Paul’s letter to the church at Rome is, perhaps, the most loved book of the Bible by Christian theologians, and most theologians would probably agree that Chapter 8 is the high point, the Mount Everest of the entire Bible. The richness and completeness of theology found in this chapter is almost sufficient to compose an entire treatise on Systematic Theology. Leading up to this chapter, Paul had described in great detail the sad state of man because of his sin. But he begins this chapter with the amazing statement, “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” No condemnation is the result of being set free from the law of sin and death (v. 2). Being set free from this law allows us to live victoriously over sin (v. 13). Being in Christ allows us to be adopted as God’s child (v. 15). Being adopted into God’s family allows us to correctly evaluate the sufferings we encounter in life (v. 18). Being adopted also means that we have been predestined, called, justified and glorified, all past events in God’s economy (v. 30). We can be certain that we are eternally secure in our salvation because it is God who secures and ensures this salvation, and He guarantees that we will never be separated from Him (vv. 34, 35, 39).

When we look at the world around us, we recognize that nothing is as it should be. We see disease, we see death, we see crime, we see broken relationships, we see the earth plagued with violent storms, earthquakes, etc. We realize that this is not the world that God originally created and we long for there to be a restoration to the original state. The two previous sermons in this series have discussed the creation’s longing for glory, the believer’s longing for glory.

Today we consider the Holy Spirit’s longing for glory.

1. Creation Longs for Glory (vv. 19-22)

2. Believer’s Long for Glory (vv. 23-25)

3. The Spirit Longs for Glory (vv. 26-27)

• The Spirit longs through identification (v. 26a)

As we undergo various forms of suffering in life, the Holy Spirit helps us by identifying with us. We identify with Him and He identifies with us. The Holy Spirit helps us by keeping us focused on the glory to come rather than on the suffering of the present time. Creation longs for glory, believers long for glory and now we see that the Spirit longs for glory in the same way. The Spirit identifies with us because of the union we have with the Father, with the Son, and this union includes the Holy Spirit. Romans 6:5 tells us that if we have been united with Christ in His death, we are united with Him in His resurrection. Being united with Him means we believe and receive that Christ’s perfectly obedient life and His sacrifice at Calvary is considered by God to be our perfect obedience and our payment for sin. This is our redemption.

• Identity through a spiritual union

By faith we are united to Christ by the Spirit of God. Prior to being in Christ through faith, we were objects of God’s wrath. Being in Christ means that there is no distance between us and God.

• Identity through sympathy

The Holy Spirit is in us as we go through the trials of life; He is groaning with us and longing with us. He is experiencing suffering with us and lifts one end of our cross as we carry it. Before His crucifixion, Jesus had told His disciples that He was going away but would send a Helper who would be with them forever. The Holy Spirit is the one who helps us. The Greek word for help means far more than assist. The root of the word is lay ahold of and there are two prefixes that add emphasis: with and in the place of. In essence the Holy Spirit lays ahold of our suffering, in our place, as if He, Himself, is experiencing the suffering. He lays ahold of every experience we encounter and He empowers us to endure all things. Whenever we are weak, the Holy Spirit strengthens us; He is the energy behind our patience endurance. Because Jesus understands our weakness, He promised His disciples that He would be with them to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). We need Jesus to be with us, and He is through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

• Identity through weakness

We identify with the Holy Spirit also because of our weakness. This weakness is a mortal weakness; our flesh is weak and susceptible to all sorts of sin. We are weak in our patience, and we are weak in our suffering. We need the Holy Spirit to strengthen us to be able to endure. The Spirit lays ahold of us and He lays ahold of our burdens; He lays ahold of us when we are struggling with obedience, when we are trying to live a holy life, when we are struggling with relationships. He lays ahold of us when we are drowning in sorrow. He enables us to overcome all these adversities. 

In moments of weakness, the Holy Spirit guides us into truth (John 16:13), and He grants us wisdom (1 John 2:27). When we are experiencing affliction, we are not experiencing it alone; the Holy Spirit is with us. “He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:4) The Holy Spirit is our comforter; He is the emotional strength in all our afflictions. As we experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit, we are able to comfort one another. Psalm 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” 

The Holy Spirit literally is our strength, the strength behind our ability to take the next step, for without Him we would not make it through the adversities of life.The true child of God perseveres because it is the Holy Spirit empowering him to do so. Philippians 1:29 describes suffering as a gift; it is a gift because it proves that we have been adopted as sons and daughters of God. The Spirit identifies with us in our longings; in sympathy He empowers us in our mortal feebleness.

• The Spirit longs through intercession (v. 26b-27)

• The Spirit Himself intercedes.

As verse 26 states, we don’t know what to pray for, and since we are weak, God helps us by interceding for us. This is a personal intercession; The Holy Spirit knows us and He knows our needs. To intercede is to plead to a person of higher authority on behalf of someone of lower rank. We don’t know how to properly plead our case.

• Intercession by knowledge

We do not know our real needs, so the Holy Spirit intercedes based on knowledge. We may think we need better health, a better job, more compliant children, etc., and maybe we do need these things, but the Holy Spirit knows our true needs, and He pleads for us based on His full knowledge of us. Even the disciples of Jesus didn’t know how to pray, so they asked Him to teach them (Luke 11:1, Matthew 6:9-13). Our tendency is to pray short-sighted, focusing on the needs of the moment. However, God is more concerned about our long-term spiritual good. Paul asked for God to remove the thorn in his side, but God said that His grace was all that Paul needed. God knew that, in order for Paul be most effective, it had to remain (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us that God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than ours. It is not wrong to pray for immediate needs, but we must remember that only God knows our real needs, so we must trust Him even when our felt needs aren’t met. If you don’t know what to pray for, you are in good company: the Apostle Paul (v. 26b). Don’t be discouraged because you can’t know what you don’t know.

• Intercession by groanings

Verse 26 tells us that the Holy Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. When we pray, we have two advocates before the Father – two Persons of the Trinity interceding for us: the Holy Spirit and Jesus (Ex. John 17:20, Hebrews 7:25) and both know us intimately. Jesus walked in our shoes while being tempted in every way as we yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Also the Holy Spirit knows us by being bound up with us, and laying ahold of all our burdens. They know our strengths, our weaknesses, our understanding, our lack of knowledge, etc., and they love us. Thus while we are praying, God is praying for us too. As Jesus prayed for Peter before his denial (Luke 22:32), God is praying for His people now, praying that our faith will not fail. (See John 6:35-40) Since God is praying according to His will, His prayer will be answered! The Spirit’s intercession with groanings too deep for words means that He is crying out to God with unspeakable words. This is not a secret prayer language of tongues. First, it is the Spirit who is groaning, not us. Second, this groaning is the Son, the Spirit, and our spirit coming before the Father - all longing for redemption - for the revealing of the sons of God.

• Intercession through truth (v. 27)

The intercession by groaning before the Father is intercession with truth, truth that we may not know or understand, but truth that needs to be communicated to the Father. We can know the revealed will of God, but there is a secret will that we cannot know. Our prayer begins in weakness and ignorance but, as the Holy Spirit intercedes, our prayer ends with the perfect will of God being brought before the throne of God. All of this works together for our good (v. 28). So, we prayerfully wait and we prayerfully long for the sons of God to be revealed. Knowing that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are constantly interceding for us, ensuring that our prayers conform to the will of God, should be a tremendous encouragement for us. Thomas Watson, the English Puritan, said, “If God, Himself, offers up prayers and supplications with strong pride, then none of God’s true children are ever tongue-tied in prayer.” 

Selah:

1. What is your greatest weakness regarding prayer?

2. How does not knowing what to pray discourage you from praying?

3. What aspect of the Holy Spirit’s intercession do you find most encouraging?