2nd Corinthians as we continue. 2nd Corinthians chapter 7. 2nd Corinthians chapter 7. Last week we looked at verses
2 through 7. And I pointed out to us three
words, three words in these verses that the Apostle uses in describing
his experience. The three words were troubled,
comforted, and rejoiced. We notice that every one of these
words is in the past tense. Notice in verse 5, he said, for
when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we
were troubled on every side. And we realize that this is the
experience of all of God's children in this world, as strangers and
pilgrims. We meet with troubles, and as
the apostle said, troubles from without, that is from this world,
and troubles from within. Because we recognize that as
God's children, we have a new nature, but we also continue
to have that old nature. And so the flesh lusteth against
the spirit. And then in verse six, we see
the word comforted. Nevertheless, I'm thankful for
God's nevertheless, aren't you? We were troubled on every side. Nevertheless, nevertheless, God,
that comforted those that are cast down, comforted us by the
coming of Titus. Comfort comes from God. He is
the God of all comfort, as the Apostle calls him in the first
chapter of this letter. And then, rejoiced. in verse 7 at the very end, 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 rejoice
the more. Rejoicing, it seems to me, increases. and the believer's life as we
grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, our rejoicing
increases. I read yesterday the Old Testament
prophet Habakkuk's determination to rejoice in the Lord in the
very worst of times. Listen to what he said. Although
the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the
vines. The labor of the olives shall
fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut
off from the fold, and there shall be no more herd in the
stalls, yet." Yet. I mean, I cannot picture a worse
condition than he describes. There's nothing. There's no fruit
on the vines, there's no produce from the field, there's no herd,
no cattle to eat from, no meat at all. Yet, seems to me he makes
this determination before this actually came upon him, before
he experienced this. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't,
I'm not sure. Yet, he determined, I will rejoice
in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation."
God never changes. And when we learn to rejoice
in Him, then we can, too, rejoice in every situation, in every
trial, in every difficulty. And the God of all comfort will
comfort us in the worst of times. Now, we saw last week that the
Apostle Paul was comforted by the coming of Titus. Notice that
in verse 6. Nevertheless God that comforteth
those that are cast down comforted us by the coming of Titus. And I pointed out that it is
God who comforts His people and yet He uses means. He uses means
to comfort His people. One of the chief means that God
uses to comfort His people is His Word. When the prophet was
told, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. Isaiah
was commanded to do that, to comfort. And how was he to comfort
God's people? By telling them that their warfare
was ended, that their salvation, if you please, was accomplished
through the finished work of our Savior. Now, in Paul's case,
God used the coming of Titus, and I looked over in the letter
of Titus to see how Paul addressed him, and he referred to him as
my son in the common faith. So Titus was especially a blessing,
just his presence, just him coming. And sometimes when a person is
in sorrow, just our presence, just coming and setting beside
that person is a means that God uses in comforting his children. I remember years ago, someone
told me, I went to visit, they had lost a loved one. And I said
something to the effect, I don't know what to say. And this person
said, you don't need to say anything. Just you being here is a comfort,
is a blessing. Now we don't want to be like
Job's friends. They came to comfort him and
they sat down there for, what was it, three days and never
said a word. Just looked at him. Like a calf
looking at a new gate, I suppose, you know. Well, tonight, in our
scripture, Paul writes about what had given him trouble and
how that the coming of Titus and his report had relieved his
fears. Now we see, first of all, in
verses 8 through 10, I want us to see that Paul's trouble, we
saw that he was troubled. Now Paul's trouble had to do
with his concern, his concern about what his first letter,
which he wrote to this church, what it might produce in them. You remember in his first letter,
1 Corinthians, we see a number of issues that he had to deal
with, but there was one thing in particular. There was one
thing in particular, I believe this is what gave him the most
trouble as to how they would receive his letter. Because he
had to confront them and instruct them with what they needed to
do with that man who was living in incest in the church. He was troubled not knowing how
they would receive that letter. And you notice, let's read these
verses 8 through 10. For though I made you sorry with
the letter, I do not repent, though I did repent. For I perceive
that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were for
a season. Now 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." He was troubled not knowing how that letter would
be received. And he said that he did repent,
not about writing the letter. He wrote by inspiration. He did
not repent about writing the letter. But at the same time,
he took no pleasure. He knew that letter was going
to cause those believers in Corinth sorrow. And he took no pleasure
in causing them sorrow. But then the apostle shows that
there are two kinds of sorrow. There's godly sorrow and there
is the sorrow of the world. He knew his letter would cause
them sorrow. But when Titus came, and Titus
reports to him, Titus tells him, yes, they sorrowed, but not with
the sorrow of this world. They had godly sorrow. This caused Paul to write, now
I rejoice. Now I rejoice. We might say,
now I can breathe more easily. Now that Titus has come. And
he's told me, given this report, that yes, my letter did cause
you sorrow, but it wasn't the sorrow of this world, because
the sorrow of this world worketh death. That's the kind of sorrow
that Judas had. When he realized what he had
done, he had sorrow, he repented, and he went out and hanged himself. The sorrow of this world worketh
death. But secondly, tonight, Paul's
rejoicing had to do with their repentance in verse 11. For behold, their selfsame thing,
that she 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." Now, his rejoicing, he says, I now rejoice
because godly sorrow, which you experienced, works repentance
to salvation. Every one of us here tonight,
no one's excluded, every one of us here tonight should know
we realize how important repentance is. How important repentance
is. Consider these words of the Lord
if you want to turn with me to Luke chapter 13. In Luke chapter 13, beginning with verse 1, the scripture
said, there were present at that season some that told him of
the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto
them, suppose you that those Galileans were sinners above
all the Galileans? because they suffered such things?
I tell you no, but except you repent, you shall all likewise
perish. Are those eighteen upon whom
the tower in Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they
were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you
no, nay, but except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Our Lord mentions two episodes
when men had been destroyed. And people have the idea that
if people suffer some awful end like these people did, that means
that they were sinners greater than anyone else. And our Lord
points out to these people that we have all sinned, that no one
is exempt. Everyone, whether we suffer a
tragedy like these people did or we die in our beds, makes
no difference. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God and the Lord says nay. But I tell you, probably
self-righteous people he was talking to who thought these
others, well, they must have really been bad. Because of what
happened to them, no, the Lord says, I tell you nay, but except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. How important is repentance? Well, without repentance, you
will perish. Notice also the words of the
Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20. In Acts chapter 20, he's speaking
to the elders of the church at Ephesus, beginning in verse 17. And from Miletus, he sent to
Ephesus and called the elders of the church. And when they
were come to him, he said unto them, you know from the first
day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with
you at all seasons. serving the Lord with all humility
of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by
the line and weight of the Jews. Now notice, and how I kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and
have taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying
both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward
God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, repentance
and faith. How important. We all know this,
don't we? We all here tonight know how
important it is that we believe in Christ, that we have faith
in Christ, and equally so, that we have repentance. For without
repentance, we will perish. Now, having said that, it behooves
us to ask this question. What is repentance? What is repentance? Well, it's defined as a change
of mind. That's usually the very simple
definition that is given, and that's a correct definition.
Repentance is a change of mind, but now listen, which produces
change of conduct. Change of mind, which produces
change of conduct. In true repentance, our mind
is changed. It's changed about many things,
but these three things, our mind is changed about God. The average
person, his thoughts of God are, he thinks that God is just like
he is. That's the average thought that
man has. But when God grants repentance, our mind is changed
about God and we get some understanding, some idea of how holy God is
and the great distance that separates between God and us. How can a holy God in heaven
receive a sinful man like me." Another thing, change your mind
about God, yes, and about sin. Sin's not a trifling matter,
is it? Most people think, well, you
know, it's just sweep it under the rug or You know, forget about
no sin. Every sin will be punished. Every sin. There's no exceptions.
Every sin will be punished. Either our sins were punished
in our substitute, or we will be punished in eternity. But every sin will be punished. And not only a change of mind
about God and about sin, but about ourselves. Our mind has
changed about ourselves. Well, here are four things I
want to mention tonight about godly sorrow that worketh repentance
unto salvation that is not to be repented of. That's what we
read here, isn't it? In verse 10, for godly sorrow
worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of, but the
sorrow of the world worketh death. Four things. Let me mention these
four things about true repentance. First of all, true repentance
has godly sorrow. True repentance has godly sorrow. What do I mean by this? I mean
that true repentance includes sorrow which has God. It's godly sorrow because it
is produced by God. The author of true repentance
is God. It's a gift of God. He's exalted
a prince and a savior for to give repentance. And not only
is God the author, but He's the object. He's the object of our
repentance. That's what the Apostle Paul
said, isn't it? Repentance toward God. Godly sorrow does not originate
with man. In other words, it doesn't grow.
in an unconverted heart, godly sorrow. It does not originate
with man. And it's not produced by fear
of damnation and hell. And sometimes people think, well,
preacher, why don't you preach more on hell? Why don't you preach
more on the fires of hell? And that will surely, surely
cause men to repent. No. That kind of fear has torment. And that's not godly sorrow. Sorrow that's produced by the
fear of hell does not have God as its author or its object. The author of godly sorrow, we
know, is God the Holy Spirit. John Gill said this, Godly sorrow
is owing to divine instructions. It is heightened and increased
with the discovery of the love of God and views of pardoning
grace, views of pardoning grace and mercy being attended with
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Always repentance and faith go
together. People say, well, which comes
first? That's like the bullet, right? going through the wall,
which comes first, the hole or the bullet? They come together,
both repentance and faith. And you can't have one without
the other. Many times people question, well,
I know I believe, but I'm not sure that I have true repentance. If you have faith, you have true
repentance. They always go together. And not only is God the author,
of this sorrow, godly sorrow, but he's the object. We sorrow
because we realize that our sin is against God. And not just
any God either. I mean a God who has been our
benefactor, who has taken care of us. who has supplied our needs,
who has loved us, who has done everything for us, and yet, in
spite of that, in spite of His goodness, we have treated Him
with contempt. We have sinned against Him. That's the reason David, in Psalm
51, when he is repenting, he said, against thee. and thee
only have I sinned." Well, David, had you not sinned against Bathsheba? Yes. Had you not sinned against
her husband? Yes. But all sin ultimately is
against God. All sin. Godly sorrow. So that's the first
thing about true repentance. Godly sorrow. Godly sorrow always
accompanies true repentance. And then second, true repentance
always has its fruits. Remember John the Baptist when
those Pharisees came out to be baptized and he wouldn't baptize
them. He said, first of all, you bring
forth fruits, meet for repentance. Repentance always has its fruits. And I noticed when I was preparing
this message, fruits, plural. When we read about the fruit
of the Spirit, it's singular, isn't it? Singular. Even though it's like someone
said, a cluster of grapes. You know, love and joy, peace,
faith. But it's fruit, the fruit of
the Spirit. But when it comes to repentance,
fruits meet for repentance. Now notice what Paul says about
these Corinthians and their repentance. He mentions, I believe, six or
seven things. First of all, he says, what carefulness. What, what clearing of your, no, what
carefulness. it wrought in you." What does
he mean by that? They had godly sorrow, which
worketh repentance, and the fruit of their repentance was carefulness. They had been negligent. They
had been negligent in their behavior toward that man who was living
in incest. But now they obeyed Paul's word
and removed him. And they were determined that
they would not be guilty of this again. They were very careful. And secondly, clearing of themselves. They showed that they never condoned. They cleared themselves. They
showed they never condoned or approved of that sin. That their
sin had been neglect. But they had never approved of
that sin that the man was guilty of. And then indignation. Now their indignation was not
against the man who was guilty. Their indignation was really
against themselves. Because the Apostle Paul had
told them when he wrote to them in that first letter, you remember
he said, leaveneth the whole lump." Now they are indignant
that they did not remove that leaven. That they had allowed
that to continue. Realizing that a little leaven,
it doesn't just stay little. It just grows. And then he says,
fear. These are the fruits of repentance.
Fear. Not fear of hell. But fear, that
is reverential fear of God. And then vehement desire. They desired to see Paul. That's
what Titus brings the report to Paul that causes him to rejoice
because he had made them sorry, but it was godly sorrow which
worked repentance. And now they have vehement desire. They desire to see Paul and to
assure him that they were determined to live and conduct themselves
in such a way as becomes the gospel of God. And then he mentions
zeal. They had zeal. This is a fruit
of repentance. Zeal for what? Zeal for God.
Zeal for God's glory. zeal for his gospel, and care
of the ministers who preach the gospel. And then the last thing
he mentions is revenge. As a church, they had acted toward
the man guilty of incest, as Paul directed. They removed him
from their fellowship, and thus they approved themselves to be
clear in this matter. So true repentance always has
godly sorrow. It always has its fruits. And number three, true repentance
continues through the believer's life in this world. Now that's
a mistake. That's a mistake that the religious
world many times is guilty of. Many people believe that when
you first trust in Christ that you repent and that's it. That's not so. Repentance will
continue with us as long as we continue in this world. As long
as we are guilty of sin, we're going to need to repent. Godly sorrow worketh repentance. True repentance always has godly
sorrow, it always has its fruits, and it will continue throughout
our Christian experience. And number four, true repentance
is never repented of by those who experience it. You notice
what he said, for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation
not to be repented of. those who truly repent. Tonight,
if you have truly been granted repentance, that God has given
you repentance, and you have a change of mind, you never repent
that you've been given repentance. That you've been given the precious
salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. You never hear a person who is
saved stand up and testify Well, I repent that I ever trusted
in Christ. I repent that I ever repented. No, you never hear a believer
make a comment like that. True repentance is never repented
of by those who experience it. Well, here's the third thing.
I want to point out from these verses in verse 12, Paul's reason
for writing the first letter. The first letter. He says, 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. Paul said the reason I wrote
that first letter and in it I made you sorry. I didn't write it
primarily for the man who was guilty of incest and I didn't
write it primarily for his father who suffered by that man violating
his wife. The reason I wrote that letter
is to show to you the love the concern, the care that I have
for you. And the fourth and last thing,
Paul's comfort and rejoicing was produced by the report of
Titus in verses 13 through 16. He said, therefore, we were comforted
in your comfort. Yea, and exceedingly, the more
joy 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 are boasting. Remember one of the things that
the false teachers accused Paul of in this church at Carth. They
said his yea is not always yea, and his nay is not always nay. No, Paul said that just as I
spoke the things to you in truth, my yea was yea and my nay was
nay. And I boasted of you to Titus. I told him what a fine group
of people you were, what a dedicated group of people you were. I boasted
of you, boasted to him about you. And even so, it proved to
be so. For if I have boasted anything
to him of you, I'm not ashamed. The report he gave me about you
and your conduct toward him, I'm not ashamed of any boasting
that I may have done about you. But as we spake all things to
you in truth, Even so, our boasting, which I made before Titus, is
found a truth. He found it to be so. He found
it to be just like I boasted and told him what kind of a church
you were. 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. I rejoice, therefore, that I
have confidence in you in all things. Paul's comfort and rejoicing
was produced by the report that Titus brought to him. Well, I
pray that the Lord would bless these words to all of us here
tonight. I'm going to sing a hymn.