It's been some time since I've said this, but I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 8. It's been about a month since we were in this wonderful chapter. But I'd like to return to it this morning. One of the finest books on prayer that I have ever read was written by a Norwegian scholar in the early 20th century. the name of Dr. Halesby. It was written with a very simple title of prayer. The book is filled with statements that I find to be insightful and striking. Let me provide just one example. He writes, as far as I can see, prayer has been ordained only for the helpless. It is the last resort of the helpless, indeed the last way out We try everything before we finally resort to prayer. This is not only true of us before our conversion. Prayer is our last resort also throughout our whole Christian life. I know very well that we offer many and beautiful prayers both privately and publicly without helplessness as the impelling motive. But I am not at all positive that this is prayer. Prayer and helplessness are inseparable. Only he who is helpless can truly pray. This morning we come to a precious passage that talks about our helplessness and prayer. Look with me at Romans chapter 8, verses 26 and 27. It says, likewise, the spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit itself make it the 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 make it the intercession for saints according. To the will of God. I want to take a moment to remind you of the broader context of these verses that I just read for you. The book of Romans answers the question, how can a person be righteous before God? In the first three chapters, Paul explains that all of mankind is guilty before God and in need of his righteousness. At the end of chapter 3, Paul explains the great doctrine of justification by faith alone. He demonstrates that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. In chapters 4 and 5, Paul goes on to further explain how it is that sinful human beings are saved by faith through the imputed righteousness of Christ. Then in Romans 6-8, Paul deals with the implications of our righteous standing before God. Because of our new standing as sons, we are no longer slaves to sin. Instead, we walk in newness of life. But our new life is not problem-free. We still struggle with sin, as Paul so powerfully demonstrates, I believe, in Romans 7. and we still face suffering in this fallen world. And so in chapter eight, Paul addresses both of these timeless struggles of sin, the sin that we face that dwells within us, and the suffering that we face in this life. And he demonstrates that neither of these great obstacles can ultimately separate us from the love of Christ. This chapter begins with no condemnation and it ends with no separation because nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. In verses 1 through 17, Paul demonstrates that sin will not separate us from Christ. And then beginning in verse 18, Paul shows us that our suffering in this present world will not separate us from the love of Christ. So our passage this morning is embedded in this paragraph that addresses the believer's triumph over suffering. And everything in this chapter is intended by the author and the ultimate author, the Holy Spirit, to minister assurance to the people of God. so that we know that no matter what happens in this life, no matter what struggles, no matter what surprises, what grave disappointments we face, we will forever be with the Lord. That is to minister assurance. Because when we know how the story ends, it gives us hope for facing the struggles of today. Now I want you to notice that our text this morning begins with the word, likewise. Here Paul is connecting what he is about to say with what he has already stated. So what has Paul been saying? Well, in verses 24 and 25, he's been talking about the believer's hope. Paul is saying that just as we can endure suffering through hope in the promises of God, so we can also endure adversity of this life through the intercession of the Holy Spirit. He's saying that one pillar that gives us comfort and strength in our suffering is the promises of God, and the other is the fact that we have an intercessor that dwells within our hearts, who is helping us and interceding on our behalf. You see, prayer is an essential part of the Christian's life. Without prayer, we will fail. We will fail to triumph over our foes. But why don't we pray more? I mean, even in times of suffering, it's true that sometimes in our suffering and adversity, we turn to God and we pray more than we did before. But if we're honest, that's usually short-lived. We give it a try, and then it seems like God's not doing anything, and so we just stop our praying. The reason why we don't pray the way we ought is because we don't really believe that it works. We don't think that it makes a difference. The prayer life of almost every Christian is pathetic. Our problems seem huge and we tend to assume that our prayers are pointless. But today we read in our text that there is more going on when we pray than we realize. Today we find that the Holy Spirit who indwells the hearts of every child of God intercedes on our behalf. And so I want us to see this morning in this passage that the Holy Spirit's intercession should encourage believers to pray in times of suffering. Would you notice with me, first of all, we desperately need the Holy Spirit's help in times of suffering. Once again, Paul turns to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8 is filled with references to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. We have read that the Spirit indwells us, the Spirit empowers us, the Spirit's adopting of us into the family of God, of the Spirit's inner witness that we are children of God. And now we read that the Holy Spirit of God helps us with our infirmities. Now this term translated infirmities could be rendered weaknesses. And I want you to notice that Paul includes himself in this. He says, our infirmities. He doesn't say your infirmities. He doesn't say you people there at Rome, you second-class citizens, you second-class Christians, you haven't arrived where I've arrived as an apostle. You know, you struggle with weaknesses and infirmities, but not me. No, he includes himself. He says, our infirmities. You see, even the great Apostle Paul, who performed incredible miracles and wrote 13 of our New Testament books, needed the Spirit's assistance. Now, what exactly does Paul mean by infirmities or weaknesses? Well, there's a little bit of debate. It could be taken generally, or it could be taken very specifically. It could be that Paul is speaking generally of all the types of problems that we face in this life that remind us of our weaknesses. Or it could be very specifically that he's going to define what he means by weaknesses in the next phrase where he talks about that we don't know how to pray as we ought, referring to our ignorance. And as I've studied this, I've seen that very competent scholars are on both sides of this issue. And indeed, of course, both of these propositions are true. The question is, what does this verse teach? In my opinion, which could be wrong, the weight of evidence favors the general interpretation. However, both of these positions are biblically accurate. So let me ask you, do you feel that you are weak? I want you to know that whether you feel weak or not, you are weak. The Bible teaches that we are all, as human beings, very weak. We are made of dust, we are fragile, and we are finite. The Bible says that our flesh is weak. We are so easily tempted to turn from the truth. People are often shocked when they hear of some famous preacher or writer or some nationally known Christian personality who falls from grace, who falls into gross sin. We should not be shocked or dismayed because we are all weak flesh. And the fact is, we are all ignorance. We're all ignorance. We like to pride ourselves in being in the know, in our intelligence, in our education. But the most brilliant person on the face of the earth is absolutely ignorant about the most important things in life. There's so many things that only God knows. We see this constantly in our culture, in our society, even with all of our science and learning and education. As people predict what will happen in the future or how things will turn out, almost always they're wrong. And the opposite occurs of what they said was going to occur. We are ignorant people. Our infirmities come in different varieties. There, of course, is physical suffering that we experience on this fallen planet. I wonder how many people are in pain right now. I'm sure there are some. I'm sure there are some people right now that where you are seated, you are in pain and discomfort. It's a constant companion in your life. There are many people like this. I want you to know that your pain is a reminder of your weakness. Then there is emotional suffering. How many people today have hearts that are filled with sorrow? The fact is that every one of us is psychologically fragile. than their spiritual suffering. Guilt and shame are the legacy of Adam and Eve that has been passed on to all of their children. So what should be our response to our obvious weakness? Well, it should drive us to prayer. Why should we pray? This passage tells us because the Holy Spirit is ready to help. The Greek term that is translated helpeth in this verse is a very interesting word. It's used in three occasions in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It's used to describe the judges who helped Moses settle cases when Moses was just overloaded. It's later used of the 70 elders who helped Moses govern the people. The word is used to describe how the Lord assisted David to defeat all of his enemies. But the only time this Greek word is used in the New Testament, it's used at the end of Luke chapter 10, when the Lord visited the household of Martha and Mary. And you'll remember that Mary sat at Jesus' feet and listened to His word, but Martha was active, trying to be the great hostess and prepare food, and she was incensed that her sister didn't help her. That's true that the Lord rebuked Martha for her disdain of Mary. But I wanted you to see the specific meaning of this word help throughout Scripture refers to God helping those who are overwhelmed with burdens that they face in life. Do you ever feel overwhelmed with problems? I mean, it's not one thing, it's another, and it's another, and it's another, and it's another, and they all seem to pile up on top of you and crush your spirits. What should be the Christian's response? Our response should be to turn to God in prayer. Now, Paul is going to now, I think, zero in on one specific problem. with our prayer life, and that is that we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. Now, Paul's not saying here that we don't know how to pray. No, he's saying that we don't know what to pray for God to do in a given situation. The literal rendering of the text would be, we know not the what we should pray. This is a common problem with the people of God. We know that Job, that righteous man in ancient times, asked many foolish questions during his suffering. Moses prayed to enter the promised land, but that was not God's will for him. Elijah prayed for God to take away his life when he was discouraged, and the Lord did not answer that prayer. Jeremiah begged God not to send his people into captivity, but God's plan was for them to be punished in Babylon. Paul prayed three times for God to take away his thorn in the flesh. But the Lord said, my grace is sufficient for you. You see, even spiritual giants don't know what to pray for God to do. And this sense of confusion is often greatest when we are in the fires of affliction. Often when we pray most earnestly, we also pray most ignorantly for God to act on our behalf. You see, we desperately need the Holy Spirit's help in times of suffering. But what specifically do we need the Holy Spirit to do for us? That brings us to our next point. Secondly, we desperately need the Holy Spirit's intercession in times of suffering. Our text says, but the Spirit itself, or better, Himself, maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The Bible teaches that every child of God has two intercessors. Jesus Christ intercedes for us. This truth is found in at least five passages in the New Testament, one of which is found in this very chapter. Look with me ahead to Romans chapter 8 and verse 34. Romans 8, 34 says, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. But what is less well known among believers is that the Holy Spirit is also our intercessor. This verse that we're considering this morning is the only passage in the Bible that gives us this encouraging news. Jesus Christ is our heavenly intercessor at the right hand of the Father, but the Holy Spirit is our earthly intercessor who dwells within our hearts. I wonder if we ever consider this when we go to the Lord in prayer. The Holy Spirit. interceding on my behalf. Now the specific term that's translated maketh intercession for us is unique. It's never mentioned again in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It's not found again in the New Testament. It's a very precise and rare word. It means literally to petition on behalf of another. This expression reveals that the Holy Spirit's ministry in our prayer life is very personal. It's not just that the Holy Spirit generally helps all the people of God. No, he personally speaks to God on our behalf as individuals. But how exactly this occurs is somewhat mysterious. Notice how verse 26 concludes with groanings which cannot be uttered. Charismatics like to see here a reference to praying in tongues. And if you were attending a charismatic church and they were preaching from this passage, that's how they would interpret it. However, this cannot be the case. Paul is not talking about speaking in tongues anywhere in this passage. And he's speaking here about something that is true of every believer. It's not just that the Holy Spirit intercedes for some Christians. He intercedes for all Christians. And we know from the biblical description of speaking in tongues that it's a gift given only to some Christians, and I believe in the founding of the church. So this isn't talking about praying in tongues. The real issue among scholars is who is doing the groaning in this verse. Is it the Holy Spirit, or is it the believer in prayer? Again, there are good arguments on both sides of the issue. We've already read of groaning in this chapter. This is the third time now. Look with me at verse 22 of Romans 8. It says, Now, and then in verse 23, 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. And now we read of groaning again in verse 26. Now again, it could go either way, but I think that this is referring to the Christian's groaning, because the groaning tends to match our weakness and our desperate cries for God to help us. Let me read a brief explanation. by a highly respected commentator on this verse. He says, Paul seems to be saying that when we cannot find the words in which to express our prayer and can do no better than make inarticulate sounds, the Spirit takes those sounds and makes them into effective intercession. But how does this work? Well, verse 27 provides some further explanation. Look with me at verse 27. 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. Now, the first thing we must establish is who is the he at the beginning of verse 26? And he searcheth the hearts. That is a reference to God the Father. This verse does not specifically tell us this. But throughout Scripture, the Father is the one who searches the hearts of people. So as God searches our hearts, He encounters the mind of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. And here we see that the Holy Spirit who is interceding on our behalf is interceding according to the will of God. The implication is that often we do not pray according to the will of God, but the Holy Spirit always prays according to the will of God. You may say, what difference does this make? Well, it means that the Holy Spirit's prayers are answered because they are according to the will of God. Let me quote another Bible teacher who captures this teaching better than I can. God searches the hearts of believers and finds unutterable longings to conform their lives to the will of God. The Holy Spirit takes these groanings and presents them before God in an articulate form. Even though believers cannot specify their request to God adequately since they do not know His will sufficiently, the Holy Spirit translates these groanings and conforms them to God's will. This revelation is intended to encourage us to pray with confidence. We should never think, but I'm not sure exactly what the will of God is, so I'm just not going to pray at all. No. Bear your heart to God's and let the Holy Spirit intercede according to the will of God's. Now I'd like to turn to the application of this passage. I want to make seven applications, and all of them are broadly under this heading that we desperately need to pray in times of suffering. Of course, we need to pray all of the time, but especially in times of suffering. So seven brief applications to conclude this message. Number one, God will give us burdens in life that we cannot handle ourselves. I've heard many people say over the years, God never gives us more than we can handle. It's a nice thought, except it's not true. Now, I know what they mean by that. Perhaps they mean by that He won't give us more than we can handle by His grace and with all the resources that He gives to us. But in and of itself, alone, that statement is not true. You do not have what it takes You do not have the resources at your disposal to handle every problem that you will ever face in life. And if you think you do, just wait a while, because something will come into your life that you have no answers for, and you have absolutely no solution. God does give us more than we can handle, so that we turn to Him in desperate dependence, and that dependence is always expressed in earnest prayer. You can't say, oh, I'm desperately trusting in God, but I don't pray much about it. Those two things don't go together. Prayer is the inevitable expression of our desperate trust and reliance on the Lord. God intends that our burdens drive us to God in prayer. This is how the children of God should always respond in a crisis. Too often, Christians respond to a devastating crisis just like people in the world. How do people in the world tend to respond to a great crisis. Well, probably the most common mechanism is they seek escapism. They want to escape their life. And so they turn to alcohol, or drugs, or pornography, or food, or whatever it is to numb their senses and take them away from the painful reality that they are experiencing. And essentially they're saying, I'm just going to pretend that these things don't exist. I'm just going to pretend that I'm somewhere else. I can't deal with this, they will say. But that is not God's will for His people. We do not run from our problems. We run to God, our heavenly Father. We don't use Stoicism. We don't use escapism. We don't face our problems like people in the world. The third application I want to make in inference from this passage is that God will place us often in situations where we don't know how to pray. Have you ever been there? Life can be messy and confusing and so often we don't understand what God is doing. We don't understand God's plan. We fail to comprehend how He's connecting the dots. And we think we know the way it's supposed to go. This is one reason why so many people struggle, even believers, with bitterness and despair. Because they think they know how their life is supposed to work, and the way God is supposed to assist them achieve their goals. But God doesn't sign on to anyone's life plan. He has His own life plan for you. And it's probably very different from your life plan for yourself. And so often our bitterness, our despair, our profound discouragement is a response to the fact that God isn't doing what we want Him to do. And what we need to do is to yield to His will, even in our prayer life. God does have a plan for us. And it's a good plan. And it's a better plan than your supposed plan. He desires to hear us cry out and yield to His sovereign purposes. So often Christians respond like a little child who hasn't gotten his way and they sit in their corner and they pout with their arms folded. And they might stay in that corner for like decades. They stop going to church, they stop reading their Bible, they stop serving the Lord because God hasn't come through for them. And what they need to do is bow the knee and yield to Him. Number four, God wants us to understand that we must not become discouraged by our unanswered prayers so that we stop praying. This is a major problem in our lives. We have a crisis, we turn to God in prayer, we pray for a while, nothing happens, and so we stop praying. This is a response of unbelief that weakens us in several ways. We may become cynical, depressed, isolated from other Christians. We might doubt God's love for us because after all, He doesn't seem to be answering my prayers like He's answering the prayers of other Christians. One of the keys to enduring suffering in this life is to continue to pray. Jesus said we must pray and not faint. And He told several parables for us. persevere in our prayers. Number five, God wants us to realize that even our weak prayers accomplish more than we realize. One of the reasons we stop praying is we say, my prayer's pathetic. My prayer life is so weak. I mean, I read about these people down on their knees for five or six hours at a time praying, and I have trouble with five or six minutes. Why even bother? This is often, I think, the way we think. I often think of the great hymn writer William Cooper. He wrote In one of his poems, Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. The Holy Spirit takes our incoherent babblings and translates it into an articulate prayer that moves our Father to action. God delights to add grace to our weakness and accomplish great things for His glory. More than once, I've had a little toddler in this church lobby try to tell me something. But I don't know their language they're speaking in. They haven't quite learned how to form their words rights. And I get down and I listen very intently, but I can't make it out. You know what I do? I turn to the mom. You know why? Because the mom speaks their language. And the mom will say, well, what he said was this. She always knows what he was saying. I couldn't make out one word of it. But the mom knows what he was saying. And she makes it in a nice, articulate, coherent form. That's what the Holy Spirit does for us because in our prayers, we're like a little toddler babbling so often. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But the Holy Spirit translates it and presents it in a way that's pleasing to our Father. Number six, God desires that we pray more for His will to be done than for our personal comfort. May I just say, the further you go, I think, in your walk with the Lord, the more you will pray this way. When you are a young, immature Christian, your prayers consist primarily of, God, get me out of this mess. Lord, help my life to be stable and peaceful and bountiful and prosperous and everything that I want it to be. And over the years, you begin to realize God's not on the same plan that you are. And after many corrections, you start to realize, I need to pray that God would accomplish His will. But what does that mean exactly? It means that you should be looking for biblical truth that God would want to bring out of the situation that you're in. Like, Lord, I want you to bring glory to your name through this difficult experience that I'm going through right now. Lord, I want you to use this cancer that I'm battling to enable me to be a bright light to those nurses and doctors and aides that come and work on me in the hospital. I want to show them by your grace that you are sufficient. that you are my treasure. Help me, Lord, to have the strength and the wisdom to do this. You know what? That's a prayer according to the will of God. or God, make me more like my Savior through this trial. Burn out the worldliness, the dross that is in my life. Purify me that I might be a more useful vessel for you. You know what? The Father will delight to answer that prayer. But now I must conclude with an application to those who are yet lost in their sins. I want you to notice that God's Spirit only intercedes for the people of God. Look at verse 27. It says, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. The incredible privilege of having the Spirit of God and the Son of God pray on your behalf is only for those who truly know the Lord. This passage is only echoing what we read our Savior saying in John 17. He said, I pray not for the world, that is those who are lost, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Only those who have placed their faith in Christ alone can experience communion with God and know this wonderful assurance that the Son of God is at the Father's right hand praying on their behalf and that the Spirit of God is within their hearts interceding for them. And so if you're lost, you should not pray for God to get you out of your mess. but you should pray a prayer that God indeed will hear, and that is, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. You can't bargain with God, as often lost people try to do. You must bow the knee. You must repent of your sin. You must put your faith and trust in Christ alone. You must confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead and you will be saved. The Father delights to show mercy to repentant sinners who run to the cross of Calvary and recognize that Christ is their only hope of salvation. And my prayer is that God would use your suffering, your trial, to bring him to himself. One of the things I did this week was I discovered my father was a very organized man and he had these memoirs that he had written that I didn't know about. So I was reading these about his life story and one of the things that was apparent to me is that it was suffering and affliction that God used to bring him to salvation and to direct him in his life. God uses our disappointments, our pain, our difficulties, so that we no longer can rely on ourselves, but we have to look to him. May God use our suffering for his glory. Let's close in prayer. Father, thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for giving us your Holy Spirit to intercede on our behalf, to pray according to the will of the Father. Thank you, Father, for this wonderful blessing that you've provided for your children. Help us to take full advantage of it and to desperately and dependently cry out to you in our time of need. For it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.