2 Corinthians 7:2-16 - Genuine Repentance

Hi guys, I'm going to do the reading now.

Alright.

This reading is taken from 2 Corinthians 7, verse 2-16.

2 Corinthians 7:2–16

I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts, that we would live or die with you.

I have spoken to you with great frankness. I take great pride in you.

I am greatly encouraged in all our troubles. My joy knows no bounds.

For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn.

Conflicts on the outside, fears within.

But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.

And not only by his coming, but also by the comfort you had given him.

He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me,

so that my joy was greater than ever.

Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it.

Though I did regret it, I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while.

Yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance.

For you became sorrowful as God intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret,

but worldly sorrow brings death.

See what this godly sorrow has produced in you.

What earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern,

what readiness to see justice done.

At every point, you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

So even though I wrote to you, it was neither on account of the one who did the wrong,

nor on account of the injured party,

but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are.

By all this, we are encouraged.

In addition to our own encouragement, we are especially delighted to see how happy Titus was,

because his spirit has also been refreshed by all of you.

I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me.

But just as everything we said to you was true,

so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well.

And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient,

receiving him with fear and trembling.

I am glad that I can have complete confidence in you.

This is the word of the Lord.

Great. Thank you, Jamal.

Let's pray as we come to God's word. Let's pray.

Gracious God, we want to just pause and ask now for your help as we look at your words.

We're hungry. We want you to feed us.

We're thirsty. We want to drink of the truth of your word.

We're empty. We want you to fill us.

We know our neediness, and we want you to meet our needs.

And so we pray now that as we look at your word together,

that you would guard our hearts, speak to us, we pray.

Help us, we ask in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen.

I think it's true that anything that is good or desirable can be faked, right?

If something is good and you want it, it can be faked.

So if you go to Shepherd's Bush Market, you could get yourself a fake Rolex.

You could probably get yourself a pair of fake Nike trainers or fake perfume.

Sometimes it's true that even things don't try that hard to be fake, do they?

So if you shop at Aldi, like we do, you can get wheat biscuits instead of Weetabix, right?

It's not even trying that hard to cover the fact that it is a fake,

or wheat shreds are shredded wheat.

Even now we're in a world where the fake phones you up on your mobile phone, yeah?

So my phone rings and I am offered a brilliant new contract.

Whatever you're paying, sir, we will halve it.

Oh, I'm only paying five pounds a month.

Two pounds fifty and you'll get a brand new iPhone.

It's a fake, isn't it?

Anything good and desirable can be faked.

And what I hope we've seen over the last few weeks as we've been thinking about repentance

and jumping around the Bible a little bit for that series,

is that you can see that of all the spiritual goods, repentance is good and desirable.

Repentance is right there at the top of the list.

Repentance, we saw, didn't we, Peter says,

opens the door for times of refreshing for the Lord's people.

In Psalm 32, repentance brings joy and wholeness.

If you read your Bible, you will notice that repentance is good and desirable.

It is brilliant.

But, like a Louis Vuitton handbag or a Rolex watch,

because it is so good, it is also often faked.

Faked.

Not everything that calls itself repentance is repentance.

And that, you'll notice, is the idea in our passage this morning.

You'll notice, if you've still got it open and if you've not, get back to it,

that Paul talks about sorrow for sin, but he distinguishes between two kinds of sorrow,

a worldly sorrow and a godly sorrow.

And while both might look the same for a moment,

one godly sorrow leads to a genuine repentance,

and the other, worldly sorrow, is a fake, and it leads to death.

And our sermon this morning, as we finish this mini-series in repentance,

we're going to think about how repentance is not just being sad at things going wrong

or at the things that you have done wrong.

I want to suggest to you that everybody feels sad for the things that they've done wrong.

Everybody feels sad for the things they've done wrong.

It is just a common human experience.

We have a moral conscience.

We feel a sense of sadness when we do things wrong.

Some people are more sensitive than others, right?

So some people feel particularly sensitive about things that they have done wrong,

and other people, it seems to take something wilder for them to feel guilty.

But we are all sad.

So if I asked you this morning, you know,

do you feel sad for getting angry or lashing out or lying or cheating?

Do you feel sad that you didn't listen to that good advice,

that you pretended to be better than you really were?

Are you sad at the relational breakdown and the hurt and the mess?

We all are, aren't we?

That is a common universal human experience.

But being sad does not mean we've repented.

Because the question to us,

the question our passage is going to ask us this morning is,

that sadness that you feel,

is it godly sadness or is it worldly sadness?

Which is it?

Is it the real deal from God which leads to genuine repentance and life?

Or is it a fake sadness that leads to death?

Because it's possible even for a Christian to be sad and yet unrepentant.

It's possible, isn't it,

that what we think is repentance is really just a knockoff of the real thing.

Now to see that, we're landing in the middle of this letter

and we're going to have to do a bit of work to kind of understand it.

We're jumping into the middle of something

and that's not always the easiest thing to do

when we want to understand a part of the Bible.

So let me try and explain to you briefly what's going on here in 2 Corinthians

and stay with me if you can

and then we'll come back to some big ideas about repentance.

Okay, what you need to know

is that in Acts 18,

Paul visited Corinth and started the church.

Paul stayed in Corinth then for about 18 months,

establishing the church, teaching the new Christians

and then he moved on.

After moving on,

Paul and the Corinthian church exchanged letters several times.

Now, two of those letters are in our Bibles

as 1 and 2 Corinthians,

the other letters we don't have.

And what's important for us this morning

is to notice that between writing 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians,

Paul visits the church in Corinth again.

But he's not there for very long.

He only visits for a short time

because while he is there,

somebody in the church opposes him

and his apostolic authority.

So we don't actually know exactly what they did,

but in some manner they oppose him and his authority.

It was really bad.

And the badness of what he did is magnified

not just because it was one person who opposed him,

but because the Corinthian church as a whole

were largely ambivalent towards it.

And so they just stood by and let it happen.

And so Paul was undefended

against this man's accusations and his rebellion.

So Paul left.

He was only there briefly.

And having left,

he then wrote to them another letter

confronting the way that he'd been treated.

We don't have that letter.

It's not in our Bibles.

It's been lost in history.

But it's mentioned in 2 Corinthians several times.

So in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 4,

2 Corinthians 2:4

Paul says that he wrote out of much affliction

and anguish of heart, he says.

In other words, Paul was chewed up

about the way he'd been treated

and the seeming ambivalence

of the church in Corinth towards him.

And so he poured over that in his letter

and spilt that out,

explaining in his letter why he was so grieved.

And so it's no surprise that in our passage this morning,

you hear that that letter that they received

made them sorrowful.

They did not like reading this letter from Paul.

In fact, 2 Corinthians 10,

it seems to suggest to you that some people

even accuse Paul of being bold in his letters

but weak face to face.

He writes stern letters,

but when you see him, he's nothing.

Now, having written this letter

calling out their behavior,

Paul is, as you might imagine,

anxious to know how they're doing.

How are they going to respond?

Are they going to change their minds?

Are they going to repent and move towards me again?

So he waits for a guy called Titus,

who is the guy who took his difficult letter

to the church in Corinth.

He waits for him to return

with news of their reaction.

And this waiting is really difficult for Paul.

He's anxious to know how they've responded.

In chapter 2, Paul describes being in Troas

whilst he's waiting for Titus to come back

and says that he's so distracted

by this concern for the Corinthian church

that he was unable,

even though the door was open to ministry,

he was unable to do anything

because he was just so overwhelmed

by his concern for what the Corinthian church

were thinking of him.

But now, in chapter 7,

you find that Titus has returned

and brought good news.

The Corinthian church were sad

at how they'd wronged Paul.

Paul expected that much,

but the good news is that their sorrow

was not worldly sorrow,

but godly sorrow.

And it led them to repentance.

Paul's opponent is temporarily put out

of fellowship with the church,

the record is corrected,

and the relationship is restored.

And that's what we are jumping into the middle of

in chapter 7 here.

And so if you can keep that kind of situation in mind,

let me show you three things

about genuine repentance from 2 Corinthians 7.

Let me show you firstly

the importance of genuine repentance.

I hope you see here

that Paul is really clear, isn't he,

that without genuine repentance,

there is no restoration of relationship.

Paul's anxiety,

I'm not sure whether anxiety is the right word

because that implies that there's a wrongness to it,

but it's not anxiety in that sense.

There's an eagerness from Paul for news.

His inability to concentrate in troas

comes from the relational breakdown

with the Corinthian church,

a relationship that cannot be restored

unless the Corinthian church

are willing to deal with their sin

through genuine repentance.

Of course, we know this, don't we,

from our own experience.

If someone is not genuinely sorry

for what they have done,

for how they've mistreated you,

for what they've said,

or how they've behaved,

you cannot be truly reconciled, can you?

It doesn't matter how willing you are

to be forgiven,

the absence of reconciliation

is there if there's no genuine sorry.

And that lack of reconciliation

is a terrible burden to carry.

But what I want you to notice,

which I think is the surprise of the passage,

is not that it's just a burden for Paul.

You might kind of expect that.

What I want you to see

is that a lack of repentance

would have been a great burden

for the Corinthian church.

Look down at verse 10.

I'm going to read verse 10

a number of times through this sermon

because verse 10 is really the point.

So if you get verse 10 in your minds

and that's what you go away remembering,

you've understood.

Godly sorrow brings repentance

that leads to salvation

and leaves no regret.

But worldly sorrow brings death.

Do you see this?

Worldly sadness, worldly sorrow,

sadness that it just happened,

sadness at sin brings death,

death, while godly sorrow

brings repentance and salvation.

Now, both sorrows, as we mentioned,

might look the same at the start.

I'm sure there's lots of tears

from both kinds of people.

But the truth is that they both

come from different places

and lead to different places,

different destinations.

And what I want you to notice

is that Paul is writing to a church here.

The salvation and death

that he is talking about in chapter 7

are not necessarily the categories

of heaven and hell.

They could be, couldn't they?

Right?

So it is true.

It is the gospel, isn't it?

That if you individually

are only sad at your sin

and do not repent and turn to Christ,

you will not be saved.

You will die in your sin

and for your sin,

not just physically in death,

but spiritually dead,

separated from the mercy of God

who made you for all eternity.

But if you are genuinely godly sorry

for your sin,

then with godly sorry,

you will repent and you'll be saved.

That's what we've been thinking about

for the last few weeks.

That's not what he's talking about

here in chapter 7.

This is talking about

the Christian's repentance.

How Christians should repent.

Repentance is how the Christian life starts,

but it's also how it goes on.

And so for Christians,

to people Paul calls saints,

called, adopted, and rescued,

he says to them, doesn't he,

ongoing godly sorrow and repentance

is important to you.

Because there is,

even for the Christian,

a kind of death

and a kind of health or salvation.

There is a rottenness

in the Christian life

that comes from persistent unrepentance.

and there is a health

and a life

that comes to the Christian

through genuine repentance.

On our willingness

to genuinely turn

from our ongoing battle with sin.

I don't know what you're thinking.

There is,

there's perhaps a chance

that through this series

on repentance,

you've been thinking,

well, you know,

this is all very well, Steve.

Yeah, all this talk about repentance.

I know that's important

for people who don't come

to church very much.

You're probably not Christians.

I've been a Christian for years.

Will you please say something

that's relevant to me?

I repented of my sin long ago.

Please tell me something

that will help me

with the battle

for Christian maturity.

I want to learn

the deep truths

of the Christian faith.

I want to know

how to live as a Christian

in the complicated situation

that I find myself in now.

Well, listen,

if that's you,

here is the deep truth

that leads to maturity.

Here's the deep truth

that will help you

live a Christian life

in the complex world

that you're in.

Here it is, right?

You ready?

Repent.

Turn back to the Lord.

That's it.

Repent and believe.

Repent and believe.

That's maturity.

And it's maturity

not just for us

as individuals,

it's maturity for us

as a church,

corporately as well,

dealing with our sins

and our failings

by taking them to the Lord,

yet full of sorrow,

but joyfully receiving salvation.

So that as a church,

we don't rot

from the inside out

with a kind of death

of worldly sorrow

that doesn't lead

to repentance.

A friend of mine

works in cancer research.

He's a professor.

He's one of those

really bright people, right?

So it's very gracious

of him to be my friend.

But anyway,

he works in something,

it's not chemotherapy,

but it's more training

your own body

to defeat cancer cells.

He does explain it to me,

I don't understand it, right?

He's had quite a lot of success,

he's been on the television

with it and that kind of thing.

It's not quite there yet.

But I want you to imagine

that it works, okay?

And he has in this treatment

an infallible cure for cancer.

And imagine then

that you receive a diagnosis,

a terminal diagnosis

for cancer.

There's no hope,

the cancer will kill you.

And so you come to my friend

and he offers you

the wonder drug, right?

And you take it.

Cancer is defeated,

there's great joy,

you were dead,

you're now alive.

Imagine though,

that as you go on,

you discover

that the cancer

is still there

and it's coming back

a little bit.

You see the marks

on your skin

and the lumps in your body.

What do you do?

I guarantee

that you don't say,

do you know what?

Well, I took the cure

about 10 years ago

so I'm not going to bother

with it anymore.

I'm not really interested anymore.

Of course you wouldn't.

Would you go back?

Give me some more of that.

I need more of that.

I thought then

that's what I need

but I realize now

I need more of it.

Please, give me some more.

And that's what's going on here.

Sin, wickedness and rebellion

is the disease

of the human race.

We all have it.

It will kill us.

It will eternally kill us.

Christ is the solution.

God the Father

in his love and mercy

sent his son

to die in our place

so that we can be forgiven

and shown mercy

and restored as human beings.

Great joy

that you don't receive him

just once.

You need to keep

coming back to him

and receiving him

because we're not perfect yet.

And so when we sin

what do we do?

We return to the cross.

We own our sin

and with godly sorrow

we repent

so that that joy

is ours again.

And here's the thing.

It's as we are humbled

by this process

of realizing our ongoing sin

and turning to God

we become less

and he becomes more.

We are humbled

and he is glorified.

And God in his wisdom

thinks

that you as a Christian

this morning

are best perfected

through a lifetime

of being humbled

and him being glorified.

That's what he thinks.

And so for us as a church

we are to be a community

of repentance.

Why?

Well because the alternative

is to be a community

of death

where sin is just kind of

brushed under the carpet

and not dealt with

and rots away

our life together.

That's the importance

of repentance, right?

The importance of repentance.

Let's think about

the source

of genuine repentance.

Come back to verse 10.

Godly sorrow

brings repentance

that leaves the salvation

and leaves no regret

but worldly sorrow

brings death.

Now notice with me

that godly sorrow

brings repentance.

It's similar.

Verse 11 if you look at it.

See what godly sorrow

has produced in you.

Verse 9 carries a similar idea.

It says that they became

sorrowful as God intended.

Now we're going to think

in a moment about the marks

of genuine repentance

but let's just think

more specifically

about what this godly sorrow

actually is.

What does it mean

to be godly sorrowful

for our sin?

Paul in writing his letter

to the church in Corinth

calling out not just

the man who opposed him

but the whole church

who just stood by

and watched.

He knew that that letter

would make them sad.

That was a given.

No one likes to have

that conversation.

But his hope and prayer

was that God

would be at work in it.

That God would use

his letter to convict

them of their sin.

That God would show them

what they've done wrong

so that they might repent

and make things right.

Now listen let me show you

two things here.

His first assumption

is that godly sorrow

is essentially

it's a work of the spirit.

You can be sad

at your sin

in your own strength

but godly sorrow

requires a work

of the spirit.

And so Paul's hope

was not so much

in the church

but his hope

was in God

as he wrote.

Paul's hope

was that God

would use his letter

to bring about

what only God

is able to do

which is a godly sorrow

that leads to repentance.

That's the first thing

it's a work of the spirit.

The second thing

to notice

is that you cannot

then mature

as a Christian

without an ongoing

Holy Spirit

awareness

of your sin.

We're going to do this

a number of times

this morning right?

So we're distinguishing

between becoming

a Christian

for the first time

and our ongoing

growth as a Christian.

So when you become

a Christian

for the first time

God by his spirit

opens your eyes

to see your sin

and your need of Christ

and you run to him

and flee to him.

And the process

of growing

and going on

as a Christian

is that you become

increasingly aware

of your sinfulness

and run to Christ

for salvation.

And so you might hope

might you

that the Christian life

might be different

to this.

You might hope

that the Christian life

was growing

in a sense

of awesomeness.

Right?

That might have been

your preferred

version of the Christian life

that day by day

you'd wake up

and think

I am more brilliant

than I thought

I was yesterday.

That is not

the Christian life.

It turns out

that in God's wisdom

the road to maturity

is marked by sorrow

at our ongoing sin.

We need to be careful.

Right?

Godly sorrow

is not hopelessness.

It is possible

to overdo this

isn't it?

It is possible

to beat ourselves up

as if sadness

for sin

atones for sin.

Christians behave

like that sometimes

don't they?

Christian churches

can be like that.

You know

Christian churches

love to make

their congregations

feel perpetually guilty

because you can make

them do whatever

you want

if you can make

them feel guilty.

But that's not it here.

Rather the point

is that you cannot

grow in your love

for Jesus

without at the same time

also growing

in your knowledge

of your need

for Jesus.

and so

as you see

your sin

you delight

that Jesus

is the solution

and God

by the spirit

makes you love

Christ

and hate sin

and be sorrowful

at it.

I think this is

the nub of this

for us this morning

that the Lord

does this work

matures you

and me as Christians

by

this is in part

by showing us

our sin

and our ugliness

and showing us

Christ.

perhaps a

wounded friend

tells you a difficult

truth that you

didn't want to hear

and so you realise

just a little bit more

that you are more

sinful than you

perhaps thought.

Now of course

that means doesn't it

that if you pray

to grow as a Christian

what you are praying

in part at least

is that you would

be grieved at your sin

that you might keep

turning to Christ

the doctor

for our sin.

Let me try and be

a bit more concrete

about this.

How does this work?

Let me give you a couple

of personal examples.

It was pointed out

to me a couple

of weeks ago

I was in a phone

conversation with

a church member

and they said to me

listen you were

dismissive and defensive

over the concerns

that I raised with you.

It wasn't particularly

easy to hear

and actually

ironically

my instinctive reaction

was to be dismissive

and defensive

of the person

on the phone.

That was what was

going on in my heart.

But I realised

they were right.

They were right.

I was sad.

Oh Steve

why did you do that?

Why did you speak

like that?

And I had to say

to them

listen I'm really sorry.

Shouldn't have done that.

It was me.

I was defensive.

I was dismissive

of your concerns

and I shouldn't have been.

I was reading

this week

that this blew my mind.

I was reading this week

that God doesn't

love efficiency.

Right?

See

I love efficiency.

I think that the best

way to do anything

is the fastest way

to do anything.

But have you thought

about the fact

that God doesn't

love that?

God could have

created this world

in an instant

like that

but he didn't.

He took time.

There was a process.

God could make

you and me

perfect in an instant.

Take us straight

to glory

the moment we come

to faith.

We might wish he did

but he has a process

that takes time.

And so I've realised

this this week

thinking oh

your love of efficiency

Steve

might actually

at times be sinful.

You need to be sorry

for that

and repent of that.

See God is very patient

isn't he?

Isn't he?

He's not in a rush.

And so in our

Christian maturity

this is how it goes

isn't it?

We see our sin

we have sorrow

for our sin

we say sorry

for our sin

and we receive

salvation for our sin.

So let me ask you

if you're a Christian

this morning

let me ask you

where is God

grieving you

at the moment?

What is it

that the Holy Spirit

has his finger on

in your life?

It's painful

you know it

don't you?

It's probably

very sad

but let me encourage

you not to resist

his work

his grief

is not his final goal

salvation

is his goal

but he takes you

through grief

that you might be

godly sorrowful

at your sin

that you might

repent

and receive salvation.

That's the source

of genuine repentance

godly sorrow

finally then

let's think about

the marks

of genuine repentance

if you look again

at verse 11

you'll notice

that instead of

repeating

godly sorrow

produces repentance

he swaps out

the word repentance

for a list

of different

characteristics

so look down

at verse 11

see what this

godly sorrow

has produced in you

you expect the word

repentance

but instead

you get a list

of seven

different characteristics

take a look at them

earnestness

that is a

seriousness

to not stop

until the right

thing is being done

it's a recognition

that this business

is important business

eagerness to clear

yourself

not as in a right

to sort of argue

that it wasn't really

you who did it

but to put right

what was wrong

to straighten things out

indignation

crossness

I think here

in the context

that the offense

to Paul

anger at its wickedness

this was wrong

this shouldn't have happened

Paul should not

have been treated

like that

alarm

wow

I can't believe

that Paul was treated

like that

this is shocking

it's almost as if

they've woken up

to what they did

longing

again in the context

it's longing

for relational

reconciliation

with Paul

who left

so quickly

concern

again a concern

for Paul

readiness

to see justice

done

again a desire

to put things

right

to hold

Paul's opponent

to account

and so Paul

concludes

that

they have

proved

themselves

innocent

in this matter

not because

they proved

that they didn't

actually do it

not at all

rather that

they have dealt

with their guilt

in the right way

their repentance

is visible

and real

and so they are

therefore innocent

now in a way

those marks

are context specific

aren't they

we're not Paul

we're not the

Corinthian church

but just notice

a couple of things

notice first

how earnest

action

marks real

repentance

earnest action

marks real

repentance

if you are

really

godly

sorrowful

for your sin

you will seek

to do something

about it

not atoned

for your sin

because Christ

alone can do

that

but seeking

to put things

right

receiving forgiveness

and making

recompense

genuine repentance

does not try

and cover it up

does not try

to pretend

it didn't happen

or pretend

it didn't matter

you know

if we're serious

of repenting

of anger

or pride

or lust

or cold heartedness

towards the Lord

if you are genuinely

repentant for those

things

you will seriously

go about action

to do something

about it

and stop

you will be

earnest about it

it will be the most

serious thing

you are doing

if you are serious

of repenting

about relationship

fallout

of slander

or gossip

or tearing others

down

you will earnestly

seek to do something

about it

to put it right

to set the record

straight as far

as you are able

perhaps you can put it

the other way around

to make it clearer

if your sadness

at your sin

if my sadness

at my sin

causes me

to do nothing

other than try

and pretend

it's not there

I have not been

godly sorrowful

for my sin

I am worldly sorrowful

for my sin

and that leads

to rottenness

earnest action

means that

genuine repentance

is more

doesn't it

than just saying

sorry to God

oh how I would

love that

right

oh Steve

you were dismissive

and defensive

when I spoke to you

about my concerns

oh it's okay

I prayed to God

about that

it doesn't matter

anymore

it's not that

is it

we need

don't we

to be able

to say sorry

to one another

as well as the Lord

because it is

living out

sorry towards

the offended person

repentance

towards God

involves recompense

towards others

it wasn't possible

was it

for the Corinthian church

to say a private

sorry for a public

wrong

to Paul

they had to take

public action

they had to

remove the man

from the church

and in chapter 2

it seems as though

Paul is urging them

to bring him back

so they don't squash him

with unbearable sorrow

and then notice

so not only does it

require earnest action

really also

genuine repentance

is really only visible

over time

repentance here

is not just a quick

conversation with Paul

it took time

and so for us

the more serious

the sin

the more time

genuine repentance

takes

let me try and be

clear on this

if you

if you've been

unfaithful to your

husband or your wife

repentance is not

just saying sorry

once in a moment

it's not just one

tearful conversation

it might begin there

but it will involve

more than that

it will involve

a willingness

to be transparent

in the years to come

to share your messages

and show your phone

to receive the help

that you need from others

to work through the struggles

that's what genuine

repentance will involve

it takes time

but there's one more

mark of genuine repentance

I wonder whether you

noticed it

it's there in verse 10

which I'm going to read

to you again as we finish

godly sorrow brings

repentance

that leads to salvation

and leaves no regret

but worldly sorrow

brings death

here's the final mark

of genuine repentance

repentance

no regret

no regret

now it doesn't mean

I don't think

that we don't regret

the sin

that's not I think

the point here

it would genuinely

have been better

had the Corinthian church

not treated Paul

as it did

the regret here

modifies the repentance

so it's that genuine

repentance

never regrets

that it repented

you know

it never regrets

that it saw its sin

and was grieved by it

and then repented

in a way that's surprising

isn't it

surely you

you regret being sad

but why doesn't

genuine repentance

include regret

well because it receives

the blessing of forgiveness

which is more than

compensation for the sadness

you know

you wouldn't regret

taking the cure

for cancer

would you

if you had cancer

you would

delight in it

you would be grateful

for it

and so real repentance

walks through grief

and sadness

but arrives at joy

a joy that in verse 4

knows no bounds

as it brings salvation

that is better than sin

the reconciliation

was even better

let me try and finish

with a story

that will hopefully land

some of these thoughts

for us this morning

it's a true story

I share it because

it's been shared publicly

I don't know the person

involved

his name was Dave

and he was the pastor

of a church

until the point

at which his adultery

was uncovered

and he had to stand down

shortly after

standing down

as a pastor

Dave suffered a heart attack

and very nearly died

and he wrote this

a few weeks ago

on his substack

he wrote this

during my rebellious years

I both wanted to die

and was terrified

of dying in equal measure

I wanted a way of escape

a way out of the web

of deceit

that I had woven

and yet the thought

of standing before Jesus

without having come in clean

was terrifying

though I know

I would have been

welcomed home

at that time

because my salvation

doesn't depend

on the extensiveness

of my repentance

but on the sufficiency

of Jesus' life

death and resurrection

and reign to save me

however living

with a clean conscience

is nonetheless

liberating

as the ambulance

careered towards

the hospital

scattering cars

in all directions

my heart

was at peace

I did not feel

panicked

or frightened

I felt safe

because I was safe

my day could have

ended in heaven

in the ultimate sense

for me

that would have been

perfect

literally

that my friends

is the power

of godly grief

genuine repentance

that leads to clear

conscience living

before the Lord

before whom one day

we will stand

who alone

has a solution

for our sin

in Christ alone

so let's pray

that he would give us

that godly grief

let's just take a moment

of quiet

maybe

the spirit

in your own heart

is putting his finger

on something

maybe you want to talk

to the Lord

about that now

may may may

may

may

Thank you.

Heavenly Father, we are so, so prone to try and deal with our ongoing battle with sin, with anything other than repentance and faith in Jesus.

Even as Christians, we do that really stupid and dumb thing of just pretending that we're better than we really are because we're afraid you might not love us if you know what we're really like.

And it's stupid, Lord, because you know exactly what we're like.

And knowing what we're like, you love us and sent your son to die for us.

And so, Lord, we pray individually and corporately.

We want to have less of our sin and more of Jesus.

Please, we pray.

May you grow in us this godly grief at the ways in which we offend others and offend you.

That we might, through godly grief, repent and have more of Christ.

We pray, please, that you might grow us as Christians.

That we might be increasingly humble and willing to serve one another.

And increasingly persuaded of your glory and your goodness.

And so, Lord, we want to pray this morning for anybody who maybe hasn't even experienced the forgiveness of the Lord Jesus for the very first time.

How important that is, Lord.

And so, we pray that they might turn to you.

And we pray also maybe for an individual Christian who is holding on to something they shouldn't be.

Please, Lord, we pray this morning.

May you give them godly grief that they might turn in repentance and receive salvation and wholeness from the Lord Jesus.

In whose name we pray.

Amen.