LIVE: Spring Revival with Dr. Joel Gregory - Apr 28, 2026 | 10:30 AM

42:41 It's good to be back with you yet once again here at Field Street. This is one of my favorite places to stop. You're blessed with the pastoring of Reverend Dr. John Hall, my friend John, your pastor. What a blessing it is to be around him and just to be in his presence. That's your other ministerial staff here. You are truly blessed. Mark, it's so good to be with you again. One thing I like is you sing the songs I grew up with. Anybody feel like that? My goodness, thank you for that. Every one of those we used to sing growing up. You can write new ones, but you can't write the old ones, and I appreciate that. Well, here we are today, once again, talking about our inner life. Yesterday, out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Now, I want you to drop your anchor with me over in 2 Corinthians, would you?

43:39 chapter 4 as the apostle was writing to the church at Corinth as you know a troubled triumphant church and in St. Corinthians 4 defending himself and explaining himself he's writing to them under the banner we do not lose heart in the first verse of this chapter he says we do not lose heart. And then joining me in our text for today, verse 16, he starts there, resuming, we do not lose heart. That can alternatively be translated, we don't play the coward. Interesting translation. Why, Paul, verse 16, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

44:41 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at 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. Would you join with me in prayer? Eternal God, our triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, giver of this word,

45:26 we confess, we believe that it is a living and powerful word. A word that can both cut and the same time it cuts, it heals. We pray together that your spirit would visit us this hour. Even as we claim the promise yesterday, if we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will you give the spirit to those who ask? So we ask and we wait in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. I can't help but notice it. I guess it's any time I tune into cable news, whatever your favorite brand is. Have you ever noticed it's about half commercials? And most of them have to do with making you feel better.

46:24 Here's somebody holding up vegetable powder. And if I'll just take this vegetable powder, my life will begin again. No, the next guy says fish oil. That's the secret. A tablespoon of fish oil. No, it's magnesium pills. If you'll get more magnesium, and this guy shows up next doing Tai Chi. If I'll just do Tai Chi, I'll look like, you ever wonder about all that? Then I get convicted and I go down to the gym and I try dead weights and all kinds of stuff. But I remember what a friend of mine said one time, we're all like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. The ship will go down. The apostle is dealing with that right here in this remarkable statement. He begins by giving you a parallel paradox process.

47:29 Even though our outer person is in the process of wasting away, as believers our inner person is in the process of being made as good as new every day now here's the mystery do you hear those three words parallel paradoxical process if you're a believer if you know Christ if you've experienced the regenerating power of his spirit two things are happening you at the same time. The outer person is in the process of going downhill, but the inner person is being renewed day by day. Let me unpack a few of these words. This word outer person is fascinating. In the language of the New Testament, the word is exo. Now, we talk about certain kinds of fish that have exoskeletons. That's crabs and shrimp. That's the word that's used here. The outer person of you is in the process declining. You know, I think Paul knew this when he looked in the mirror. The mirrors we have nowadays with silver backing have only been around a thousand years.

48:47 The best mirror Paul could have had would have been a polished piece of brass. You didn't look very good in that to begin with. But 20 years down the missionary road, the apostle's looking at himself. He gives that catalog of catastrophes over in 2 Corinthians 11. He's already been whipped with a Jewish whip five times, beaten with a Roman rod three times, three times shrimp wreck, one time day and night in the deep. The author of Romans spending the night holding on to a piece of flotsam or jetsam while fish hit his feet. Look, that's not falling off a carnival cruise ship. And this has taken a toll on Paul. And then he adds at the end of that list, also taking care of people like you Corinthians. You read 1 Corinthians, they took a few years off Paul's life just dealing with them.

49:41 and he says, yes, my outer person is in the process of perishing. By this time in his ministry, he knew that, he felt it, and he saw it. You know, we spend some times in denial of this. I guess that's what they're advertising for on cable TV. And I'm not against looking as good as we can look. There's nothing wrong with that. early in Billy Graham's life when he was a young outspoken evangelist a Pentecostal lady came up to him and assaulted him in a hotel lobby and said what do you think about makeup Dr. Graham he looked at her and he said ma'am I think some would do you a lot of good it's good to look good that's not what he's talking about but I don't care how many Botox shots we get or how much fish oil we drink time going to come when our outer person is in the process of perishing.

50:44 Paul knew it. We knew it. I guess the ultimate protest against that is that false science of cryogenics or cryonics. That is, if you've got enough money, when you die, they'll put you in liquid nitrogen and freeze you. They did that to Ted Williams, the splendid splinter, the batter for the Boston Red Sox. They froze dead in case they could somehow bring him back. What they don't understand about that is you're a trillion cells, and when you freeze them, they're just like freezing a milk bottle. They come apart. They'd have to crochet you back together. It's a pseudoscience. Our outer person is perishing. Now, if that's all I had to say about this, I guess, Mark, you could lead us in a song in a minor key, and we'd go home. But here is the Christian difference. A parallel paradox process.

51:42 At the same time, our outer person is in the process of perishing. The Christian reality is our inner person can be made as good as new day by day. Now that New Testament word doesn't mean just a repair job. This is not Chip and Joanne going in to redo an old house. That's not what it means. It means made as good as new. We just sang that little chorus. Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. How can that be possible? I think about the Apostle Paul when he was stoned and left for dead at Lystra. woke up 30 miles away the next day at Derby preaching. How could you sing then, every day's Jesus sweeter than the day before?

52:38 Paul might have thought, you know, it was sweeter when I didn't get stoned the day before. But he said, you can be made as good as new. The inner person. That's again, a little lesson from the New Testament language. If XO is out or SO is in, it gives word esoteric. The esoteric thing is the secret thing. the unseen thing, the inward thing. There, in the center of the center, every day, we can be made as good as new. You remember when Nick came to Jesus tonight? We talked about this, you must be what? Born again from above? You know, in that regard, the promise is we can be born again and again and again. Made as good as new. That's the Christian reality. Yes, we're involved in a parallel paradox process.

53:35 Everything that can go downhill is. Everything that can be renewed can be made as good as new. But you know what I think about our generation? So concerned with outwardness and the way things look, I think it's flipped this around. Even though our outer person is looking better and better, our inner person is declining day by day. That's a reversal, isn't it? Paul gives you this parallel paradigm. You know, I was preaching, I see this sometimes. I was preaching up in South Chicago a while back, went to a wonderful home. We had a soul food dinner, celebrating the 100th birthday of the great grandmother in that home. She had moved there after Hurricane Rita, left Mississippi forever and moved in with her 80-year-old daughter in South Chicago. After lunch, we were sitting around generations of this family, 100-year-old, 80, 60, 40, 20.

54:38 You know what I noticed? You know what I saw? It was obvious. Do you know who the most vivacious, energetic, hopeful, forward-looking person was in the room? The centenarian. the hundred year old the eighty year old looked a little tired forty year old was caught there in a sandwich generation really that worn out twenty year olds looked like they wanted a nap I was looking at that centenarian and her life her speech her demeanor her smile her energy was the embodiment of what Paul's writing I saw exhibit A of it Right there. Listen, folks, this is true for you, and it's true for me. Even though our outer person inevitably declines, our inner person can be made as good as new every day.

55:39 You say, well, how does that work? Well, track with me to verse 17. This can be so because God is preparing you for a weight of eternal glory. It's one of my favorite verses in the New Testament. Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is fully working out for us an eternal weight of glory. he uses the word hyperbole beyond all over statement i wish you'd dwell i wish we could sit down over a cup of coffee at your kitchen table and talk about this it's amazing verse every affliction here whatever you want to call it oversight slight people forget you people lie about you people use you you're tired you're where every affliction here look what he says is fully working out an eternal weight of glory now I want you to look at it think of a pan balance you know like the lady at the courthouse has many courthouses have the lady holding a one pan balance on one side Paul puts all of his afflictions Did he have them?

57:03 He had a problem with his eyes He had a thorn in the flesh Whatever that was He had people lied on him everywhere he was He spent seven years in jail I already gave you that catalog From 2 Corinthians 11 With shipwrecked affliction But over here He puts glory He calls affliction light and momentary. He calls glory heavy and forever. You see, he reverses our script. What do we say about affliction? This is just getting me what? Down. No. Paul says of his affliction, he usually leaves a word, light as a feather and lasting for a moment. But look what he says about those those are literally being recycled into heavy permanent glory you see how he flips the script if you put those things on the pan balance he would say glory so overweights affliction there's not even any comparison i hope you believe that i hope you believe that because our life is inevitably full of tribulation affliction misunderstanding pain it belongs to human life paul said those are light and momentary compare i don't know how god does that kind of chemistry it's god's recycling because he connects one with the other this is the strange thing that tribulation now is what is working out glory then let me put it this way here here's a grand piano it has 230 strings single bass strings these triple treble strings under that laying down in that piano is a harp if you stood it upright it would be a harp do you know how much weight is

59:10 pulling on that when those strings are tight? 30 tons of pressure. 30 tons. If that harp were to crack, that thing would blow through the ceiling. But guess what? It takes the stress to bring the music. Stay with me. How does every stringed instrument work? Guitar, violin, in viola cello piano? It takes the stress to bring the music. If that hammer hit strings that weren't tight, there'd simply be a dull thud. Do you understand how that works in our lives? Somehow, by the way, God has designed it. It takes the stress now to bring the glory later. You might say, well, isn't it kind of self-centered to be thinking about my glory all the time?

1:00:03 C.S. Lewis answered that I love the answer he gave to it because sometimes when we think about glory we think about praise or we think about ourself if that worries you look at that person down at the other end of the pew I owe this to C.S. Lewis that person is on her or his way to a destiny that is so glorious that if you saw that person right now for what they will be you'd fall down on your knees we're on our way to a glory and our tribulation day by day is working out that glory you say Joel I just don't see that well let me help you see it in verse 18 here's how you see it by fixing your eyes on what you cannot see look at verse 18. It's as if this says, all of this works if, what? You do not scope out the things that are seen, but you scope out the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporary. The things which are not seen are eternal. He literally uses a word in the Greek New Testament gives us scope, telescope, stethoscope, microscope. That's what he says, scope out. When you scope out something, you're looking at it with acuity. You're looking at it in detail. What does he say? This outward downgrade and new life, this tribulation working out glory depends on verse 18. This sounds like another oxymoron, like saying high lowness, bright darkness, near farness, provided you scope out what you cannot see. You ever think about our faith?

1:02:00 That famous verse in Hebrews 11, faith is the substance of things what? Hope for and the evidence of things what? Not seen. See, we bet the only life we have as believers on things we've not seen. And that's why Jesus blessed Thomas. Remember when Thomas missed church after the resurrection? Came back a week later and had that little talk with Jesus. And Jesus said, you're blessed because you've seen my wounds. Blessed are those who've not seen and who believe. You and I bet the life we have on things we've not seen, things yet to be seen. And here Paul says, fix your eyes. on what you cannot see the great truths of our faith you can see the outcome of them but you can't see a pound of love you can't see a foot of hope no these are inwardness fix your eyes on what you can't see and you can experience tribulation that leads to glory

1:03:10 and you can experience an outer person that's headed downhill and an inner person being renewed. You know, I visited Corinth a number of times, and you can put these verses in the laboratory of history. They're testable. Let me tell you what. Last couple of years, I've been to Corinth. When you visit Corinth, you visit now what are ruins. Corinthian ruins.

1:03:44 It wasn't that way when Paul was there. It was a glorious city. It was like a New York or London of its day. Up on the hill was the temple to Aphrodite. That temple had a thousand sacred prostitutes that in a torchlight parade would come down that hill and sell themselves to the Roman sailors. You could see that. Go to Corinth itself. There was the ancient equivalent of a modern mall. It was a vanity fair. There were carpets from Persia, spices from the Far East, ivory from everywhere. You could see that. There was the Temple of Apollo.

1:04:30 Marble columns covered with gold. You could see. There, Corinth is on an isthmus like Panama. The Roman Navy docked there with those triremes, ships, sailors all over the city. Roman ships by the, you could see that. There's Gallo, the Roman council, the governor. You could see the big rock where he stood. There was plenty of stuff to see when Paul was there. But look what Paul said. Don't fix your eyes on what you can see. Now here's the irony of it.

1:05:10 You know who goes to Corinth today? Christians. On a bus. And they get off with their New Testament open to Acts 18. The record of this apostle. This itinerant Jewish evangelist. Who looked at all that stuff and said if you can see it. It's not going to last. So you look at the ruins of the temple. Gone is the Roman Navy. Gone is the temple to Aphrodite. gone is the Roman government gone is the ancient mall all you see there now are Christians with their new testaments open to the book of Acts because that little apostle said if you can see it it's not going to last you can put that in the test tube of history they say there are 3 billion professing Christians on this planet I don't know how you count it But I know this, if we believe our gospel, if you see it, it's not going to last.

1:06:20 Just like Corinth, the cityscapes of our day, one day, will be a gap gone against the sky. That's why he says, if you want your inner person to be renewed, If you want tribulation to work out glory, fix your eyes on what you cannot see. He said it in Galatians 2.20 another way. I am crucified with Christ, but what? Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but him. I'm all for that inner renewal project. Let's bow together a moment. I didn't want to come by here just to give a talk. I wanted to come by in a sense more like an attorney arguing for Verde.

1:07:18 Just in our lives to stop the noise, to be still for a moment to get away from the crowd. and to fix our eyes on what we cannot see. Paul wrote the Colossians and said, our life is hid, what? Hid with God in Christ. The life that lasts, eternal life, and the weight of glory is hid with God in Christ. Oh, thank God for 1 John 4. It says, when we see him, we will be made like him because we'll see him as he is. Lord, with these words ringing in our ears and hearts, by your grace, may we fix our eyes on what we cannot see, knowing that what we see will never endure.