1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,160 As we think about help for our prayer lives, and that help is the Holy Spirit, there really 2 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:15,020 is no such thing as a Christian life apart from an understanding of and a participation 3 00:00:15,020 --> 00:00:19,980 in the power of the Holy Spirit. 4 00:00:19,980 --> 00:00:24,740 As we have worked our way through this chapter in recent weeks, we have noted several works 5 00:00:24,740 --> 00:00:28,020 of the Holy Spirit in the believer. 6 00:00:28,020 --> 00:00:32,160 In verse 2, we note that He liberates. 7 00:00:32,160 --> 00:00:37,200 He is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus who sets us free. 8 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,960 In verse 9, He indwells us. 9 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:49,720 In verse 11, we are told He will raise our bodies and give life to them in the resurrection. 10 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:57,500 In verse 13, He is the one who empowers us to put to death the deeds of the body. 11 00:00:57,500 --> 00:01:02,280 In verse 14, He leads us as sons of God. 12 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:10,620 In verse 15, He encourages us as the Spirit of adoption to address God as Abba. 13 00:01:10,620 --> 00:01:14,640 What an amazing thing. 14 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,080 We may call God our Father. 15 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:24,200 And then in verse 16, He witnesses, and the witness here is to our spirit and with our 16 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:27,440 spirit that we are genuinely God's children. 17 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:33,680 And now tonight in the text, verses 26 to 28, we see something more the Spirit does. 18 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:41,680 And in the same way, writes the apostle Paul, in the same way the Spirit also helps our 19 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:42,680 weakness. 20 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:50,120 For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with 21 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:52,020 groanings too deep for words. 22 00:01:52,020 --> 00:02:01,120 And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes 23 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:05,100 for the saints according to the will of God. 24 00:02:05,100 --> 00:02:10,980 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, 25 00:02:10,980 --> 00:02:15,280 to those who are called according to His purpose. 26 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:21,100 The Holy Spirit has a work to do with regard to our praying. 27 00:02:21,100 --> 00:02:26,500 I want you to notice with me three insights to help us understand the importance of that 28 00:02:26,500 --> 00:02:28,020 truth. 29 00:02:28,020 --> 00:02:31,920 The first statement I want to make is that we have a weakness in prayer, which is pointed 30 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:36,000 out to us in verse 26. 31 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,300 I think most of us here tonight would be honest enough to confess that our prayer closet is 32 00:02:40,300 --> 00:02:42,340 also a battleground. 33 00:02:42,340 --> 00:02:48,080 It's probably not an area of our lives where we have more of a fight and a struggle than 34 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:50,400 that of our prayer life. 35 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:59,400 It is not easy, because the enemy knows the strategic nature of prayer. 36 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:07,800 And he knows that if he can stop us from praying for whatever reason, he has successfully performed 37 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:17,180 a preemptive strike against us, which neutralizes our spiritual power and effectiveness. 38 00:03:17,180 --> 00:03:20,200 So the prayer life is a battleground. 39 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:22,700 We face the battle of laziness. 40 00:03:22,700 --> 00:03:24,580 We all do. 41 00:03:24,580 --> 00:03:31,600 We too often lack the discipline to pray, as we know we should. 42 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:35,160 We fight the battle of ignorance. 43 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,360 We don't know the basics of prayer sometimes. 44 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:46,440 With respect to the content of what we ought to pray, we don't know perhaps the basics 45 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:49,580 about the prerequisites of prayer. 46 00:03:49,580 --> 00:03:54,760 What is necessary on our part so that we can pray effectively? 47 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,020 So we fight the battle of ignorance. 48 00:03:57,020 --> 00:04:00,720 And then we fight the battle of discouragement. 49 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:08,760 Answers come but not as expected, or answers don't come as much as we can see it. 50 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:14,160 And we get to feeling that there must be something about us that we're not good enough, or that 51 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:19,720 our prayers for some reason are not getting through, and we become discouraged with praying. 52 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,120 Those are battles that all of us face from time to time. 53 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:28,480 But there is another difficulty, even when these battles may be won. 54 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:31,280 This is a universal difficulty. 55 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:34,720 It's the difficulty of weakness in praying. 56 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:41,480 In verse 26, we read, the Spirit helps our weakness. 57 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:45,280 But what is that weakness? 58 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:49,840 We do not know how to pray as we should. 59 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:51,880 That is the weakness. 60 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:58,480 Now Paul is not speaking here about feeling to know the content of prayer in a general 61 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:00,120 way. 62 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:01,120 That's a problem. 63 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:02,120 That's a battle. 64 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:04,480 We've already suggested that. 65 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:09,960 But he is saying that we as human beings have this weakness that we do not know the specifics 66 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:15,320 to ask for in every given situation. 67 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:24,400 Literally he says, for we do not know the what to pray for. 68 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:34,560 That is, we do not know the particular requests that we should always offer to God as we ought. 69 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:43,240 We do not know, because of our human weaknesses, what is necessary in cases that we pray about, 70 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:46,560 what the need is at the moment. 71 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:58,320 I am learning, and I am sorry to say slowly learning, that when God wakes me up at night, 72 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,440 that there is usually a reason for that. 73 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,440 Now if it's the kids waking me up, I don't think there is a reason for that. 74 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:05,440 That's justified. 75 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:11,080 But if God wakes me up, he must have a reason for that. 76 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:15,400 A few days ago I laid awake, I woke up about four o'clock. 77 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:19,880 I don't even remember now what woke me up. 78 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:26,560 But as I laid there, I began to meditate on the things of God. 79 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:31,000 God brought to my mind a number of different people to pray for. 80 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:38,840 Some in our church, some of our missionaries, some situations I am concerned about. 81 00:06:38,840 --> 00:06:41,600 So I was able to utilize those times. 82 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:49,840 I believe that God may very well awaken us from our sleep. 83 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:53,760 Apparently he knows we don't need it as badly as we think we do. 84 00:06:53,760 --> 00:07:00,200 And so he awakens us to use us as channels of prayer. 85 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:06,880 But the problem we have is that we don't know exactly what we are praying for. 86 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,000 Missionary X is laid in our hearts. 87 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,480 What's the need with him there on the other side of the world? 88 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:13,840 I don't know. 89 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:19,760 But it is no accident that his name or her name has come to my mind. 90 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,200 But my weakness is that I don't know how to pray. 91 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:27,320 What to pray for as I ought. 92 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:31,600 This weakness is no excuse for not praying, as we're going to see, but it is a weakness. 93 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:36,160 Now the second insight we have is that we have a helper in prayer. 94 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:41,520 The comforter, the Holy Spirit that God has sent from heaven, verse 26. 95 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:45,380 The Spirit helps us in our weakness. 96 00:07:45,380 --> 00:07:47,200 He says in the same way he does. 97 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:51,320 That is in the same way that he encourages us to pray in the first place and call God 98 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:54,780 Father to address him as Abba. 99 00:07:54,780 --> 00:08:00,840 That familiar term of the little child speaking to his father. 100 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:07,200 In the same way that he encourages us to pray in the first place, he also helps us to pray. 101 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:14,640 This word help means to lend a hand together with. 102 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:18,560 It's several Greek words all scrunched together to come up with this. 103 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:25,160 It is found only one other time in the New Testament and that is in Luke 10, 40. 104 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:32,320 You will remember the occasion when Jesus and others were in the house of Mary and Martha. 105 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:37,440 Martha was sitting there at Jesus' feet listening to the teaching of the Lord. 106 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:45,200 Mary, as was her womanly custom, was out there in the kitchen banging pots and pans together 107 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:52,000 getting things ready for this feast that she was going to have to cook and serve. 108 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,240 She got a little upset at Sister Mary. 109 00:08:55,240 --> 00:09:00,840 She came in and she complained to Jesus about it and said in essence, Lord, why don't you 110 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,240 send her out there to help me? 111 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:11,380 That word help, to lend a hand together with me, is the same word used here of the Holy 112 00:09:11,380 --> 00:09:13,480 Spirit. 113 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:17,400 He comes into the kitchen and he helps us in our prayer life. 114 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:22,320 He lends a hand with our praying. 115 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:29,360 Not only that, but it says in the last part of verse 26, the Spirit Himself intercedes 116 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:33,120 for us with groanings too deep for words. 117 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:38,240 The word intercedes means to plead on behalf of another. 118 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:43,000 Not only does our Savior, the Lord Jesus, stand in heaven perpetually praying for us 119 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:51,040 in His high priesthood, but we have one who indwells us, who likewise pleads on our behalf 120 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:57,320 continually, actively, persistently He pleads on our behalf. 121 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:06,760 It says here that He pleads with unuttered groanings, with sighs that are substitute for 122 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:08,880 words. 123 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:14,080 There's absolutely no thought here regarding glossolalia or the gift of tongues that some 124 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,520 people read into this verse. 125 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:21,960 This is something that is inaudible to the human ear, but which is well heard by the 126 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:27,480 ear of our Heavenly Father as the Holy Spirit groans within us. 127 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:34,280 Now we have learned earlier that nature groans, waiting its redemption. 128 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:41,440 We groan likewise, eagerly anticipating our adoption as sons, that is the redemption of 129 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:42,760 our bodies. 130 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:47,680 Now we learn that the Spirit of God groans within us. 131 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:57,640 With unuttered words, with sighs as it were, He brings to God requests on our behalf. 132 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,040 Thank God for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. 133 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:11,000 We have a helper in prayer who can show us how to pray and when we miss the mark in knowing 134 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:19,520 what to ask, He groans through us to the Father. 135 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:25,960 The result of that is, third insight, we have a confidence in prayer, verses 27 and 28, 136 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:31,400 because it says, He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is. 137 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:34,280 Question, who is He who searches the hearts? 138 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:38,600 Well, there are many commentators who believe it is the Father. 139 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:45,360 It's not worth arguing about, but my personal understanding of this is that it is the Son, 140 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:49,080 that it is the Lord Jesus who searches the hearts. 141 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:55,940 We read in Revelation 2, 23, all the churches will know that I am He, says Jesus, who searches 142 00:11:55,940 --> 00:12:00,760 the minds and the hearts. 143 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:06,040 I believe it is our Savior, our great high priest, who searches our hearts. 144 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:13,120 It says that He knows the desires, the wishes, the mind of the Spirit, because continually 145 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:21,120 He is examining, searching out the mind of the Spirit who is interceding for the saints, 146 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,440 it says, according to the will of God. 147 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:32,800 So that when I cannot even verbalize prayers, or when I don't have time in the midst of 148 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:42,000 some crisis to utter a prayer, the Spirit of the Lord is continually offering up requests 149 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:47,160 on my behalf, according to the will of God, and the Son of God searching the mind of the 150 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:54,240 Spirit sees that and lifts it to the Father, so that even without my participation, and 151 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:57,720 in those cases even, there is prayer offered on my behalf and your behalf. 152 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:01,520 What a great confidence that is in prayer. 153 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:09,120 But there is another confidence, and that is, in verse 28, that the Father then, hearing 154 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:13,800 those requests, works all things out for good. 155 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:18,200 I suppose almost everyone here tonight can quote verse 28. 156 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:28,280 We know, we know from our experience that God causes all things to work together for 157 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:29,280 good. 158 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:35,760 I remind you, He is not saying here that everything is good in and of itself. 159 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:37,480 That is not what verse 28 says. 160 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:44,080 But it is saying that God brings all the pieces of our lives, the good and the bad, as we 161 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:45,680 evaluate them. 162 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:51,000 He brings them all together and brings them out to a beneficial end. 163 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,080 That's the point. 164 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:59,200 So that there is nothing that comes into my life but that it passes through the hands 165 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:06,640 of my Heavenly Father, and He allows them to come to accomplish His good purpose in 166 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:12,720 our lives, and that purpose primarily is that we might be like Christ. 167 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:18,800 So as the Holy Spirit prays, basically what He is saying is, Lord, Father, I pray that 168 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:22,400 You will make this character like Christ. 169 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:28,920 And the Lord Jesus hears that request, and the Father then answers that prayer perfectly 170 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,480 in my life and in yours. 171 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:38,720 That is, if we are those, as it says in verse 28, who love God. 172 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:45,840 That's not some general human kind of love like 90% of Americans have for God. 173 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:49,560 If you believe in God, you don't hate God usually. 174 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:54,360 No I was talking here about that love relationship that has been established with God through 175 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,840 a personal faith in Jesus Christ. 176 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:01,520 Those who love God, we don't love God first. 177 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:05,760 He loves us first, and we love Him, right? 178 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,400 We love Him because He first loved us. 179 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:09,400 What did He do? 180 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:11,440 He gave His Son for us. 181 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:17,160 We love God, and we are those who are called according to His purpose, and again that purpose 182 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:22,800 is further elaborated upon in the following verses, and we will come to that in time to 183 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:23,800 come. 184 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:30,040 I see the Father working here like a pharmacist. 185 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:34,680 This would be a good example for you pharmacists in our church, and we have some. 186 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:42,440 There are certain ingredients that you handle which by themselves or in larger doses would 187 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:47,880 kill the patient. 188 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:52,840 But you have a prescription in your hands that you fill, and the result is that you 189 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:58,140 take the right amounts of this and that until you put it all together. 190 00:15:58,140 --> 00:16:07,120 You carefully measure it, you mix it so that the result is medicine, not poison. 191 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:12,920 That's what our Father does with the things that come into our lives because of the perpetual 192 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:19,640 intercession of the Spirit and of the Son on our behalf. 193 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:22,300 Let me just close with three thoughts about application. 194 00:16:22,300 --> 00:16:28,960 Number one, we need to establish the priority of our prayer time. 195 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:33,320 If that slipped in our lives, then let's put it back up at the top where it belongs. 196 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:40,320 Let's not allow Satan to strike preemptively and cut off our power and cut off the blessing, 197 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:44,600 but let's establish and maintain the priority of our praying. 198 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:49,960 Secondly, as we pray, let's depend upon our helper to do his job. 199 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,480 That's why he's there, to help us in praying. 200 00:16:52,480 --> 00:17:01,200 So let us pray in the Spirit, that is, consciously depending upon the Spirit as we pray. 201 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:08,320 Not rushing into prayer and offering up to God requests on our own, but pausing long 202 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:17,360 enough at the beginning of our praying to ask the Holy Spirit to quicken us, to enable 203 00:17:17,360 --> 00:17:21,400 us, to empower us, to enlighten us. 204 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,080 Let's let him do his work in us. 205 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:25,280 Let's listen quietly to him. 206 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:29,280 Let's search the word that he's inspired and let him bring truths to us that we need 207 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:30,280 to pray about. 208 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:36,320 Then number three, we need to relax in God's sovereign work and his loving purpose in our 209 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,720 life's circumstances. 210 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:44,400 What a wonderful application we have there in verse 28. 211 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:51,040 As we come to the table tonight, we are reminded that the Comforter has come because of the 212 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:54,520 work, the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 213 00:17:54,520 --> 00:18:01,160 Had he not completely finished the work of redemption so that the Father was satisfied 214 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:04,040 and accepted it, the Spirit would not have come. 215 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:06,280 There would have been no Pentecost. 216 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:10,760 The fact that there was a Pentecost when the Spirit came signified the fact that our Savior 217 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:17,200 went back to heaven, sat down at the right hand of God, his saving work, that is, his 218 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:23,360 sacrifice body, his shed blood, being finished and being acceptable to God. 219 00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:30,120 Now God was sending the Spirit as a testimony of his Son's acceptance in heaven. 220 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:36,120 As we come to the table tonight, I'd like for us to bow together in searching prayer, 221 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:40,160 thanking God for the ministry of the Holy Spirit and asking him in the quietness of 222 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:45,600 these moments to prepare us that we might come to this table of the Lord in a worthy 223 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:52,440 manner that is our hearts cleansed and prepared to partake of this significant ordinance. 224 00:18:52,440 --> 00:19:11,960 And I'll ask those who are serving to join me in the front while we're bowed in silent 225 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:18,840 prayer. 226 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:48,560 Father, thank you for the comforter. 227 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:55,960 Thank you for the Holy Spirit. 228 00:19:55,960 --> 00:20:02,720 Thank you for his ministry in our lives and for that prayer ministry in which he helps 229 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:14,160 us to pray and groans through us, intercedes on our behalf according to your perfect will. 230 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:23,920 And Father, we're thankful for what his coming signifies, that it's real proof in the world 231 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:31,800 today that the sacrifice of the Savior was accepted in heaven, that his work is finished 232 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:37,180 with regards to sin. 233 00:20:37,180 --> 00:20:42,200 As we pause around this table tonight as a church family and other friends who are here 234 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:50,680 who know the Lord, who are trusting in Christ, we offer unto you thanks, for we remember 235 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:59,720 that the Lord Jesus there at that Passover meal first of all took the bread and gave 236 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:06,680 thanks for it, reminding us that it symbolizes to us his body. 237 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:13,640 And so we partake remembering with gratitude that sacrifice. 238 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:18,480 Amen. 239 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,760 Jesus said, this is my body which is for you. 240 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:32,920 Do this in remembrance of me. 241 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:40,480 And once more, our Lord, Lamb of glory, do we bow to thank you for the fountain filled 242 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:44,880 with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. 243 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:48,520 Thank you for the blood represented by this cup. 244 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:57,040 As we partake, we do so remembering with gratitude. 245 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:02,040 Amen. 246 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:06,760 Jesus said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. 247 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:17,400 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 248 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:25,120 Don't you look forward to that day when we will sit at the table with him in heaven and 249 00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:32,720 partake of that great married supper of the Lamb. 250 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:34,720 Would you please take your hymnals? 251 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:40,760 I'd like for us to sing in closing 165. 252 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:45,120 May I remind you that upon our departure, as is our custom, there will be an offering 253 00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:50,600 received for benevolence for which we do have regular needs. 254 00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:56,640 We thank you for participating in that cash offering used for those who have financial 255 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:57,640 needs. 256 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:03,000 There will be an usher there to assist you with that. 257 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:07,400 Now let's sing together, hallelujah, what a Savior, this great hymn by Philip Bliss. 258 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:11,640 You know when I get to heaven, there's a whole lot of people I want to see, but Philip 259 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,960 Bliss is one of them. 260 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,060 One of the great men of God of the last century. 261 00:23:18,060 --> 00:23:26,720 One of my burdens is that we as a church might learn more about some of the great saints 262 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:35,280 of God in past generations, and particularly I'm thinking of musicians in the last century 263 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:37,480 or two. 264 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:44,640 And I'm hoping that we might be able to put together a drama group that through two or 265 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:49,840 three skits and evening service will be able to present to us some of the scenes of the 266 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,040 life of a man like Philip Bliss. 267 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:57,520 I've talked with John about this and he's excited about it, and that'll be something 268 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:03,160 God willing that'll be happening about once a quarter starting here, well maybe this fall 269 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:05,480 at least the first of the year. 270 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:07,080 Bliss is going to be one of the first ones. 271 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:15,440 You know Philip Bliss and his wife had two children, and God greatly blessed and used 272 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:17,720 his ministry. 273 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:23,080 When they were both in their late 30s, he was 38, I'm not sure of the age of his wife, 274 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:29,080 they had gone to visit his mother in Pennsylvania for Christmas. 275 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:35,000 And Bliss had some work I think with Dwight and Moody to take care of back in Chicago, 276 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:42,040 so they left the children there in Pennsylvania and he and his wife took a train. 277 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:52,320 And just outside of Ashtabula, Ohio, the train had a wreck and their car went down into a 278 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:54,480 ravine. 279 00:24:54,480 --> 00:25:07,560 Bliss was able to escape the fire that immediately followed, but he couldn't find his wife. 280 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:16,840 And this man of God that God was so greatly using went back in the train and found his 281 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:22,920 wife and she was trapped and was going to die. 282 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:28,200 And he chose to stay in the train with her. 283 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:33,360 And they perished together in 1876. 284 00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:40,160 You know it's people like that that we can't lose sight of because they were great in their 285 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:46,920 day, people who knew God and walked with him. 286 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:52,600 And so whenever I see his name beside a hymn, it always means something a little special 287 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:54,440 to me. 288 00:25:54,440 --> 00:26:00,120 So with that thought about him in mind, I'd like for you to sing with me this truth that 289 00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:02,240 he bore from his own poetic heart. 290 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:04,160 He wrote the music for this too. 291 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:05,160 Hallelujah. 292 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:06,160 What a Savior. 293 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:15,160 Let's stand together as we sing. 294 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:39,040 Man of sorrows, what a name for the Son of God, who came, through and sinners to reclaim. 295 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:49,400 Hallelujah, what a Savior. 296 00:26:49,400 --> 00:27:01,160 Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my praise condemned he stood. 297 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:18,120 Sleep unbarned with his blood, Hallelujah, what a Savior. 298 00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:32,680 He was a guilty file and helpless weep, spotless when on crime was he. 299 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:40,280 Holy atonement, can it be? 300 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:46,680 Hallelujah, what a Savior. 301 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:58,200 Lifted up was he to die, it is finished once his cry. 302 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:15,800 Now in hell let's all deny, Hallelujah, what a Savior. 303 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:28,680 When he comes our glorious King, all his ransom home to bring. 304 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:39,960 Let us know this song will sing, Hallelujah, what a Savior. 305 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:51,280 And all of God's people said, Amen. 306 00:28:51,280 --> 00:29:11,280 Good night.