WWUTT 1278 The Spirit Intercedes for Us in Our Weakness (Romans 8:26-27)

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How could you ever lift up a prayer that is worthy of the God of the universe to listen to you?

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You cannot, but your prayers are heard by God because the Spirit intercedes for us when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible teaching podcast. That we may be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

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Lord. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We continue our study of Romans 8, picking up where we left off yesterday.

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I'm going to start reading here in verse 26 and we'll go through verse 30. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, Likewise the

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Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the

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Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the

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Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

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

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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.

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And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those who be called, He also justified.

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And those whom He justified, He also glorified. Now that particular section of what we're reading today, that which is called the

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Ordo Salutis, the golden chain of redemption, the order of salvation, we probably won't look at that more in depth until next week.

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We'll resume our Roman study on Monday. But for right now, we come back to verse 26, where it says,

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Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. I can't remember if I mentioned this at the start of our study of Romans 8, but the

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Holy Spirit is mentioned 20 times in this chapter. And that's more than any other chapter of the

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Bible. No other chapter mentions the Holy Spirit as often as He is mentioned in Romans 8.

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The Holy Spirit is, of course, mentioned more in Acts than He is mentioned in Romans.

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But as far as a particular chapter that puts a lot of attention on this third person of the

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Trinity, you won't find any other chapter that speaks of the Holy Spirit as much as Romans 8.

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So here we have in this verse, verse 26, Likewise, the

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Spirit helps us in our weakness. Likewise, how? The likewise doesn't necessarily go with the previous verse, where it says,

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But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. The Holy Spirit isn't mentioned there.

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The last time He's mentioned is actually going back up to verse 23. Not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the

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Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

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The firstfruits of the Spirit are those things that we receive upon becoming saved.

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The benefits of God through His Holy Spirit that has been poured into our hearts. Those are referred to as the firstfruits of the

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Spirit. We have more of the Spirit that we are going to gain when we enter into glory. Because remember the contrast that's going on here is the struggles we are going through in the body versus what is going to be revealed to us when we enter glory forever to be with our

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God. So the Spirit has given us His firstfruits that we may endure in these times.

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That we may grow and be strengthened and have hope in those things that we do not see.

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For who hopes for what he sees? We hope for what we do not see as Paul said in the previous verses.

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And we wait for it with patience. All of this according to what the

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Holy Spirit of God has testified to us. We come to know that Jesus Christ is the

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Son of God because of the testimony of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle John talks about this in 1

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John chapter 5 where in verse 9 it says If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater.

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For this is the testimony of God that He is born concerning His Son. And I'm sorry I skipped a section.

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Back to verse 6. This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. Not by the water only, but by the water and the blood.

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And the Spirit is the one who testifies because the Spirit is the truth.

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So God Himself testifies of Himself. We know the

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Son of God through the Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts. We have a relationship with Jesus.

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We have fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. And we also know the Father because the

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Son has revealed this to us. Who is first revealed by the Holy Spirit.

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As Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11, no one knows the

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Son except the Father. And no one knows the Father except the Son. And anyone to whom the

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Son chooses to reveal Him. So we as Christians have this intimacy with God, this fellowship with God.

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We know God because of the Holy Spirit that has been poured into our hearts.

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Those who are Unitarian, meaning that they don't believe that God is Triune. That He is one

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God, three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They don't believe that, but they believe rather God is just simply

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God and not three persons. He is sometimes a Father, sometimes a

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Son, sometimes a Holy Spirit. Or He is referred to in these ways. But they do not believe that He is a

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Triune God. A Unitarian does not know God. Because it has not been revealed to the

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Unitarian by the Holy Spirit that God is three persons in one. It's in 1

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John 2 .22 where it says that whoever denies the Father and the

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Son is an Antichrist. So if you do not recognize that God is one

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God, three persons. Or as James White has said, He is one what and three who's.

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The what of God is God. The who of God is in reference to the persons.

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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So we know, we only get to know God in this way.

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When He is revealed to us by His Spirit. And this is the fellowship and the intimacy that we have with God.

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That doesn't mean that we're going to be able to give a textbook or systematic theology definition of what

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Trinity is. The Trinity is very difficult to explain. And it's so complicated for us to grasp because we are not

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God. We are finite human beings. He is the infinite God. So it's always difficult for us to conceptualize these things about God.

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Especially how He is one God and three persons. Those things are complicated. And they're difficult for us because we're human beings.

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But as it says, and I quoted to you yesterday from 1 John 3 .2. We will see Him as He is because we will be made to be like Him.

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So on that day that we enter into glory, we will understand this concept of Trinity.

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That we have some good creeds and confessions to help us explain the

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Trinity in a way that's not heretical. But we don't fully grasp it.

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We cannot comprehend it until we are with Him in glory. So in the meantime, the

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Holy Spirit testifies to us about these things. We have the first fruits of the Spirit. That we may of course know

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God. We love God. And we love His people. We demonstrate the love of God in our lives.

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These are the first fruits of the Spirit. And with these first fruits of the

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Spirit. Longing for the things of God. And uncomfortable with the things of this world. Longing for spiritual things.

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And never really feeling at home in our own bodies. Therefore, as Paul says in verse 23.

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We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons. The redemption of our bodies.

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We're ready to be set free from our bodies. The souls of the children of God.

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Together with God forever in glory. But then what we also want is the redemption of our bodies.

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So our souls are never meant to be disembodied. Or not to remain that way. They will be united with our bodies in glory when

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Christ returns. And He transforms our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.

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As Paul says in Philippians 3. So in this way, the Spirit gives us hope.

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We have the hope of God poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. And this statement was even made all the way back into chapter 5.

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Where it has that hope does not put us to shame. Because God's love has been poured into our hearts. Through the

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Holy Spirit who has been given to us. And Paul is even expounding upon that idea all the more.

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Here in Romans chapter 8. We've been talking about how those who are in the Spirit are not in the flesh.

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Romans 8, 9. You however are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

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And that same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised

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Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. Through His Spirit who dwells in you.

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All of these ways that we have read about the Spirit ministering to us.

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We go on in verse 14 to read about having received the

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Spirit. Sorry verse 15. We've received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry

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Abba Father. So in all these ways that Paul has talked about the ministry of the

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Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. A believer who is still in his flesh. Still in corrupt flesh living in a corrupt world.

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Yet we are ministered to by the Spirit of God. We don't walk in deadness. But we walk in life.

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The life that has been given to us. The life of Christ poured into our hearts through the Spirit of God.

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So in all these ways that Paul has been talking about. The ministry of the Spirit in these 25 verses of chapter 8.

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The first 25 verses. You get to verse 26 and when he says likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

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He's just opening up another way that we are ministered to by the

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Holy Spirit of God. We are weak. In our bodies we are weak. We cannot see glory.

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We can barely conceive of glory. We can't conceive of it apart from what the

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Word of God says. But even here we have limited knowledge. We're not allowed to see it yet.

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Not until we die. And we go to be with God in glory. So we're hoping for something that we do not see.

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It is a hope that we have that's not a blind faith. We know it's true.

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As I said this to you yesterday. We know what God's Word says is true.

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And so therefore we wait for it with patience. If we didn't believe it was true we wouldn't be waiting for it.

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We wouldn't be patient for it. But we know it's true. We know it's ours for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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And so we endure. And we're able to do so by the ministry of the Spirit.

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We wait for this wonderful redemption. This wonderful glory that is promised to us.

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According to what is said by the Word of God. And by the power of the Spirit that lives within us. So then another way the

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Spirit ministers to us here in verse 26. Is that the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

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We cannot see glory. We cannot see God with our physical eyes. And we feel so weak in that sense.

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That we cannot see God. And sometimes we begin to doubt or we begin to question. Am I really with God?

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There's no way for me to see God. Does he see me? Where is God in the midst of this circumstance?

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Those kinds of questions are fine as long as they don't cause us to despair. Or cause us to blame

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God for something that he is not guilty of. For God is not guilty of anything. Even David in the

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Psalms though. He will say. You know like in Psalm 13. How long oh Lord will you forget me forever?

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So it is alright in those moments. When you are struggling. When you are in despair. To ask those kinds of questions of God.

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But ask them of God. Don't be going out to people and saying. You know you try to justify your doubt by saying something like.

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See doubts are okay. We're supposed to have doubts. Because if we don't have doubts. We're not going to start seeking God. Well James chapter 1 says.

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The one who doubts when he asks of God. Is a double -minded man who doesn't expect to receive anything from God.

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So we cannot come to God with a doubting. That causes us to question.

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Whether or not God is really going to do what he says. Because as we come back to that Psalm.

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Psalm 13. Yes David says. How long oh Lord will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

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How long must I take counsel in my soul? And have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

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He asked these questions of God. It sounds like doubt right? Well he's taking it to God.

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So it can't really be doubt. How would he be doubting that God is there. If he's talking to God.

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If he's talking to God. He doesn't doubt that he is there. He doesn't understand his circumstance.

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He doesn't understand why he's going through this. And he's looking for God in the circumstance.

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Doesn't mean that he doesn't think God is there. It's just how is God working in the midst of this.

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So how long oh Lord will you forget me forever? The way this Psalm concludes. Psalm 13.

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Is David saying. But I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

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I will sing to the Lord. Because he has dealt bountifully with me. Even in those moments of uncertainty.

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David still has a certainty. He's still certain that the Lord is with him and will deliver him.

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Because he has dealt bountifully with me. God will not forget me. He is with me.

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I will sing to the Lord. David trusted in what God had said to him.

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And how do we know what God has said to us? It's right here in the Bible. You put your faith and your trust in these things.

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That God has spoken to us through. His prophets and his apostles. And then we are certain

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God has dealt bountifully with us. And he is with us even in the midst of these circumstances. Though I might be wondering how he's working in the midst of this.

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He is still here. Don't start trying to justify doubts as being something that's good to have.

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Because again James chapter 1 says. That the person who doubts is a double -minded person.

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Who should not expect to ever receive anything from God. Stephen Furtick has preached on how doubts are good things.

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Rachel Held Evans. Before she died. One of the last tweets that she made.

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Was saying something to the effect of wondering if all of this was even real at all. How could she be sure of salvation?

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How could she even know that salvation is in Christ? And that on the day of her death when she appears before God.

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That she would be saved from the judgment of God. If she doesn't even really believe that God is there.

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How could she know what salvation is if she doesn't know God? These things must be a certainty to us.

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And they are certain because of the word. Now I know that in our limitedness. In our finiteness.

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We're weak. We're weak to perceive these things and understand these things. And this is why this statement in verse 26 is so important.

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The spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought.

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But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

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Think about this. God is the creator of the universe. The creator of time and space.

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The creator of all things. Go outside. Look at the stars at night. God made all of that.

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The vast reaches of the universe. So far into space your eyes can't see it.

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Nor does the light of our sun even reach it. God has created this expansive universe in which we dwell.

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He is even bigger than that. So how can you, a tiny little peon of a person here on planet

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Earth, expect that your prayers would ever be heard by a God so big? Why would he even care?

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Right? How can you, a sinful person, an evil person, as God even calls his own disciples in Matthew chapter 7, you are evil.

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So how can you, an evil person who has sin in your heart, nothing but rebellion against God from the moment of your birth, how can you expect that your prayers would ever be heard by this

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God who is so holy and is the creator of all things? It's ridiculous of us to think that we are worthy of being heard by God.

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We're not. We're nothing. We are nothing compared to God. And yet he does care for us.

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Yet he does hear our prayers. And how are our prayers taken before God?

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We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one, as John talks about, and the

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Spirit intercedes for us. As said here, Romans 8 .26, the

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Spirit helps us in our weakness, in our struggles, in our fleshliness, certainly, but even in our weakness compared to God.

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For we do not know what to pray for as we ought. How can we ever lift up a prayer that is worthy of the

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God who is holy and created all things? How could we ever lift up a prayer that is worthy of his praise?

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Yet the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the

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Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

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The Spirit intercedes for us, Christians, believers, those who are being sanctified, those who are justified, those who are adopted sons and daughters of God, who are the recipients of this promise, who are inheritors of eternal life, who are fellow heirs with Christ of his kingdom.

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The Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God.

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Our prayers are heard by God by his will and not ours.

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And that's how you can know that your prayers are heard by God.

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Not because you were actually able to pray something that God goes, wow, I'm impressed with that. That was a good prayer.

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That's not how our prayers are heard by God. It's not by works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.

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As it says in Titus 3 .5, God loves you and has come to you in the person of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins, who rose again from the grave, who ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God.

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As it says in 1 Timothy 3 .5, there is one mediator between God and man, and that is the man

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Christ Jesus. He is mediating for us before the

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Father. He is our advocate before the Father, which means that Jesus is speaking favorably of us before the

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Father. And the Spirit intercedes for us. The Spirit speaks for us to the

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Son, to the Father. With groanings too deep for words. This is not a reference to speaking in tongues.

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It's just talking about how we groan inwardly, because remember that was the word earlier. We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons.

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And these groanings are too deep for words. We would not even be able to put our spiritual longings into physical words.

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But the Spirit intercedes for us in those deep places as we long for the kingdom of God.

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And he who searches hearts, that is God, knows what is the mind of the

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Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. It's in 1

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Corinthians 2 .10 where it says, These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

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For who knows a person's thoughts except the Spirit of that person which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the

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Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

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And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

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Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word which is spiritual, and our ability to understand your

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Word is by the Spirit of God that dwells within us. To know that we are praying right now, a prayer that is heard by God, is made worthy of your ears by the

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Holy Spirit who intercedes for us. And in this we are reminded over and over again just how good you are to us.

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You are good to create us. You are good to send your Son to die for us, to redeem us.

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You are good to give your Spirit to us, who dwells within us. And then you are good that as you have justified us, you are also sanctifying us by the

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Spirit who is within us, that we may discern spiritual things, and we may aspire to the way of Christ, to godliness, and to your glory when we enter into that fellowship with you forever on the other side of this life.

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Keep us steadfast now as we walk as your children in this world, the already but the not yet, until we attain that yet, the redemption of our bodies, the dwelling forever with you in your perfect kingdom.

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May we love Christ today and aspire in His way. In Jesus' name we pray.

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Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .tt .com