 In our text, as we've been working verse by verse through Paul's second canonical letter to the church at Corinth, from 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14, through our text this morning beginning in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16, Paul has laid out before us, stretched out before us, one of the most beautiful, encouraging, and comprehensive defenses of Christian New Covenant gospel ministry in all of the New Testament. Now, one of the primary reasons, one of the primary reasons why Paul is so encouraged, so grateful to the Lord and so determined in ministry is that ultimately this is not a ministry of his own making or of his own doing. It is God who always leads us in triumph in Christ chapter 2, verse 14. It is God who has produced fruit among the Corinthians by his spirit, chapter 3, verse 2. It is God who makes us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, chapter 3, verse 6. It is God through his glorious ministry of the Spirit who gives life, chapter 3, verse 8. Therefore, Paul says, we are bold. We don't shrink back from our high calling in Christ. We don't shrink back from the cause of Christ in the preaching of the gospel, chapter 3, verse 12. Having been shown such mercy, we do not lose heart, chapter 4, verse 1. God has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And though we are weak, it is God's power at work through us in ministry, chapter 4, verse 7. And though we face tribulation and though we face affliction for the sake of Christ, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ is manifested in us who are delivered to death for his sake, chapter 4, verse 11. For we know, we know, the one who raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead in power will certainly also raise us with him in him. Therefore, chapter 4, verse 16, we do not lose heart. Looking to those great promises by faith in Christ, we'll be comforting. We'll be encouraging to the Christian in any of the circumstances that we face in life, any of the difficulties that we face. Whatever we face, even death, God who raises the dead leads us in triumph. The death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the cancer diagnosis, abuse, prejudice, pain. When we are tempted to despair, when we are tempted to discouragement, since we serve the Father of mercies who comforts us in all our tribulation, we, brothers and sisters, must not lose heart. However, as we consider our text in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verses 16-18, our text this morning is not meant merely to encourage us as we face the hardships of this life. Paul, in this context, has in mind the particular and the peculiar afflictions associated with Christian ministry. The affliction or the hardship faced by a genuine Christian sold out for Christ, engaged in his cause in this wicked and perverse generation. On the eve of his death, the Lord Jesus Christ in John 10 for 15, verse 19, told his disciples and all those who would believe in him through their word, if you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. The world hates you. John chapter 16, verse 33, these things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. Do not lose heart. Do not lose heart. I have overcome the world. Jesus was sending them, sending those disciples into this wicked world to preach the gospel. Their first and preeminent priority, think about it with me, would not be ultimately family, would not be ultimately household, job, health, wealth, their retirement account, landscaping the front yard, cleaning out the garage, or whatever else might compete for their attention. Their preeminent priority was their witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. They were saved, they were witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ preaching the gospel. Jesus said, as the Father has sent me and sent him into the world to seek and to say that which was lost, sending him in the world to preach the gospel, Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, I also send you. That truth, that fact, not lost on Paul in his experience on the road to Damascus. Acts chapter 9, verse 16, the Lord said, I will show him. I'm going to show Paul how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. Acts chapter 9, verse 20, immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues. Acts chapter 9, verse 23, and after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. Paul knew what it meant to suffer for the cause of Christ. As he writes this letter, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, our text, verse 16, 18, Paul knows what it means to suffer for the gospel, to suffer for the sake of Christ. Paul didn't talk about suffering from the comfort of his couch. Paul didn't talk about suffering as if it were something he read about in a book. He didn't sequester himself within the safe confines of some ivory tower office. Paul went out, and listen, Paul went out just like other quote unquote regular members of the church, non-apostolic members of the church. He went out and he preached the gospel. He went out intentionally, and he experienced tremendous suffering as a result. And so did those other members. So did those other members of the church. They suffered for the cause of Christ. The Galatians suffered quote many things for the sake of Christ in Galatians chapter 3, verse 4. In Philippians chapter 1, verse 29, it was given to the Philippians on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. Paul said that the Thessalonians suffered for the kingdom of God. The Hebrew Christians of the dispersion endured a great struggle with suffering. The church at Smyrna in Revelation 2 suffered persecution. The true church has suffered persecution over the centuries ever since. Paul says, yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. We're in the last days. These last days are a time of tribulation. Many who profess to be Christians today are embarrassed by that fact. They're ashamed of it. I know, brother mentioned that this morning, the abortion mill, trying to tell you how you should do it, which is not to do it. They're ashamed of it. They're ashamed of Christ. They're ashamed of His words. They will do all they can to avoid it. They're ashamed of going door to door to preach the gospel. More concern about what other people will think rather than what God will think. They're ashamed of open-air preachers. They will say that it doesn't work, that you're cramming it down people's throats, or that people won't listen. When have people ever listened? The Lord who opens deaf ears. They're ashamed. They're ashamed of Christ. They're ashamed of His words. And they're ashamed of you, His messenger. And so even professing Christians will persecute God's people. There were, quote unquote, Christians in Paul's day, in the context of 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, that were ashamed of him. They were ashamed of the apostle Paul. In the eyes of the world, and in the eyes of many professing Christians, the physical, verbal, emotional battering that Paul endured was considered shameful. That was certainly the case for the false teachers, his opponents in Corinth. They believed that Paul was shameful, right? That his suffering was shameful. That anyone who was a true apostle of Lord Jesus Christ certainly wouldn't suffer in that way if suffering was shameful. But Paul says, Paul answers that attack in chapter 3 verse 12 and says, we are bold. We are bold. We do not shrink back. Not simply, mind you, listen, not simply bold in enduring shame, right? Not simply bold in facing death, or bold in persevering through difficulty, or persevering through affliction. Paul says, we are bold in preaching the gospel, right? Not shrinking back from preaching Christ, having such hope in Christ, having such mercy as ministers of Christ, having such a glorious treasure entrusted to earthen, clay, weak, frail vessels, knowing that the power of God is at work through them, through their preaching, for the sake of Christ. Paul says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 16, therefore, we do not lose heart. Knowing this, we don't lose heart. We don't give in to despair or discouragement, right? We're laboring in the Lord's vineyard. We're planting and watering, and it's the Lord who gives the increase, right? And that increase are living letters, epistles of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're preaching the gospel of which we're not ashamed, knowing that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. So Paul would say, no matter the pain, no matter the shame, no matter what this world or traitorous, professing Christians may say, they can stone me and leave me for dead, but we will not stop preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not lose heart. In that, Paul follows the example of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, doesn't he? When you enter into suffering or persecution for the cause of Christ, you follow in the pattern, the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, Peter says, of all Christians, in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 21, to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you and I should follow in his steps. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 1, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same mind, Peter says, right? However, I want you to notice something about that first statement in verse 16. The Greek word translated, lose heart. In verse 16, the word, also carries another sense, also carries another sense. And I think this sense has great bearing on us in the church today. In that sense, it means to lose enthusiasm. It means to lose zeal, to wax or wane in your eagerness or your earnestness or your determination to become lazy, to become lax or to become sluggish in the cause that you and I may not face the same degree of persecution, right? We may get a plate of food thrown out of the abortion mill. We don't face the same level of persecution that Paul faced, right? We don't face the same degree of persecution that many of our brothers and sisters throughout church history have faced. But there are many reasons today why we may end cacao, why we may lose heart, why we may become lazy, or why we may lack enthusiasm, why we may give up to the temptation to become apathetic in our preaching of the gospel. We allow, don't we, often other priorities to get in the way. We allow other priorities to get into the way. We grow weary of going forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. It's difficult. We grow tired or weary of suffering shame for his name. Maybe some use church service as an excuse, right? I serve in all of these other ways, and so you placate your conscience before him, but you fail to serve him in that way. Maybe we use family or job or lack of time, a quote-unquote lack of time as an excuse, and cacao, a lack of enthusiasm, a lack of zeal, to become lazy or sluggish. I want you to think about this with me for a moment and ask yourself, can your service to your brothers or sisters in this church and can your service to the Lord in preaching the gospel to the lost, can it be described as zealous, fervent, fired up, fueled, enthusiastic, determined, eager and bold? Can it be described that way? If not, brother, sister, if not, why have you lost heart? What is it that has caused you to lose heart? Why are you sluggish? Why do we often become lazy? Why is it that we are given sometimes to apathy? We give into the temptation to discouragement. Why is it that often we are lazy? Why have you allowed other priorities to crowd out your preeminent priority? The most important question now is what are we going to do about it? What are we going to do about it? If you acknowledge that, you acknowledge that it's not where it should be, or you're convicted by that, you need to repent of neglect, repent of laziness, repent of sin. What are you going to do about it? Paul connects his zeal. Paul connects his determination to faith. Faith in Christ, he connects it to faith. He connects it to faith in the resurrection and the glory of God. The therefore, that word therefore that begins chapter 4 verse 16, looks back to verse 13, 14 and 15. Verse 13, we have a sincere faith in the Lord that fuels our determination to preach. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Verse 14, knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, therefore, we do not lose heart. Verse 15, knowing that grace is spreading to many through our preaching, causing things giving to a bound of the glory of God, therefore, Paul says, we do not lose heart. You could back up and look further, even at verse 8. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Verse 10, we carry about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we see the life of Jesus Christ manifested in our body. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Verse 11, we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, but we see the life of Jesus Christ manifested in our mortal flesh when we suffer, therefore, we do not lose heart. Death is at work in us, but we see life working in you, therefore, we do not lose heart. That little word, we, certainly refers to Paul, refers to Paul's co-labors in the Gospel. Listen, by implication, it also refers to all of us, right? All co-labors of Paul in the Gospel to the present day. In light of the blessings that we've been given, in light of the treasure that we preach, every Christian should be able to say with Paul, therefore, we do not lose heart. We do not shrink back. We are not discouraged. We are not sluggish in the cause. We do not lose heart. I have armed myself with the same mind of Christ. In this end, preaching the Gospel, ministering the God's people is my preeminent priority. We should be able to say that with Christ, with Paul, with Peter. Now, the question is, how do we get there? How do you get there? How do you get to the point where that is your profession, where that is your anthem? That is your anthem. Paul leads us in our text to exercise faith in Christ for three glorious promises. One, you'll find these notes in your worship folder. One, we are to exercise faith for daily renewal, verse 16. Two, we're to exercise faith for future glory, verse 17. And three, we are to exercise faith for eternal joy, verse 18. Three keys to a Christian's fight against the temptation to lose heart. Three ways through which God will stoke the fire of zeal within our own heart by his spirit to preach the Gospel and to serve the Lord's people. Three keys. Look at the first one, exercise faith for daily renewal, verse 16. Paul says in verse 16, therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. So if we're going to persevere in bold and zealous faithfulness of the cause of Christ, we must look to Christ by faith for the strength that we need to do it, okay? We certainly won't do it relying upon the outward or fleshly man that is perishing. We need to look to the one who renews us spiritually day by day. Now notice with me the first of what are three major contrasts in our texts. The contrast is this. The outward man is perishing, but the inward man is being renewed daily. Now by the term outward man, Paul here is simply referring to the physical man, that part of our flesh that is, well, all of our flesh is dying, right? That part of us that is dying, perishing. It's perishing rather than being renewed, right? The physical man, the word perishing literally means wasting away. The grammar referring to an ongoing day by day continual process of decay or corruption. Now you could say that this is the reason today why we need doctors, why there are hospitals, why we need nurses, because we are decaying. We are literally wasting away. It's why I look like this, right? Because we are literally wasting away day by day. This is the earthen vessel of chapter 4 verse 7, right? The earthen vessel of chapter 4 verse 7, weak, frail, cracked, crumbling, perishable on its way to a casket, right? That's what this is talking about. In chapter 4 verse 10, he actually uses the word body. We're always caring about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. We're given over to a day by day ongoing process of decay or corruption. In chapter 4 verse 11, the outward man referenced by Paul's use of mortal flesh at the end of that verse there, meaning that in the flesh, points to the fact that in the flesh, you and I are going to die. We're going to die. The outward man is perishing, rushing headlong toward death. The same word is used in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Just flip back one page, probably in your Bibles. The 1 Corinthians chapter 15, look there, beginning at verse 42. And here, Paul uses the same word, the same concept. Verse 42, Paul says, so also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption. There it is, in a wasting away, in a decaying process, right? It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. Paul is talking here of our physical bodies as compared with that glorious body that we'll get one day, right? Verse 44, it is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There's a natural body. There's a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural. Afterward, the spiritual, the first man was of the earth, made of dust. That's the part that is decaying, that is wasting away, right? The second man is the Lord from heaven. And as was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust decaying and wasting away. And as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly. As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we, glory to God, shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. The same word there, corruption. So where does all this perishing corruption is wasting away? Where does it come from? The Bible clearly says that it's a result of sin. You and I are literally wasting away because of sin. We are literally decaying day by day because of sin. It's a result of sin. Paul explains in Romans chapter 5 verse 12, that sin enter the world, and death, you could say decay and corruption, death enter the world through sin. Paul further explains, Romans chapter 8, that even the whole creation groans under the weight of sin, right? Labors under the effects of man's sin. Why there are volcanoes erupting? You know why right now? Other places of the world. Why there are earthquakes and famines and pestilences and droughts? The whole world groans under the effects of man's sin. And we groan, Paul says there, within ourselves, eagerly awaiting the redemption of our bodies. Don't you feel that? Like I'm 50. I feel that. I feel it. We eagerly await the redemption of our bodies. Now Paul says he faced this dying. He faced this decay, this wasting away, even more glaringly, or even more personally, even more attached to ministry. Not just the usual decay rotting away or perishing of our outward man, but Paul wasting away, giving himself up to the cause of Christ. He was literally pouring himself out as a drink offering, right? Spending and being spent for the sake of those people in Corinth, for the sake of God's people in his ministry, right? He told the Romans that for their sakes, we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, Paul said to the Corinthians. We are as men condemned to death. We have the sentence of death in ourselves. We are delivered to death, Paul says, for Jesus's sake, right? The scouring of all things. Paul says to the Galatians, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Stripes above measure, deaths often beaten with rods. Five times he received from the Jews, 40 stripes minus one, weariness, toil, sleeplessness, cold, hunger first, pummeled, unconscious by rocks and left for dead. As Paul took the gospel of Jesus Christ into this hostile world and poured him out in service of the Lord, poured himself out in service of the Lord's church, he was literally wasting away, dying, his outward man perishing. And through all that, we consider the degree to which Paul suffered in ministry. Paul could say with a clear conscience before God, through faith, we do not lose heart, right? Imagine, we do not let up. We don't give up. We're not giving into discouragement. We're not going to throw in the towel. We're not going to stop. We're not going to shrink back. We're not going to grow lazy. We're not going to be sluggish. And he was literally wasting away in ministry. It's stunning, isn't it? Stunning. How did Paul manage to persevere through all that? Because chapter four verse 16, the inward man is being renewed day by day. Outwardly, Paul says, I'm dying, but inwardly every single day, day in and day out, Paul says, I'm being renewed. I'm being strengthened. I'm being refreshed. I'm being recharged. The inward man, then, is that part of our person that's been made a new creation in Christ? The spiritual part of a man, our inner spiritual nature. The inward man, if you're in Christ, refers to a new heart, new desires, new nature, new affections, all that by the grace and power of God. The inward man is that which has been born of God in regeneration and now is being renewed by God in sanctification. It's that spiritual part of you that is being gradually conformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? That which is being transformed into his image from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. That's the inward man day by day. That word there carries the sense of continuously. We would say day in and day out, right? Day in and day out. His mercies are new every morning, amen. Paul describes the inward man in Colossians chapter 3, verse 10, as the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him, to new man who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. The outward man is corrupt and perishing. The inward man is imperishable and eternal. Think about those verbs with me for just a moment. Just as the verb perishing is both present and passive, in other words, it's happening to you and it's ongoing. It's a regular continuous process, right? We are perishing in an ongoing continuous process in which we are completely passive. It's happening to us, right? In the same way that that verb perishing was present passive, the verb for renewing is present passive also, right? Renewing. We are being renewed. It means that we are in a process, an ongoing, present, continuous renewal that is passive, not accomplished by us, accomplished by God, right? Accomplished by God through faith in Christ. Because clay pots, we need that kind of renewing, don't we? We need that constant renewal. We need spiritual strength. Apart from him, we can do nothing. In fact, as Paul's outward man is perishing for the cause of Christ, that outward decay or outward suffering is actually used as a means of God whereby he blesses Paul with inward spiritual renewal. Now put those two things together, right? Make the connection. As Paul is suffering for Christ, even in his suffering, even in his affliction, God uses that affliction, uses that suffering to bless Paul with inward renewal, with inward strengthening as a means by which God could pour out his grace on the apostle Paul. God is gracious to us even in our suffering, right? Ephesians chapter 3, Paul says this in verse 14, For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his inner spirit, through his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Often it's through our suffering, isn't it, that we learn those lessons, through our suffering that we are strengthened, through affliction that we have our inner man strengthened, renewed. Colossians chapter 3, verse 9, Paul says, Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man. And it's this new man, Paul says, who is renewed in knowledge, according to the image of him who created him. I want you to know in both Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14, now in Colossians chapter 3, verse 9, Paul refers to knowledge, right, refers to what we understand, what we know. God has revealed himself and he's revealed himself to us in the Bible, in the Word of God. So we are to, through the Word of God, we are to know him and through knowing him we can be renewed. Philippians chapter 1, verse 6, we are confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ. And that is through day by day, day in and day out strengthening, renewal, sanctification, cleansing, right, conformity to Christ. So in spite of difficult circumstances, in spite of trials and tribulations, often because of difficult circumstances, right, God is renewing us, strengthening us, sanctifying us in the inner man day by day. I remember in John Bunyan's classic Pilgrim's Progress, right, many of you read that book. The Pilgrim Christian arrives at the house of the interpreter, was told to go to and see the interpreter at the interpreter's house. And so Christian tells the interpreter when he gets there that he was told to come to his house so that he could be shown things that would be helpful for him on his journey to the celestial city, right. The interpreter is going to instruct Christian those things that would be helpful to him. And so the interpreter takes him through his house, begins to show him these things. Maybe read this account. He's shown a very large parlor that is filled with dust. It was filled with dust because it was never swept, never swept clean. So a man comes in as Christian is watching the scene. A man comes in and begins to sweep. But as he begins to sweep, the dust is stirred up so much that it chokes Christian he can hardly breathe, right. Then Bunyan says a damsel comes in and a damsel sprinkles clean water in the room. And when she had done this, when she had sprinkled the clean water, then the room was swept and cleaned or cleansed, but not only swept and cleansed, it was swept and cleansed with pleasure Bunyan says, with joy, right, with delight. The room was swept and cleansed. And Christian said, as Christian does, what means this? The interpreter answered him, this parlor, this parlor full of dust, this parlor is the heart of man, the heart of man that was never sanctified by the sweet grace of the gospel. The dust, the interpreter says, is his original sin and his inward corruptions that have defiled the whole man. I put this together, he that began to sweep at first is the law, the law of God. So as the law begins to sweep, as you begin to sweep that room with the law, what does sin do? It just revives Paul says, right, sin revived and I died. I choked under the dust of it. Bunyan says, she that brought the water and did sprinkle it is the gospel, the sweetness of the gospel law, the law rather than cleansing the room instead of cleansing the heart from sin, the law stirs up sin. Even as it exposes sin, the law is stirring up sin. It has no power to cleanse has no power to subdue. It just stirs it up. When the water of the gospel is applied, sin is subdued and vanquished, as Bunyan says. When the water of the gospel is applied, sin is subdued and vanquished. The soul is made clean through faith and day by day by day renewal. The grace of God in sanctification consequently making it fit for the kingdom of glory to inhabit it. The sweetness of the gospel. In another place as Christian is walking through interpreter's house, Christian is shown a place where there's a fire in the wall. Remember that story? On one side of the wall, there stood one with water. We know later that it's the devil and he's constantly throwing water on the fire trying to extinguish it. Right? The fire, as much as he threw water on the fire, the fire just kept burning brighter and brighter and brighter. The fire kept intensifying in heat. Hotter and hotter, the more that he tried to put it out, until interpreter took Christian on the other side of the wall, right? Where Christian could see, as it were, things unseen and things eternal, right? We see a man there on the other side of the wall later known to be Jesus Christ. He has a vessel of oil in his hands. And as the devil was constantly pouring water on the fire from the other side of the wall, the Lord was just fueling the fire with oil, such that it could not be put out, right? Couldn't be quenched. The oil we find out is strengthening and enduring and renewing and sanctifying grace. Isn't that a beautiful picture, right? The continuous and gracious inward renewal by the work of God upon the heart of man. Paul says, therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet day by day by day our inward man is being renewed. Exercise faith in Christ for daily renewal. How do you do that? How do you do that then? You constantly sprinkle the water of the gospel, right? You constantly sprinkle the water of the gospel. Don't get caught up in the classic ditch of stirring up dust in your heart by merely the use of the law. Apply the balm of the gospel, right? Trust in Christ for grace. Trust in God's spirit for help. You constantly sprinkle the water of the gospel. Forgiveness, right? It makes sweeping a pleasure. It makes sweeping a joy. You put off sin and it's a burden to you. It's a burdensome dredge of a duty and apply the water of the gospel, right? Make the sweeping a joy. Your delight. Make it a pleasure. God's grace and power. God's faithfulness, his love, his forgiveness, all those glorious promises, your future inheritance, your future glory, right? Sprinkle the water of the gospel, making the sweeping a pleasure. And as you apply the means, as you apply the means through which the Lord Jesus Christ pours oil on your fire, that fire burns in your heart. What means are we referring to? The means of prayer, right? Submercing yourself in the scripture, hiding the word of God in your heart that you might not sin against him? As Paul would say in our text, it's fixing your gaze on those things which are unseen and eternal. Verse 18, exercise faith in Christ for daily renewal. Second, on your notes. We need to exercise faith for future glory. Verse 17, exercise faith for future glory. Paul says essentially we do not lose heart. Verse 17, for to explain or to further elucidate what I'm saying for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us or producing for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. At the outset, I want to make clear, right? Paul is not saying in verse 17 that we earn glory by suffering or enduring affliction, right? We don't earn glory. Affliction is not meritorious. Or many have made that error over church history. Affliction, paying suffering, is not meritorious. We don't earn glory through it. Affliction in this life is simply one means through which God works in us to will and to do according to his good pleasure, right? It's a means that God uses for our good. Even though it's painful for us in the moment, God uses it, works it all together for our good. It's a means through which glory is produced, not a means through which we earn it. It's maybe a bad analogy, but bear with me. You're at the gas station and you fill your car up with gas. Filling your car up with gas does not earn you the right to drive, right? You can go gas station to gas station and eventually your tank's going to be full. You can't fill it anymore. It doesn't earn you the right to drive, right? A driver's license given to you by the state. You've earned the right to drive. Filling your car up doesn't earn you the right to drive around, right? Affliction doesn't earn you glory. Affliction is a means through which God will work in you for his glory, right? It's a means to glory. As we consider now in verse 17, the second of three major contrasts in our text, picture with me in this text, verse 17, a set of scales, a set of scales, right? We can think of or imagine weighing something on the scales. On the one side, you have momentary, temporary, fleeting, short-lived, passing light. One might say insignificant or trifling affliction. Insignificant, trifling or light by comparison. We'll talk about that in a moment. On the other side of the scales, right? On the other side of the scales, you have a far more exceeding weight of eternal glory. The two sides of the scales are dramatically, like utterly out of proportion, right? Utterly out of proportion. Eternal means that that glory is unaffected by time. That exceeding weight, it means that it is entirely beyond all measure. It's entirely beyond all measure and undiminished with the passing of time, unchanged by the passing of time. I think with me, affliction is certainly significant in the moment, isn't it? We don't do ourselves any good by just sort of, it's not that bad, it's not that bad, right? Sort of putting our heads in the sand or turning a blind eye. Affliction in the moment is tough. And many of you, we have been through extremely difficult afflictions, right? Extremely difficult hardships. Paul, think about the affliction that Paul faced. Paul has known tremendous affliction. Affliction for Paul, where he even despaired of life. They felt as though certainly they're going to die. They're not going to make it out of this one, chapter one. Paul faced tears, hunger, pain, fear, right? But even this affliction, even that affliction that Paul faced in chapter one, verse eight, that was beyond measure, right? Unable to be born by them, unable to be endured by them, even though that affliction was so significant, so serious, in comparison with the eternal weight of glory, that affliction seems light and momentary, right? Temporary and passing. Paul used the same word there in chapter one, verse eight, to describe a burden, the burden that he faced in chapter one, verse eight, was beyond all measure, beyond their capacity to bear. That same word for burden in chapter one, verse eight, is the weight of glory in chapter four, verse 17, the weight of glory. Paul uses the same word to convey a weight that exceeds our ability to comprehend. We can't comprehend it, right? It is incomprehensible. It's a weight beyond all measure, a weight beyond our imagination. And that weight, which is beyond our ability to comprehend, is eternal, incorruptible by the passing of millennia, right? We'll have that weight of glory forever. It's the weight on this side of the scale, right, that will make the difficulties, the affliction, the hardship on the other side of the scale seem insignificant. By comparison, do you see? Make them seem trifling. Not that they are necessarily, but they seem that way when you compare them with the eternal weight of glory. In eternity, in eternity, our trials, our afflictions, our difficulties in this life will certainly appear to be light and momentary, right? When we're in eternity, this life is a vapor, right? It's a breath. The grass, as the grass grows, it immediately withers. That's our light in the Bible. The affliction in this life will appear to be light and momentary. But listen, Paul's saying that for his current experience, right? As that perspective on eternity presses into your life now, the more and more light and momentary those afflictions seem, by comparison, right? That eternal perspective, looking at those eternal things which are unseen, becomes the lens through which in this life we see our suffering, our difficulty, our affliction. The more we see now that our afflictions are light and momentary. Now, how is that done? In our text, it's done through faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. Faith in Christ for those promises which are unseen, those eternal things which are unseen. Think about this with me. If what you endure for the sake of Christ in this life is a means by which Almighty God, your Creator, the God of the universe, if your affliction is a means by which he is glorified, then do not our afflictions, trials, and tribulations become more light and momentary. When you consider that end of them, right? If our affliction is a means through which God's purchased possession is brought into the kingdom, right? A means, if your affliction is a means through which the Lord Jesus Christ receives the full reward of his suffering at the preaching of the gospel, then truly, truly our affliction is light and momentary. I compare them, right, when we compare it. If we consider the glorious blessings that we inherit in Christ, forgiveness for sins, right standing with God, adoption as sons and daughters into his household, having Lord Jesus Christ because of his sacrifice, having boldness to enter the very throne room of grace and make our supplications known before him, right? Knowing that we have that kind of access, that kind of relationship with the God of all creation, our afflictions in this life, aren't they momentary and light? If we consider, think about this, if we consider what we eternally deserve are not our afflictions momentary and light. He's not dealt with us according to our sins, right? He's not rewarded us according to our iniquities. Truly, our affliction is light and momentary. If you stop for a moment and consider the hardship, the affliction that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered for you, if you are in him, then truly, right, our affliction is light and momentary. He shed his blood. He bore the wrath reserved for you. He drank the cup of wrath to the dread. Every drop that you and I rightly deserve, he drank the cup, despised and rejected by man, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief to bear your grief, your sorrow, your pain, your shame. When we consider that our afflictions are trifling, aren't they? Really? Insignificant, light and momentary. If you're here today and you've never turned by faith, repentant faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, then your afflictions are light and momentary when compared with the afflictions and torment that you'll face in eternity forever in hell. Your afflictions are light and momentary. You could say that they're just beginning and in a dramatic understatement, the worst is yet to come. Will you turn from your sin to the one who gave himself for sinners? Will you trust him? Why face? You're facing affliction and difficulty and hardship and trials in this life. If you're apart from Christ, that hardship, that difficulty, that pain, merely points you in the direction of an ultimate and never ending, undiminished through millennia, torment in hell. Pain in this life points to our sin. Pain in this life points to an ultimate judgment. Our decaying, our corruption points to the fact that we have sin to deal with. Turn from your sin. Trust Christ alone. Why will you waste away in this life and then burn in the next? Paul says that eternal weight of glory, that an eternal weight of glory awaits us who are in him. It's interesting there that he says he works it for us, right? That weight of glory, that affliction is producing for us, for us, for us an eternal weight of glory. Turn from your sin and trust Christ. In light of all this, we can understand how Paul can say that our earthly afflictions are light and momentary. But look with me third and lastly, point three under notes, exercise faith then for eternal joy, verse 18, exercise faith for eternal joy. Paul says we do not lose heart, we do not lose heart, verse 18, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. How are we to maintain a consistent faithfulness in preaching the gospel? How are we to endure through affliction? How are we to endure through the inward corruption of our own flesh that leads us to laziness and apathy and sluggishness, neglect? How do we maintain a consistent faithfulness even through affliction without giving into the temptation to discouragement or despair? We fix our gaze, Paul says, upon eternal things unseen. Paradox, isn't it? We fix our eyes, we look upon things unseen. It introduces our third major contrast in the text. Temporary things that are seen, contrasted with eternal things that are not yet seen. The word for look in verse 18 is the Greek word scapego, means to fix one's eyes or one's attention upon it. It's not really to look at it or to glance at it, or to fix our eyes or to fix our attention on it, to dwell on it, to focus on it, right, opposed to a casual glance. And Paul begins this concluding statement in verse 18 with that little word at the beginning of verse 18, while, little word while. For you Greek guys, the while represents an attendant circumstance, an attendant circumstance. It means that provided, provided. We do not lose heart. All this affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, which we cannot comprehend. Provided that we do not become inordinately focused on those things of this life, which are temporary or passing, and provided that we rather focus our attention on those things which are spiritual and eternal. Do you see? We do not lose heart, Paul says. The afflictions of this life, difficulties we perceive, are light and momentary when we are focused on eternal things. Those things which we've already inherited in Christ, those blessings that are already ours in Christ, right, knowing that if God delivered up his own son for us, how much more then will he freely give us all things? We inherit all things in Christ. And we now wait by faith in Christ. We wait for those things until our faith becomes sight. We see him as he is, and we inherit with him. We reign with him. This perspective, what Paul is saying here in verse 18, really is described in this way for Moses in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24. Listen to this of Moses in the Hall of Faith, Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24, where the author there says, by faith, by faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Is steaming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he looked to the reward? You see, Moses setting out his scales. What did Moses determine? Moses determined that his affliction, any affliction that he would face here specifically for the cause of Christ would be momentary and light seem insignificant and tripling with when compared to the reproach of Christ. He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he looked forward to the reward, the reward that exceeding weight of glory far outweighed. The affliction, look into this. Verse 27 goes on to say that by faith, Moses foresook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Moses endured as seeing him, perceiving him, fixing his attention on him, fixing his focus, his gaze on things unseen. Paul or Moses foresook Egypt, fear not the wrath of the king because he endured, he persevered as seeing him who is invisible. Paul would say, fix your gaze on things unseen. We're not to look at the things around us, right? This life, our circumstances, this hardship, these outward bodies, this outward man that is decaying. We're to fix our gaze on things which are eternal, things which are unseen, things which are spiritual. You want the Lord to rekindle your zeal for the gospel. Maybe you believe this morning you've become apathetic in the cause of Christ. You've become lazy in his service. You're not loving the brothers and sisters here the way that you know the Lord would call you to love them and care for them and bear their burdens and meet their needs and pray for them. You know that's not the case. Maybe you're not faithful the way that you know you should be with preaching the gospel. You pass up opportunities left and right day by day. You don't take time to do that. Maybe you're not intentional. You're waiting for fireworks to go off or the planets to be aligned. I don't know. There's not being faithful and sharing the gospel and you know that. Then repent of laziness, repent of sin, repent of neglect, and fix your gaze on things unseen. Fix your gaze on things unseen. Exercise faith for daily renewal. Exercise faith, a daily renewal that God gives to you when you fix your eyes on eternal and weighty and glorious things. Exercise faith for future glory. Understanding the afflictions you face, the difficulties that you face, the fear that you face, the discouragement that you face, all just producing for you an eternal weight of glory that is unimaginably wondrous and eternal, undiminished in the heavens waiting for you. Fix your gaze. Exercise faith for eternal joy. Think about those blessings that have been secured for you. Jesus told the disciples in John chapter 14 that he goes to prepare a dwelling place for them. That where he is, we may be also, right, that we will have our dwelling. We will tabernacle with our God for all eternity. We will dwell with him. He will be our God. We will be his people. We will worship and praise the Lord Jesus Christ for all of eternity in heaven where there is no pain, no suffering, no sickness, no death, no sin. Are you struggling with discouragement? Fix your gaze upon things unseen. Paul said this in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 6. Paul said, for I am this is near the end of his life. Paul is about to face death. Paul says in verse 6, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering. And the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Lord, help us. That is also our pronouncement, right? That's our claim. Verse 8. Finally, Paul says, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. It's the cross, then the crown, right? The suffering, then the crown. That crown of righteousness was laid up for Paul. The Lord, the righteous judge, Paul says, will give to me on that day. And not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. We look forward to his appearing, don't we? We fix our gaze upon things unseen, eternal in the heavens. Lord Jesus Christ is coming back and his reward is with him. If you're here this morning and you're not converted, the Lord Jesus Christ comes back and his recompense is with him. Lord will come and seek vengeance on his adversaries. When the Lord comes in glory, he'll reward the righteous. He'll raise them, gather them, bless them. We will rule and reign with him. What glorious promises we have, amen? Fix your eyes on things unseen and allow the Lord, by his spirit, to pour oil on your fire for his glory. I'll praise honoring glory to the one who gives us such glorious promises.