Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom

How Not To Faint

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Old Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2021-08-17

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver expounds 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 to teach believers how to avoid spiritual fainting. He identifies causes of fainting—fear, physical exhaustion and poor nutrition, afflictions and trials, and divine chastening—and provides three encouragements from the text: the inward renewal despite outward decay, the lightness of temporal affliction compared to eternal glory, and the need to focus on unseen eternal realities. The sermon emphasizes perseverance through God's strength, with practical applications for ministry, prayer, and daily obedience.

[John Weaver] 2 Corinthians 4, and look if you would please, beginning there with verses 16 through 18. 2 Corinthians 4, beginning there with verse 16. The title of the message is, How Not to Faint. How Not to Faint.

[John Weaver] 2 Corinthians 4 verse 16, the Word of God says, For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 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 or eternal.

[John Weaver] The question is, have you ever fainted? The next question I would ask is, do you know the consequences of fainting? And very clearly, when one faints, he is unable to function. Duties, responsibilities, obligations all fall by the wayside. Usually, fainting includes a loss of consciousness whereby one is rendered absolutely helpless as well as absolutely useless. I have fainted one time in my entire life. I was just a young boy and I was in boot camp at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

[John Weaver] We were on the CBR range, the chemical, biological, radiological. And we were supposed to be given a 10 minute break. And of course, those in the military know the Joke that is attached to that and it's really not a joke because it is reality the sergeants would usually say take ten expect five and get two and that's about the way it went and so they gave us a ten-minute break and I was

[John Weaver] going to the latrine which was about a hundred yards away and before I could ever get there The sergeant was hollering breaks over back in the bleachers back in the bleachers. Well, I turned around and started running back as fast as I could to get back into the bleachers. And the grass, of course, had been cut. But what I could not see and did not know, there was a hole just about this deep, about that big around, and the grass had grown up from the bottom, and it had been cut smooth. It looked smooth. But as I was running, my foot went in that hole, and I twisted and fell on my foot, and I heard the bone break. So I leapt up to the sergeant, And I said, sir, I just broke my foot. And you know what that dumb sergeant asked me? He said, well, can you sit out the rest of the lectures and march back to camp? And you know what that stupid kid said? Well, yes, sir, I guess I can.

[John Weaver] And camp was two miles. So I had to sit through the rest of the lectures and then hobble back to the barracks which was a two mile hike. Of course, obviously I did not stay in formation, but I just made it back on my own, crippled. And so I got in the barracks and I had some of the fellows, I said, well, you're going to have to help me take this boot off. Of course, you know, the boot, it was real tight. They unlaced that boot. And when they pull that boot off, boy, that foot and that ankle went out like that. And all of a sudden the pain hit me like you would not believe.

[John Weaver] And the next thing I know, I'm awaking to smelling salts, because I had totally, absolutely fainted and passed out. Now, the sergeant could have stood over me and given me a hundred orders. I would not have heard them, and moreover, I could not have obeyed them at all. I'd fainted, and I was unable to defend myself, and certainly unable to defend others as well. I could not obey an order, I could not comply, I could not answer, and for all practical purposes, when I fainted, I was absolutely, totally useless.

[John Weaver] Now, in light of that, have you ever heard of fainting goats? I'm sure that you have. Myotonic goats are known as fainting goats because when anything surprises them or frightens them, their muscles go stiff for a short time and they fall over. From my understanding, the problem is actually in their brains, because fainting goats are born with a condition which is known as myotonia congentia, which affects them when they are frightened or startled. So their muscles tense up, and instead of relaxing immediately, they stay stiff and tense, and therefore the goat falls over. Obviously, the goat does not lose consciousness. The goat is still aware of the fact that he's on the ground. But for all practical purposes, the goat is dead meat because he can't run, he can't flee, he can't do anything. He's just there. So obviously, we talk about people who faint, we talk about goats who faint, but the truth is, there are many Christians who live in a state of faintness.

[John Weaver] They have fainted and never have awakened. They're clueless, they're useless, and they're worthless as far as the work of the kingdom of God is concerned. They are zombie Christians with the deer in the headlight stare in their eyes, and they just absolutely cannot function. And so like fainting goats, they have fallen by the wayside. They're unable to move. They're unable to function. They're much like that wicked steward to whom our Lord had given a talot, and he took that talot and tied it up in a sweatcloth, a handkerchief, and buried it. He was useless for the kingdom of God.

[John Weaver] Now, it's interesting, as you look through the Bible, there are many reasons for people fainting. And before I expound on 2 Corinthians 4, 16 through 18, I want you to turn with me and look at some of the reasons as to why people actually faint. I want you to turn, if you would please, first of all, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 20, because faintness of heart will also come from fear. So when someone is fearful, he is also in what you and I would call a fainting stage. Note, if you would please, in Deuteronomy, chapter 20, And as you're turning there, let me just point out the fact that faith and fear are opposites.

[John Weaver] They are contrary to one to the other. If you are exercising faith, you're not going to be living in fear. If you're living in fear, then you're not going to be exercising faith. So in Deuteronomy 20, verse 3, this passage deals with the children of Israel going to war. Notice he said in verse 3, And they shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, You approach this day into battle against your enemies.

[John Weaver] Let not your hearts faint. Fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them." So God says when you're about to go to battle, do not faint. Do not be fearful. It doesn't matter about the multitude. It does not matter about their might. God says do not be fearful. Do not faint. And if you'll skip down to verse 8, look at this. This is very interesting, because the priests now are going through and weeding out those who are not capable of fighting. And he says in verse 8, And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Now watch. Let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart faint, Well as his heart, so I hope that you've noticed here a very important truth and that is fear is contagious fear will cause others to fear and Likewise would cause them to desert their post as well. So let me give you a very practical truth on this point Either your faith or your fear is always going to influence other people Your faith will encourage them, but your fear will discourage them.

[John Weaver] And you are responsible, according to the Word of God, to fear not. And I think it would pay great dividends for individual Christians to take the time to go through their Bibles and just underline all the times that God tells us to fear not. But you might as well mark her down that when one lives in fear, he is also going to be in a fainting state.

[John Weaver] May I point out something else, and that is this. It is not God's people who are to be living in fear. It is God's enemies. If you would look in your Bibles just a few pages over to the book of Joshua chapter 2, the spies have come to Rahab, and Rahab is giving testimony. And I want you to note what she said in Joshua chapter 2 there and verse 9. Joshua 2 and verse 9.

[John Weaver] Notice if you would, and she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you." In other words, we know who God is, we know what God has done to the Egyptians, we know how God has delivered you, and your terror has fallen upon all the inhabitants of the land, and of course we are now faint-hearted. So it's God's enemies who are to be faint-hearted and not God's people.

[John Weaver] So just marker down, fearfulness will always cause faintness. Now there's a second reason in the Bible given why people faint. Faintness of heart comes also from physical exhaustion and, listen carefully, insufficient nutrition. Look in your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Deuteronomy. chapter 25 Deuteronomy chapter 25 and you're going to be reading here about Amalek how he attacked the children of Israel But note what God says Deuteronomy chapter 25 and let's begin reading there with verse 17 Deuteronomy 25 verse 17 God says remember what Amalek did to thee by the way when you were come forth out of Egypt How he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God." Note, if you would, he met thee by the way, he purposefully pushed the attack, he smote the hindmost of thee, he got the weakest, he got the sluggards, he got the ones that were lagging behind, even all that were feeble, when thou wast faint and weary.

[John Weaver] Note, if you would, the people had been traveling, They were exhausted, probably had not had time to eat, but yet that is exactly when he attacked. Now the Bible says in Psalm 107 and verse 5, listen carefully, hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. And then of course the Bible says in Proverbs 24 and verse 10, if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

[John Weaver] So I want you to underline this in your minds. that oftentimes spiritual faintness will come from physical exhaustion and also a lack of nutrition. Do you realize unhappily most Christians do not live healthy lifestyles? Most Christians are consumed with junk food. They do not properly rest. They do not take care of their bodies or their minds. I'll give you one good clear illustration I had a good friend years ago who's a diabetic.

[John Weaver] And he would not stick to a diet. He loved potatoes. He loved bread. He loved sweets. And he was always having problems. And I told him, I said, look, if you don't take care of yourself, you're going to lose a limb. Mark it down. You're going to lose a limb. Well, the next thing you know, within the next year or so, he's having his leg amputated. And so, Alice and I took care of him and his wife and his child while his leg was healing. And the interesting thing is, he still did not want to stick to his diet. I said, I don't understand this. I said, you've already lost a leg.

[John Weaver] What in the world is wrong with you? And here's what he told me. Listen carefully. He said, preacher, I just love to eat. And he said, I had rather die than not eat what I like. And I said, well, keep eating what you like and you will die. And he did within a year. All I'm trying to say is this. Most people will not take care of their bodies. They'll not take care of their minds.

[John Weaver] Do you realize, and I'm sure that you've read some of these things, I've read even where teenagers and young adults have died from staying up 40 hours straight playing stupid video games. Isn't that insane to think that someone would do that? And yet, when you exhaust yourself mentally, when you exhaust yourself physically, when you exhaust yourself emotionally and spiritually, You're setting yourself up to faint. So faintness of heart will not only come from fear, it will also come from physical exhaustion and also a lack of nutrition. You need to make sure that you're eating things that are healthy and not things that are just junk and processed food all the time. I'm saying it will affect you. In fact, there is a website most Christians need to look at.

[John Weaver] It's called Health for All, All of Life. And it has all kinds of great information there. Physically, yes. Medically, it's put up by Christian brothers whom I know. And there's all kinds of information on every disease imaginable. And their point is, Christians ought not to be sick all the time. And that's true. Because we are, because we don't take care of ourselves. That's all there is to it.

[John Weaver] So here's the third thing. Faintness of heart will also come from afflictions tests and trials It doesn't just come from fearfulness. It doesn't just come from physical exhaustion and lack of nutrition and I've often heard Christians who were thoroughly discouraged because They could not understand why they were suffering why they were going through afflictions while they were being tested why they were going through all of these trials and only Could they not understand? Most of the time, they did not even want to understand why those trials were upon them. Now, I want to give you two very reasons why sometimes trials do indeed come upon us. I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Peter 1. And I'm going to come back to this verse a little bit later in this message. But look, if you would, please, in 1 Peter 1. And let's begin reading there with verse 6. 1 Peter 1 and verse 6.

[John Weaver] Note, if you would, what the Bible says. 1 Peter 1 and verse 6. In fact, please understand that in verses 4 and 5, he is talking about our inheritance that is reserved in heaven for us. And then verse 5 tells us that we are kept by the power of God through faith unto the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Now look at verse 6. And he's talking, wherein you greatly rejoice, that is in that hope, in that salvation, in that abundant mercy and grace that's given to us into that inheritance. He says, wherein to you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness. Why?

[John Weaver] Through manifold temptations or manifold tests and trials. And the word manifold means variegated, different kinds, different colors. So not everybody has the same temptations, but, exactly, but there are many varied kinds of temptations. He says in verse 7, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found under the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so He is telling us that everything that we go through as far as our tests, our trials, our tribulations, our afflictions, or for our good, they are indeed for our purification, our sanctification, our glorification. And if we endure these the way we should endure these, then it's going to redound to the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ at His appearing. So we have to understand that, yes, everything that happens to us happens for a reason.

[John Weaver] Secondly, if you would turn back in your Bibles a few pages to the book of Hebrews chapter 12, I want you to note something else. Hebrews chapter 12, look if you would beginning there with verse 2. Hebrews 12 verse 2, the Bible says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Now, in light of that truth, look at verses 3 and 4. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

[John Weaver] You have not yet resisted in blood, striving against sin. The next time you want to give in, give up, give out, next time you want to be discouraged, next time you think you want to be depressed and you just want to feign and you just want to quit, our Lord commands us in this passage to consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be weary and feign in your minds.

[John Weaver] It is true that we oftentimes have very severe trials. very severe temptations, very severe afflictions, but we have never, ever experienced anything the way our Lord experienced it. And think of all that our Lord accomplished through all of His sufferings. Who endured, the Bible says, the cross, despising the shame, and He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself. Moreover, He then says in verse 4, you have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. So cheer up. You haven't yet sweat great drops of blood. No, you haven't yet resisted sin and wickedness until you bleed. No, no, no. So there's a long way to go. So our Lord is saying the next time we think we might want to faint, He said we need to consider the Lord Jesus Christ and everything that He has gone through. So you can faint not only based upon your fear, you can faint not only based upon physical exhaustion and nutritional Deficiency you can also faint just simply because of the afflictions and tests and temptations and trials that you're going through But there's another area in which you can faint and that is you

[John Weaver] can faint Because of chasing look down in verse 5 you're in Hebrews chapter 12 look in verse 5 He says and you have forgotten the exhortation which speak of them to you as unto children my son despised not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Now look, my son despised not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Please understand this, chastening is for our benefit and our blessings. Chastening may not be appreciated at the first. In fact, it is usually very grievous at the first.

[John Weaver] And all the times that I was whipped and chastised by my father, I don't ever remember after he got through whipping me, turning around and saying, Dad, I really appreciate this discipline. Thank you for chastening me. No, I didn't do that. Probably couldn't have said those words anyhow if I wanted to, because I was crying too much. But you know, the truth of the matter is this. I have thanked my father for it after I was an adult. And even today, a lot of times, my father's in heaven with my mother. You know, I still thank the Lord for what they taught me, how they raised me, how they disciplined me. I'm just simply saying, at first, it is grievous.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you. Skip down, if you would, in your Bibles. You're in Hebrews chapter 12. Skip down, if you would, to verse 9. He says it like this. Furthermore, we've had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. That is, we submitted to them. We respected them. I've told you before, and I've said this before, when I was a teenager, I talked back to my father one time. Just once. And I found out how to respect what my father said. So, note he said, furthermore we've had fathers our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence, we gave them respect. Then he asks this question, shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live?

[John Weaver] For they, that is our earthly fathers, verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. Sometimes they whipped us just because they were upset with us. That would be their own pleasure. But He, that is God, for our profit, and the only time God whips us is for our profit. Watch, that we might be partakers of His holiness.

[John Weaver] Now, no chastening for the present seemed to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby." In other words, let me stop there. God's chastening always works. Afraid I've whipped my kids many times and it didn't work But when God chastens his own it always works now in light of that look in verse 12 and 13 He says wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet Lest that which

[John Weaver] is lame be turned out of the way, but rather let it be healed Now let me just kind of paraphrase for you, verses 12 and 13. God said, I've whipped you. You're down.

[John Weaver] Now, God says, get up off of your hands and knees. Let those hands dangle straight down. Stand up. Get on your feet and do what you were supposed to be doing to begin with. That's what He's saying. In other words, you're not to faint. My chastisement is for your good and for my glory." So get up and go to work. Do what you're supposed to be doing.

[John Weaver] David said it like this in Psalm 27 and verse 13. He said, I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And certainly, we do see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That keeps us from fainting. Now, notice if you would, Psalm 103. I want you to turn there. I could quote this, but I want you to see this is such a very, very important passage to me.

[John Weaver] It's been such a blessing to me throughout my life. Notice, if you would, Psalm 103, and look, if you would, please, at verses 13 and 14. Look at this. Psalm 103, verses 13 and 14. The Bible says, like as a father pitieth his children, So the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Watch, like as a father pitieth his children." I got so tickled. I teach a young man each week. He's got a little boy, about two, going on three probably. And every time the little boy breaks or tears up his toy, he always takes it to daddy His mother picked it up. He says, no, daddy, fix it. Daddy, fix it. You know, so his daddy was telling me now, now when something breaks, he looks at his daddy and say, Jack fixes it. I fix it. Daddy said, no, no, no, no.

[John Weaver] Well, listen to this now. Like as a father to pity his children. So that's what God does. He pities us. Watch for he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are but dust. Has this thought ever hit your mind that God knows our frame? God knows our limits. God knows our weaknesses. God knows our strengths. God knows what we can do and what we cannot do. God knows our frame precisely.

[John Weaver] Let me say this another way. God knows what we can take and what we cannot take.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to underline something in your mind. I'm going to give you the Scripture momentarily. But here it is. If God in His providence brings a test or a trial or an affliction or suffering upon you, if God in His providence brings any of that upon you, mark it down, You can take it. You can handle it. Because God knows your frame. He knows exactly what you can take and what you cannot do.

[John Weaver] And He has promised to never ever put more on you than you're able to bear. And every time He places something on you, there is always a way out. So I can quote the Scripture, but I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 10 and look at verse 13. You need to memorize this passage. You need to underline it in your mind. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13. Now listen to this. Look at what he says.

[John Weaver] There is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. So let me just stop right there just for a moment. There's no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. The temptations that Joshua has I have. The ones I have, Steve has. The ones Steve has, Gary has. The ones Gary has, James has. There are no superhuman afflictions or temptations placed upon anyone.

[John Weaver] That's what God is saying. There are no temptations taking you but such as is common to man. Watch. But God is faithful who will not suffer you or who will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able. But will with the temptation or the test or the trial make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it Now the way of escape is usually through obedience and submission But that's the way to escape any of it you know, I Tell everybody and I used it wasn't funny at the time.

[John Weaver] We smile about it now But Alice and I of course had identical twins And I had to stay on those girls, I mean, because they would be encouraging each other. It seemed like I was chasing them every time I turned around. And then our baby daughter, I don't ever remember whipping her. I may have one time, I just don't remember. But I could look at her hard and she would just start crying and say, Daddy, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And she just melt. Well, I mean, obviously, I'm not going to whip her when she is submissive and obedient and wants to do what's right.

[John Weaver] That's the way it is with the Lord. Now, so He's promised there's never ever going to be any temptation that takes us except that which is common. And will with the temptation, He'll always make a way out. He will always make a way of escape that we may be able to bear it. There may be other reasons why you faint in the Bible, but these are some of the main reasons that God has given. But before I get to our text, I want to give you three scriptures, three encouragements not to faint. I want you to listen to these. Most of you know them, but listen if you would to Luke 18 and verse 1. The Bible says concerning Jesus Christ, and He spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Always to pray and not to faint.

[John Weaver] I've heard Christians say, well, I've prayed about this for six months and I have gotten an answer. I'm just going to quit. Really? Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Pray another six months. If you don't get an answer, then pray another six months. Do not give in. Do not give up. Do not give out. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Now, I'm going to come back to this text in just a moment. But in our text, in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 1, the Bible says this, Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. So the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 is talking about the ministry. He said, Seeing we have received this ministry, we faint not. So, we're not to faint in prayer, we're not to faint in the ministry, and then when you get to Galatians 6 and verse 9, what does he say? And be not weary with well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we what?

[John Weaver] Faint not. If we faint not. If we faint not. You know, I remember as a boy, working in the cotton fields, peanut fields, all this kind of stuff, We'd have to pull weeds, we'd have to hoe cotton, we'd have to chop cotton. We did all of those things, and here's a whole field in front of you, and you think, I'll never finish this field. But you know, if you take one row at a time, and you're consistent, you're going to finish that field. You'll pull every weed, you'll chop every hill of cotton that needs to be chopped, you'll chop every weed that needs to be chopped.

[John Weaver] I'm just simply saying, that's exactly what he's talking about. We're going to be reaping if we faint not.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn back in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, because that's our text beginning there with verse 16. And I want to share with you, since I've shared with you reasons as to why we faint often, I want to point out some reasons that will enable us and empower us not to faint. If you look in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16, when the Apostle Paul says, for which cause we faint not, the word faint is ekkakeo.

[John Weaver] It is a present active indicative, which means this. We are not now fainting, and we are going to keep on not now fainting. In other words, we're just not going to faint. That's what he's saying right there in verse 16. for which cause we are not fainting, and we will not ever faint. We will keep on not fainting." So, that's why the Bible says in Hebrews 10 in verse 39, but we're not of them that believe, that we're not of them that who believe in drawing back to perdition, but we believe to the end or the saving of the soul. That's the end. So, we're not going to give in. Now, we're not going to faint. That's what he's saying.

[John Weaver] When one faints spiritually, He is weary, wearied out, exhausted, utterly spiritless, and just cannot go on. So let me ask you, what is it in this text that would encourage us to persevere? Well, there are three things, since there are three verses there. I want you to look at verse 16 again. He says, For which cause we faint not, But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

[John Weaver] So the first thing that will enable us not to faint is that we must consider the increase and the advancement of our spiritual lives as compared to the deterioration of our physical lives. That's what he said. Watch carefully. For which cause we faint not? But though our outward man perish, that is the physical man, our bodies, yet the inward man, that is the true man, is renewed day by day."

[John Weaver] Now, those whom God allows to reach old age realize the deterioration of the body. We recognize that our old man, our bodies, are fading, perishing, and dying. More and more do we see our weaknesses, and they become more and more apparent with age. We can no longer do the things that we used to do. The interesting thing is the Greek word for parish here is actually diopthero, and it means to come to ruin, to be consumed, to change for the worse, and to lose bodily vigor and strength. So he says, for which cause we faint not, but though our outward man lose bodily vigor and strength, be consumed, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

[John Weaver] Now, while no one really wants to die, the truth of the matter is we realize that we will die. And in that sense of the word, that is discouraging. But the upside of our physical death, the wearing out of our body, is that the inward man progresses in spirituality, in holiness, and in righteousness.

[John Weaver] Now the word renewed is the Greek word anakano, and it means to gain strength or to gain vigor, health, and to be changed into a new life as opposed to the former corrupt state. So he says, for which cause we faint not, but though our outward, our physical man perish, yet the inward man reinvigorated, gains health and gains strength day by day. So let me try to make this simple, what he's saying in verse 16. As we recognize the fact that we're dying in our physical bodies, it should encourage us to more holiness and more godliness. We understand the brevity of life, the certainty of death, and then the blessedness of holiness and obedience. The Apostle Paul is saying that this consideration means that we're nearing our final goal and we understand that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and we recognize that when we do not have much longer in the flesh, it should excite us. and motivate us to more holiness, more righteousness, and more obedience.

[John Weaver] We should become more and more aggressive in our spirit, being renewed day by day." In other words, we reach the state in our life that when we realize we're dying and we don't have that much longer on this earth, we keep saying, I can't quit now, I can't give up now, I can't give in now. I mean, I can see the lights of home. Why in the world would I stop now?

[John Weaver] Obviously, we have a house of clay. And we can be content with this house of clay until we die. Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Isaac and all these other fellows, dwelt in tents? You know, there's a passage And Hebrews 11 verses 9 and 10, let me read it to you. Talking about Abraham, by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles or tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise for he looked for a city which had foundations whose builder and maker is God. He said I could be content to live in a tent as long as I've got that which is coming in eternity.

[John Weaver] And so this is what he's giving us a comparison to now. This body is going to faint and fall off. But although it is perishing, although it is being consumed, he is saying that obviously our inward man should be being renewed day by day. The older we get, and you younger people need to listen to this, the older we get, The more frail we become, the more it should stimulate us to holiness and righteousness and obedience. And one truth, for sure, is to be impressed upon the young people, and that is this. The older we get, the more we regret the sins of our youth, and the sins of our middle age, and even the sins of our old age.

[John Weaver] We can see clearly the disobedience. We can see clearly the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. And we berate ourselves and we say, how stupid could we have been? How could we have done such a thing? We see it so clearly now. And we regret it and we pray over and over and ask, Lord, Lord, as David did, remember not the sins of my youth. Yeah.

[John Weaver] So he is saying, when you consider that your old man is dying, that that physical body is going to drop off, but the inward man is supposed to be being renewed day by day. So when you compare the deterioration of your body with the spiritual advancement of your true self, it should be an encouragement not to faint. There's a second reason not to faint. If you'll look in verse 17, he says, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Now, note if you would, our light affliction.

[John Weaver] You know, it's another interesting thought is this, the nearer we come to death, the nearer we come to our departure, we tend to see everything differently. He said for our light affliction, which is but for a moment Worketh for us a far exceeding more exceeding an eternal weight of glory. I find it absolutely astounding and interesting what Jacob said to Pharaoh and Genesis 47 verse 9 let me read it think about this and Jacob said unto Pharaoh The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years." So he's 130 years old at the time. And then he says this to Pharaoh,"'Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.'" Now at 130 years old, he says,"'Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life.'" Well, let's see.

[John Weaver] He had trouble with Esau. He had to leave, spend 20 years for his wives and his sheep and cattle. He came back in the land. Dinah was raped. Simeon and Levi murdered a whole city. I mean, those were his sons. Ah, Joseph thought he was dead for 15 years, deceived. And interesting, and he says, few and evil have been the days of my life, few and evil.

[John Weaver] Why would someone say that when he went through everything that Jacob went through? And the answer is, because the older you get, The more you see, the goodness of God far exceeds and outweighs the bad days. The bad days seem to be very light afflictions when compared to the eternality of glory. Jacob had his bad days as well as we all have our bad days. But each of us should be like Jacob, overwhelmed with the goodness and mercy of God.

[John Weaver] Now, let me remind you of something. I told you earlier That I was going to come back to that passage in first Peter. I want you to just listen Listen, if you would as I read verse 6 he says Where you greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be You're in heaviness through manifold temptations many different tests many different trials Then he says in verse 7 that the trial of your faith Being much

[John Weaver] more precious than of gold that perisheth. Don't be tried with fire might be found into the praise and honor and glory of the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now, he said that the trial of your faith being much more precious than a gold that perishes. In other words, he said it's just a purifying. It's just that which makes it more glorious when we see the Lord Jesus Christ because it's going to be to his honor and his glory.

[John Weaver] Now, I reread this verse to tell you about something else. Everybody remembers Job. You remember how Job lost everything he owned in one day? He lost all of his children in one day? Then he was afflicted from the top of his head to the toe of his foot with all of these sores and boils, and he sat in ashes, scraping himself? For how long, I have no earthly idea. But you know what Job said in Job 23 and verse 10?

[John Weaver] He said this, He knoweth the way that I take, and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Isn't that amazing? So Job then would have considered everything that he went through a light affliction. And he understood that ultimately it was going to be for his purification, his sanctification, and his glorification. And when we realize that all of our tests, all of our trials, all of our sufferings, compared to eternity and the glory that awaits us. And by the way, let me just say this.

[John Weaver] When we're talking about suffering, may I remind you that suffering is a gift of God. And I've heard people say, well, I don't want that gift. Well, the truth of the matter is, He probably wouldn't give it to you. When the Bible says in Philippians 1 in verse 29, listen carefully, under you it is given on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake. So just like faith is God's gift, suffering is God's gift. God does not give His gift of faith to everyone, and God does not give His gift of suffering to everyone. And when God does give the gift of suffering, He enables the one to gladly suffer for His honor and His glory.

[John Weaver] It's just like the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, when he had that thorn in the flesh and he said, I besought the Lord three times that he would remove this. And God said, no, I'm not going to remove it. My grace is sufficient for thee. And what did the Apostle Paul say next? Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities. Why? He said, I'd rather have the grace of God. I'd rather have the power of God and keep this affliction. than I have be free of affliction and not have the power and the grace of God."

[John Weaver] So, all of our sufferings will be counted as light, especially in light of eternity. Look in verse 18 very quickly. Here's the third reason. He said, while we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. So third, we must consider that everything that we see is temporal. It will pass away, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

[John Weaver] So, the big, nice, fancy house that you now possess will one day rot and fall down. It'll be gone. Or a hurricane or a tornado will take it out, or fire. I mean, it'll just be gone. The huge bank account, it'll dwindle away. The world and the lusts thereof will pass away. The strong muscles that we have will turn to flab. The nice smooth skin that these ladies once had and some still have will turn to flab and wrinkle. I'm sorry. It's temporal. It's going to pass away.

[John Weaver] But he said, that which is not seen is eternal. Wow. We can't see God. God is eternal. We can't see our inheritance in heaven, but that is eternal. We cannot see our heavenly home, yet that is eternal. And what God is telling us that we have to learn to focus upon that which we cannot see more than that which we can see. You remember that passage in Hebrews 11 and verse 27, where the Bible talking about Moses said, and by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. Listen.

[John Weaver] For he endured as seeing Him who is invisible." Well, how did he see Him? Obviously, it was by faith.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look back in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 1. I quoted this verse earlier, but I want you to see it right now. He says,"...therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not." If you will read the entire chapter of 2 Corinthians chapter 4, you will notice this chapter really deals with ministry. It deals with honoring the Lord and serving the Lord. And as you read through this chapter, you will discover that nothing is to cause us to faint.

[John Weaver] Not the enemy, not persecution, not ridicule, not suffering, not affliction, not trials. In other words, he is saying we must not give in, we must not give out, we must not quit, we must persevere for it is His grace that sustains us and it is by His strength that we stand. If we consider the advancement of our spiritual lives as our bodies deteriorate, and if we consider that all of our suffering is nothing but light affliction. It came to pass.

[John Weaver] It did not come to stay. And if we consider the things at which you and I see right now are all temporal, and that which we cannot see is eternal, it should encourage us to keep on and not to faint.

[John Weaver] Now, let me try to tie it together with some applications. Think about this. There is absolutely no reason to faint when we have the person and the power of God to sustain us. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 40. You should already know the passage that I'm turning to, but I want you to look at this. Isaiah chapter 40, and let's begin reading there with verse 29. Isaiah 40, verse 29. Look at this. There's never a reason to faint when we have the person and the power of God. Notice Isaiah 40, verse 29, the scripture says, he giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increases strength.

[John Weaver] Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." In other words, As long as we have the sovereign God of heaven and earth as our person, as our power, as our strength, as our helper, there's no reason in the world to faint. There's no reason to quit, to give in, give up, or give out.

[John Weaver] The second application is this. Those who do not faint, those who do not give up or give out, are amply rewarded by our Lord. Without turning there, let me just quote to you the scripture in Revelation 2 and verse 3, where our Lord is speaking to the church at Ephesus and he says this,"...and has borne, and has patience for my sake, and has labored, and has not fainted."

[John Weaver] Well, notice if you would, they did not quit. They did not faint. They did not cease obeying. So what we have to do is this. We have to develop a holy determination that we're not going to faint. That we're not going to give in. We're not going to give up. We're not going to give out. We're not going to quit. Our God will sustain us and uphold us.

[John Weaver] You remember what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4 and verse 13? You can help me out with this. Listen to it. The Apostle Paul said, I can do how much through Christ who strengthened me? I can do what? All things through Christ who strengthened me. There's nothing we can't do through Jesus Christ. Nothing we can't do through Jesus Christ. Don't let me tell you something. One thing that we may do in His strength and His power and His grace and mercy is not to faint. I do not want to faint in the ministry. I want to persevere as long as the Lord enables me to breathe. I do not want to faint in the preaching of the Word of God. I want to persevere, I want to preach as long as God gives me breath. I do not want to faint when it comes to obedience. I want to be as obedient as I can be by the grace of God as long as He gives me breath. I want to be holy as long as I can breathe.

[John Weaver] I want to fulfill my duty, my obligation, my responsibility, and my privileges to Him as long as I live, as long as He gives me grace and mercy and strength. You know, the thing that gets me is this. I've encountered so many people in my ministry that will quit and throw in the towel for any reason under the sun. I've known people who would not even come to church because their big toe ached. I mean, come on.

[John Weaver] I understand the providence of God. You could be on your way to church and you have a flat tire or your car could quit or you could get up sick. I understand that. I have no problem with that. But when someone tells me, Well, I just didn't feel like going today. Really? You weren't sick. Nothing hindered you. You just gave in to your feelings. Alice can tell you a lot of times I will look at her teasingly when someone says that and I hear that. I said, I ought to just call everybody and tell them there won't be any church Sunday because I just don't feel like preaching. That's ridiculous. Even if I didn't feel like preaching, I'd preach because my feelings have nothing to do with it. You understand that?

[John Weaver] But the point being is this. People will faint and fall out for the slightest reasons. And God says, no, we have to keep on keeping on. We cannot faint. I want you to turn one last time. to Hebrews chapter 12. I want you to see this again. Think about this. I don't understand how anybody could look at this passage and be discouraged. I don't see how anybody could look at this passage and faint. In Hebrews chapter 12, we've already read it, but look in verse 3.

[John Weaver] For consider him, that is Jesus Christ, for consider him that endured such Contradiction of sinners against Himself. Watch. Lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. You're not going through anything like our Lord went through. You're not suffering anything like He suffered. And you have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin. Until we have resisted unto blood, I don't think we really have an excuse. Therefore, we must not faint. And if you consider these three things in 2 Corinthians 4, 16 through 18, you will not faint.

[John Weaver] You will hold on, hold out, and persevere because of His strength and His grace and His mercy. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You for Your blessed Holy Spirit. We thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ. Give us a holy determination, Lord, not to faint, not to give in, not to give up, not to give out, but just simply to rely upon Thee and trust in Thee and lean upon Thee. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen. ♪ ♪ you

How Not To Faint

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	6AAhxRquCKk
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-08-17
Dictation Name
Book	Book 085: Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom — Chapter 15
Source Timed Segments	86

Formatted Transcript

Opening

2 Corinthians 4, and look if you would please, beginning there with verses 16 through 18. 2 Corinthians 4, beginning there with verse 16. The title of the message is, How Not to Faint. How Not to Faint.

2 Corinthians 4 verse 16, the Word of God says,

Scripture Reading — 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

"For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 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."

Introduction: The Reality and Consequences of Fainting

Weaver shares a personal story of fainting in boot camp to illustrate how fainting renders one helpless and useless, then applies this to Christians who live in a state of spiritual faintness.

The question is, have you ever fainted? The next question I would ask is, do you know the consequences of fainting? And very clearly, when one faints, he is unable to function. Duties, responsibilities, obligations all fall by the wayside. Usually, fainting includes a loss of consciousness whereby one is rendered absolutely helpless as well as absolutely useless. I have fainted one time in my entire life. I was just a young boy and I was in boot camp at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

We were on the CBR range, the chemical, biological, radiological. And we were supposed to be given a 10 minute break. And of course, those in the military know the joke that is attached to that and it's really not a joke because it is reality. The sergeants would usually say, "Take ten, expect five, and get two," and that's about the way it went. And so they gave us a ten-minute break and I was going to the latrine which was about a hundred yards away and before I could ever get there, the sergeant was hollering, "Break's over! Back in the bleachers! Back in the bleachers!" Well, I turned around and started running back as fast as I could to get back into the bleachers. And the grass, of course, had been cut. But what I could not see and did not know, there was a hole just about this deep, about that big around, and the grass had grown up from the bottom, and it had been cut smooth. It looked smooth. But as I was running, my foot went in that hole, and I twisted and fell on my foot, and I heard the bone break. So I leapt up to the sergeant, and I said, "Sir, I just broke my foot." And you know what that dumb sergeant asked me? He said, "Well, can you sit out the rest of the lectures and march back to camp?" And you know what that stupid kid said? "Well, yes, sir, I guess I can."

And camp was two miles. So I had to sit through the rest of the lectures and then hobble back to the barracks which was a two mile hike. Of course, obviously I did not stay in formation, but I just made it back on my own, crippled. And so I got in the barracks and I had some of the fellows, I said, "Well, you're going to have to help me take this boot off." Of course, you know, the boot, it was real tight. They unlaced that boot. And when they pull that boot off, boy, that foot and that ankle went out like that. And all of a sudden the pain hit me like you would not believe.

And the next thing I know, I'm awaking to smelling salts, because I had totally, absolutely fainted and passed out. Now, the sergeant could have stood over me and given me a hundred orders. I would not have heard them, and moreover, I could not have obeyed them at all. I'd fainted, and I was unable to defend myself, and certainly unable to defend others as well. I could not obey an order, I could not comply, I could not answer, and for all practical purposes, when I fainted, I was absolutely, totally useless.

Now, in light of that, have you ever heard of fainting goats? I'm sure that you have. Myotonic goats are known as fainting goats because when anything surprises them or frightens them, their muscles go stiff for a short time and they fall over. From my understanding, the problem is actually in their brains, because fainting goats are born with a condition which is known as myotonia congenita, which affects them when they are frightened or startled. So their muscles tense up, and instead of relaxing immediately, they stay stiff and tense, and therefore the goat falls over. Obviously, the goat does not lose consciousness. The goat is still aware of the fact that he's on the ground. But for all practical purposes, the goat is dead meat because he can't run, he can't flee, he can't do anything. He's just there. So obviously, we talk about people who faint, we talk about goats who faint, but the truth is, there are many Christians who live in a state of faintness.

They have fainted and never have awakened. They're clueless, they're useless, and they're worthless as far as the work of the kingdom of God is concerned. They are zombie Christians with the deer in the headlight stare in their eyes, and they just absolutely cannot function. And so like fainting goats, they have fallen by the wayside. They're unable to move. They're unable to function. They're much like that wicked steward to whom our Lord had given a talent, and he took that talent and tied it up in a sweatcloth, a handkerchief, and buried it. He was useless for the kingdom of God.

Biblical Reasons for Fainting

Weaver surveys Scripture to show that fainting can result from fear, physical exhaustion and lack of nutrition, afflictions and trials, and divine chastening.

Now, it's interesting, as you look through the Bible, there are many reasons for people fainting. And before I expound on 2 Corinthians 4, 16 through 18, I want you to turn with me and look at some of the reasons as to why people actually faint. I want you to turn, if you would please, first of all, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 20, because faintness of heart will also come from fear. So when someone is fearful, he is also in what you and I would call a fainting stage. Note, if you would please, in Deuteronomy, chapter 20. And as you're turning there, let me just point out the fact that faith and fear are opposites. They are contrary to one to the other. If you are exercising faith, you're not going to be living in fear. If you're living in fear, then you're not going to be exercising faith. So in Deuteronomy 20, verse 3, this passage deals with the children of Israel going to war. Notice he said in verse 3, "And they shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, you approach this day into battle against your enemies.

Let not your hearts faint. Fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them." So God says when you're about to go to battle, do not faint. Do not be fearful. It doesn't matter about the multitude. It does not matter about their might. God says do not be fearful. Do not faint. And if you'll skip down to verse 8, look at this. This is very interesting, because the priests now are going through and weeding out those who are not capable of fighting. And he says in verse 8, "And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted?" Now watch. "Let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart." So I hope that you've noticed here a very important truth and that is fear is contagious. Fear will cause others to fear and likewise would cause them to desert their post as well. So let me give you a very practical truth on this point. Either your faith or your fear is always going to influence other people. Your faith will encourage them, but your fear will discourage them.

And you are responsible, according to the Word of God, to fear not. And I think it would pay great dividends for individual Christians to take the time to go through their Bibles and just underline all the times that God tells us to fear not. But you might as well mark her down that when one lives in fear, he is also going to be in a fainting state. May I point out something else, and that is this. It is not God's people who are to be living in fear. It is God's enemies. If you would look in your Bibles just a few pages over to the book of Joshua chapter 2, the spies have come to Rahab, and Rahab is giving testimony. And I want you to note what she said in Joshua chapter 2 there and verse 9. Joshua 2 and verse 9.

Notice if you would, "And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you." In other words, we know who God is, we know what God has done to the Egyptians, we know how God has delivered you, and your terror has fallen upon all the inhabitants of the land, and of course we are now faint-hearted. So it's God's enemies who are to be faint-hearted and not God's people. So just marker down, fearfulness will always cause faintness. Now there's a second reason in the Bible given why people faint. Faintness of heart comes also from physical exhaustion and, listen carefully, insufficient nutrition. Look in your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 25. Deuteronomy chapter 25, and you're going to be reading here about Amalek, how he attacked the children of Israel. But note what God says. Deuteronomy chapter 25, and let's begin reading there with verse 17. Deuteronomy 25 verse 17, God says, "Remember what Amalek did to thee by the way, when you were come forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God." Note, if you would, he met thee by the way, he purposefully pushed the attack, he smote the hindmost of thee, he got the weakest, he got the sluggards, he got the ones that were lagging behind, even all that were feeble, when thou wast faint and weary.

Note, if you would, the people had been traveling. They were exhausted, probably had not had time to eat, but yet that is exactly when he attacked. Now the Bible says in Psalm 107 and verse 5, listen carefully, "Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them." And then of course the Bible says in Proverbs 24 and verse 10, "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small." So I want you to underline this in your minds, that oftentimes spiritual faintness will come from physical exhaustion and also a lack of nutrition. Do you realize unhappily most Christians do not live healthy lifestyles? Most Christians are consumed with junk food. They do not properly rest. They do not take care of their bodies or their minds. I'll give you one good clear illustration. I had a good friend years ago who's a diabetic.

And he would not stick to a diet. He loved potatoes. He loved bread. He loved sweets. And he was always having problems. And I told him, I said, "Look, if you don't take care of yourself, you're going to lose a limb. Mark it down. You're going to lose a limb." Well, the next thing you know, within the next year or so, he's having his leg amputated. And so, Alice and I took care of him and his wife and his child while his leg was healing. And the interesting thing is, he still did not want to stick to his diet. I said, "I don't understand this. I said, you've already lost a leg.

What in the world is wrong with you?" And here's what he told me. Listen carefully. He said, "Preacher, I just love to eat." And he said, "I had rather die than not eat what I like." And I said, "Well, keep eating what you like and you will die." And he did within a year. All I'm trying to say is this. Most people will not take care of their bodies. They'll not take care of their minds. Do you realize, and I'm sure that you've read some of these things, I've read even where teenagers and young adults have died from staying up 40 hours straight playing stupid video games. Isn't that insane to think that someone would do that? And yet, when you exhaust yourself mentally, when you exhaust yourself physically, when you exhaust yourself emotionally and spiritually, you're setting yourself up to faint. So faintness of heart will not only come from fear, it will also come from physical exhaustion and also a lack of nutrition. You need to make sure that you're eating things that are healthy and not things that are just junk and processed food all the time. I'm saying it will affect you. In fact, there is a website most Christians need to look at.

It's called Health for All, All of Life. And it has all kinds of great information there. Physically, yes. Medically, it's put up by Christian brothers whom I know. And there's all kinds of information on every disease imaginable. And their point is, Christians ought not to be sick all the time. And that's true. Because we are, because we don't take care of ourselves. That's all there is to it.

So here's the third thing. Faintness of heart will also come from afflictions, tests, and trials. It doesn't just come from fearfulness. It doesn't just come from physical exhaustion and lack of nutrition. And I've often heard Christians who were thoroughly discouraged because they could not understand why they were suffering, why they were going through afflictions, why they were being tested, why they were going through all of these trials. And not only could they not understand, most of the time, they did not even want to understand why those trials were upon them. Now, I want to give you two very reasons why sometimes trials do indeed come upon us. I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Peter 1. And I'm going to come back to this verse a little bit later in this message. But look, if you would, please, in 1 Peter 1. And let's begin reading there with verse 6. 1 Peter 1 and verse 6.

Note, if you would, what the Bible says. 1 Peter 1 and verse 6. In fact, please understand that in verses 4 and 5, he is talking about our inheritance that is reserved in heaven for us. And then verse 5 tells us that we are kept by the power of God through faith unto the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Now look at verse 6. And he's talking,

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 1:6-7

"Wherein ye greatly rejoice,"

that is in that hope, in that salvation, in that abundant mercy and grace that's given to us and to that inheritance. He says,

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 1:6-7

"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness."

Why?

"Through manifold temptations" or manifold tests and trials. And the word manifold means variegated, different kinds, different colors. So not everybody has the same temptations, but, exactly, but there are many varied kinds of temptations. He says in verse 7, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." And so He is telling us that everything that we go through as far as our tests, our trials, our tribulations, our afflictions, are for our good, they are indeed for our purification, our sanctification, our glorification. And if we endure these the way we should endure these, then it's going to redound to the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ at His appearing. So we have to understand that, yes, everything that happens to us happens for a reason.

Secondly, if you would turn back in your Bibles a few pages to the book of Hebrews chapter 12, I want you to note something else. Hebrews chapter 12, look if you would beginning there with verse 2. Hebrews 12 verse 2, the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:2-4

"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Now, in light of that truth, look at verses 3 and 4.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:2-4

"For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin."

The next time you want to give in, give up, give out, next time you want to be discouraged, next time you think you want to be depressed and you just want to faint and you just want to quit, our Lord commands us in this passage to consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

It is true that we oftentimes have very severe trials, very severe temptations, very severe afflictions, but we have never, ever experienced anything the way our Lord experienced it. And think of all that our Lord accomplished through all of His sufferings. Who endured, the Bible says, the cross, despising the shame, and He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself. Moreover, He then says in verse 4, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." So cheer up. You haven't yet sweat great drops of blood. No, you haven't yet resisted sin and wickedness until you bleed. No, no, no. So there's a long way to go. So our Lord is saying the next time we think we might want to faint, He said we need to consider the Lord Jesus Christ and everything that He has gone through. So you can faint not only based upon your fear, you can faint not only based upon physical exhaustion and nutritional deficiency, you can also faint just simply because of the afflictions and tests and temptations and trials that you're going through. But there's another area in which you can faint and that is you

can faint because of chastening. Look down in verse 5, you're in Hebrews chapter 12, look in verse 5. He says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:5-13

"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him."

Now look,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:5-13

"My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him."

Please understand this, chastening is for our benefit and our blessings. Chastening may not be appreciated at the first. In fact, it is usually very grievous at the first. And all the times that I was whipped and chastised by my father, I don't ever remember after he got through whipping me, turning around and saying, "Dad, I really appreciate this discipline. Thank you for chastening me." No, I didn't do that. Probably couldn't have said those words anyhow if I wanted to, because I was crying too much. But you know, the truth of the matter is this. I have thanked my father for it after I was an adult. And even today, a lot of times, my father's in heaven with my mother. You know, I still thank the Lord for what they taught me, how they raised me, how they disciplined me. I'm just simply saying, at first, it is grievous. Now, let me show you. Skip down, if you would, in your Bibles. You're in Hebrews chapter 12. Skip down, if you would, to verse 9. He says it like this.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:5-13

"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence."

That is, we submitted to them. We respected them. I've told you before, and I've said this before, when I was a teenager, I talked back to my father one time. Just once. And I found out how to respect what my father said. So, note he said,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:5-13

"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence,"

we gave them respect. Then he asks this question,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:5-13

"Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?"

"For they," that is our earthly fathers, "verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure." Sometimes they whipped us just because they were upset with us. That would be their own pleasure. "But He," that is God, "for our profit," and the only time God whips us is for our profit. Watch, "that we might be partakers of His holiness." "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." In other words, let me stop there. God's chastening always works. Afraid I've whipped my kids many times and it didn't work. But when God chastens His own, it always works. Now in light of that, look in verse 12 and 13. He says, "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which

is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." Now let me just kind of paraphrase for you, verses 12 and 13. God said, "I've whipped you. You're down. Now, God says, get up off of your hands and knees. Let those hands dangle straight down. Stand up. Get on your feet and do what you were supposed to be doing to begin with." That's what He's saying. In other words, you're not to faint. "My chastisement is for your good and for my glory." So get up and go to work. Do what you're supposed to be doing.

David said it like this in Psalm 27 and verse 13. He said, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." And certainly, we do see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That keeps us from fainting. Now, notice if you would, Psalm 103. I want you to turn there. I could quote this, but I want you to see this is such a very, very important passage to me.

Encouragements Not to Faint from Scripture

Weaver cites Luke 18:1, 2 Corinthians 4:1, and Galatians 6:9 to urge persistent prayer, faithful ministry, and unwavering well-doing.

That's the way it is with the Lord. Now, so He's promised there's never ever going to be any temptation that takes us except that which is common. And will with the temptation, He'll always make a way out. He will always make a way of escape that we may be able to bear it. There may be other reasons why you faint in the Bible, but these are some of the main reasons that God has given. But before I get to our text, I want to give you three scriptures, three encouragements not to faint. I want you to listen to these. Most of you know them, but listen if you would to Luke 18 and verse 1. The Bible says concerning Jesus Christ, "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." Always to pray and not to faint.

I've heard Christians say, "Well, I've prayed about this for six months and I have gotten an answer. I'm just going to quit." Really? Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Pray another six months. If you don't get an answer, then pray another six months. Do not give in. Do not give up. Do not give out. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Now, I'm going to come back to this text in just a moment. But in our text, in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 1, the Bible says this, "Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not." So the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 is talking about the ministry. He said, "Seeing we have received this ministry, we faint not." So, we're not to faint in prayer, we're not to faint in the ministry, and then when you get to Galatians 6 and verse 9, what does he say? "And be not weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we what?

Faint not. If we faint not. If we faint not. You know, I remember as a boy, working in the cotton fields, peanut fields, all this kind of stuff. We'd have to pull weeds, we'd have to hoe cotton, we'd have to chop cotton. We did all of those things, and here's a whole field in front of you, and you think, "I'll never finish this field." But you know, if you take one row at a time, and you're consistent, you're going to finish that field. You'll pull every weed, you'll chop every hill of cotton that needs to be chopped, you'll chop every weed that needs to be chopped.

I'm just simply saying, that's exactly what he's talking about. We're going to be reaping if we faint not. Now, I want you to turn back in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, because that's our text beginning there with verse 16. And I want to share with you, since I've shared with you reasons as to why we faint often, I want to point out some reasons that will enable us and empower us not to faint. If you look in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16, when the Apostle Paul says, "For which cause we faint not," the word faint is ekkakeo.

Exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:16 – Inward Renewal Amid Outward Decay

The first reason not to faint is the contrast between the perishing outward man and the daily renewal of the inward man, which should motivate holiness as we age.

Now, I want you to turn back in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, because that's our text beginning there with verse 16. And I want to share with you, since I've shared with you reasons as to why we faint often, I want to point out some reasons that will enable us and empower us not to faint. If you look in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16, when the Apostle Paul says, "For which cause we faint not," the word faint is ekkakeo. It is a present active indicative, which means this. We are not now fainting, and we are going to keep on not now fainting. In other words, we're just not going to faint. That's what he's saying right there in verse 16. "For which cause we are not fainting, and we will not ever faint. We will keep on not fainting." So, that's why the Bible says in Hebrews 10 in verse 39,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:39

"But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

That's the end. So, we're not going to give in. Now, we're not going to faint. That's what he's saying.

When one faints spiritually, he is weary, wearied out, exhausted, utterly spiritless, and just cannot go on. So let me ask you, what is it in this text that would encourage us to persevere? Well, there are three things, since there are three verses there. I want you to look at verse 16 again. He says, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."

So the first thing that will enable us not to faint is that we must consider the increase and the advancement of our spiritual lives as compared to the deterioration of our physical lives. That's what he said. Watch carefully. "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish," that is the physical man, our bodies, "yet the inward man," that is the true man, "is renewed day by day."

Now, those whom God allows to reach old age realize the deterioration of the body. We recognize that our old man, our bodies, are fading, perishing, and dying. More and more do we see our weaknesses, and they become more and more apparent with age. We can no longer do the things that we used to do. The interesting thing is the Greek word for perish here is actually diaphtheiro, and it means to come to ruin, to be consumed, to change for the worse, and to lose bodily vigor and strength. So he says, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man lose bodily vigor and strength, be consumed, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."

Now, while no one really wants to die, the truth of the matter is we realize that we will die. And in that sense of the word, that is discouraging. But the upside of our physical death, the wearing out of our body, is that the inward man progresses in spirituality, in holiness, and in righteousness. Now the word renewed is the Greek word anakainoo, and it means to gain strength or to gain vigor, health, and to be changed into a new life as opposed to the former corrupt state. So he says, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward, our physical man perish, yet the inward man reinvigorated, gains health and gains strength day by day." So let me try to make this simple, what he's saying in verse 16. As we recognize the fact that we're dying in our physical bodies, it should encourage us to more holiness and more godliness. We understand the brevity of life, the certainty of death, and then the blessedness of holiness and obedience. The Apostle Paul is saying that this consideration means that we're nearing our final goal and we understand that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and we recognize that when we do not have much longer in the flesh, it should excite us and motivate us to more holiness, more righteousness, and more obedience.

We should become more and more aggressive in our spirit, being renewed day by day. In other words, we reach the state in our life that when we realize we're dying and we don't have that much longer on this earth, we keep saying, "I can't quit now, I can't give up now, I can't give in now. I mean, I can see the lights of home. Why in the world would I stop now?" Obviously, we have a house of clay. And we can be content with this house of clay until we die. Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Isaac and all these other fellows, dwelt in tents? You know, there's a passage in Hebrews 11 verses 9 and 10, let me read it to you. Talking about Abraham, "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles" or tents "with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." He said, "I could be content to live in a tent as long as I've got that which is coming in eternity."

And so this is what he's giving us a comparison to now. This body is going to faint and fall off. But although it is perishing, although it is being consumed, he is saying that obviously our inward man should be being renewed day by day. The older we get, and you younger people need to listen to this, the older we get, the more frail we become, the more it should stimulate us to holiness and righteousness and obedience. And one truth, for sure, is to be impressed upon the young people, and that is this. The older we get, the more we regret the sins of our youth, and the sins of our middle age, and even the sins of our old age. We can see clearly the disobedience. We can see clearly the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. And we berate ourselves and we say, "How stupid could we have been? How could we have done such a thing?" We see it so clearly now. And we regret it and we pray over and over and ask, "Lord, Lord, as David did, remember not the sins of my youth." Yeah.

Exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:17 – Light Affliction and Eternal Glory

The second reason is that present afflictions are light and momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory they produce, as seen in Jacob's perspective and Job's confidence.

So he is saying, when you consider that your old man is dying, that that physical body is going to drop off, but the inward man is supposed to be being renewed day by day. So when you compare the deterioration of your body with the spiritual advancement of your true self, it should be an encouragement not to faint. There's a second reason not to faint. If you'll look in verse 17, he says, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Now, note if you would, "our light affliction." You know, it's another interesting thought is this, the nearer we come to death, the nearer we come to our departure, we tend to see everything differently. He said, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." I find it absolutely astounding and interesting what Jacob said to Pharaoh in Genesis 47 verse 9, let me read it. Think about this. "And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years." So he's 130 years old at the time. And then he says this to Pharaoh, "Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." Now at 130 years old, he says, "Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life." Well, let's see.

He had trouble with Esau. He had to leave, spend 20 years for his wives and his sheep and cattle. He came back in the land. Dinah was raped. Simeon and Levi murdered a whole city. I mean, those were his sons. Ah, Joseph thought he was dead for 15 years, deceived. And interesting, and he says, "Few and evil have been the days of my life, few and evil."

Why would someone say that when he went through everything that Jacob went through? And the answer is, because the older you get, the more you see, the goodness of God far exceeds and outweighs the bad days. The bad days seem to be very light afflictions when compared to the eternality of glory. Jacob had his bad days as well as we all have our bad days. But each of us should be like Jacob, overwhelmed with the goodness and mercy of God.

Now, let me remind you of something. I told you earlier that I was going to come back to that passage in 1 Peter. I want you to just listen. Listen, if you would, as I read verse 6. He says, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations," many different tests, many different trials. Then he says in verse 7, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Now, he said that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes. In other words, he said it's just a purifying. It's just that which makes it more glorious when we see the Lord Jesus Christ because it's going to be to his honor and his glory.

Now, I reread this verse to tell you about something else. Everybody remembers Job. You remember how Job lost everything he owned in one day? He lost all of his children in one day? Then he was afflicted from the top of his head to the toe of his foot with all of these sores and boils, and he sat in ashes, scraping himself? For how long, I have no earthly idea. But you know what Job said in Job 23 and verse 10?

He said this, "He knoweth the way that I take: and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Isn't that amazing? So Job then would have considered everything that he went through a light affliction. And he understood that ultimately it was going to be for his purification, his sanctification, and his glorification. And when we realize that all of our tests, all of our trials, all of our sufferings, compared to eternity and the glory that awaits us. And by the way, let me just say this.

When we're talking about suffering, may I remind you that suffering is a gift of God. And I've heard people say, "Well, I don't want that gift." Well, the truth of the matter is, He probably wouldn't give it to you. When the Bible says in Philippians 1 in verse 29, listen carefully,

Scripture Reading — Philippians 1:29

"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake."

So just like faith is God's gift, suffering is God's gift. God does not give His gift of faith to everyone, and God does not give His gift of suffering to everyone. And when God does give the gift of suffering, He enables the one to gladly suffer for His honor and His glory. It's just like the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, when he had that thorn in the flesh and he said, "I besought the Lord three times that he would remove this." And God said, "No, I'm not going to remove it. My grace is sufficient for thee." And what did the Apostle Paul say next? "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities." Why? He said, "I'd rather have the grace of God. I'd rather have the power of God and keep this affliction than I have be free of affliction and not have the power and the grace of God."

So, all of our sufferings will be counted as light, especially in light of eternity. Look in verse 18 very quickly. Here's the third reason. He said, "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." So third, we must consider that everything that we see is temporal. It will pass away, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:18 – Temporal vs. Eternal Focus

The third reason is to fix our gaze on unseen eternal realities rather than visible temporal things, following Moses' example of seeing the invisible God by faith.

So, the big, nice, fancy house that you now possess will one day rot and fall down. It'll be gone. Or a hurricane or a tornado will take it out, or fire. I mean, it'll just be gone. The huge bank account, it'll dwindle away. The world and the lusts thereof will pass away. The strong muscles that we have will turn to flab. The nice smooth skin that these ladies once had and some still have will turn to flab and wrinkle. I'm sorry. It's temporal. It's going to pass away.

But he said, that which is not seen is eternal. Wow. We can't see God. God is eternal. We can't see our inheritance in heaven, but that is eternal. We cannot see our heavenly home, yet that is eternal. And what God is telling us that we have to learn to focus upon that which we cannot see more than that which we can see. You remember that passage in Hebrews 11 and verse 27, where the Bible talking about Moses said, "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king." Listen.

"For he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." Well, how did he see Him? Obviously, it was by faith. Now, I want you to look back in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 1. I quoted this verse earlier, but I want you to see it right now. He says, "Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not." If you will read the entire chapter of 2 Corinthians chapter 4, you will notice this chapter really deals with ministry. It deals with honoring the Lord and serving the Lord. And as you read through this chapter, you will discover that nothing is to cause us to faint.

Not the enemy, not persecution, not ridicule, not suffering, not affliction, not trials. In other words, he is saying we must not give in, we must not give out, we must not quit, we must persevere for it is His grace that sustains us and it is by His strength that we stand. If we consider the advancement of our spiritual lives as our bodies deteriorate, and if we consider that all of our suffering is nothing but light affliction. It came to pass. It did not come to stay. And if we consider the things at which you and I see right now are all temporal, and that which we cannot see is eternal, it should encourage us to keep on and not to faint.

Applications: God's Power and the Reward of Perseverance

Weaver applies the text by emphasizing God's enabling power (Isaiah 40:29-31), the reward for not fainting (Revelation 2:3), and the call to holy determination in ministry and obedience.

Now, let me try to tie it together with some applications. Think about this. There is absolutely no reason to faint when we have the person and the power of God to sustain us. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 40. You should already know the passage that I'm turning to, but I want you to look at this. Isaiah chapter 40, and let's begin reading there with verse 29. Isaiah 40, verse 29. Look at this. There's never a reason to faint when we have the person and the power of God. Notice Isaiah 40, verse 29, the scripture says, "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." In other words, as long as we have the sovereign God of heaven and earth as our person, as our power, as our strength, as our helper, there's no reason in the world to faint. There's no reason to quit, to give in, give up, or give out. The second application is this. Those who do not faint, those who do not give up or give out, are amply rewarded by our Lord. Without turning there, let me just quote to you the scripture in Revelation 2 and verse 3, where our Lord is speaking to the church at Ephesus and he says this, "And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted."

Well, notice if you would, they did not quit. They did not faint. They did not cease obeying. So what we have to do is this. We have to develop a holy determination that we're not going to faint. That we're not going to give in. We're not going to give up. We're not going to give out. We're not going to quit. Our God will sustain us and uphold us.

You remember what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4 and verse 13? You can help me out with this. Listen to it. The Apostle Paul said, "I can do how much through Christ who strengthened me? I can do what? All things through Christ who strengthened me." There's nothing we can't do through Jesus Christ. Nothing we can't do through Jesus Christ. Don't let me tell you something. One thing that we may do in His strength and His power and His grace and mercy is not to faint. I do not want to faint in the ministry. I want to persevere as long as the Lord enables me to breathe. I do not want to faint in the preaching of the Word of God. I want to persevere, I want to preach as long as God gives me breath. I do not want to faint when it comes to obedience. I want to be as obedient as I can be by the grace of God as long as He gives me breath. I want to be holy as long as I can breathe.

I want to fulfill my duty, my obligation, my responsibility, and my privileges to Him as long as I live, as long as He gives me grace and mercy and strength. You know, the thing that gets me is this. I've encountered so many people in my ministry that will quit and throw in the towel for any reason under the sun. I've known people who would not even come to church because their big toe ached. I mean, come on. I understand the providence of God. You could be on your way to church and you have a flat tire or your car could quit or you could get up sick. I understand that. I have no problem with that. But when someone tells me, "Well, I just didn't feel like going today." Really? You weren't sick. Nothing hindered you. You just gave in to your feelings. Alice can tell you a lot of times I will look at her teasingly when someone says that and I hear that. I said, "I ought to just call everybody and tell them there won't be any church Sunday because I just don't feel like preaching." That's ridiculous. Even if I didn't feel like preaching, I'd preach because my feelings have nothing to do with it. You understand that?

But the point being is this. People will faint and fall out for the slightest reasons. And God says, no, we have to keep on keeping on. We cannot faint. I want you to turn one last time to Hebrews chapter 12. I want you to see this again. Think about this. I don't understand how anybody could look at this passage and be discouraged. I don't see how anybody could look at this passage and faint. In Hebrews chapter 12, we've already read it, but look in verse 3.

"For consider him," that is Jesus Christ, "for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself." Watch. "Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." You're not going through anything like our Lord went through. You're not suffering anything like He suffered. And you have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin. Until we have resisted unto blood, I don't think we really have an excuse. Therefore, we must not faint. And if you consider these three things in 2 Corinthians 4, 16 through 18, you will not faint.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Spiritual Fainting and Its Causes

Summary: Spiritual fainting renders believers useless for God's kingdom, and it can stem from fear, physical exhaustion, trials, or chastening.

Evidence: Weaver describes fainting goats and zombie Christians, then lists biblical causes: fear (Deut. 20:3,8), exhaustion (Deut. 25:17-18), afflictions (1 Pet. 1:6-7), and chastening (Heb. 12:5).

The Contrast Between Outward Decay and Inward Renewal

Summary: As the physical body perishes, the inward man should be renewed daily, spurring believers to greater holiness and perseverance.

Evidence: Weaver explains 2 Cor. 4:16, noting the Greek words for 'perish' and 'renewed,' and urges that aging should stimulate godliness.

The Lightness of Affliction in Light of Eternity

Summary: Present sufferings are momentary and light when compared to the eternal glory they produce, encouraging believers not to faint.

Evidence: Weaver cites 2 Cor. 4:17, Jacob's testimony (Gen. 47:9), Job's confidence (Job 23:10), and Paul's thorn (2 Cor. 12) to show affliction's purpose.

Focusing on the Unseen Eternal Realities

Summary: Believers must look not at visible temporal things but at invisible eternal things, which are permanent and glorious.

Evidence: Weaver expounds 2 Cor. 4:18, referencing Moses' endurance by seeing the invisible (Heb. 11:27) and the passing nature of worldly possessions.

Divine Enablement to Persevere

Summary: God gives power to the faint and strengthens those who wait on Him, making perseverance possible through His grace.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Isaiah 40:29-31 and Philippians 4:13, emphasizing that believers can do all things through Christ who strengthens them.

The Necessity of Holy Determination

Summary: Believers must resolve not to faint in ministry, prayer, obedience, or well-doing, regardless of feelings or minor hindrances.

Evidence: Weaver cites Luke 18:1, 2 Cor. 4:1, Gal. 6:9, and Rev. 2:3, and rebukes those who quit for trivial reasons.

Key Arguments

Fear causes fainting and is contagious among God's people.

Summary: Fear leads to faintheartedness, and one person's fear can spread to others, so God commands His people not to fear.

Evidence: Weaver cites Deut. 20:3,8, noting that fearful soldiers were sent home lest they cause others to faint, and contrasts faith and fear.

Physical exhaustion and poor nutrition contribute to spiritual faintness.

Summary: When believers neglect physical health, they become vulnerable to spiritual fainting, as seen in Israel's weariness before Amalek's attack.

Evidence: Weaver references Deut. 25:17-18, Ps. 107:5, Prov. 24:10, and gives a personal illustration of a diabetic friend who refused dietary discipline.

Afflictions and trials are designed for our purification and glorification.

Summary: God uses manifold trials to refine faith, producing praise and honor at Christ's appearing, so believers should not faint under them.

Evidence: Weaver expounds 1 Pet. 1:6-7 and Heb. 12:2-4, emphasizing that Christ endured far worse and we have not resisted to blood.

Divine chastening is for our profit and should not lead to fainting.

Summary: God's discipline yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness, so believers should lift up their hands and continue walking straight.

Evidence: Weaver explains Heb. 12:5-13, noting that chastening is grievous at first but beneficial, and God knows our frame (Ps. 103:13-14).

The inward man's renewal outweighs the outward man's decay.

Summary: As the body perishes, the spiritual life should gain strength daily, motivating believers to press on toward holiness.

Evidence: Weaver analyzes the Greek terms in 2 Cor. 4:16 and urges that the brevity of life should excite greater obedience.

Present afflictions are light and momentary compared to eternal glory.

Summary: When viewed in light of eternity, all suffering is brief and produces an incomparable weight of glory, as Jacob and Job recognized.

Evidence: Weaver cites 2 Cor. 4:17, Gen. 47:9, Job 23:10, and Phil. 1:29 to show suffering as a gift that works for our good.

Focus on unseen eternal things prevents fainting.

Summary: Visible things are temporary, but invisible realities are eternal; believers must fix their eyes on the unseen by faith.

Evidence: Weaver references 2 Cor. 4:18 and Heb. 11:27, contrasting temporal possessions with eternal inheritance.

God's power enables believers to persevere without fainting.

Summary: Those who wait on the Lord receive renewed strength, and through Christ they can do all things, including enduring without fainting.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Isa. 40:29-31 and Phil. 4:13, applying them to ministry, prayer, and obedience.

Scripture References

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Context: The primary text of the sermon, teaching that the inward man is renewed daily, affliction is light and momentary, and unseen things are eternal.

Deuteronomy 20:3,8

Context: God commands Israel not to faint or fear in battle, and fearful soldiers are sent home to prevent contagious fear.

Joshua 2:9

Context: Rahab testifies that the inhabitants of Canaan faint because of God's terror upon Israel, showing that enemies, not God's people, should faint.

Deuteronomy 25:17-18

Context: Amalek attacked Israel when they were faint and weary, illustrating how physical exhaustion leads to vulnerability.

Psalm 107:5

Context: Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them, linking physical deprivation to spiritual faintness.

Proverbs 24:10

Context: If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small, indicating that fainting reveals weakness.

1 Peter 1:6-7

Context: Believers rejoice in trials because the testing of faith is more precious than gold and results in praise at Christ's appearing.

Hebrews 12:2-4

Context: Considering Christ's endurance of sinners prevents weariness and fainting, and believers have not yet resisted to blood.

Hebrews 12:5-13

Context: God's chastening is for our profit and yields righteousness; therefore, lift up feeble hands and make straight paths.

Psalm 27:13

Context: David would have fainted unless he believed to see the goodness of the Lord, showing faith prevents fainting.

Psalm 103:13-14

Context: God pities His children and knows our frame, remembering we are dust, so He does not overburden us.

1 Corinthians 10:13

Context: No temptation is beyond what we can bear; God provides a way of escape, usually through obedience and submission.

Luke 18:1

Context: Jesus taught a parable to show that men ought always to pray and not faint.

2 Corinthians 4:1

Context: Having received the ministry by mercy, Paul declares 'we faint not,' applying to all service.

Galatians 6:9

Context: Do not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.

Hebrews 10:39

Context: We are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

Genesis 47:9

Context: Jacob, at 130, called his years few and evil, showing how age brings perspective on affliction.

Job 23:10

Context: Job trusted that after God tried him, he would come forth as gold, viewing suffering as purifying.

Philippians 1:29

Context: It is given to believers not only to believe but also to suffer for Christ's sake, making suffering a gift.

Isaiah 40:29-31

Context: God gives power to the faint, and those who wait on the Lord renew their strength and do not faint.

Historical References

Fort Jackson, South Carolina boot camp

Context: Weaver recounts fainting after breaking his foot during basic training, illustrating total helplessness.

Fainting goats (myotonic goats)

Context: Weaver describes goats that stiffen and fall when startled, comparing them to Christians who faint spiritually.

Health for All, All of Life website

Context: Weaver mentions a Christian health website promoting physical well-being to prevent spiritual faintness.

Important Quotes

For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Significance: The foundational verse of the sermon, emphasizing the contrast between physical decay and spiritual renewal as a reason not to faint.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

Significance: Key verse teaching that present suffering is temporary and produces eternal glory, a central encouragement against fainting.

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.

Significance: The third verse of the text, urging a focus on eternal unseen realities to prevent fainting.

For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Significance: The ultimate motivation: looking to Christ's endurance prevents mental and spiritual fainting.

Discussion Questions

What are some modern examples of 'fainting goats' in the church, and how can we avoid becoming like them?

Context: Weaver compares Christians who faint to fainting goats that fall over and become useless when startled.

How does fear spread among believers, and what practical steps can we take to cultivate faith instead of fear?

Context: Weaver notes from Deuteronomy 20 that fear is contagious and can cause others to faint.

In what ways might physical exhaustion or poor nutrition be affecting your spiritual vitality, and what changes could you make?

Context: Weaver argues that physical neglect often leads to spiritual faintness, citing Amalek's attack on weary Israel.

How can we view our current trials as 'light affliction' in light of eternity, and what difference does that perspective make?

Context: Weaver expounds 2 Corinthians 4:17, using Jacob and Job as examples of those who saw suffering as brief and purifying.

What are some practical ways to 'look not at the things which are seen' and focus on eternal realities in daily life?

Context: Weaver explains that visible things are temporary, and we must fix our eyes on the unseen by faith, like Moses.

How does the promise of 1 Corinthians 10:13 help you face temptations and trials without fainting?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability and always provides a way of escape.

Why is it important to 'consider Him' (Jesus) when we feel like giving up, and how can we practically do that?

Context: Weaver points to Hebrews 12:3, urging believers to contemplate Christ's endurance to prevent mental fainting.

What does it mean to 'wait upon the Lord' for renewed strength, and how have you experienced this in your own life?

Context: Weaver quotes Isaiah 40:31, promising that those who wait on God will not faint but will soar like eagles.

Applications

Persevere in prayer without giving up.

Summary: Believers should always pray and not faint, continuing in prayer even when answers are delayed.

Evidence: Weaver cites Luke 18:1 and urges praying another six months if no answer comes, rather than quitting.

Remain faithful in ministry despite difficulties.

Summary: Having received mercy in ministry, we must not faint but persevere in serving the Lord.

Evidence: Weaver references 2 Corinthians 4:1 and his own determination to preach as long as he has breath.

Continue in well-doing without weariness.

Summary: Do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not faint.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Galatians 6:9 and illustrates with the consistency of working a field row by row.

Maintain physical health to support spiritual vitality.

Summary: Proper rest, nutrition, and care for the body help prevent spiritual faintness, as physical exhaustion can lead to vulnerability.

Evidence: Weaver warns against junk food, lack of rest, and cites the example of a diabetic friend who refused dietary discipline.

View aging as a stimulus for greater holiness.

Summary: As the body decays, the inward man should be renewed daily, motivating believers to pursue obedience and righteousness more aggressively.

Evidence: Weaver explains 2 Corinthians 4:16 and urges that the brevity of life should excite us to holiness.

Accept suffering as a gift and trust God's purpose in it.

Summary: Recognize that suffering is given by God for our purification and His glory, and rely on His grace to endure it gladly.

Evidence: Weaver cites Philippians 1:29 and 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, showing Paul's gladness in infirmities for Christ's sake.

Focus on eternal realities rather than temporal circumstances.

Summary: Deliberately set your mind on unseen eternal things—God, heaven, inheritance—rather than visible, passing things.

Evidence: Weaver expounds 2 Corinthians 4:18 and references Moses' endurance by seeing the invisible (Hebrews 11:27).

Rely on God's strength to persevere without fainting.

Summary: Wait on the Lord for renewed strength, and do all things through Christ who strengthens you, refusing to quit based on feelings.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Isaiah 40:31 and Philippians 4:13, and rebukes those who skip church for trivial reasons.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T23:56:00Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T14:41:54Z

Clean Transcript

How Not To Faint

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

2 Corinthians 4, and look if you would please, beginning there with verses 16 through 18. 2 Corinthians 4, beginning there with verse 16. The title of the message is, How Not to Faint. How Not to Faint.
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2 Corinthians 4 verse 16, the Word of God says, "For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 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."
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The question is, have you ever fainted? The next question I would ask is, do you know the consequences of fainting? And very clearly, when one faints, he is unable to function. Duties, responsibilities, obligations all fall by the wayside. Usually, fainting includes a loss of consciousness whereby one is rendered absolutely helpless as well as absolutely useless. I have fainted one time in my entire life. I was just a young boy and I was in boot camp at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
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We were on the CBR range, the chemical, biological, radiological. And we were supposed to be given a 10 minute break. And of course, those in the military know the joke that is attached to that and it's really not a joke because it is reality. The sergeants would usually say, "Take ten, expect five, and get two," and that's about the way it went. And so they gave us a ten-minute break and I was
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going to the latrine which was about a hundred yards away and before I could ever get there, the sergeant was hollering, "Break's over! Back in the bleachers! Back in the bleachers!" Well, I turned around and started running back as fast as I could to get back into the bleachers. And the grass, of course, had been cut. But what I could not see and did not know, there was a hole just about this deep, about that big around, and the grass had grown up from the bottom, and it had been cut smooth. It looked smooth. But as I was running, my foot went in that hole, and I twisted and fell on my foot, and I heard the bone break. So I leapt up to the sergeant, and I said, "Sir, I just broke my foot." And you know what that dumb sergeant asked me? He said, "Well, can you sit out the rest of the lectures and march back to camp?" And you know what that stupid kid said? "Well, yes, sir, I guess I can."
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And camp was two miles. So I had to sit through the rest of the lectures and then hobble back to the barracks which was a two mile hike. Of course, obviously I did not stay in formation, but I just made it back on my own, crippled. And so I got in the barracks and I had some of the fellows, I said, "Well, you're going to have to help me take this boot off." Of course, you know, the boot, it was real tight. They unlaced that boot. And when they pull that boot off, boy, that foot and that ankle went out like that. And all of a sudden the pain hit me like you would not believe.
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And the next thing I know, I'm awaking to smelling salts, because I had totally, absolutely fainted and passed out. Now, the sergeant could have stood over me and given me a hundred orders. I would not have heard them, and moreover, I could not have obeyed them at all. I'd fainted, and I was unable to defend myself, and certainly unable to defend others as well. I could not obey an order, I could not comply, I could not answer, and for all practical purposes, when I fainted, I was absolutely, totally useless.
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Now, in light of that, have you ever heard of fainting goats? I'm sure that you have. Myotonic goats are known as fainting goats because when anything surprises them or frightens them, their muscles go stiff for a short time and they fall over. From my understanding, the problem is actually in their brains, because fainting goats are born with a condition which is known as myotonia congenita, which affects them when they are frightened or startled. So their muscles tense up, and instead of relaxing immediately, they stay stiff and tense, and therefore the goat falls over. Obviously, the goat does not lose consciousness. The goat is still aware of the fact that he's on the ground. But for all practical purposes, the goat is dead meat because he can't run, he can't flee, he can't do anything. He's just there. So obviously, we talk about people who faint, we talk about goats who faint, but the truth is, there are many Christians who live in a state of faintness.
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They have fainted and never have awakened. They're clueless, they're useless, and they're worthless as far as the work of the kingdom of God is concerned. They are zombie Christians with the deer in the headlight stare in their eyes, and they just absolutely cannot function. And so like fainting goats, they have fallen by the wayside. They're unable to move. They're unable to function. They're much like that wicked steward to whom our Lord had given a talent, and he took that talent and tied it up in a sweatcloth, a handkerchief, and buried it. He was useless for the kingdom of God.
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Now, it's interesting, as you look through the Bible, there are many reasons for people fainting. And before I expound on 2 Corinthians 4, 16 through 18, I want you to turn with me and look at some of the reasons as to why people actually faint. I want you to turn, if you would please, first of all, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 20, because faintness of heart will also come from fear. So when someone is fearful, he is also in what you and I would call a fainting stage. Note, if you would please, in Deuteronomy, chapter 20. And as you're turning there, let me just point out the fact that faith and fear are opposites.
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They are contrary to one to the other. If you are exercising faith, you're not going to be living in fear. If you're living in fear, then you're not going to be exercising faith. So in Deuteronomy 20, verse 3, this passage deals with the children of Israel going to war. Notice he said in verse 3, "And they shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, you approach this day into battle against your enemies.
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Let not your hearts faint. Fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them." So God says when you're about to go to battle, do not faint. Do not be fearful. It doesn't matter about the multitude. It does not matter about their might. God says do not be fearful. Do not faint. And if you'll skip down to verse 8, look at this. This is very interesting, because the priests now are going through and weeding out those who are not capable of fighting. And he says in verse 8, "And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted?" Now watch. "Let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart." So I hope that you've noticed here a very important truth and that is fear is contagious. Fear will cause others to fear and likewise would cause them to desert their post as well. So let me give you a very practical truth on this point. Either your faith or your fear is always going to influence other people. Your faith will encourage them, but your fear will discourage them.
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And you are responsible, according to the Word of God, to fear not. And I think it would pay great dividends for individual Christians to take the time to go through their Bibles and just underline all the times that God tells us to fear not. But you might as well mark her down that when one lives in fear, he is also going to be in a fainting state.
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May I point out something else, and that is this. It is not God's people who are to be living in fear. It is God's enemies. If you would look in your Bibles just a few pages over to the book of Joshua chapter 2, the spies have come to Rahab, and Rahab is giving testimony. And I want you to note what she said in Joshua chapter 2 there and verse 9. Joshua 2 and verse 9.
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Notice if you would, "And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you." In other words, we know who God is, we know what God has done to the Egyptians, we know how God has delivered you, and your terror has fallen upon all the inhabitants of the land, and of course we are now faint-hearted. So it's God's enemies who are to be faint-hearted and not God's people.
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So just marker down, fearfulness will always cause faintness. Now there's a second reason in the Bible given why people faint. Faintness of heart comes also from physical exhaustion and, listen carefully, insufficient nutrition. Look in your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 25. Deuteronomy chapter 25, and you're going to be reading here about Amalek, how he attacked the children of Israel. But note what God says. Deuteronomy chapter 25, and let's begin reading there with verse 17. Deuteronomy 25 verse 17, God says, "Remember what Amalek did to thee by the way, when you were come forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God." Note, if you would, he met thee by the way, he purposefully pushed the attack, he smote the hindmost of thee, he got the weakest, he got the sluggards, he got the ones that were lagging behind, even all that were feeble, when thou wast faint and weary.
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Note, if you would, the people had been traveling. They were exhausted, probably had not had time to eat, but yet that is exactly when he attacked. Now the Bible says in Psalm 107 and verse 5, listen carefully, "Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them." And then of course the Bible says in Proverbs 24 and verse 10, "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small."
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So I want you to underline this in your minds, that oftentimes spiritual faintness will come from physical exhaustion and also a lack of nutrition. Do you realize unhappily most Christians do not live healthy lifestyles? Most Christians are consumed with junk food. They do not properly rest. They do not take care of their bodies or their minds. I'll give you one good clear illustration. I had a good friend years ago who's a diabetic.
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And he would not stick to a diet. He loved potatoes. He loved bread. He loved sweets. And he was always having problems. And I told him, I said, "Look, if you don't take care of yourself, you're going to lose a limb. Mark it down. You're going to lose a limb." Well, the next thing you know, within the next year or so, he's having his leg amputated. And so, Alice and I took care of him and his wife and his child while his leg was healing. And the interesting thing is, he still did not want to stick to his diet. I said, "I don't understand this. I said, you've already lost a leg.
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What in the world is wrong with you?" And here's what he told me. Listen carefully. He said, "Preacher, I just love to eat." And he said, "I had rather die than not eat what I like." And I said, "Well, keep eating what you like and you will die." And he did within a year. All I'm trying to say is this. Most people will not take care of their bodies. They'll not take care of their minds.
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Do you realize, and I'm sure that you've read some of these things, I've read even where teenagers and young adults have died from staying up 40 hours straight playing stupid video games. Isn't that insane to think that someone would do that? And yet, when you exhaust yourself mentally, when you exhaust yourself physically, when you exhaust yourself emotionally and spiritually, you're setting yourself up to faint. So faintness of heart will not only come from fear, it will also come from physical exhaustion and also a lack of nutrition. You need to make sure that you're eating things that are healthy and not things that are just junk and processed food all the time. I'm saying it will affect you. In fact, there is a website most Christians need to look at.
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It's called Health for All, All of Life. And it has all kinds of great information there. Physically, yes. Medically, it's put up by Christian brothers whom I know. And there's all kinds of information on every disease imaginable. And their point is, Christians ought not to be sick all the time. And that's true. Because we are, because we don't take care of ourselves. That's all there is to it.
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So here's the third thing. Faintness of heart will also come from afflictions, tests, and trials. It doesn't just come from fearfulness. It doesn't just come from physical exhaustion and lack of nutrition. And I've often heard Christians who were thoroughly discouraged because they could not understand why they were suffering, why they were going through afflictions, why they were being tested, why they were going through all of these trials. And not only could they not understand, most of the time, they did not even want to understand why those trials were upon them. Now, I want to give you two very reasons why sometimes trials do indeed come upon us. I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Peter 1. And I'm going to come back to this verse a little bit later in this message. But look, if you would, please, in 1 Peter 1. And let's begin reading there with verse 6. 1 Peter 1 and verse 6.
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Note, if you would, what the Bible says. 1 Peter 1 and verse 6. In fact, please understand that in verses 4 and 5, he is talking about our inheritance that is reserved in heaven for us. And then verse 5 tells us that we are kept by the power of God through faith unto the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Now look at verse 6. And he's talking, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice," that is in that hope, in that salvation, in that abundant mercy and grace that's given to us and to that inheritance. He says, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness." Why?
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"Through manifold temptations" or manifold tests and trials. And the word manifold means variegated, different kinds, different colors. So not everybody has the same temptations, but, exactly, but there are many varied kinds of temptations. He says in verse 7, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." And so He is telling us that everything that we go through as far as our tests, our trials, our tribulations, our afflictions, are for our good, they are indeed for our purification, our sanctification, our glorification. And if we endure these the way we should endure these, then it's going to redound to the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ at His appearing. So we have to understand that, yes, everything that happens to us happens for a reason.
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Secondly, if you would turn back in your Bibles a few pages to the book of Hebrews chapter 12, I want you to note something else. Hebrews chapter 12, look if you would beginning there with verse 2. Hebrews 12 verse 2, the Bible says, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Now, in light of that truth, look at verses 3 and 4. "For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
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Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." The next time you want to give in, give up, give out, next time you want to be discouraged, next time you think you want to be depressed and you just want to faint and you just want to quit, our Lord commands us in this passage to consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
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It is true that we oftentimes have very severe trials, very severe temptations, very severe afflictions, but we have never, ever experienced anything the way our Lord experienced it. And think of all that our Lord accomplished through all of His sufferings. Who endured, the Bible says, the cross, despising the shame, and He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself. Moreover, He then says in verse 4, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." So cheer up. You haven't yet sweat great drops of blood. No, you haven't yet resisted sin and wickedness until you bleed. No, no, no. So there's a long way to go. So our Lord is saying the next time we think we might want to faint, He said we need to consider the Lord Jesus Christ and everything that He has gone through. So you can faint not only based upon your fear, you can faint not only based upon physical exhaustion and nutritional deficiency, you can also faint just simply because of the afflictions and tests and temptations and trials that you're going through. But there's another area in which you can faint and that is you
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can faint because of chastening. Look down in verse 5, you're in Hebrews chapter 12, look in verse 5. He says, "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him." Now look, "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him." Please understand this, chastening is for our benefit and our blessings. Chastening may not be appreciated at the first. In fact, it is usually very grievous at the first.
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And all the times that I was whipped and chastised by my father, I don't ever remember after he got through whipping me, turning around and saying, "Dad, I really appreciate this discipline. Thank you for chastening me." No, I didn't do that. Probably couldn't have said those words anyhow if I wanted to, because I was crying too much. But you know, the truth of the matter is this. I have thanked my father for it after I was an adult. And even today, a lot of times, my father's in heaven with my mother. You know, I still thank the Lord for what they taught me, how they raised me, how they disciplined me. I'm just simply saying, at first, it is grievous.
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Now, let me show you. Skip down, if you would, in your Bibles. You're in Hebrews chapter 12. Skip down, if you would, to verse 9. He says it like this. "Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence." That is, we submitted to them. We respected them. I've told you before, and I've said this before, when I was a teenager, I talked back to my father one time. Just once. And I found out how to respect what my father said. So, note he said, "Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence," we gave them respect. Then he asks this question, "Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?"
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"For they," that is our earthly fathers, "verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure." Sometimes they whipped us just because they were upset with us. That would be their own pleasure. "But He," that is God, "for our profit," and the only time God whips us is for our profit. Watch, "that we might be partakers of His holiness."
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"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." In other words, let me stop there. God's chastening always works. Afraid I've whipped my kids many times and it didn't work. But when God chastens His own, it always works. Now in light of that, look in verse 12 and 13. He says, "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which
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is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." Now let me just kind of paraphrase for you, verses 12 and 13. God said, "I've whipped you. You're down.
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Now, God says, get up off of your hands and knees. Let those hands dangle straight down. Stand up. Get on your feet and do what you were supposed to be doing to begin with." That's what He's saying. In other words, you're not to faint. "My chastisement is for your good and for my glory." So get up and go to work. Do what you're supposed to be doing.
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David said it like this in Psalm 27 and verse 13. He said, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." And certainly, we do see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That keeps us from fainting. Now, notice if you would, Psalm 103. I want you to turn there. I could quote this, but I want you to see this is such a very, very important passage to me.
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It's been such a blessing to me throughout my life. Notice, if you would, Psalm 103, and look, if you would, please, at verses 13 and 14. Look at this. Psalm 103, verses 13 and 14. The Bible says, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." Watch, "Like as a father pitieth his children." I got so tickled. I teach a young man each week. He's got a little boy, about two, going on three probably. And every time the little boy breaks or tears up his toy, he always takes it to daddy. His mother picked it up. He says, "No, daddy, fix it. Daddy, fix it." You know, so his daddy was telling me now, now when something breaks, he looks at his daddy and say, "Jack fixes it. I fix it." Daddy said, "No, no, no, no."
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Well, listen to this now. "Like as a father pitieth his children." So that's what God does. He pities us. Watch, "For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are but dust." Has this thought ever hit your mind that God knows our frame? God knows our limits. God knows our weaknesses. God knows our strengths. God knows what we can do and what we cannot do. God knows our frame precisely.
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Let me say this another way. God knows what we can take and what we cannot take.
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Now, I want you to underline something in your mind. I'm going to give you the Scripture momentarily. But here it is. If God in His providence brings a test or a trial or an affliction or suffering upon you, if God in His providence brings any of that upon you, mark it down, you can take it. You can handle it. Because God knows your frame. He knows exactly what you can take and what you cannot take.
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And He has promised to never ever put more on you than you're able to bear. And every time He places something on you, there is always a way out. So I can quote the Scripture, but I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 10 and look at verse 13. You need to memorize this passage. You need to underline it in your mind. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13. Now listen to this. Look at what he says.
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"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man." So let me just stop right there just for a moment. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man." The temptations that Joshua has I have. The ones I have, Steve has. The ones Steve has, Gary has. The ones Gary has, James has. There are no superhuman afflictions or temptations placed upon anyone.
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That's what God is saying. There are no temptations taking you but such as is common to man. Watch. "But God is faithful, who will not suffer you" or who will not allow you "to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation" or the test or the trial "make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Now the way of escape is usually through obedience and submission. But that's the way to escape any of it. You know, I tell everybody and I used—it wasn't funny at the time.
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We smile about it now. But Alice and I of course had identical twins. And I had to stay on those girls, I mean, because they would be encouraging each other. It seemed like I was chasing them every time I turned around. And then our baby daughter, I don't ever remember whipping her. I may have one time, I just don't remember. But I could look at her hard and she would just start crying and say, "Daddy, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." And she just melt. Well, I mean, obviously, I'm not going to whip her when she is submissive and obedient and wants to do what's right.
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That's the way it is with the Lord. Now, so He's promised there's never ever going to be any temptation that takes us except that which is common. And will with the temptation, He'll always make a way out. He will always make a way of escape that we may be able to bear it. There may be other reasons why you faint in the Bible, but these are some of the main reasons that God has given. But before I get to our text, I want to give you three scriptures, three encouragements not to faint. I want you to listen to these. Most of you know them, but listen if you would to Luke 18 and verse 1. The Bible says concerning Jesus Christ, "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." Always to pray and not to faint.
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I've heard Christians say, "Well, I've prayed about this for six months and I have gotten an answer. I'm just going to quit." Really? Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Pray another six months. If you don't get an answer, then pray another six months. Do not give in. Do not give up. Do not give out. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Now, I'm going to come back to this text in just a moment. But in our text, in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 1, the Bible says this, "Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not." So the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 is talking about the ministry. He said, "Seeing we have received this ministry, we faint not." So, we're not to faint in prayer, we're not to faint in the ministry, and then when you get to Galatians 6 and verse 9, what does he say? "And be not weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we what?
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Faint not. If we faint not. If we faint not. You know, I remember as a boy, working in the cotton fields, peanut fields, all this kind of stuff. We'd have to pull weeds, we'd have to hoe cotton, we'd have to chop cotton. We did all of those things, and here's a whole field in front of you, and you think, "I'll never finish this field." But you know, if you take one row at a time, and you're consistent, you're going to finish that field. You'll pull every weed, you'll chop every hill of cotton that needs to be chopped, you'll chop every weed that needs to be chopped.
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I'm just simply saying, that's exactly what he's talking about. We're going to be reaping if we faint not.
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Now, I want you to turn back in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, because that's our text beginning there with verse 16. And I want to share with you, since I've shared with you reasons as to why we faint often, I want to point out some reasons that will enable us and empower us not to faint. If you look in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16, when the Apostle Paul says, "For which cause we faint not," the word faint is ekkakeo.
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It is a present active indicative, which means this. We are not now fainting, and we are going to keep on not now fainting. In other words, we're just not going to faint. That's what he's saying right there in verse 16. "For which cause we are not fainting, and we will not ever faint. We will keep on not fainting." So, that's why the Bible says in Hebrews 10 in verse 39, "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." That's the end. So, we're not going to give in. Now, we're not going to faint. That's what he's saying.
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When one faints spiritually, he is weary, wearied out, exhausted, utterly spiritless, and just cannot go on. So let me ask you, what is it in this text that would encourage us to persevere? Well, there are three things, since there are three verses there. I want you to look at verse 16 again. He says, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."
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So the first thing that will enable us not to faint is that we must consider the increase and the advancement of our spiritual lives as compared to the deterioration of our physical lives. That's what he said. Watch carefully. "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish," that is the physical man, our bodies, "yet the inward man," that is the true man, "is renewed day by day."
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Now, those whom God allows to reach old age realize the deterioration of the body. We recognize that our old man, our bodies, are fading, perishing, and dying. More and more do we see our weaknesses, and they become more and more apparent with age. We can no longer do the things that we used to do. The interesting thing is the Greek word for perish here is actually diaphtheiro, and it means to come to ruin, to be consumed, to change for the worse, and to lose bodily vigor and strength. So he says, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man lose bodily vigor and strength, be consumed, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."
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Now, while no one really wants to die, the truth of the matter is we realize that we will die. And in that sense of the word, that is discouraging. But the upside of our physical death, the wearing out of our body, is that the inward man progresses in spirituality, in holiness, and in righteousness.
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Now the word renewed is the Greek word anakainoo, and it means to gain strength or to gain vigor, health, and to be changed into a new life as opposed to the former corrupt state. So he says, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward, our physical man perish, yet the inward man reinvigorated, gains health and gains strength day by day." So let me try to make this simple, what he's saying in verse 16. As we recognize the fact that we're dying in our physical bodies, it should encourage us to more holiness and more godliness. We understand the brevity of life, the certainty of death, and then the blessedness of holiness and obedience. The Apostle Paul is saying that this consideration means that we're nearing our final goal and we understand that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and we recognize that when we do not have much longer in the flesh, it should excite us and motivate us to more holiness, more righteousness, and more obedience.
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We should become more and more aggressive in our spirit, being renewed day by day. In other words, we reach the state in our life that when we realize we're dying and we don't have that much longer on this earth, we keep saying, "I can't quit now, I can't give up now, I can't give in now. I mean, I can see the lights of home. Why in the world would I stop now?"
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Obviously, we have a house of clay. And we can be content with this house of clay until we die. Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Isaac and all these other fellows, dwelt in tents? You know, there's a passage in Hebrews 11 verses 9 and 10, let me read it to you. Talking about Abraham, "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles" or tents "with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." He said, "I could be content to live in a tent as long as I've got that which is coming in eternity."
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And so this is what he's giving us a comparison to now. This body is going to faint and fall off. But although it is perishing, although it is being consumed, he is saying that obviously our inward man should be being renewed day by day. The older we get, and you younger people need to listen to this, the older we get, the more frail we become, the more it should stimulate us to holiness and righteousness and obedience. And one truth, for sure, is to be impressed upon the young people, and that is this. The older we get, the more we regret the sins of our youth, and the sins of our middle age, and even the sins of our old age.
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We can see clearly the disobedience. We can see clearly the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. And we berate ourselves and we say, "How stupid could we have been? How could we have done such a thing?" We see it so clearly now. And we regret it and we pray over and over and ask, "Lord, Lord, as David did, remember not the sins of my youth." Yeah.
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So he is saying, when you consider that your old man is dying, that that physical body is going to drop off, but the inward man is supposed to be being renewed day by day. So when you compare the deterioration of your body with the spiritual advancement of your true self, it should be an encouragement not to faint. There's a second reason not to faint. If you'll look in verse 17, he says, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Now, note if you would, "our light affliction."
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You know, it's another interesting thought is this, the nearer we come to death, the nearer we come to our departure, we tend to see everything differently. He said, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." I find it absolutely astounding and interesting what Jacob said to Pharaoh in Genesis 47 verse 9, let me read it. Think about this. "And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years." So he's 130 years old at the time. And then he says this to Pharaoh, "Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." Now at 130 years old, he says, "Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life." Well, let's see.
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He had trouble with Esau. He had to leave, spend 20 years for his wives and his sheep and cattle. He came back in the land. Dinah was raped. Simeon and Levi murdered a whole city. I mean, those were his sons. Ah, Joseph thought he was dead for 15 years, deceived. And interesting, and he says, "Few and evil have been the days of my life, few and evil."
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Why would someone say that when he went through everything that Jacob went through? And the answer is, because the older you get, the more you see, the goodness of God far exceeds and outweighs the bad days. The bad days seem to be very light afflictions when compared to the eternality of glory. Jacob had his bad days as well as we all have our bad days. But each of us should be like Jacob, overwhelmed with the goodness and mercy of God.
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Now, let me remind you of something. I told you earlier that I was going to come back to that passage in 1 Peter. I want you to just listen. Listen, if you would, as I read verse 6. He says, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations," many different tests, many different trials. Then he says in verse 7, "That the trial of your faith, being much
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more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Now, he said that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes. In other words, he said it's just a purifying. It's just that which makes it more glorious when we see the Lord Jesus Christ because it's going to be to his honor and his glory.
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Now, I reread this verse to tell you about something else. Everybody remembers Job. You remember how Job lost everything he owned in one day? He lost all of his children in one day? Then he was afflicted from the top of his head to the toe of his foot with all of these sores and boils, and he sat in ashes, scraping himself? For how long, I have no earthly idea. But you know what Job said in Job 23 and verse 10?
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He said this, "He knoweth the way that I take: and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Isn't that amazing? So Job then would have considered everything that he went through a light affliction. And he understood that ultimately it was going to be for his purification, his sanctification, and his glorification. And when we realize that all of our tests, all of our trials, all of our sufferings, compared to eternity and the glory that awaits us. And by the way, let me just say this.
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When we're talking about suffering, may I remind you that suffering is a gift of God. And I've heard people say, "Well, I don't want that gift." Well, the truth of the matter is, He probably wouldn't give it to you. When the Bible says in Philippians 1 in verse 29, listen carefully, "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." So just like faith is God's gift, suffering is God's gift. God does not give His gift of faith to everyone, and God does not give His gift of suffering to everyone. And when God does give the gift of suffering, He enables the one to gladly suffer for His honor and His glory.
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It's just like the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, when he had that thorn in the flesh and he said, "I besought the Lord three times that he would remove this." And God said, "No, I'm not going to remove it. My grace is sufficient for thee." And what did the Apostle Paul say next? "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities." Why? He said, "I'd rather have the grace of God. I'd rather have the power of God and keep this affliction than I have be free of affliction and not have the power and the grace of God."
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So, all of our sufferings will be counted as light, especially in light of eternity. Look in verse 18 very quickly. Here's the third reason. He said, "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." So third, we must consider that everything that we see is temporal. It will pass away, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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So, the big, nice, fancy house that you now possess will one day rot and fall down. It'll be gone. Or a hurricane or a tornado will take it out, or fire. I mean, it'll just be gone. The huge bank account, it'll dwindle away. The world and the lusts thereof will pass away. The strong muscles that we have will turn to flab. The nice smooth skin that these ladies once had and some still have will turn to flab and wrinkle. I'm sorry. It's temporal. It's going to pass away.
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But he said, that which is not seen is eternal. Wow. We can't see God. God is eternal. We can't see our inheritance in heaven, but that is eternal. We cannot see our heavenly home, yet that is eternal. And what God is telling us that we have to learn to focus upon that which we cannot see more than that which we can see. You remember that passage in Hebrews 11 and verse 27, where the Bible talking about Moses said, "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king." Listen.
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"For he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." Well, how did he see Him? Obviously, it was by faith.
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Now, I want you to look back in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 1. I quoted this verse earlier, but I want you to see it right now. He says, "Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not." If you will read the entire chapter of 2 Corinthians chapter 4, you will notice this chapter really deals with ministry. It deals with honoring the Lord and serving the Lord. And as you read through this chapter, you will discover that nothing is to cause us to faint.
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Not the enemy, not persecution, not ridicule, not suffering, not affliction, not trials. In other words, he is saying we must not give in, we must not give out, we must not quit, we must persevere for it is His grace that sustains us and it is by His strength that we stand. If we consider the advancement of our spiritual lives as our bodies deteriorate, and if we consider that all of our suffering is nothing but light affliction. It came to pass.
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It did not come to stay. And if we consider the things at which you and I see right now are all temporal, and that which we cannot see is eternal, it should encourage us to keep on and not to faint.
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Now, let me try to tie it together with some applications. Think about this. There is absolutely no reason to faint when we have the person and the power of God to sustain us. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 40. You should already know the passage that I'm turning to, but I want you to look at this. Isaiah chapter 40, and let's begin reading there with verse 29. Isaiah 40, verse 29. Look at this. There's never a reason to faint when we have the person and the power of God. Notice Isaiah 40, verse 29, the scripture says, "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
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Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." In other words, as long as we have the sovereign God of heaven and earth as our person, as our power, as our strength, as our helper, there's no reason in the world to faint. There's no reason to quit, to give in, give up, or give out.
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The second application is this. Those who do not faint, those who do not give up or give out, are amply rewarded by our Lord. Without turning there, let me just quote to you the scripture in Revelation 2 and verse 3, where our Lord is speaking to the church at Ephesus and he says this, "And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted."
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Well, notice if you would, they did not quit. They did not faint. They did not cease obeying. So what we have to do is this. We have to develop a holy determination that we're not going to faint. That we're not going to give in. We're not going to give up. We're not going to give out. We're not going to quit. Our God will sustain us and uphold us.
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You remember what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4 and verse 13? You can help me out with this. Listen to it. The Apostle Paul said, "I can do how much through Christ who strengthened me? I can do what? All things through Christ who strengthened me." There's nothing we can't do through Jesus Christ. Nothing we can't do through Jesus Christ. Don't let me tell you something. One thing that we may do in His strength and His power and His grace and mercy is not to faint. I do not want to faint in the ministry. I want to persevere as long as the Lord enables me to breathe. I do not want to faint in the preaching of the Word of God. I want to persevere, I want to preach as long as God gives me breath. I do not want to faint when it comes to obedience. I want to be as obedient as I can be by the grace of God as long as He gives me breath. I want to be holy as long as I can breathe.
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I want to fulfill my duty, my obligation, my responsibility, and my privileges to Him as long as I live, as long as He gives me grace and mercy and strength. You know, the thing that gets me is this. I've encountered so many people in my ministry that will quit and throw in the towel for any reason under the sun. I've known people who would not even come to church because their big toe ached. I mean, come on.
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I understand the providence of God. You could be on your way to church and you have a flat tire or your car could quit or you could get up sick. I understand that. I have no problem with that. But when someone tells me, "Well, I just didn't feel like going today." Really? You weren't sick. Nothing hindered you. You just gave in to your feelings. Alice can tell you a lot of times I will look at her teasingly when someone says that and I hear that. I said, "I ought to just call everybody and tell them there won't be any church Sunday because I just don't feel like preaching." That's ridiculous. Even if I didn't feel like preaching, I'd preach because my feelings have nothing to do with it. You understand that?
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But the point being is this. People will faint and fall out for the slightest reasons. And God says, no, we have to keep on keeping on. We cannot faint. I want you to turn one last time to Hebrews chapter 12. I want you to see this again. Think about this. I don't understand how anybody could look at this passage and be discouraged. I don't see how anybody could look at this passage and faint. In Hebrews chapter 12, we've already read it, but look in verse 3.
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"For consider him," that is Jesus Christ, "for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself." Watch. "Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." You're not going through anything like our Lord went through. You're not suffering anything like He suffered. And you have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin. Until we have resisted unto blood, I don't think we really have an excuse. Therefore, we must not faint. And if you consider these three things in 2 Corinthians 4, 16 through 18, you will not faint.
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You will hold on, hold out, and persevere because of His strength and His grace and His mercy. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You for Your blessed Holy Spirit. We thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ. Give us a holy determination, Lord, not to faint, not to give in, not to give up, not to give out, but just simply to rely upon Thee and trust in Thee and lean upon Thee. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T23:56:00Z

How Not To Faint

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver expounds 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 to teach believers how to avoid spiritual fainting. He identifies causes of fainting—fear, physical exhaustion and poor nutrition, afflictions and trials, and divine chastening—and provides three encouragements from the text: the inward renewal despite outward decay, the lightness of temporal affliction compared to eternal glory, and the need to focus on unseen eternal realities. The sermon emphasizes perseverance through God's strength, with practical applications for ministry, prayer, and daily obedience.

Opening

2 Corinthians 4 verse 16, the Word of God says,

Scripture Reading — 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

"For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 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."

Introduction: The Reality and Consequences of Fainting

Weaver shares a personal story of fainting in boot camp to illustrate how fainting renders one helpless and useless, then applies this to Christians who live in a state of spiritual faintness.

Biblical Reasons for Fainting

Weaver surveys Scripture to show that fainting can result from fear, physical exhaustion and lack of nutrition, afflictions and trials, and divine chastening.

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 1:6-7

"Wherein ye greatly rejoice,"

that is in that hope, in that salvation, in that abundant mercy and grace that's given to us and to that inheritance. He says,

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 1:6-7

"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness."

Why?

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:2-4

"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Now, in light of that truth, look at verses 3 and 4.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:2-4

"For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin."

can faint because of chastening. Look down in verse 5, you're in Hebrews chapter 12, look in verse 5. He says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:5-13

"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him."

Now look,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:5-13

"My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him."

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:5-13

"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence."

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:5-13

"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence,"

we gave them respect. Then he asks this question,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:5-13

"Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?"

Encouragements Not to Faint from Scripture

Weaver cites Luke 18:1, 2 Corinthians 4:1, and Galatians 6:9 to urge persistent prayer, faithful ministry, and unwavering well-doing.

Exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:16 – Inward Renewal Amid Outward Decay

The first reason not to faint is the contrast between the perishing outward man and the daily renewal of the inward man, which should motivate holiness as we age.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:39

"But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

That's the end. So, we're not going to give in. Now, we're not going to faint. That's what he's saying.

Exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:17 – Light Affliction and Eternal Glory

The second reason is that present afflictions are light and momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory they produce, as seen in Jacob's perspective and Job's confidence.

Scripture Reading — Philippians 1:29

"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake."

Exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:18 – Temporal vs. Eternal Focus

The third reason is to fix our gaze on unseen eternal realities rather than visible temporal things, following Moses' example of seeing the invisible God by faith.

Applications: God's Power and the Reward of Perseverance

Weaver applies the text by emphasizing God's enabling power (Isaiah 40:29-31), the reward for not fainting (Revelation 2:3), and the call to holy determination in ministry and obedience.

How Not To Faint

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	6AAhxRquCKk
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-08-17
Dictation Name
Book	Book 085: Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom — Chapter 15
Source Timed Segments	86

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Reality and Consequences of Fainting: Weaver shares a personal story of fainting in boot camp to illustrate how fainting renders one helpless and useless, then applies this to Christians who live in a state of spiritual faintness.
Biblical Reasons for Fainting: Weaver surveys Scripture to show that fainting can result from fear, physical exhaustion and lack of nutrition, afflictions and trials, and divine chastening.
Encouragements Not to Faint from Scripture: Weaver cites Luke 18:1, 2 Corinthians 4:1, and Galatians 6:9 to urge persistent prayer, faithful ministry, and unwavering well-doing.
Exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:16 – Inward Renewal Amid Outward Decay: The first reason not to faint is the contrast between the perishing outward man and the daily renewal of the inward man, which should motivate holiness as we age.
Exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:17 – Light Affliction and Eternal Glory: The second reason is that present afflictions are light and momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory they produce, as seen in Jacob's perspective and Job's confidence.
Exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:18 – Temporal vs. Eternal Focus: The third reason is to fix our gaze on unseen eternal realities rather than visible temporal things, following Moses' example of seeing the invisible God by faith.
Applications: God's Power and the Reward of Perseverance: Weaver applies the text by emphasizing God's enabling power (Isaiah 40:29-31), the reward for not fainting (Revelation 2:3), and the call to holy determination in ministry and obedience.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Fear causes fainting and is contagious among God's people.

Fear leads to faintheartedness, and one person's fear can spread to others, so God commands His people not to fear.

Weaver cites Deut. 20:3,8, noting that fearful soldiers were sent home lest they cause others to faint, and contrasts faith and fear.

Physical exhaustion and poor nutrition contribute to spiritual faintness.

When believers neglect physical health, they become vulnerable to spiritual fainting, as seen in Israel's weariness before Amalek's attack.

Weaver references Deut. 25:17-18, Ps. 107:5, Prov. 24:10, and gives a personal illustration of a diabetic friend who refused dietary discipline.

Afflictions and trials are designed for our purification and glorification.

God uses manifold trials to refine faith, producing praise and honor at Christ's appearing, so believers should not faint under them.

Weaver expounds 1 Pet. 1:6-7 and Heb. 12:2-4, emphasizing that Christ endured far worse and we have not resisted to blood.

Divine chastening is for our profit and should not lead to fainting.

God's discipline yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness, so believers should lift up their hands and continue walking straight.

Weaver explains Heb. 12:5-13, noting that chastening is grievous at first but beneficial, and God knows our frame (Ps. 103:13-14).

The inward man's renewal outweighs the outward man's decay.

As the body perishes, the spiritual life should gain strength daily, motivating believers to press on toward holiness.

Weaver analyzes the Greek terms in 2 Cor. 4:16 and urges that the brevity of life should excite greater obedience.

Present afflictions are light and momentary compared to eternal glory.

When viewed in light of eternity, all suffering is brief and produces an incomparable weight of glory, as Jacob and Job recognized.

Weaver cites 2 Cor. 4:17, Gen. 47:9, Job 23:10, and Phil. 1:29 to show suffering as a gift that works for our good.

Focus on unseen eternal things prevents fainting.

Visible things are temporary, but invisible realities are eternal; believers must fix their eyes on the unseen by faith.

Weaver references 2 Cor. 4:18 and Heb. 11:27, contrasting temporal possessions with eternal inheritance.

God's power enables believers to persevere without fainting.

Those who wait on the Lord receive renewed strength, and through Christ they can do all things, including enduring without fainting.

Weaver quotes Isa. 40:29-31 and Phil. 4:13, applying them to ministry, prayer, and obedience.

Scripture References

2 Corinthians 4:16-18: The primary text of the sermon, teaching that the inward man is renewed daily, affliction is light and momentary, and unseen things are eternal.
Deuteronomy 20:3,8: God commands Israel not to faint or fear in battle, and fearful soldiers are sent home to prevent contagious fear.
Joshua 2:9: Rahab testifies that the inhabitants of Canaan faint because of God's terror upon Israel, showing that enemies, not God's people, should faint.
Deuteronomy 25:17-18: Amalek attacked Israel when they were faint and weary, illustrating how physical exhaustion leads to vulnerability.
Psalm 107:5: Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them, linking physical deprivation to spiritual faintness.
Proverbs 24:10: If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small, indicating that fainting reveals weakness.
1 Peter 1:6-7: Believers rejoice in trials because the testing of faith is more precious than gold and results in praise at Christ's appearing.
Hebrews 12:2-4: Considering Christ's endurance of sinners prevents weariness and fainting, and believers have not yet resisted to blood.
Hebrews 12:5-13: God's chastening is for our profit and yields righteousness; therefore, lift up feeble hands and make straight paths.
Psalm 27:13: David would have fainted unless he believed to see the goodness of the Lord, showing faith prevents fainting.
Psalm 103:13-14: God pities His children and knows our frame, remembering we are dust, so He does not overburden us.
1 Corinthians 10:13: No temptation is beyond what we can bear; God provides a way of escape, usually through obedience and submission.
Luke 18:1: Jesus taught a parable to show that men ought always to pray and not faint.
2 Corinthians 4:1: Having received the ministry by mercy, Paul declares 'we faint not,' applying to all service.
Galatians 6:9: Do not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.
Hebrews 10:39: We are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
Genesis 47:9: Jacob, at 130, called his years few and evil, showing how age brings perspective on affliction.
Job 23:10: Job trusted that after God tried him, he would come forth as gold, viewing suffering as purifying.
Philippians 1:29: It is given to believers not only to believe but also to suffer for Christ's sake, making suffering a gift.
Isaiah 40:29-31: God gives power to the faint, and those who wait on the Lord renew their strength and do not faint.

Historical References

Fort Jackson, South Carolina boot camp: Weaver recounts fainting after breaking his foot during basic training, illustrating total helplessness.
Fainting goats (myotonic goats): Weaver describes goats that stiffen and fall when startled, comparing them to Christians who faint spiritually.
Health for All, All of Life website: Weaver mentions a Christian health website promoting physical well-being to prevent spiritual faintness.

Important Quotes

For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

The foundational verse of the sermon, emphasizing the contrast between physical decay and spiritual renewal as a reason not to faint.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

Key verse teaching that present suffering is temporary and produces eternal glory, a central encouragement against fainting.

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.

The third verse of the text, urging a focus on eternal unseen realities to prevent fainting.

For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

The ultimate motivation: looking to Christ's endurance prevents mental and spiritual fainting.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

What are some modern examples of 'fainting goats' in the church, and how can we avoid becoming like them?

[Context]

Weaver compares Christians who faint to fainting goats that fall over and become useless when startled.

[Question]

How does fear spread among believers, and what practical steps can we take to cultivate faith instead of fear?

[Context]

Weaver notes from Deuteronomy 20 that fear is contagious and can cause others to faint.

[Question]

In what ways might physical exhaustion or poor nutrition be affecting your spiritual vitality, and what changes could you make?

[Context]

Weaver argues that physical neglect often leads to spiritual faintness, citing Amalek's attack on weary Israel.

[Question]

How can we view our current trials as 'light affliction' in light of eternity, and what difference does that perspective make?

[Context]

Weaver expounds 2 Corinthians 4:17, using Jacob and Job as examples of those who saw suffering as brief and purifying.

[Question]

What are some practical ways to 'look not at the things which are seen' and focus on eternal realities in daily life?

[Context]

Weaver explains that visible things are temporary, and we must fix our eyes on the unseen by faith, like Moses.

[Question]

How does the promise of 1 Corinthians 10:13 help you face temptations and trials without fainting?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability and always provides a way of escape.

[Question]

Why is it important to 'consider Him' (Jesus) when we feel like giving up, and how can we practically do that?

[Context]

Weaver points to Hebrews 12:3, urging believers to contemplate Christ's endurance to prevent mental fainting.

[Question]

What does it mean to 'wait upon the Lord' for renewed strength, and how have you experienced this in your own life?

[Context]

Weaver quotes Isaiah 40:31, promising that those who wait on God will not faint but will soar like eagles.

Applications

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