October 1, 2025 • 24 mins
"Faith allows us to thrive despite life's hardships."
— Natalie Abbott
Today's episode: Join Natalie Abbott as she unpacks the powerful message of 2 Corinthians 5:7: "For we live by faith, not by sight." With thoughtful insight, she guides us verse by verse through the surrounding passage, highlighting how the Apostle Paul consistently contrasts the eternal promises of God with the fleeting realities of this world. Through her teaching, you’ll be encouraged to shift your focus from what is seen to what is unseen and to trust God in every trial, holding fast to the hope that one day, your faith will become sight.
This month's memory verse: "For we live by faith, not by sight." — 2 Corinthians 5:7
Want to go even deeper in this month's verse? Study along with Natalie in the monthly Bible Study Membership. Get the first month FREE with the code: PODCAST.
If you love this show...support it by leaving us a review.
Links from today's show:
- Get your copy of Hopeful-ish, by Scarlet Hiltibidal.
- Get the ESV Prayer Journals for 30% off with a free Crossway Plus account.
- Check out the Forever Welcomed bible study, by Oghosa Iyamu.
Follow Natalie & Vera at DwellDifferently.com and @dwelldifferenly.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
I don't know about you, but sometimes life just
feels heavy.
That we have moredisappointment, more doubts,
more Zoom calls and pajamapants, and we're tired, sad, and
we wonder, is real hope stillpossible?
In Hopefulish, my sweet friendScarlett Hiltebiddle says,
absolutely yes.
She is both hilarious andhonest, sharing stories that are
(00:23):
humorous and heartbreaking,showing how the gospel gives us
real hope, even in the mess, thelosses, and the weariness.
If you need a good laugh, a deepbreath, and a reminder that
Jesus hasn't left you, this bookis for you.
You can get your copy ofHopefulish at hopefulish.com.
That's H-O-P-E-F-U-L-I-S-H dotcom.
(00:43):
We'll have a link in our shownotes.
And be sure to check outScarlett's episode on the
podcast October 8th.
I know you're gonna love her.
Hey, welcome back.
It's Natalie Abbott.
This is the Dwell DifferentlyPodcast.
And today is a teaching episode.
(01:04):
This is the opportunity that wehave to really dive into what
the Bible is saying in thecontext of the verse that we're
memorizing this month.
So our verse that we'rememorizing is 2 Corinthians 5,
7.
It says, For we live by faith,not by sight.
And this is an absolutelyessential idea that as
(01:27):
believers, we live by faith orwe walk by faith, not by sight.
We are trusting in and fixingour eyes on the unseen, eternal,
the beautiful promises of God.
In fact, even the unseen andbeautiful, eternal things that
God is doing in us through thepower of His Holy Spirit who
lives in us, there is somethinggoing on in us that is beautiful
(01:50):
and wonderful.
And we are looking forward tothe day when our salvation will
be culminated and we will notjust live by faith, but our
faith will be sight.
And that is going to be aglorious day.
We're going to be talking aboutall of this in our verse this
month.
And we're talking about itspecifically today in the
(02:11):
context of the passage that wefind it in in the letter to the
Corinthians, it's 2 Corinthians,it's Paul's second letter to the
Corinthians that we have in theBible.
And gosh, if it isn't just animportant concept, this idea of
living or walking by faith.
And let me just say before wedive into the text, I don't know
(02:33):
about you, but it feels like areally tall order sometimes.
Like that the things that wesee, the temporal things, what's
going on around us, it maybeit's our bank account, maybe
it's relationships, maybe it's adiagnosis, like whatever it is
that is visible and tangible andknown, the things that we Google
(02:54):
when we wake up at two in themorning because we have like
this thing that is just pressingin on us, those things feel so
important, so weighty, so evenmore real to us than these
intangible things, thesepromises of God, God Himself and
(03:14):
His Spirit at work in us.
Like sometimes I think we becomeweighed down and just consumed,
overwhelmed by what is going on.
In fact, there's a verse thatwe're gonna look at later that
says, uh, therefore we do notlose heart.
Though outwardly we are wastingaway.
Like outwardly, there are justall these things that are
(03:36):
pointing to just terrible,terrible stuff, you know, in the
world around us and in our ownspecific personal lives.
Like there are so many tangiblethings that feel like, man, we
really do live in a fallenworld.
And yet, that same verse saysinwardly, we are being renewed
day by day.
(03:56):
We fix our eyes not on what isseen, but what is unseen.
And so my my hope for you, mygoal for you in this teaching
moment is to walk you throughwhat the Bible says about this
hope that we have, thisbeautiful faith that we have,
and that when we are walking inour faith, when we are living by
(04:17):
faith, we are actually thrivingeven when the things around us,
despite the things around us,going haywire.
So that's what we're gonna betalking about today.
And we're gonna dive right in.
We're actually gonna look at 2Corinthians, part of chapter
four and part of chapter five,because our verse, and there's
(04:37):
another verse in it that I justalluded to, uh, it's sort of
like the hinge point.
It's like the overarching ideais that there are these things
that we can see that aretangible and they feel away to
us.
And yet there are these otherthings that are unseen, that are
beautiful and glorious and good.
And when we fix our eyes onthose things, when we live by
(05:02):
faith in those things, we aretruly living.
We are actually believing in thereal, real, the truest truth.
And these other things, whilethey may seem very heavy and
weighty, they are temporary,they are fading away.
And so that's my goal is that wewould together read through this
(05:23):
passage and we would fix oureyes on the unseen and eternal
hope that we have in Christ.
So we're gonna start in versesix of Second Corinthians
chapter four, and we are justgonna walk through and see these
two ideas being compared andcontrasted, the unseen and the
seen.
So, so listen for that while Iread through a few verses here
(05:45):
from verse six all the waythrough verse 12 of chapter
four.
And then we're gonna talk alittle bit about it, and then
we're gonna keep going.
We're gonna look at each passagein turn and see what we can see
and learn what we can learnabout what it means to live by
faith.
So be listening for that.
For God who said, Let lightshine out of darkness, made his
(06:08):
light shine in our hearts togive us the light of the
knowledge of God's glorydisplayed in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure injars of clay to show that this
all-surpassing power is from Godand not from us.
We are hard-pressed on everyside, but not crushed,
(06:30):
perplexed, but not in despair,persecuted but not abandoned,
struck down but not destroyed.
We always carry around in ourbody the death of Jesus, so that
the life of Jesus may be alsorevealed in our body.
For we who are alive are alwaysbeing given over to death for
(06:53):
Jesus' sake, so that his lifemay also be revealed in our
mortal body.
So then, death is at work in us,but life is at work in you.
So, do you see these unseenthings and these seen things
that are going on in thispassage?
So, in us, it says in verse sixthat we have the light of the
(07:16):
knowledge of God's glory, and itis a treasure.
It is a treasure that is hiddenin a jar of clay.
So that's the outside, theexternal, and yet this
all-surpassing power, thisknowledge of God's glory, this
gospel message is residing inus.
More than that, this passagesays that the death of Jesus is
(07:40):
also going on inside of us.
It says we always carry aroundthe death of Jesus.
And it says that a couple ofdifferent times, so that the
life of Jesus is also beingrevealed in our body.
So we have the death of Jesus,we have the life of Jesus, we
have the light of the knowledgeof God's glory, which is his
(08:01):
all-surpassing power.
It is like a treasure in us.
Okay, so that is what is at workin us.
And even at the end, it says,then death is at work in us, but
life is at work in you.
So the goal here is that notonly us specifically, Paul
talking about himself and hisfellow believers, but you also,
(08:22):
when you see the death of Jesusin us, his life is revealed in
us so that his life can also beat work in you.
Okay, so what is seen is thejars of clay, being hard pressed
on every side, perplexed,persecuted, struck down.
This, this, this reality ofhardship and difficulty.
(08:48):
But why is this?
So that the death that is inwork in us, and and when when
it's talking about the death ofJesus being at work in us, we
know that Jesus died to sin,that he took sin with him on the
cross and sin was executed.
So the sin that is in us is deadbecause Jesus is in us and his
(09:11):
life is in us.
And so when we say no to sin,when we quote unquote die to sin
and to self, Jesus' life isbeing made visible in us.
We are choosing to live byfaith.
We are choosing the better way.
We are saying these unseenrealities are more true than
these seen things that we haveright now, these temporal
(09:34):
things, this sin that pulls usaside and this selfishness.
So when we are saying no to sinand death, we are saying yes to
life.
And Jesus says himself, he saysit this way whoever wants to be
my disciple must deny themselvesand take up their cross and
follow me.
(09:54):
So it looks like if you arefollowing Jesus, taking up your
cross, an instrument of death,and following him.
So what that means is we we areputting those things to death,
the sin in us.
Um, Galatians 2.20 says, I havebeen crucified with Christ and I
no longer live, but Christ livesin me.
(10:17):
The life I now live in the body,I live by faith.
Again, I walk by faith, I liveby faith.
This idea of we live by faith inwhat?
In the Son of God, who loved meand gave himself for me.
He died for me so that I canlive.
And so I live by faith, not bysight, not by the things that we
(10:39):
can see and touch and feel, notby visible things or tangible
things.
And so verse 16 goes on andsays, Therefore, we do not lose
heart, though outwardly we arewasting away.
Yet inwardly we are beingrenewed day by day, for our
light and momentary troubles areachieving for us an eternal
(11:00):
glory that far outweighs themall.
So we fix our eyes not on whatis seen, but on what is unseen,
since what is seen is temporary,but what is unseen is eternal.
Paul says, Therefore, becausethis is what is true, because
(11:21):
God is at work in you, becauseJesus' life is in you, because
you have the deposit of thegospel and the guarantee given
to you by the Holy Spirit,though outwardly what you see is
wasting away.
It is fading, it is temporary,it is difficult.
Yet inwardly we are beingrenewed day by day, and we fix
(11:46):
our eyes on that eternal glory,that one day when we will
finally realize the eternalglory, which far outweighs them
more.
So notice what Paul says.
He says that his troubles arelight and momentary.
And just so that like thisdoesn't rub you the wrong way,
because it, I mean, if you arereally going through something
(12:09):
terrible, um, this could rub youthe wrong way because you're
like, my troubles are not lightand momentary.
Um, he says later in chaptersix, let me tell you some of his
troubles that he calls light andmomentary.
He says, rather, as servants ofGod, we commend ourselves in
every way in great endurance andtroubles and hardships and
distresses and beatings,imprisonments, riots and hard
(12:32):
work, sleepless nights andhunger.
He goes on in verse eight tosay, through glory and dishonor,
bad report and good report,genuine yet regarded as
impostors, known yet as regardedas unknown, dying and yet we
live on, beaten and yet notkilled, sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing, poor, yet making manyrich, having nothing, and yet
(12:56):
possessing everything.
Again, you see this contrastwith I have everything in
Christ, and yet what what itlooks like on the outside is
nothing.
I am rich.
I have this treasure in a jar ofclay.
And so we can say with Paul thatour troubles are light and
(13:20):
momentary.
And notice what he contrasts,those light things, those
temporary things, those thosethings that we're dealing with
that are like hardships andbeaten and not killed and hungry
and all of that stuff.
He can call it light because heis comparing it with the eternal
weight of glory that faroutweighs them all.
(13:45):
So we have faith in the unseen.
And I will say to you, um, therewas a time in my own life where,
man, this specific scripture,therefore we do not lose heart,
though outwardly we are wastingaway, and yet inwardly we are
being renewed day by day.
(14:05):
Um, to those of you who arestruggling and who need
something to say, uh to carryyou through a season of
incredible suffering, maybe thisis the verse for you.
Um we will share it in the linksin our show notes so that we did
we did memorize this first yearsago.
(14:27):
In fact, we memorized itunbeknownst to me.
We picked it out, and then itwas the very verse that I needed
for God to carry me through acouple of years of really just I
think back on that time, and andthis is what pulled me through
is this knowledge that that theunseen is eternal, that God is
(14:47):
working in me, renewing me dayby day, even when everything
feels like it's falling apart,when everything is wasting away.
Okay, I've got a question foryou.
What if you didn't have to earnGod's love to be enough?
Well, one of his most beautiful,often overlooked attributes is
(15:09):
his impartial love.
In Forever Welcomed, a six-weekBible study, Agosa Iyamu walks
through scripture from Genesisto Revelation to show how God's
welcome isn't based on who youare or what you've done.
It's based on who he is.
You can pick up your copy todayat Moodypublishers.com or
wherever good books are soldbecause in his kingdom, you are
(15:32):
forever welcomed.
Okay, I'm so excited to tell youabout this next thing.
I want them.
They are the ESV prayer journalsfrom Crossway.
They're written by Erica Allenwith artwork from Ruth Joe
Simons, so you know that theyare absolutely beautiful.
And they are just a wonderfulway to slow down and meet with
God.
They're an eight-volume set, sothat's nearly a year's worth of
(15:55):
guided studies, each onedesigned with a key theme like
gospel or faith or forgiveness.
And each journal takes youthrough six passages over six
weeks with daily teaching,prayer prompts, space for
reflection, and line pages foryour own prayers, guys.
They're gonna make it reallyeasy for you to connect with God
and with scripture with purpose.
Whether on your own or with afriend or in a small group, you
(16:17):
can get them anywhere books aresold, or you can get them for
30% off at crossway.orgbackslash prayer journal with a
free Crossway Plus account.
I don't know why you wouldn't dothat.
We got a link in the show notesso you can get that 30% off.
So Paul goes on in chapter five,and this is where we get into
(16:41):
the chapter where we find ourverse.
But I again I just had to walkyou through all of this because
I think it all is sosignificant, all hinges on this
idea of living by faith.
What does it look like?
How do we live by faith?
And he says we when we're goingthrough trials, we live by
faith, and we can also fix oureyes on the unseen eternal.
(17:02):
And he goes into that furtherhere in chapter five.
He says, For we know that if theearthly tent we live in is
destroyed, we have a buildingfrom God, an eternal house in
heaven, not built by humanhands.
Meanwhile, we groan, longing tobe clothed instead with our
(17:22):
heavenly dwelling, because whenwe are clothed, we will not be
found naked.
For while we're in this tent, wegroan and are burdened because
we do not wish to be unclothed,but to be clothed instead with
our heavenly dwelling.
So what is mortal, i.e., what isdying, may be swallowed up with
life.
(17:43):
Now, the one who has fashionedus for this very purpose is God
who has given us his spirit as adeposit, guaranteeing what is to
come.
So again, you have this idea ofwhat is temporary.
It's a tent.
Our bodies are a tent, they areinhospitable.
Do you want to live forever?
(18:04):
And it's like, like, even justconsider like there's a reason
that Paul is using this wording,the specific words.
He's calling our bodies a tent.
And he says we groan and we areburdened and we long for a
better home because tents aretemporary, they are
inhospitable.
The weather gets in, andeventually he says, our tents
(18:25):
are gonna wear out.
And yet he contrasts our tentwith the unseen, eternal
building made by God, not byhuman hands, that is a heavenly
dwelling.
And he uses this metaphor, thisclothing metaphor to say it's
not that we want to be naked,like when our tent is gone, our
(18:47):
earthly body is gone, it's notlike we're just gonna become
spiritual beings without a body,that i.e., we don't want to be
naked.
We want a permanent home.
We want a new body, a body thatis free from sin, that is
eternal and glorious.
And he says that the Holy Spiritis our deposit, he is our
(19:09):
guarantee of what is to come.
He says that in verse five.
This is what we long for.
And so now we're gonna get tothe paragraph with our verse.
He says, Therefore, we arealways confident and know that
as long as we are at home in thebody, we are away from the Lord.
For we live by faith, not bysight.
(19:33):
We are confident, and I saywould prefer to be away from the
body and at home with the Lord.
So we make it our goal to pleasehim, whether at home in the body
or away from it, for we must allappear before the judgment seat
of Christ, so that each of usmay receive what is due for the
things done while in the body,whether good or bad.
(19:55):
So, guys, just like he talksabout we don't lose heart, he
now says, We are confident.
He repeats it twice.
And any time that a word isrepeated in scripture, this is a
highlighter.
This is an important word.
In fact, he restates what hesays in verse six, only he says
it on the flip side.
(20:16):
It's like two sides of everycoin.
He says, if I'm at home in thebody, then I'm away from the
Lord.
If I'm away from the body, I'mat home with the Lord.
He is confident of this.
I am gonna get a new body and Iam going to be with the Lord.
More than that, Paul says, Iprefer to be away from the body
(20:37):
and at home with the Lord.
He says, either way, whether I'mat home in the body or away from
it, my goal is to please theLord because we're all gonna
appear before the judgment seatof Christ, and we're gonna
receive what is due to us forthe things well done in the
body, either good or bad.
Guys, this confidence he has,this repetition, he is just
(21:02):
nailing it home for us.
He is driving the point acrossagain and again that when I die,
I can be confident that I willbe with the Lord.
So the question that I have foryou is are you confident?
(21:23):
Are you confident to say that byfaith, when I die, I will be
resurrected to life in Jesus?
This is this is we live by faithand we also die by faith.
That he says we live by faithwhen things are hard, we do not
lose heart, though we arecrushed, that we were we are
(21:44):
hard-pressed on every side, weare not crushed, though we are
perplexed, we are not indespair, that we are not
abandoned, that Jesus goes withus in this lifetime.
He is always with us, and we canbe confident of what is to come.
We can fix our eyes on theunseen, eternal promises of God,
(22:05):
because even now the Holy Spiritis in us as a guarantee.
So when you trust in Jesus, yoursins no longer count against
you.
He has paid the penalty for yoursins on the cross.
He has given you his perfectstanding before God.
And because Jesus rose to life,death has no hold on you either.
(22:27):
You can say no to sin right now.
You can say yes to Jesus andknow that you will be raised to
life.
Like Paul says, he says, we knowthat the one who raised the Lord
Jesus from the dead will alsoraise us with Jesus.
He says that in this passage.
We know, we are confident thatGod who raised Jesus from the
(22:49):
dead will also raise us.
So when we believe in Christ, wealso can be confident in this
promise that He gives us theHoly Spirit as a deposit.
He guarantees what is to come.
So if you believe in Jesus, yoursalvation is secure.
(23:09):
You live by faith, not by sight.
And you can look at those thingsthat you are trusting in, those
things of the world that arethat are sight, and you can say,
I am not gonna believe in thoseanymore.
Today, today, like the the wordthat that is translated live in
the NIV, we live by faith iswalk.
(23:30):
We walk by faith.
In other versions, it's a closertranslation, but the idea is the
same.
It communicates this idea thatday by day I'm living, I am
walking, I am choosing today,this morning, to get up and say,
I am going to live to find lifein my faith.
Faith in Christ.
(23:52):
One day we will live by faith,and it will also be our sight.
We our faith will become sight,we will be resurrected, and we
will live with Jesus forever.
This is the glory of this versethat we get to right now, live
by faith and not by sight.
(24:12):
And that one day our faith willbecome sight.
What a beautiful message.
Uh, if you want more of this,you can get our 12-session Bible
study that I write every monthfor every verse.
There's so much more in here.
I would love to help youcontinue to unpack what this
verse means and how it mattersto you that you too can live by
(24:35):
faith and not by sight.
I don't know about you, but sometimes life just
feels heavy.
That we have moredisappointment, more doubts,
more Zoom calls and pajamapants, and we're tired, sad, and
we wonder, is real hope stillpossible?
In Hopefulish, my sweet friendScarlett Hiltebiddle says,
absolutely yes.
She is both hilarious andhonest, sharing stories that are
(00:23):
humorous and heartbreaking,showing how the gospel gives us
real hope, even in the mess, thelosses, and the weariness.
If you need a good laugh, a deepbreath, and a reminder that
Jesus hasn't left you, this bookis for you.
You can get your copy ofHopefulish at hopefulish.com.
That's H-O-P-E-F-U-L-I-S-H dotcom.
(00:43):
We'll have a link in our shownotes.
And be sure to check outScarlett's episode on the
podcast October 8th.
I know you're gonna love her.
Hey, welcome back.
It's Natalie Abbott.
This is the Dwell DifferentlyPodcast.
And today is a teaching episode.
(01:04):
This is the opportunity that wehave to really dive into what
the Bible is saying in thecontext of the verse that we're
memorizing this month.
So our verse that we'rememorizing is 2 Corinthians 5,
7.
It says, For we live by faith,not by sight.
And this is an absolutelyessential idea that as
(01:27):
believers, we live by faith orwe walk by faith, not by sight.
We are trusting in and fixingour eyes on the unseen, eternal,
the beautiful promises of God.
In fact, even the unseen andbeautiful, eternal things that
God is doing in us through thepower of His Holy Spirit who
lives in us, there is somethinggoing on in us that is beautiful
(01:50):
and wonderful.
And we are looking forward tothe day when our salvation will
be culminated and we will notjust live by faith, but our
faith will be sight.
And that is going to be aglorious day.
We're going to be talking aboutall of this in our verse this
month.
And we're talking about itspecifically today in the
(02:11):
context of the passage that wefind it in in the letter to the
Corinthians, it's 2 Corinthians,it's Paul's second letter to the
Corinthians that we have in theBible.
And gosh, if it isn't just animportant concept, this idea of
living or walking by faith.
And let me just say before wedive into the text, I don't know
(02:33):
about you, but it feels like areally tall order sometimes.
Like that the things that wesee, the temporal things, what's
going on around us, it maybeit's our bank account, maybe
it's relationships, maybe it's adiagnosis, like whatever it is
that is visible and tangible andknown, the things that we Google
(02:54):
when we wake up at two in themorning because we have like
this thing that is just pressingin on us, those things feel so
important, so weighty, so evenmore real to us than these
intangible things, thesepromises of God, God Himself and
(03:14):
His Spirit at work in us.
Like sometimes I think we becomeweighed down and just consumed,
overwhelmed by what is going on.
In fact, there's a verse thatwe're gonna look at later that
says, uh, therefore we do notlose heart.
Though outwardly we are wastingaway.
Like outwardly, there are justall these things that are
(03:36):
pointing to just terrible,terrible stuff, you know, in the
world around us and in our ownspecific personal lives.
Like there are so many tangiblethings that feel like, man, we
really do live in a fallenworld.
And yet, that same verse saysinwardly, we are being renewed
day by day.
(03:56):
We fix our eyes not on what isseen, but what is unseen.
And so my my hope for you, mygoal for you in this teaching
moment is to walk you throughwhat the Bible says about this
hope that we have, thisbeautiful faith that we have,
and that when we are walking inour faith, when we are living by
(04:17):
faith, we are actually thrivingeven when the things around us,
despite the things around us,going haywire.
So that's what we're gonna betalking about today.
And we're gonna dive right in.
We're actually gonna look at 2Corinthians, part of chapter
four and part of chapter five,because our verse, and there's
(04:37):
another verse in it that I justalluded to, uh, it's sort of
like the hinge point.
It's like the overarching ideais that there are these things
that we can see that aretangible and they feel away to
us.
And yet there are these otherthings that are unseen, that are
beautiful and glorious and good.
And when we fix our eyes onthose things, when we live by
(05:02):
faith in those things, we aretruly living.
We are actually believing in thereal, real, the truest truth.
And these other things, whilethey may seem very heavy and
weighty, they are temporary,they are fading away.
And so that's my goal is that wewould together read through this
(05:23):
passage and we would fix oureyes on the unseen and eternal
hope that we have in Christ.
So we're gonna start in versesix of Second Corinthians
chapter four, and we are justgonna walk through and see these
two ideas being compared andcontrasted, the unseen and the
seen.
So, so listen for that while Iread through a few verses here
(05:45):
from verse six all the waythrough verse 12 of chapter
four.
And then we're gonna talk alittle bit about it, and then
we're gonna keep going.
We're gonna look at each passagein turn and see what we can see
and learn what we can learnabout what it means to live by
faith.
So be listening for that.
For God who said, Let lightshine out of darkness, made his
(06:08):
light shine in our hearts togive us the light of the
knowledge of God's glorydisplayed in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure injars of clay to show that this
all-surpassing power is from Godand not from us.
We are hard-pressed on everyside, but not crushed,
(06:30):
perplexed, but not in despair,persecuted but not abandoned,
struck down but not destroyed.
We always carry around in ourbody the death of Jesus, so that
the life of Jesus may be alsorevealed in our body.
For we who are alive are alwaysbeing given over to death for
(06:53):
Jesus' sake, so that his lifemay also be revealed in our
mortal body.
So then, death is at work in us,but life is at work in you.
So, do you see these unseenthings and these seen things
that are going on in thispassage?
So, in us, it says in verse sixthat we have the light of the
(07:16):
knowledge of God's glory, and itis a treasure.
It is a treasure that is hiddenin a jar of clay.
So that's the outside, theexternal, and yet this
all-surpassing power, thisknowledge of God's glory, this
gospel message is residing inus.
More than that, this passagesays that the death of Jesus is
(07:40):
also going on inside of us.
It says we always carry aroundthe death of Jesus.
And it says that a couple ofdifferent times, so that the
life of Jesus is also beingrevealed in our body.
So we have the death of Jesus,we have the life of Jesus, we
have the light of the knowledgeof God's glory, which is his
(08:01):
all-surpassing power.
It is like a treasure in us.
Okay, so that is what is at workin us.
And even at the end, it says,then death is at work in us, but
life is at work in you.
So the goal here is that notonly us specifically, Paul
talking about himself and hisfellow believers, but you also,
(08:22):
when you see the death of Jesusin us, his life is revealed in
us so that his life can also beat work in you.
Okay, so what is seen is thejars of clay, being hard pressed
on every side, perplexed,persecuted, struck down.
This, this, this reality ofhardship and difficulty.
(08:48):
But why is this?
So that the death that is inwork in us, and and when when
it's talking about the death ofJesus being at work in us, we
know that Jesus died to sin,that he took sin with him on the
cross and sin was executed.
So the sin that is in us is deadbecause Jesus is in us and his
(09:11):
life is in us.
And so when we say no to sin,when we quote unquote die to sin
and to self, Jesus' life isbeing made visible in us.
We are choosing to live byfaith.
We are choosing the better way.
We are saying these unseenrealities are more true than
these seen things that we haveright now, these temporal
(09:34):
things, this sin that pulls usaside and this selfishness.
So when we are saying no to sinand death, we are saying yes to
life.
And Jesus says himself, he saysit this way whoever wants to be
my disciple must deny themselvesand take up their cross and
follow me.
(09:54):
So it looks like if you arefollowing Jesus, taking up your
cross, an instrument of death,and following him.
So what that means is we we areputting those things to death,
the sin in us.
Um, Galatians 2.20 says, I havebeen crucified with Christ and I
no longer live, but Christ livesin me.
(10:17):
The life I now live in the body,I live by faith.
Again, I walk by faith, I liveby faith.
This idea of we live by faith inwhat?
In the Son of God, who loved meand gave himself for me.
He died for me so that I canlive.
And so I live by faith, not bysight, not by the things that we
(10:39):
can see and touch and feel, notby visible things or tangible
things.
And so verse 16 goes on andsays, Therefore, we do not lose
heart, though outwardly we arewasting away.
Yet inwardly we are beingrenewed day by day, for our
light and momentary troubles areachieving for us an eternal
(11:00):
glory that far outweighs themall.
So we fix our eyes not on whatis seen, but on what is unseen,
since what is seen is temporary,but what is unseen is eternal.
Paul says, Therefore, becausethis is what is true, because
(11:21):
God is at work in you, becauseJesus' life is in you, because
you have the deposit of thegospel and the guarantee given
to you by the Holy Spirit,though outwardly what you see is
wasting away.
It is fading, it is temporary,it is difficult.
Yet inwardly we are beingrenewed day by day, and we fix
(11:46):
our eyes on that eternal glory,that one day when we will
finally realize the eternalglory, which far outweighs them
more.
So notice what Paul says.
He says that his troubles arelight and momentary.
And just so that like thisdoesn't rub you the wrong way,
because it, I mean, if you arereally going through something
(12:09):
terrible, um, this could rub youthe wrong way because you're
like, my troubles are not lightand momentary.
Um, he says later in chaptersix, let me tell you some of his
troubles that he calls light andmomentary.
He says, rather, as servants ofGod, we commend ourselves in
every way in great endurance andtroubles and hardships and
distresses and beatings,imprisonments, riots and hard
(12:32):
work, sleepless nights andhunger.
He goes on in verse eight tosay, through glory and dishonor,
bad report and good report,genuine yet regarded as
impostors, known yet as regardedas unknown, dying and yet we
live on, beaten and yet notkilled, sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing, poor, yet making manyrich, having nothing, and yet
(12:56):
possessing everything.
Again, you see this contrastwith I have everything in
Christ, and yet what what itlooks like on the outside is
nothing.
I am rich.
I have this treasure in a jar ofclay.
And so we can say with Paul thatour troubles are light and
(13:20):
momentary.
And notice what he contrasts,those light things, those
temporary things, those thosethings that we're dealing with
that are like hardships andbeaten and not killed and hungry
and all of that stuff.
He can call it light because heis comparing it with the eternal
weight of glory that faroutweighs them all.
(13:45):
So we have faith in the unseen.
And I will say to you, um, therewas a time in my own life where,
man, this specific scripture,therefore we do not lose heart,
though outwardly we are wastingaway, and yet inwardly we are
being renewed day by day.
(14:05):
Um, to those of you who arestruggling and who need
something to say, uh to carryyou through a season of
incredible suffering, maybe thisis the verse for you.
Um we will share it in the linksin our show notes so that we did
we did memorize this first yearsago.
(14:27):
In fact, we memorized itunbeknownst to me.
We picked it out, and then itwas the very verse that I needed
for God to carry me through acouple of years of really just I
think back on that time, and andthis is what pulled me through
is this knowledge that that theunseen is eternal, that God is
(14:47):
working in me, renewing me dayby day, even when everything
feels like it's falling apart,when everything is wasting away.
Okay, I've got a question foryou.
What if you didn't have to earnGod's love to be enough?
Well, one of his most beautiful,often overlooked attributes is
(15:09):
his impartial love.
In Forever Welcomed, a six-weekBible study, Agosa Iyamu walks
through scripture from Genesisto Revelation to show how God's
welcome isn't based on who youare or what you've done.
It's based on who he is.
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(15:32):
forever welcomed.
Okay, I'm so excited to tell youabout this next thing.
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They're an eight-volume set, sothat's nearly a year's worth of
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guided studies, each onedesigned with a key theme like
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And each journal takes youthrough six passages over six
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They're gonna make it reallyeasy for you to connect with God
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So Paul goes on in chapter five,and this is where we get into
(16:41):
the chapter where we find ourverse.
But I again I just had to walkyou through all of this because
I think it all is sosignificant, all hinges on this
idea of living by faith.
What does it look like?
How do we live by faith?
And he says we when we're goingthrough trials, we live by
faith, and we can also fix oureyes on the unseen eternal.
(17:02):
And he goes into that furtherhere in chapter five.
He says, For we know that if theearthly tent we live in is
destroyed, we have a buildingfrom God, an eternal house in
heaven, not built by humanhands.
Meanwhile, we groan, longing tobe clothed instead with our
(17:22):
heavenly dwelling, because whenwe are clothed, we will not be
found naked.
For while we're in this tent, wegroan and are burdened because
we do not wish to be unclothed,but to be clothed instead with
our heavenly dwelling.
So what is mortal, i.e., what isdying, may be swallowed up with
life.
(17:43):
Now, the one who has fashionedus for this very purpose is God
who has given us his spirit as adeposit, guaranteeing what is to
come.
So again, you have this idea ofwhat is temporary.
It's a tent.
Our bodies are a tent, they areinhospitable.
Do you want to live forever?
(18:04):
And it's like, like, even justconsider like there's a reason
that Paul is using this wording,the specific words.
He's calling our bodies a tent.
And he says we groan and we areburdened and we long for a
better home because tents aretemporary, they are
inhospitable.
The weather gets in, andeventually he says, our tents
(18:25):
are gonna wear out.
And yet he contrasts our tentwith the unseen, eternal
building made by God, not byhuman hands, that is a heavenly
dwelling.
And he uses this metaphor, thisclothing metaphor to say it's
not that we want to be naked,like when our tent is gone, our
(18:47):
earthly body is gone, it's notlike we're just gonna become
spiritual beings without a body,that i.e., we don't want to be
naked.
We want a permanent home.
We want a new body, a body thatis free from sin, that is
eternal and glorious.
And he says that the Holy Spiritis our deposit, he is our
(19:09):
guarantee of what is to come.
He says that in verse five.
This is what we long for.
And so now we're gonna get tothe paragraph with our verse.
He says, Therefore, we arealways confident and know that
as long as we are at home in thebody, we are away from the Lord.
For we live by faith, not bysight.
(19:33):
We are confident, and I saywould prefer to be away from the
body and at home with the Lord.
So we make it our goal to pleasehim, whether at home in the body
or away from it, for we must allappear before the judgment seat
of Christ, so that each of usmay receive what is due for the
things done while in the body,whether good or bad.
(19:55):
So, guys, just like he talksabout we don't lose heart, he
now says, We are confident.
He repeats it twice.
And any time that a word isrepeated in scripture, this is a
highlighter.
This is an important word.
In fact, he restates what hesays in verse six, only he says
it on the flip side.
(20:16):
It's like two sides of everycoin.
He says, if I'm at home in thebody, then I'm away from the
Lord.
If I'm away from the body, I'mat home with the Lord.
He is confident of this.
I am gonna get a new body and Iam going to be with the Lord.
More than that, Paul says, Iprefer to be away from the body
(20:37):
and at home with the Lord.
He says, either way, whether I'mat home in the body or away from
it, my goal is to please theLord because we're all gonna
appear before the judgment seatof Christ, and we're gonna
receive what is due to us forthe things well done in the
body, either good or bad.
Guys, this confidence he has,this repetition, he is just
(21:02):
nailing it home for us.
He is driving the point acrossagain and again that when I die,
I can be confident that I willbe with the Lord.
So the question that I have foryou is are you confident?
(21:23):
Are you confident to say that byfaith, when I die, I will be
resurrected to life in Jesus?
This is this is we live by faithand we also die by faith.
That he says we live by faithwhen things are hard, we do not
lose heart, though we arecrushed, that we were we are
(21:44):
hard-pressed on every side, weare not crushed, though we are
perplexed, we are not indespair, that we are not
abandoned, that Jesus goes withus in this lifetime.
He is always with us, and we canbe confident of what is to come.
We can fix our eyes on theunseen, eternal promises of God,
(22:05):
because even now the Holy Spiritis in us as a guarantee.
So when you trust in Jesus, yoursins no longer count against
you.
He has paid the penalty for yoursins on the cross.
He has given you his perfectstanding before God.
And because Jesus rose to life,death has no hold on you either.
(22:27):
You can say no to sin right now.
You can say yes to Jesus andknow that you will be raised to
life.
Like Paul says, he says, we knowthat the one who raised the Lord
Jesus from the dead will alsoraise us with Jesus.
He says that in this passage.
We know, we are confident thatGod who raised Jesus from the
(22:49):
dead will also raise us.
So when we believe in Christ, wealso can be confident in this
promise that He gives us theHoly Spirit as a deposit.
He guarantees what is to come.
So if you believe in Jesus, yoursalvation is secure.
(23:09):
You live by faith, not by sight.
And you can look at those thingsthat you are trusting in, those
things of the world that arethat are sight, and you can say,
I am not gonna believe in thoseanymore.
Today, today, like the the wordthat that is translated live in
the NIV, we live by faith iswalk.
(23:30):
We walk by faith.
In other versions, it's a closertranslation, but the idea is the
same.
It communicates this idea thatday by day I'm living, I am
walking, I am choosing today,this morning, to get up and say,
I am going to live to find lifein my faith.
Faith in Christ.
(23:52):
One day we will live by faith,and it will also be our sight.
We our faith will become sight,we will be resurrected, and we
will live with Jesus forever.
This is the glory of this versethat we get to right now, live
by faith and not by sight.
(24:12):
And that one day our faith willbecome sight.
What a beautiful message.
Uh, if you want more of this,you can get our 12-session Bible
study that I write every monthfor every verse.
There's so much more in here.
I would love to help youcontinue to unpack what this
verse means and how it mattersto you that you too can live by
(24:35):
faith and not by sight.
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