The Intercession of the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27)
This sermon was preached on 18/2/2010
In the Bible we find many surprising statements, although Paul’s comment here may rank as the one of the most surprising of all. He has already mentioned how the creation groans in anticipation of its release from bondage and how the Christian groans as he waits for the redemption of his body. Neither of these groanings are extraordinary once we understand their contexts. But to describe the Holy Spirit as also groaning is remarkable because the other two groanings are connected to the consequence of sin and the Holy Spirit is sinless.
An obvious aspect of the Spirit’s groaning is that it indicates his sympathy with his people in their aspirations. As we noticed in previous studies, the groaning of the Christian, as with the groaning of creation, is not a negative groaning. This spiritual groaning is a positive one because the believer, while aware strongly of the way his body is a cause of personal sin and suffering, knows that he will yet receive a perfect body. The Spirit, too, is anticipating the day when all that causes distress to the believer will be gone and he will receive his glorified body.
The Comforter who helps
But there is more than sympathy in the heart of the Spirit. Paul reminds the believers in Rome that he supports them in their weaknesses. These weaknesses or infirmities include our liability to be assaulted by sin, suffering and Satan. We could not cope with the least of them in a God-glorifying manner if the Spirit was not there to help us. When we think of his role as the Helper, we are reminded of the promise that Jesus made in the Upper Room when he said that he would send to his troubled disciples another Comforter, like himself in ability and attitude. The paraclete is the Holy Spirit, the one who comes alongside us to strengthen us in our weaknesses. As Jesus said on that occasion, the Spirit is always alongside us, supporting us. There is never a moment when we do not need his help. He gives spiritual sustenance to the faint, he reminds such of God’s great promises; he gives light to those in the darkness of perplexity at God’s providential dealings with them; he gives guidance to those trying to find their way through the labyrinth of this world; he gives the assurance of forgiveness to those who have fallen.
The Comforter who assists in all types in prayer
Paul moves on from a general description of the Spirit’s work and focuses on a specific way in which the Spirit helps the Lord’s people, which is in prayer. It could be that Paul focuses on this aspect because each Christian should be praying in every situation. By concentrating on prayer, Paul is covering every aspect of the Christian’s life.
The contribution of the Spirit in making intercession for God’s people involves more than sympathy and support. A further aspect is that his involvement is according to the will of God, which means that he functions in a sovereign manner. Since he knows the secret will of God, it means that his intercession is always in line with the purpose of God. Sometimes we can pray for a right thing, but discover that God has not intended to give it to us – our prayer had the element of ignorance. The Spirit will not pray in such a way.
When we think about prayer, it is obvious, both from the Bible and also from Christian experience, that there are different levels or types of prayer. We are familiar with the acrostic ACTS (adoration, confession of sin, thanksgiving and supplication). The Saviour taught his disciples to pray according to the emphases he detailed in the Lord’s Prayer: adoration, desire for the growth of his kingdom, daily necessities, forgiveness of sin, protection from evil, doxology. The prayers of Paul, found in the various letters he wrote, give great insight concerning how a Christian should pray.
Yet it is not only the themes or topics of prayer that are different. Christians know that there are times when prayer is not straightforward, when their spirits are so crushed or confused they do not know what to say. From a shallow point of view, this can almost seem a denial of the level of assurance that Paul described earlier when he said that the Spirit enables believers to cry in a strong manner, ‘Abba, Father.’ But the difficulty is not in calling God, ‘Father,’ it is in finding something else to say to him when we are overwhelmed by a sense of sin or distraught because of our sufferings.
This experience is not limited to sinful believers; it was also the experience of the sinless Saviour. Think about the evening in which he was arrested. John records a marvellous intercessory prayer of Jesus (John 17) that he uttered between leaving the Upper Room and arriving at the Garden of Gethsemane. In that prayer, the Saviour’s language indicates clearly that he had a sense of peace and delight in God’s purposes for him and his people. A short time later, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he has no sense of peace because he is distraught and concerned, indeed afraid. In both prayers, he addresses God as Father; in the first, his clarity of thought and extent of vision is undimmed; in the second, he is unable to utter much more than groans because his thoughts and vision are confined to the horrors of Calvary. Jesus, the Elder Brother, knows what it is like to have the Spirit help him in his weakness. We have a high Priest who is touched by a fellow-feeling with our infirmities.
Paul is telling his readers that there will be many times when they will be in ignorance about items for prayer. This dilemma is distressing. We might imagine that the Lord’s response in such a situation would be to give clarity of expression, to suddenly enlighten our minds and cause us to speak articulately about the problem. That is the type of solution that is looked for in situations of business problems or government matters. But it is often not the way that God addresses the dilemma of his people in distress.
The Comforter who groans in his people
What does he do? The Spirit groans along with us. Paul describes these groanings of the Spirit as being beyond words, too deep for words. This is a profound description. Paul is saying that more is said by these groans than is said by the most articulated prayer. Alfred Plummer, the commentator, once said, ‘By the work of the Spirit, a heart without words may bring down the blessing of God.’ An obvious example of this from the Bible is Hannah. She was praying out of great sense of personal need as well as from having to face continual opposition. As she prayed, she was very energetic, but silent. Eli thought she was drunk. But she was praying with groanings that cannot be uttered.
It is possible to interpret the groaning of the Spirit as happening outside our souls, as if the Spirit groaned to the Father as well as us. But that is unlikely. The best way to interpret his groanings is to see an analogy with the witness of the Spirit mentioned earlier in the chapter. The Spirit, in his witnessing, strengthens our own sense of sonship. In a similar manner, the Spirit strengthens our groaning by creating it and sustaining it. He makes our desires into ardent ones.
What are the areas in which the Spirit will strengthen our prayers? We have already mentioned situations of spiritual darkness or times of anxiety. But there are other situations in which this strengthening is needed.
One such situation is the longing for hearty affections. For example, at the Lord’s Table the Christian may be expressing his love to Christ and yet sense that his love is not as strong as he would like it to be. He groans for stronger, more intense response to his Saviour. All he may say is a sigh, but that sigh is the product of the indwelling Spirit producing a request that is too deep or strong for words.
Another such situation is the desire for understanding of spiritual things, of appreciating what the Bible teaches about the great doctrines of the faith. The believer senses that she has been enlightened, she is aware that she understands now what she did not even want to know when unconverted. But the knowledge she has is the kind of knowledge that causes her to want to know more and she groans at her lack of knowledge. This too is a sign that the Holy Spirit is at work, accompanying her prayer with his empowering.
A third possible situation involves the desire for a more effective demonstration of the excellencies of the Christian life to other people. The Christian wants to give a good and vibrant testimony so that others will be attracted to Jesus through him. They don’t wish to give the impression that being a Christian is unattractive. The father of Dr. MacDonald, the Apostle of the North, used to pray that his face would always commend Christianity, no matter what he was feeling inside. Often, the desire to give a good impression of the Saviour to others causes the Christian to groan, but as with the other groans just mentioned this one is also a product of the Holy Spirit’s strengthening.
A fourth possible condition that results in groaning is the believer’s desire to have in his soul a focus on heaven, to have a longing for the glory to come. He wants to set his affections on things above, he desires to anticipate something of the glory that is yet to come. This, too, causes him to groan. And this groaning comes from the Holy Spirit. This groaning is not only for his own personal state, for it also includes a corporate dimension. One obvious example is the divisions in the church of Christ, whether at a local or at a larger level. The divisions in the bride of Christ should cause groaning, but again this is not negative groaning because it is based on the Bible’s prediction that one day the church will be one. The Spirit also looks forward to that future unity, and strengthens the desire in his people for it to be brought about in heaven.
A fifth area of concern is his sense of indwelling sin. The cry, ‘Oh wretched man that I am,’ is a groan, but it is not a negative groan because it anticipates the deliverance that Christ will give. Nevertheless the sensitive Christian is aware of how far he fails in coming up to the requirements of God’s holy demands, of his heart disobedience to his gracious Father, to his compassionate Redeemer and to the sensitive, indwelling Spirit. As he realises his sin, a recognition which is the evidence of the Spirit’s working, he confesses it with groans produced by the Holy Spirit.
Applications
In conclusion, we should note how different God’s ways are from ours. It is a sign of spiritual maturity to know our weaknesses. The classic example of this is Paul’s thorn in the flesh, which caused him many a groan, but reminded him of his weakness. This should cause us to admit our weaknesses. It should also cause us to realise that a struggling, confused Christian is often stronger than one who seems to have no problems.
We should also note that God, who searches continually our hearts, is aware of the desires of the Spirit. That means that no Spirit-produced groan is ever ignored by God and he will answer always answer them. The reason why we can be sure that he will answer them is because such Spirit-strengthened groans are always accurate prayers. Our own prayers, even from our renewed natures, can be inaccurate, as we noted earlier, because we often face situations in which or about which we do not know what to pray. Such ignorance is never a feature of the Spirit’s involvement. One example that is often mentioned is the situation where a Christian is being prayed for because he is seriously ill. The church, according to the Bible, prays for his recovery with groans. But these groans of the Spirit may be that he wants the person to go to heaven. Another example is a missionary who is burdened to bring the gospel to another country. Perhaps like David Livingstone he wants to go to China. But as he prays with deep feeling about the need of the world, these groans may be the Spirit praying that he be sent to Africa. Whatever may be the case, the groans of the Spirit are always answered.
A third source of comfort from this action of the Spirit is that the devil cannot read what the Spirit prays. The devil can hear our vocalised prayers and may have access to read what our minds are thinking (although I am not convinced he does). But he certainly cannot penetrate the mind of the Spirit, or influence him in any way. The groaning of the Spirit in prayer is beyond infiltration by the powers of darkness.
The obvious response by us to this contribution of the Holy Spirit should be thankfulness and anticipation. Groaning in prayer is evidence that the Spirit is with us, and since it comes from him we should anticipate the groaning prayer being answered.
An obvious aspect of the Spirit’s groaning is that it indicates his sympathy with his people in their aspirations. As we noticed in previous studies, the groaning of the Christian, as with the groaning of creation, is not a negative groaning. This spiritual groaning is a positive one because the believer, while aware strongly of the way his body is a cause of personal sin and suffering, knows that he will yet receive a perfect body. The Spirit, too, is anticipating the day when all that causes distress to the believer will be gone and he will receive his glorified body.
The Comforter who helps
But there is more than sympathy in the heart of the Spirit. Paul reminds the believers in Rome that he supports them in their weaknesses. These weaknesses or infirmities include our liability to be assaulted by sin, suffering and Satan. We could not cope with the least of them in a God-glorifying manner if the Spirit was not there to help us. When we think of his role as the Helper, we are reminded of the promise that Jesus made in the Upper Room when he said that he would send to his troubled disciples another Comforter, like himself in ability and attitude. The paraclete is the Holy Spirit, the one who comes alongside us to strengthen us in our weaknesses. As Jesus said on that occasion, the Spirit is always alongside us, supporting us. There is never a moment when we do not need his help. He gives spiritual sustenance to the faint, he reminds such of God’s great promises; he gives light to those in the darkness of perplexity at God’s providential dealings with them; he gives guidance to those trying to find their way through the labyrinth of this world; he gives the assurance of forgiveness to those who have fallen.
The Comforter who assists in all types in prayer
Paul moves on from a general description of the Spirit’s work and focuses on a specific way in which the Spirit helps the Lord’s people, which is in prayer. It could be that Paul focuses on this aspect because each Christian should be praying in every situation. By concentrating on prayer, Paul is covering every aspect of the Christian’s life.
The contribution of the Spirit in making intercession for God’s people involves more than sympathy and support. A further aspect is that his involvement is according to the will of God, which means that he functions in a sovereign manner. Since he knows the secret will of God, it means that his intercession is always in line with the purpose of God. Sometimes we can pray for a right thing, but discover that God has not intended to give it to us – our prayer had the element of ignorance. The Spirit will not pray in such a way.
When we think about prayer, it is obvious, both from the Bible and also from Christian experience, that there are different levels or types of prayer. We are familiar with the acrostic ACTS (adoration, confession of sin, thanksgiving and supplication). The Saviour taught his disciples to pray according to the emphases he detailed in the Lord’s Prayer: adoration, desire for the growth of his kingdom, daily necessities, forgiveness of sin, protection from evil, doxology. The prayers of Paul, found in the various letters he wrote, give great insight concerning how a Christian should pray.
Yet it is not only the themes or topics of prayer that are different. Christians know that there are times when prayer is not straightforward, when their spirits are so crushed or confused they do not know what to say. From a shallow point of view, this can almost seem a denial of the level of assurance that Paul described earlier when he said that the Spirit enables believers to cry in a strong manner, ‘Abba, Father.’ But the difficulty is not in calling God, ‘Father,’ it is in finding something else to say to him when we are overwhelmed by a sense of sin or distraught because of our sufferings.
This experience is not limited to sinful believers; it was also the experience of the sinless Saviour. Think about the evening in which he was arrested. John records a marvellous intercessory prayer of Jesus (John 17) that he uttered between leaving the Upper Room and arriving at the Garden of Gethsemane. In that prayer, the Saviour’s language indicates clearly that he had a sense of peace and delight in God’s purposes for him and his people. A short time later, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he has no sense of peace because he is distraught and concerned, indeed afraid. In both prayers, he addresses God as Father; in the first, his clarity of thought and extent of vision is undimmed; in the second, he is unable to utter much more than groans because his thoughts and vision are confined to the horrors of Calvary. Jesus, the Elder Brother, knows what it is like to have the Spirit help him in his weakness. We have a high Priest who is touched by a fellow-feeling with our infirmities.
Paul is telling his readers that there will be many times when they will be in ignorance about items for prayer. This dilemma is distressing. We might imagine that the Lord’s response in such a situation would be to give clarity of expression, to suddenly enlighten our minds and cause us to speak articulately about the problem. That is the type of solution that is looked for in situations of business problems or government matters. But it is often not the way that God addresses the dilemma of his people in distress.
The Comforter who groans in his people
What does he do? The Spirit groans along with us. Paul describes these groanings of the Spirit as being beyond words, too deep for words. This is a profound description. Paul is saying that more is said by these groans than is said by the most articulated prayer. Alfred Plummer, the commentator, once said, ‘By the work of the Spirit, a heart without words may bring down the blessing of God.’ An obvious example of this from the Bible is Hannah. She was praying out of great sense of personal need as well as from having to face continual opposition. As she prayed, she was very energetic, but silent. Eli thought she was drunk. But she was praying with groanings that cannot be uttered.
It is possible to interpret the groaning of the Spirit as happening outside our souls, as if the Spirit groaned to the Father as well as us. But that is unlikely. The best way to interpret his groanings is to see an analogy with the witness of the Spirit mentioned earlier in the chapter. The Spirit, in his witnessing, strengthens our own sense of sonship. In a similar manner, the Spirit strengthens our groaning by creating it and sustaining it. He makes our desires into ardent ones.
What are the areas in which the Spirit will strengthen our prayers? We have already mentioned situations of spiritual darkness or times of anxiety. But there are other situations in which this strengthening is needed.
One such situation is the longing for hearty affections. For example, at the Lord’s Table the Christian may be expressing his love to Christ and yet sense that his love is not as strong as he would like it to be. He groans for stronger, more intense response to his Saviour. All he may say is a sigh, but that sigh is the product of the indwelling Spirit producing a request that is too deep or strong for words.
Another such situation is the desire for understanding of spiritual things, of appreciating what the Bible teaches about the great doctrines of the faith. The believer senses that she has been enlightened, she is aware that she understands now what she did not even want to know when unconverted. But the knowledge she has is the kind of knowledge that causes her to want to know more and she groans at her lack of knowledge. This too is a sign that the Holy Spirit is at work, accompanying her prayer with his empowering.
A third possible situation involves the desire for a more effective demonstration of the excellencies of the Christian life to other people. The Christian wants to give a good and vibrant testimony so that others will be attracted to Jesus through him. They don’t wish to give the impression that being a Christian is unattractive. The father of Dr. MacDonald, the Apostle of the North, used to pray that his face would always commend Christianity, no matter what he was feeling inside. Often, the desire to give a good impression of the Saviour to others causes the Christian to groan, but as with the other groans just mentioned this one is also a product of the Holy Spirit’s strengthening.
A fourth possible condition that results in groaning is the believer’s desire to have in his soul a focus on heaven, to have a longing for the glory to come. He wants to set his affections on things above, he desires to anticipate something of the glory that is yet to come. This, too, causes him to groan. And this groaning comes from the Holy Spirit. This groaning is not only for his own personal state, for it also includes a corporate dimension. One obvious example is the divisions in the church of Christ, whether at a local or at a larger level. The divisions in the bride of Christ should cause groaning, but again this is not negative groaning because it is based on the Bible’s prediction that one day the church will be one. The Spirit also looks forward to that future unity, and strengthens the desire in his people for it to be brought about in heaven.
A fifth area of concern is his sense of indwelling sin. The cry, ‘Oh wretched man that I am,’ is a groan, but it is not a negative groan because it anticipates the deliverance that Christ will give. Nevertheless the sensitive Christian is aware of how far he fails in coming up to the requirements of God’s holy demands, of his heart disobedience to his gracious Father, to his compassionate Redeemer and to the sensitive, indwelling Spirit. As he realises his sin, a recognition which is the evidence of the Spirit’s working, he confesses it with groans produced by the Holy Spirit.
Applications
In conclusion, we should note how different God’s ways are from ours. It is a sign of spiritual maturity to know our weaknesses. The classic example of this is Paul’s thorn in the flesh, which caused him many a groan, but reminded him of his weakness. This should cause us to admit our weaknesses. It should also cause us to realise that a struggling, confused Christian is often stronger than one who seems to have no problems.
We should also note that God, who searches continually our hearts, is aware of the desires of the Spirit. That means that no Spirit-produced groan is ever ignored by God and he will answer always answer them. The reason why we can be sure that he will answer them is because such Spirit-strengthened groans are always accurate prayers. Our own prayers, even from our renewed natures, can be inaccurate, as we noted earlier, because we often face situations in which or about which we do not know what to pray. Such ignorance is never a feature of the Spirit’s involvement. One example that is often mentioned is the situation where a Christian is being prayed for because he is seriously ill. The church, according to the Bible, prays for his recovery with groans. But these groans of the Spirit may be that he wants the person to go to heaven. Another example is a missionary who is burdened to bring the gospel to another country. Perhaps like David Livingstone he wants to go to China. But as he prays with deep feeling about the need of the world, these groans may be the Spirit praying that he be sent to Africa. Whatever may be the case, the groans of the Spirit are always answered.
A third source of comfort from this action of the Spirit is that the devil cannot read what the Spirit prays. The devil can hear our vocalised prayers and may have access to read what our minds are thinking (although I am not convinced he does). But he certainly cannot penetrate the mind of the Spirit, or influence him in any way. The groaning of the Spirit in prayer is beyond infiltration by the powers of darkness.
The obvious response by us to this contribution of the Holy Spirit should be thankfulness and anticipation. Groaning in prayer is evidence that the Spirit is with us, and since it comes from him we should anticipate the groaning prayer being answered.
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