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#20250112 - The Need For Godly Sorrow - 2 Corinthians 7:8-16 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles, would you
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Second Corinthians Chapter 7 Second Corinthians Chapter 7,
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the theme of our series, Take it all.
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The study today is entitled The need for Godly sorrow.
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Entering into a new year. It brings a lot of excitement we
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and we're looking forward to all that God wants to do, but it
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also brings a little apprehension of what will this
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year actually bring. What will I face this year?
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Will it be up? Will it be down?
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We just go forward by faith. That's how we enter any any day,
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any week, any month, any new year, trusting the Lord, looking
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to change, looking to grow, looking to add, looking to
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subtract and move in to greater intimacy with Jesus.
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You can jot it down in Romans chapter 8 and verse 29.
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It says for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed
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into the image of Christ. No matter what comes our way
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this year, we know the work of God is changing us into the
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image of Christ. Whether we go in excited,
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apprehensive or little, both. Our theme, our theme as a church
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this year is to take it all, to take all that God has given us.
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God gave instructions to Joshua to go in with the nation of
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Israel and take all that God was giving them all the land.
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The instruction take all 300,000 square miles.
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Unfortunately, they only took about 10%.
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About 30,000 is what they occupied at their greatest
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level. And I'm always reminded by those
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ratios is I don't want to just settle for 10%.
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I don't want to just settle for what I have now or what God has
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brought that there's so much more that he has offered to us.
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The new covenant equivalent of this is second Peter chapter 1.
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In second Peter chapter one verse three, it says as his
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divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and
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godliness. I want it all.
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I don't want it all in a selfish way for myself, but I want it
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all for how God wants to use me and use our church in the
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future, not to just settle and become comfortable.
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I want every blessing and every conviction and every direction.
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Like he said in chapter 1 and verse 3 of Joshua, every place
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that you, the sole of your foot will tread, I have given you.
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As I said to Moses, I believe it's important for us as a
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church to take the posture of everything you have for me, God,
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I want it and I want to take it for your glory.
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Now, once we make that decision to go forward, it's important to
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pay attention to the areas of our lives that will help us
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succeed. We don't want to just go forward
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haphazardly. We want to go forward with the
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desire to succeed, to watch God accomplish His work in our
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lives. We have to pay attention.
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We want to do it right. We want to do it properly.
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We want to do it powerfully. Today we're going to learn about
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the topic and the need for godly sorrow.
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If you're ever, and I'm ever to enjoy all the God has for us,
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then we're going to need godly sorrow in our lives related to
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sin. Godly sorrow is so important.
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The pathway is not easy. It's not easy to come face to
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face with a sinful inadequacy or a sinful choice in our lives.
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Today will be a time of equipping and it must be
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received and prayed over and followed.
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This is not a not this is a non negotiable in the life of the
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believer. When we open up to Second
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Corinthians here he's writing to a church talking about their
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lack of godly sorrow and the fact that they did have godly
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sorrow and he's warning them even as he's warning us the
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difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.
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So with me in 2nd Corinthians 7 pick up in verse 8.
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Would you go there? 2nd Corinthians 7 in verse 8 For
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even if I made you sorry with my letter, he writes, which is
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First Corinthians, even if I made you sorry with my letter, I
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don't regret it, though I did regret it.
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But I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though
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only for a while. Now I rejoice, verse nine, that
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not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow LED, and
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mark that word to repentance. Your sorrow led to repentance.
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For you are made sorry in a godly manner, that you might
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suffer loss from us and nothing. Verse 10 For godly sorrow
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produces repentance to salvation, not to be regretted,
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but the sorrow of the world produces death.
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For observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner,
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and then notice. We'll get to this later.
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But notice what godly sorrow produces.
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Not only does it produce repentance, but notice the
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fruits of repentance. What diligence it produced in
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you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation,
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what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication in
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all things you proved yourself. To be clear, in this matter, the
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issue Paul is addressing, the one that he wrestled with
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writing the letter, was sexual sin.
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In the Corinthian church. Sexual sin entered the church,
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and instead of dealing with it biblically, the leaders and the
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elders, they ignored it. They covered it, they didn't pay
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attention to it, and most importantly, they allowed it to
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continue. Paul wrote First Corinthians to
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address a lot of issues in the early church, but the biggest
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one was this sexual sin. And in addressing it he
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introduced the concept, the biblical concept of church
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discipline. He says he reminds them, hey
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look elders and pastors have been put into the church to deal
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with such matters to to bring about a righteous and remind a
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the the Church of a righteous standard to not allow sin to go
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unchecked. Paul wrote in First Corinthians,
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since the brother was unrepentant, he needed to be
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removed from the church, which happened and it was a hard
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thing. You see it here as he's
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describing it. He says as he we read in verse
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8, he goes, you know, I, I even if I made you sorry, I don't
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regret it, but I did regret it. I had some feelings like man,
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it's hard. It's hard to say hard things.
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It's hard to speak the truth and love to others.
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It's hard to confront sin, but it has to happen.
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It has to happen in the Church of God.
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It's not OK. And just to be reminded today,
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it's not OK to live an unrepentant sin in the church
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and think that God approves of it.
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It soils the church. It damages the church.
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It brings about great pain and consequences for the church.
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It brings impurity to the pure bride of Christ.
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Not only does it affect the heart of God and affect the
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church, but it affects you as well if you choose to live in
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unrepentant sins. Paul says, man, I wish after I
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after I sent you the letter, I wish I could have taken it back.
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But then, you know, I started to think about it and I go don't
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want to take it back because look what it did.
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I don't regret it. I don't regret having to say the
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hard thing. I began to think in my own
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ministry and my own life, the giftings that God has given to
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me, the gifting of pastor, teacher, the gift of teaching,
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the gift of exhortation, those up all operate in my lives.
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And I get this. Sometimes I have to say
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something hard and people get really mad at me.
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They get mad because I have to say something that will bring
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them back to reality, or at least that's my hope.
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Now, I'm not talking about when I make mistakes or I say it the
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wrong way. I certainly do that as well.
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But most of the time I'm sharing what God's word says.
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I'm doing what God has called me to do.
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This is what the Bible says and where you are right now is not
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where you belong. And so I get it.
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I know I, I go home sometimes from a meeting or from an
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appointment or from something I wrote and I'm like, oh man, I
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don't know if I, but then the Lord goes, no, Ed, no, this is,
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this was from me. This is what you needed to say.
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This is what I, I put on your heart to share.
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This is the scripture I reminded you of.
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And I want you to think of it with Paul because I know you go
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through this too. Paul was writing when he wrote
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to Corinthians. He doesn't know it.
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And even as he's writing Second Corinthians, he doesn't know it
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yet. But what he wrote in that first
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letter was inspired of God. It was God's will for him to
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write those things. And yet stepping into a hard
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conversation or having to say a hard thing or having to wrestle
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with some difficulties, I mean, that's where Paul is and I get
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it. But then he also looks at, no,
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no, no, they heard it. Church discipline in this
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brother's life brought him to repentance.
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I mean, they were so strong on church discipline that Paul had
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to write in a second letter know, let the brother back, let
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the brother back. It worked.
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He was repentant. He's humble, bring him back.
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The Lord has worked in his life. And so Paul says, I regret it,
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but I really don't regret it. It's a reminder or perhaps a a
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new instruction for you today that you are in a church, this
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church. We believe in the Bible.
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We believe in the entirety of the Scriptures.
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We believe it's inspired. We believe it's inerrant, and we
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believe in the necessity of church discipline.
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We believe that. We believe that our heart is to
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rescue and to reconcile before it ever gets to the end.
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And the end is when a person is removed from fellowship.
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And that has happened a few times in the life of this church
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where a person has been so unrepentant and so rebellious
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and all of our attempts and all of Matthew 18 and all of our our
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desires to see change don't take place and a person has to be
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removed. But that's not the heart.
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The heart is not removal. The heart of God is
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reconciliation. And it sometimes comes through a
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difficult path. That's what Paul is describing
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here. And as he describes it, he then
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lays before the church then and before us now the difference
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between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.
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You see in verse 9, he's he doesn't regret it because their
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sorrow, their sorrow from the letter and from the situation
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led to repentance. Verse nine that when they made
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sorry, their emotional response, their hurt, their anger, their
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frustration, he, he, he regretted the emotion part.
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But then when he gave it some time for the Holy Spirit to
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work, he goes no, no, no, OK, your sorrow led to repentance
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and your sorrow was in a godly manner.
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Verse 9 and then verse 10 because godly sorrow produces
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repentance to salvation and you never have to regret that.
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You never regret. Now remember, just a point of
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clarity here, Paul is writing to the church.
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So when godly sorrow leads to repentance, to salvation, this
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isn't a statement of like they're being born again again
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and again and again. The idea of this word is they've
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been rescued. They've been rescued from a life
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of of approving, of sin, of unholiness.
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Like when you and I experience godly sorrow to repentance,
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we're free. We're set free.
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We can walk in the light as He is in the light because that's
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where fellowship is, and that's where the blood of Jesus Christ
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cleanses us. So when you experience godly
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sorrow, it leads to repentance because emotions are involved
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when God begins to deal with your life.
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You know that, right? Even today, if you would say to
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me, Ed, I'm not a very emotional person.
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And and what you mean by that is you don't wear your emotions on
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your sleeve. You don't cry very easily.
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You may not be very demonstrative with your
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emotions, but I want to remind you, you still have them.
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You're still an emotional person.
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You're created in the image of God.
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And you and I, we have emotions, We may display them differently,
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but we have emotions. And emotions is one of the tools
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that God will use to get your attention.
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When you and I sin, we should feel bad.
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There is a feeling that comes when we hurt someone else, when
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we bring dishonor to God, when we hurt our spouse or our kids.
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There should be a feeling. But you want to understand that
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God is not just after your emotions.
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He's not just after your emotions.
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That's not all that He wants. He also wants your mind and
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that's where repentance comes in.
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If you like to write in your Bibles in verse 9 or verse 10,
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you can circle them both and you can write next to it the Greek
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word metanoia. That's the Greek word for
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repentance. 24 times it's used in the Bible.
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It was the ministry of John the Baptist.
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It was the ministry of Jesus. It's the ministry of every true
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believer. It's the ministry of the Holy
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Spirit calling us to repentance. Repentance is not just for
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unbelievers, it's also for believers that we would change.
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And here's what the word means. Metanoia speaks of a change of
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mind, where you change your mind, which leads to a change of
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behavior. Your mind and behavior are very
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intertwined. What you believe will dictate
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how you behave. They go together when God brings
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about an emotional response. There are two ways or two types
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of emotional responses to sin. And if you're taking notes, here
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are the two worldly sorrow and godly sorrow.
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When you feel bad about sin, worldly sorrow, godly sorrow,
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and the main reason that Paul, that removed Paul's regret was
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that in sending a difficult letter and saying a hard thing,
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that God used it to bring about true godly sorrow that led to
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true godly change. And so it's one thing to be sad
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and sorry about sinning or being caught or facing the
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consequences. That's normal.
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You would expect that, you would expect to feel sorry about that,
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but it's a whole other thing that you're sorry enough to
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change and be back in a realignment with the work of the
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Holy Spirit. This work, this godly sorrow
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starts with God and ends with God, as we'll see.
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So two types of sorrow to look for godly and worldly, or we
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could say spiritual sorrow and fleshly sorrow.
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You could say human centered sorrow, like just something that
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that is focused on yourself, that would be wordly, human or
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otherworldly, supernatural, one that's focused on God.
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One sorrows about you, the other is toward God.
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The difference between sorrow produced by God and sorrow
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that's inflicted by the world or by ourselves is that the sorrow
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of God is purposeful, whereas human sorrow tends to be very
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pointless and doesn't end well. Or what we learn here, godly
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sorrow leads to salvation, not to be regretted.
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Verse 10 but the sorrow of the world produces death and the
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sorrow of the world does produce death.
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So let's look at them. First of all, let's look at
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worldly sorrow or human sorrow. Worldly sorrow tends to hover
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around the immediate, the immediate.
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What I mean by that is I'm sure that if we surveyed those that
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just got caught in sin or just got exposed, they didn't come
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clean, but they were found out. Or or maybe even like many
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people listen to our to our services in jail right now.
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They're listening right now. They're listening to our live
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broadcast. It's their Bible study.
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It's their church for the morning.
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And if we had a chance to interview them, I am certain
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that most of them will be sorry for what they did that got them
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in jail. I'm sure they would.
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I'm sure they would be sad about it.
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I'm sure. Yeah.
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I wish I didn't do it. And I wish I wasn't here.
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And if I went back and I had a chance to redo it, I wouldn't
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have done that because I I'm sorry that I'm here.
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They got caught. They got caught.
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That's the that, that's a good beginning.
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That's a good beginning, but it's not far enough.
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Not just to be sorry that you got caught.
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There's nothing really wrong with that.
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But if you stay there, being sorry for your actions, just
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regretting that you did something, wishing that it never
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happened, it's not enough. It's going to lead that that
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emotions going to lead to death. It's it's going to be very
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internalized. It's going to be the realm, that
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type of feeling sorry and feeling sorry for yourself and
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look at me, I got caught and I wish I never did this.
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What where that leads is to a a perpetual state of
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discouragement and depression and living under the banner of
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shame, where where you don't just look at it and say, well, I
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did wrong. But now in shame you like you,
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you begin to say I am wrong and it's just an in the cycle
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downward in the dark. It doesn't lead to life.
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This type of sorrow leads to death.
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It leads to non action. It leads to feeling sorry for
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yourself. It it leads to everything about
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yourself. You're just living in the
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immediate day by day and it gets worse.
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It leads often to deep discouragement.
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Many times worldly sorrow as you're talking with someone is
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really one of the roots of why a person is so depressed, because
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they're stuck in the failure of their own lives and they're
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stuck in worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow keeps you in a
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prison. Now, it may not be a prison of
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concrete and steel, but we meet a lot of people that are
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imprisoned to anger and bitterness and resentment and
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they just can't get out because they've stuck.
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They're, they're in a place where they haven't taken
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responsibility for their own actions.
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And that makes sense because we live in a culture that we've
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been conditioned not to take responsibility for our own
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actions. We there, there's this big
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emphasis on it's got to be someone else.
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It's got to be someone else. It's got to be someone else.
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And while someone else may be involved, ultimately we have to
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take responsibility for our part.
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Otherwise we'll be stuck in worldly sorrow, blaming
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everybody, pointing the finger at everybody.
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It's everybody's fault. No, no, there might be an
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everybody, but in worldly sorrow you're stuck on, on yourself.
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Here's the problem. You know, another problem with
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worldly sorrow is that worldly sorrow and emotions, you know,
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you're feeling really bad that they're real emotions.
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They, they come up in the midst of crisis.
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But if you're stuck in worldly sorrow, the crisis is going to
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end. And when the crisis ends, the
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emotions go with them. And what happens is if you don't
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deal with it in true repentance, as we'll see in a moment, you or
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the trial will end, the emotions will go, and you'll find
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yourself back in a similar place soon enough.
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And it's a cycle. That's why I believe it's such a
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great truth to be reminded of at the beginning of a year when we
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so many have these cycles over year after year.
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And I do this and I go up and I down and I try and I fail.
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It could be that one of the areas of your life that needs
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very much attention is this area of godly sorrow.
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It's not enough just to feel bad.
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We need to learn how to feel bad in the right way.
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Godly sorrow, that's the other alternative that he describes
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here is a godly sorrow producing repentance to freedom to
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salvation. It doesn't produce death.
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Godly sorrow always leads to repentance.
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This comes directly from God. The Spirit of God will bring
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great conviction in your heart that brings you to a place of
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godly sorrow. So when you think of when you
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think of godly sorrow, they it goes together with the
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conviction of the Holy Spirit. The conviction of the Holy
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Spirit comes in our lives with sin.
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You feel the weight and conviction of being guilty
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before God for our behavior. That's conviction.
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Again, when we're looking at words like repentance and
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conviction and sin, those are words that like many want to
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just stay away from. But if you stay away from them,
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you will hurt yourself. These are very important truths
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surrounding your life, surrounding my life.
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I need to understand how what God does in my life, he brings
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conviction in my life of my sin. God does that.
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It's not just a moral list in your mind.
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Like let me give an example. We're studying on our midweek
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Bible study right now. We're studying the 10
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commandments we just started. We learned that there are a
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revelation of the character of God there, a definition of of
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relationship with him. If you're missing out on that,
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you should listen to it or come on our midweek.
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It's really good that they're not, but many of them look at
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just a list and follow the list. And many people live their
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lives, they follow the list. Now the list is a good list and
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it's a list to see in your life of how to live life, but it's
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not a list to be followed. It's a relationship to be had.
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God says you want a relationship with me, You're really going to
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enjoy it with these in your life.
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And then so one of them is don't lie.
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I mean, we all agree don't lie, Amen.
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Don't lie, don't lie. It's a sin.
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Don't lie. So that when you're speaking to
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someone and you're just about ready to give the whole truth,
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but then you you've got a little bit of fear or a little bit you
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and, and you turn just a little bit and you start to give a
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partial truth for the believer. You'll begin to sense the
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conviction of the Holy Spirit. It's not just you and your mind
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going, I think I'm lying. I shouldn't lie, think I'm
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lying. No, no, no.
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It starts first inside of you, God.
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God begins to say, don't lie, and it's an internal battle
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right there between the spirit and the flesh.
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Don't lie. But if I, if I tell the truth,
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then I'll think and I'll lose this.
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And before you know it, you've got to make a decision.
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And you either make a decision based on the conviction of
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either sin that's to come or the sin that's happened, or you
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dismiss that. You harden your heart toward the
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internal work of God, and you go forward and sin, and then you
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lie, and then you feel bad about it.
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I shouldn't have lied. I hope you feel better.
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Let's start there. I hope you feel bad about it
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because then you have the chance.
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Will it be worldly sorrow or godly sorrow?
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God started that process. Not a pastor, not your moral
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compass. God lives in you, and He started
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that. He convicted you.
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Nobody knew you were lying except God and you and so God
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spoke to you in relationship said don't do it, don't do it.
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Tell the truth. Trust me with the consequence.
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Just tell the truth. Trouble in law and you decided
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either to do it or not. That's the work of God
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conviction of sin, that godly sorrow now leading to
24:25
repentance, asking for forgiveness for lying to
24:29
someone. Here's the I don't know that
24:32
you've ever I want to add something you may already know
24:35
this, but I want to add it to you in your in your life.
24:38
I want to add something to you that you may become more
24:41
appreciative of God's loving kindness and his tender mercies
24:44
to you. That conviction of sin, as heavy
24:47
as it is that weight of burden where you feel like man, I've
24:51
really done wrong. I've really sinned against God.
24:53
I have really brought to that place and I need to make things
24:56
right. That is a gift from God to you.
25:01
It is an answer to your prayers. I mean, really, you think about
25:05
your life, you're going, oh God, I want to take it all.
25:08
I want everything you have for me, Oh Lord.
25:10
And God says, you really want everything.
25:12
And you say, yes, I want everything.
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And then right away he says, we'll deal with this.
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No, no, no, I didn't ask for that.
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Lord, I I want everything out there.
25:20
No, and but that's an answer to your prayer.
25:23
I want you to grow before you can ever enjoy what I have for
25:28
you. There's an area that needs
25:29
attention. It's a gift from God.
25:32
It's an answer to your prayer. I mean, turn over to to turn
25:36
over to Psalm 51 that we read today as a church.
25:39
Psalm 51, Godly sorrow leads to repentance.
25:45
Godly sorrow is is deeply entwined with conviction and
25:51
repentance. The conviction of sin, the
25:54
knowledge, the repentance is the response.
25:57
It is a work of God in you respond you.
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When you and I repent, we respond.
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Repentance is needed for the believer.
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Repentance is needed for every true Christian.
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It's not just the doorway into salvation.
26:12
It is the part and parcel of the rest of your life where you come
26:15
clean before the Lord. It's his desire where you change
26:19
your mind. I'm not going to go in this
26:21
direction anymore. Look at what it If you've ever
26:24
wondered what repentance looks like, this is a portion of it.
26:28
It's not an exhaustive list, but we can learn from David's
26:30
repentance quite a bit. Notice how it begins.
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Have mercy on me. Oh God, that's where it starts.
26:38
Not woe is me, poor me. Look at me, Everything I this
26:42
is. Have mercy on me.
26:44
Lord, I'm remembering your loving kindness, Your tender
26:49
mercies. Blot out my transgressions.
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Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my
27:00
sin. We have a new covenant
27:02
equivalent of that, don't we? First, John 19 If we confess our
27:05
sins, what? He is faithful and just to
27:10
forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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That is both positionally when you were born again, but it's
27:19
also practically throughout your life.
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Repentance is necessary because none of us in while we're in
27:25
this human body will ever be sinless.
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You know that, right? You will never come to a place
27:31
where you're sinless. However, in your progress and
27:35
your maturity and your growth in Christ, something you can expect
27:39
is that you will sin less. We won't be sinless, but we will
27:45
send less because of the presence of God in our lives.
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It's a gift, this conviction. It's a gift this godly sorrow.
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It's a gift this repentance. Notice what he does in verse 3
27:56
says I acknowledge my transgressions before you.
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My sin is ever before me against you, and you only have I sinned
28:08
and done this evil in your sight, that you may be found
28:13
just when you speak, and blameless when you judge.
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This is what David is feeling. These are his feelings and how
28:23
he dealt with his feelings over his sin.
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And many scholars, and I would agree, believe that David is
28:28
writing related to the episode, the sinful episode of adultery
28:33
with Bathsheba and the sinful episode of murdering, even
28:37
though he did it secondhand, ordering the murder of her
28:41
husband secondarily or also the sin that involved Bathsheba and
28:48
her husband also losing his son. This is what he's writing about.
28:56
He's looking at his life. He goes, what?
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What great failure has come out of my life, God, and I'm coming
29:02
back. I have failed because I strayed
29:04
from you. Godly sorrow is going to bring
29:06
you back toward God. Not a work of condemnation.
29:12
Here's the difficulty between. Here's one of the difficulties
29:15
with godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.
29:17
Is this because they're emotional?
29:20
Both godly sorrow and worldly sorrow feel a lot the same.
29:26
I feel bad, I feel guilt, I feel it.
29:31
It's hard. I I hurt someone.
29:33
It breaks my heart that I they're.
29:34
They're very similar feelings. But godly sorrow will lead to
29:39
repentance and change. Where worldly sorrow is
29:43
repetitious. You'll be sorry.
29:45
You know, worldly sorrow is kind of like, I'm so sorry that, that
29:49
you're hurting. I'm so sorry that you responded
29:52
that way. Everybody, anybody ever have
29:53
somebody apologize like that? They come to you.
29:56
They, they ruined every, you know, they did such great damage
29:58
in you and they come along. I'm so sorry your life is
30:00
damaged, bro. You did it.
30:04
I taught my kids this growing up that we, we don't, we don't use.
30:08
We don't like to use. And I'm not opposed to it
30:10
because if it's the right heart, you can use the words, but we,
30:13
we don't use in our home. I'm sorry, I'm sorry you did.
30:17
I'm sorry you're feeling that way.
30:18
I'm sorry sort of kind of maybe one day.
30:21
I, we don't use the word sorry if there's an offense in our
30:24
home and our family and I try to use this in my life.
30:28
If there's an offense, rather than starting with I'm sorry,
30:32
we've taught, we want you to start with this.
30:35
Will you forgive me for. And then you own the sin.
30:41
Let me, I'll give you a silly example.
30:43
It's silly, but it'll make the point.
30:44
Let's say you're up here, one of you guys, you're up here on the
30:48
stage, We're doing something and I've got an illustration.
30:50
I say, come on, let's do an illustration.
30:52
And you do something and I get super angry and I punch you in
30:55
the face. And I mean, that would be
30:58
shocking. You're bleeding your jaws all
31:01
the way over by your ear. And, you know, the whole church
31:04
calls 911. The police Take Me Out that
31:07
door. The paramedics take you out that
31:09
door. And it's obvious.
31:10
I mean, it was an obvious demonstrable sin with obvious
31:14
consequences. So you're headed to the
31:16
hospital. They're going to wire your jaw
31:18
shut. You're going to be out of work
31:20
for six months, and you're never going to trust another pastor
31:23
again the rest of your life. Consequences.
31:25
I'm out that door. I've got handcuffs on and I'm
31:28
feeling really bad. I just lost everything.
31:31
I just have, you know? Oh no, I'm oil.
31:33
A big bad example. I'm going to now.
31:35
Everybody's going to read about me in the news and all poor me
31:38
and poor me. Oh, woe is me.
31:40
I wish I would have never done that.
31:41
Worldly sorrow, that's what it is.
31:44
I'm not thinking about you and your jaw.
31:46
I mean, maybe I am, but I'm thinking more about myself.
31:48
That's worldly sorrow. So in the worldly sorrow, later
31:51
on, six months later, I got a job in town.
31:54
You, you, I finally get enough courage to find you.
31:57
And I call you up and you're willing not to not to meet with
31:59
me in person, but you'll talk to me on the phone.
32:01
So hey, I'm so sorry that your jaws all jacked up and you lost
32:05
work. I hope you do better later.
32:07
And you're like, what, Ed? There's something missing here.
32:11
My jaw would have never been that.
32:13
I would have never missed work. I can't even talk now.
32:15
I've got fake teeth because of you.
32:17
Will you just take ownership for what you did to me?
32:22
Godly sorrow will lead me. Godly sorrow will lead me to
32:26
take responsibility for my actions.
32:29
And instead of saying, I'm so sorry you have such a hard life,
32:33
I will say you. Will you forgive me for one of
32:36
the worst things I've ever done that have put you in one of the
32:39
worst places in your life? Whatever words you use, that's
32:43
where the work of reconciliation of the Holy Spirit can take
32:46
place. Right there.
32:47
You're right with God, which is most important.
32:50
We learned last time, your vertical relationship, love the
32:53
Lord God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
32:55
You're right with God, but then now you're also right with
32:58
others. There is this, and I've seen an
33:01
increase. I've seen it in cycles through
33:04
the life of our church, but I'm seeing an increase again where
33:07
this there's this belief that all you need to be is right with
33:12
God and not with others. So that when something comes up,
33:16
we might be talking to you and something comes up, He goes,
33:18
well, you know, such and such and so and so.
33:20
But you know, I repented before God and I don't need to tell
33:22
anyone else. What?
33:24
Where did you learn that from? The actual evidence that you're
33:28
right with God is that you made it right with others.
33:32
If you haven't made it right with others, Well, you know, I
33:34
don't need to confess it. I don't need.
33:36
Well, no, no, no. Like throughout the Scriptures,
33:38
the idea of making amends, the idea of, of having this, this
33:44
great situation be repaid. There is restitution, there is
33:50
humility and there's brokenness and there's a desire to make
33:54
things right. You'll see in a moment, this is
33:56
the fruit of repentance. You can't just say, well, you
33:59
know, I made it right with God. God forgave me and I, I can just
34:02
leave all these damaged relationships.
34:04
No, that's not the heart of God. That's how the world, that's
34:08
worldly sorrow. You're still stuck on yourself.
34:11
It's still a place where you're not willing to step into, you
34:14
know, and here, here, here's the thing.
34:16
This is another attribute that we also have to learn is when it
34:21
comes to making things right. This is what I've learned.
34:25
God is very, very quick to forgive like that.
34:30
People, not so much. And you have to leave room for
34:35
the Holy Spirit. But leaving room for the Holy
34:39
Spirit doesn't mean you neglect if a sin that you committed was
34:43
with someone or against someone that you just like.
34:47
Well, I'm right with God. Well, are you right with your
34:50
neighbor? Well, I don't need to be right
34:51
with. Yeah.
34:52
Yeah. Actually, you do need to be
34:53
right with your neighbor, or at least as much as as possible.
34:57
Live at peace with all, all men as much as within your power.
35:02
Godly sorrow leads to change. It leads to surrender.
35:08
It leads like David says in verse 17 of Psalm 51, the
35:11
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
35:16
heart. God, you're not going to despise
35:18
these. And when you and I are broken
35:20
before the Lord, then He can lead us much easier.
35:23
He can guard, guide us. He's given us the gift of
35:27
conviction. He's given us the power to
35:29
repent. You'll remember you can just jot
35:31
it down in Hebrews chapter 12 in verse 16 it says, or really,
35:37
let's go back to verse 14. Pursue peace with all men and
35:41
holiness without, without which no one will see the Lord looking
35:45
diligently, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest
35:49
any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble.
35:52
And by this many become defiled, lest there be any fornicator or
35:56
profane person like Esau, who for one more so of food sold his
36:01
birthright. Now listen to this, for you know
36:04
that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was
36:08
rejected, for he found no place for repentance.
36:16
He was very emotional. He sought it diligently, with
36:19
tears, it says, but he was stuck in worldly wisdom or worldly
36:23
sorrow. He found no place for
36:26
repentance. Church, I'm calling you in this
36:28
new year to find place for repentance, to seek after godly
36:33
sorrow, to respond to the inward work of God, of the conviction
36:38
of sin or the conviction not to go towards sin, to reconcile, to
36:43
make things right, to clear things out.
36:47
The conviction of the Holy Spirit will always bring you to
36:50
godly sorrow and lead you to repentance, to salvation, to
36:54
freedom. You come to the place where you
36:56
say, I realize I've sinned against God.
36:58
I realize that I've done the wrong things, that I've hurt
37:01
people, that I've been living selfishly, that I've been
37:04
inconsiderate of other people's needs.
37:06
And I begin to look at myself honestly.
37:09
When I when the when we say we can in first John 19, when we
37:14
read that because confession is involved as well.
37:17
If we confess our sins, the word confess there means to agree
37:20
with God. We begin to see things the way
37:23
God sees them. So confession, godly sorrow, you
37:28
know, conviction, confession, godly sorrow, repentance, they
37:31
all go together. They're God's gifts to us so
37:35
that we might grow in grace. This is when the Spirit of God
37:40
begins to work in my heart and reveal me to me the truth about
37:44
my heart again. Jot it down, would you?
37:46
And Jeremiah 17, verse 9, the Bible reminds us and teaches us
37:51
that the heart is deceitful above all things, and
37:54
desperately wicked. Who can know it?
37:58
This is an important truth. There's some theological pillars
38:03
to it, but this is a in general, this is a very important truth
38:06
to remember in a culture like ours, that from the earliest
38:09
stage, from the earliest cartoons, from the earliest
38:13
Disney cartoons, Nickelodeon cartoons to the biggest romance,
38:17
famous romance movies and everything in between on the
38:20
college campus, on the high school, elementary, this has
38:24
been the mantra of our world. And it's this.
38:26
Just follow your heart. And I'm telling you right now,
38:29
don't follow your heart, follow the Lord.
38:33
Don't follow your heart. Don't follow a pastor, don't
38:36
follow a man, don't follow a woman.
38:38
Follow the Lord. He lives in you.
38:42
He will lead you and He will take you and say no, no, no, no,
38:45
no, no, no, no, no, no. Your heart's going one way,
38:50
worldly sorrow, but I want you to go this way.
38:54
Godly sorrow because I mean, who who knows our hearts?
38:57
Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't.
38:59
And that makes that brings a lot of confusion.
39:02
And when I'm confused, I just know confusion is not from the
39:05
Lord. So I can come back to his word.
39:08
I can get clarity on the situation and then I can come to
39:11
the Lord in truth, spirit and truth and He will lead me
39:15
because the world loves to use this sense of follow your heart.
39:18
Because then along those lines, when you make a mistake, then
39:20
they can guilt trip you. You might even guilt trip
39:23
yourself. You might be sitting here today
39:26
thinking about the last 10 years of your life, the last 20 years
39:28
of your life and you're just so bummed out about it.
39:31
And I'm sorry, I'm sorry it was. It's been a hard few years.
39:36
But if today you will turn to God with godly sorrow and
39:41
literally admit with God of the past has been against him and
39:49
contrary to Him, you might have been fulfilling your heart, but
39:52
you haven't been fulfilling His will.
39:55
If you'll come to Him and let godly sorrow lead to repentance,
39:58
you're back. Because while the world doesn't
40:01
like to give second chances, God is the God of the second chance,
40:05
and the 3rd and the 5th. And you, you can't even count
40:08
them. How many times God will receive
40:11
you back, how much He loves you, His loving kindness.
40:15
He's the God of the second chances.
40:16
Using our weaknesses. Understand, the church is the
40:20
household of God, the bride of Christ, and in this house, in
40:24
his house, he doesn't just let everything slide.
40:28
The Lord doesn't condone worldliness or worldly behavior,
40:31
but in our repentance, he receives his kids back and he
40:35
forgives and he comforts and he courages.
40:39
This is where David is. This is where we've been many
40:42
times. Even those of you listening
40:44
right now that may be emotions have been stirred in your heart
40:48
in Jesus Christ. Your sins are forgiven.
40:51
The blood of Jesus has washed you, Clint, and cleaned your
40:55
life. You may be stuck in worldly
40:58
sorrow that leads to death. You're separate from your
41:01
parents. You're separate from your
41:03
siblings. You're separate from your church
41:05
friends. I mean, I think of how many
41:07
aren't even among us today because worldly sorrow has
41:12
separated them from their church family and they haven't come to
41:18
terms with the reality of ownership of their own lives
41:22
before God. Repentance is a gift that God
41:25
gives us that we get to offer back to Him.
41:30
I hear the prophet Joel in Joel chapter 2 verse 12.
41:34
It says Now therefore says the Lord, turn to me with all your
41:38
heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.
41:41
Rend your heart, but not your garments.
41:44
It's not just outward, not just morality.
41:47
God's goal in your life and mine is not for us to be good
41:50
Christian boys and good Christian girls.
41:53
He, he wants us to live godly, submissive, surrendered, abiding
41:56
lives in him. Not a moral code or a moral
42:00
compass, but God literally lives in you, leading and guiding you
42:05
in your life. Come to Him, he says.
42:09
Don't just settle for outward change.
42:12
Let your hearts be changed. Bring them to me, he says.
42:16
Return to the Lord, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to
42:19
anger, and of great kindness. He relents from doing harm.
42:25
True repentance is always a work of God.
42:27
One more thing before we go, if you've been looking for evidence
42:30
of repentance, we have Psalm 51, but we also have some evidence
42:34
here you can add to the list. What do you want to look for in
42:36
your own life? Notice with me back in Second
42:38
Corinthians, Paul says some things that came out of
42:42
repentance that are very obvious.
42:44
You, you can see the Bible calls them fruits of repentance or
42:48
fruits fitting or works fitting of repentance as different
42:52
phrases used. Notice there's a list here that
42:54
you can begin to pray through and ask for and say, God bring
42:57
this in my life. He says in Chapter 7 and 2nd
43:02
Corinthians, I'm in first. So let me get there with you.
43:05
Notice at the end of our section here in verse 11, he says for
43:10
observe this very thing. So pay attention.
43:12
He says that you sorrow in a godly manner.
43:15
And this what it looks like #1 what diligence it produced in
43:19
you, this sincerity of heart. The the work of God and godly
43:23
sorrow change them internally and they become more diligent
43:27
for holiness #2 Notice The godly sorrow led to the clearing of
43:34
your selves. This was an external
43:37
verification, something that could literally be seen of that
43:41
internal work of the Holy Spirit.
43:43
So they became diligent to be right with the Lord and then in
43:46
clearing of themselves it was obvious to everyone else God
43:50
knew. But then it became obvious to
43:52
everyone else, including Paul, that God worked in their lives
43:57
#3 notice it says what indignation their their attitude
44:02
towards sin returned to a place where they don't like it.
44:08
And that's one of the attributes of being a believer.
44:11
You hate the things God hates, and he hates sin.
44:16
He hates sin because of its destructive properties in your
44:19
life and its relationship breaking destructiveness.
44:24
He hates sin. I know sometimes you interpret
44:27
that like he hates you. He doesn't hate you.
44:30
He sent Jesus Christ to die for you.
44:32
He didn't come, God, He didn't come to condemn us.
44:37
You know, that's where conviction and repentance, it
44:38
kind of feels condemning God's not condemning you.
44:42
He's drawing you into a higher level of living, declaring
44:46
something to you that you don't currently see yourself.
44:49
So their indignation came back. Notice next the fear.
44:52
It says what fear this reverence toward God returned.
44:56
They have a now a fear of the Lord.
44:59
They're now like man. God, we, we want to follow you.
45:02
We have a fear of the Lord. That's the beginning of wisdom
45:05
and knowledge. Proverbs tells us not only that.
45:08
Notice not only fear, but it says what vehement desire they
45:13
had a longing and a desire for righteousness.
45:15
It returned, they weren't covering up anything anymore and
45:19
they're in the church. They weren't pretending it
45:20
didn't take place. They weren't telling the
45:22
community well, you know Corinthians well, we are more of
45:25
an inclusive church now and we allow all these.
45:28
No, no, no. They had a desire now for
45:30
righteousness for the heart of God.
45:33
The bride is now come back to the bridegroom in relationship.
45:39
Not only that, notice next 12345 number six.
45:44
What zeal now they have a zealousness return and
45:48
enthusiasm toward the things of God.
45:51
Life you could say returned to the church once they responded
45:55
in godly sorrow. And then finally this is an
45:58
important one could be a Bible study in and of itself.
46:00
But he says what vindication in all things.
46:05
You proved yourselves to be clear in this manner, and one of
46:09
the areas that's been lacking, and I'm hearing it more and
46:12
more, in order to be clear in these areas, if another person
46:18
is involved, you need to make things or as much as possible
46:23
make things right and come clean to be clear.
46:27
That's what he's saying here. You proved yourselves to do
46:30
what? It's almost like the attitude is
46:32
whatever I need to do, I will do it in order to be right with
46:36
you. God, That's what that phrase is.
46:40
And so you see the value of godly sorrow.
46:42
It's so important we can't settle just for the emotions of
46:45
the world. Let the sadness and let the
46:48
emotion you're feeling go all the way from worldly or human to
46:53
spiritual and godly. I know they feel the same, but
46:58
one will lead you to life and 1 will lead to death.
47:02
You're empowered. Go forward this year, pay
47:06
attention, take it all, all that God has promised with power and
47:10
confidence and the presence of His Spirit, knowing that when
47:14
you deal with sin properly, you have freedom, so much more
47:18
freedom of all that God has for you.
47:21
Amen. So Lord, I thank you for this
47:24
word and I do and I do also agree with an Amen.
47:27
Lord, I received this word. I want this more in my life,
47:31
God. I desire to live in the
47:33
spiritual realm, not the human realm, especially with sin in my
47:38
life, especially the avoidance of sin in my life.
47:42
That I might be the man you've called me to be in every area,
47:47
every place that I might walk humbly with you Lord, broken and
47:52
contrite, open to a work of your spirit that only you can do.
47:57
Bless your church as we head out today in Jesus name, Amen.
48:02
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
48:05
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
48:08
prayer. Call us at 87730 grace that's
48:13
877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
48:19
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48:23
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Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
48:31
this week.