The Word of God to which we direct our attention and which we will now read is Romans chapter 8. We'll read verses 1 through 28. Romans 8, verses 1 through 28. Our text is verses 26 and 27, which speak to us concerning one of the blessings and gifts that the Holy Spirit does and is to us. But please take note, too, as we read through this chapter, of how many times the Holy Spirit is mentioned in Romans chapter 8. Many things that the Holy Spirit does for us. Romans 8, beginning at verse 1. There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Thus far we read that word of God Let's direct our attention now to verses 26 and 27. I'll read those verses again. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit ordinarily does not receive much attention in a Reformed church, at least not in the way in which the Holy Spirit receives attention in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. There, in such churches, the Holy Spirit, as it were, receives all of the attention. The focus is only on the Spirit. and on the work of the Spirit, and on the supposed signs of the presence and the work of that Spirit. But ordinarily, that's not the case in the Reformed church. And that's proper. That's proper. And it's proper that the Spirit not receive so much attention in the Reformed church because that is biblical. Biblical because the Spirit is in the church as the Spirit of Christ. The Pentecostals, therefore, have it wrong. The Spirit of Christ, who was poured out by Christ upon the church is the Spirit described by Christ Himself in this way in John 16, verse 13, "'Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself.'" He's not going to talk about Himself. He's not going to bring attention to Himself. "'But whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak. and He will show you things to come. The Spirit does not call attention to Himself, but the Spirit directs our attention as believers to Jesus Christ, to our Savior. And yet, we certainly do not and may not ignore the Holy Spirit. It's good that we give Him due attention, that is, that we give Him attention in a correct and in a biblical way, according to the Word of God. Now we give that attention to the Holy Spirit in the church because the Holy Spirit is a great gift from Christ to us. And the Holy Spirit does a great work in the church and in the people of God. And we, as the people of God, are blessed in countless ways by the presence and power and work of that Spirit. I mentioned before we read Romans chapter 8 that this chapter refers many, many times to the Spirit. The chapter points out that the Spirit is indeed a great blessing to the people of God. Because the Spirit is in us, we have been set free from sin and death, verses 1 through 4. Set free from the control and the dominion of sin. And then verses 5 and following, because of the Spirit in us, we are not carnally minded, not earthly minded. but rather spiritually minded people of God. We see, and we know, and we understand, and we love spiritual things. And verses 14 and following point out this, that because the Holy Spirit is in us as the people of God, we know that we are the sons of God. And we call God Abba, Father, through the Spirit. And we are confident and assured that we are heirs of life eternal. And because of the Spirit in us, verse 23, we have hope, hope of heaven, hope of glory. And even this, the Spirit produces in us a groaning a longing, an earnest desire for the glory that is coming. And then also the words of our text. There is this work that the Spirit does for us, a work that he does with regard to our prayers. Something we don't often think about, but nevertheless an important work of the Spirit of Christ. A crucial work. And it's a crucial work because prayer is a crucial part of our life as the people of God. Prayer is our spiritual lifeline to God. Prayer is necessary for our spiritual survival as God's children. And so we need the presence and work of the Spirit in this way. Also because we often have difficulties and weaknesses in our prayer life. What a blessing then that the Spirit does this work. We consider this Word of God, using as our theme, the Spirit's intercession for us, and three things to note concerning that, what He does, why He needs to, and how this comforts us. The Spirit's intercession for us, what He does, why He needs to, and how this comforts us. Prayer is a gift from God. And prayer as a gift from God to us is intended for us as God's people to use. We are called to pray. We must pray. And the fact that our text mentions that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, that the Holy Spirit prays for us, does not negate the fact that we must pray. And the text, in fact, shows that we do pray. In verse 26 it says, we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but that implies the child of God does pray. He may not know what to pray for as he ought to pray, but he does pray. That is a characteristic of a believer. We pray as church. We pray as families. We pray as individual Christians. We pray because we realize that we need to pray. We pray because God brings us to see that we are dependent on God and our prayer is an expression of our need of Him and our dependence on Him and our need to come to Him for everything that we need. We cannot live without God. We cannot live without prayer to God. And prayer is also the chief part of thankfulness for the Christian. If the Christian is truly thankful, He prays, and He prays often, and He even prays without ceasing. We pray, we must, and we do. But the text states that in addition to that, in addition to our prayers ascending up to God's throne of grace and mercy, There are prayers that come to God from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us. The Holy Spirit prays for you and for me. It's important for us to understand what that intercession, what that prayer is. What the text is speaking about is different from the fact that the Spirit is the one who equips and enables us to pray so that when we are praying, and when we pray rightly to God, it's because of the Spirit working in us. The Spirit does that, and we need the Spirit to do that. And we need the Spirit to do that because we, on our own, do not want to pray to God. Because on our own, we do not want to admit our dependence upon God and our need of God. And on our own, we are not thankful to God. And on our own, we know not what to say to God and cannot speak to God. On our own, we wouldn't even dare to speak to God, and ought not even dare to speak to God. But the Spirit gives us the ability to pray, and the Spirit gives us the desire to pray, and the Spirit works in the child of God also what we may call the courage to pray, the courage to pray. I wouldn't dare pray to God. on my eye. I wouldn't dare as a sinner speak to the God who is high and lofty and majestic and holy and who hates sin. But the Spirit gives us the courage Because the Spirit works in our hearts, as even Romans 8 points out, the confidence that God is our Father. And we can say, Abba, Father, to Him. And the Spirit even gives us the words to speak. works in us so that the thoughts in our hearts and the words in our mouths are acceptable and pleasing to God. The Spirit does that work in us. But the text is not referring to that. But rather, the text is speaking of the Spirit praying directly to God for us. It's even the meaning of the word intercession, someone who intercedes, speaks for or on behalf of others. It's what a father does in his family when he leads his family in prayer. His prayers as the father and the head of his family are intercession. He's praying for and on the behalf of his family. That's what a pastor does in the congregational prayers. That's what elders do when they are called upon to visit the sick and pray for them. And that's what fellow believers do when they pray for each other. We intercede to God for each other. And so also the Spirit does that. He makes intercession, and He makes that intercession specifically, the text says, for us. not through us, not now referring to the Spirit praying in such a way through us so that our prayers are really His prayers, but in addition to that, He prays for the people of God. The Spirit is praying directly to God in heaven for you. in your stead." The Spirit brings prayers to God and to God's throne of grace and mercy, brings prayers to God for us that we are not even aware of, that we're not even conscious of. And the Spirit does that, the text says, with groaning. He does that with urgency. Urgently, he cries out to God on our behalf. He calls out to God in prayer for you and for me. It's a blessed work that the Spirit does for us. But understand, beloved, the intercession of the Spirit is closely related to the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a rather interesting thing, because in this chapter, Romans chapter 8, mention is made in our text of the Spirit interceding for us, but in the same chapter, reference is made to Christ interceding for us. You notice that in verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again. And now this, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. So he also, in addition to the Spirit, makes intercession for us. So Christ sits at God's right hand. He brings all of our needs to the Father in prayer to God. He is our sympathetic high priest, Hebrews 4 verse 15, who has lived our life, knows our struggles, was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. And as he prays to God, he prays with a understanding of and appreciation for what it means to live as a child of God in a wicked, ungodly world. He knows exactly what we need. He prays for us, too. And the Spirit's prayers are not separated from Christ's prayers. It's not as if the Spirit prays for one thing and Christ prays for something different, and there's somehow conflict between those prayers that can never be, of course, with God and with the persons of the Trinity. He prays as the Spirit of Christ because that's his identity. And therefore not for different things, but for the same things that Christ is praying for, for us too. And so they are both praying for you, both Christ and the Spirit. But there is something unique. And there is something special about the intercession of the Spirit. When Romans 8 verse 34 speaks about Christ praying for us, notice that it specifically states He prays for us from the right hand of God. That's where He is. Where is the Spirit when He is praying for us? He is praying for us from within us. He's praying for us from earth. That's where He lives, inside the people of God, and therefore the Spirit is very much a part of our lives as the people of God in this world. And He has an intimate knowledge of our needs. We could perhaps even say He has a personal, even an experiential knowledge of our needs, because He is always in us and always with us. The Holy Spirit is not ever taken away from the child of God. And every day, the Spirit is with us. Every experience, the Spirit is with us. Every struggle, the Spirit is with us. And the Spirit is directly aware, therefore, of all our struggles, all our falls, all our burdens, all our temptations, all our doubts, all our fears, everything, everything. And it is with his knowledge, his intimate knowledge of all those things concerning us that he intercedes for us to our Father in heaven. Praying for you. and me with groanings which cannot be uttered." Earnest, urgent prayers to God on our behalf. Praying for us when we pray, praying for us when we fail to pray. Because as the text says, he maketh intercession, he makes intercession. He is constantly praying to God for every child of God." Again, what a wonderful thing. What a wonderful work that the Spirit is doing for us. And the text mentions why the Spirit needs to do that. Notice that in verse 26. Why does the Spirit do this? The Spirit helps our infirmities. We have infirmities. We have weaknesses with regard to prayer. And the Spirit helps those infirmities. That is, He helps us with those infirmities. None of us would disagree, would we, that we have weaknesses in prayer. And it's no surprise, therefore, that we need the Spirit's help in our prayer life. Many infirmities in prayer, we don't pray often enough. We're not sincere when we pray. Just words, just words. Or we're self-centered when we pray. All kinds of petitions to God, but all about me. My needs, my struggles, my wants, my desires, my life, my family. Selfishness. The text says that, and focuses upon this, that we have especially this infirmity when we pray. We don't know what to pray for as we ought. Because of that, our prayers are often inadequate. Because of that, we need the Spirit to pray for us. We do not know what to pray for as we ought, that is, we do not pray for the right things as we ought to pray. Striking, and we know it well, we should, what the Lord's Prayer teaches us concerning praying for what we ought to pray for. The Lord's Prayer as given to us by Christ as a model prayer has six petitions in it. Out of those six petitions, five of them, five of them are petitions concerning spiritual things, and only one concerning earthly things. And then that one is a very simple prayer, betraying a very simple lifestyle. give us this day our daily bread. But five petitions concerning spiritual things, prayers and petitions concerning God's name and God's kingdom and concerning forgiveness and so on. But how often do you and I pray that way? with most of our petitions being for spiritual things and only a very little part of the prayer concerning earthly things. How often do we pray for things spiritual and things heavenly and things eternal? How often do we pray for the things that Christ teaches us to pray for in Luke 18? when He said this, "'If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?' How often do you pray for the Holy Spirit, for grace?" And so on. Those are the things we really need, the things that we need the most. But how often do we verbalize those needs in our prayers? How frequently and how sincerely do we ask for those things? We who are earthly and sinful creatures often fail to have a spiritual and a heavenly perspective in life. Rather, our perspective is often very earthly. Earthly viewpoint, earthly desires, earthly evaluation of things, and therefore asking ourselves this question, what is best for my life here on earth? What is best for my earthly life? And then we are convinced when we come to praying to God that we need especially earthly things. Earthly things. We need good homes, we need good experiences, we need good earthly friendships, we need money, we need earthly success, earthly things, and we pray mostly to God for those earthly things, and the spiritual things occupy second place, or no place at all. An afterthought, a footnote. in addition to our prayers. And the text says, those are the times when the Spirit intercedes for you. And when the Spirit intercedes for you, the text says, specifically, according to God's That is, brings prayers to God for you and for me that are perfect prayers. Prayers we could say that are accurate prayers. He brings prayers to God that are prayers that are in harmony with what God has willed and planned and purposed for us in this life. That is, he brings prayers to God for the things that we truly need. not for what we think we need, not for what we want to have, but for what we truly need according to the eternal will of God. Just think about your prayers a moment, beloved. We experience sickness, we experience suffering, And we are inclined to pray, Lord, deliver me now from this. The sooner the better. It's too much for me and I cannot fulfill my duties and responsibilities in life on account of these things. Father, take it away now, now. But the reality may be that according to the will of God, it's what we need to have. And the Spirit knows that because He knows the will of God. And so He prays, do not remove these things, O God. These are necessary for this believer. These are for his or her spiritual good. This is part of thy perfect will, O God, for this child. Let it be. Let it remain. Let it continue according to thy will. And so it does. It remains. Or perhaps we struggle with loneliness, or single life, or childlessness, or poverty, or death. And our prayer is, Father, provide a friend, provide a spouse. Father, give me children. Father, provide a better job and income for me." But the reality may be that those things are not good for us spiritually. And the Spirit prays with His perfect knowledge of the will of God and says, Father, God in heaven, continue to send these difficulties into the life of this child. Because this will be, according to thy will, the means to sanctify, the means to purify this child, the means to draw this child closer to thyself and more in conscious dependence upon thee, the means to refine this child of thine as gold, to be prepared for his or her unique place in the church in heaven. And so the struggles, the loneliness, and all the rest continue because the Spirit prays in accordance with the will of God. We receive what God has willed for us. We receive what we need for our spiritual good, for our salvation. Then there are other times when we need the Spirit to pray for us because we have this struggle with prayer. We don't know what to say. We don't know what to say to God, what words to speak to Him. I'm sure that's often been your experience too. The desire of the child of God is to have prayers that are pleasing to God, prayers that are in agreement with God's will, prayers that are sincere, prayers that are prayed in faith. But often we bow our heads and we don't know where to start. What words will I, a creature of dust and a sinner, say to the most high, holy God in heaven? What can I say to God that will be right and that will be pleasing to God. I don't know what to say to him. That can happen. That can happen anytime. That can happen with any prayer because there is that great gulf between us and God, that great difference between God and us. And that can happen too when we are burdened with the afflictions and sorrows of this earthly life approach God with the way that David expressed it in Psalm 39 verse 9, and that is, I was silent because thou didst it. He knew God brought this trouble upon him and he hardly dared speak to God because he knew of his sinful heart and his inclination that if he were to speak to God, He wouldn't be happy with God, because God did this to him. He decided at that point to say nothing, because he didn't know what to say. And that can happen too when the child of God falls into sin, and perhaps that's the greatest struggle. especially if it is a repeated sin against our God. And we know we have offended Him yet again by our sin. And then we hardly dare speak to Him. We hardly dare come to His throne of grace. And if we do, we don't know what to say to Him. The Spirit prays for us. The Spirit helps us in that infirmity. And again, He helps us as one who lives within us and who is fully acquainted with our struggles and knows the exact words that need to be uttered to God. And He prays them for you and for me. The Spirit prays for us. because we so often know not what we should pray for as we ought. And there's great comfort in this. The comfort is someone is always praying for you. Someone who is in us. Someone who is living with us every day. Someone who is very much a part of our daily lives and our daily experiences and everything else in this earthly life. Someone who understands our struggles and our needs in this life. Someone who experiences them, as it were, with us. Someone who tells God the things that we need when we fail to see that we need them. And someone who tells God the things that we need when we ourselves fail to pray for them. If you think about it, it's probably something that experienced, you've been aware of, that you've even wondered about. Sometimes in life we face certain things, we go through certain struggles, and we're surprised at the end how well we survived that struggle. And we're surprised by that because we realize we didn't pray. We didn't pray much. Or we didn't pray sincerely. We just plowed ahead, dealt with it, thought we could deal with it on our own. And then in the end, we realize we made it through. How did we get through that? Only by the grace of God. But I didn't even pray for the grace of God. I forgot to. I was so consumed by the struggle, the trial, I didn't pray. But the Spirit did. That's how it happened. That's how we receive the grace that we need. That's how we receive the spiritual strength that we need. That's how we were given and why we were given the courage day by day to face that trial, even though we forgot to pray. What a wonder, what a comfort. Someone is always praying for us to God. So really, there are two prayers ascending to God. Our prayer, which often would be harmful for us in light of eternity. Our prayer, which is often characterized by selfishness and earthly mindedness, because it is not always according to the will of God. And in contrast, the prayer of the Spirit, which is always according to the will of God. And when it comes to those two prayers that are ascending to God, you can be sure that God hears the prayer of the Spirit. That's what verse 28, 27 points out, that God who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, and He hears and answers the prayer of the Spirit. He knows the Spirit's intention. He knows the Spirit's purpose. He knows why the Spirit prays what He does, because that prayer is in accord with the will of God for our spiritual good and blessing. And He listens carefully to that prayer of the Spirit who is in us. And that's the prayer that God answers. And that's the prayer that is the explanation for why we receive not what we want, but what God has determined we need for our good. That doesn't mean that God is not interested in your prayers and my prayers. He is. Nor does it mean that indirectly the word of God just says to us here, well then don't bother praying to God. No, this is a work of the Spirit in connection with our infirmity. Our weaknesses in prayer. God is very interested in our prayers. God hears them. God listens to them. And God is interested in them and listens carefully to them because these are the cries of His dear children to their Father in heaven. But the point is, this is our comfort in prayer. When our prayers are characterized by infirmities, God answers the prayers of the Spirit, because they are best for us. And it's because of that that we receive what we truly need from God. And it's because of that that we can know, verse 28, that all things work together for good because all the things that come to us and all the things that are faced by us and all the things that God sends to us are the things for which the Spirit prays for us to have with a view to our eternal blessedness as God's children in Jesus Christ. That's where verse 28 follows from 26 and 27. All the things are especially the things that the Spirit asks. All the things are the things that are in harmony with God's will for us. So let's be thankful for the Spirit, thankful that He lives within us, and thankful for this blessed work that he does in connection with our prayers. The Spirit makes continual intercession for you, dear child of God, everyone, and that for your salvation and good. Amen. Lord, bless us by the work of the Spirit and by means of Thy Word this morning. Comfort our hearts in the knowledge of Thy mighty saving work, even the work of the Spirit, not only in us, but also for us through His prayers. In Jesus' name, amen.