Godly Sorrow - what repentance looks like
2 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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2 Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.
boasts on them, he truly believed they would respond to the love Paul had and the truth of the doctrine it was shared.
We saw this love and compassion for them in 6:11-13. You’re like my kids!
5 For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. 6 Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.
Struggle, conflicts, fears. Paul as filled and powerful a ministry God has put in him, yet he still has to work up his faith.
One worry was because Titus took the letter and hadn't returned. We will talk more about Titus at end of chapter, but the return of Titus to Paul's side truly blessed him.
When he told me how you guys reacted, I was blown away. I wonder if paul clapped? Such a comfort to him! 2 Corinthians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,”
8 For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. 9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.
There is, in the world, a great deal of sorrow on account of sin which is certainly not repentance, and never leads to it.
Sorrow And Sorrow, Volume 46, Sermon #2691 - 2 Corinthians 7:10
Charles Spurgeon
as a pastor, the hardest, and heartbreaking thing is rebuking sin in a believers life. Paul definitely rebuked Corinth then and in this letter, but even when we do it for a blessed purpose, we don’t like to see anyone hurt. 2 Corinthians 2:4 “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.”
Paul didn’t rejoice that they had sorrow. His heart hurt for them. But their sorrow led to something. Pauls statement here shows us a few things.
There is a repentance that leads to salvation, where the believer must repent of their sin and accept the finished work of Christ on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Without real repentance, there is no relationship with Christ. Mark 1:14–15 “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.””
Repentance from sin (as a believer) is habit of life we need to be in. Sorrow is great but it isn't admission of guilt or fault and we need to understand that being sorry for sin isn't change. Change is change.
Even if we seem to “lose” we really cant in the light of what repentance brings, which is a blessed relationship and blessing from God. When we live unrepentant in sin, we cannot be in fellowship with Him. The holy spirit reveals the effect and response of repentance.
10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. 12 Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.
Lets talk about worldly sorrow first, “An Alabama pastor and mayor died by suicide two days after addressing his church regarding a news report about his online transgender persona. F.L. “Bubba” Copeland, the mayor of Smiths Station and pastor of First Baptist Church of Phenix City, shot himself Friday afternoon as sheriff’s deputies were in slow pursuit of his vehicle following calls for a welfare check around 4:15 p.m., the Lee County Sheriff’s Office announced.” Worldly, fleshly sorrow, leads to death. Death of the soul of a man, then his life then his spirit.
Godly Sorrow. you will never have to regret repentance. If our initial repentance led to life, surely repentance in Christ is the nature of life of a believer and produces something in that life. Whats its product? Paul lays it out.
diligence. spouden in the greek, it a desire to do something. repentance leads to a change of heart that drives us to action; Acts 26:19–20 ““Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.”
cleared - apologien to tell a defense of our repentance. why we should live in it. To not be what we were Ephesians 5:11 “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” they could reason with the false teachers as to why they were rejecting their teaching.
indignation: agnaktesin: be angry over what is judged wrong. you see your sin for what it is. Like when faced with the truth of God, Job 42:6 “Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”” We don’t have to just let false teachers hang out. We can confront.
fear: phobon: an intense concern for what was coming, perceived as real. Proverbs 14:16 “A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.” Paul taught it as a part of our walk, Philippians 2:12 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;”
vehement desire: epipothesin: a longing forceful passion. its a real earnestness about the subject. Isaiah 26:8 “Yes, in the way of Your judgments, O Lord, we have waited for You; The desire of our soul is for Your name And for the remembrance of You.”
When he told me how you guys reacted, I was blown away. I wonder if Paul clapped?e about Titus at end of chapter, but the return of Titus to Paul's side truly blessed him. for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up the majority.”
vindication: ekdikesin: vengeance, punishment, justice. Accepting what is right no matter what. Knowing the conviction and rebuke was deserved because sin requires action. Matthew 5:29 “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.”
Seeing this was a complete clearing of them (not same as clear earlier, is hagnos/innocent) they went from guilty, in sin, to forgiven, free. Truly blameless as we long to be. Restored in fellowship with our Lord and it makes it worth us rebuking those who are in real sin. This doesn't mean go hunting for it, but this was pretty obvious (they were celebrating, promoting sin).
13 Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. 14 For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting to Titus was found true. 15 And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. 16 Therefore I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything.
How amazingly blessed it is to see a brother or sister truly walking in loving fellowship with their Lord and by indication, the body of Christ. Romans 15:32 “that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you.”
Paul had bragged to Titus that they would repent. That they were truly Christs and would know Christs love for them in what Paul wrote to them. Knowing what Paul said and seeing the reaction of the Church, Titus was blown away and the earnestness of their Church made him fall in love.
Paul has confidence that these whom he loves are indwelt by the Spirit of the living God.
So what about us? You and I? Do I, do we repent? Not just whoops, my bad jesus, but truly make that conscious decision to live differently? To walk away from sin, to walk to Jesus and from our sin. To make those choices that remind us of His holiness, His calling, His gifts, our responsibility. Take this moment, if you haven't received Christ, to do it now, remembering what he told us here. That we can repent.
Take this moment, as a follower of Christ, to examine your heart and life, how can I live a repentant life. Help me Lord to be more diligent, reasoning, indignant about sin, you and I need to be in the battle. In Corinth little countercultural impact, so central to the preaching of the cross, is evident (1 Cor 1:18–25). Their faith apparently did not create any significant social and moral realignment of their lives. For some, it was more important to maintain friendly relations with pagan acquaintances and family members and to keep their good opinion than it was to show absolute loyalty to the one God or to respect the feelings of weaker Christian brothers and sisters. As a result the Corinthians experience little of the social ostracism faced by the Thessalonians.
Think about what the Holy Spirit told us in Jude 3–4 “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”