Once again, we have a wonderful privilege to be able to open up the Word of God here this morning. And I would invite you to do that. Take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians four. We're going to be looking at verses 16, actually, through verse 18, this morning, under the heading, 'The Triumph of Saving Grace." If you haven't been with us, we go through each book, the Bible verse by verse, in an effort to glean all that we can from what the Spirit of God has revealed to us. And what a joy it is to be able to come together and worship, amen? To be able to sing together and fellowship and open up the word that's a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path. And my we need a lamp and a light today, don't we, with everything that's going on? I mean, every time you turn on my pillow, I mean, Fox News. Every time you turn it on, your jaw just drops, it's like what else is gonna happen, you know. And people are afraid, not just because of this pandemic; that's been grossly exaggerated for political purposes; but people are afraid of some of the other groups that are out there, this Antifa and Black Lives Matter and certainly the wicked politicians that support these things. I find it fascinating you really cannot buy ammunition. Ammunition manufacturers are as much as three years behind. It's sad, it's hard to buy a gun. I mean, people are preparing for war. Militias are forming; secret militias are forming within the military and within law enforcement. It's really frightening times. And of course, you know, these, the Antifa and Black Lives Matter protests are nothing but political theater filled with phony propaganda, dedicated to promoting mayhem and lawlessness to somehow promulgate their phony narratives, exercise power, and all of that. And, you know, if they gain power, I mean, we are in for, for some severe threats in our country.

And certainly, as you've heard me say before, as we've studied some of these groups, Biblical Christianity simply cannot coexist with what these groups demand. And that's frightening. I was noticing that there were Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, where they were burning Bibles along with American flags in the bonfires. I mean folks that's where it's headed, because ultimately, Satan is behind all of this. God's judgment is upon this nation, a nation that has mocked him; persecution is mounting. And certainly, we know according to Second Timothy three, beginning of verse 12, Paul said, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." And that's what we see today. But may I remind you, that persecution purifies as well as grows the church? We've seen this historically. And that's the exciting thing with all that we see happening, the Lord has promised to build his church, right? And I mean, you look at China today, there's an estimated 300 million people that worship the Lord like us today, they have to do it underground. In North Korea, the church is growing, but they have to meet in groups of two or three, sometimes four, hidden in places, and they sing hymns by whispering them, but the church is growing. The same thing in Russia. So you can go on and on. And you can see that the Lord is behind, ultimately, behind all of this, in that he has allowed these things to happen for his purposes.

And, and I know people will say, "But Pastor, I mean, our precious children are going to be exposed to these things and we're just watching our way of life just being destroyed right in front of our eyes. What are we to do?" Well, Bible is very clear, and we're gonna look at some of that this morning. But we're to set our mind on things above not all the things of this earth, right? We're to present the gospel. I was so impressed, maybe you saw this, if you haven't, you ought to see the interview with Orlando Magic forward. Jonathan Isaac, did any of you see the interview with him? It just happened. He became the first NBA player not to kneel during the national anthem, since the league resumed on Thursday. And you can see all of his other brothers, kneeling with Black Lives Matter t shirts; they're all locking arms and he's standing up with his uniform on and his head bowed. It's really moving. And later on, he was asked, you know, don't you believe Black Lives Matter? And he said, Yes. And I wrote down some of what he said. He said, "kneeling or wearing a Black Lives Matter t shirt doesn't go hand in hand in supporting black lives." He said, "My life has been supported through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And everyone is made in the image of God, and we should live for God's glory." He went on to say how "sometimes we point fingers at whose evil is worse. And sometimes it comes down to who's evil is most visible." I thought that was rather profound. He went on to say, "you know, I feel like we all make mistakes, but the gospel of Jesus Christ gives grace." He went on to add, "Jesus came and died for our sins. And if we all come to an understanding of that, and that God wants to have a relationship with us, we can get past all the things in our world that are messed up, that are jacked up." He added "racism isn't the only thing that plagues our society." And boy, isn't that the truth that plagues our nation that plagues our world? "I feel like coming together on that message, we can get past not only the racism, but everything that plagues our society. I feel like the answer is the gospel." It just brought tears to my eyes. I mean, that's what you do in these days.

And as the true church comes under attack, we're all going to experience mounting persecution, but we know that ultimately, God is in control and his plans and his purposes will not be thwarted. But none of us have ever come close to experiencing anything close to what the Apostle Paul experienced in his persecutions and suffering. When Second Corinthians one five, he said, "the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance." In fact, he went on in verse eight to describe the affliction; it was so great that he says, "we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life." And if you study his life, you see that his life and his ministry was just perpetual conflict. The Jews are trying to kill him, the Gentiles are trying to kill him. In Lystra, the Jews did stone him. In Acts 14, we read the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. And in Philippi, we read that he was beaten with rods, and after receiving many blows, he, along with Silas, were thrown into prison, Acts 16. Second Corinthians 11, beginning of verse 23, Paul says, "I was beaten times without number often in danger of death. Five times I," catch this, "five times, I received the Jews 39 lashes." Five times, that's 195 lashes by the way. The reason they would say 39 lashes is because normally the 40th lash would kill a man. And so without giving a death sentence, they would say, well, let's just give him 39 lashes. I mean, folks, his back and his ribcage would not have looked human, it would have been so scarred. That's why in Galatians 6:17 he says, "I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus." Second Corinthians 11, he went on to say, "Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I've been on frequent journeys and dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches." Worse yet, beloved, he was abandoned by all of his friends, in his last imprisonment. I mean, think about this, in Second Timothy 1:15. He says, "You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. And then in chapter four and verse 16, he says that "my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me." Then he says, "May it not be counted against them." You imagine that?

Now, here in Second Corinthians remember that he is under enormous stress through the slander the scurrilous markings of these false teachers that had slithered into the church and had seduced many of the naive and immature saints into believing their lives and turning against their spiritual father. That's why in chapter four here in verse eight, he says that he was "afflicted in every way"-- perplexed, persecuted, struck down, "always carrying about in the body, the dying of Jesus; constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus sake. I mean, none of us can say that we've been anywhere close to that. Nevertheless, according to verse 15, are verse 14, he was at peace, "knowing," he says "that He who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you."

Now, that's the background of where we are here this morning, Second Corinthians four beginning in verse 16. "Therefore, we do not lose heart. But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Dear friends, I ask you this morning, are you tempted to lose heart? Do you find yourself struggling under the weight of all of the difficulties of life, whatever they might be? How do you endure persecution? How do you endure loneliness, and suffering, sorrow? And even beyond that, what is your attitude toward death? Because we're all headed there aren't we? Every single person in this room. Now the unbeliever refuses to think much about death in particular and Satan provides a myriad of ways to distract him from those realities, all of the pleasures of life, drugs, alcohol, whatever they might be, and then false teaching, that would say, Oh you're a pretty good person, so you will make the cut; those types of things. But a mature Christian looks at it, head on, face on and realizes that it's coming. But beyond that, knows that it can face that last enemy of death, actually, with joy, you know, as I often think, to myself, I'm not afraid of death. It's the dying part that I'm not looking forward to, right? I mean, we all we all know what that means. I mean, you never know how you're going to go, but boy, the death part--we're in glory. So this is what we see here. This is why I've entitled this discourse to you "The Triumph of Saving Grace" and here in this passage, we're going to discover three principles that are key to experiencing joy and power. And frankly triumph in the face of severe adversity and suffering, and even death. Three spiritual realities; realities that should really capture our attention; be dominant within our heart. And here they are, we can rejoice knowing number one: our inner man grows stronger as our outer man grows weaker. Or as our outer man weakens, I should say. Number two: our eternal reward grows greater as our suffering for Christ intensifies. And number three: our earthly joy grows fuller, as our mind is set on eternity.

First of all, let's familiarize ourselves with the terminology that Paul uses. First of all, he speaks of the outer man, this is referring to the physical body. In fact, in verse seven, he calls it "the earthen vessel," verse 11, "mortal flesh." In other words, this is all that is visible. Unlike the soul, that is the inner man that is invisible. And at death, we know that the soul vacates the body and goes to heaven or to hell. The souls of believers will receive a glorified body suited for heaven in one of three stages of resurrection. Let me give them to you very briefly. The first stage is for those that are saved from Pentecost to the rapture of the church, when they will be joined by living saints to meet the Lord in the air. And then those second stages those saved during the tribulation and all of the Old Testament saints will be raised up when Jesus returns to Earth to reign with Him during the Millennial Kingdom. And then finally, those who died during the Millennial Kingdom, we believe that they will probably receive their eternal glorified bodies instantly, immediately at death. Now, you might say, Well, what about unbelievers? Do they get a resurrection? Well, they do. Revelation 20 in verse five, "The rest of the dead did not come to life, until the 1000 years were completed." This is a reference to the unbelievers. Then the text says this is the "first resurrection," which is actually referring to the resurrection of believers in the previous verse. But Paul speaks of this as well, in Acts 24, verse 15, "there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just, and the unjust." And Jesus spoke of this in John 5:29, there is a "resurrection of life." And he went on to say, on the "resurrection of judgment," or it can be translated "of condemnation." And this resurrection of condemnation for unbelievers will occur at the end of Christ's millennial reign upon the earth at the Great White Throne Judgment. And that is described in Revelation 20, verse 11, and following. And at that time, all of the places that have held the bodies or the DNA, you might say, of the unrighteous dead will yield up a hideous body suited for eternal torment in hell. We don't know what that body will look like. We may have a preview of that, in some of the things that we see, like the horrifying repulsive bodies of the of the Living Dead that so many people feed on, I don't...I can't understand that. But people like to watch that demonic stuff. But they will be raised to eternal death, which is called the second death biblically, Revelation 21 in verse eight, we read, "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

So folks, this is the dreadful state of all those who reject Christ. You know, whenever I reflect upon the justice that I deserve, and the mercy that I have received, I just become speechless. I mean, that's when the great old hymn Amazing Grace really captures it. And that's frankly, why I resent so many people singing that song as if it's just some, you know, pop tune. So the outer man is the visible, the physical body that houses the soul or the spirit, the inner man. By the way, soul and spirit are not two separate entities, they are one in the same the terms; are used interchangeably throughout Scripture. In fact, Mary said in Luke 1:46, and 47, "my soul" which is in Greek "psuche", "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit,"--"pneuma"--"rejoices in God my Savior"' many other passages say the same thing. So as we look at who we are as human beings that God has created, we exist as both material and immaterial beings, we have a body and we have a soul. You will recall in Genesis two seven at creation, God formed man out of the ground, there's the material part. And then what did he do? He breathed life into him, there's the immaterial part and so forth. And I might add, that Jesus makes this distinction between body and soul in Matthew 10 and verse 28. Jesus said, "'Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who was able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'"

So here Paul is facing the reality that he's having to face all the time in his life and ministry, the reality of death and decay of the body. He says, the outer man is decaying, literally, it is in the process of deteriorating. Now, when you're young, you don't notice this. But as you start getting older, it's real obvious. In fact, I always laugh at my kids, when I hear, and grandkids, when I hear them howling in the other room in laughter. I know they've gotten into some of the old pictures, you know, and those of you that are my age will understand that. So there's a natural progression in life, a progression of deterioration, an aging process that we all experience. And hair color, makeup, plastic surgery, exercise all of those things may conceal it at some level for a while, but it cannot do away with it completely, it cannot prevent it. Death by the way, is the consequence of sin. And we are all born sinners. We're sinners by nature. Romans 5:12, "Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned."

Now I want to take you for a moment to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Want to look at just seven verses in here. King Solomon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit describes the the inevitable decay of the outer man, and frankly, the importance of reflecting upon the reality of death, and the judgment that is going to follow. Ecclesiastes 12 one, let me give you just a real brief exposition of it; it's quite powerful. "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come." In other words, before the times of misery and trouble that we're all going to experience at the end of life. "And the years," he says, "Draw near, when you will say, 'I have no delight in them.'" And then he goes on to describe the inevitable decline in life that can be seen very easily in all of us.

Verse two, "Before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain." And here now he's illustrating the evil days. And what he's referring to here is in old age the eyes begin to fail. The vision begins to get cloudy, like the process of glaucoma.

Verse three, and "in the day that the watchman of the house tremble"-- you see that in old age, both physically the hands, for example, begin to tremble, and emotionally we get weak and feeble. In old age, we become increasingly paranoid, increasingly vulnerable. And then he says, "And mighty men stoop"--referring to the major muscle groups that begin to weaken and the back begins to bend. "The grinding ones stand idle, because they are few"--referring to teeth. "And those who look through windows grow dim"-- a reference again to the eyes.

Verse four, "and the doors of the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the birds and all the daughters of song will sing softly." We know that the shutting of doors refers to the ears as people shut doors. Why do they do that? Well, they want to exclude outside noise. But this is a reference to deafness that begins to take over, as indicated by the sounds of grinding and singing that fade out. But he says, rising up at the sound of birds, and this alludes to a very cruel paradox and old age, doesn't it? It's really funny when you think about it, you can't hear hardly anything but you sleep so lightly, that the slightest little sound of a bird wakes you up. That's what he's speaking of here.

Verse five, "Furthermore, men are afraid of high places." And with aging, you have an increased fear of heights-- "and of terrors on the road." Again, an aging man is unable to protect himself; that begins to wane. And then he says, "the almond tree blossoms." This is a reference to the hair that begins to turn white. By the way, the white color of the blossoms of an almond tree come toward the end of winter before the leaves even begin to sprout. Then he says, "the grasshopper drags himself along." Probably, we believe a reference to bad joints, swollen ankles, certainly a halting walk, the elderly shuffle, and they drag themselves along with an awkward gait. And then he says that, "the caperberry is ineffective"--a paraphrase in the Hebrew would be "and desire is no longer stirred." And apparently this speaks of the loss of sexual desire in old age. In fact, the Targum, which was an Aramaic interpretation and paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible, the Targum paraphrases this more directly it says, quote, "you will cease from sexual intercourse." Now the ancient peoples in the Near East, prized the caperberry for stimulating sexual desire, and in the advanced years, however, the caperberry no longer works as an active stimulant. And then a man continues to decline; eventually he dies. We see here, goes on in verse five, "For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street." So aging is a harbinger of death. The aging tells us that we're on our final journey, he says to our eternal home. By the way, Jewish community still to this day refer to their cemeteries as "beit olam," which means eternal home; the same phrase that is used here. We see a similar description in Second Corinthians five one, "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house"--referring to the body--"is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." And so aging is that ultimate harbinger of death.

But death is seen as returning to God in verses six and seven, he says, "Remember Him before the silver cord is broken, and the golden bowl is crushed." The silver cord or the silver chain depicts the value of life, perhaps even the spinal cord, we're not real sure, but finally it breaks with age, and the head--the golden lamp--crashes to the stone floor. And likewise, the pitcher that holds the life-giving water drawn from a well or a cistern cannot serve his task if it breaks. He says, "the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel of the system and is crushed." The wheel, of course is the pulley that would lower the pitcher into a well, it can no longer be drawn. So the end has come. So remember him, remember your Creator before this happens.

Verse seven, "then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." Now, back to Second Corinthians 4:16. Indeed, the "outer man is decaying." I think I have made that point very clear. I don't think there's anyone that would differ with me on that; differ with the word I should say, "yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." Now, folks, this is where it gets really exciting. This is so exciting. The inner man speaks of the heart or the soul, the spirit; terms used again interchangeably; that immaterial, invisible, immortal, spiritual part of man that is reborn at salvation. This is what Paul called in Ephesians 4:24 The "new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." Colossians 3:10 He says that we are to put on the "new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." What an exciting truth that is. First Corinthians 15:42, where he's speaking concerning the resurrection of the dead where the body is likened to a seed planted in the ground, he said, "It is sown a perishable body, but it is raised an imperishable body." And in verse 44, he said, "It is sown a natural body, it is raised the spiritual body. If there is a natural body, then there also is a spiritual body.: There's the inner man.

Now that we understand the terms, let's look closely at the beleaguered, disfigured, persecuted apostle, and try to understand now why he didn't lose heart in the face of all of the adversity that he experienced. Verse 16, "Therefore we do not lose heart. But though,"-- there's a hint of hope there right, a hint of triumph of victory--"but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." Oh, dear Christian, this is the secret to joy in the midst of sorrow, especially when we face death. And it brings us to our very first little point here, our inner man grows stronger when our outer man weakens.

I mean, have you ever considered this? What a magnificent truth this is? It's astounding. In Ephesians 3:16, Paul says, we are "strengthened with power through His Spirit in the"--here it is--"inner man." Why? "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." So that we will experience the soul satisfying soul exhilarating joy of the living Christ deep within our soul. That's what's going on within us. Now the unbeliever cannot say this. As his body weakens his soul stays the same; it's dead, it's alienated from God. It is lifeless, it is at enmity with God. And it will blaspheme God and the solitary confinement of hell forever. But not so the redeem. Our inner man is forever hidden in Christ. An amazing thought, we're forever united to Christ. We have died, Paul says in Colossians, three, three, and our "life is hidden with Christ in God." Verse four says he "is our life." You see folks in the inner man, we enjoy communion with God, we enjoy intimate fellowship with him. In the inner man he speaks to us through his word by the power of his Spirit. And he grows us into the likeness of Christ. Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me." Obviously, it's not my physical body, it's my inner man. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. Dear friends, it is the inner man, not the outer man that deserves our full attention. That should be the priority that should captivate our thoughts. It is our soul, not our body that is most important. And of course, we live in a culture that is obsessed with the body; absolutely obsessed with the body. We've got to show it off, we got to paint graffiti all over it. We've got to do all of this exercise, we've got to take steroids to make us look more muscular, for the guys. And I guess for some of the girls, we've got to go to the beauty salon, which never does that for me for some reason. We've got to do all of these things. But God looks at our heart, not our body. Proverbs 4:23, "Watch over your heart, with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life." So we've got to guard our hearts, our inner man, we've got to cultivate godliness within our soul, we've got to pursue holiness in the inner man.

Again, the body is decaying, that's just gonna happen. And yeah, I know you want to paint it up, you don't want to look as bad as you can I understand that, you know. You've got to do certain things, I get that. But it's the inner man that deserves our full attention. Because it is there by the power of the Holy Spirit, that Christ is revealed to us. And we become likened unto him. That's the process of sanctification. Paul spoke of this, in Second Corinthians three, verse 18, "But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord..." by the way, you will recall, it's a reference to seeing Christ in Scripture, we behold "the glory of the Lord." Well, what happens? We're being "transformed in that same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

Now we know when we first come to Christ, we are babes in Christ, spiritually speaking, but we gradually grow into maturity. In first, John 1:29 and following, John gives us a description of three stages of spiritual growth he speaks of little children, and then young men and fathers; we're not going to look at that closely, but he speaks of, first of all, there's the little children. That's how we all start. We're immature men of God, we possess just the most rudimentary fundamentals of God and his gospel. And then we begin to mature into young men, where we are now, shall we say, moderately mature, in the Lord; we have a grasp of sound doctrine, he tells us and, and we're able to stand against Satan, and walk by the Spirit, not by the flesh. But then the final stage is the father, the mature man or woman of God, that person who has a profound experience of the living God within their soul and has such a grasp of the knowledge and the fullness of God, that they live for the glory of God. It's not a duty, it is a desire, it is the passion of their soul. This is the one who walks in intimate fellowship and communion with God. But whatever the stage of maturity, we know that it's always the spirit that is at work in the inner man, to make this happen. This is why Paul never lost heart. That's the point. He keeps growing us in the grace and the knowledge of Christ and at death, at death, the renewing process is complete. Suddenly, the soul of a believer vacates the body, leaving all of the sin and all of the sorrow behind and it is instantly transported into the presence of God. Dear Christian, is this your testimony? Is this a testimony of your soul? Or are you hearing this and saying I have no idea what that man is talking about? Well, if that's the case, unless you do business with God and trust in Christ, you will perish in your sins. So we want to ask ourselves does this thrill our heart, does this animate our worship? And if it does, you're not going to lose heart when you face these things. When all of life seems lost, we know that all is about to be gained. We know that the fires of suffering are purifying the silver, if you will, of our life. We know that the Lord is purifying the inner man, we know that he tempers the steel of our faith. And then on the anvil of adversity, he shapes us into men and women that will live for His glory. And in the context of all of that, we enjoy amazing benefits of what it means to be in Christ. And then at death, we can say with Paul, "oh death, where is your victory? O, death, where is your sting?" I've been in the presence of both believers and unbelievers, in the final days, sometimes hours, sometimes minutes or even seconds of their death. I know some of you who are nurses, medical people, you've been there as well. What a difference, what a difference, the difference between terror and triumph, the difference between panic and peace. I've heard people howl in horror as they are about to slip through the veil, and to hell. I've heard them growl at me as I present the gospel to them in the final moments of their life. I've seen and I've heard people at the close of their life suddenly start grasping for things, knocking furniture lamps grasping to hang on to life, as they perish in their sins. And then I've been around believers, who are perfect peace, who typically are ministering to me more than I'm ministering to them and who want to sing praises to the Lord, in whose presence they are about to appear?

Well, how will you face death? How will you face eternity? We never know when God will summon us to pass through the veil. But in the face of death, a true Christian is going to experience that peace that surpasses all understanding. Why? Because that man or that woman knows that his soul is going to be released from his body and he is going to enter into the glorious presence of God, where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Why? Because he knows his inner man has been "renewed, day by day," over the course of his life. And as we weaken in our body, we gain strength in our spirit. What an amazing paradox. That's why Paul said in Second Corinthians 12:10, "Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake;" and here's why, "for when I am weak, then I am..." There it is, there's the inner man. So our inner man grows stronger when our outer man weakened.

Secondly, our eternal reward grows greater when our suffering for Christ intensifies. Notice what he says in verse 17, "For momentary, light affliction is producing..." In the Greek it can be translated "preparing" or "cultivating"--"for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." My goodness, what an amazing perspective. It almost seems like a non sequitur here. It's like, Whoa, I thought this was Paul, the guy that's being beat up. And yet he's saying this "momentary, light affliction?" Are you kidding me? All the suffering that he's enduring, and he says, "momentary, light affliction?" You see, it's all relative, isn't it? It's relative to what he's going to receive in heaven. Romans 8:17, "if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him." He speaks about, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." Peter said the same thing in First Peter one beginning in verse six, "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Now, I want you to notice something technical here in the original language. It's really fascinating. It helps us understand what the Spirit is telling us through his inspired apostle with respect to our eternal reward. He says, "For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison." In Greek “kata hyperbole eis hyperbole," we get our English word "hyperbole" from this term. It's a double expression here in Greek and it indicates extra ordinary overabundance. I just have to start stacking superlatives up here to give you an idea here. In other words, this is a beyond all measure weight of glory. That's the point. That's what he's saying. This momentary and light affliction of ours is producing for us an eternal load of glory, that is incomparable. It is inconceivable, it is immeasurable in degree. It's beyond all proportion. It's beyond all comparison, or exaggeration. It exceeds the limits of the imagination. O dear Christian think of this the next time you cower in fear? Think of what awaits you because of what the Spirit of God is doing in the inner man. Too often we could be likened to, I don't know this is probably a corny illustrations--most of mine are-- but sometimes we're like the guy who's in a prisoner of war camp, okay. All of a sudden he finds out he's going to be released. Not only that, he's won $300 million in the lottery. But he can't enjoy it. He just can't enjoy it. Why? He's got a hangnail on his thumb. Got a hangnail, I'm really hurt. The journalist says, are you excited about getting out? Well, not really. I got a boo boo here. All they can focus on is his boo boo, got this hangnail here. Boy, I just don't know, you get the point. I mean, folks what we're going to receive is way beyond a get out of prison ticket and $300 million.

I've been around a lot of believers in countries where they're persecuted, I think of African believers, Russian believers, people that struggle in profound ways. Christians in Israel who are being persecuted by the Hasidic Jews, the Gur Hasidim. But they're filled with joy. They're overflowing with joy. I think of the last time I was in Uganda and every time I would speak, there were, I don't know, 300 pastors or so from all over Africa that were there. And when I would finish speaking, they would come around, and they would start asking questions. And before you know it, I would just have a group of them around me. And you know what, what they wanted to know about? Without fail, what they wanted to know about is tell us about Christ returning to the earth, and the establishment of His kingdom. Tell us about the second coming of Christ. We want to know about the end. That's what they were excited about. And as I would start to open up the scriptures to them, they would clap, and they would weep. And they would laugh, and they would sing and even at times, they would start dancing. I mean, it's real different than the way we do things here, you know, and I know I'm rather stoic myself inside, I'm really dancing and clapping, but I don't do much of that on the outside. I don't want you to think I'm some of those people. You know how that works. John MacArthur put it this way, "Whether suffering comes from believer's, faithful, loyal, committed testimony about Jesus Christ, or the patient enduring of life's normal trials, such as disease, divorce, poverty and loneliness, if endured with a humble, grateful God-honoring attitude, it will add to the eternal weight of glory." Folks, this was this was the apostle's heart. And this is why he was giving this message to the saints at Corinth.

Again, "Therefore we do not lose heart, though the outer man is decaying, yet her inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." And so why, in light of this, he's not looking at his boo boo. He's looking at the eternal glory that awaits him. That's why he says in verse 18, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen, are eternal." You see, he wasn't concerned about what he could see, what he could experience in his body; all of that transient. All of that, the Lord is in control of that. What he's concerned about is what is presently unseen, that will soon be revealed.

And this is why, thirdly, we see that our earthly joy grows fuller when our mind is set on eternity. Let's stop and think about this. For the unbeliever, the only joy that they can have is experienced in this body, and in what they can see, because their inner man is spiritually dead. They can only experience sensory perceptions of the body. So they can enjoy many things, they can enjoy the pleasures of this world; they can enjoy it, you know, a good football game, a good meal, great literature, great music, all of those things. But when they don't have that. Life is not very happy. Had a doctor friend of mine saying, Dave, if we don't have college football, this fall, I'm gonna go postal. And there's a lot of people, probably some in here, that say the same thing. When the Nazis bombed London in World War Two, Parliament demanded that they have blackouts at night, so that the Nazis couldn't see as well. So they shut down all of the bars and all of the theaters and all of the sports arenas. And as a result, massive protests broke out. Because the people said, we are going to go mad if we have no way of escaping the miseries of life. Not so for the believer. Oh, yes, we enjoy those things. But my life has not lived in what I can see. My life is not lived with my body. My life is lived in the inner man in relationship with the Living God. That's where my inner man, and her inner man--my wife--connect in the oneness of marriage. That's where you enjoy what God has given us. And that's what Paul is saying here.

In Romans five and verse three, Paul says, "we also exult in our tribulations"--interesting, "we exult in our tribulations." By the way, the Greek helps us understand that. He's not saying we exult in spite of them, but rather we exult because of them. Why? "Knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our heart through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." So again, because of what God is doing in our inner man, we know that we are citizens of another kingdom. I mean, we're just passing through here. So therefore we count it all joy when things begin to fall apart. We set our mind on things above. And then we experience that soul satisfying joy of God's presence, the peace of God that that surpasses all understanding, guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Peter put it this way again, First Peter 5:10, "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you." When we come to the end of life, with this perspective, we can say with Paul, Second Timothy four, verse seven, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing." Beloved, let these great truths be the center of gravity around which your life orbits especially those of you who are perhaps today tempted to lose heart. To know that the spirit is renewing your inner man constantly.

And perhaps I can close with the words of Isaiah the prophet, to encourage those going into the Babylonian captivity, to remind them, as I will remind you now, of this work of God's grace in the inner man. He said in Isaiah 40, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth never grows weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary and to those lacking might, He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous, young men stumble badly, yet those who wait upon the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run not get tired. They will walk and not become weary." Beloved, these are the promises that are ours; our hope, and our help is in Christ, because he is preparing us for the triumph of saving grace and eternal glory. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths that minister so deeply to our hearts as your people. But may they be more than just some intellectual understanding of great theology, But Lord, may this be the very food that we eat, the very air that we breathe, the theme of every song that we might enjoy--the fullness of your glory and grace, even this side of heaven. And for those that do not know, you know, Father, I plead with you. Bring conviction to their heart, that they might believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved and experience even this day, the miracle of the new birth. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.