In the sermon titled 'The Spirit's Help', Jason Dohm explores Romans 8:18-28, focusing on how the Holy Spirit aids believers in their weaknesses. Dohm emphasizes the comparison Paul makes between present sufferings and future glory, stating that the glory to come far outweighs current trials. He explains that the Holy Spirit helps in various weaknesses, not just in prayer, by making intercessions for believers with groanings that words cannot express. This intercession is according to the will of God and provides profound aid for believers' welfare. Dohm also draws connections to Jesus' promise in John 14 about sending the Holy Spirit as another Helper, highlighting the Spirit's role in reminding believers of Jesus’ teachings and supporting them in their spiritual journey. The sermon underscores the message that Christians, like the Apostle Paul, have many weaknesses, but they are sustained by the Holy Spirit's perfect knowledge, wisdom, and love.

Our sermon text for today is Romans 8 verses 26 and 27. I'm going to back up to verse 18 and read one verse beyond 27 including verse 28 for context of the verses we'll be looking at today. So Romans 8 beginning in verse 18, For I consider 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 creation eagerly waits 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.

Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pains together until now. Not only that, but we also that who have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees?

But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise, the Spirit also helps us, I'm sorry, likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we alt, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

You may be seated. The title of the sermon this morning is very simple. It's simply, the Spirit's Help. The Apostle Paul brings us to the great truth that God has given His Holy Spirit to help believers. Last week the title was, Sufferings and Glory on the Scales.

Paul brought out the scales. And on one side of the scale he puts our present sufferings. And on the other side of the scale he puts a future glory that awaits all believers, and he concludes that they're not worthy to be compared. That the glory of the glory that will be revealed in us in eternity is so much greater than our present sufferings that they're not even worthy of comparison. In last week's text there were two groanings.

Two different groanings. The first was creation. Paul says creation groans because it was subjected to futility. Creation was created to bring glory to God and mankind messed that up by bringing sin and death into the world. There were all sorts of implications even for the rest of creation, not just for mankind.

Paul also said that believers groan, that even we who have been born again have these remaining corruptions and not ever being fully free from them, this side of death, it means that we have this groaning in ourselves, longing for the time to come. So Paul ends the text with the eager expectation of believers, which is our glorious liberty. The day is coming when all the weight that drags us down, all the sins which so easily entangle us will be a thing completely of the past and will be completely unable to sin because we'll be completely unwilling to sin. Those things will go together in heaven. We don't even have a framework to understand that because you've never lived a second like that in your life.

But Paul says, it's coming. You might not have a framework for it, but just understand that this is where the end that God is taking His people into. Let's pray. God, I thank you for the goodness of this text and the many encouragements that there are here. Don't let us go away without having the encouragement's land.

These encouraging truths pressed onto us so that we go away just happy With how good you are to your people how faithful you are day to day To us. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen Two verses we'll take them one at a time. So hopefully your Bibles are still open to Romans chapter 8. Follow along as I reread Romans chapter 8 verse 26.

Paul continues, Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." In verse 26, Paul is teaching us that we are weak but the Spirit helps. He begins by saying, likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. So, likewise to what? He's obviously drawing a comparison.

What's he comparing? John Murray nails it, in my opinion. So I'll tell you what John Murray says. John Murray says this, the hope and expectation of the glory to be revealed sustain the people of God in the sufferings and groanings of this present time. So he's pointing back at last week's text.

In like manner, the Holy Spirit helps our infirmity. In the preceding verses, the accent falls upon the sufferings and the support afforded in these. In verses 26 and 27, our text, the accent falls upon our infirmity and the help given for its relief. As hope sustains us in suffering, So the Holy Spirit helps our infirmity. I think that's exactly why he says the word likewise.

This is the comparison being made. Last week he put these things on the scales. Present sufferings and hope. Hope weighs it down. They're not even worth being prepared.

So this hope of future glory sustains us in times of present sufferings. Even so, likewise, in the same manner, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. Amen to that. Our present sufferings aren't the last word. Right?

That's last week's text. Are present sufferings real? And how? Absolutely. We all know that they're real.

We feel them pressing on us every day. Are they the last word? No way. God has the last word and it is an eternal word and it is a word of truth about the glory that he'll receive us into that will extend forever and ever. So our present sufferings aren't the last word.

And our weaknesses aren't the last word. Are your weaknesses a reality? You know that they are. Do they press on you every day? They press on you every day.

Are they the last word? No way! God has the last word. God has given us His Spirit to help us in our weaknesses. Now Paul names a weakness.

We don't know what to pray for as we should. You ever felt that way? Of course you have. Can you acknowledge that Paul has just put his finger on a weakness for you? Sometimes you don't even know what you should pray for.

You should know, but you don't know. Is that the weakness in view? It's what follows in the text. Is that the weakness in view? It's what follows in the text.

So is that the weakness in view? Well, what does the text say? The text says, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. The Spirit helps us not in our weakness singular, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses plural. I concede that I often don't know what to pray for as I should.

I concede that is a weakness. I do not concede that that is the only weakness I have or the only weakness I need help with. Clearly, that wouldn't be true. I only have one weakness in this world. Sometimes I don't know what to pray for.

You liar. Having studied this passage at length, I don't believe Paul meant for us to restrict the help of the Spirit to our weakness in prayer at all. He wants it much more unrestricted than that. He does not want you restricting your thought of verse 26 to just, sometimes I don't know what to pray for, God helps me with that, and period, amen. No, no, no.

Comma, then list all your other weaknesses. The Spirit is there to help you with everything before and after the comma, and it's a long list of weaknesses, and the Spirit is there for it all. Think about what Paul says about himself in chapter 7. There are things that I want to do. What do I find myself doing?

Not those things. I find myself doing the things I don't want to do. I want to do these things. I find myself not doing them. I don't want to do these other things, I find myself doing these things.

Who will save me from this body of death? Paul has a lot more in mind, even in the pretty immediate context, than just his weakness of not knowing what he should pray for as he ought. Paul knew himself as a man with many weaknesses, a man in need of help in category after category after category after category, and he looks at God's provision and he says, God gave me the spirit to help in all of these weaknesses. All God's people ought to say, amen to that. Thank you.

Here's what I think Paul is saying. I am a poor judge of the help I actually need. I'm not the right man to diagnose my weaknesses. Half of them aren't even in view to me. I don't even think of them as weaknesses, but they are weaknesses.

I'm not the right guy to diagnose my weaknesses and to judge the help that I actually need. But the Holy Spirit is a perfect judge of the help that I actually need. I think Paul is teaching that here, saying that here. The Holy Spirit perfectly diagnoses my weaknesses. He knows them all.

He names them rightly. And the Help that would actually be helpful. Have you ever had help that wasn't actually helpful? In other words, you thought it would be helpful, but it wasn't helpful, or somebody else thought it would be helpful, or it wasn't helpful. That happens all the time.

That never happens with the Holy Spirit. He knows the help that would actually be helpful. And He pleads for me with the Father accordingly. Father, give him the help that would be helpful. This is it.

Holy Spirit is able to diagnose my weaknesses perfectly and to pray for the right help that would actually be helpful. And I'm terrible at all that. I'm not good at all that. I'm not the right one to do all that. The Holy Spirit is perfect at all that.

The Holy Spirit is perfect for that function. This is what Paul is teaching us here. Here's a perfect example of this from the life of Paul. You don't even have to go outside the life of Paul. You don't even have to apply it to yourself yet.

We can start with Paul in 2 Corinthians. So if you want, and it's going to be a few verses, so it might be worth turning if you'd like, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, We get an example of this from the life of Paul where Paul finds himself not the right one to diagnose his own weaknesses, but God being wiser than him about naming his weakness, knowing his weakness, and applying help that would actually be helpful. Not things that Paul think would be helpful, but aren't, other people think would be helpful, but aren't, but God knowing exactly what Paul needs. 2 Corinthians 12, I'll read verses 7-10. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 7-10.

Paul writes, And lest I should be exalted above measure, by the abundance of the revelations, A thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake.

For when I am weak, then I am strong." So, Paul is being given the New Testament. Pretty much. You need to write the whole New Testament? No, but he wrote a lot of it. Paul is the direct channel of this revelation of these glorious truths.

It's pretty heady stuff. Most of us wouldn't handle it well. Most of us would be exalted above measure. We'd become arrogant. God decided to do something in his life to keep him humble.

He afflicted Paul. We don't know exactly what the affliction is. If we needed to know, we'd know. But what we do know is God afflicted Paul to keep him humble. Paul doesn't read it that way.

Paul says, God remove the affliction. God remove the affliction. God remove the affliction. God remove the affliction. He prayed three times for God to remove it.

So Paul has diagnosed the problem according to Paul and offered the solution according to Paul. Wrong, wrong, wrong. He misdiagnosed the problem and he's asking for help that wouldn't be helpful. God actually afflicted him on purpose to keep him humble, but Paul couldn't see that yet. And so, God knew better.

So God gave better. This is really to the heart. We often don't know what we ought to pray for. We think we do, we think we've diagnosed the problem right, and we offer the solution to God and He knows better. Thank God He knows better!

I shudder to think what would happen if God just answered all of our prayers with a rubber stamp, yes! Yes, yes, yes. Every application that comes in just stamped yes. According to your diagnosis of the problem and according to the solution that you offer, God just says, fine, Fine, fine, fine, stamp, stamp, stamp, stamp, yes to everything. You want to live in that world?

We imagine it would be great. It would not be great. It would not be great. What is great is the Holy Spirit pleading for me according to His perfect wisdom. What would not be great is God rubber stamping everything yes, as if you knew how to diagnose the problem and you don't, or knew how to offer the right solution and you don't.

Instead of rubber stamping everything, he gives you the Holy Spirit to intercede within you according to his perfect wisdom. Another point. What Paul speaks of here is the fulfillment of something Jesus promised in John 14. If you would like, turn to John 14. Paul is saying, the Holy Spirit does this in the life of the believer.

Jesus actually promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to do just this in John 14. So I want you to see, Jesus promised it and see our text as the fulfillment of it in Romans chapter 8. John 14, I'll start by reading 15 through 18 and make a couple of comments and then skip down. John 14 verses 15 through 18. Jesus says, If you love me, keep my commandments.

And I will pray the Father, or I will ask the Father. And He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you." Jesus in John 14 is something like 24 hours away from giving his life on the cross. He's speaking to his disciples and he says, I'm leaving but I'm not leaving you orphans.

I'm going to send another helper, another one, who will do for you and more than I have done for you in the flesh." This is what Jesus is announcing to his disciples. I'm going away, but I'm not going away. I'm going away, but I'm not leaving you orphans. I'm going to send my Spirit who's with you, and the Spirit will be in you, and he's another helper. I've been a helper to you in the flesh while I was here.

I'm sending another helper to do the things that I've been doing in your life and more. This word helper is famously difficult to translate with one word. In other words, you have one Greek word, but it's hard to bring it over into English in one word. So you have some good translations rendering it helper, and some good translations rendering it comforter. You've heard it rendered that before.

And some good translations rendering it advocate or one who pleads the case of. All of those are actually good and the reason that they haven't standardized on one word in English is that there's a range of meaning and you really need more than one word to bring over the range. So literally that Greek word means one who is summoned to come alongside. So someone summons this source of help to come alongside one who needs help. That's the whole point.

So Jesus is saying, I'm going to summon the Holy Spirit to come alongside you, to dwell in you, to always be with you, to help you. The Holy Spirit was sent by God the Father and by God the Son, Jesus, to continue helping like Jesus helped when he was here in the flesh. So if you lived with Jesus for three years, if you were one of the twelve, lived with him for three years, you'd be getting all sorts of help in your life. The Holy Spirit comes and does that for every disciple. That's a mind boggler.

Don't pine away to be one of the twelve. It's good to be a believer after the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was deployed by God the Father and God the Son to be this source of ongoing help, another helper to do the things that Jesus was doing in the flesh for his disciples, and more. Skip down to verses 25 and 26. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the helper, or the comforter, or the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." So there's something else he'll be doing.

He'll be bringing to remembrance the Word of God, the things that Jesus said. Hey, is that a weakness for anyone? Find your mind on the wrong track. Thinking the wrong thoughts. And you get this correction, this corrective impulse that brings you back to what truth is, what God has said in His Word.

The Holy Spirit is doing that. That is the active influence of the Holy Spirit in your life. So there's just another one of your weaknesses. Yes, sometimes you don't know what you ought to pray for. Sometimes your mind is headed down the wrong track and you need someone to remind you of what Jesus said.

The Holy Spirit does that. It's just closing another gap, helping you with another weakness. In our text, the Greek word translated helps, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses, is only used in one other place in the New Testament. It very literally means to lay hold along with. So think of a burden and one person unable to carry the burden so the other person comes to lay hold along with for the carrying of the burden.

That's the sense of this Greek word. And the one other place that it's found in the New Testament is Luke 14 verse 10. You're going to instantly recognize it because it's famous. You already know it. Luke 10 verse 40.

But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she approached Jesus and said, Lord do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me. Deploy her to come alongside me to carry the burden of the work." That's what she is meaning, that's what she's communicating to Jesus. Paul is saying this is what the Holy Spirit is, the one deployed to be alongside to carry the burden that is uncariable by us because of our weaknesses.

This is what the Holy Spirit does for believers. He entreats God the Father for good for that believer. God do good to your son Jason, to your daughter Dawn, and on and on. Insert your name. Put a bunch of blanks.

You fill in the blank with your name. God, do good to this child of yours. He intercedes for us. Now, is part of the Spirit interceding for us, forming and shaping our prayers, influencing our prayers, I would have to say undoubtedly, but He Himself is interceding. So don't skinny this down to, well, I don't know what to pray for as I ought, so the Holy Spirit shapes my prayers.

If you want to include that, I say fine, I agree with you, I think it ought to be included. But just don't restrict it to that, because the text says he himself intercedes for you. He's not just changing your prayers, he's pleading, entreating, interceding directly with God for you according to perfect wisdom. Rob Ventura says, it's not instead of us, it's along with us. Like, that's right on.

Thank you, Rob Ventura. It's not instead of us, not He Himself pleading with us and He has nothing to do with our prayers. It's along with us. He's the one who comes alongside and picks up the other end of the unbearable burden. We're weak, but he's not weak, so he comes and picks up the other end, but it doesn't mean that we don't have an end.

Of course, we're praying in this text, and he's interceding in this text. Both are true. It's not a call to say that, therefore, prayer is meaningless. You can stop praying now. There's not even a hint of that in the text.

We're praying and he comes in shapes and helps form our prayers, improve our prayers, but he himself is also interceding. It's not instead of us, it's along with us. The text says, the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. What in the world does that mean? He intercedes for us with groanings, or could be sighs, that Greek word means to groan or to sigh, either one, that cannot be uttered.

That cannot be uttered. That Greek word means not to be uttered or not expressed in words. So, what does it mean? Well, it is certainly not a prayer language. If you believe in that supernatural prayer language, by the way I don't, But if you do, find another text.

Get another text. It is groans or sighs which cannot be expressed, not to be uttered, not expressed in words. That's no prayer language. So what does it mean? Well, Paul has just said something similar or identical, so that should inform us.

So he's trotting out a word that he just trotted out already twice. Either similar or identical. He did it in verse 22, For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. So when humanity plunged all of creation into sin and death, a new world full of sin and death, that made creation, which was created to glorify God, grown in its inability to fulfill its purpose. So he uses that word.

Verse 23, not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves eagerly awaiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. So, we're like creation. We feel the effects of sin and death coming into the world, and it makes us grown. There's this sighing happening within us, wanting the time of perfection where we are free from all these remaining corruptions, all of them are swept away, and it's just us being in the presence of Jesus and worshiping Him, serving Him for eternity and we can't wait so we're sighing, we're groaning about this. In a similar way, the Holy Spirit is indwelling me.

I'm a believer. I'm born again, I'm spiritually raised from the dead, but I'm still so far from what I ought to be, and what I need to be, and what I will be. Is that true? If you only knew. If you only knew.

Holy Spirit has taken up my heart as a residence, only I'm still so far from what I ought to be and need to be and will be in the future. The Holy Spirit also feels the effects of what is now and what is to come. And he is groaning his entreaties and his intercessions to God. I think that's what Paul is saying here. John MacArthur says this, these are in the study notes of his study Bible.

John MacArthur says, groanings too deep for words. These are divine articulations within the Trinity that cannot be expressed in words but carry profound appeals for the welfare of every believer." I think he's right. Just listen to this again. This is what he says about these groanings that are too deep for words. That they are divine articulations, God speaking, within the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to God the Father, that cannot be expressed in words but carry profound appeals for the welfare of every believer.

Now let's consider with how that fits with verse 27. So if you're still in Romans 8, let's look at verse 27 and consider. Romans 8.27. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is. Because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. This verse Paul speaks of God the Father's disposition toward the entreaties of the Spirit. So if you're taking notes on the handout you're filling in blanks on the handout by taking notes that way. Entreaties fills in the blank. God the Father's disposition towards the entreaties or the intercessions of the Spirit.

Let me start with a quote that I think gets to the core of Paul's meaning and then we'll step back. Here's a quote from the Expositors Bible commentary. Expositors Bible commentary says, Are not such prayers unintelligible? Remember, the text just said, groanings which cannot be uttered. So this is what intercessions of the spirit, groanings which cannot be uttered.

So the Expositors Bible commentary says, are not such prayers unintelligible? Not for God! He is no stranger to the intent of the Spirit. I think the expositors Bible commentary has put their finger right on it. It sounds to us like this would be unintelligible.

When somebody groans to us, we don't know what they mean. When the Spirit groans to God the Father, He knows exactly what it means. It's not unintelligible to God at all. Because God the Father is no stranger to the intent of the Spirit. If the Bible teaches anything at all, it teaches that this all-knowing, present-everywhere God knows all that is happening in every human heart.

Did you buy what I'm selling here? Meaning, you've read your Bibles, you know that you know that you know that if it teaches anything It teaches that God knows everything and that He's present everywhere at once. There's nowhere where He isn't. And so He knows all that is happening in every human heart. There's not a single human heart that he doesn't know everything that's happening.

This is what the Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation. If I tried to prove it, it would bore you to death with how Many places say exactly the same thing. God knows everything. He knows everything that's happening in every human heart. When the Holy Spirit pleads on behalf of the believer, when the Holy Spirit makes entreaties or intercedes on behalf of the believer, God the Father knows everything about the objective intercession.

Right? Okay, so the Spirit is in me, He's interceding for me. Does God the Father who's receiving these entreaties, this intercession, does He know everything about me? Of course He does. He knows all about my day.

What's happening with Jason today? He knows the answer to that question. Always. And you and everyone. He knows everything about the object of intercession, the believer, and perfectly knows The mind of the Spirit.

This word mind, the mind of the Spirit, the Greek word means the thoughts and purposes. That's exactly the way we use that term. You say, I wish I knew what was on his mind. You want to know the thoughts and purposes of that mind. We have the same meaning behind the word there.

God the Father perfectly knows the thoughts and the purposes of the Spirit. So when the Spirit groans, nothing is lost. Nothing is lost in translation. There is no translation within the Trinity. Of course.

Nothing is lost in communication. There is no loss of meaning in the communications of the Trinity. In childhood you play telephone, you get in a big circle, a guy whispering in your ear and you whisper in his ear and he whispers in her ear and around and around and around. At the end, the last person says what they think they heard, and it's nothing like what the first person said. Because there's all this loss of meaning in communication, because it's whisper, whisper, whisper, and one word gets changed, and then another word gets changed, and then It doesn't mean anything intelligible, so they don't even know how to pass it on.

By the time you get to the end of the line, it's all lost. There's none of that in the inter-Trinity communications. No translation needed, never any loss of meaning. God the Father always perfectly knowing what are the thoughts and purposes of the Spirit. Now Paul says this, he the Holy Spirit makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Paul, why did you say that? The Holy Spirit makes intercession for the saints According to the will of God. We might think, duh! Reverently, respectfully, Paul. Duh!

The Holy Spirit is God! Of course he intercedes according to the will of God. What is Paul doing? Well, Paul could simply be hammering home the doctrine of divine simplicity. Why do theologians have to think up fancy terms for things?

I don't know. We do. What is the doctrine of divine simplicity? That God, though existing in three persons if you must, the old formulators of the old creeds were uncomfortable with persons because they thought they'll get confused and think they're three different people. So they'll get the picture of distinction, but they won't get the picture of one essence.

So three, they liked the word subsistences. They picked a word we don't even know what it means. But they're trying to keep you away from thinking about three people, three individuals who just happen to work really well together. That's not what the Trinity is. Oh, look at those three.

They're so generally like-minded. They work so well together. That is not the God of Scripture. God is one. Here, O Israel, the Lord is one.

In three distinct subsistences, whatever that means. It is a deep well. You let down all the line you got and you have a sense, I'm nowhere near the bottom of this well. I certainly haven't touched the bottom of it and I don't think I'm close. You are correct.

You are not close. But this is how the Bible describes God. God is three, but only to be understood as one. Same essence, no difference in everything that the Father is in essence. The Son is in essence.

The Spirit is in essence. One will. Okay, So these are not overlapping circles with a lot of commonality. This is one circle of will. There's never an instance where the Father wants something and the Son wants something different, or the Son wants it less, or the Spirit wants something different, or the Spirit wants it less.

It is one circle, One will. Everything the Father wants, Jesus wants the same thing and he wants it as bad. Everything the Father wants, the Spirit wants exactly the same thing with exactly the same intensity, one will. When Jesus spoke, He spoke only what the Father sent Him to say. He never had His own message.

One message. When the Holy Spirit intercedes, He always and only intercedes according to the will of God. That is true. That could be what Paul is teaching here. I have no objection to that interpretation.

It fits linguistically, it's fine, but here's what Lloyd-Jones thinks and I've come to agree with him. I didn't approach the passage understanding it this way, but Lloyd-Jones won me over. So here's what Lloyd Jones says. He, Paul, is assuring us that the Spirit comes alongside us, takes up our burden, and begins to act as our advocate within us because it is God who sent him to do so. He is doing this according to the will of God.

It is part of God's plan, a part of God's way of saving his people. The whole salvation is God's plan and this is a part of it. So Lloyd-Jones says, no, no, no, it's not the intercessions that are according to the will of God. I mean they are, but that's not what Paul is saying. Of course they are, duh, they are.

It's that the Holy Spirit indwelling his people as a source of ongoing, ever-present hope is the will of God. He wants you to know that God has sent his Spirit to do these things in his people, and he wants, Paul wants to comfort you with the knowledge that this is happening just according to what pleases God. It's according to His will that the Spirit would be sent to always be helping His people. And that you, as a reader of these verses, be encouraged. Know it.

God meant for you to have an ever-present, indwelling source of help for all of your weaknesses. That's God's will. I think Lloyd-Jones has it right. Maybe we're both wrong. Before we talk about applications, let's compile a list of what Paul says about the Holy Spirit in chapter 8.

Verses 1 and 4, believers walk according to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings the believer into new patterns of life. Isn't that true? The old patterns of life, little by little, giving way to the new patterns of life. That's because of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 9, the Holy Spirit dwells in the believer. Verse 9. The Holy Spirit is in the Old Testament, frequently in the Old Testament, so the Holy Spirit is not new in the New Testament. But the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit's ongoing indwelling of the believer is new, as of the day of Pentecost. I believe some people disagree with that view.

Must be bad to be wrong on that. Verse 13, the believer puts to death the deeds of the body by the Holy Spirit. How do we make progress? We still have a flesh that's still craving things that dishonor God. How do we make progress?

The Holy Spirit uses, the believer uses the Holy Spirit as a mighty weapon to put to death the deeds of the body. Verse 15, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Adoption, causing the believer to cry out to God, Abba, Father, this most tender yet most respectful with reverence term for a father, Abba Father. Verses 16 and 17, the Holy Spirit bears witness with the spirit of the believer that we are the children of God and if we're the children of God then we're heirs. We has a right to the inheritance and can stand alongside Jesus to inherit. Verse 23, the Holy Spirit causes believers to groan for the day when we will enjoy all the rights and privileges of adoption.

Have we been adopted? Yes. Do I enjoy all the rights and privileges of adoption today? Not hardly. But the day is coming and the Holy Spirit gives us this impulse to sigh thinking forward to that day.

Now verse 26, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. Wow, the ministry of the Holy Spirit is on display in its many-colored view of the work of the Holy Spirit. So next week we're gonna stop and just camp on this all week before we actually move on and continue our exposition. All of next week is going to be about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Then we'll move on.

Applications I'll give you three. Number one, John Calvin, please help us sir. John Calvin says this, There is then no reason for anyone to complain that the bearing of the cross is beyond their own strength, since we are sustained by a celestial power. There is no reason for anyone to complain that the bearing of the cross is beyond their own strength. Have you ever felt that way?

I've felt that way. Taking up my cross and following Jesus is too hard. No, you don't get to say that because we're sustained by a celestial power. What do you mean? You're indwell by the Holy Spirit who's been given to help you in all of your weaknesses.

He knows about all of your weaknesses and He can help you with all of them. So we can take up our cross and follow Jesus. We can. Since we are sustained by a celestial power, the Holy Spirit. Number two, let me ask and answer a question.

Is the help of the Holy Spirit help for the weaknesses of weak Christians? That's the question. Is the help of the Holy Spirit help for the weaknesses of weak Christians? I'll give you two answers. Number one, yes.

The Holy Spirit is help for the weaknesses of weak Christians. Answer number two, there are only weak Christians. Yes, it's help for the weaknesses of weak Christians, and there are only weak Christians What does Paul say verse 26? What does Paul say? Likewise the spirit also helps in our Weaknesses for For we our weaknesses for we do not know what We should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

We, us, our. The Apostle Paul has slotted himself right alongside you as a weak Christian who needs the power and help of an indwelling celestial power, the Holy Spirit, to help him with all of his weaknesses. Not you and your, we, us, our. You must see how deadly thinking you're strong and no longer in need is. So deadly.

The Apostle Paul would not allow himself to fall prey to this deadly sense that I'm past that now. I'm strong now. I used to be weak. I used to need all that. Now I've made enough progress where I just don't need that anymore.

Well, then you have gone beyond Paul. Raise your hand so we can clap for you. Having gone beyond Paul, we won't clap for you. We'll make fun of you. We'll take pictures of you and put it on YouTube.

Look at this idiot. Thinks they don't need the help of the Holy Spirit. God has designed for all of His children to be totally dependent upon Him. That's the system. Nobody plays outside that system.

God designed it for all of his children to be totally dependent upon him to have these Plethora this abundance of weaknesses that all need the help of the Holy Spirit number three John Murray, please help us sir he will listen Not our infirmity of understanding and request is the measure of God's grace, but the knowledge, wisdom, and love of the Holy Spirit. So he's actually answering a question with that quote. Here's the question. John Murray, how does God deal with His children? John Murray, tell us how God deals with his children.

Here's his answer. Not according to our infirmity of understanding and request, you didn't think of the right thing to ask for, You're out of luck. But according to God's grace, but according to the knowledge, wisdom, and love of the Holy Spirit. True, I didn't think of the right thing to ask for. That's not what determines how God deals with me.

Thank God. He deals with me according to the knowledge and wisdom and love of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows exactly what my real weaknesses and problems are, and exactly what the real solutions are, and He's pleading with God on my behalf because of his love. That's how God deals with me. Let's pray.

God, glorious, glorious truths. Week by week, you're laying them before us. I thank you that this is true, because you have said it. Thank you that you have not left us as orphans. You have sent your spirit to live inside us to help us with every weakness.

Whether we see it as a weakness, diagnose it as a problem, or not, you know. Your spirit is interceding for your people according to His perfect knowledge and wisdom and love. Thank you that This is how you treat your people, in Jesus' name, Amen.