Turn with me, if you would, to
first, this is not our text, but first turn with me this morning
to second Timothy chapter three. Second Timothy. Chapter three. Verse 16 says, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God. If it's in this book, God is
the one saying it. God is the one moving the writer. Whatever the writer wrote, God
is moving him. This is God's word and God's
will. And verse 16 goes on to say,
it's profitable for doctrine. Doctrine means teaching. This word is what ought to be
taught. In most places, they have some
kind of packet they like to use by something that somebody wrote
and that's what they want to, you know, they have some, this
word is what ought to be taught. Word for word. And this is what
will profit men and women. Verse 16 goes on to say, for
reproof. That word means evidence. It
means proof. You know, these things are proven
to us by seeing it in the scripture and then we turn and see it in
the scripture and we see it in the scripture. It means conviction,
proof. Verse 16 says, for correction. That means a straightening up
again. It means restoration to an upright
or right state. It says for instruction, that
means cultivation, tutorage to train up. Verse 16 finishes by
saying in righteousness, in righteousness. Now, what is righteousness? It's
not a what, it's a who. Christ is our rightness. Christ is our perfection. Believers become absolutely reproved
of that. That's just proven to them. They're
convinced of it. They're taught in it, instructed
in it. Thank God. And everything they
need, to stand in the presence of God and be accepted they have
in Christ. He's all of our righteousness. And we see all that through these
scriptures that God has given. All these scriptures are given
by the inspiration of God. Now most people, at least in
this country, they have a copy of the scriptures. but they're
completely blind to the scriptures. They don't have any idea what's
in this word. I was flipping the dial in my
radio in the car the other day and I went past one of the early
numbers where they have preaching, you know, and I couldn't change
it fast enough, but I heard something and what I heard I thought, you
have to be kidding me. You don't have any idea what
is between the two covers of this book, do you? And that's
what the Lord said, you're a teacher? That's what He told Nicodemus,
you're a teacher. But most people, they have no
idea what God's written in this Word until God opens their eyes
to the Scriptures. That's when life comes. You know that people, their path
gets crossed with the Gospel, and all of a sudden, for the
first time in their life, they say, wait a minute, that's starting
to make sense. I see the scriptures, I see what
it's saying, I understand what God is saying in this. And when
that proof is seen and that correction is seen and that instruction
is seen, it convicts men and women of their sin against God
for the first time. People go through this life knowing
that they sin. They know they do. They have
a conscience. God has given every person a
conscience and that conscience tells them, you shouldn't be
doing that. Everybody, you shouldn't be doing
this, but they think they're sinning against the law. All
right. They break the speed limit. We
know when we're over the speed limit, something in there is
going, I shouldn't be doing this. I'm going to get caught. You
break some rule and what you're hoping is that there's not a
police officer there watching you. That's what you're hoping. If I can get past him, I'm fine.
People believe they're sinning against the law. That's what
people believe they're sinning against. The law. Or, men and
women believe they're sinning against a spouse. You know, they
break that covenant of marriage. They commit adultery. And they
have a conscience, and it's telling them, I shouldn't be doing this.
Shouldn't be doing this. And they feel guilty about it,
but they think they're sinning against the spouse. Children
think they're sinning against their parents. As long as my
parents don't find out, I'm fine. I'm fine. Just don't tell my
parents. But when God opens a sinner's
eyes to the scripture, to the scripture, they realize for the
first time, I have sinned against God. It's against God. All of my sin, whether that police
officer was sitting behind that sign or not, God saw it. And I've sinned against God and
it produces something called godly sorrow, not worldly sorrow. Everybody has worldly sorrow
but when God moves on a sinner for the first time in his life
that sinner experiences godly sorrow and godly sorrow is something
to rejoice over. It is something to get so happy
about. It is something to praise God
and thank God for. Now go with me to our text in
2 Corinthians chapter 7. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 4 says, Great is my boldness of speech
toward you. Great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort. I am
exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. For when we were come into Macedonia,
our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side.
Without were fightings, within were fears, Nevertheless, God
that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the
coming of Titus. And not by his coming only, but
by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when
he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind
toward me, so that I rejoiced the more. For though I made you
sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent. For I perceived that the same
epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed
to repentance. For you were made sorry after
a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation, not to be repented of, But the sorrow of the world
worketh death." We immediately see why godly sorrow is something
to rejoice over. Paul said, I greatly, greatly
rejoice. Godly sorrow works repentance
to salvation. Now the subject of this Bible
study is godly sorrow. In just a moment, if the Lord
is willing, our message is going to be on repentance to salvation. All right, we'll start with godly
sorrow. It is truly a blessed and a precious
thing. It is so, so special. So rare. The apostle Paul, he
wrote a letter to the Corinthians. We're very familiar with it.
First Corinthians chapter one. I mean, first Corinthians. That's
what I mean to say. First Corinthians. He wrote that
letter to them and he rebuked them sharply under the inspiration
of God, under the authority of God, being God's puppet, being
God's spokesman. He had to deliver God's word
against their sin to them. That's what the entire letter
was about. They were, I'll recall it for you. We'll summarize first
Corinthians one. He dealt a lot with the fact
that they were picking preachers that they liked and they were
shunning preachers that they didn't like. They were all preachers
of the gospel. They were all on the same side,
but they were pitting them against each other and they were creating
two sides out of the same side. And the Apostle Paul said, you
can't do that. You may like the manner of this
one better than that one. You may like the whatever, whatever. But he said, you can't do that.
He said, it's envy, strife, and division. And he said, God will
deal sharply with those who cause envy, strife, and division. They
were defiling their bodies. And this is something he dealt
with all through the first letter to the Corinthians, probably
one of the biggest things he dealt with. They were abusing
their bodies, falling in with the world. If the world was doing
it, they were doing it. Corinth was a mess. Paul said,
you can't do this. You are the temple of the living
God. He said, God dwells in you. And he told him time and time
again, let that sink in. God dwells in you. Everything
that you do to your body or with your body is a direct reflection
on God Almighty. Your God, the God that dwells
in there. Everything we do to this body
or with this body says how we feel about the God that dwells
within us. So he said, you need to be careful
of this. They were abusing the Lord's table. They made a big
feast out of it. They just turned it into a big
party. The focus of it was no longer the discernment of the
Lord's body. Every time that table is set
before us, we need to with heart and mind dwell on, discern the
Lord's body with a sincere heart of reverence. It needs to be
taken very seriously. That is saying the Lord Jesus
Christ laid down his life. He broke his body. He shed his
blood. He did that to redeem us from
all of our wretchedness that we soak up like a sponge. And
we do. We naturally soak up wretchedness
like a sponge. We don't want to, but we do. We feed on sin and we feed on,
whenever we're described as a worm, a maggot, oh it's terrible. We wallow in the mud like a hog,
it's awful. And he broke his body, he shed
his blood to redeem us from that, make us clean again, make us
pure again, present us back to God. And Paul told him this is
supposed to be done in remembrance of him and we've forgotten the
Lord that redeemed us. We've left our first love. There
was a case of adultery in the church and Paul said this cannot
continue. This cannot continue. Not only
are you ignoring it, you're rejoicing in it. That's what he told him.
You're glorying in it. And he told the whole church,
you're glorying is not good. It's not good. He said a little
leaven is going to leaven this whole place. It's going to leaven
the whole place. All right. Now, when the stark
truth of the word of God Almighty, When the stark truth of God,
when it comes to a person who does not possess God's Spirit,
that person will be offended by God. The messenger is delivering
God's Word. That person will be offended
by God. That person will reject God and,
so sad to say, that person will leave. That's what will happen. But when the stark truth of the
Word of God Almighty comes to a person who possesses God's
Holy Spirit, if God has done a work, given His Spirit in the
heart, God's Spirit in the heart will lovingly, graciously grant
that sinner godly sorrow. That's what will happen. And
that child of God will say, That's right. I'm wrong. And God is right. It will happen every single time. That is godly sorrow. True believers, God's true children,
love the correction of the Father. They're so thankful for the correction
of the Father. And this is the reason why. Go
with me over to Hebrews 12. This is where he said in verse
two, 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. He told him this is what Christ did for us. And
now he tells them in verse five, you 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 for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth. every son. He said, if you endure
chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son
is he of whom the father chastens not? And he goes on to say, if
you're not chastened, you're not a son. If you don't feel
that godly sorrow, the apostle Paul said, Oh, wretched man that
I am. And if I'm not careful, I'll
go into the message. But that godly sorrow. Every person who
receives this godly sorrow, he said, that's a son. And he said
in verse 11, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. We're not happy over chastening,
it's grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, It yielded
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. And that's what the apostle Paul
saw in the Corinthians. That was the result that his
letter wrought. And he said, that brought me
so much joy, so much thankfulness. That broken, humbled, reverent,
godly sorrow. He said, I was so happy to see
that. Now go back to the text, 2 Corinthians 7. Verse 4, he said, Great is my
boldness of speech toward you. Boldness means plainness. He
said, I've been as plain as I could possibly, possibly be with you.
And now he says in verse four, great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort. I am exceeding joyful in all
our tribulation. Even though these issues of the,
the, uh, glory and the honor of God brought so much tribulation. He said, God blessed him. God
blessed his word. God blessed taking a stand for
his word. Verse five for when we were coming
to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on
every side without were fighting's within were fears. And that's
because of the truth. He's saying that because they
were preaching God's Word. Verse 6, Nevertheless, God that
comforteth those that are cast down comforted us by the coming
of Titus, and not by his coming only, we love him and we were
glad to see him, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in
you when he told us your earnest desire. People talk about their
jobs being rewarding. People do things and they say
it's very rewarding. That is a gospel preacher's reward. That's a gospel preacher's reward.
Watching God move on the hearts of his people and creating in
them earnest desire. earnest desire. He said, Titus
was thrilled when he saw that. And then when Titus told us,
we were thrilled, so thrilled. I was so comforted when Titus
told me of your earnest desire. And then he said in verse seven,
and your mourning, that godly sorrow, that broken and contrite
heart that God will hear. Verse seven, he said, your fervent
mind toward me. What he's telling them is. He said, Titus, do you mean to
tell me that they don't hate me? I was pretty honest with
them. And Titus came and he said, Paul,
you're not going to believe that church. You mean to tell me they're
not mad at me? He said, mad at you. They love
you. They're all so thankful you told
them the truth. Paul said, I couldn't believe
it. Could not believe it. The end of verse 7, he said,
as soon as I heard that, I rejoiced the more. Oh, I thanked God.
Verse 8, he said, for though I made you sorry with a letter,
I do not repent, though I did repent. He said, I love you so
much. The thought of hurting you, through
being the one that had to deliver God's rebuke. He said, it crushed
me. The thought of hurting you crushed
me and my flesh got weak. As a man in the flesh, I started
to question myself whether or not I should have been that honest. Was it really necessary that
I be that honest with God's people? He said, now God has proven to
me that he will always bless his truth to his people. Always. Verse eight, though I
made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did
repent. For I perceive that the same
epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry. I don't enjoy that
at all. But that you sorrowed to repentance,
for you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might
receive damage by us in nothing. The truth will never damage God's
people. Never. That comforts my heart
so much to know that. The only thing that will damage
God's people is withholding the truth from them. That's the only
thing that will damage them. Verse 10, he said, For godly
sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repentant
of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold, this
selfsame thing that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness
it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea,
what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea,
what zeal, yea, what revenge, in all things you have approved
yourselves to be clear in this matter. Wherefore, though I wrote
unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong,
nor for his cause that suffered wrong. Right here he's talking
about in this particular verse the incident of adultery that
took place. And when he told them, you need
to put that man out of the church, this can't continue, he said,
I did not do it for that man's sake only. He did it for his
sake. He said, there's a reference
back to 1 Corinthians 5, when he told them that and he said,
I'm telling you this, that this man might not be given over to
utter destruction, that he might find this repentance and the
Lord might bring him back. I'm saying this for his own soul's
sake. So he did it for his sake and he said, I'm also, I didn't
just do it for the man who was wronged. He said, I did it for
the whole congregation, the sake of the entire congregation, the
good and the worship of the entire congregation. Verse 12, he said,
wherefore though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause
that had done the wrong nor for his cause that suffered wrong,
but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear
unto you. And he said, God blessed his word. He blessed it. Verse
13, therefore. We were comforted in your comfort,
yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus,
because his spirit was refreshed by you all. For if I have boasted
anything to him of you, I am not ashamed. But as we spake
all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made
before Titus, is found a truth. And his inward affection is more
abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of
you all. How with fear and trembling you
received Him. He said, I rejoice therefore.
I thank God, all His good and perfect works, the way He's handled
everything has just been perfect. He said, I greatly rejoice therefore
that I have confidence in you in all things. And what He's
saying is, I greatly rejoice in the fact. that through seeing
this godly sorrow, it's confirmed in me that the same God that
has begun a good work in you, he will perform it all the way
to the end. I thank God for that. All right,
you're dismissed.