We Faint Not

We faint not. We don't lose heart. We don't become discouraged. We don't lose our motivation. Now, have you ever lost heart? I'm sure you have. Have you ever been discouraged? Sure you have. Have you ever seemingly lost motivation? What's the use? Sure you have. Everybody has been in that place.

But I love what Paul says, therefore seeing we have this ministry as we've received mercy. Now that is word received is generally translated, been shown mercy. And when I hear received mercy, I think somehow I'm in the equation. Now it's true. If God gives us mercy, we receive it. But the reason we receive it is because he has shown us mercy. And because He has shown His mercy, Paul says, we do not lose heart.

Seeing we have this ministry. Now, the first thing I would like us to consider, who's meant by we? We have this ministry. Seeing we have this ministry. Is this just talking about the apostles? Well, it's the same we that Paul spoke of in the seventh verse. of chapter four when he said, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels. That is every believer without exception.

Seeing we have this ministry. You have this ministry. Now what ministry? We know it's the ministry every believer has, but looking Second Corinthians chapter three verse six, remember chapter four verse one starts with a therefore. Paul says, who had also made us able ministers of the New Testament. Now this is the ministry he's speaking of.

Able ministers of the New Testament. Every believer by his grace is an able minister of the New Testament. We can spend the rest of our lives considering what the New Testament is, but look back in chapter two, verse 17. For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, And that word corrupt is where we get the word huckster from. We don't huckster the word of God.

You know what a huckster was? He was something, he was trying to make a sale and he would take away something that was valuable to make it less expensive to him and yet get the money or he would add something to it. That's what a huckster is. He would take something away or he would add something to it to make it an easier sale and help the profits for him.

Now, Paul said, we're not as many which huckster the Word of God. We don't take away from what it says, nor do we add to what it says. That's what many do. Paul says, we don't do that. We who are able ministers of the New Testament, we don't huckster the Word of God, but as of sincerity, sincerity.

But as of God, He is the one who enables us. In the sight of God, there's one I'm concerned about who sees me. Now I want you to think well of me, I really do. I would be lying if I said I was indifferent about the way you thought. But the one I'm most concerned about is Him. in His sight." And you feel the same way. You're most concerned about His sight, not my sight, but His sight.

In the sight of God speak we in Christ. And my marginal reading says of Christ. We speak in Christ We wouldn't want to be any other place. We speak of Christ. He is our message. These able ministers of the New Testament of which every believer has a part.

Now he says in chapter three, do we begin again to commend ourselves? Is this what this is all about? For me to commend myself to you or need we as some others Epistles of commendation to you, commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you. Do we need papers saying, here's this guy's credentials? We put our affirmation on him. Here's his degree.

You know, I love it when people ask me, where'd you go to seminary? I get a kind of strange pleasure in saying, I didn't go to seminary. What are you preaching for? Seminary and cemetery sound pretty much alike. I don't want to be cruel, but that's pretty much the same thing. Taught of man, a religious institution that grinds out preachers. He said, we don't have anything to do with that. We don't need epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you.

You are our epistle. written in our hearts, known and read of all men. For as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, but your Christ's epistle, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly Tables of the heart.

And such trust have we through Christ to Godward. We trust this is His work. That's why we're so encouraged. This is His work. This is not the work of man. Verse five, not that we're sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as of ourselves. Our sufficiency is of God. My sufficiency is of God. Your sufficiency is of God. We're not looking to ourselves for strength. We're not looking for anything out of ourselves.

Our sufficiency is of God who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament. That's the ministry Paul was speaking of when he said, seeing we have this ministry, we faint not. He has made us Able ministers of the New Testament. And like I said, we could spend the rest of our lives considering just what the New Testament is. But we're gonna confine ourself to Paul's thoughts because he makes some contrasts that are very interesting in here that tell us what the New Testament is. He's made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter. for the letter killeth."

That's all it does. But the Spirit giveth life. Now here's the first contrast, letter and Spirit. Letter, here's what it says, and all it does is condemn the old covenant. The letter, it can't do anything but that. All it can do is condemn. The strength of sin is what? The law. All the law does is condemn. I've heard people who, I don't know if they were believers, maybe they were, but they say, the law is our rule of life. No, it's not, because all the law does is expose sin. That's all it does. If you use that as a rule of life, you flunked. You get a big F. I know that I don't want to have anything to do with God based on my obedience to His law. All that can do is condemn me.

The letter killeth, but the Spirit, the gospel, gives life. The gospel that's ministered by God the Holy Spirit gives life. So we have this contrast, death and life. Verse seven, for the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance. And this is talking about Moses coming down from Mount Sinai, and his face shined so much that the children of Israel couldn't look at him. And he says, if that's glorious, which glory was to be done away with? Now here's the contrast. This glorious letter, the law, it's done away with. He taketh away the first. It's done away with. It's gone.

Verse eight, how much shall not the Spirit, the administration of the Spirit be rather glorious? If that Law was glorious, and it's done away with. How much more glorious is the ministration of the Spirit? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory. No glory. In this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. The ministration of death, the law, had no glory, according to Paul. But the ministration of righteousness exceeds in glory.

Seeing then, verse 12, that we have such hope. Now hope is something we can't see. Hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why does he yet hope for it? Hope is something we can't see. Now, here's the hope I have. My hope is that what Jesus Christ has done, without reference to my works, without reference to anything in me, what Jesus Christ has done has made me perfect right now before God, without sin, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight. What a hope! And I have such hope because it's all because of what Christ did for me. I don't enter into the equation. I didn't do anything to make this so. That's why I have this hope. Seeing we have such hope. We use great plainness of speech. We don't use ambiguous speech. What would be an example? of ambiguous speech. Here's a small sampling.

Christ died for those who believe. Well, he did die for those who believe, but that can be taken anyway, can't it? You know, the Lord didn't say, I lay down my life for those who believe. He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. Christ's death If he died for me, I must be saved. When we take the Lord's table, the scripture says we're showing forth his death until he come. We have such hope. Oh, such hope. that I can actually look forward to dying and being in that body that never sins again and beholding the face of the Lord Jesus Christ in righteousness, being satisfied by awaking in his likeness, perfect conformity to the image of his son, seeing we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.

Not as Moses, verse 13, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. It's gone, it's no more. But their minds were blinded. For until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament. When they read the Old Testament, there's a veil over their eyes and they have no understanding. Do you have understanding?

What a gift of His grace. which veil is done away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it's returned to the Lord, the veil should be taken away. Now, the Lord is that spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, freedom, not bondage, freedom.

Look at verse 18. I feel like I've really understood this verse for the first time. But we all, every believer without exception, this is not talking about some select few. This is talking about every believer. We all, with open face, unveiled face, unlike those who don't understand the Old Testament, don't understand Christ is the Old Testament.

With open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed. That's the same word used with reference to the Lord being transfigured. Metamorphosis. Metamorphosed is the word. We are changed, and this word is in the passive, because I've looked at this word, and I thought, well, does that mean the more we look at Christ, the more we become like him? We go from this glory to that glory to that glory, and that's kind of teaching of some, it doesn't fit with my experience, but here's what it does mean.

The Lord said, the glory that you've given me, I have given them. And we all are metamorphosized, if that's the way you say it. His glory given to us. Glory to glory. even as by the Spirit of the Lord." This is not talking about me changing and becoming better and better and less sinful and less sinful. This is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ giving me His glory. From glory to glory.

Therefore, verse one, therefore, Seeing we have this ministry, this ministry that he's contrasted in chapter three, as we have received mercy, we faint not. We don't lose heart. We don't think, can I go on? We don't lose motivation. We don't become discouraged.

Why? because we've received mercy. The saving mercy of God. God not giving us what we deserve, condemnation, but giving us what we don't deserve, his salvation. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, we thank not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty.

That's what's behind all false doctrine and false preachers, the hidden things, the subtle things of dishonesty. The same word used with reference to Paul saying, I fear as Satan beguiled Eve through his subtlety, through his deceit, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. And his temptation, I wish I could say this right, what was his temptation in the garden? His temptation in the garden is, you'll have a free will. Right now, there's no virtue in what you're doing. You're only obeying your nature. You have a nature that is not sinful, and there's no virtue in your obedience. You're just obeying your nature.

If you eat the fruit, God will open your eyes, and you'll see the difference between good and evil, and you'll choose the good over the evil, and that's what's gonna make you like God. That is the temptation of the garden, free will. All free will means is independence from God, independence from His sovereign will. You put your will as the cause of anything in salvation. I don't care if it's in the beginning, an act of your will, where you decide to let Christ into your heart, or in the middle of your salvation, when you use your will to choose the good over the bad, that makes you more holy and less sinful. I don't care if it's the end, where the choices you made will earn you a higher reward in heaven.

That works. That's all that is. That is the lie that Satan tempted to beguile Eve with. And now Paul says we've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, using scriptures to prove what I'm saying. You have some corrupt belief, wrong belief, and you go to the Bible, and you can pull any verse out of context and prove what you believe. That's all you gotta do. And that's what Paul says is using the scriptures deceitfully, handling the word of God deceitfully. But, here's what we do, Paul says.

We, by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience, in the sight of God. Now what is it that commends me as being a true preacher? The truth. Preaching the truth. And that's all you want to hear. The truth. You don't want to hear man's thoughts. You don't want to hear Baptist doctrine or Methodist doctrine or Catholic doctrine or any other kind of doctrine. You want to hear the truth. Sanctify them through thy truth.

Thy word is truth. And what is it that commends you to me and me to you? The truth. You believe the truth, you're commended to me. I believe the truth, I'm commended to you. It's being called by the Lord being of the truth. What is it that recommends anybody? The truth. We commend by manifestation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Now here's what commends us, the manifestation of the truth.

Now, God is as the scripture declares him to be. Every attribute of God that he's been pleased to make known, his sovereignty, his independence, he has no needs, his justice, his holiness, his immutability, he can't change. He's all powerful, he's omniscient, he knows everything, he's never learned anything, he's omnipresent, he's not bound by space or time. He's God, the God of the Bible. We declare who God is without apology. That's the manifestation of the truth. We declare man, as he's described in scripture, dead in sins. That's me, unable to save myself, totally dependent upon the grace of God to do something for me. The truth of salvation. Salvation's of the Lord.

That means if you're saved, it's because He saved you. You didn't save yourself. If you're saved, it's because God the Father elected you before time began. It's because Christ died for your sins and put them away and gave you His righteousness. It's because God the Holy Spirit gave you life.

The manifestation of the truth. Verse three, but If our gospel be hid, and it is hid from those who do not believe, it's hid to those who are lost, to those who are unsaved, is what that means. And didn't the Lord say, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things. from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Now the people the Gospels hid from, they are the lost. If our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost.

Verse four, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. I love that term, the light. What came first in creation? Light. Light of who He is. Light of who I am. Light of how He saves by His grace. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

For we preach not ourselves. Any true preacher dreads the thought of preaching himself. We don't preach to provide for ourselves. We don't preach to promote for ourselves. If I do, God never called me to preach. You see, preaching is not a profession, it's a calling. And he says, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord. And we're nothing but servants, your servants for His sake.

Verse six, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Remember when the earth was without form and void, darkness covered the face of the deep. God said, let there be light and there was light. The darkness fled. Darkness flees at the presence of light. It can't stand before light. God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts.

And this is talking about the new heart he gives. Your old heart, it couldn't hold this. Like the new wine had to be put in new wineskins. If you put it in old wineskins, it'd burst, it wouldn't hold. This is the new heart He gives. He has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And that's not undefinable.

Remember when Moses said, I beseech you, show me your glory. And he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. And I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And God calls that his glory. And thank God I see it as his glory too, his goodness.

But, verse seven, we have this treasure, the treasure of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in earthen vessels, jars of clay. I believe I understand that, don't you? We have this treasure, the treasure of the gospel, the treasure of being found in Christ, the treasure of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, jars of clay, and here's why. Verse seven, let's go on reading. That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Now if you have this treasure in an earthen vessel, you know dead sure that the excellency of the power is of God and not of you. Now he talks about life in this earthen vessel.

He says we're troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We're perplexed. We can't give an answer to everything, but we're not in despair. We're persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down. but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Now, what in the world does that mean? Well, here the word dying is a noun. It's not a verb, it's a noun. Always I bear this in my body. My only hope is the death of Jesus Christ. That's always in my body. This is not talking about some kind of mystical, somehow his death is going on in me. in my body, the only hope I have because of this body, is the life, the death, the resurrection of Christ.

And remember, His death is His most glorious achievement. By His death, He accomplished my salvation. I love it there in Luke 9 31 when it says, Moses and Elijah spake of the deceased, which He should accomplish. It's His greatest accomplishment. Of course, it would mean nothing if He wasn't raised from the dead, but oh His death we're getting ready to take the Lord's table we show forth his death until he come. I am he that liveth and was dead and now I'm alive evermore and have the keys of hell and death. Now what am I carrying in my body? The death of Christ. That's my only hope.

Is his death precious to you? I'm not talking about I'm thinking about the pain he endured and I'm talking about the accomplishments of his death, what he achieved by his death. Is his death precious to you? Do you bear it about that's the only hope you have?

I bear always, bearing about in the body, the dying, the death of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. Now I tell you what, if you bear about in your body the death of Christ, you know what else you do? You bear about in your body the life of Christ.

And it's manifest, that's my life before God. He said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me. His life is the only life that God accepts, His life is the only life we preach. Verse 11, for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Now this is talking about the eighth beatitude, being persecuted for righteousness sake. We're always bearing about in the body, the death of the Lord Jesus, the life of Christ might be manifest in our mortal flesh. We're preaching this. So then death worketh in you, us preaching this message, but this is where your life comes from. Life worketh in you.

Now he says in verse 13, we having the same spirit of faith, according as it's written. I believed, therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore we speak." Now I love this, the spirit of faith. We believe, that's what we speak. To not speak what you do believe is dishonest. To speak what you do not believe is dishonest.

We have the Spirit of faith. We believe, we believe that Jesus Christ is God, we say it. We believe that Christ is all in salvation, we say it. What we believe, that's what we speak. We having the same Spirit of faith according as it's written, I believed and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak, knowing.

This is something we know. that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you." Now, we know that because he lived, died, and was raised, he's going to present us. And I love that word, he's going to present us. Jude 24, now unto him that's able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before his presence with exceeding joy. Paul said in Colossians 1, 22, that he's going to present us. Think of him making this presentation to his father, you. He's going to present us holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. this glorious presentation, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you." Notice he didn't say he's gonna present you with us, but us with you. He's not saying I'm gonna have a better place because of me being an apostle. He said, I'm gonna be saved the same way you are. I'm gonna be put in the same place you are.

For all things, verse 15, are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God, for the which cause, he says again, we faint not. We don't lose heart, we don't become discouraged, we don't lose our motivation, for the which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish.

Yet the inward man is renewed. day by day. Now me and you have an outward man, the old man. He's on the outside because you can see him. He's very easily identified and he is perishing. And when we're dead, we'll have to deal with him no more. But we have an inner man, what Peter called the hidden man of the heart. You can't see him, but he's there. And you're aware of his presence. You wouldn't look to Christ if you didn't have him. You wouldn't believe the gospel if you didn't have him. We have this inner man and he's renewed by the grace of God. He's renewed day by day. Every day, streams of mercy never ceasing renewing the inner man. Four, verse 17. our light affliction.

Now, Paul had a pretty rough life. Everywhere he went, he says, bonds await me. He'd go into one town, he'd preach, they'd throw him in jail. He'd go to another town and he'd get whipped with a cat of nine tails. He went into another town, they stoned him. He had a rough life. He had physical problems. He had poor eyesight, hard telling on all physical problems he had, yet he calls all of this our light affliction.

Isn't that true of every one of us? Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, it's just temporary. It worketh for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory. What do I say about that? An eternal weight of glory, the weight of being seamless. The eternal weight of being conformed to the image of Christ. Spending eternity singing His praises, bowing before Him, seeing His beauty. No more unbelief. No more sin. No more feeling isolated and abandoned and far. No, it's the eternal weight of glory. I can't describe that, I realize that. But I love what David said. He said, ask for me. I will behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. Verse 18, while we look. Not at things which are seen. You know what you see is really not real. It's just not real. And it's temporary. It's not gonna last. Your bodies are gonna be turned to dirt. This place will be annihilated. Everything physical is gonna be burned up. When God makes a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, the things which are seen, he said, we don't look at things which are seen, but things which are not seen. For the things which are seen, temporal, Temporary.

What is this place in comparison to eternity? I don't understand eternity, but I know as soon as I die, I will enter eternity. Time is not even a blip in the screen. I'm going to enter eternity. Now what all that means? I don't really know, but I'm going to enter eternity. And I know when I enter eternity, there will be no time. We can't even imagine what it's like to be in eternity, but there won't be waiting for anything. There won't be a past. There won't be a future. Everything is present. There'll be no change.

How can any creature of time describe eternity? It can't, but as soon as I die, I'll not be in this temporal existence anymore. I will be in eternity, face-to-face with Christ my Savior, face-to-face, what will it be? When with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ, who died for me.

We're looking to things that are not seen. I don't see my justification. I don't see my sinlessness before God. I don't see His righteousness being my righteousness, but I'm looking to Him. That's eternal. I'm not looking at anything that's seen. What you see, you can't trust. I don't care what it is. You can't trust. It's temporal, it's temporary. It's only for a little while. But that which is not seen, The things which are not seen are eternal.

Therefore, seeing we have, we, every believer, have this ministry as we've received mercy. Have you been saved by the mercy of God? Do you believe that? Not by your works, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by his mercy, he saved us. long as that's true, and it's true eternally, we faint not. As we observe the Lord's Table together, may we have in our minds that, you know, bearing about in the body the death of Christ, we're proclaiming His death in observing the Lord's Table until they come. And may The Lord enabled us to rejoice in His death. Let's pass out that bread and wine.

We Faint Not

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