Sunday Sermon: The Spirit's Intercession for Us (Romans 8:26-27)

You're listening to the preaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on this podcast we feature teaching through a New Testament book, an

Old Testament book on Thursday and our Q &A on Friday. Each Sunday we are pleased to present our sermon series.

Here is Pastor Gabe. This morning we're in Romans chapter 8 and we're just looking at two verses today.

I'm saving that precious Romans 8 28 for its own sermon. We're going to be looking at verses 26 and 27 today, but to keep it in context,

I will read through verse 30 in honor of the word of the king. Would you please stand? This is

Romans chapter 8 beginning in verse 26. Hear the word of the

Lord. 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.

And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom he predestined, he also called and those whom he called, he also justified and those whom he justified, he also glorified.

You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly father, we come to this passage today, desiring to be taught by guided by your spirit.

We've read so much about the Holy Spirit of God thus far in Romans chapter eight.

And we desire to learn more about this ministry of the spirit. It reminds to us that you are with us.

We're not just praying to God who is out there in the heavens somewhere, or you're on the far reaches of the end of the universe.

And we're just kind of hoping that our prayer gets past the ceiling somehow. You are with us now.

You have been with us today in our worship and in our communing with one another and with the

God who saves us. And so Lord, even as we listen to the teaching of your word, let our hearts be

Christ word. That we think of the precious things of our savior and our

God who sits enthroned over all things. It is the spirit who brings us to the throne.

Christ who brings us to God and Lord in all of these things that we see all the more the triune nature of who you are, father, son, and Holy spirit working on our behalf that we might be saved and with you forever in glory.

Teach us more from your word in your spirit. We understand spiritual truths.

It's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. As brother Allen read to us this morning from revelation chapter one, you might've caught a part there where it says from the apostle

John, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. We have numerous occasions throughout the scriptures where it will be said that a man of God was in the spirit when

God directed Moses to take Joshua to himself. Numbers 27, 18, he says, take

Joshua, the son of man, the son of none, a man in whom is the

Holy spirit. Judges chapter six, verse 34, we read of Gideon who was going to be that judge that would lead

Gideon's 300 against the Midianites. And it says the spirit of the Lord clothed

Gideon in verse Samuel, 1613 when the prophet

Samuel came into the home of Jesse and was to anoint the next king who would succeed

Saul because the spirit of the Lord was no longer with Saul, Samuel anointed

David and verse 13 says the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David and was with him then from that day forward in Ezekiel chapter two,

God spoke to Israel, to Ezekiel rather, and Ezekiel in hearing the word of God, the spirit entered into me, he says, and set me on my feet.

We see this continuing work of the spirit of God upon his people, strengthening, guiding, enlightening.

There are so many things that the spirit does for us. We're going to look at a few of those things today, even as we go through these two verses, but I want to say to you that this, this is not an exhaustive study.

We won't get to the end of this understanding everything that the spirit does for us, but may it help you to understand a little bit more about that work of the third person of the

Trinity and what God does do on our behalf. The Holy spirit is oftentimes the lesser thought of, of the three persons.

We might even think of the father being greater and the son is, you know, a little bit less than the father, but greater than the spirit. And then the spirit is even less than they, but they all share the same divine attributes of God, three persons in one

God. And it is the spirit himself, that person that proceeds from the father and the son to us that we may commune with God, with his presence, even inside of us, the

Holy spirit, which each and every one of us, each and every follower of Jesus Christ has.

And so let us consider these things further as we look at this passage today. Now I'm reading two verses, but I have divided this into three parts as is typically my case.

Part one, we're going to consider the spirits helping the Holy spirit helps us in our weaknesses, which we read of here in the first half of verse 26.

Secondly, we read of the spirits groaning. What does that mean? The spirit interceding for us at a depth that we do not understand.

That's the second half of verse 26. And then thirdly, verse 27, where we read of the spirits searching the

Holy spirit searches our mind, but not just our mind, the mind of God as well, that we may know the thoughts of the mind of God, spiritual truths that are being revealed to us through the spirit that lives within us.

So again, the spirits helping will be part one, the spirits groaning is part two.

And then thirdly, considering the spirits searching, let's come back to verse 26.

As we study these two verses this morning, what is the very first word that you have in your

Bible there in verse 26 for or likewise, likewise.

So everything else that we have read about the spirit here, we are reading also in verse 26, but consider the context.

So what did we just read last week? Look at, look back at verses 24 and 25 for in this hope we were saved.

Now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees. But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Paul taught us through the spirit last week of the salvation that we have, the eternal life that has been promised to us for all who are in Christ Jesus.

And that promise of eternal life would be enough to sustain you.

To know that this, this, that I'm going through now, whatever I experienced here on this earth, this is for a limited time.

We read in second Corinthians, the Paul, the apostle Paul talking about how we grown in this tent for a little while, but this tent will be no more until we inhabit our glorious dwelling that has been promised us above with God.

And so we have that hope. We have that promise. It sustains us. We keep our gaze toward Christ.

We have minds that are fixed upon the eternal Jesus saying in the sermon on the

Mount in Matthew chapter six, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the things that we need on earth will be added to us as well.

And then Colossians chapter three, where Paul encourages that we would have minds that are set on heavenly things, not on earthly things.

So the promise of eternity would be enough to sustain us. But Paul doesn't just leave it at that.

So when we get to verse 26 and we hear likewise, there's something else that sustains us also.

Not just simply a promise of a distant glorious future, which is certainly beautiful, certainly wonderful to behold, but it's not just left at the promise.

It's also the work of the spirit that we may hold onto these truths, hold steadfast to these things and long for that glory that awaits.

It's not left to us in our power, in our strength to just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and sustain ourselves in this promise.

It is the spirit that holds us fast to it. It is the spirit who continues to minister to us in the hope of that promise.

And so likewise, we have the promise. Likewise, we have the spirit.

The spirit helps us in our weaknesses.

Now what do we mean by weaknesses? Surely in your mind, as you read that word, there may be things for you personally that you think of that fill in that blank.

Well, I struggle with this. And so the Holy Spirit helps me in this way.

More directly, the word is best translated infirmities. So it's not just a place where we are weak that we need strengthened, but a place where we are actually quite deficient.

We would not be able to accomplish anything in and of our own power. It is the

Holy Spirit who meets us in that place and strengthens us where we have none.

And we would never be able to have none. There isn't a spiritual gym that we can go to, and if we just work out enough, then we will gain the strength that we can therefore just overcome those weaknesses of ours.

We would never be able to overcome them without that ministerial work of the Spirit. So this is where every person is deficient.

Every person has an infirmity that in our limitations as human beings, even struggling with sin while we're on this side of glory, we would never be able to overcome it without the work of the

Spirit. The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses.

In what ways? In what ways does the Spirit help?

I was thinking about this this week, and I came up with 10. And like I said in the beginning, this is not an exhaustive study, so we could add more to this list than just these.

But I figured I had to have a cutoff point somewhere. So here are 10 ways that you might consider that the

Holy Spirit helps us. And this is in addition to what we're reading here. We're reading how the Spirit intercedes for us.

What other ways might the Holy Spirit help us in our weaknesses? Well, number one, I think, should be obvious.

He gives us strength. If we're weak, then what do we need?

We need strength. In Ephesians 3 .16, the Apostle Paul praying for the church in Ephesus said,

According to the riches of His glory, He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

The strength that we have to believe, to endure, to be strong when it seems like we would not be able to hold on.

This is the work of the Spirit that is in our hearts. You know of 2 Timothy 1, where the

Apostle Paul told Timothy that we've been given not a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self -control.

We are reminded even in love of what God has done for us through that ministry of the

Spirit that is going on in our hearts, in the lives of every believer. When you go through a difficult trial and Scripture comes to your mind, you remember a promise of God that He has given to you that makes you more hopeful even in the midst of this trial.

That's a ministry work of the Spirit. That He reminds you of the words of God.

There are many who in their thoughts will think that, well, if I've had this thought, then it must have come from the

Holy Spirit. Well, how do you discern between the thought that you have that's in your voice and the thought that you have that may be in the

Holy Spirit's voice? The Holy Spirit certainly shapes our conscience so that we may make informed decisions that we know are pleasing and honorable to God.

And when we make those decisions, a conviction may keep us from going the wrong way. A conviction can set us to going in the right direction, and those convictions can have been trained and formed and shaped and guided by the

Holy Spirit. We have to be careful about those thoughts that we may think, well, if I had it, it's got to be the

Spirit of God. It's not just the devil that deceives us, but even our own flesh.

And so beware that our thoughts, our minds, and our actions would all be shaped according to the

Spirit who reveals spiritual truths to us through the Word. It's through the scriptures that we are reading even here this morning that we are able to know and discern and understand the mind of God.

So first of all, the Holy Spirit gives us strength. Secondly, first of all, giving us strength is not necessarily the first in order that the

Spirit may give to us. I mention that one first because it's just the obvious response to how does the

Holy Spirit help us in our weakness? Well, first of all, He gives us strength. What's the second one? Let's go back to the very beginning of our salvation.

What is the first thing that the Holy Spirit does for us? He regenerates us and gives us life.

The Spirit was working through the Word of the gospel that you heard and regenerated our hearts that we may hear it and believe it and understand it.

Changing our stone -cold, hard, hardened hearts into something that was receptive to the

Word of God where previously we were resistant to it. As we read in Titus 3 .5,

He saves us, not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to His own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit. And remember what Jesus talked about with Nicodemus in John 3 concerning the work of the

Spirit. He says to Nicodemus, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The Spirit moves as He wills.

And who can know the work of the Spirit? Jesus gives an illustration with the wind.

Just as you don't know where the wind comes from or where it goes, so it is with the work of the Spirit.

How can we know and how can we understand and discern this working of the Spirit in such a way? I didn't feel

Him before and I'm not even so sure that I feel Him right now but somehow He's working and He's worked that I would believe and that I would even be sustained in that belief.

That work of regeneration that the Holy Spirit did on our hearts, that we may come to salvation.

I did a debate a few years ago with Leighton Flowers who started a channel called

Soteriology101 on YouTube. It's better titled Anti -Calvinism 101.

He doesn't really go through Soteriology, he just wants to disprove Calvinism. But we did a debate on John 6.

That was the debate that we did. Understanding specifically John 6 .44

and how it is only those whom God has drawn to Himself that come to Jesus Christ in faith.

But he took it back to John 3 and was asking questions with regards to being born again.

And he tried to equate being given life in the Spirit with having eternal life.

Which if you look at those things in context in the Scripture, they're not the same thing. You have to understand how life is used in context with being given life in the

Spirit and then the promise of eternal life is a different thing in context. But anyway, not to go into all of that.

But when he asked me, how does this work then? The Holy Spirit regenerating you and giving you life before you have eternal life?

I said, I don't know. And he used that answer and thought he won the debate there.

And when the debate was over, clipped that part and put it on his website. Look, Gabe dropped the debate.

He answered, I don't know. He appealed to mystery and he did not have an answer for my question.

And I felt kind of sorry for him because I said, I actually gave the answer that Jesus gave to Nicodemus.

Not that Jesus said, I don't know. But Jesus simply said to Nicodemus that the work of the

Spirit is mysterious. How do we know how the Spirit works? Who knows?

Why is it that God chose me for salvation, but not my brother? At least not yet.

I don't know. Why does God show mercy to one and not another?

Why does the Spirit move in one but not another person? I don't know. And who can discern the work of the

Spirit? That is working mysteriously in all of us. My friends, he's working in me this morning in one way and he's working in you in another.

He's been working in my life in very specific ways. And he may be working in your life in different ways.

But it's still the same Spirit as the Apostle Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter 4. The same

Holy Spirit that is in all of us. Working and moving for our benefit and to God's glory.

It is the Holy Spirit who regenerates us and gives us life. A third way that the

Holy Spirit helps us. He empowers us to turn from sin, to resist temptation, and to live righteously.

We've already read here in Romans chapter 8 about setting the mind on the things of the

Spirit. We read also in Galatians chapter 5 verse 16, Paul says, I say walk by the

Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Those things are contrary to each other.

You cannot be in the Spirit and in your flesh. So you're either walking after your Spirit or walking after the

Holy Spirit or you're walking after the desires of your flesh. If you remember Psalm 51, where David prays in Psalm 51, restore unto me the joy of your salvation.

Remember those words. David had just fallen into serious sin, committed adultery with his neighbor's wife, had his neighbor killed to try to cover it up, was called out by Nathan, and now realized standing before God what he was guilty of and that he deserved death.

And in his prayer of repentance, that's what we have in Psalm 51. It's in that prayer that he says, restore to me the joy of your salvation.

Because when David falls into that moment of sin, and that sin plays out into other sins.

Like this wasn't a momentary thing. David got his pleasures and then suddenly his flesh being satisfied, guilt starts to sink in.

He was continuing in this wickedness. One sin turned into another sin that turned into more sins.

And David was in this place because he had forgotten the joy of salvation.

And when the salvation that we have is not good enough for us, what do we turn to? We turn to have our flesh satisfied.

We've taken our eyes off Christ. We failed to remember the good things that God has done for us in Christ.

And we think that we can find whatever thing that we have convinced ourselves that we lack.

We can find it in the world or in the pleasures of our flesh. But it is the

Holy Spirit who convicts us. It was the Holy Spirit who convicted David in that moment when Nathan confronts him and he recognizes the wickedness that he's just done and the death that he deserves because of it.

That in itself was a convicting work of the Spirit. And the Spirit empowered him to turn from sin and resist temptation.

Hence why David also prays, "...create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me.

Take not your Holy Spirit from me." And then motivates

David from that point forward to live righteously. At the end of Psalm 51, David says, "...then

I will teach transgressors your ways. I will go on to live in righteousness and tell them of the

God of grace who redeems and restores." Thomas Brooks in his book, hang on,

I'm trying to remember the title of it, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. This is going to be our book of the month in the month of December, by the way.

Thomas Brooks said the following, "...Repentance is a flower which does not grow in nature's garden.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil."

Jeremiah 13 .23. Brooks says, "...Repentance is a gift that comes down from above.

Men are not born with repentance in their hearts as they are born with tongues in their mouths."

We are not automatically inclined to conviction and repentance. That is the work of the

Holy Spirit in us. So that's one way that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. You would not under your own power decide to turn from your sin to righteousness if not for that work of the

Spirit in us. A fourth way that the Holy Spirit works for us, helps us, number four,

He comforts and encourages us in our afflictions and our sorrows.

Remember that when Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to the disciples in that upper room discourse in John 13 -17, another word that helper can be translated as comforter.

In some translations it says, I will give you the helper. John 14 -16, 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.

You know that He dwells in you and will be with you. Another way that helper can be translated is from the

Greek word paraclete and it can also be translated as comforter. So the

Spirit comforts us even in our struggles and trials and even in the things that face us even if you haven't stepped into that complication yet.

The Spirit can comfort you even before that comes upon you. It's just to say that you know that one day you're going to die.

You may get sick and die. Your end may not come comfortably for you.

And yet knowing that one day that I'm going to die, you can still look at that day with hope because the

Spirit even comforts you before you get to that day. So the

Holy Spirit is our comforter in all of our afflictions and all of our sorrows.

We'll consider that further as we go with the Holy Spirit interceding for us with groanings too deep for words.

Number five, a fifth way that the Spirit helps us. He guides us when we do not know which way to go.

Still in the Upper Room Discourse, John 16, 13, when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

I've shared with you many times before in my own testimony, stupid things that I did when I was in college.

I'm now out from under my parents' roof, I'm out of my own, I can make my own decisions and I got it into my flesh that I wanted to experience and explore some things that previously my parents would not allow me to do.

But even though I got stupid in those moments, I never went as far as I could have gone.

Because even when I would indulge in the passions of my flesh, there was still something nagging at my conscience that would not let me go further.

And it was remembering those guardrails that my parents put around me and raising me up in the truth of the scriptures and the hope of the gospel.

And so that when I realize I'm doing something, suddenly it comes into my mind, I'm rebelling against God. There's just this sickness that would afflict me on the inside.

I can't describe it other than, you know, if you've experienced before, you understand what I'm talking about.

And it just made me feel sick to continue forward with this. I can't go on. And I may not have even understood it in the moment, but my friends, this was

God holding on to me and not letting me go too far from Him.

This was His Holy Spirit reminding me, you know the truth, what are you doing?

And the Holy Spirit guiding me into truth, even when I was walking away from it.

So the Holy Spirit works in that way for us that we may know the right way to go, even when we think we know better.

We read over and over in the book of Proverbs, there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it's the way of what?

Death. And every man thinks that he is right in his own eyes, but it is the

Holy Spirit that guides us into what is right in God's eyes. And that is a work that He continues to do in our hearts even now.

Number six, the Holy Spirit helps us in our worship.

Did you feel this morning when you were worshiping, when you were singing songs with melodies that you didn't recognize?

Did you still feel like the words that were there and what you said or sang was lifted up to the

Lord? How do our praises and prayers get there?

It's by the work of the Spirit. He helps us in our worship, furthermore, motivating us to glorify

Christ. I read to you in the last one, John 16, 13, let me just go to the next verse, verse 14.

Jesus says of the Spirit, He will glorify me for He will take what is mine and declare it to you.

So as the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ, so also in that help that He gives to us,

He helps us to glorify Christ in a way that is pleasing and honorable to God. Let me read from Thomas Brooks again.

He said the following, quote, Never let go out of your minds the thoughts of a crucified

Christ. Let these be food and drink unto you. Let them be your sweetness and consolation, your honey and your desire, your reading and your meditation, your life and your death and your resurrection.

And how do the promises of God become that for us? There is some incredible transference that happens by the work of the

Spirit that they go from being mere words on a page to glorious promises that we cherish in our hearts.

And that is a work of the Holy Spirit of God. Number seven, the

Holy Spirit helps us in that He sanctifies and produces in us

Christlike character. Romans 15, 16, when we get there,

Paul makes a reference to us being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. And even as we've read these thoughts in context this morning here in Romans chapter eight, we read of that golden chain of redemption we're going to get to in a few weeks.

Those whom he predestined, he also called those whom he called. He also justified those whom he justified.

He also glorified. We see this continuing work of God all the way to our glorification as the

Holy Spirit sanctifies and produces in us a Christlike character preparing us for glory.

Number eight, the eighth thing the Spirit helps us in is that He reminds us of who we are when we feel weak and condemned.

How did we open Romans chapter eight? There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Do you feel that every day? There are probably days you wake up and you do feel condemned.

There are probably days that you wake up and this is going to be a good day and somewhere along the day you felt condemned.

Somebody said some word to you. Somebody neglected you. Somebody rejected you, criticized you and in the midst of that you stumble and you start feeling condemned.

But the Holy Spirit reminds us and as we will see even as we continue in Romans chapter eight, no matter what man does to us, we will never be taken away from the love of Christ.

We are sustained in this and reminded that there is no condemnation by the

Spirit's ministry to us. Romans 8 .16 as we read previously, the Spirit Himself also bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

You don't have to forget whose child you are with the reminders that we receive from the

Spirit. Number nine, a ninth way that the Spirit helps us. He equips us with spiritual gifts.

We read in 1 Corinthians 12 .7, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

And then verse 11, all of these are empowered by one and the same Spirit. Now I want you to take note of something.

We're going to talk about spiritual gifts when we get to Romans chapter 12, for that's where they're listed in this letter in particular.

There are no spiritual gifts in the book of Romans that we would perceive of as being miraculous.

So oftentimes whenever we talk about the spiritual gifts, what do we talk about? Spiritual gifts.

Speaking in tongues, you know, healing the sick, raising the dead. Something that's like this supernatural manifestation.

I want to be able to perform miracles. That's what people want whenever we get into these discussions or conversations about works of the

Holy Spirit, giftings of the Spirit. In the book of Romans, there are no spiritual gifts that are mentioned that would be perceived as miraculous.

Now someone may argue, Romans 12, well it says that He gives the Spirit a prophecy. I would say there that even with regards to prophecy, that doesn't necessarily mean a miraculous prophesying of some future event.

I'm prophesying to you right now, am I not? And I would hope that I'm doing so in the

Spirit and not in the flesh of Gabe Hughes. That is a testimony of prophecy.

It doesn't have to be a foretelling of future events, it can be the foretelling of God's word to God's people.

And yet even though we don't have miraculous spiritual gifts listed in the book of Romans, we certainly have spiritual gifts that we are given by the

Spirit of God. And in this way, the Holy Spirit equips us with these things, that we may be of service to the body, that we may help one another and build each other up in love in that common

Holy Spirit that we all have. And then finally, number 10, a 10th way that the

Spirit helps us is He secures us for heaven. We read last week in verse 23,

Not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

That eager longing that you have in your heart is the moving of the Spirit of God.

And I want to make a point about this. The Holy Spirit doesn't believe on your behalf.

So even when we talked about regeneration and the gifting of faith that God has given to us, where previously we could not believe, but now that we do, it's not that God enters into us and believes for us.

But there is a cooperation that happens here. It is the Spirit working with our spirit, just as Paul had said in the verses previously, reminding us that we are the children of God.

And so He doesn't do all of these things for us, even to the sense that He would believe for us when we are incapable of belief, but cooperating with our weak spirits that we may have strength to understand

God and His work for us. Ephesians 1, 13 to 14, the

Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.

He prepares us and secures us for heaven. So like I said, these are 10 things that the

Holy Spirit does for us or helps us, rather. It's not an exhaustive list, but it is some of those main things that we can see in the work of the

Spirit in each one of our lives. He gives us strength. He regenerates us and gives us life. He empowers us to turn from sin, resist temptation, and live righteously.

He comforts and encourages us in our afflictions and sorrows. He guides us when we do not know the way to go.

He helps us in our worship, motivating us to glorify Christ. He sanctifies us and produces in us

Christlike character. He reminds us of who we are when we feel weak and condemned.

He equips us with spiritual gifts that we may be of service to God and to one another.

And He secures us for heaven, even reminding us of the glorious promise that awaits in Christ Jesus.

And so, once again, as we read here in Romans 8, 26, likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

Now, in the second part, we read of the Spirit's groaning. This is the second half of verse 26.

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.

Now, let me cut to the chase on this one. There are many who will argue that this passage is an apologetic for speaking in tongues.

And when they say speaking in tongues, they don't mean the ability, as we see it in Acts chapter 2, of speaking another language that you previously did not know.

The supernatural, miraculous work in the apostles to speak to other people in other tongues so that they may hear the gospel and the testimonies of God, languages that the apostles did not previously know.

And everybody saw this manifestation and they immediately recognized it as something miraculous because how could these ordinary

Galilean men know so many languages? That's not the way they define speaking in tongues.

They define it as, I thought I bought a Kia, but I bought a Honda, you know. The muttering of gibberish nonsense, although I actually said,

I thought I bought a Kia, but I bought a Honda. So there's my translation of speaking in tongues for you.

So they'll take that muttering gibberish and they'll call that speaking in tongues. That is not what the scriptures revealed to us that speaking in tongues is.

But in making an argument for that, like why can't the Spirit empower me to say something that would otherwise be nonsensical?

If this verse, verse 26 says that the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words, you're ripping that verse out of context because nothing has been set up here in this passage to argue for that.

That's not what's being said here. What is being said here? Let me encourage you in this brethren.

Have you ever prayed a prayer that you think was worthy of the

Holy God who created the universe? And if you think you have, repent.

Do you think any of our words are ever worthy of God? When I prayed this morning ahead of the sermon,

I said, God, help our prayers get past the ceiling. How does that happen? Only by the

Spirit's work. King Solomon stood in front of the temple that had been built to God's glory and honor.

And he said, this, this building is not even worthy of your presence. The highest heaven cannot contain you.

So how much less this building that our hands have made. And yet he's asking that God's blessing would be upon this people and that he would come and dwell with them.

And so he did. And my friends, our prayers are not worthy to get to the highest heaven.

Nothing in our human weakness can get our prayers past. You know, if somebody was hovering up there a thousand feet in the air, they probably wouldn't be able to hear you.

Our prayers get to God by the Holy Spirit interceding for us.

And furthermore, wherever our words were deficient and not worthy of God, the

Holy Spirit makes them worthy. And when you get to the end of your prayer, if you've ever thought, did

I say all the things that I needed to say? What is this in my heart? And how do

I articulate it? Wherever you were weak to say the things to God that you needed to say, the

Spirit has you covered. And it is the

Holy Spirit who brings our weak, puny little prayer offerings to God and makes them great.

And God loves our words. And he receives them.

Don't ever hear me say this and think to yourself, oh, my prayers just aren't worthy enough.

That's the Spirit that makes that work. Don't ever neglect to bring your requests to God.

The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, the instruction we have there in Philippians chapter 4, with thanksgiving, make your requests be made known to God.

We lift our supplications up to the Lord, and the

Spirit will intercede for us before the throne. You can't physically get there, but the

Holy Spirit gets you there. The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings, with utterances that are too deep for words.

We may not even be able to form or fashion the words ourselves. Furthermore, we would not be able to know what it was the

Spirit even said on our behalf. Someday my friends, we'll step into eternity, and then when that veil is lifted and we are there, then we will get a much clearer picture, a much better idea, what was this process like that I couldn't make happen, but the

Holy Spirit did for me. But, in the meantime, as Paul said, we hope for what we do not see, and we wait for it with patience.

And that, too, is the work of the Spirit. Finally, verse 27, the

Apostle Paul says, he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the

Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. I had much more that I had written on this, and I'm not going to get to it this morning, but maybe a discussion for another time.

Let me just say very matter -of -factly here that the only one in the

Bible who is said to be able to read your mind and your heart is God. No one else in the

Bible can read your thoughts and discern what you are desiring.

Not even Satan. And these questions come up a lot. You know, I've had people ask me, do angels and demons, you know, can they read my thoughts?

No, because to read thoughts requires omnipresence, and only

God has that. Satan actually isn't everywhere all the time. But God is.

And only He is described as reading and knowing our minds and our thoughts. Psalm 139 .1,

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know a word before it's even on my tongue.

Jeremiah 17 .10, I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

Revelation 2 .23, I am He who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

Jesus doesn't say, I'm one of the ones who searches mind and heart. He is the one who searches mind and heart and renders to each person even according to their thoughts and to their actions.

We might think in our sinful desires that Satan has somehow infiltrated us and read our thoughts and led us in a particular way.

But James 1 .14 says each person is tempted when he is lured in and enticed by what?

His own desire. Don't blame God. You can't even blame

Satan for the wicked, evil thoughts that we have. But the

Holy Spirit, as we've mentioned, works to convict our hearts and lead us into truth.

He searches our hearts. He knows what is the mind of the

Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. As the Apostle Paul talks about in 1

Corinthians 2, these spiritual things that we have beheld and considered this morning, you know them and are able to believe in them and walk in them because they are spiritual truths that have been discerned for you to you by the

Holy Spirit of God. First Corinthians 2 .14, the naturally minded man cannot understand spiritual things because they are spiritually discerned.

But my brethren, we have these things that we have heard this morning and considered regarding the work of the

Spirit because we have the Spirit. And you can understand what we have considered.

You can apply and live in this because it is the Holy Spirit who has interceded on your behalf.

We've considered this morning the Spirit's helping. We've considered the Spirit's groaning. We've considered the

Spirit's searching. And in closing, let me read to you these words from Thomas Brooks, again from his

Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. He says this, For a close, remember this, that your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure, therefore faint not.

Hold on and hold up in ways of well -doing, and heaven shall make amends for all.

Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. He rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven. He is seated at God's right hand where He intercedes for us.

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us. The Son of God intercedes for us before the Father.

Jesus is coming back again to judge the living and the dead. And for us, that is a day that we look forward to.

We do not dread because we have the Holy Spirit of God. Because He ministers to us.

And until that day that we join God forever in glory, we have this hope and promise that Jesus, who has sent

His Spirit to intercede for us, is holding on to us until the end.

In 1 Corinthians 1 .18, it says that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

How is that? By His Holy Spirit. You've been listening to the preaching of Pastor Gabriel Hughes, a presentation of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

For more information about our church, visit our website at ProvidenceCasaGrande .com. On behalf of our church family, my name is

Becky, thanking you for listening. Join us again Monday for more Bible study, when we understand the text.