If you want to turn with me,
you can turn to 2 Corinthians 7. I'm only going to read one
verse, and then we're going to be going back to Isaiah. 2 Corinthians
7. 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 10. For godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation, not to be repented of. But the sorrow of the world
worketh death. We've heard this here before,
so I have nothing new this morning. But I'm interested in where it
says here, godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not
to be repented of. And let me paraphrase this statement
if I can. A grief or heaviness which is
not only directed toward God, but is from God, causes or accomplishes
a change of mind about myself and about God, saving my soul,
of which I do not want to turn from that way as it is my salvation. This world has sorrow. I've had
sorrow at times before God revealed himself to me. But it was a sorrow
unto death, because it was a sorrow which was of this world. The
sorrow which I at one time had and the sorrow which this world
has never turns to God. It never turns to where life
can be found. Because it is a sorrow had in
death, therefore it can only work death. I at those times
would be sorry that I did not perform that for which I knew
God told me to do in his law. I knew I did not do what God
told me to do, even in death. But at that time, it was not
a sorrow that worketh to repentance. I continued to want to do, do,
do. Amazingly, I would try to do
something and it did not work, but this flesh kept telling me,
try, try again. I thought maybe one of these
times you might get it right. And I said amazing, but maybe
that's not the right word because there is no amazement in this.
It is what God tells us we will do. We are all gone out of the
way and we look every one to his own way. By nature we are
not looking for God. We do not seek God as we are
born into this world. If God does nothing, we will
never seek him, even though we might sing songs, hear messages,
even if they mention the name of Jesus. I used to do this all
the time, but I had no idea who God is. It was always a thought
of what is it that I need to do, and not a thought of what
was already done. Two things with that statement,
the statement about what has already been done. There are
things I have done, and there are things that God has done.
I have offended God. Once he is offended, there has
to be judgment, Joe. There are no, I'm sorry, I won't
do it again. If God is offended, he must punish
that sin. He is holy, just, and good. The
wages of sin is death. So on one side, we have what
we have done, which is sin against God, sin against His holy law,
we have offended God because of this. We spit in His face
when He says, do this, and we do not do it. That is what has been done on
our part. Offending God is not to be done.
It is not something we might do. It is something that has
already been done by us. Then we have what He has done. We offended, that is his chosen
people have offended God. God in the face of Jesus Christ
has taken the punishment due our sin against him. This he
done being made a curse and sin for his people. That work is
done, we just heard that. Salvation is not due, salvation
is done. But we read here that there are
some who have a godly sorrow, this sorrow which worketh, or
that is, it accomplishes repentance, or that is a turning to God,
a change of mind. 1 Thessalonians 1, 7-9 we read,
so that ye were in samples to all that believe in Macedonian
Achaia, For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not
only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your
faith to Godward is spread abroad, so that we need not speak anything.
For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we
had unto you, and how ye turn to God from idols to serve the
living and true God. I want to look at today this
sorrow and this repentance. We're going to look more at that
this is so, then how this is so. And I'll hope to show you
a little bit more about what I'm talking about, but you all
probably remember Walter telling us this, and he used Hebrews
11 and verse three to show us this. It says, through faith
we understand not how the worlds were framed, but that the worlds
were framed by the word of God. So I will endeavor to go through
this and show you that the sorrow and repentance spoken of here
in our text is of God. This being of God, it worketh
repentance. If God in his word tells us some
of the hows, then we will see that. But for sure we will see
that he does this in him alone. So I wanna talk about sorrow
and repentance. So sorrow if you want to turn
with me to Isaiah 54 Isaiah 54 In verse 6 for now and I'm going
to be in several verses back and forth in some of these chapters
here close Isaiah 54 in verse 6 For the Lord hath called thee
as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth,
when thou wast refused, saith thy God. When God begins to do
his work on us of his grace, we begin to feel the weight of
his holy law coming down on us. We are grieved with a huge weight
of burden on our soul, of which we cannot get out from under
of our own self. We begin to mourn as God guides
us by his schoolmaster which teaches us that the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. We know we have nothing to bring
to God of our own before God. We are naked before him without
any hope of ever getting to God. That is, getting into favor with
God on our own. Isaiah 54 11 says, O thou afflicted,
tossed with tempest and not comforted. These are the kind of people
God brings to himself. Those who are in great distress.
We know just as it was with David when Nathan was sent to point
out to David his sin. He says, you are the man, David.
God's holy law, the letter as the scripture puts it, it points
out to us what we have done and it says you are the man. You
have sinned against God and against God alone you have done this
thing. David having committed adultery with Bathsheba and then
to cover up his wrong tried to influence a man Uriah to be with
his wife. Bathsheba was Uriah's wife. And when Uriah would not, because
he was set to fight with his people as they were at war, he
wasn't gonna go back home with his wife, because his brethren
were fighting, so he went with them. But David then made sure
that things were done in such a way to ensure that Uriah, the
husband of Bathsheba, would be killed in battle. This all did
happen, so Uriah died. Uriah himself carried in his
own hand the letter which gave the instruction for this to happen.
The letter being given by the king which said Uriah would be
sent to the front lines and then left there by himself to die. And as I've said, he did die.
And this was done on purpose by David the king. But then God
sent someone to David, and we read in 2 Samuel 12 verses 1
through 7, we read this. And the Lord sent Nathan unto
David, and he came unto him and said unto him, there were two
men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich
man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had
nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished
up, and it grew up together with him and with his children. It
did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay
in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came
a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his
own flock, and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man
that was coming to him. But took the poor man's lamb,
and dressed it, and for the man that was come to him. And David's
anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan,
as the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely
die. And he shall restore the lamb
fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.
And Nathan said to David, thou art the man. God will show his people when
it pleases him. He will show his people that
they are the one. They are the one who has offended
a thrice holy God. The scripture where it says,
we have sinned and come short of the glory of God, they see
God saying this directly to them. They are emptied of everything
that they thought they had. They sink low in deep sorrow
knowing that what they are accused of is certainly true. Their pot
is emptied. God has the right to destroy
us because we have broken his law. We have sinned against God. Sin is the transgression of the
law as we read in scripture. Those for whom God does this
for, they see and they know they have absolutely nothing to bring
to God for satisfaction. They are sure they will be destroyed
by this holy God. They begin to hunger and thirst.
Hunger and thirst after a God righteousness. But they have
nothing to pay to get this righteousness. Everything they do is filthy
rags in his sight. The more they try to do, the
deeper they go into the mire. They are forced to cry out to
him whom they have offended, help me, oh God. This great God,
who has been offended at them, then begins to succor them. He
woos them in. He brings them close in. He begins
to tell them things like the following in Isaiah 55, one through
three. Ho, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies
not? Hearken diligently unto me and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto
me. Herein your soul shall live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. Those for whom that thirsteth
and have no money to buy, there is a place they can go. That
place is to the waters. Here, with no money, they can
buy not just water, but wine and milk. If you are looking
to anything other than what God says is bread and that which
satisfies him, you are spending money on vanity. You are laboring
for that which never gives satisfaction to God. There is only one place
or one person where you will find that bread and see that
labor which satisfies God Almighty. You will see it in none other
than David, the son of God. That's who it's talking about
here. It is talking about Jesus Christ. Isaiah 55.4 says, behold,
I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander
to the people. This is God who will turn a people
for his name to himself. Isaiah 55.5 says, Behold, thou
shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that
knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy
God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified
thee. So now we come to repentance.
Repentance, though it's not a simple subject necessarily, it is simply
this though, it is a turning to God from idols. The biggest idol being right
close to us every day. We are our biggest idol. Isaiah
55, seven says, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous
man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will
have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. First of all, you will come to
know you are wicked. If you do not come to know this,
and I mean really know this, then there will be nothing you
think you need to forsake. But we are told here to forsake
our way. What way would that be? Any way
you think is the way to God. That is not who God tells us
is his way to himself. What is our way? We see it manifested
today all the time, free will. We all by nature think we can
do something for or toward God in some pleasing way, and that
is the imagination of man. That is the thoughts of man.
Jesus Christ tells us that he is the truth, the way, and the
life. It is by him that you will turn
to God if you are to be turned at all. We as we are born into
this world have our ways and we have our thoughts. But what
our way is and what our thoughts are do not match up with God's
ways and thoughts. Now verses eight through 11 of
Isaiah 55. I'm gonna read that. Verses eight
through 11 of 55. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, sayeth the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down and
the snow from heaven and returneth not thither, but watereth the
earth and maketh it bring forth in bud. that it may give seed
to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. This here talks about
the rain coming down, or snow, and it comes down, but it doesn't
go back up, is what it says. And what is meant by this? It
has a very specific purpose that it is sent for. It accomplishes
that for which it was sent to do. That's what it's saying,
and we can see that in the context of what we read. If he sends
the rain and the snow, and if it comes, he is the one that
sends it. But if it comes down and he says, it does not go back
up, but rather it watereth the earth and gives the earth whatever
it needs to bud. If God says this is what happens,
then this is what happens. So it is that his word, that
is what his word does. His word, his gospel will not
return unto him void. God's gospel will accomplish
that for which it was sent forth to accomplish. It may be to some
further condemnation, but to others it is bread, it is life
to some. We must hear him, we must hear
his gospel if we are to turn to him. For if we cannot hear
his gospel, then we will not know him, that we might turn
to him. Proverbs 20, 12 says, the hearing
ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made both of them. In knowing
this, then we read here in this text, going back to verse three
of Isaiah 55. Incline your ear and come unto
me. Hear, and your soul shall live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. If he gives you a hearing ear
and a seeing eye, then you will then be able to, by his grace,
to see him. You will come to that point after
him bringing you to that place of having nothing, nothing but
death and destruction. You will then see him for who
he is by his power and might, and then that sorrow will turn
to repentance. This is specifically what God
says in his word that his goodness will lead to repentance. Romans
2, 4, we read, or despises thou the riches of his goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness
of God leadeth thee to repentance. It is in seeing Jesus Christ,
who he is and what he has done that will cause those who by
his schoolmaster have been brought to that place of sorrow. Then
seeing Jesus Christ by faith, they will fall down at his feet
begging him for mercy. They will see what it took to
pay for our sin when they see him for who he is and what he's
done. This brings sorrow as well. I cannot necessarily put these
things in a neat little package for anyone. Maybe some can, but
there must be a godly sorrow first, because that is what worketh
repentance. When we see him, who we know
we have crucified him because it was our sin that he went there
for, but when we see him like that, God in his power begins
to turn us to himself. But we read in Isaiah 65, 24,
we read, and it shall come to pass that before they call, I
will answer. And while they are yet speaking,
I will hear. God hears those who call out
for his name. It is he that has done all things
to have a people for his name. In fact, it is he that has answered
before they even call on him. He hears before you even finish
speaking. There will come those times when
God's people will cry out in supplication to God, and before
they are finished speaking, he hears them, and he always takes
care of his people, although we might not see it. But our
ways are not his ways, and our thoughts are not his thoughts.
It is his goodness that leadeth to repentance. Is there any more
goodness than that, than what Jesus Christ has done? to be
made a man, made under the law, and be made a curse and sin for
us. Somebody is seeing some goodness
if that's what they're seeing. This will only do if he is pleased
to bring us first into sorrow, that broken heart and contrite
spirit. If we ever have a godly sorrow,
not a sorrow where we sorrow for God, God needs nothing, but
that we sorrow for that which we have done, which has offended
this God. But if we ever have a godly sorrow,
it will work. That is, it will accomplish repentance. It's just as Joe said in his
message a few weeks back, two things are we to proclaim. All
flesh is grass, and behold, you're God. God gives us everything
we need. What did we first read in 1 Thessalonians
1.9? how ye turn to God from idols
to serve the living and true God. As I have said, man is his
own biggest idol. We have to be turned to God from
ourselves so that we might serve the true and living God. God
does this. And I want to go to one more
passage and look at some things concerning this. Jeremiah 31,
18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast chastised me, and I
was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Did Ephraim then
say once he was chastised, I need to pick myself up by my own bootstraps? No, what's he go on to say? Turn
thou me, and I shall be turned. For thou art the Lord my God. What happens when God does this?
This is not something we do, it is something God does. But
what happens, Jeremiah 31, 19? Surely, after that I was turned,
I repented. And after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. So what is it that
God uses to bring this about, this sorrow and this repentance?
His gospel. that gospel that can tear you
apart, Hebrews 4.12, for the word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints of marrow, and
it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. When
God sends his gospel and we see Jesus Christ, it will then show
us how bad sin is. We will see who it is that had
to pay this price, and we will see the price which he had to
pay in order that we might have all these blessings. We read
right here in Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, verses six through
11, we read, for there shall be a day that the watchman upon
the Mount Ephraim shall cry, arise ye, and let us go up to
Zion unto the Lord our God. For thus saith the Lord, sing
with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the
nations. Publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people,
the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from
the north country, and gather them from the coast of the earth,
and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and
her that traveleth with child together. A great company shall
return thither. They shall come with weeping,
and with supplications will I lead them. I will cause them to walk
by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble,
for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the
isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather
him. and keep him as a shepherd does
his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob
and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than
he. Repentance is a turning to Jesus
Christ the Lord in total submission to him, knowing we have nothing
to pay for what he has given us. He has given us righteousness,
that righteousness of God without the law, he has given us life. Those who were once dead, he
by his power gives them life. This life which comes from and
is sustained by Jesus Christ himself, who is their life. So now we come back to our text
verse, 2 Corinthians 17. For godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation, not to be repentant of, but the sorrow of the world
worketh death. I wanted to add this in here
from J.C. Philpott. And he wasn't necessarily
talking about this subject necessarily, but it kind of goes with it.
So I wanted to add it. It's a quote. Many will set up
their sins, their fretfulness, their evil temper, their unbelief,
their hardness of heart and deadness of soul as evidences. Now I feel
all these things as evidences against me and not for me. and to make them witnesses in
my behalf is like a criminal's making the evidence of his crimes
so many witnesses in his favor. It is not sin, but the workings
of grace under sin. It is not unbelief, but the strugglings
of faith against unbelief. It is not inward evil, but sorrow
for it. It is not iniquity, but the pardon
of it. It is not lust, but the deliverance
from the power of it. It is not pride, but humility. It is not hardness of heart,
but contrition. It is not deadness, but life. It is not man's rebellion, but
God's mercy felt within. That is the true evidence of
a work of grace." End quote. Now let me add In closing, let
me add some to my paraphrase of this verse based on what we've
seen in scripture, and I will end with this. A grief or heaviness
which is not only directed toward God but is from God. This coming
from hearing the gospel which in the power of the spirit makes
manifest what the thoughts and intents of our hearts are. This
we see because of who Christ is and what he has done. all
of this causing or accomplishing a change of mind about myself
and about God. I now know that what God says
about me is true in Scripture. And I know if I am to see favor
before God that it will only come through Jesus Christ the
Lord. In God bringing me to this, to know this, it saves my soul. This sorrow, this repentance,
this salvation, I do not want to turn away from that, as he
is my one and only salvation. Amen. Dear Lord God, may you attend
your word by your spirit, dear Lord, because us up here are
saying words and so fallingly, Doing so, dear Lord, means nothing
apart from your spirit, dear Lord. All these things we ask
in Christ's name, amen.