As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. (2 Cor. 7:9-11)
-we live in a diverse world, as you all well know
-there are many different ways of looking at things and there are many different types of people
-as Christians, however, we are constrained to view the world as having only two types of people
-these two types are the Christians and the non-Christians
-in the sight of God, no other distinctions or differences matter
-not what color, race or creed, not ‘nerds’ ‘jocks’ ‘preps’
-just those who love Christ and those who do not
-other than that obvious distinction, what is it that separates the non Christians from the Christians?
-here is a quote from George Gallop, a famous poll taker and statistician:
“There's little difference in ethical behavior between the churched and the unchurched. There's as much pilferage and dishonesty among the churched as the unchurched. And I'm afraid that applies pretty much across the board: religion, per se, is not really life changing. People cite it as important, for instance, in overcoming depression--but it doesn't have primacy in determining behavior.”
-surprised? It seems that just simple religion, an adherence to rules and laws and behaviours, doesn’t change anyone! What we need is change from the inside
-does Gallops findings mean that true Christians don’t ever change their behavior? Of course not!
-it does mean, however, that we are all sinful, whether we pretend like we are or not
-my favorite preacher, Steve Brown, puts it this way: “There are two types of people in the world…those who are bad and know it and those who are bad and don’t know it”
-as Christians, we are the ones who are bad and know we need a remedy
-the difference, then between the saved and the lost is repentance!
-Jesus says repent and be saved!
-so just what is this repentance??? To this, we look to Scripture
-verse 9: As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
-in this verse, we see that repentance is caused by grief
-we are grieved into repentance
-but we are grieved into repentance by a particular type of sorrow: Godly sorrow
-what is this Godly sorrow? Well, it is, as you might think, sorrow that comes from God
First-2 Tim 2:24-25à “And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”
-this shows that God grants repentance…if He does not, then we cannot repent
-so we see that in order to truly repent with Godly sorrow, God has to allow us to do so
-now watch this: repentance is something we do willingly, but not of our own power
-it is a sovereign act of God
-Second-Godly sorrow is a genuine sorrow for the sin itself!
-repentance or sadness over sin isn’t about the consequences that the sin brings
-it isn’t just about the fact that you’ve broken some moral code or made yourself look bad
-genuine Godly sorrow that brings true repentance is a grief that arises because our sin dishonors God and takes advantage of His great love, mercy, patience, and grace
-Godly sorrow is a sorrow created because we have caused God sorrow
Third-the 3 steps in repentance, as defined by the theologians
-acknowledgement of the facts
-emotional reaction
-active decision, Gk. metanoia…to turn
-verse 10: For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death
-so we see here that while Godly grief produces a repentance that ultimately leads to real salvation, worldy grief produces death and hell
-so what, then, is this worldly grief?
First, it is repentance with regret, as the verse says
-if you repent of something, but you still want to go back to that sin, then maybe you didn’t really repent
-now I’m not saying that you won’t be tempted to sin after you repent or even that the sin won’t be attractive to you…that’s normal
-this verse speaks to the idea of a divided heart
-as we saw, the Gk. word for repentance means to completely turn from something
-a false repentance means your heart is being pulled in two different directions: one towards God and the other towards your sinful life
-true repentance is when you are 100% towards God…as the saying goes, you can give God 99% and still not give enough
Second, as we have already seen, it is a sorrow for consequences and not for what we have done to God
Third, worldly sorrow is a sinful attempt to earn Christ’s love
-as we have seen, pure emotional sadness and sorrow is not alone just true repentance
--this kind of worldly grief is the type that encourages us to believe that if we are just sorry enough for our sin, God will forgive us
-if we just punish ourselves enough or cry enough or feel bad enough, we can atone for our sins
-this is one I struggle with
-at its heart, this belief is the worst type of worldly sorrow
-it is an attempt to earn our salvation not by grace through faith, but by our own works!
-trying to be sorry enough for our sin to earn forgiveness is trying to get saved through our own works
-no amount of emotion will save us
-we are not saved because of our deep or continued sorrow or emotion
-Jesus was sorrowful enough for our sins on the cross! All we need to do is trust Him
Fourth, worldly sorrow does not want to repent in the sight of God
-Tim Keller, the author of the new and amazing book “The Reason for God,” puts it this way in an article:
“…”http://www.greentreewebster.org/Articles/All%20of%20Life%20is%20Repentance.pdf
-if it is hard for you to admit your sins, then maybe it is because you are basing your righteousness and salvation on your ability to keep up a code of morality, to be considered the ‘good kid’ or by being better than the other guy…
-the remedy is to trust Christ, not what we do
Verse 11: For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.
-finally, let us very briefly look at the results of true repentance
-Matthew 3:8à Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
-true repentance usually has visible effects in your heart
-but here is a warning: don’t try to imitate these actions if you don’t have true repentance
-these things are only actions that can be achieved if you have true inner repentance
-we can’t earn our salvation by having these actions in our life, and the truly repentant person may not have all of these in their life…let’s take a look
1. earnestness and eagernessà true repentance is quick to change and eager for a second chance to please the Jesus who gives and loves freely and forgives
2. indignationà indignation is anger at your own actions (not anyone else’s) and at what you have done to God and His glorious name…sin makes Jesus look bad in the eyes of non Christians because it makes the church look like a place of hypocrites…righteous anger
3. fearà a reverence and respect of the God who has the power to cast you into hell for your sin against Him but does not do so out of grace and love
4. longingà better translated ‘yearning’…it is a yearning to restore our relationship with God after it has been damaged
-Matthew 5:3: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
-the poor in spirit are those who are brokenhearted over their sin and their evil ways
-they are blessed because the poor are forced to rely on God and nothing else because they have nothing else
5. zealà loving Christ so much that anything else doesn’t even come close to the joy and pleasure that He provides..the repentant person wants Christ more than sin…but we must be careful to note that pure emotion for Christ doesn’t mean we are repentant
6. punishmentà or avenging of wrong…to see justice done…repentant sinners do not protect themselves…they want to see sin avenged no matter what cost
-in closing, let me mention just a few things
-first, the great Christian Martin Luther once claimed that all of life is to be repentance
-what does that mean?
-first, it means that the Christian, when he or she gets saved, repents of their old life
-but secondly, it means that repentance is something a Christian is always doing every day
-repentance doesn’t earn us salvation or keep our salvation going, but we are called to do it every day
-second, there may be those of you out there who say “Sure I can repent of what God has laid on my heart today, but I will put it off”
-to you I say that you are foolish…not because you could leave this place and die in a car accident an hour from now and never get the chance to repent…but this is true
-it may be the case that if you do not repent now, God will harden your heart so that you cannot repent later on in your life
-God may give you over to your sin so much that you cannot ever truly repent
-that is what you want, is it? (your sin)
-finally, we must remember that Christ is the center of repentance
-at the end of the day, its not about how much we feel or how emotional we are or how sorry we are
-its just about whether or not you trust that what Christ has done for you is enough to be your righteousness
-ask yourself, is Christ’s sacrifice on the cross enough to save me, or am I holding onto some other sinful form of righteousness?
-works righteousness can be hiding in your heart for years without you ever knowing it…it is sneaky
-I know I’ve made repentance sound complicated, but it really is the simplest thing in the world
-so simple that a little child can do it
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