The title of Charles Spurgeon's sermon is self-explanatory.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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The Holy Spirit's Intercession
by C.H. Spurgeon
"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we
should what pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh
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 maketh
intercession for the saints according the to will of God."-Romans 8:26,27.
The apostle Paul was writing to a tried and afflicted people, and one of
his
objects was to remind them of the rivers of comfort which were flowing
near
at hand. He first of all stirred up their pure minds by way of remembrance
as to their sonship,-for saith he "as many as are led by the Spirit of
God,
they are the sons of God." They were, therefore, encouraged to take part
and
lot with Christ, the elder brother, with whom they had become joint heirs;
and they were exhorted to suffer with him, that they might afterwards be
glorified with him. All that they endured came from a Father's hand, and
this should comfort them. A thousand sources of joy are opened in that one
blessing of adoption. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom we have been begotten into the family of grace.
When Paul had alluded to that consoling subject he turned to the next
ground
of comfort-namely, that we are to be sustained under present trial by
hope.
There is an amazing glory in reserve for us, and though as yet we cannot
enter upon it, but in harmony with the whole creation must continue to
groan
and travail, yet the hope itself should minister strength to us, and
enable
us patiently to bear "these light afflictions, which are but for a
moment."
This also is a truth full of sacred refreshment: hope sees a crown in
reserve, mansions in readiness, and Jesus himself preparing a place for
us,
and by the rapturous sight she sustains the soul under the sorrows of the
hour. Hope is the grand anchor by whose means we ride out the present
storm.
The apostle then turns to a third source of comfort, namely, the abiding
of
the Holy Spirit in and with the Lord's people. He uses the word "likewise"
to intimate that in the same manner as hope sustains the soul, so does the
Holy Spirit strengthen us under trial. Hope operated spiritually upon our
spiritual faculties, and so does the Holy Spirit, in some mysterious way,
divinely operate upon the new-born faculties of the believer, so that he
is
sustained under his infirmities. In his light shall we see light: I pray,
therefore, that we may be helped of the Spirit while we consider his
mysterious operations, that we may not fall into error or miss precious
truth through blindness of heart.
The text speaks of "our infirmities," or as many translators put it in the
singular-of "our infirmity." By this is intended our affliction, and the
weakness which trouble discovers in us. The Holy Spirit helps us to bear
the
infirmity of our body and of our mind; he helps us to bear our cross,
whether it be physical pain, or mental depression, or spiritual conflict,
or
slander, or poverty, or persecution. He helps our infirmity; and with a
helper so divinely strong we need not fear for the result. God's grace
will
be sufficient for us; his strength will be made perfect in weakness.
I think, dear friends, you will all admit that if a man can pray, his
trouble is at once lightened. When we feel that we have power with God and
can obtain anything we ask for at his hands, then our difficulties cease
to
oppress us. We take our burden to our heavenly Father and tell it out in
the
accents of childlike confidence, and we come away quite content to bear
whatever his holy will may lay upon us. Prayer is a great outlet for
grief;
it draws up the sluices, and abates the swelling flood, which else might
be
too strong for us. We bathe our wound in the lotion of prayer, and the
pain
is lulled, the fever is removed. We may be brought into such perturbation
of
mind, and perplexity of heart, that we do not know how to pray. We see the
mercy-seat, and we perceive that God will hear us: we have no doubt about
that, for we know that we are his own favoured children, and yet we hardly
know what to desire. We fall into such heaviness of spirit, and
entanglement
of thought, that the one remedy of prayer, which we have always found to
be
unfailing, appears to be taken from us. Here, then, in the nick of time,
as
a very present help in time of trouble, comes in the Holy Spirit. He draws
near to teach us how to pray, and in this way he helps our infirmity,
relieves our suffering, and enables us to bear the heavy burden without
fainting under the load.
At this time our subjects for consideration shall be, firstly, the help
which the Holy Spirit gives; secondly, the prayers which he inspires; and
thirdly, the success which such prayers ore certain to obtain.
I. First, then, let us consider THE HELP WHICH THE HOLY GHOST GIVES.
The help which the Holy Ghost renders to us meets the weakness which we
deplore. As I have already said, if in time of trouble a man can pray, his
burden loses its weight. If the believer can take anything and everything
to
God, then he learns to glory in infirmity, and to rejoice in tribulation;
but sometimes we are in such confusion of mind that we know not what we
should pray for as we ought. In a measure, through our ignorance, we never
know what we should pray for until we are taught of the Spirit of God, but
there are times when this beclouding of the soul is dense indeed, and we
do
not even know what would help us out of our trouble if we could obtain it.
He see the disease, but the name of the medicine is not known to us. We
look
over the many things which we might ask for of the Lord, and we feel that
each of them would be helpful, but that none of them would precisely meet
our case. For spiritual blessings which we know to be according to the
divine will we could ask with confidence, but perhaps these would not meet
our peculiar circumstances. There are other things for which we are
allowed
to ask, but we scarcely know whether, if we had them, they would really
serve our turn, and we also feel a diffidence as to praying for them. In
praying for temporal things we plead with measured voices, ever referring
our petition for revision to the will of the Lord. Moses prayed that he
might enter Canaan, but God denied him; and the man that was healed asked
our Lord that he might be with him, but he received for answer, "Go home
to
thy friends." We pray evermore on such matters with this reserve,
"Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." At times this very spirit
of resignation appears to increase our spiritual difficulty, for we do not
wish to ask for anything that would be contrary to the mind of God and yet
we must ask for something. We are reduced to such straits that we must
pray,
but what shall be the particular subject of prayer we cannot for a while
make out. Even when ignorance and perplexity are removed, we know not what
we should pray for "as we ought." When we know the matter of prayer, we
yet
fail to pray in a right manner. We ask, but we are afraid that we shall
not
have, because we do not exercise the thought, or the faith, which we judge
to be essential to prayer. We cannot at times command even the earnestness
which is the life of supplication: a torpor steals over us, our heart is
chilled, our hand is numbed, and we cannot wrestle with the angel. We know
what to pray for as to objects, but we do not know what to pray for "as we
ought" it is the manner of the prayer which perplexes us, even when the
matter is decided upon. How can I pray? My mind wanders: I chatter like a
crane; I roar like a beast in pain; I moan in the brokenness of my heart,
but oh, my God, I know not what it is my inmost spirit needs; or if I know
it, I know not how to frame my petition aright before thee. I know not how
to open my lips in thy majestic presence: I am so troubled that I cannot
speak. My spiritual distress robs me of the power to pour out my heart
before my God. Now, beloved, it is in such a plight as this that the Holy
Ghost aids us with his divine help. and hence he is "a very present help
in
time of trouble."
Coming to our aid in our bewilderment he instructs us. This is one of his
frequent operations upon the mind of the believer: "he shall teach you all
things." He instructs us as to our need, and as to the promises of God
which
refer to that need. He shows us where our deficiencies are, what our sins
are, and what our necessities are; he sheds a light upon our condition,
and
makes us feel deeply our helplessness, sinfulness, and dire poverty; and
then he casts the same light upon the promises of the Word, and lays home
to
the heart that very text which was intended to meet the occasion-the
precise
promise which was framed with foresight of our present distress. In that
light he makes the promise shine in all its truthfulness, certainty,
sweetness, and suitability, so that we, poor trembling sons of men, dare
take that word into our mouth which first came out of God's mouth, and
then
come with it as an argument, and plead it before the throne of the
heavenly
grace. Our prevalence in prayer lies in the plea, "Lord, do as thou hast
said." How greatly we ought to value the Holy Spirit, because when we are
in
the dark he gives us light, and when our perplexed spirit is so befogged
and
beclouded that it cannot see its own need, and cannot find out the
appropriate promise in the Scriptures, the Spirit of God comes in and
teaches us all things, and brings all things to our remembrance,
whatsoever
our Lord has told us. He guides us in prayer, and thus he helps our
infirmity.
But the blessed Spirit does more than this, he will often direct the mind
to
the special subject of prayer. He dwells within us as a counsellor, and
points out to us what it is we should seek at the hands of God. We do not
know why it is so, but we sometimes find our minds carried as by a strong
under current into a particular line of prayer for some one definite
object.
It is not merely that our judgment leads us in that direction, though
usually the Spirit of God acts upon us by enlightening our judgment, but
we
often feel an unaccountable and irresistible desire rising again and again
within our heart, and this so presses upon us, that we not only utter the
desire before God at our ordinary times for prayer, but we feel it crying
in
our hearts all the day long, almost to the supplanting of all other
considerations. At such times we should thank God for direction and give
our
desire a clear road: the Holy Spirit is granting us inward direction as to
how we should reckon upon good success in our pleadings. Such guidance
will
the Spirit give to each of you if you will ask him to illuminate you. He
will guide you both negatively and positively. Negatively, he will forbid
you to pray for such and such a thing, even as Paul essayed to go into
Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered him not: and, on other hand, he will
cause
you to hear a cry within your soul which shall guide your petitions, even
as
he made Paul hear the cry from Macedonia, saying, "Come over and help us."
The Spirit teaches wisely, as no other teacher can do. Those who obey his
promptings shall not walk in darkness. He leads the spiritual eye to take
good and steady aim at the very centre of the target, and thus we hit the
mark in our pleadings.
Nor is this all, for the spirit of God is not sent merely to guide and
help
our devotion, but he himself "maketh intercession for us" according to the
will of God. By this expression it cannot be meant that the Holy Spirit
ever
groans or personally prays; but that he excites intense desire and created
unutterable groanings in us, and these are ascribed to him. Even as
Solomon
built the temple because he superintended and ordained all, and yet I know
not that he ever fashioned a timber or prepared a stone, so doth the Holy
Spirit pray and plead within us by leading us to pray and plead. This he
does by arousing our desires. The Holy Spirit has a wonderful power over
renewed hearts, as much power as the skillful minstrel hath over the
strings
among which he lays his accustomed hand. The influences of the Holy Ghost
at
times pass through the soul like winds through an Eolian harp, creating
and
inspiring sweet notes of gratitude and tones of desire, to which we should
have been strangers if it had not been for his divine visitation. He can
arouse us from our lethargy, he can warm us out of our lukewarmness, he
can
enable us when we are on our knees to rise above the ordinary routine of
prayer into that victorious importunity against which nothing can stand.
He
can lay certain desires so pressingly upon our hearts that we can never
rest
till they are fulfilled. He can make the zeal for God's house to eat us
up,
and the passion for God's glory to be like a fire within our bones; and
this
is one part of that process by which in inspiring our prayers he helps our
infirmity. True Advocate is he, and Comforter most effectual. Blessed be
his
name.
The Holy Spirit also divinely operates in the strengthening of the faith
of
believers. That faith is at first of his creating, and afterwards it is of
his sustaining and increasing: and oh, brothers and sisters, have you not
often felt your faith rise in proportion to your trials? Have you not,
like
Noah's ark, mounted towards heaven as the flood deepened around you? You
have felt as sure about the promise as you felt about the trial. The
affliction was, as it were, in your very bones, but the promise was also
in
your very heart. You could not doubt the affliction, for you smarted under
it, but you might almost as soon have doubted the divine help, for your
confidence was firm and unmoved. The greatest faith is only what God has a
right to expect from us, yet do we never exhibit it except as the Holy
Ghost
strengthens our confidence, and opens up before us the covenant with all
its
seals and securities. He it is that leads our soul to cry, "though my
house
be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant
ordered
in all things and sure." Blessed be the Divine Spirit then, that since
faith
is essential to prevailing prayer, he helps us in supplication by
increasing
our faith. Without faith prayer cannot speed, for he that wavereth is like
a
wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed, and such an one may not
expect anything of the Lord; happy are we when the Holy Spirit removes our
wavering, and enables us like Abraham to believe without staggering,
knowing
full well that he who has promised is able also to perform.
By three figures I will endeavour to describe the work of the Spirit of
God
in this matter, though they all fall short, and indeed all that I can say
must fall infinitely short of the glory of his work. The actual mode of
his
working upon the mind we may not attempt to explain; it remains a mystery,
and it would be an unholy intrusion to attempt to remove the veil. There
is
no difficulty in our believing that as one human mind operates upon
another
mind, so does the Holy Spirit influence our spirits. We are forced to use
words if we would influence our fellow-men, but the Spirit of God can
operate upon the human mind more directly, and communicate with it in
silence. Into that matter, however, we will not dive lest we intrude where
our knowledge would be drowned by our presumption.
My illustrations do not touch the mystery, but set forth the grace. The
Holy
Spirit acts to his people somewhat as a prompter to a reciter. A man has
to
deliver a piece which he has learned; but his memory is treacherous, and
therefore somewhere out of sight there is a prompter, so that when the
speaker is at a loss and might use a wrong word, a whisper is heard, which
suggests the right one. When the speaker has almost lost the thread of his
discourse he turns his ear, and the prompter gives him the catch-word and
aids his memory. If I may be allowed the simile, I would say that this
represents in part the work of the Spirit of God in us,-suggesting to us
the
right desire, and bringing all things to our remembrance whatsoever Christ
has told us. In prayer we should often come to a dead stand, but he
incites,
suggests, and inspires, and so we go onward. In prayer we might grow
weary,
but the Comforter encourages and refreshes us with cheering thoughts.
When,
indeed, we are in our bewilderment almost driven to give up prayer, the
whisper of his love drops a live coal from off the altar into our soul,
and
our hearts glow with greater ardour than before. Regard the Holy Spirit as
your prompter, and let your ear be opened to his voice.
But he is much more than this. Let me attempt a second simile: he is as an
advocate to one in peril at law. Suppose that a poor man had a great
law-suit, touching his whole estate, and he was forced personally to go
into
court and plead his own cause, and speak up for his rights. If he were an
uneducated man he would be in a poor plight. An adversary in the court
might
plead against him, and overthrow him, for he could not answer him. This
poor
man knows very little about law, and is quite unable to meet his cunning
opponent. Suppose one who was perfect in the law should take up his cause
warmly, and come and live with him, and use all his knowledge so as to
prepare his case for him, draw up his petitions for him, and fill his
mouth
with arguments,-would not that be a grand relief? This counsellor would
suggest the line of pleading, arrange the arguments, and put them into
right
courtly language. When the poor man was baffled by a question asked in
court, he would run home and ask his adviser, and he would tell him
exactly
how to meet the objector. Suppose, too, that when he had to plead with the
judge himself, this advocate at home should teach him how to behave and
what
to urge, and encourage him to hope that he would prevail,-would not this
be
a great boon? Who would be the pleader in such a case? The poor client
would
plead, but still, when he won the suit, he would trace it all to the
advocate who lived at home, and gave him counsel: indeed, it would be the
advocate pleading for him, even while he pleaded himself. This is an
instructive emblem of a great fact. Within this narrow house of my body,
this tenement of clay, if I be a true believer, there dwells the Holy
Ghost,
and when I desire to pray I may ask him what I should pray for as I ought,
and he will help me. He will write the prayers which I ought to offer upon
the tablets of my heart, and I shall see them there, and so I shall be
taught how to plead. It will be the Spirit's own self pleading in me, and
by
me, and through me, before the throne of grace. What a happy man in his
law-suit would such a poor man be, and how happy are you and I that we
have
the Holy Ghost to be our Counsellor!
Yet one more illustration: it is that of a father aiding his boy. Suppose
it
to be a time of war centuries back. Old English warfare was then conducted
by bowmen to a great extent. Here is a youth who is to be initiated in the
art of archery, and therefore he carries a bow. It is a strong bow, and
therefore very hard to draw; indeed, it requires more strength than the
urchin can summon to bend it. See how his father teaches him. "Put your
right hand here, my boy, and place your left hand so. Now pull"; and as
the
youth pulls, his father's hands are on his hands, and the bow is drawn.
The
lad draws the bow: ay, but it is quite as much his father, too. We cannot
draw the bow of prayer alone. Sometimes a bow of steel is not broken by
our
hands, for we cannot even bend it; and then the Holy Ghost puts his mighty
hand over ours, and covers our weakness so that we draw; and lo, what
splendid drawing of the bow it is them! The bow bends so easily we wonder
how it is; away flies the arrow, and it pierces the very centre of the
target, for he who giveth have won the day, but it was his secret might
that
made us strong, and to him be the glory of it.
Thus have I tried to set forth the cheering fact that the Spirit helps the
people of God.
II. Our second subject is THE PRAYER WHICH THE HOLY SPIRIT INSPIRES, or
that
part of prayer which is especially and peculiarly the work of the Spirit
of
God. The text says, "The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered." It is not the Spirit that groans, but
we
that groan; but as I have shown you, the Spirit excited the emotion which
causes us to groan.
It is clear then the prayers which are indited in us by the spirit of God
are those which arise from our inmost soul. A man's heart is moved when he
groans. A groan is a matter about which there is no hypocrisy. A groan
cometh not from the lips, but from the heart. A groan then is a part of
prayer which we owe to the Holy Ghost, and the same is true of all the
prayer which wells up from the deep fountains of our inner life. The
prophet
cried, "My bowels, my bowels, I am pained at my very heart: my heart
maketh
a noise in me." This deep ground-swell of desire, this tidal motion of the
life-floods is caused by the Holy Spirit. His work is never superficial,
but
always deep and inward.
Such prayers will rise within us when the mind is far too troubled to let
us
speak. We know not what we should pray for as we ought, and then it is
that
we groan, or utter some other inarticulate sound. Hezekiah said, "like a
crane or a swallow did I chatter." The psalmist said, "I am so troubled
that
I cannot I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart"; but he
added, "Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid
from
thee." The sighing of the prisoner surely cometh up into the ears of the
Lord. There is real prayer in these "groanings that cannot be uttered." It
is the power of the Holy Ghost in us which creates all real prayer, even
that which takes the form of a groan because the mind is incapable, by
reason of its bewilderment and grief, of clothing its emotion in words. I
pray you never think lightly of the supplications of your anguish. Rather
judge that such prayers are like Jabez, of whom it is written, that "he
was
more honourable than his brethren, because his mother bare him with
sorrow."
That which is thrown up from the depth of the soul, when it is stirred
with
a terrible tempest, is more precious than pearl or coral, for it is the
intercession of the Holy Spirit.
These prayers are sometimes "groanings that cannot be uttered," because
they
concern such great things that they cannot be spoken. I want, my Lord! I
want, I want; I cannot tell thee what I want: but I seem to want all
things.
If it were some little thing, my narrow capacity could comprehend and
describe it, but I need all covenant blessings. Thou knowest what I have
need of before I ask thee, and though I cannot go into each item of my
need,
I know it to be very great, and such as I myself can never estimate. I
groan, for I can do no more. Prayers which are the offspring of great
desires, sublime aspirations, and elevated designs are surely the work of
the Holy Spirit, and their power within a man is frequently so great that
he
cannot find expression for them. Words fail, and even the sighs which try
to
embody them cannot be uttered.
But it may be, beloved, that we groan because we are conscious of the
littleness of our desire, and the narrowness of our faith. The trial, too.
may seem too mean to pray about. I have known what it is to feel as if I
could not pray about a certain matter, and yet I have been obliged to
groan
about it. A thorn in the flesh may be as painful a thing as a sword in the
bones, and yet we may go and beseech the Lord thrice about it, and getting
no answer we may feel that we know not what to pray for as we ought; and
yet
it makes us groan. Yes, and with that natural groan there may go up an
unutterable groaning of the Holy Spirit. Beloved, what a different view of
prayer God has from that which men think to be the correct one. You may
have
seen very beautiful prayers in print, and you may have heard very charming
compositions from the pulpit, but I trust you have not fallen in love with
them. Judge these things rightly. I pray you never think well of fine
prayers, for before the thrice holy God it ill becomes a sinful suppliant
to
play the orator. We heard of a certain clergyman who was said to have
given
forth "the finest prayer ever offered to a Boston audience." Just so! The
Boston audience received the prayer, and there it ended. We want the mind
of
the spirit in prayer, and not he mind of the flesh. The tail feathers of
pride should be pulled out of our prayers, for they need only the wing
feathers of faith; the peacock feathers of poetical expression are out of
place before the throne of God. Hear me, what remarkably beautiful
language
he used in prayer!" "What an intellectual treat his prayer was! Yes, yes;
but God looks at the heart. To him fine language is as sounding brass or
tinkling cymbal, but a groan has music in it. We do not like groans: our
ears are much too delicate to tolerate such dreary sounds; but not so the
great Father of spirits. A Methodist brother cries, "Amen," and you say,
"I
cannot bear such Methodistic noise"; no, but if it comes from the man's
heart God can bear it. When you get upstairs into your chamber this
evening
to pray, and find you cannot pray, but have to moan out, "Lord, I am too
full of anguish and too perplexed to pray, hear thou the voice of my
roaring," though you reach to nothing else you will be really praying.
When
like David we can say, "I opened my mouth and panted," we are by no means
in
an ill state of mind. All fine language in prayer, and especially all
intoning or performing of prayers, must be abhorrent to God; it is little
short of profanity to offer solemn supplication to God after the manner
called "intoning." The sighing of a true heart is infinitely more
acceptable, for it is the work of the Spirit of God.
We may say of the prayers which the Holy Spirit works in us that they are
prayers of knowledge. Notice, our difficulty is that we know not what we
should pray for; but the Holy Spirit does know, and therefore he helps us
by
enabling us to pray intelligently, knowing what we are asking for, so far
as
this knowledge is needful to valid prayer. The text speaks "of the mind of
the Spirit." What a mind that must be!-the mind of that Spirit who
arranged
all the order which now pervades this earth! There once was chaos and
confusion, but the Holy Spirit brooded over all, and His mind is the
originator of that beautiful arrangement which we so admire in the visible
creation. What a mind his must be! The Holy Spirit's mind is seen in our
intercessions when under his sacred influence we order our case before the
Lord, and plead with holy wisdom for things convenient and necessary. What
wise and admirable desires must those be which the Spirit of Wisdom
himself
works in us!
Moreover, the Holy Spirit's intercession creates prayers offered in a
proper
manner. I showed you that the difficulty is that we know not what we
should
pray for "as we ought," and the Spirit meets that difficulty by making
intercession for us in a right manner. The Holy Spirit works in us
humility,
earnestness, intensity, importunity, faith, and resignation, and all else
that is acceptable to God in our supplications. We know not how to mingle
these sacred spices in the incense of prayer. We, if left to ourselves at
our very best, get too much of one ingredient or another, and spoil the
sacred compound, but the Holy Spirit's intercessions have in them such a
blessed blending of all that is good that they come up as a sweet perfume
before the Lord. Spirit-taught prayers are offered as they ought to be.
They
are his own intercession in some respects, for we read that the Holy
Spirit
not only helps us to intercede but "maketh intercession." It is twice over
declared in our text that he maketh intercession for us; and the meaning
of
this I tried to show when I described a father as putting his hands upon
his
child's hands. This is something more than helping us to pray, something
more than encouraging us or directing us,-but I venture no further, except
to say that he puts such force of his own mind into our poor weak thoughts
and desires and hopes, that he himself maketh intercession for us, working
in us to will and to pray according to his good pleasure.
I want you to notice, however, that these intercessions of the Spirit are
only in the saints. "He maketh intercession for us," and "He maketh
intercession for the saints." Does he do nothing for sinners, then? Yes,
he
quickens sinners into spiritual life, and he strives with them to overcome
their sinfulness and turn them into the right way; but in the saints he
works with us and enables us to pray after his mind and according to the
will of God. His intercession is not in or for the unregenerate. O,
unbelievers you must first be made saints or you cannot feel the Spirit's
intercession within you. What need we have to go to Christ for the
blessing
of the Holy Ghost, which is peculiar to the children of God, and can only
be
ours by faith in Christ Jesus! "To as man as received him to them gave he
power to become the sons of God"; and to the sons of God alone cometh the
Spirit of adoption, and all his helping grace. Unless we are the sons of
God
the Holy Spirit's indwelling shall not be ours: we are shut out from the
intercession of the Holy Ghost, ay, and from the intercession of Jesus
too,
for he hath said, "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me."
Thus I have tried to show you the kind of prayer which the Spirit
inspires.
III. Our third and last point is THE SURE SUCCESS OF ALL SUCH PRAYERS.
All the prayers which the Spirit of God inspires in us must succeed,
because, first, there is a meaning in them which God reads and approves.
When the Spirit of God writes a prayer upon a man's heart, the man himself
may be in such a state of mind that he does not altogether know what it
is.
His interpretation of it is a groan, and that is all. Perhaps he does not
even get so far as that in expressing the mind of the Spirit, but he feels
greenings which he cannot utter, he cannot find a door of utterance for
his
inward grief. Yet our heavenly Father, who looks immediately upon the
heart,
reads what the Spirit of God has indited there, and does not need even our
groans to explain the meaning. He reads the heart itself: "he knoweth,'
says
the text, "what is the mind of the Spirit." The Spirit is one with the
Father, and the Father knows what the Spirit means. The desires which the
Spirit prompts may be too spiritual for such babes in grace as we are
actually to describe or to express, and yet the Spirit writes the desire
on
the renewed mind, and the Father sees it. Now that which God reads in the
heart and approves of-for the word to "know" in this case includes
approval
as well as the mere act of omniscience-what God sees and approves of in
the
heart must succeed. Did not Jesus say, "Your heavenly Father knoweth that
you have need of these things before you ask them"? Did he not tell us
this
as an encouragement to believe that we shall receive all needful
blessings?
So it is with those prayers which are all broken up, wet with tears, and
discordant with those sighs and inarticulate expressions and heavings of
the
bosom, and sobbings of the heart and anguish and bitterness of spirit, our
gracious Lord reads them as a man reads a book, and they are written in a
character which he fully understands. To give a simple figure: if I were
to
come into your house I might find there a little child that cannot yet
speak
plainly. It cries for something, and it makes very odd and objectionable
noises, combined with signs and movements, which are almost meaningless to
stranger, but his mother understands him, and attends to his little
pleadings. A mother can translate baby-talk: she comprehends
incomprehensible noises. Even so doth our Father in heaven know all about
our poor baby talk, for our prayer is not much better. He knows and
comprehends the cryings, and meanings, and sighings, and chatterings of
his
bewildered children. Yea, a tender mother knows her child's needs before
the
child knows what it wants. Perhaps the little one stutters, stammers, and
cannot get its words out, but the mother sees what he would say, and takes
the meaning. Even so we know concerning our great Father:-
"He knows the thoughts we mean to speak,
Ere from our opening lips the break."
Do you therefore rejoice in this, that because the prayers of the Spirit
are
known and understood of God, therefore they will be sure to speed.
The next argument for making us sure that they will speed is this-that
they
are "the mind of the Spirit." God the ever blessed is one, and there can
be
no division between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. These divine
persons always work together, and there is a common desire for the glory
of
each blessed Person of the Divine Unity, and therefore it cannot be
conceived without profanity, that anything could be the mind of the Holy
Spirit and not be the mind of the Father and the mind of the Son. The mind
of God is one and harmonious; if, therefore, the Holy Spirit dwells in
you,
and he move you to any desire, then his mind is in your prayer, and it is
not possible that the eternal Father should reject your petitions. That
prayer which came from heaven will certainly go back to heaven. If the
Holy
Ghost prompts it, the Father must and will accept it, for it is not
possible
that he should put a slight upon the ever blessed and adorable Spirit.
But one more word, and that circles the argument, namely, that the work of
the Spirit in the heart is not only the mind of the Spirit which God
knows,
but it is also according to the will or mind of God, for he never maketh
intercession in us other than is consistent with the divine will. Now, the
divine will or mind may be viewed two ways. First, there is the will
declared in the proclamations of holiness by the Ten Commandments. The
Spirit of God never prompts us to ask for anything that is unholy or
inconsistent with the precepts of the Lord. Then secondly, there is the
secret mind of God, the will of his eternal predestination and decree, of
which we know nothing; but we do know this, that the Spirit of God never
prompts us to ask anything which is contrary to the eternal purpose of
God.
Reflect for a moment: the Holy Spirit knows all the purposes of God, and
when they are about to be fulfilled, he moves the children of God to pray
about them, and so their prayers keep touch and tally with the divine
decrees. Oh would you not pray confidently if you knew that your prayer
corresponded with the sealed book of destiny? We may safely entreat the
Lord
to do what he has ordained to do. A carnal man draws the inference that if
God has ordained an event we need not pray about it, but faith obediently
draws the inference that the God who secretly ordained to give the
blessing
has openly commanded that we should pray for it, and therefore faith
obediently prays. Coming events cast their shadows before them, and when
God
is about to bless his people his coming favour casts the shadow of prayer
over the church. When he is about to favour an individual he casts the
shadow of hopeful expectation over his soul. Our prayers, let men laugh at
them as they will, and say there is no power in them, are the indicators
of
the movement of the wheels of Providence. Believing supplications are
forecasts of the future, He who prayeth in faith is like the seer of old,
he
sees that which is to be: his holy expectancy, like a telescope, brings
distant objects near to him. He is bold to declare that he has the
petition
which he has asked of God, and he therefore begins to rejoice and to
praise
God, even before the blessing has actually arrived. So it is: prayer
prompted by the Holy Spirit is the footfall of the divine decree.
I conclude by saying, see, my dear hearers, the absolute necessity of the
Holy Spirit, for if the saints know not what they should pray for as they
ought; if consecrated men and women, with Christ suffering in them, still
feel their need of the instruction of the Holy Spirit, how much more do
you
who are not saints, and have never given yourselves up to God, require
divine teaching! On, that you would know and feel your dependence upon the
Holy Ghost that he may prompt the once crucified but now ascended Redeemer
that this gift of the Spirit, this promise of the Father, is shed abroad
upon men. May he who comes from Jesus lead you to Jesus.
And, then O ye people of God, let this last thought abide with you,-what
condescension is this that Divine Person should dwell in you for ever, and
that he should be with you to help your prayers. Listen to me for a
moment.
If I read in the Scriptures that in the most heroic acts of faith God the
Holy Ghost helpeth his people, I can understand it; if I read that in the
sweetest music of their songs when they worship best, and chant their
loftiest strains before the Most High God, the Spirit helpeth them, I can
understand it; and even if I hear that in their wrestling prayers and
prevalent intercessions God the Holy Spirit helpeth them, I can understand
it: but I bow with reverent amazement, my heart sinking into the dust with
adoration, when I reflect that God the Holy Ghost helps us when we cannot
speak, but only groan. Yea, and when we cannot even utter our groanings,
he
doth not only help us but he claims as his own particular creation the
"groanings that cannot be uttered." This is condescension indeed! In
deigning to help us in the grief that cannot even vent itself in groaning,
he proves himself to be a true Comforter. O God, my God, thou hast not
forsaken me: thou art not far from me, nor from the voice of my roaring.
Thou didst for awhile leave the Firstborn when he was made a curse for us,
so that he cried in agony, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" but thou wilt not
leave one of the "many brethren" for whom he died: the Spirit shall be
with
them, and when they cannot so much as groan he will make intercession for
them with groanings that cannot be uttered. God bless you, my beloved
brethren, and may you feel the Spirit of the Lord thus working in you and
with you. Amen and amen.
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