Trusting God To Work It Out Series

Over the past couple years, I’ve gotten to know a guy I see when I’m out in the community working on my sermons. We’ve had some gospel conversations in the past and he knows I’m a pastor. On Wednesday, he came up to me and said he had a question he wanted to ask me: “What percent of your people actually understand what you’re preaching about?” My initial answer was, “Hopefully everyone.” I could tell he didn’t buy that, so he continued, “Are you sure? Why don’t you do a survey because it’s probably less than you think.” I responded by saying, “Game on.” I know this is risky but raise your hand if you find the sermons understandable.

Before he walked away, he challenged me to keep the sermons simple and applicable. I’m going to take his challenge seriously and do my best to make this sermon as understandable as possible because I’m sure he’ll want a report.

Last week, we learned that creation and Christians are groaning. This world is out of whack and believers are bummed out. We were challenged with this truth: To get through your groaning, focus on the glory to come.

In our passage today, we’re going to see the Holy Spirit groans when we’re hurting. Listen to Romans 8:26-27: “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.”

Let’s hold on to this truth: “You’re not alone when you’re in the groan zone.” The groan zone is when you sigh more than you speak, when your inner agony is so deep you can’t even express it. Perhaps you’re there right now.

Paul begins, “Likewise the Spirit helps us…” Paul frontloads the Greek word “helps” with two prefixes to intensify it. It’s like he put it in bold letters, all caps, italicized it, and used a yellow highlighter. The root means, “to lay hold of something” and the two prefixes mean “along with” and “in the place of.” The word “helps” is in the present tense, meaning He helps constantly and continually. It’s also in the active voice, meaning the Holy Spirit is dynamically active, not passive. He takes the initiative in our sanctification, enabling us to live the Christian life.

Jesus said it this way in John 14:16-17: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” The title “Helper” can also be translated as Comforter. The Holy Spirit helps by counseling, comforting, and convicting (see John 16:8) because He’s with us, right next to us, and He is in us.

When the Spirit Helps Us

You’re not alone when you’re in the groan zone. There are two specific times when the Holy Spirit helps us.

1. When we’re weak and weary. The Spirit who is holy helps us “in our weakness.” This word means “without strength” and speaks of being incapacitated. Some of us think we need to be strong for God but 2 Corinthians 12:10 says: “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

2. When we’re perplexed about what to pray for. The Holy Spirit also helps us when “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought...” Sometimes all we can get out is some sighing and a lot of crying as Psalm 5:1 says: “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my groaning.”

There have been many times as a pastor when I have been at a total loss about what to pray for. I’ll never forget how paralyzed and perplexed I felt about 15 years ago when I was asked to do the funeral for two children who were murdered by their father. Walking into their bedrooms and seeing their unopened Christmas presents was almost unbearable. As I tried to put the message together for their funeral, I could barely move my fingers on the keyboard. I reached out to some pastor friends for help, but the biggest help came from the Holy Spirit as he took my pitiful prayers and turned them into a message of comfort for the family.

What the Holy Spirit Does

The second half of verse 26 tells us what the Holy Spirit does: “But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us.” In contrast to our paltry prayers the “Spirit Himself” prays for us. The word “intercede” means to “speak on behalf of, to plead someone’s case before a superior.” It was used of rescuing someone in trouble who had no resources to escape.