Charles Spurgeon once preached what in his judgment was one of his poorest sermons. He stammered and floundered, and when he got through felt that it had been a complete failure. He was greatly humiliated, and when he got home he fell on his knees and said, "Lord, God, thou canst do something with nothing. Bless that poor sermon.”
And all through the week he would utter that prayer. He would wake up in the night and pray about it. He determined that the next Sunday he would redeem himself by preaching a great sermon. Sure enough, the next Sunday the sermon went off beautifully. At the close, the people crowded about him and covered him with praise. Spurgeon went home pleased with himself, and that night he slept like a baby.
But he said to himself, "I’ll watch the results of those two sermons." What were they? From the one that had seemed a failure he was able to trace forty-one conversions. And from that magnificent sermon he was unable to discover that a single soul was saved. Spurgeon’s explanation was that the Spirit of God used the one and did not use the other. We can do nothing without the Spirit who "helpeth our infirmities" (Rom. 8:26).
I can relate to Charles Spurgeon. There have been a handful of times that I have had those same thoughts about sermons that in my opinion was a failure. I stumbled, I failed, and I thought it had fallen short in every way. Almost every single time, those are the sermons that have someone contact me sometime that week and tell me about how the Spirit used my paltry words to do some life-giving work in them. Those sermons keep me humble, because through those times I am reminded that even when I say things in the worst possible way, it is not me that is working in your hearts, it is the Spirit, and He works in my weakness and failures even better than in my strength.
Today’s Scripture comes from Romans 8:26-27, a great passage about one of the roles of the Spirit that is of great comfort and joy to those who are in Christ. Join me in your Bible to read what Paul wrote to the church, “Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (NASB)
This passage is in two basic sections, which I’ve outlined for you in your bulletins. The first section in verse 26 is about our failings, our shortcomings, and the second section also in verse 26 and in verse 27 is about what the Spirit does for us in light of our failings.
Paul says, “Now in the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness;”. Are you weak? We all are. We all have moments of weakness, even as we grow in the Lord’s strength. Paul’s talk about weakness here covers a few things, which is great, because we are often weak in many different ways.
Weakness here can talk about a spiritual infirmity. Spiritual infirmities aren’t something we talk about a lot, but they do exist, and we are wise to be aware of them. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our struggle so often is not with flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of darkness in the heavenly realms. They can include demon possession, though we don’t seem to be as aware of that as Christians in other parts of the world are. There are times that spiritual attacks do have physical consequences. We do have examples of this in the Bible, Job is one that comes to mind, when Satan was allowed to physically afflict Job with boils, not because Job had done anything wrong or was sinful in any way, but because Satan had been given dominion over this earth and our physical bodies fall into that category. Sometimes spiritual attacks result in physical weaknesses, not always, but sometimes. These kinds of spiritual infirmities always seem to have no medical or surgical solutions, spiritual warfare is needed, like in the case of the woman who had had an issue of bleeding for 12 years that the doctors and physicians couldn’t do anything about.
But spiritual infirmities take another form, one that we’re probably more familiar and experienced with. These look like this: unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, lust, addictions…all of these can be spiritual infirmities, spiritual sicknesses that also can have physical consequences but are rooted in the human’s spiritual weakness. These are spiritual weaknesses that we can’t get around in our own human strength, and these weaknesses require something spiritual to intervene.
Paul’s “weakness” term can also include those carrying a heavy BURDEN. Spiritual burdens are different than burdens of the world. Burdens of the world have the purpose of just making us feel oppressed and stressed and defeated. Things like worrying about what will happen tomorrow, what will come of our work, what will be the result if we do x, y, or z, all of these are burdens of the world. Burdens like having money, having a job, having comfort, these are all burdens of the world, and they all only work to distract us from Kingdom work.
Spiritual burdens are burdens that cause us to work, intercede, and preach for God. Burdens like praying for a family member lost in sin; witnessing to the neighbor; sharing Christ with your co-worker; having a heart of compassion toward the suffering and poor—these are spiritual burdens. They weigh heavy, but in those burdens there is joy, purpose, hope.
Paul’s “weakness” term also includes our basic frail humanity, especially those of a spiritual nature. These are frailties not because of sin or spiritual attacks, but just frailty in working for the Kingdom. Ever have one of those days when the whole day has gone by and you get into bed and half asleep and you realize you haven’t read your Bible or prayed, and so you say a quick prayer and hope that’s okay for the day because you were just human that day. Times when we know the good we ought to do to others but we don’t do it. Days when the grace we have in Christ doesn’t get extended to others? Those are spiritual weaknesses when we are just frail in our humanity, and Paul covers those too.
Paul continues in verse 26 and says, “for we do not know what to pray for as we should”. Do we ever? Do we ever really know how to pray as we should? We certainly have room for improvement, don’t we? If we’re honest, there are many times in our walk with God that we are confused about what to do, what is honoring, which direction to take; we feel lost about the path to go down; we feel uncertain about circumstances in our lives. We have troubles that need DIVINE guidance because we have no wisdom of our own, and when we come to prayer, we don’t know how to pray. We find ourselves not sure about what in our life at that moment is in God’s will, and when we come to prayer, we don’t know how to pray. Or we pray for things that are outside His will, or we pray for things that aren’t good for us and we don’t even know it!
What is a person to do? We have all these spiritual infirmities, spiritual weakness, spiritual burdens and frailties; we need guidance but when we come and pray about it we might not even be praying for something good or in God’s will? What are we to do?
“but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” The Spirit helps us, we know this, and in these circumstances of spiritual weakness, whatever they may be, and spiritual uncertainty, whatever that looks like, the Spirit intercedes for you! What does that mean, intercede? It means that in these circumstances, He acts or speaks on our behalf; He does or says what we should.
The amazing thing about the Spirit too, in these weaknesses and uncertainties, is that He intercedes for us in different ways depending on what we need according to His will and what is good for us. That means that He tailors and adjusts His intercession to be perfectly fit for that time and place and person. He doesn’t take a “one-size fits all” approach to our weaknesses and uncertainties, and that fact in itself brings great comfort to me as I get myself into all kinds of goofy situations. He knows. He sees me. He intercedes for me. And you!
Firstly, He knows how to bring you COMFORT and healing when you are dealing with spiritual infirmities, attacks, and sicknesses. Earlier in Romans 8, Paul says this, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,” (v. 6, NASB) Through the Spirit, when we are dealing with spiritual infirmities, He knows how to rescue us and comfort us during those attacks and to bring us healing through those spiritual sicknesses that we greatly struggle through. When we remember this in our spiritual infirmities, and we make concerted efforts to set our minds on the Spirit, He helps us and intercedes for us in those infirmities.
John 14:16 in the ASV says, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever,” That word comforter is sometimes translated as advocate, or intercessor, and the original Greek is paraclete, and as Allison preached there are many ways to understand what “Paraclete” means in relation to the Spirit and how He works, but comforter is one of those roles and is part of what “Paraclete” means.
Secondly, when we have spiritual burdens, burdens that are for Kingdom goals, the Spirit carries your burdens with you. Matthew 11:28-30 tells us this, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.” (NASB)
Now, I know what you might be thinking, “Isn’t that Jesus who said that about Himself, not necessarily the Spirit?” And you’d be right about that. Jesus invites us to come to Him and lay our burdens at His feet and take His rest. How is it that we come to Jesus? Is His body physically here with us? No. We come to Christ through the Spirit. We give our burdens to Christ by giving them to the Spirit.
We are reminded of 1 Corinthians 2:11-12 and 16, “For who among people knows the thoughts of a person except the spirit of the person that is in him? So also the thoughts of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. 16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (NASB) Even though Jesus is speaking in this passage in Matthew 11, 1 Corinthians 2 reminds us that the Spirit, the Father, and the Son are of One mind. There are times when the mind of Christ and the mind of God are expressed through the Spirit to us, since they are One, and the Spirit does for us what Christ said He would do for us. So we are called to lay down our worldly burdens and take rest from our burdens which we do through the Spirit, and instead take Christ’s burden for Kingdom work, which is light because the Spirit bears it with us. 1 Peter 5:7 further urges us to bring our burdens and our cares to Him because He cares for us, and He does greatly,
Thirdly, the Spirit intercedes for us by giving us strength in our human frailty. When just feel too weak in our humanity to extend a gracious word of forgiveness to someone to hurt us, or just feel like our efforts to witness to that one person is in vain, the Spirit gives us strength to continue.
1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us this, “No temptation has overtaken you except something common to mankind; and God is faithful, so He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (NASB) While often misquoted, this verse isn’t saying that God will never give you more than you can handle. What it says is that when it seems like the temptation to sin or the temptation to give up is too much, the Spirit gives you strength to resist and do as you desire to do.
2 Corinthians 3:17 also says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (NASB) Freedom from the frailties of sinful human nature, freedom from the power of sin and death, freedom from feeling like we have to work ourselves to exhaustion, freedom from feeling like we’re not doing enough. The Spirit intercedes.
Fourthly, the Spirit gives us guidance when we need help, when we have troubles that leave us confused, lost, and uncertain. Jesus was troubled, His heart was grieved. He knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane, hours before His death, praying for His trouble, asking God if there was some other way to do what needed to be done to save mankind. John 12:27 tells us this, “Now My soul has become troubled; and what am I to say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” (NASB) Though He knew what He needed to do, He still needed guidance through the Spirit from the Father. He needed assurance that His death was the way.
The Spirit inspired King David to write these words, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will advise you with My eye upon you.” (Psalm 32:8, NASB) This is the Spirit’s intercession for us, to guide us in our troubles, to give us guidance when we are confused or uncertain, or just needing assurance.
Finally, because we sometimes struggle to recognize what is in God’s Will, or to pray for what is in His Will, or to live in His will, the Spirit searches our hearts to see what is in our hearts and then teaches us what is in His WILL. Romans 12:1-2 reminds us to be submitted to the Spirit, to live a life fully surrendered to Him so that we might be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and this Spirit work in us allows us to be able to discern God’s Will in our lives. The Spirit teaches us His will as we are renewed and transformed by Him. And John 14:26 tells us, and we know well, that the Spirit intercedes by reminding us all that Jesus said to us, all that we need to know about being in God’s Will.
And if you have ever worried about what happens if you pray for something outside His Will, or if you’ve done something outside His Will that you weren’t aware of, there’s Hebrews 12:5-11, that assures us that even if we find ourselves outside of His Will on purpose, He disciplines us as a loving Father, through His Spirit, to guide us back into His Will.
Are you weak? Struggling with some spiritual infirmity? Carrying a heavy spiritual burden? Just feeling frail in your humanity? Are you confused, lost, or uncertain about troubles that need guidance, or just unsure of what to do to be in God’s Will and honor Him? Take comfort, joy, and assurance, knowing that the Spirit intercedes for you.
1. Are you comforted that the Holy Spirit prays/intercedes for us? When have been some times in your life when you didn’t know what to pray for, relying instead on the Holy Spirit’s power?
2. How does it affect you to know that any time you pray for anything, the Spirit knows what is in your heart? How is this a comfort and joy to us? (See Psalm 139:23-24 for more).
3. What more does Luke 11:11-13 add to your understanding of the Holy Spirit?