Groans For Glory - Part 3 (Romans 8:19-27)
INTRODUCTION:
In our Scripture reading this morning from John 16 Jesus promised the disciples the coming of the Holy Spirit. They were sorrowful because Jesus had told them that He was leaving them, but He said He had to leave them so that He could send the Holy Spirit to be our Helper and our Counselor. Jesus said it was to the advantage of the disciples that He go away, because then the Helper would come. Jesus then mentioned several roles that the Holy Spirit would have when He came. First, He will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. This is His role to unbelievers to convict them of sin and cause them to see their need for a Savior. Second, He said the Spirit would guide the disciples into all the truth that is from God and would tell them what is to come. Third, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would glorify Jesus taking from what was of Him and giving it or disclosing it to them. Jesus then speaks of the unity of the Trinity, all things that the Father has are Mine, Jesus says, and the Spirit will take these things and will disclose it to you, or He will make it known to you. As we move on into the New Testament we find that the Holy Spirit is also our seal, indwelling us and giving us assurance that we belong to God through Christ and He is the pledge or the guarantee of our inheritance because as children of God we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.
This morning as we move into the third part of the groans of glory section of this passage in Romans 8 we will find another ministry of the Holy Spirit to those in whom He indwells, those who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Let’s pray and then get into our passage and look at the Holy Spirit’s ministry of intercession for us.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles again this morning to Romans 8:19-27. I am going to read the whole passage again just to keep us in the context of the passage, but this morning we will focus on the last two verse of this passage, verses 26-27. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Romans 8:19-27,
“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly 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 also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:19–27, NASB95)[1]
OUR WEAKNESS, THE SPIRIT’S HELP (Romans 8:26a)
We have already looked at the groaning of creation as it waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God in glory knowing that this will signal their own restoration, bringing them back to the state they had when they were originally created, a redemption from the corruption of sin brought upon them by the curse because of man’s sin. We have looked at the groaning of believers as they wait for the completion of their salvation, as they wait to be freed from the presence of sin in their glorified state, in which they will be like Christ possessing a sinless, righteous, immortal body. Paul opens verse 26 with the phrase, “In the same way…” (Romans 8:26a, NASB95)[2] referring us back to the groans of creation and believers for their redemption from the corruption of sin. Paul in this passage unfolds for us a very encouraging and wonderful truth, the truth that the Holy Spirit joins us and joins all creation in groaning for God’s future day of redemption, of completion, of bringing us into our glorified state, and restoring the creation to its former glory, to be brought about in God’s eternal reign of righteousness, beginning with the 1000 year reign of Christ on this earth and culminating in the creation of a new heavens and a new earth in which God will reign for the rest of eternity.
But until that time we still struggle with unredeemed flesh, that remaining humanness that seeks to drag us back down into the sin and the corruption that we were in before salvation, our sinful flesh still holds some influence over us that we must constantly battle through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Paul writes, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness…” (Romans 8:26a, NASB95)[3] Being that “weakness” is in the singular and from the context I believe the weakness spoken of here is our human condition as a whole and it is not referring to specific weaknesses or struggles that we have with sin. Because of our unredeemed humanness we all are characterized by spiritual weakness. Anything that we do as believers that is good, moral, true, being a witness happens only by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in and through us in spite of our limitations due to our humanness and the corruption of sin that still clings to our flesh. The Holy Spirit knows our weakness and He was given to us so that He might empower us to overcome the influence and corruption of sin that still clings to our unredeemed body, to the humanness or as Paul calls it in 1 Corinthians 15 our earthy body. Paul speaks of the earthy body and the heavenly body. All humanity descended from Adam has an earthy body, all those born again in Jesus Christ will have a heavenly body. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:45-49, “So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.” (1 Corinthians 15:45–49, NASB95)[4] But until we bear the image of the heavenly, we are still in our earthy body corrupted by sin and in this weakness the Holy Spirit helps us.
When Paul was writing to the church in Philippi, he more than once mentioned the help that we receive from the Spirit in our weakness, he wrote of the relationship that we have as humans with the Holy Spirit who is indwelling and empowering us. In Philippians 1:19 speaking of his imprisonment and what the outcome would be wrote, “for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 1:19, NASB95)[5] Paul says that the relationship that he has with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, another way of saying the Holy Spirit, will bring about his deliverance and he goes onto say whether that deliverance is through life or death, the Holy Spirit will be with him helping him to always exalt Christ no matter the circumstances. Paul did not see even his deliverance through death as a failure, but through death he would truly be free. The Holy Spirit provides us with all that we need in this life to be faithful, effective and protected children of God in the sense that we cannot lose the status of children of God. In Philippians 2:12-13 Paul admonishes the believers with these words, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12–13, NASB95)[6] Paul admonishes them to keep obeying and to work out their salvation, but reminds them that it is God (the Holy Spirit) who is at work working out their salvation according to His will and His good pleasure. This is a relationship in which we cooperate with the Holy Spirit that He may sanctify us and conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit works ceaselessly in us to do what we could never do on our own, to bring about in us the perfect will of God which ultimately is our glorification.
THE GROANING OF THE SPIRIT (Romans 8:26b)
The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, and to show us how He does this Paul uses prayer as his example. In his example Paul writes that “we do not know how to pray as we should…” (Romans 8:26b, NASB95)[7] When Paul says that we do not know how to pray as we should, he is not saying that we shouldn’t pray, or this would contradict Scripture, he would even contradict himself as many times in his epistles he calls us to pray. What Paul does mean is that because we have finite minds, because our perspective of a situation may be flawed, because of our humanness and our spiritual weakness we cannot at all times pray in total unity or consistency with God’s will. There are times that we do not even know that there is a spiritual need to pray for and even if we did we may not know how best it could be met, we may have our own idea about how it could be met, but that may not be God’s will. Even if we are a Christian who seeks to be faithful and sincere in prayer and to pray regularly, we cannot know God’s reasons and His doings concerning all our own needs or the needs of others for whom we bring before the Lord in prayer. We pray because we are told to pray and even though we are saved and we are secure in our adoption as God’s children, we are yet spiritually weak because of our unredeemed flesh and we do not know how to pray as we should. Even the apostle Paul prayed for a thorn in his flesh given to him by Satan to be removed, three times he asked God to remove it. Paul records for us God’s answer to his prayers in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’” Paul’s response to God’s answer, “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NASB95)[8]
We do not know how to pray as we should, when we do not know God’s will in a situation, Paul writes that “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words…” (Romans 8:26b, NASB95)[9] The indwelling Holy Spirit brings our needs to God even when we do not know what those needs are or how to pray for them in accordance with God’s will. Notice that this help is from the Spirit Himself, not only is it personal because He indwells us, but it is direct. This intercession on our behalf by the Spirit is in a way that we cannot understand or comprehend, it is with groanings too deep for words. The phrase “too deep for words” in the Greek is a word that means inexpressible with words, unspeakable. What we have here is the Holy Spirit uniting with us in our desire, our hope to be freed from our unredeemed flesh corrupted by sin and to be with God forever in our glorified bodies. The Spirt intercedes for us with groans for glory, these groans communicate the thoughts of the Holy Spirit to God the Father. Paul declared this truth to those in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 2:11, “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:11, NASB95)[10]
Our security as justified and righteous saints before God the Father remains only because God the Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are our constant advocates and intercessors, they are always representing us before God the Father, and it is only because they work together ceaselessly on our behalf that we will enter heaven. Speaking of the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ the author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 7:25, “Therefore He [Jesus Christ] is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25, NASB95)[11] Remember as I have said before that the work of salvation begins in a person the moment that that person puts his faith in Jesus Christ for salvation but that work goes on until it is complete and the saint is in heaven, glorified and made as righteous as God is righteous, because he possesses the full righteousness of Christ. This is guaranteed by the heavenly high priestly work of our Lord mentioned in the verse I just read and by the earthly indwelling Holy Spirit, these two together make secure the adoption and the future home in heaven of every person who has put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
Our security as believers is only because of the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit within us and the continual intercession of Christ on our behalf as our High Priest. If it were not for this sustaining power and ceaseless intercession, then our humanness would have immediately swallowed us up again in sin the moment we were justified. Do you understand that if Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit ceased their sustaining intercession for us who believe that we would in that moment be swept back into our sinful state and again be separated from God. But if this were possible, our faith in Christ for salvation would give us only fleeting spiritual life, that we could lose at any moment. But remember that Jesus only offers eternal life which by definition cannot be lost because it is eternal. Jesus using the analogy of sheep (believers) and the Shepherd said in John 10:27-28, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27–28, NASB95)[12] To have faith in Jesus Christ and to have eternal life are the same in Scripture, we can only have eternal life if we have faith in Jesus Christ.
INTERCEDING ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD (Romans 8:27)
Paul ends this section on the groans of glory by giving us a word of encouragement concerning the intercession of the Holy Spirit on our behalf. Paul writes, “And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is…” (Romans 8:27a, NASB95)[13] The “He” in this verse is God the Father, it is He who searches the hearts of men and knows them. Remember when Samuel was told to anoint a successor for king Saul, and he saw the first born son of Jesse and though this he must be the Lord’s choice, but the Lord told Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7, NASB95)[14] Solomon acknowledge this truth as well as he prayed at the dedication of the temple in 1 Kings 8:39, he prayed, “then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men,” (1 Kings 8:39, NASB95)[15]
God the Father knows the hearts of men, this fact is attested to in Scripture, Psalm 139 speaks of God knowing all our days before one of them has happened. If this is true, how much more does He know the mind of the Spirit. Just as the Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God as we looked at a bit ago in 1 Corinthians 2:11, God the Father understands precisely what the Holy Spirit is thinking “because He [the Holy Spirit] intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:27, NASB95)[16] Remember the Holy Spirit’s will and God the Father’s will are the same, because God is one. This truth that is hard to fathom makes Paul’s statement almost unnecessary, but he writes this here as an encouragement to us, because we do not know how to pray as we should, we do not know the perfect will of God, but the indwelling Holy Spirit does because He is God and He intercedes for us according to the perfect will of God and He can do this because the three persons of the Godhead have always been one in essence and will. Be encouraged that the Holy Spirit intercedes for you to bring your salvation to completion.
CONCLUSION:
This morning we have looked at another ministry of the Holy Spirit and that is His ministry interceding for us, helping us in our weakness. He knows just what we need, and He can intercede for us according to the will of God. He joins us in groaning for our adoption as sons, for the redemption of our bodies. In this passage Paul focuses on the intercession that is necessary to keep believers until the completion of their salvation. I do not understand how anyone can claim that you can lose your salvation when Scripture is so clear that keeping our salvation has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. The One who made the way of salvation through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the One who called us to salvation, and because He called us to salvation, He will keep us saved until our salvation is complete and we stand before Him in our glorified bodies and made a righteous as God is righteous because we possess the full righteousness of Christ. “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6, NASB95)[17]
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[16]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[17]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.