chapter 4, verse 16. We'll look at verses 16,
17, and 18. And the verses we looked at last
week, or week 4 last, Paul talked about being
jars of clay. That us human beings are like jars
of clay. We are weak, but we are jars that contain
a lot of power. Even though we are weak, We have
the power of the Lord within us, and we see the
power of God working and transforming lives in
the world. And so for that reason, Paul says,
look, we're going to continue to do the work.
We're going to continue to preach the word. We've
received it. We're growing in it. Y 'all are
growing in it. And therefore, even though we
are weak, we are still going to continue to do
the Lord's work. And that was kind of the idea
that we saw in the verses we looked at. week
four last. So let's pray and then we'll get started.
God, we come to you. We thank you for these words.
I pray that your Holy Spirit would be with us
tonight, God, that you would help us to find
strength and encouragement in these words, dear
Lord, that God and our weakness, that we would
know that we cannot get through things on our
own, but that you are with us. So I pray, God,
that... these words would just kind of stick
to us tonight, dear Lord, that we would recall
them and that we would live by them in our daily
lives. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen. Therefore, he says in 2 Corinthians 4,
verse 16, therefore, we do not give up. Now,
we see therefore sometimes in the New Testament
especially. Therefore, what was he talking about?
He was talking about that God had been doing
the work through them, that they were weak vessels,
but God had been using them and God had been
working in the lives of other people through
them and people had come to Jesus Christ. And
therefore, even though it's difficult to serve
the Lord, therefore, we do not give up. Now,
this is a good word for us to think about tonight.
We do not give up because there are times in
our life that we do want to give up. that life
gets really difficult, and we are weak, and in
our weakness, things happen to us, and whatever
it may be, just stuff with work, or stuff with
school, or stuff with health, or stuff with family,
or whatever it is, and sometimes it just seems
like one thing after another, and one blow after
the next blow. And sometimes we just want to
give up, and we just say, God, I've just had
enough. I'm just tired, dear Lord. Y 'all have
probably all experienced that. You've had a season
in life where you're just tired. Sometimes we
have seasons in life where in our family we have
maybe a lot of death. Every family's kind of
probably had that before, where it just seems
like a lot of death's real close together, and
that's tough on you. And it's just whatever the
situation may be, there are days that you just
say, God, I don't know how much more I can take.
But on days like that, we just have to trust
in the Lord's strength and not rely on our own
strength and not give up. He says in verse 16,
Therefore we do not give up even though our outer
person is being destroyed, our inner person is
being renewed day by day. Now Paul knew what
it was like for the outer person to go through
some difficult situation. He says, look, we...
In our bodies, we're suffering. The work that
we're doing for the kingdom of God, it is not
easy. We are suffering. We are enduring all kind
of pain and persecution and even Christians being
killed. I mean, you may remember in the book
of Acts when Stephen preached that great sermon
to the people and then it says at the end of
the sermon that all the people closed their ears
and they started to holler and then they stoned
Stephen to death. And so the audience was not
very receptive. uh when when the the the times
after jesus it wasn't very receptive and guess
what there's plenty in the world that aren't
receptive of the gospel today there are still
christians who are being killed today so when
paul says look our outer person is being destroyed
he means that quite literally Quite literally,
Paul and the other apostles were being destroyed.
They were suffering greatly, imprisonments and
beatings and all kind of things that they were
struggling for. But in the midst of all that,
they did not give up. And what does he say? Our
outer person is being destroyed, but our inner
person is being renewed day by day. Now, how
is that possible? How can it ever be for us?
that our outer person is being destroyed, but
our inner person is being renewed. You may have
experienced that personally. You may have seen
that. You ever seen somebody that was just sick,
and their body was just beat down with cancer
or whatever it is, and they just got no quality
of life, and they're just in pain, and yet somehow
they praise the Lord. And it's not uncommon for
Christians in the midst of situations like that
to say that they're growing in their relationship
with the Lord. How is that possible? That when
our bodies are breaking down, whether through
persecution or whether through sickness or whatever
it is, how is it that when we're in our worst
times that we draw closer to the Lord, that we
are renewed by the Lord? Well, it's probably
because we seek Him more in those times. When
things are going pretty good, we may not seek
the Lord as often as we should. But man, you
let things start going fast, we remember the
Lord real quick. We're quick to forget the Lord
in the good times, but we are even quicker to
remember the Lord in the bad times. And there's
something about going through hardships and difficulties
and sickness that I think it resets our focus.
Because we realize in those days just how precious
life is. and just how important things in this
life are that maybe we didn't realize were important.
Maybe how important our families are, or the
things that we do, or the things that we don't
do. Tragedy and hardship and sickness have a
way of getting our attention so that we call
out to God and we begin to seek Him in a much
different way. And guess what? It shouldn't come
as a surprise to us that when we seek the Lord,
we will find Him. And when we find the Lord and
we begin to pray to him and we begin to read
his word and we begin to listen to him, then
God begins to renew our inner self. And so Paul
said, here, look, we're doing the work of the
Lord. Our life is hard. And even though outside
life is tough, he says we are growing in the
Lord every day. That's a beautiful thing. When
we have faith in the Lord and we're trusted in
the Lord and we're doing His will and we're doing
His work, there's a certain joy and a peace that
is not touched by anything outside of us. No
matter what our circumstances are, we are not
shaken if we're trusted in the Lord. And Paul
was there. He says, look, on the outside, look,
we're suffering, but every day God's drawing
us closer and closer to Him. And there was a
certain peace and a certain joy that Paul had.
And that's why they didn't give up. Even though
life was hard, they didn't give up because they
were trusting in the Lord. Verse 17. For our
momentary light affliction is producing for us
an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of
glory. So what he says is, what we're experiencing
now, as bad as it is, Once we are in the glory
and the presence of God, that is going to surpass
our hardships more than we could ever imagine.
And so that was his encouragement to continue
going. But listen to what he says. For our momentary
light affliction. Our momentary light affliction.
Okay, so things aren't too bad for Paul. I'm
going through a few little difficult things,
but they're not that bad. Well, flip to 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. And I want to read to y 'all some
of these light afflictions that Paul was enduring.
2 Corinthians chapter 11. We won't look too much
at the context of it. We'll get there in a few
weeks when we get to chapter 11. But just toward
the end of the chapter, 2 Corinthians chapter
11, verse 21, the end of verse 21, end of verse
22, and we're going to read that. 2 Corinthians
chapter 11, about the halfway point through verse
21 is where we will start. Now... There had been
some people that had been coming to Corinth and
they were not good teachers. They weren't teaching
the people right. They weren't leading the people
right. And they really were putting a lot of
burden on the people. And Paul is saying, look,
you listen to all these people. You listen to
the foolishness that they say. Would you just
listen to me? I've been a good example. I've
taught you and I've led you and I've taught you
right. I haven't deceived you or put burden on
you. And you listen to these other folks that
come in and their foolishness. And he says, would
you listen to me and my foolishness? He says,
if you want to listen to them boast about all
the things that they can do, then let me boast
to you for a minute. And he says in verse 21,
But in whatever anyone dares to boast, I am talking
foolishly, I also dare. Are they Hebrews? So
am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they
the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants
of Christ? I'm talking like a madman. I'm a better
one. With far more labors, with many more imprisonments,
far worse beatings, near death many times. Five
times I received 39 lashes from the Jews. Three
times I was beaten with rods by the Romans. Once
I was stoned by my enemies. Three times I was
shipwrecked. I have spent night and day in the
open sea. On frequent journeys, I face dangers
from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from
my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers
in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers
on the sea, and danger among false brothers.
Labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger
and thirst, often without food, coal, and lacking
clothing. These are the light afflictions that
Paul went through. Look at this list of stuff.
Imprisoned and beaten, hungry, stuck at sea,
shipwrecked, all of these things. And yet how
does Paul refer to these things that he goes
to in chapter 4? He refers to these things as
light afflictions. Isn't that interesting? It's
all about our perspective, I believe. Now we
may say, oh, my life is so hard. And maybe it
is. I'm not saying your life is not hard. But
I'm saying Paul's life was hard too, maybe in
different ways than our life is hard. We're probably
not experiencing persecution. We probably aren't
seeing our brothers and sisters in Christ, at
least people we know being stoned. There are
brothers and sisters in Christ being stoned or
killed in some way, shape, or another in our
world today. So maybe we're not experiencing
the same hardships as Paul, but we're experiencing
hardships. But the question is, how do we deal
with those things? How do we stay encouraged
in those things? How do we have the ability and
the power like Paul to say, but I will not give
up? Well, he wouldn't give up because he was
seeking his power from the Lord. And in the midst
of all of it, he didn't quit seeking the Lord,
he didn't quit serving the Lord, and he was being
renewed. And for that reason, he could say, look,
what I'm going through, it's just light affliction,
beatings, all these 39 lashes I've taken multiple
times. This is nothing. This is just lightweight
stuff. And he says, look, as bad as this is,
he says, I keep my eyes on the future. Because
as bad as life is here, I'm looking for the glory
that is to come. And it's going to be so much
better, millions of times better, infinitely
better than the worst sufferings that I've experienced.
The glory of God is going to be better than I
could ever imagine. So Paul says, I'm only here
for a little while. These things, they're nothing
because I trust in the Lord. Listen to what he
says in verse 18. So we do not focus on what
is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen
is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
That's good advice for us. We do not focus on
what is seen. Now, what we see is chaos. What
we see sometimes in our world, in our lives,
in the lives of people we know, it doesn't make
sense, it doesn't seem fair, and what we see,
it just doesn't look good. And if we focus on
that, and it's easy for us to do, we probably
fall into that trap. If we focus on that, all
we see is chaos, and we can't make sense of it.
I don't know if y 'all remember. Back in probably
the 90s, this was a big deal. These things called
magic eye. You probably had a book on your coffee
table. And it looked something like this. Does
that look familiar to anybody? Do y 'all remember
those things when they were real popular? And
that looks like a bunch of nothing. It just looks
like nothing. It's just chaos. Just colors and
random shapes and things all over. Can anybody
tell me what that is? I'll give you a second
to look at it. Tell me what that image is in
that magic eye. I couldn't either. You may not
can see it from that far. Well, some people have
to. Some people can just look and see them in
an instant. But this image, if we just look at
this, where we're sitting right now, that doesn't
look like anything to us. If I told you to focus
on that, there's nothing there. And that's how
it is for us in the world. If we look at the
world, all we see is chaos. We've really got
to take our time, and we've really got to focus
and look past that. Now, the way these magic
eyes work is your eyes kind of focus on different
things, and it kind of blurs, and it pulls together.
And all of this stuff you see actually makes
an image. And if you're able to see it, that's
the image that you should have seen. And you
say, well, I didn't see that. How do you get
that from that? Right? Well, Paul says here we
don't focus on what is seen. We have to look
deeper to what is unseen because God is there.
Whether we see it, whether we recognize it, there
may be chaos all around us, but if we really
look hard, we will see God. Now, praise the Lord,
God's not like the magic eye. Some people just
can't see Him because of their eyes, different
depth perception. Some people just physically
aren't able to do it. But praise the Lord, we
are all able to see God if we would just seek
Him. If we would just look through the chaos,
Paul says, look, my life is full of hardship
and pain and suffering, but I'm going to look
past all that. I'm going to look past the chaos.
I'm going to look past the pain because I know
that God is there and my focus is not on what's
in front of me. My focus is, or excuse me, not
directly in front of me. My focus is on the future.
What is ahead of me in the kingdom of God. So
we do not focus on what is seen, but what is
unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what
is unseen is eternal. That's good news. Now I
see sometimes, I was listening to a show a while
back, and this guy on this show, he was attempting
to, he didn't say live forever, he just wanted
to live as long as he possibly could. And maybe
it would be forever, and maybe it wouldn't. And
this guy, he's a millionaire, and he's got all,
I forgot, like 50 -something doctors maybe that
just work for him all the time, always checking
his blood, always telling him exactly what amount
of this and what amount of that that he needs
in his life. And getting blood infusions from
younger people to have certain things is going
to make him live longer and got the strictest
exercise regimen and all these things so he can
live as long as he can. Now, I don't know about
you guys. I enjoy living here, and I love y 'all,
and there's a lot of good things in this world,
but I don't want to live here forever because
this old world is not getting any better, and
I've got bad news for you. It's not going to
get any better. Maybe for a season it will. You
look at the history of the world. It goes from
bad to good to bad to good to bad to good, but
it's just bad. There's always going to be sickness
and death and dying and killing and evil people.
And life is just hard. You've got to get out
and work and cut the grass. And none of that's
fun. But praise the Lord here, Paul says these
things are temporary. Now, I don't know about
this guy that's trying to live forever. I don't
know what he sees or what he thinks the future's
going to be like. But he don't know that there's
something bigger and better than what there is
here. Or else he wouldn't be trying so hard to
live forever. But we know by the word of God
that there is something better. That this old
world is going to serve its purpose, but it's
a temporary purpose. But what awaits us is eternal.
What awaits us if we trust in Jesus Christ is
an eternity in the glory of God. And this is
what keeps Paul going. This is his motivation.
This is his encouragement. This is why he can
say, I don't give up. Because I know I'm only
here for a little while. Now I know that in our
life, especially when we're younger, it feels
like that 80 years or however many years that
we're going to live on this earth is an eternity.
But you talk to any person that's a little older
and they'll almost all tell you the same thing.
Man, my life has gone by so quick. Where did
the years go? And all of a sudden we've lived
our few little 80 years that we thought was going
to take forever and it's gone in a flash. And
Paul says, look, this life's tough, but it's
not going to last very long. And so I'm going
to keep on trucking. I'm going to keep on doing
the Lord's work. I'm not going to look on what's
in front of me because that's so depressing.
I'm just going to look toward Jesus Christ because
he's going to be victorious over all these things.
I'm not going to focus on what I see, but I'm
going to focus on what I haven't seen yet. And
eternity with God, the glory of God. And I look
forward to that day. So may that be our encouragement
for us so that we can say we will not give up.
Let's pray. God, we thank you for these good
words and I pray that we would trust in them
and find some strength in them, dear Lord. Maybe
there are some that are here tonight or listening
online and their outer person is being destroyed,
dear Lord. Their life is tough and it's full
of stress and suffering in a variety of ways,
dear Lord. There are so many ways in which life
is just tough. But I pray, God, that if anybody
is being destroyed outwardly, that they would
find hope in Jesus Christ tonight. That you would
renew them inwardly, God. That they would seek
you and call upon you and trust in you and let
you be their strength, dear Lord. That you would
renew them in their inner self, God. That we
would know that no matter how serious our afflictions
may be in this world, God, that you'll give us
the strength to get through. We are only here
for a little while. And God, it's still tough
in the moment when we are going through these
things. But I pray, dear Lord, that you help
us not to lose focus of the bigger picture. And
that is eternity with you. That is deliverance
from all the pain and the sickness and the death
and all the tough stuff that we go through here,
dear Lord. I pray that we would not be overwhelmed
by what is seen, but that we would be renewed
by what is unseen. And I ask these things in
Jesus' name. Amen.