Learning to Pray in the Spirit and the Word (Part Two) — John Piper

The following message is by Pastor John Piper. More information from Desiring God Ministries is available at www .desiringgod .org.

Jude 17–25: Praying in the Holy Spirit

The sermon text for this morning is from the book of Jude verses 17 to 25. But you beloved ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. That they were saying to you in the last time there shall be mockers following after their own ungodly lusts.

These are the ones who cause divisions worldly minded devoid of the spirit. But you beloved building yourselves up on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Spirit keep yourselves in the love of God waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

And Have mercy on some who are doubting save others Snatching them out of the fire and on some have mercy with fear hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy.

To the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory Majesty dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Lord, it's one of the greatest things in the world To be kept. Thank you so much for the word in the doxology there at the end of that text now and to him who is able to keep you Guard you. Not let you stumble not let you fall.

How could it get better than to be embraced by the sovereign God of the universe. With the commitment. I won't let you fall. We can walk across wires together. We can stand on ledges together. We can fly through clouds together.

We can walk on water together. I won't let you fall. Nobody will pluck you out of my hand. Father I pray that the means of grace by which you bring about this Keeping would be plain to us now. That we would learn to pray in the Holy Spirit.

Be our teacher in this Last section of worship as we exalt over your truth and over your word by your spirit come teach us. Reveal yourself to us. Let your spirit fall upon this people. Give them a heart for your word but unbelievers meet Christ Risen alive in this service.

I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Our focus last Sunday and this Sunday is verse 20 of this one chapter book and Particularly the phrase Praying in the Holy Spirit. The question last week was why do that? Why is that important?

Why Praying in the Holy Spirit Keeps Us in God’s Love

Why it's the why question we're going to move on to the what and the how question. But let's review for a minute. We asked why pray in the Holy Spirit and we got the answer to that question from the connection the relationship between the Participle praying and the main verb Keep yourself in the love of God in the next verse.

So if you read it in the flow of the thought it goes like this Praying in the Holy Spirit keep yourselves in the love of God. Don't chop things up between verses so that you can't tell when a sentence is still going.

Praying in the Holy Spirit keep yourself in the love of God. So the reason that praying in the Holy Spirit is important is that it is the way You keep yourself in the love of God by praying in the Holy Spirit.

Keep yourself in the love of God. So I commended to you last Sunday that you all build into your vocabulary the phrase means of grace. Don't know if that's in your mouth in your head means of grace. It's a good old-fashioned Way of talking.

Why why is it so important? Because there are dynamics in the relationship between what God does in your life and what you do in your life that Necessitates some new phrases to describe how those two things relate what God does and what you do.

What we saw Remember is that even though verse 21 says You keep yourself in the love of God you do this. Verse 1 says it is done to you. Look at verse 1 the end of the verse to those who are called Beloved in God the Father and kept For Christ Jesus kept.

You're not doing that. Somebody's doing that to you. Here is the main reason for education. Teaching the difference between passive and active verbs if you need a Theological reason for sending your child to school to learn how to read here it is.

And if any little child comes along and says why don't we have to learn the difference between passive and active verbs? Answer you'll go to hell if you don't know the difference. Because your theology will be upside down if you think that you do what is done to you.

You blaspheme you got to get your verbs. Straight verse 1 says we are kept this is done to me. So the question is who's doing it? Now we go to verse 24. This is all review from last Sunday. Verse 24 now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling.

Who's that verse 25 to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ? So now I know who keeps me. Now I know who the decisive actor is in this keeping process that will get me to glory someday and keep me from making shipwreck of my faith and Apostatizing and leaving Jesus Christ and trampling on the blood of Jesus.

Now I know who will keep me so that I can have assurance of salvation today and know I'll make it to glory. It isn't me. It's God but verse 21 says Keep yourself in the love of God. So People who love the Bible believe God they say we got to figure this out.

We got to have a way to talk about what I do and what God does that makes sense here. Can't cancel out verse 1. Can't cancel out verse 24. Can't cancel out verse 21. Keep yourself in the love of God. You are being kept.

God keeps you to present you blameless someday and. So we think in terms of means of grace. How does he how does he keep me by means he keeps me by means he has means that he uses. He keeps me by enabling me to keep myself and then you say well, what does that mean though?

It means praying in the Holy Spirit. See the connection now we got the pieces are coming together. Praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourself in the love of God. Praying by praying. Keep yourself. So the way you keep yourself is by praying so praying becomes the means of grace by which God the decisive Keeper keeps us.

Oh Man, I wish you would get this. I wish everybody would say, oh, of course, it's so plain easy, I Get so many questions after services that make me think I haven't said anything. That just it's so evidently so hard for the human mind to get a handle on Human and divine activity.

Then it is hard. God's action. Keeping us is decisive our action to keep ourselves in the love of God is dependent and the way we express that. Dependent activity is among other things. Praying in the Holy Spirit and then we gave examples last week of Jesus.

Doing that telling us to do it. One like Luke 21 36 keep on the alert at all times. Praying that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. Do you pray? That you will be able to stand before the Son of Man and not be crushed and call for the rocks to fall upon you.

Because you are unbelieving sinner with no blood covering of Christ and are going to be damned. Do you pray pray that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man? That's a means of God's keeping you so that you can stand before the Son of Man.

Or. Another text would be Luke 22 32 where Jesus modeled it for us. Remember when he said Peter you're gonna deny me three times before the cock crows in the morning. And then he says but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

I Asked God to keep you. Now God let him topple. But he did not fall headlong. The glance of Jesus Christ and Jesus. Oh so much here to say Jesus.

The face of Jesus.

Turned and became the means of God's answering his prayer. Broken. Broken he looked into Jesus eyes. And he what? And he became a rock and other people were blessed and Jesus prayer for him was fulfilled.

Pray about your own soul that way. Pray for your children that way. Pray for your wife and your husband your friends that way. Oh Christ keep their faith. They look like they're doing. All right, don't take anything for granted.

Your child's made it till he's 28. He's believing don't take it for granted.

Pray for him. Keep him. Keep him. Keep him. Oh God.

Three years Jesus had spent with Peter three years. That's enough, right? You're on your own. No way I pray Oh God keep this man. Keep this man tonight. He is gonna be so surely tempted He's gonna fall so bad.

Don't let him fall headlong and make shipwreck. Oh God keep him. And then Jesus becomes the answer tears repentance restoration. That's a means. So many people have mechanical views of God mechanical views of eternal security.

That's one of the biggest questions I get. I get to done doing the sermon like this or last week and people say you don't Believe in eternal security. Do you you stand up you say breathe? I said breathe at the end of the service if you don't breathe you die.

I come up after the service eat die. You mean if I don't if I don't pray I'm gonna go to hell, of course. There's never been a prayerless person in heaven, oh well then You don't believe in it. You don't believe I'm eternally secure.

No, I didn't say that. That's not true at all. Well, how can you believe in eternal security and tell me that if I don't pray I might go to hell. Because God will keep his people praying. He's sovereign.

You'll pray. If you're saved you'll pray. God is sovereign. He keeps us. You see this is not mechanical. You gotta you gotta believe in God here not mechanics not spiritual mechanics. Like when I was six, I prayed a prayer.

I'm safe. I don't care if I become prayerless and get in bed with every other woman or Give up the faith never go to church again. Never read my Bible again. I'm safe because I did that mechanical thing.

That's the that's the view of Christianity that a lot of people have which is why Sunday morning is so boring. Nothing's at stake. You know, I think since taking this room heaven and hell every Sunday for every person.

Because I believe in perseverance of the Saints and God will see to it that you persevere if you are his and the evidence that You are his is that you persevere you keep yourself in the love of God you pray in the Holy Spirit.

I have no theological qualms to say to a person if you become a prayerless person and are no longer Interested in praying in the Holy Spirit. You will go to hell and I do not believe in salvation by works.

Justification by faith alone apart from works of the law. Indwelt by the Holy Spirit who is triumphant to give you a will to pray and thus bear witness with evidence. That you belong to him and are saved by grace through faith alone.

We're not playing games when it comes to sanctification. We're not playing games when it comes to prayer and Bible reading and fighting sin. We are not playing games. Your soul hangs in the balance of whether you want to go on with God or whether you said I got my fire insurance Policy.

Thank you. I will just check out of a relationship with Jesus. It is dynamic. It is not mechanical. It is relational. Not technical. All of that was review. I think Today, I want to ask the question that was all why why pray in the Spirit?

Why pray in the Holy Spirit answer? Simple answer. By praying in the Holy Spirit you keep yourself in the love of God. All right. Second question. What is it? And then the third will be how do you do it?

What It Means to Pray in the Spirit

What is what is praying in the Spirit? And here's my one sentence answer that I borrow from Myers commentary because it's the best I've seen. I can't improve on it. It is praying. So that the Holy Spirit is the moving and guiding Power of the prayer say it again so to pray is a quote so to pray that the Holy Spirit is the moving and guiding power.

Towards moving guiding moving guiding so to pray in the Spirit Is to pray in such a way that the Spirit is moving the prayer energizing the prayer Motivating the prayer carrying the prayer sustaining the prayer bringing the prayer up and out and Then guiding which way it goes what you're praying for and what attitudes you're praying with.

That's praying in the Spirit. Now, where do I get that? Let me give you three parallel texts. The first is Ephesians 618. Which says with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit. So there you have the same kind of phrase pray at all times in the Spirit pray at all times in the Spirit now.

The reason I'm bringing that parallel in is lest you misinterpret Jude 22 mean that praying in the Holy Spirit might mean speaking in tongues. I Do not disbelieve in speaking in tongues. So I'm not ruling it out because I think it's a bad practice or faults unavailable to Christians today.

I Think it is available. I Don't think that's what Jude 20 is talking about at all because the close parallel in Ephesians 618 Pray at all times in the Spirit shows praying in the Spirit is not one form among other forms.

It's praying All the time in a certain way. Praying in the Spirit is all kinds of prayers. In a certain way in the Spirit. So always be praying in the car. You're praying in the Spirit in church. You're praying in the Spirit at work.

You're praying in the Spirit as you go to bed and get up you're praying in the Spirit in the Spirit in the Holy Spirit. Is a way to do it. Not a form or a kind of prayer. That's the first parallel. The second one is good is a Romans 826.

This one really helps. I think help me. The Spirit also helps us in our weakness. For we don't know how to pray as we should but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

So one of the things we can draw out of that verse is praying in the Spirit means the Spirit is moving on a weak person who's so maybe depressed or confused or or Tired they just can't get anything out.

So what do they do at that moment? They say oh, I can't get anything else. I guess I shouldn't or can't pray. No, you look away from yourself to God and by his Spirit. He causes there to at least rise a groan and if you direct the groan Godward.

This is the Spirit in your life. So praying in the Spirit means he helps us. Romans 826 says he helps us to pray. The third text is just up a few verses from that in Romans 8 15 and 16. It says You have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry Abba Father the Spirit himself Testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God.

When you from your heart utter in childlike dependence on God Abba Father. That's the Holy Spirit talking bearing witness with your spirit that you are the child of God. It says in 1st Corinthians 12 3 Nobody can say Jesus is Lord apart from the Holy Spirit.

What that means is nobody authentically from the heart can submit himself to the Lordship of Jesus and give Expression to that reliance upon Jesus as Lord apart from the working of the Holy Spirit. So Paul could have said the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the subjects of the Lord God when we say Jesus is Lord.

Similarly when we come to Romans 8 15 and we say Abba Father he says this is the spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God if this is an authentic childlike Dependent cry from a needy soul to an all-sufficient merciful God.

It is the spirit in you the Holy Spirit carries motivates initiates Begets prayer and so my answer to the question What is praying in the Spirit is first? It is so to pray that We are moved by the Spirit.

It's the Spirit in us working. The second half of that was guided moved and guided moved and guided. And I draw that First simply from the obvious inference that if the Spirit is moving if he's helping if he's Witnessing if he's carrying and sustaining and prompting prayer He's gonna do it according to his nature and his word and his will.

Which means the guiding is going to be according to his word and his will. So Two things with regard to what it is. What is praying in the Spirit? It is experiencing the power of the Spirit to help us pray when we're weak and it is the guidance of the Spirit to help us pray when we're foolish or confused or selfish Depressed now, here's a textual example.

James 4 3 says when you ask You do not receive. When you pray you're not getting what you ask because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you. What you get on your pleasures? So there's an example of prayer that's not in the Spirit so the Spirit has something to do with motives and has to do with with what's Prompting a prayer and how that prayer is guided and here he says the reason you're not getting it in this case is Because You just so blame non-kingdom-oriented you you you you you.

And nobody else, you know the mannequin Guinea they can go to hell the unreached peoples of North Africa the Near East or former Soviet Republic China they just all go to hell. I just want to be happy right here by myself.

Nice house nice car nice job nice retirement nice family not too much sin going on there and I'll be okay so we take this Wartime walkie-talkie, and we turn it into the domestic intercom to call up the butler to bring another pillow.

Oh, that's just good. Hmm praise God. He's got I'm a spiritual person. I just thank God so much for my pillows. And the war goes on and people die everywhere. And our prayers, what are they not in the Spirit.

The How Question: Living by the Spirit

At that point now, let's turn finally to the how question how? We've answered why. Because if you pray in the Holy Spirit, it will keep you in the love of God. It's a means of grace. We've answered the what question.

What is it? It is so to pray praying in the Holy Spirit is so to pray that You are moved and guided by the Spirit when you're praying in the Spirit. It's he who's moving you to pray and it's he who's guiding how you pray and what you pray for now.

Here's the question. How do you do that? How I wish I could make you feel how big this is to me. How big it is it's big the how question is big you might think oh here comes the practical application.

And that's we've had theology, but now here comes up the Degree practical application that's lower level importance. That's not the way I think about how questions. You know, how is how is Christianity?

This is Christianity. I'm about to talk about Christianity. I've been talking about foundations. Now the question is do you get it and be it and do it and live it if you don't there is no Christianity.

Christianity is the how question so here we are at the how question and. And what makes this so? Amazing to me is how. Weird the answer is Christianity's weird. It's weird strange and the reason I say that is because.

To come to me and say which God does. Pray. And keep yourself in the love of God by praise, okay, I can do that. He says no you can't. Well, I could you just told me to. No, I said pray in the spirit.

Pray you pray. You pray in a way that the spirit is the one who's acting. That doesn't make sense. That's complicated. Why don't you just say pray. I can handle that but you say pray in a way. That is not mainly me praying but decisively God praying and guiding.

What do I do? How do I do that this is not an Isolated problem or instance in the New Testament. This is Christianity this problem of how you do something in such a way that God is doing it in and through you.

That's Christianity. Let me illustrate with a few other passages. Galatians 516 walk by the Spirit. Walk by the Spirit. So we're commanded to walk. Walk. John. Just walk. I can do this. No, you know, you can't do this.

I said walk in the Spirit by the Spirit. Now, what do I do differently? You see how utterly crucial the how question is or it says Romans 8 13 put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit. You got some sin in your life.

The task is put it to death. Put it to death. How? By the Spirit, but what do I do? I mean, how do I do that? Does he do it or do I do it? Are you saying do it or not? Do it? Come on. Help me. This is how this is the how question.

This is Christianity or another example first Corinthians 12 3 Say Jesus is Lord by the Spirit. Okay, I can say this Jesus is Lord. No, you can't say it by the Spirit. Okay, what do I do differently? Or another one Philippians 3 3 worship by the Spirit of God.

Worship by the Spirit of God. I can sing the songs. I can pray the prayers. I can sit in the pew. I can listen to the sermon. No, you can't worship by the Spirit of God. You see this is pervasive and You know why it's there simple reason.

There's a God in the universe. Take God away. And you know the best t-shirt in the world. Just do it. Put God in the universe just do it. Becomes atheistic. There's a lot of parents who just say do it just do it.

It's a lot of preachers who say just do it. A lot of moral Rearmament folks who want to get a mirror fit America fix to say just do it. Don't do sex. Do this or don't do drugs. Do this just do it. That's atheism.

There's no God in that if you bring God into the picture and this universe is created like that beautiful sunshine outside right now. That's all created. You're created. I'm created. Everything's created to manifest his glory.

Then you never can say just do it again. You got to say just do it in or by the Spirit so that the Spirit magnifies Jesus and he gets glory in your life. Nothing becomes simple anymore. Everything is complex.

Not hard necessarily. In fact what could be easier Than to do something by the Spirit and not in your own power. Run John run The law Demands but gives us neither feet nor hands. Far better news the gospel brings.

It bids us fly and gives us wings. John Bunyan said that run John run the law demands and Gives us neither feet nor hands. Far better news the gospel brings it bids us fly. Which of course none of you can do and gives us wings that encapsulates pray walk confess fight sin.

By the Spirit by the wings of God. And Now let me answer the question that was all to explain how weird it is. Now what's the answer to the question how two answers? I'm sure there's more than this and and I feel out of my element here because the you know Famous theologians can be really good at the why and the what questions and They shatter at the how questions.

This is why there's no how it in most systematic systematic theologies. Well, that's the preachers job. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, you don't even have Christianity without the how question being answered.

One of the reasons reading commentaries technical Scholarly commentaries is so fruitless so many times and I use them all the time and find help in in them all the time. But don't find so much of what I think I should find is because those Specialists out there in the seminaries and colleges where I love them.

I love them to death. I couldn't live without them aren't asking the how question and the how question is Utterly important for understanding Christianity. It's not the application at the end. It is Christianity you don't understand the how question.

Oh, how does answer me? How does anybody write a commentary on jude 20 the phrase praying in the spirit without answering the how question? I want to know I want to know how Anybody can write that and I could name a few Wasted my time.

I Have to go back 300 years To Thomas Manton Who wrote about 13 pages on this verse and he answers how questions, you know why he was a pastor. He had to preach. He didn't have the luxury of just writing historical background and Grammatical stuff he had to get an answer for Sunday one of the greatest reasons I listen a little princess here for all you folks who have your future in front of you and Might take up the ministry of the word in one form or another BSF maybe for the women and various things.

I don't think women should be Preachers, but they they have their way their appropriate avenues. So I'm talking to everybody here. So men women If God puts it on you to be a person of the word Count it one of the greatest gifts in the world I used to I used to when I was getting ready to leave Bethel having taught in college for six years and wrote a couple of technical things.

I Think oh, no I won't have as much leisure anymore to ponder read all the secondary literature and work hard and learn. I would have a chance to learn I'm gonna be flat out having a sermon week after week and Wednesday night stuff and weekend stuff and I Was stupid.

I was really stupid because God loves the ministry of the word and He Answers a desperate Pastors prayers on Friday afternoon and Saturday evening. It's like this John. I Say Lord, they're gonna be there.

I've got to say something. Yes, I know. I know. But I don't let anything come easy. I have grown and learned so much That's precious Because of having to deliver. That's princess close princess. What's the answer to the how two answers number one trust?

Trusting God and Living in the Word

And number two be in the word Faith and the word faith in the word. Those are gonna be my two how answers. So here I am answering the question that I just kind of cynically posed as I was walking across here saying walk.

No. Walk in the spirit. Okay. What I do what I do different you said walk then you stick on in the spirit or you say pray and then you stick On in the spirit. You say confess Jesus is Lord. Then you say in the spirit you say worship.

Then you say in the spirit. What do I do differently? And here's my answer. Here's my how one. Take your stand. This is a this is a mental heart Event inside of you take your stand on the cross on the blood of Jesus on the righteousness of Christ on the Forgiveness of Christ bought by his precious death.

And the reason I start there is because there's where he bought all the answers to your prayer. Every blessing that comes to you comes to you because Jesus died for you. No blessings come to you period zero come to you except what Jesus bought you.

So take your stand there and then look away from yourself and your emptiness and your lack of resources and your sin and your weariness. Look away from yourself to the mercy of God based on that cross.

Flowing to you through the Holy Spirit and trust in it. There's trust. There's the word faith trust in it. So Jesus is the foundation of your trust. God's the origin of your trust coming down. The Holy Spirit is the mediator of this grace.

That's flowing into you and you trust him to be the enabler and the guide of your prayer. Example, I've said it many times. I've written it up a PTA T apt at a PTA T. It's an acronym for admit pray trust act.

Thank here I am sitting beside Sam there half an hour ago, and I got a preach. I got to do that. I got to open my mouth and talk and God says do it. He doesn't say just do it Piper. That's atheistic. He says do it by in the Spirit for my glory be in the Spirit as you do it.

And so I'm sitting there saying okay. How'd you do that? And an apt at means number one. I admit I can't do it without him. I can't preach without God. P. I Pray for enablement and guidance all kinds of prayers just tumbling out of me as I come up here even as I preach.

I pray three. I Trust a promise this morning. I trust what I got from Psalm 2 and Psalm 7 this morning my devotions early had to get up extra early because we had A 630 prayer meeting this morning. So I went and I remember I said I got a lock-in on one of these.

Lord says that's the way my mind works my computer I got this week everybody has a different kind of computer hard drive in your head and Some computers have a real live active RAM and some it's so teeny.

Like mine and I says this is there's so much back there on the hard drive and it's just kind of dead. It's just turned off most of the time and there's a little RAM and and I got to get a new thing new verse on the RAM.

Every morning that's love this illustration. Can you imagine this 15 years ago and my little my little RAM this morning is. How blessed are those? Who take refuge in the Lord's. I'm saying that to myself right here in the seat 30 minutes ago saying Lord I need blessing.

Now. Here's the promise I'm gonna trust this how blessed the blessing of words the blessing of Liberty the blessing of Faithfulness to your word the blessing of a listening audience the blessing of protection from the devil.

The blessing of the moving the spirit to open people's lives. I need this blessing and I hear this is the man who takes refuge in the Lord. I say I'm hiding. I'm hiding. That's what I mean by trust you take a promise and you trust it then you stand up a a PTA act.

That's what I'm doing right now. I'm acting and when I'm done here and I've shaken all these hands and I go home and I eat I'm gonna thank God year after year. You did it again. Thank you. Thank you that I had something to say.

Thank you that they listened to me. Thank you that hundreds. I think got it. Thank you. A PTA t that's the first how the second how is. If he prompts prayers like that as we trust him trust him trust him.

Then the guiding of those prayers is according to his will and the place we find his will is in the Word of God. So In prayer week, we always focus on two things the word and prayer the word in prayer and the word prayer.

That's that's just not a coincidence. It's because if you're if you're in the word saturating your mind with the Bible reading it every morning memorizing a little nugget or something. Fighter verses get these learn these fighter verses.

There's their nugget. There's something for you have a teeny-weeny Ram. This will fit the how is. Trust a promise as you pray that he'll help you. Even though you're a sinner and don't deserve it. That's why you're standing on the cross and the other is immerse yourself in the Bible.

So that your mind is filled with truth and when the Holy Spirit comes To prompt prayer he engages your brain that you have by means of grace Bible reading called Bible reading. He takes that raw material and he shapes prayers out of it.

Praying for the Salvation of Others

So for example, if you are Well, I have five written down I'll just close with one. You Want somebody saved in your life this year? Somebody you love very much son daughter mother dad uncle sister brother friend roommate.

Anybody, you know raise your hand if you know an unbeliever, you'd like to see saved this year now wonderful. Good night. Oh Yes, have we got our work cut out for us? But now what are you gonna do? You're gonna how are you gonna pray that in the spirit answer you go to Romans 10?

1 Where Paul looks out on his kinsmen according to the flesh his Jewish kinsmen all of them doomed if they don't accept Jesus and he says my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they might be Saved and let that take you and say yes Yes.