The Intercession of the Spirit
A. Mackennal, D.D. Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought… I. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE INTERCESSION OF THE SPIRIT AND THAT OF CHRIST is that the latter is a fact revealed to faith; the former a fact known by experience. Indeed, Christ Himself is God revealed to us; the Spirit is God revealed in us. "We are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus"; but by the Spirit of adoption we cry, "Abba, Father." "Remission of sins in Christ's name" is "preached among all nations"; "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free," consciously free, "from the law of sin and death." One or two illustrations will set before us the twofold intercession. 1. An elder sister will, in two ways, intercede on behalf of an undutiful little one. She will plead with her parents for his forgiveness; but she will also plead with the disobedient child himself, and bringing him repentant will reconcile child and parents once more. The intercession of Christians for one another is of this twofold character. James tells us to "pray one for another," and to "confess our faults one to another." Now humanity, in all its sinfulness, has an advocate with God in Christ; the Holy Ghost within us awakens the desire for forgiveness, moves us to penitence, prompts us to confession, and so makes intercession here. 2. The intercession for pardon is an illustration of our text. So, too, is the intercession for grace. Christ is touched with a feeling of our infirmities and pleads, "Father, Thy children are weak and trembling; succour them." The Holy Spirit teaches us our infirmities, and leads us to cry, "Father, we are weak and trembling; succour us." II. WE MUST CONNECT THE GROANINGS OF THE TEXT WITH THOSE OF VERS. 22, 23. Paul tells us that there is the same unutterable feeling, the same vague quenchless yearning in "ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit." 1. We have all been conscious of a deep feeling of something wrong in us that no words can express. We feel more than we know about the ruin of our sinfulness; we hope for a blessedness that we see not and cannot utter. If, then, we have tried to pray as we have been feeling, we must have struggled as men oppressed with infirmity, "we know not what to pray for as we ought." But yet, in going thus to God, we have been helped; we have been calmed as our spirits have mutely breathed towards God. 2. The longing for communion with God is often unutterable. There is a power in prayer when we offer definite petitions; when love prompts supplication for a particular person, or penitence draws nigh to confess some remembered fault. But there is a yet mightier energy of prayer when we are led to God, not to ask for any special blessing, but only that we may call Him Father. We want God Himself: "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God." We ask for no blessing, for we are fully blessed; but "our soul breaketh for the longing" it hath unto God. In silence we look up to Him, peaceful in His presence. 3. The longing for submission to God is also at times unutterable. It may be so because of a conflict of feeling. Some of you know what it is to say with Christ, "Father, save me from this hour"; to kneel with Him in Gethsemane. But against the pleading weakness of the flesh the spirit utters its protest; you know the conflict, the "agony" of prayer. As yet you cannot say, "For this cause came I unto this hour," etc.; "Not my will, but Thine be done." This is what the inner spirit longs for; but the longing to submit can only show itself in "groanings which cannot be uttered." 4. Or it may be that we may have very definite desires, and yet not know what to pray for "as we ought." We may be asking for the removal of a chastisement from a family or a nation; and yet so strong is our conviction of the righteousness and wisdom of God that we dare not ask its removal with absolute and importunate supplication. There are times when, if feelings alone prompted our prayers, we would wrestle with God; but knowing our ignorance, we fear that the answer to our petitions may be more a curse than a blessing. Desire is strong, but faith in the unknown will of God is stronger. We can but bow and trust "with groanings which cannot be uttered." III. Let me now call your attention to THE DOCTRINE WHICH THE TEXT UNFOLDS. Note — 1. The reality of the prayer which consists only of unutterable longings. Some may be inclined to treat all this as mere transcendentalism and mystic dreaming. Now, I might remind you that in ordinary life, feeling is often truer, as well as deeper, than thought, and that our profoundest, most powerful feelings cannot be uttered. Friends may find an intense joy in each other's society without word being spoken: the members of a united family often yearn over one another with inexpressible love and longing. The aspirations of an ardent heart, the desires of a youth for distinction and service, often so vaguely, blindly put; but we expect far more from such than from one who can most clearly tell us all that is in his heart. But I content myself with saying that this is part of the Christian revelation. Paul knew of what he was speaking, and was sure the Romans would know it too. It was for no circle of enthusiasts he was writing here; but the busy, active society of Rome is bidden mark the care God takes to help the infirmities, and educate the spirit of His children. In feeling and desire, as well as in thought and purpose, God can recognise the spirit of the worshipper. 2. Its Divine origin. As there are some who, never having known feelings too deep for words, would treat an unspeakable prayer with scorn; so there may be others who, being conscious of such desires, seek to suppress them as the offspring of a diseased fancy. Consider the solemn blessedness of these words, "The Spirit helpeth our infirmities." Perhaps we never feel our infirmity more than when in prayer. We cannot apprehend what prayer is; that the gift might be to us ruin, or eternal blessedness; that God takes note of the defects of our supplication; without feeling that we hold tremendous issues in our hands. Such a thought would check prayer altogether had we not the assurance of being helped to pray. We need not only the assurance of a higher wisdom, a fidelity that can withhold as well as grant, and an affectionate sympathy that can read the spirit rather than the letter of our requests; but also that our spirits be brought into fellowship with God's Spirit, that our wills be made accordant with His. We must be enabled to pray aright, if we are to continue to pray at all. 3. Its intelligibility to God. Often what to cold bystanders seem merely odd antics, to the sympathising father are full of deep and beautiful significance. The boisterousness of a boy just back from school, which a stranger might wish to suppress, the parent sees to be the expression of a gladness in his home too full to be kept down. In the moody restlessness of a girl, who sees her parents burdened by an anxiety she cannot understand, they recognise a desire to share the burden. The blundering efforts of a child in a busy household, which often only increase confusion, are more than mere blunders; they show that the little one desires to help, and the loving wish is gratefully perceived by the parental spirit. So does our heavenly Father search our hearts. In the heavy meanings of the spirit, that even after forgiveness is dissatisfied with itself, He sees the longing to be "delivered from the bondage of corruption," etc. In the unutterable cry for God, He reads a desire for communion with Him fuller than has yet been satisfied. In the struggle of the soul that knows not "what to pray for as we ought," He recognises the passion for submission, however hard it may be to submit. Our text, moreover, speaks of "the mind," or intent "of the Spirit." There is a purpose in these apparently purposeless "groanings," an end after which this dim feeling is groping. God sees a meaning in that which to us has as yet no meaning. He sees the petitions to which the Spirit is prompting, although to us as yet they have not taken the form of petitions. Let us not say there is no reality in feelings too deep for us to set out in language; they are to God full of reality; these are the prayers which are surest of response. "He that searcheth the hearts," etc. (A. Mackennal, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. WEB: In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don't know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can't be uttered.