection and some correction sometimes from the Holy Spirit, I gotta wonder, man, are we just kind of saying what we want to say? Have you ever gone to pray and you just don’t have the words? Bet you have. Have you ever thought, “I just don’t think I’m a very good prayerer”? I’m telling you what, that’s a childlike heart. Go with that. Go with that. But if you’re here and you’re thinking, “I don’t know, when I pray, I think God’s up there going, ‘Whoa! Check her out. That’s an extra ruby in the crown.’” No, that’s not how it works.

In fact, let me show you an example of why I would consider the most the most mature Christian, probably in the history of the church, would probably be Paul. After all, he not only was discipled personally by Jesus, but guess what? Jesus led him to the Lord. It’s funnier than you thought. This is 2 Corinthians 12:2-4. Paul’s talking about himself, but he does it in an off-putting way, kind of setting it aside. So, he’s even trying to not brag here. He says, “I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven.” That’s talking about the heaven of God, where the throne room is, where the actual presence of God dwells. “Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows (because he was saying it was surreal in nature), and I know that this man was caught up into paradise. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows, and (watch and) he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.” You say, “What are those things?” They cannot be told, and man may not utter. See, don’t you wonder what he heard? I wonder what he heard. But this is called a revelation. He’s getting revelation direct, not like the false teachers who claim they get it today. This is a man who the Holy Spirit would use to script a lot of the Bible, right? And he heard God tell him things because Jesus actually discipled him. That’s what Paul says in Galatians. “I didn’t receive the gospel from man; I received it directly from God.” So, this is what’s happening. You think he was mature? I think he was too. But look at 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, verse seven, “So, to keep me from becoming conceited.” Wait, what? Paul struggled with Paul had a weakness that was related to pride. Yes, and this this Greek word literally means to lift over. It means to raise up. It means to put up like this. This is the picture of pride to God. It’s a chin that comes up. It’s a chest that swells out. It’s a boast. To keep him from doing that. God provided something that none of you are going to pray for. I get it. “To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh.” So, there was something in his body. I believe personally it was his eyes. I think he had a problem with his eyes, and it was very unseemly. He probably watered and pussed a lot because he had issues reading and writing with his own hand. And nevertheless, it was something that humbled him, a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me to keep me from becoming conceited. You say, “Wow, God would do that?” Well, He did to the apostle, because sometimes you need to be reminded of the weakness as you’re growing in the strength. See, so that we keep the strength right where it belongs, and Paul wouldn’t take glory. Now watch how he prays. Remember, he’s going to pray. This is a pleading three times. “I pleaded three times.” That means he went back twice. “Three times I begged the Lord. I pleaded with the Lord about this that he that it should leave me.” Now what is he actually asking? Well, the Bible says in 26 and eight of Romans it says what? “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness (not from our weakness but) in our weakness,” and he’s saying, “Take it from me.” But it wasn’t according to the will of God. Look at verse nine, “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect (or matured, perfected, completed) in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.” In other words, the answer was “no”. “Take this away.” “No, but I will give you grace, and it will leave you in a place where you’re reminded that you’re dependent upon Me, so that you’re not boastful.” And then he finishes at verse 10, “For the sake of Christ, then I am content (and that would be including in prayer, I am content) with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Isn’t that amazing, great news? In other words, he’s now able to what the Bible says: “Boast in his weakness.” He’s now able to say, “Hey, this is a feature. Look, I’ve got this problem.” I believe it was his eyes. It may not have been, “But I’ve got this thing. But I’m going to tell you what. This is here to keep me from exalting myself. But I’ll tell you what. The God whose strength I live in is what’s accomplishing the fruit of churches being built, disciples being made, people coming to Christ, and persecutions.” What good news! He was able to boast in that, and when the Holy Spirit’s the one doing it. That’s what loosens you to be able to boast in those things instead of hide. They can actually become, if you will, a feature when you’re able to relax and go, “I’m not under the pressure to keep some performance up. I have these weaknesses, so I’m replete with weakness. I had to pick one, and I’ll just give you one. I was born with an eye defect. My eyes are not binocular. Most people, they see out of both eyes, but then their brain sees one picture. I don’t do that. I don’t have binocular vision. This eye sees one picture, and I see another. And you say, so you have double vision? Yeah, I do. I was born with one of my eyes going way this way, and they had to do surgeries on me when I was a little kid-really little. I don’t remember them. They did two, and they fixed the muscles to where it pulled it back in here. But my brain had already been wired somehow to see two different pictures, so they gave me glasses and these different color lenses and whatever, which is really cool when you’re like five or six, because kids are so kind. And I was four eyes. I was blank LeBlanc. I was-I mean, LeBlanc. I mean, I got. I’m telling you, and you know, and I went to Catholic school, so they’re especially nice. Yeah, bullied, picked on. I was ashamed, and I grew up, and I always knew my eyes were never quite lining up. Right? I see perfect. I had 2020 vision until I turned 50, and now I need readers. Right? For the past 10 years, you’re welcome. But I would meet people. I would talk to girls. I would, I don’t know, go to job interviews, and I’d always kind of try to keep my chin down. I really wouldn’t look at people. I was ashamed of the way God ultimately had made me, and I was two years in Christ. Two years in Christ, so I was basically 21, somewhere around 21, when I don’t want to go through the story, but I’ll say this: I got a hold of this, that He had allowed this, and that it doesn’t have to be something I’m ashamed of. And I found myself-I don’t want to be weird-I found myself related to the shame and the fear of that thing being healed from that and not being ashamed of it anymore, to where I could look people in the eyes, and I so value it. I value it till this day that I can look people in the eye, and I do. I look people dead in the eye, and sometimes they’re like, “What are you doing?” I mean, I’m not trying to be weird. I just never could do it, and so now it’s kind of become a feature. Yeah, I don’t have perfect eyes, and by the way, I have an ear that’s higher than the other two, and I have a crooked finger, but that’s because I was a bad auto mechanic. I mean, if you want to talk about messed up, all of us have something that we’re bringing that we could be ashamed of. But spiritually speaking, if we take those things that we’re ashamed, it’s going to move us back from Him. That’s what’s so sad. Not believing you’re loved, my heart’s broken, because I’m praying for you, and I’m praying for all of us. Because it’s like if we finally get that, what will we do? We’ll run to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need. We will stop making vows and trying to cover up, and we’ll just be known for who we really are. And listen, not just with Him, but with His people as well. If you’re here and you don’t have a group of Christians around you that you can just be dead level honest with, I’m encouraging you, you’re missing half of church. This is and by the way, you get this is a great half teaching and worship. Yes, corporate, but man, you need community too. You need to do what they were doing in Acts. They were in the temple and they were house to house. You’ve got to find a place where you connect. And you say, “Well, this is such a big church.” That’s relative. The early church was 3000 people during the first altar call. That’s bigger than this. You’ve got to find that community so that you can share your weaknesses and so that you can bear with the weaknesses of others. This is a grace of God. You say, “Well, that’ll take humility.” Yes, it will, and that’s what the Holy Spirit wants to work our weakness.

But here’s 2. His Assurance

His assurance. Romans 8:26 again. “Likewise, the Spirit helps us again in our weaknesses, not from them, 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.” This word “help”, it’s a compound word. It’s three words: sunantilambano, sunantilambano. I’m not making that up. “Sun,” means I won’t I’ll just say it. “Sun” means together. “Anti” is over against, and “Lambano” means to take. And so, what this means it means to take hold of together or opposite someone. When the Spirit comes and you don’t know how to pray, the Holy Spirit comes and helps you. He doesn’t take over. Okay, when the Holy Spirit comes and helps you pray, it doesn’t mean that you just lay back passively and go, “Shonda Blue Bob, the key to my Honda.” No, some of y’all know about that. No, that’s not what that is. It is the Holy Spirit comes. He sees you doing something like in this in this situation would be struggle in prayer, and He comes and with groanings too deep for words helps you pray according to the will of God. It’s like an illustration when we camped with the kids when they were growing up. There were six of us, and so we had this inordinately large cooler. It was super, super long, and it was terrible to try to pick up by yourself. So, I’d pick it up, and when somebody would see me, usually they’d come take the other side. So, I’m doing my part, and then they would come over and help me. That’s this word. That’s this word. This doesn’t mean you don’t pray. This doesn’t mean that when you have a need or you have something that’s a challenge or a decision that you don’t sit there underneath it and then look for the words to say. You trust the Holy Spirit that He will come help you. It’s not passive. It’s not just well, just lay back and you know let God. “I just let go and let God.” Right? Like y’all ever heard of the hillbilly hymnal? You ever heard of the hillbilly hymnal? Yeah. No. Hymn number 50. “Drop kick me Jesus through the goalposts of life.” That’s a joke, by the way. No, that’s not God’s will. God’s will is this: that you go to Him in prayer, that you do operate in your in your will, and you say, “God, I’m going to come to You.” But the Holy Spirit comes along, and He’s a helper to you. He doesn’t leave you to yourself. You can even ask Him.

And by the way, this is interesting. This word “helps” is only used two times. The form of this word only two times in your whole Bible. It’s Romans 8:26 and in Luke chapter 10. And I think you’re going to find it interesting how it’s used because it’s a perfect description. Okay, Luke 10:38-40. We’ll start verse 38. This is the story of Jesus coming to Mary and Martha’s house. Remember this one. It says, “Now, as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house, and she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.” So, here’s what’s happening: Martha’s in the kitchen working, Jesus is talking, and Mary’s just sitting at His feet, just soaking it up. Now, some of you are Marthas; you’ll relate to this. But “Martha was distracted with much serving, and she went up to Him (that’s up to Jesus) and said, “(Now, watch this. God bless her heart) Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me (you hear the victim mentality?) has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to (here’s the word) help me.’” “Help me.” Look, she’s not saying tell her to quit sitting at your feet and come in and do it so I can sit down. No, she’s saying can she come in and lend a hand. Can she come opposite me? I’m doing this. Can she at least help? That’s the same word. And isn’t that what we’re really saying? But guess what? You don’t have to guilt trip Jesus into sending the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to make a false accusation. You simply have to say this, “Holy Spirit. I thank You. But the deep assurance I have is that even in the weakness of my prayer life, as I struggle, I don’t know what to say. I feel like I don’t pray good enough. I feel like I don’t pray long enough. I feel like You’re not hearing me.” Even in that, you can trust the Holy Spirit is going to minister from deep, deep down inside of who you are.

Let’s see one other aspect of His assurance, verse 26 again, “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what to pray for as we ought.” Right? You don’t know what perfect prayer to pray, “But the Spirit Himself (does this, oops, there it is) intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” This is this Greek word is. Very complicated. It’s what’s known as “picturesque”. Now, meaning that that the complexity of the word is such that it draws a picture. Now, we don’t have an English counterpart to that. We it’s a different language, obviously, but Greek is so complex that this paints a picture, and it paints a picture. This term “intercedes” in this use, not every time you see the English word “intercedes”, but this one, it’s picturesque in nature that it paints the picture of happening upon someone who is struggling. Happening upon someone who’s struggling. In other words, let’s say you’re walking down the street and you see someone trying to pick up a blue cooler, and he’s not-it’s not going well for him. You’ll come over and you’ll help your pastor, right? Well, maybe you’d do that. That’s the picture of it. That the Holy Spirit-I know He doesn’t happen upon you; He lives in you. But it’s the picture. He sees your effort in that sense and says, “Let me help you. I’m going to intercede. I’m going to step in between, and I’m going to say things that are deeper than what you could ever say or understand. I’m going to pray, really with groanings too deep even for words.” And a lot of you have experienced this. Maybe even all of you. Have you ever gone to God in prayer and there’s just no words? Maybe it’s bad news and it’s just an ache. Maybe you weep and something deepest inside of you, you can tell it’s the same thing. Maybe it’s joy, joy unspeakable and full of glory. It’s the same thing. That’s the Holy Spirit commingled with your spirit. That’s actually Him aiding you in prayer and aiding you in praise. He never finds you praying, thus, and doesn’t come and help. He always takes it up and comes to your aid. He’ll never leave you alone. So, I’m encourage you in this, guys. If you’re here and you’re saying, “I just don’t feel like my prayer life is really that great.” Go with that. Go with that. Now that doesn’t mean don’t pray. That means pray, but if you feel like you’re not any good at it, trust the Holy Spirit. Let Him do His work. I’ll tell you the greatest lesson on prayer I’ve ever heard. It’s super easy. This is almost all I can teach you about prayer. There’s a few details, but this is really it. You should do it. That’s it. You should pray. So, what if I say something dumb? Yeah, you will. Can anybody in here think about something that they prayed for years ago, and you’re so glad the answer was “no”? I can. Yes. Thank God for unanswered prayers. I think there’s a country song like that. I’m really on the hillbilly theme since I got back from Flagstaff. Think about that. Here’s the encouragement, though: the prayer that you have coming is threefold. There’s a threefold intercession that’s designed by God for you. Okay, number one, it’s Jesus, right? Romans 8:34, right? He ever lives to make intercession for you. He is in heaven making intercession for His kids right now. His blood still speaks better than the blood of Abel. His blood still speaks mercy. You’re being interceded for. Here’s number two. This is the Holy Spirit inside of you. He intercedes, and how does He do that? Well, it’s in 26 a right or 20 6b, right? It’s with groanings too deep for words; they can’t even be uttered. So, you’ve got intercession in heaven. You have intercession happening around you, but there’s also a number three. Did you know there’s a third intercession, and that’s the church. That is the body of Christ coming around you and praying for you. That is your friends and family in Christ who are lifting your name, your need, your challenge, your opportunity, whatever it is, before the throne of heaven. Who are praying that you will be strengthened with might in your inner man, that you be filled with the spirit of wisdom, knowledge, and the knowledge of God, that you’d have encouragement, that you would find healing in areas, that you would be repaired, that God would use you, whatever it is. Now, is it always going to be perfect on this level? No, it won’t be. But that doesn’t mean we get to deny it.

And I’m going to challenge you: if you’re here and you say, “I don’t have people in my life I can do that with,” then this is what you have to do. You have to fix that. I can’t fix it for you, and neither can the organization that is the church. Some people will say, “Well, if I go to a big church, no one’s nice to me.” There’s plenty of nice people here. You just got to meet them. You have to take your time to do it, and thus the bigger church becomes smaller because you find groups to be part of. If tomorrow morning you get a phone call and it’s your turn, and they think you know what I mean by your turn, who do you pick up the phone and call? Let me tell you this right now: that’s your church. And if you can’t say it’s brothers and sisters in Christ, you have a place to find them. You can get in a D-Group. You can come to teaching times. You can loan yourself toward that process and say, “Look, I’m at least going to try it. I’m going to go to a class. I’ll try the membership class. I’m going to see if get to know somebody. Maybe, yeah, okay, I’m going to progress through this. I want to get in a D group. I want to meet some people. I need to interact.” And you know what? You’re going to find people who will love you, and you’re going to find some people that you can’t stand. Oh, they’re out there, and if you don’t know any, you’re one of them. But it’s awesome because then we get to walk in community. We get to forgive each other. We get to love each other. We get to have compassion. We get to bear one another’s burdens. And by the way, at the end of every single one of the services we have here, we offer two things: you can go online and you can submit a prayer request, or you can come forward to a human being who loves God and loves you and will pray for you whatever you ask. And it’s a person; they’ll do it. And I’m telling you, if you’ve never done it, you should do it. If you’ve never come forward, and if you’re sitting here struggling right now, and you’re thinking, “Oh, what will people think?” That’s pride. That’s pride. You know what we’re going to think? We’re going to think you’re humble enough to humble yourself and ask a brother or a sister to lift you up before the throne of God. That you, oh my gosh, forgive you, need encouragement too. Everybody needs prayer. I get prayer on a regular basis. I ask for prayer. Do you? I’m going to encourage you to do this. Maybe you won’t do it this week, right? Maybe you got to roast in the oven. You got to run out of here before we dismiss you. We love you, but stop it. But one of these days, one of these weeks, you should try it. When others are going that way, you should come this way, and you don’t even have to have a request. You can just come up to them. By the way, they all have breath mints; they don’t bite. And you can just say this: “Hey, would you pray for me? I don’t remember the last time anybody just prayed for me,” and have a brother or a sister or even both put a hand on your shoulder and pray for you, and I’m gonna challenge you. You can send me an email. If you don’t leave more encouraged after being prayed for, you can email me directly at jeff@shermanbible.com, and then we’ll track down who prayed for you and we’ll try to fix them. We’ll continue this next week because we want to see how the Spirit’s praying, how the Father’s understanding, and how therefore that guarantees that He works all things together for your good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

KEYWORDS

Assurance, Pride, Weakness, Romans 8 26, Holy Spirit, Prayer, Groanings, Adoption, Sin, Redemption, Suffering, Creation, Conceited, Helper, Complete, Mature, Perfect, Community, Intercession, Faith, Humility, Sunantilambano, Picturesque, Non-Denominational Church, Bible Church, Gospel, Bible Teaching Church In Texas, Bible Churches In Grayson County, Online Sermon

Speaker

Steve LeBlanc