so Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Yeah. I don't have to do it again. I can hear you. I can hear you. Oh! You are welcome. This one. This one. This one. Oh, yeah. I'm So, so um you know Thank you very much. Okay, and then. uh uh uh so so StSq3 3.30 (-0.99") StSq3 3.30 (-0.99") StSq2 2.60 StSq3 3.30 (-0.99") so so so so and and and the the the StSq3 3.30 (-0.99") So, ♪ Oh say can you see by the dawn's early light ♪ ♪ What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight ♪ StSq2 2.60 Yeah. Yeah. 2A 3.30 x (-0.001") StSq3 3.30 (-0.99") so so so Good morning. Welcome to worship on this Lord's Day. Good to see you, and visitors are especially welcome. We're glad that you have found us, and those tuning in online, the same greeting to you as well. Hopefully you've had a chance to check out the announcements on the back of the bulletin. The music camp is still in need of some volunteers, so we mentioned that a couple of times when our Remind you about that. Weather permitting, the Monday meetup for the women of the church and their kiddos, if they want to bring them, is at Oshimo Park tomorrow, 10 AM. We're getting closer to the launch of our new outreach endeavor, the Kalamazoo City Running Group, which will be Which will begin July 8th, Saturday, July 8th. So if you are interested in going from never having run in your life to running a half marathon by the fall, come to this. And it's tailored for that reason. If you have friends who you think might like to do that, let them know about it. We already have sign-ups from folks in the community that aren't connected to the church. And that's the whole point, is to be a resource to our church and to get to know people and our body here. So keep that in mind. You go on the website and Facebook has more information for you there. Make sure to check the directory. Speak with Rich if you need pictures for that. We'll be printing out the final version in a couple weeks. The Boardwalk Chapel team has arrived safely. I don't know if it was uneventfully, I just know that it was safely, so we'll get more information in the weeks ahead. We're going to keep, or in the week ahead, we'll keep praying for them while they're there. Also, I just wanted to say, since Cliff and Bree aren't here, this summer, if you are able, why not invite them over for a meal? It's really hard to do what they're doing. Everything, really, they left back in California, and they're living in somebody else's home, and they're borrowing their car. And Carrie Ann and I remember our summer internship very much like that. And the hospitality we received from the church that we were serving, and the people wanting to get to know us, and providing meals for us. So if you haven't already, put that on your calendar. The next two months are really just here another seven or eight weeks before they go back. So when they get back, Keep that in mind and make sure that they feel loved and part of the family. By the way, they have not mentioned anything. This is just me speaking on their behalf. They have not said that they don't feel that way, but just thinking about our time when we were interns and how important that was. So keep that in mind, please. We're going to quiet our hearts and prepare for worship now with these words from Psalm 146. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God. Let's prepare now to come before him. CCoSp4 3.50 (-1.00?) so so Yeah. From Psalm 89, let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the saints and awesome above all who are around him? Our help is in the name of the Lord. Let's pray. Almighty God, we come to praise you, to praise your wonders, and to thank you for your faithfulness, your steadfast love that you show to your people. And we have gathered now and ask that you would be amongst us by your Holy Spirit, that you would inhabit the praises of your people, that you would enable us to offer what you deserve, worship which is in spirit and truth, which is holy, which is which is offered up in reverence and in awe. Keep us from distraction during this time, would we be so enraptured in the love of Christ that we would be solely focused on him and the gospel, that he would be exalted in our midst. You are worthy and we ask that you would make this so today, and we pray it for Jesus' sake, amen. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, his son. praise father son and Please continue to stand if you're able, and we'll turn to number 222. God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come. Let's sing out to God's praise. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Sure as the watchman ends the night, we join the rising sun. The rich rejoice, the fresh in blood, with all their lives and gifts. are carried downward by your flood, and lost in following years. Thy life, an ever-rolling stream, bears all its sons away. Matthew chapter 5, we read God's call upon his church, how we are to live, how we are to act, the way in which we are to represent him in this world. These are the words of Jesus from an earlier portion of the Sermon on the Mount. And as we hear this reading, it serves as a call to confession of our sins for us. Matthew chapter 5 beginning in verse 13. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Two images are used at the start of this passage in terms of how we are to live as the church, we're to be salt and we're to be light, and then we're given further explanation of how we do that, what that means. Well, we perform good works and we give glory to our Father in heaven. We do that by not relaxing, not excusing what we might even consider a minor command in the scriptures. Rather, we do them all. We obey them all. We teach them even to other people. We say, you must do these as well. But then even that, Jesus says at the end, won't be enough. Because unless your righteousness exceeds even the most righteous person on earth, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And it calls us to look to someone else then. to look to someone who is righteousness incarnate, to look to Jesus Christ, the one who fulfilled the law on our behalf. We want to do that now as we confess our sins. That's what we're doing as we confess. We're turning away from ourselves and we're looking to another, namely Jesus Christ. We're asking for his mercy and for the strength to obey his commandments by his spirit. Let's confess first privately and then we'll join in with the prayer printed for you in the bulletin. Let's pray. Let us confess our sins together, saying, Almighty God and Father, we confess before you those things which you alone can see, the chambers of our hearts where we keep our secret past. The part of us which nurtures sinful desire. The pride that shields us from being honest with you and with one another. We are afraid to be seen as we really are. And yet, God, you know us through and through. We have sinned against you willfully and deliberately. Please forgive us according to your mercies offered through Christ our Savior. And sanctify us by your spirit, working in us that which is pleasing in your sight. Amen. The law causes us to look to Jesus. The gospel gives us Jesus from Titus chapter three. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved 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, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. What a beautiful promise this is, what a wonderful declaration that God sent in time his son to save us, what Paul calls here the goodness and loving kindness of God. It appeared, it was made flesh, it was manifested, God's goodness in the person of his son. And if you're looking to him today, friends, and I can declare to you, according to this word from Titus throughout the whole scriptures, according to God's character, I can declare to you, if you're looking to Jesus, you have the forgiveness of sins. You've been justified by his grace, not by your works, but by his grace. And you have the hope of eternal life. Amen. Let's praise God in Thanksgiving, standing to sing together 435, Not What My Hands Have Done, 435. you ♪ My Lord to Thee ♪ And with Thee I'll bless my brothers ♪ And set them free and free ♪ By grace of our God ♪ To Thee can pardons be ♪ By God alone shall I know Oh, Father, mercy kind. Oh, Father, what will you do? Come save us in that rich, misty garden where you'll save me through. I'm not strong, not strong enough. Let's go to God in prayer. Please pray with me. Almighty God, you are the God of Earth and Heaven. And we bow before you this day, and we acknowledge you as maker, as ruler, as Lord. All things are yours, for you have made them all, whether they are visible or invisible. All things are yours. We are yours, for you've made us. Lord, not only have you made us, but you've made us to be like you. The crowning point of creation was to place your image within it. And we are called to reflect you, to reflect you in holiness and in righteousness by having dominion over this world. And our sin, great as it is, pulls us away from that calling and that task. Would you confirm in us that great responsibility, we pray, that we would indeed show forth your glory to all peoples, that when people would look to us, they would see you. Forgive us for when we actually cloud people's vision of you, as we read earlier in Matthew, we want others to see our good works and to glorify you. So when many come to know you through our witness, for you are the God of Earth and Heaven, and you're the God of all peoples. You're not constrained by a single country, by a particular people group, by one denomination. So bring to yourself a people from every tribe, language, and nation, from the far reaches of this world, from the corners of the earth. To that end, would you bless. Our home missions and church plants in the country here, and our foreign missions and missionaries. Pray for Tina DeYoung in Uganda, the Delphils in Haiti waiting for the hops to return to them. And for the Fultas in China needing more families to join them. For the hockey boards in Ukraine, give them rest and refreshment as their home and give them safety when they return back to Ukraine. For Charles and Connie Jackson heading back to Uganda tomorrow, for Mark and Jenny Richline in the work in Uruguay. And in particular, Lord, we pray for them as they are running out of water in that city, Montevideo, and in the country, and in desperate need of provision. And we pray that you would do just that, that you would provide. We pray for our team today, recovering from a long trip over to New Jersey. We ask that you would grant them great success this week. continue to give them safety and health, and bring them back to us with a renewed desire to share your word, your truth, and that we would learn from them in that way. Thank you that you are the God of peace. Would you give us peace as we face a host of trials, things that stress us out in this life? There are dangers at every turn. Bring peace to a world of unrest and a world of hate and division. We do think of the issues in Ukraine and Russia. We pray for an end to warfare. We pray for protection from those affected by the wildfires in Canada. We pray for a quick containment of them. We thank you for the rain and we pray for more and more of it as we need it so desperately here. Thank you that you are the God of comfort. the God of all comfort. Every consolation lies in you, and you freely bestow that comfort when we look to you. And we pray particularly this day that you would comfort our dear sister Michelle Essice with the recent passing of her grandfather. Do you comfort her and the entire family as they prepare this week for the funeral on Friday? Thank you that Mel knew you and loved you and is with you now face to face. We pray that you would also bring comfort. To those in our body with ongoing health concerns, even as we praise you for the seemingly successful surgery Perry was able to receive for his vision this past week, we thank you that there was a really good report. And now as they wait a couple weeks to see how he recovers, we ask that you would continue to give him and Jennifer peace of mind and that you would give his body the restoration that it needs. Lord, you are the God of peace, you're the God of comfort, and you are the God of all grace. You're the God of grace and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You're the God who gives us that which we do not deserve, for you have given us Him. You've given us your Son, and in Him we have redemption, forgiveness, adoption, we have life eternal, we have all things. Thank you that you have become our God in the gospel, and that you are so kind to hear us even now as we pray. For we pray in Jesus' name, the words he taught us to pray, saying, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. The deacons are going to come forward to receive our offerings. There will be a second offering taken up and that goes for the building fund. ♪ You are my everything to me ♪ CCoSp4 3.50 (-1.00?) so so Let's pray. Father, we pray now that you would be the one to use these gifts that we've given for your purposes. That you would make us wise and discerning and fruitful stewards of the things you've given us, in particular today as we think of the need for a new building and the costs that will come with that. We ask that we would be faithful to you in your will for us in that, that we would submit to you in these things, and that we would give faithfully and use our gifts faithfully. Help us to that end, we pray, by your spirit, and we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Number 271, as we prepare for God's word to be read and preached, 271, let's stand to sing blessed Jesus at your word. ♪ As in Jesus' death on the cross ♪ ♪ We are gathered now to be healed ♪ ♪ All our hearts and souls we stand ♪ ♪ As we sing in love of healing ♪ ♪ The healing teachings we have been taught ♪ ♪ For God is in some sight ♪ ♪ Bright in the eternal shining ♪ ♪ Till earth, sky, and space are bright ♪ ♪ When love reaches out to the world again ♪ ♪ We welcome to God and with us ♪ ♪ In the story of the living God ♪ ♪ Open now our ears and heart ♪ ♪ Helped us by your spirit's meaning ♪ ♪ Hear the cry of the earth and sky ♪ you. Almighty God, as we come to your word, we continue to ask that you would make yourself known to us by your spirit's illuminating power that we would see the words that he inspired of old. And we ask that they would be words of life to us this day. For Jesus' sake, amen. You may be seated. Turning now in your copy of God's Word, or using the Pew Bible if you need, Romans 8, that's page 944. Considering two verses this morning, 26 and 27, but as has been our custom, we'll begin to get the context and follow the flow of Paul's very logical discourse here. We'll begin in verse 1. Romans chapter 8, the word of God to us this morning. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. For it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if, in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it. In hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 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. 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. Thus far. the reading of God's holy, inerrant, and life-giving word. Can I help you with that? Can I help you with that? There's a question that Maybe at some moments of desperation, we appreciate. At other moments, we hate. Can I help you with that? Think about it. When somebody is asking that question, what does it mean? They mean they're seeing you. They're watching you do something poorly. They're watching you struggle. Usually, it's at a grocery store or some store. And it's the clerk that comes up. And they see you reaching for something. Or maybe, actually, the question implies they think you're doing something you shouldn't be doing. And it's kind of a polite way of saying, I caught you. Can I help you with that? And so when we hear it, we're embarrassed, we're offended, and we want people to politely keep their mouths shut and leave us alone. We can do it on our own. We don't need help with that. Paul wants to show us in this text, 26 and 27, that we need help. We do need help with that, and God is the one who's coming to us, and he's saying, I think you need help with that, and I can be the one to help you. Paul assumes that we need help, yet if we don't grasp the point that he's making, then we will not be relieved and comforted when he tells us that there is a help to be provided for us. We first need to acknowledge that we need help before we can receive it. And so there's two main things I want us to see today. First, the help that we need. Second, then the help that God gives. Those are the two main things. But then we're going to conclude, and I want to consider just a few points of application after we look at the help that we need, the help that we get from God. And we want to see the help that that really is for us, why this matters, why this is actually life-changing good news for us today. In other words, how did the truths of these two verses come to our aid right now? and right here for us. But first, the help that we need. It's comprehended in a single word, in verse 26, weakness. Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness. The King James Version renders it in the plural, infirmities. That's because the Greek manuscript that the King James is translating from is different than most others. But the singular is probably the most accurate, scholars say. And really, it makes the most sense because Paul is not saying we have a host of troubles. He's not talking about the different shortcomings that we face or the various difficulties we have to deal with. He's describing our condition. Our condition is one of weakness. Our state is one of weakness. We have many infirmities, no doubt, but that's because at bottom we are infirm. That's why we have many infirmities. We have nothing but infirmity, says the old 19th century evangelist William Newell. We have nothing but infirmity. And what is in view here when Paul talks about this isn't so much moral weakness or moral failings, although that is certainly a weakness that we have, but rather Paul's talking about a weakness that is inherent in us ever since the fall. This is about the subjection that the world faces and humanity, that groaning that humanity has because now sin has affected everything and things don't work right anymore. So he's talking more about our suffering than our sin, although our sin definitely makes us suffer. So when he says weakness, I think we could say there's three things in particular that's in view here. First, we are weak because we are physically frail. Our bodies don't work the way they should. We're physically frail. But second, we're also intellectually finite. We're physically frail. We're intellectually finite. Our bodies don't work and our brains don't understand things. We don't know everything we need to know to live a happy, healthy, holy life here on Earth. We're physically frail. We're intellectually finite. Finally, we're emotionally fragile. When faced with the stresses of day-to-day life, we succumb to grief, anxiety, despair, depression, and all of this, the physical side of it, the intellectual side, the emotional side, it's all comprehended in this single word, weakness. This is the state of humanity. This is not just the lot of some sorry people who make bad decisions in life. To borrow the title from a popular TV show, this is us, right? This is us. Notice what Paul says. Look at the text. He says, likewise, the spirit helps us. in our weakness. He doesn't say the Spirit helps you in your weakness. He includes himself as one who struggles in this fallen condition. He too is weak. John Bunyan really was astounded by this, the point that Paul's making. He says, consider the person who is speaking. It's Paul, and in his person, it's all the apostles. It's as though Paul is saying, we apostles, we extraordinary officers, the wise master builders, some of whom have been caught up into paradise, even we, are weak. Now, I think we would all agree deep down, we know this deep down, that we all share in this condition of weakness, but just in case you're not willing to admit your weakness and therefore ask for the help that you need, Paul hones in on one area that is indisputable proof that you are weak, and that is your prayer life. Paul gives a little window into our weakness. As though he says, you don't think you're weak? You don't think you need help? Consider this, your troubles are so many. Your weakness is so great and burdensome. Your issues are so complex and multifaceted, so heavy, so overwhelming that when given the opportunity to ask for help, you don't even know what to say. That's how needy you really are. Professor John Murray said, we need not suppose that the infirmity in view is restricted to the matter of prayer, but rather that prayer brings to the forefront how helpless we are in our infirmity. So it's just a little window. It's a proof of Paul's point. We're weak. And here's how I can tell you. You don't even know what to pray for. That's how weak you are. You are so helpless. You're so needy. You don't even know how to say, I need help. Paul has simply laid out the argument to which no honest human could ever disagree, that we are weakness, that we need help. And I want to say this before we move on, although we'll come back to it in a little bit. I want to just say right now from the onset that it's OK to feel helpless. It's okay to be at a loss of what to do in life. It's okay to be at a loss of what to say to God, even. Because what we're going to learn here is God's work in us is such that he even accounts for our inability to fully express our need. That's part of the equation for God. When he accounts for our weakness, he takes into consideration the fact that we don't even know how to express our weakness. So just because we can't verbalize or articulate our need does not mean the need won't be met. God, the Holy Spirit, makes sure of it. And that leads us to our second point, right? The help we need, and now the help that we get, the help that God gives. And that help is nothing less than God himself. What a help that is for people as needy as us. It's a help that meets and exceeds our needs. In the words of James Boyce, we are weakness itself, but the Holy Spirit is all powerful. And we don't want to rush through this or gloss over this too quickly. The point that's being made here is that this is just a biblical principle. This is just the way God works, that when we have a need, God's way of meeting it is always to give us himself. That's the answer to our troubles, right? The help that God gives isn't so much His gifts, His graces, His blessings. It's Him. He is the grace. He is the gift. He is the blessing. Think about Israel leaving their time in slavery, needing to get through the wilderness. They need help. They need They need a light to lead the way by night. And God gives that light in a pillar of fire, which is his glory in their midst. He gives himself. That's how God works. When we have a need, he gives us him. And for the new covenant believer, that means we have God dwelling in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which we receive through faith in Jesus Christ. And so having the Holy Spirit, Now more specifically, what kind of help do we receive? What kind of assistance? Paul lists two things. If you're looking at verses 26 and 27, he says that the spirit does two distinct things. The first is that the spirit helps us in our weakness, verse 26. But then he also says the spirit intercedes for us, and he says that two times. Once in 26, once in 27. So the spirit helps us and the spirit intercedes for us. Let's consider those, what they each mean. Verse 26, the spirit helps. Well. That's a very generic word in English, and the Greek word is much more rich, much more specific than that. It's a big word. I'm not going to try to pronounce it for you. It's seven syllables, but it's made up of actually three different parts of three different Greek words that are mushed together, something Paul loved to do. He kind of made up his own words, and he put three words together. The first word means something like along with. The second word means something like in the place of, and the third word means to carry or to take hold of or to bear up. So if you put all of it together, the verb that we have simply translated as help means something more like to come alongside someone and to bear a burden along with them. to bear a burden along with them. It's only used one other time in the New Testament, and that's in the Gospel of Luke, when Mary is complaining about Martha. You remember that scene? And we read this, Martha was distracted with much serving, and Mary went up to Jesus and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. Mary want in that moment. She wants her sister to come over and to help her with the chores to help her with the things that need to be Completed she wants her to share the burden with her and the Holy Spirit is the great burden bearer of God's people Now you've received that kind of help before when somebody comes along and they help you make like literally like maybe you're you're you're carrying something And somebody notices that that you can't You're not going to make it, right? You attempted too much. You're not going to get through the door with all those groceries, or you're not going to be able to make it to the car with that load that you have. And somebody comes in, they grab the other end of whatever the object is that you're trying to move, and they bear it up with you, and they assist you. And you feel immediately the relief, right? Now they've taken on some of the weight, and you both then are able to get that object to its destination. And here we're told that the Holy Spirit himself is the one who shares in our struggle with us. That he gets down at our level and he bears the weight of suffering and infirmity that we face every day. The suffering that our sin has caused. He gets down with us and He groans along with us. So the fact that Paul uses this term groan makes sense if this word help means to bear a burden up, right? You know what it's like. You're lifting something heavy and you're grunting and you're groaning under the weight of it. And the Bible tells us the Holy Spirit groans with us under the weight of of our suffering and our sorrows. By the way, if you're keeping track, this is the third time Paul has said something is groaning in Romans 8. The creation groans in the pains of childbirth, waiting for the new heavens, the new earth. Likewise, believers who have the first fruits of the Spirit also groan inwardly as we wait the redemption of our bodies. So we have inanimate creation groaning. We have image bearers of God groaning. You see the progression. Now thirdly, God himself groans. The Holy Spirit now also groans with us. And even as the NIV puts it, for us. What a thought that the Spirit of God, God himself, is not ashamed to groan with us in our time of need or a time of trouble, to bear burdens with us, to roll up his sleeves, as it were, and to get down and feel the weight of our hardships. He does that for us. He's the one who bears us up. That's the first thing Paul says. So when you read, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, think the Spirit bears us up. The Spirit bears us up, but the Spirit also speaks for us, right? Paul says twice that he intercedes What does it mean to intercede for someone? Well, it means to come to their aid, come to their rescue. Even more specifically, and probably what's in view here, to intercede for somebody means to speak on their behalf. You think of, maybe, You know, somebody being interrogated by the cops, and if they're smart, we know this from all our TV shows, right? If the police are interrogating you, you always ask for a lawyer. Why haven't you asked for a lawyer? Now we know. We're going to ask for a lawyer. And it's the lawyer who there says, interceding, says, my client doesn't need to answer that. Or they whisper into the ear of their client, and the client says, I don't need to answer that. Because they were given words from their lawyer and now they know what to say. That's what the Spirit does. The Spirit speaks on our behalf. The Spirit intercedes for us. He speaks on our behalf. Why do we need that kind of intercession? Why is that something we need? Why do we need the Spirit of God speaking for us? Well, because Paul says one of the major displays of our weakness is our ignorance in prayer. We don't know what to say. We don't know what to say even. Maybe you've been in a situation like that. One that's so overwhelming and complex. One where the stakes were so high that you thought, I don't even know what I'm supposed to pray for here. Right, let's be honest. That shouldn't be every situation in life, because the Bible gives us pretty clear direction and certain points of the kinds of things we should pray for. We know we should pray for growth and grace. We know we should pray for increase of faith. We know that we should pray that God's name would be hallowed, that his kingdom would come. We know we should pray for forgiveness of sins, for our daily bread. So it's not that we don't ever know what to pray for, but there are some situations where the issue we're facing doesn't come with a particular scripture reference or a citation. In this situation, pray this way. No, we actually think, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to pray for X right now or for Y, or what if there is a Z option I don't even know about? I don't know what to pray for here. And we don't want to pray for the wrong thing. And actually, it was that fear that led the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras, you know him from his theorem, right? Pythagoras, to tell his followers, don't ever pray for yourself. Now this is a pagan, right? And he's not praying to the gods. But the reason that he said this was because he said, mankind knows what he needs, or man knows what he needs, sorry, knows what he wants, but he rarely knows what he needs. And so Pythagoras said, if you pray for something that you want, but it's not what you need, then the gods are going to give it to you and actually will tend to your destruction. So never pray for yourself, just in case you pray the wrong thing. Now I think we might feel that way sometimes, right? We're cautious about praying for something in case it's the wrong thing. But here's what we need to remember. Here's what we really need to know. The Christian response to not knowing what to pray for is never not to pray. Never not to pray. Because why? Well, prayer isn't magic. It's not this magical formula that goes like this. You ask for it, God gives it to you. No, no, no. God is not a genie in a bottle. God's our father. Prayer is that wonderful privilege we have of talking to our father. And fathers, good fathers, never give their children every single thing they ask for. Good fathers give their children what they know the child needs, what will be good for the child. That's prayer. You need to know that you will pray for the wrong things at times. The best of believers have prayed for the wrong things. Think about Abraham. We have that example of him pleading with God to take Ishmael, right? Oh, that Ishmael would live before you. Would you just do this covenant thing with him? Right? Because I already have him. His desire is that God would make good on his covenant. So he says, just make do with Ishmael. And what does God do? God answers that prayer, not in the way that Abraham prayed it, but he gets to the heart of Abram's request. The request was that the covenant would be fulfilled. And God does that, but he does it in a way that's far greater than Abraham even knew to pray for. He actually gives Abraham and Sarah a child in their old age. Isn't that funny? Abraham doesn't pray for that. Abraham doesn't say, Lord, we need this covenant to be fulfilled, so give us a child in our old age. Actually, Abraham has just left that off the table. He doesn't think that's an option. And so his prayer is misguided. But what we see is that God gives Abraham something better than what he's praying for. Paul is another example. Three times, Lord, remove this thorn from my flesh. Second Corinthians 12. And then Paul realized he'd been praying for the wrong thing. It was God's will that that thorn would do more for Paul if it was left untouched than if God had removed it. God didn't just remove the thorn because Paul wanted it, because Paul prayed for it. Rather, God gave Paul something better than Paul's prayers. So here's the good news today. God's response is always greater and better than our request. God's response is always better and greater than our requests. Timothy Keller has a wonderful line where he captures this. He says, God will either give you what you pray for, or what you would have prayed for if you knew everything he knew. God will either give you what you pray for, That is, if you pray it rightly. And if you don't pray it rightly, he's still going to give it to you if you had asked for what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knew. And Paul is saying in Romans 8 that even though we don't always know the will of God, even though we don't know everything God knows, the Spirit does. And so he's the one who intercedes for the saints. Verse 27, he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. So God will either give us what we ask for or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything he knew because we have a spirit who does know everything that he knows praying for us, interceding for us according to the will of God. That's what we need, the will of God in our prayers, right? 1 John chapter 5, this is the confidence that we have towards him. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if he hears us, we know we have the things that we've asked of him. We need to pray according to God's will. Prayer according to the will of God are prayers that God hears and prayers that God answers. And those are the prayers that are coming before God by the spirit groaning deep within our hearts. Look at verse 27 again. It says, he who searches the heart, that is God the Father, by the way, Jeremiah 1710, I, the Lord, search the heart. So the Father searches the heart. He knows what the Spirit is groaning and saying. He knows the mind of the Spirit. And what is the mind of the Spirit? It's the will of the Father. So the Spirit is putting into our hearts, in words that we can't even express, a desire for the will of God. He puts it there in language that maybe is indiscernible to us, but God knows it. God can speak it. We had friends over last night, and at one point, Evie's chattering away at the table and says something, and they kind of look at us to mom and dad. What did she say? And of course, we knew exactly what she says. You remember that with your kids, right? You know their language even before other people do. The Spirit is speaking a language we can't understand, but God can. He hears it perfectly. He makes our groaning his groaning, and he puts his prayer to God, the Father, inside our prayers. Isn't that amazing? The Holy Spirit puts his prayer inside of our prayers, so that when the Father hears us, he's hearing the Spirit. Now, why is this so good? Why is this what we need, right? We saw the help that we need and the help that we get, and I want to just conclude by considering the help that this really is. Maybe you don't see it, so I want to draw out, very briefly, five points of application. We're asking, how does this text help me? How does the fact that it's the Spirit does this help me right now? Tell me, Pastor. Well, here we go. Thank you for asking. First, it helps us because we can take a sigh of relief and know that it's okay not to know everything. It's okay not to know everything. We don't know how weak our condition is. We don't know the will of God. We don't know what the future will hold. And that's okay. That's okay. Because knowing God's will is not required to be kept in God's will. Isn't that amazing? Knowing God's will is not required to be kept in God's will. So when you face a hard situation and you have no idea what the right answer is, that's okay. That was never an expectation on you in the first place. That's why we pray. And sometimes the prayer is simply, I don't know what to pray for. And God says, it's OK, I got this. I got this. God hears the prayer, the prayer that goes, I don't know what to pray for. I don't know what to do. God hears it. And he's saying to us today, it's OK that you don't know what to do because I do. That leads to a second application, that this passage helps us because it reminds us that even if we are limited, God is not limited, and he never is. Here I borrow from John Piper. He says, be encouraged that God's work for you is not limited to what you can understand or express in words. Be glad that God is able to do exceedingly above all that you ask or think. Your thinking, especially in times of stress and groaning, is not the limit of God's acting. Your thinking is not the limit of God's acting. And be glad that there is a peace that passes even human understanding. God is not limited by your understanding. Piper says, God is not limited by your limitations. Third. This passage helps us, this truth in the passage that the Spirit is groaning for us and with us, and that God is searching our hearts to find that groan of the Spirit. This helps us because it shows us that indeed God is for us, not against us, which we've said. That's the great theme of Romans 8. God is for us. Because God is searching the Christian's heart not to find faults and to make accusations, but to seek out that perfect prayer of the spirit. So when you're helped by God, you can cling to this happy truth that God is for me. He searches my heart not to make me feel guilty, but to make me glad. To make me know that he's with me and he hears me. Fourth, know this, that even when it's hard to pray, when you struggle to get the words out right, know that praying is still worth it. This passage helps us because it's an inducement to prayer. It's encouragement to pray. Because it tells us that the efficacy of our prayers, the effectiveness of our prayers, the fact that our prayers work or not, is not based on how eloquent they are. How knowledgeable they are. Because the spirit is taking our imperfect prayers and making them perfect. So when you're struggling in prayer, be encouraged. That struggle is something that the Bible is telling you is handled. Christianity is just a wonderful way of turning what otherwise would be things that discourage us into things that would encourage us. I think of Martin Luther has a famous line. He says, when Satan tells me I'm a sinner, he encourages me greatly because Christ died for sinners. So go on, tell me all the more, Satan. That's kind of the same upside-down truth here, right? When I struggle in prayer, I'm prone to be discouraged. No, don't be discouraged because when you struggle, the Bible tells you you have something. You have the Holy Spirit. So don't despair. Be encouraged and keep on praying. As much of a struggle as it will be, God still hears you. God hears you because when the Christian prays, God prays. It's mysterious. But when we're praying, something's happening in our hearts, and that's God is speaking to God, the Spirit speaking to the Father. The Spirit ensuring that the Father hears you. So why does this passage help us? Well, it tells us it's OK not to know everything. It reminds us that when we are limited, God is not. It tells us that God's for us. Fourth, it reminds us that when it's hard to pray, it's okay, we keep on praying. Prayer's still worth it. And fifth, just to draw all these together, I think very briefly we could just say this. This text teaches us that a Christian is never helpless nor hopeless when we have the hope of glory and the help of God. And so there's a question from God to you today. Do you need help with that? Don't be embarrassed. Don't be offended. Don't refuse his offer. Do you need help with that? Say yes, and you will receive it. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your kindnesses to us. We thank you for the Spirit who helps us in our weakness. We are weakness, and the Spirit is power. He's a gift to us. He's your gift of yourself to us. And we thank you, and we praise you. We do ask that this text would encourage us in our prayers. We know we don't pray the right things or in the right ways. But yet we should pray, we're called to pray. And why would we not pray? For when we do, we have a spirit who's groaning in our hearts, speaking to you, ensuring that you always hear the words of your beloved children. Encourage us with this today. We ask it for Jesus' sake, amen. 399 is our closing hymn this morning. 399, for your gift of God the spirit. Let's stand and sing. ♪ For you lift up God the spirit high ♪ ♪ And take up my soul ♪ ♪ Let your life and all my glory ♪ ♪ Sing of me and worship you ♪ ♪ In the grass ♪ With creation smiling through it all, the light we see. Still across our nation's darkest blues, we wake as souls go to sleep. Music's serenity. ♪ Ever with Him live ♪ ♪ He Himself the living author ♪ ♪ Praise to God the sacred Word ♪ ♪ Reaching out to His holy pages ♪ ♪ And reveals our risen Lord ♪ ♪ Teaching evermore to do good ♪ Yes. holy spirit Receive now your Lord's blessing upon you. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore. Amen. StSq3 3.30 (-0.70)" Thank you. So, it was just a matter of, you know, deciding how to deal with these questions. And, you know, after the interview, I said, you know, I'm in your office. So, he was the one that brought me into it. So, he was the one that brought me into it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.