CCS Sermons
2 Corinthians 7:1-16
Lord, what a very comforting thought, and that is, Lord, that you hold us near to your heart, that you love us so much. Lord, that your desire is that we would come, that we would sit at your feet, that we would express our love to you, for you have loved us first. Lord, I just pray that you would bless us, let your Holy Spirit move among us. I pray speak to us, Lord, as we give thanks and praise to you for this time, as we've gathered together for this purpose, and that is to worship you. We ask this in Jesus' name, and everyone's sound. Amen, if you would, remain standing, open your Bibles. Second Corinthians chapter seven, we will pick up our text in verse four, I'm sorry. It says, "Great is my boldness of speech toward you. "Great is my boasting on your behalf. "I am filled with comfort. "I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. "For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, "our flesh had no rest, "but we were troubled on every side, "outside where conflicts inside were fears. "Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, "comforted us by the coming of Titus. "And not only by his coming, "but also by the consolation with which he was comforted "in you when he told us of your earnest desire, "your mourning, your zeal for me, "so that I rejoiced even more. "For even if I made you sorry with my letter, "I do not regret it, though I did regret it, "for I perceived that the same epistle made you sorry, "though only for a while. "And now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, "but that your sorrow led to repentance. "For you were made sorry in a godly manner "that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. "For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, "not to be regretted, "but to sorrow of the world produces death. "For observe this very thing "that you sorrowed in a godly manner, "what diligence it produced in you, "what clearing of yourselves, "what indignation, what fear, "what behammonate desire, "what zeal, what vindication, "and all these things you proved yourselves "to be clear in this matter. "Therefore, although I wrote to you, "I did not do it for the sake of him who had done wrong, "nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, "but that our care for you in the sight of God "might appear to you. "Therefore, we have been comforted in your comfort, "and we rejoice exceedingly more for the joy of Titus "because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. "For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, "I am not ashamed. "But as we spoke all things to you in truth, "even so our boasting to Titus was found true. "And his affections are greater for you "as he remembers the obedience of you all, "and how with fear and trembling you received him. "Therefore, I rejoice that I have confidence "in you in everything. "Father, we thank you for your word. "Now minister to our hearts. "Help us Lord to see what it is "that the spirit would say to us today, "each one of us individually. "We love you Lord, we love your word, "what an incredible gift you have given to us. "Now I pray Lord, help me to get out of your way "and to do all that you desire to do in this time. "We love you Lord, and we commit these things "to you in Christ's name." And everyone said, amen, you may be seated. So as we're working our way through second Corinthians, there's a couple of things that we find in this particular chapter that are, of course, significant to us. And one of those is, is that it's brought out, that there is a letter that Titus had taken to them that was a very difficult letter. One that Paul says here, he says, "You know, I sent that letter, "but you know, after I had sent it, "it's like I really wish I hadn't sent it "because it was gonna be so harsh, "so difficult that I feared that what would happen "is that you wouldn't receive it "and that it would turn you away from Jesus." And he concludes in this chapter that it had the opposite effect, that as Titus took that letter to them and they read it, that they indeed, in their hearts, they repented. So we're gonna look at that, but in order to do that, I think it's important that we kind of pick up a little bit in chapter six, beginning in verse 14, where Paul says, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers "for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, "and what communion has light with darkness, "and what accord has Christ with belial, "and what part has a believer with an unbeliever, "and what agreement has a temple of God with idols, "for you are the temple of the living God as God has said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them, "and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Now, the letter that was sent was one that was harsh and difficult, in other words, that Paul spoke the truth, and this is what we have to remember, that when Paul spoke to them, even though it was hard things to say, he always did it out of the motivation of love and further benefit. This particular verse, in verse 14, I mean, it's one of the most difficult verses there is for a believer in the New Testament. If you know Christ, there's this command, there's a demand that you come out from among the world, and that you are not unequally yoked with unbelievers. Now, it doesn't mean that we do not have anything to do with unbelievers, but that communion, that fellowship, that tightness, that intimacy and friendship with an unbeliever and a believer has no logical sense. What fellowship does Jesus and the devil have? None. What fellowship does darkness and light have? None. So Paul speaks, and this is a hard thing, and especially when there are emotions and there are relationships that are there that make it difficult to just simply obey and to step away. Finding that balance and how to minister to those who do not know Christ, but not becoming so entangled with them that they pull us back into the world. Because in verse 17 of chapter six, he says to them, therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord almighty. And then in chapter seven and verse one, he says, therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filtiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So that second part there is that command to come out from among them. It's not an option. If we think that we can be a believer and that we can have close fellowship with the world, and that somehow or another, we're going to have a good relationship with God, we are deceived. The nearer you draw to Christ, the more apparent it becomes to you in your heart how you need to distance yourself from the things of the world. This is a critical thing for us in our life. But here God promises these wonderful promises to us. He says that if we will do that, he says, I will receive you, I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters. We should cleanse ourselves from all filtiness of the flesh and the spirit. Sometimes it's easier to cleanse the flesh than the spirit. To stop the outward action can be easier than the inward thought. So when he's talking about cleansing ourselves from the things of the flesh, it's like stop doing the things that are sinful, fleshly, and to stop doing that, and then not only that, but to allow the Holy Spirit to change our very thoughts and intents of our hearts. That's the true test. I can deceive you guys. You guys might think that I'm a pretty holy guy. That I'm righteous, and that I'm almost sinless. But the Holy Spirit knows my thoughts. The Holy Spirit knows my heart. So when Paul says that we're to come out from among them, and that we are to cleanse our flesh and our spirit, it is that relationship with Christ that goes beyond an outward thing. The Pharisees had the outward religion. They were clean on the outside. But Jesus said they were whitewashed tombs. Inside they were dead. They had no relationship with God. It was all based on what they did as the relationship between them and God. And God never intended that. He gave the law so that others, that we would see how miserably short we fall in the area of righteousness towards God. And then because of that, it leaves us in that place. Well, if I can't do this, what do I do? We look to the Lord. Our memory verse this month, a great verse out of Isaiah 61.1. It's a Messianic prophecy. And it is that the Messiah is speaking when he says, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me, and I'm gonna use the new key James version. I don't like the ESV here, because when it says the ESV is sent me to bind up the wounds. I tell you, I like this better to heal the brokenhearted, and to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. What a wonderful promise. And Jesus speaks of this himself in the gospel of Luke. He said, this is it, man. This is who I am. I am that one that has come to preach the good news. The good news is that there's a separation between God and man, but that the God, man, Jesus Christ, came and will be sacrificed to bridge that gap between us and the Lord himself. That's the good news that he came with. And not only that, but to heal the brokenhearted. Only God can heal a wounded heart. The world has many attempts to do so, offers many different methods, programs, literature, whatever it may be to try to heal the broken heart, but it can't happen that way. It is a temporary band-aid over a huge wound that only God can heal. Christ came to heal the brokenhearted, not just to bind up my wounds, but to heal me, to heal my heart and my life. The things of my past, the things in my life before I met Christ. All of those come under the blood of Christ, and I'm healed from the effects of those things in 1 John 1, 9, that if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. To cleanse us from the effects that unrighteousness had upon our lives, only God can heal the broken heart. And he heals us whenever we come to him, and that glorious promise to proclaim liberty to the captives, because Jesus had said, "Those who practice sin are a slave to sin." But through Jesus Christ that can be broken, and we can have freedom, we are set free. We have liberty in our life now to walk with God and not have to follow the dictates of our flesh, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, captivated by sin, imprisoned by our sin. Whether it is past sin or present day sin, it doesn't matter. Christ came to set us free. And if we are following him, we are free indeed. We have freedom. What a glorious promise it is that God gives us. Then here in verse two of chapter seven, he begins to address the issues that have been important to them, the fears that he had, that they would not receive the letter, that they would turn away from the Lord. And of course, this is the thing that we have to keep in mind. Paul's love for them was so great that he was willing to endure their falsehoods, the things that they would do against him, their turning their back on him and everything else. And Paul just continually would seek them out in order to show and demonstrate love towards them because he wanted them to come to that place, that relationship with Christ, where they would be walking in that freedom as well. And so he tells them, he says, listen, open your hearts to us, we have wronged to no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one. The Corinthian Christians believed many bad things about Paul that God wasn't using him, that he didn't have the kind of image, authority or power and apostles should have. But their problem was not an information problem. Their problem was with their hearts, their hearts had been opened to the world, but Paul, but not to Paul. In the unequally yoked passage that we mentioned this morning, Paul told them to close their hearts to the world and now it's time for them to open their hearts to him. They had been willing to embrace the world. Now Paul says, hey look, I have done nothing, he reminds them of the things that they already know. Despite some trouble makers, what some trouble makers said about Paul, they had no good reason to criticize him. And when Paul claims he defrauded no one, we need to remember and we'll see this as we get towards the, we saw it in chapter 16, but we'll, first Corinthians, but we'll also see it in the next chapter in second Corinthians. That he was organizing a collection for the poor Christians in Judea and had responsibility over a significant amount of money. Because there were his critics who were saying that the reason that Paul was not doing it, he was in it for himself, that the money he was gonna end up taking at least a portion of the money, which Paul absolutely took nothing. But yet those were the things that were being said about him. Verse three, he said, I do not say this to condemn, for I have said before, that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. So Paul's desire isn't to condemn the Corinthian Christians, but to restore the bonds of fellowship he once had with him. Paul really loved the Corinthian Christians. He had said here, I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. That was a commitment that Paul was making to them. It doesn't matter what goes on. I'm with you all the way through it, no matter what that may be. Paul confronted the Corinthian Christians, but he did not want to condemn them. It is possible to confront without condemning though those who are being confronted rarely think so. Boy, do I find this to be a truth. There's nothing that as a Christian that I dislike doing more than this, and that is confronting someone about their sin. Long before I became a pastor, I had different incidences in my life, in my walk with Christ, to where there were people who were sending and the interesting thing is, see, I told you about what you guys might think about me, but I can tell you this, I know that when you're around me, you're on your best behavior, right? Ooh, I didn't mean to use that word, Pastor. Well, don't apologize to me, apologize to him, because if you're talking like that in front of me, I wonder what you're talking like in front of him, right? And the truth is, is that having to go to someone when God has either revealed it or it has become apparent that someone is in sin, is a very difficult and uncomfortable thing to do. Certainly, it's not because I think that I'm perfect and they are not. Matter of fact, the Bible's very clear about that. When you go to do something like that, you need to consider yourself first, and that means understand that you have that same ability, that same propensity towards sin. There's anybody else, maybe not that same one, but there's other areas of your life where you're a sinner too. And so there needs to be that correction. And when that happens, oftentimes people get upset, they deny it, they get angry, they want nothing to do with you anymore. How could you say that? Well, because it was true. And I will say this, and this is not a slap on my back or something. I've never had an incident where the Lord has called me to do that where I was wrong. God has always borne it out that it was true, even though it may have been denied by the individual, time tells all tales. And then it comes to the surface and the very thing that was spoken to them was the truth of God. I don't like it, I don't, but I feel that it's a necessary thing. And so I do it. Same thing with Paul. He exhorts the Corinthians. And like I said, we looked at last week's chapter, come out from among them, you know? Do not be unequally yoked. Those are words that are not really something that people really want to hear today in the church. So often people in the church, instead of trying to see how far away they can get from sin, they want to know how close can I get to sin before I sin. I can tell you this. I can tell you how close that I might get to the edge of the Grand Canyon without falling off. But I don't want to see that. I don't want to get that close. And there's idiots that got close enough where they did fall over and that's why they build rails around these cliffs because people are stupid enough to get so close that they fall. Same thing with Christians when it comes to sin. We get close enough to sin to sin and then wonder how in the world did I get here? How did I do that? That wasn't my intention. Well, it was because you were willing to push the limit. If you were always seeing how far away that you can get from it, you'll never have a problem by falling into it. It's really that simple. Walk of faith with Christ is not that difficult to be honest with you. We're the ones that make it difficult. We let things get in our way. And the biggest thing that gets in our way is our heart. A love for the world. I want to be like the world. I want the things of the world. But no, I want eternal life. No, I want to be a good Christian. So often today, we find that there's a lot of carnality within the church. It's all about worldliness. It's all about love for the things of this world and not near that same passion for the things of God. Beloved, we have everything that we have need of in order to be able to walk in victory in our life. We just read in Isaiah how Christ came for that purpose. To set us free, to empower us in order for us to be able to have the wounds healed, almost did it, almost went back to that ESV. The truth is that all we have to do is take and apply the things that God has given to us in our life. And we'll be okay. We'll be okay. But I will tell you this. It has to be out of the motivation of love for God. If you're doing it for any other reason, you've become like the Pharisees. It's all about outward appearance, all about how good I can be and how I can earn God's favor. And the only way to earn God's favor, which is not really earning God's favor, is simply to love him. When you love him, it all meshes together so well. I don't want to sin. I want to be separated from the things in the world because I love him. I don't love the world. And this is what Paul had been talking to them and called them to. Verse four, "Great is my boldness of speech toward you. "Great is my boasting on your behalf. "I am filled with comfort. "I'm exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation." Paul had been bold in his criticism, but he was also bold in his boasting about him. He loved the Corinthians. And he would speak well to them. As a matter of fact, he spoke well to Titus. We'll see as we get to the end of this chapter how Paul had sent Titus, who was filled with intrepidation. He didn't want to take the letter, but he knew that he had to. But Paul had assured him that when he got there and the Corinthians read it, that they would receive it. And they would receive him. And sure enough, he was right. And he brings back this great report of how they read that letter. They saw that it was the truth. And they accepted that. And it brought tremendous change within them. Verse five, "For indeed when we came to Macedonia, "our bodies had no rest. "But we were troubled on every side. "Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. "Nevertheless, God who comforts the downcast, "comforted us by the coming of Titus." I love this. You remember back in chapter one of this book, Paul declares about God that he is the God of all comforts, of all comfort. Who comforts us in all our tribulation and all of our trials. When Paul makes his statement like that and he speaks on a little bit further about how he was in desperate straits. Even to the threat of life. Many believe that when Paul is talking about their, that as he says here, downcast, it was depression. He was dealing with how all this was coming upon him. And they did not, he didn't have that strength, but then God came and gave them comfort. And what I love about it is not that Paul would go through that, but that he speaks from an experience so that you and I can find ourselves in that same place, that when we need that comfort from God in any situation that we are in, that we can count on the fact that it will be there. He will never push us away. He will never cast us off, that if we simply come to him, that he will indeed comfort us. In this case, the comfort came when Titus returned. Earlier Paul had said, you know, I sent this letter, but I kind of regretted sending it. I don't know about you guys, but I've certainly been in that place in my life too. And we'll talk about it here. We haven't quite got there yet. And in verse seven, he says, not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he comforted in you. When he was, when he told us of your earnest desire, your morning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. So Paul had been criticized. There were a lot of opponents to Paul and his ministry within Corinth. So for Paul, when he heard that they actually had a love and a zeal for him, he found great comfort in that. He was excited because, you know, doing what he was doing would have been enough for any of us to have, you know, doubts and fears and all those things. But here Paul is reassured that what is happening is of the Lord, the ample comfort of God that he found here more than met his needs through the coming of Titus and the good news he brought. Titus had been well received by the Corinthians. He did love Paul and long for him and were concerned for him. And they were remorseful. They had deep sorrow at their failure to support him during his painful visit, which he spoke of back in chapter two. Verse eight, he says, "For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, for I perceived that the same epistle made you sorry, but only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance, for you were made sorry in a godly manner and that you might suffer loss from us in nothing." So Paul says, "I sent out the letter and then I'm going, ah man, maybe I shouldn't have sent that letter." Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do. I don't know about you you've ever been in that kind of situation, but I know that I have. There's been times that I've said things to people going, "Oh man, I wish I hadn't said that and sometimes I'm right, I shouldn't have." But then oftentimes it is that, yep, it needed to be said. But I didn't like it, I wasn't comfortable with it, I didn't want to do it. But yet it was necessary because it's all about growing. It's all about repentance in our life. We never stop needing repentance in our life. I've walked with the Lord for over 48 years and I still find myself where I have to repent of things that I do. And God is faithful and just to forgive me of those sins and declines me from all unrighteousness. Now I'm very careful that I do not do sins that disqualify me from the position I hold. But the truth is, is that I am still a man of flesh, I still have issues. If any of you been around me very long, you will agree with this when I say, "Hey, my greatest issue with my flesh is my temper." I get mad quick and when I'm sick, I really have trouble with self-control because I don't feel well. It's like you're poking the dog that's hurt. And if you poke the dog that's hurt, he snaps and he bites you. Now that's a confession, it's not a brag, believe me. I wish I wasn't that way and I pray that. And through this whole procedure that I've gone through and the lingering effects of it as I'm trying to recover from this procedure, there's one thing that God has revealed to me is that it's still a major issue in my heart and in my life. Because as hard as I try to set my flesh aside to walk in the spirit and to be self-controlled, I fail, I fail, I get grouchy, I get nasty. And the scripture says that if I'm walking in the spirit, that I will exercise self-control, there will be no outburst of wrath, there will be no anger. Just shows you, I got a ways to go. I love this about Paul, that we see that he was a man just like us, that he struggled with issues and problems in his own life and that he's quick to bring it out. And so we rejoice in a great example and also that he felt the comfort of God when he needed it. So I think it's important for us, this letter that we're reading right now, there's a letter between first Corinthians that we had studied, second Corinthians, there was another letter that was sent and this is the one that they're talking about. We don't have that letter. And my frustration with this is that Paul is addressing issues that were spoken about in that letter, but yet I don't have those issues to look at. I have to make assumptions and draw conclusions about things that I don't have all the parts of the puzzle. And this is one of them, but I think it's important that we remember the sequence of events in this, things were going badly among the Corinthians, the Christian Corinthians and an attempt to get them back on track in an attempt to do that. Paul made a quick unplanned visit that only seemed to make things worse and that is the sorrowful visit that he mentions in second Corinthians 2.1. After the failure of this visit, Paul decided not to visit Corinth again in person. At that time, instead, he sent Titus to them with a strong letter of rebuke. This is the one that's being mentioned here. Paul was very worried about how the Corinthians would receive the letter and whether it would turn them to Jesus or just make them angry. And when Titus came back with good news from the Corinthian Christians, Paul was greatly relieved. Paul's harsh letter had hurt them. It had hurt Paul too. He had not relished his role as a disciplinarian. And in fact, he apparently had wished he had not sent it with Titus. Yet because of the results, his regret was diminished. In sorrow, the Corinthians acknowledged their failure and redressed the wrong. I am mindful of what Paul said to the Galatians in chapter four and verse 16. As Paul was dealing with the Galatians, they had begun a work in the spirit of God. But then the Judaizer had come in and told them, that's not enough. You have to do this, you have to be circumcised, you have to obey the law, you have to obey the feast, you have to do all these different things. And Paul's letter to the Galatians was an exhortation not to go to that, to understand that you began in the spirit and you need to finish in the spirit. And Paul was getting pushed back. They were not receptive to this kind of thing. And in chapter four verse 16, he says this, he says, have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Sometimes, that's what we do. When somebody tells us the truth, we automatically, when we don't want to receive it, we automatically mark them as my enemy. 'Cause they're telling me things I don't want to hear. They're telling me I need to do things I don't want to do. I understand that. But the truth is, is that God uses people in our lives to help guide us in a direction that we need to go. Sometimes we're just unwilling to hear it, even though it is the truth. Doesn't mean that we are the enemy of those that we love enough to tell the truth. In verse 10, it says, for God, a sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. When people do not channel their grief over their behavior into life-changing actions, it is unproductive grief. It leads to self-pity, but Godly sorrow is practical and action-oriented. When a person realizes what he or she has done wrong, that person should not only regret the error, but also turn back to God. Only God can empower people to change their ways. Only God can save people from the way sin imprisons them and paralyzes them. Only God can help us turn away from sin and to seek salvation. They had exemplified repentance, a change of mind involving action in accordance with God's will. As such, it was godly sorrow, like Peter's remorse after his denial with Christ. This was not a worldly sorrow which brings death like Judas' sorrow after he had betrayed the Lord. An example, I would say of this is really quite easy. I can go into any jail, doesn't matter which one you wanna choose, any prison. And when you talk to inmates who are there, I can tell you every one of them are sorry for what they did that landed them in prison. But few there are that have that godly sorrow that realizes that they need to repent of that. They're sorry, the others are sorry they got caught not for what they did. And it's important that we understand that, that in our own life, when we sin, we sin against God. I think of King David, who when his sin with Bathsheba was brought out in the open and he had confessed it in the Psalms, he declares, he said, oh Lord against you and you alone have I sinned. I used to always struggle with that because I know that's not true. Tell that to Uriah who was killed. Tell that to all the other people who were involved in this. David sinned against them too. But here's the thing, David understood that the greatest sin he committed was against God. Yes, he sinned against others. But the sin that we commit against God is the one that's the most meaningful. You see, I go back to what I had said earlier. My outward actions might be that it demonstrates to you that I live a righteous life. But it's the things that go on in my heart. And when I do that, I confess that to God that I have sinned against him. And it's important that that Godly sorrow produces repentance in my life, a changed life. I confess to my sin with my flesh and how it gets out of control and everything. And if I was just to confess that and say, oh well, no big deal, I've been struggling with that all my life and I have, I'll just give up. It's useless, there's no way that I can accomplish that. That's the lie of the pit of hell. Because I'm better than I've ever been when it comes to that. But I'm still not in a place to where it's good. And my sin is against God. My sin is that I'm not doing what I know that his Holy Spirit would have me do. I'm not being led and changed by the Spirit of God. And as I confess that to God, then by his Holy Spirit he begins to work in me again. And, you know, I'm improving. Hallelujah. You know, I'm hoping that's not one of those sins that on my way up, as God's taking me. I go, wait a minute Lord, I need to talk to you about this one thing. You don't do that anyway, so you guys can laugh. I haven't gotten that serious. It's the truth though. We sin against God. And that's the great sin. What we do outwardly is terrible. We may sin against others, but the fact that we sin against him, that is the greatest. And if we have that godly sorrow, then it will manifest itself in change in our lives. As a matter of fact, Paul goes on in verse 11, he says, "For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner. What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what beheminate desire, what zeal, what vindication, in all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter." So Paul says, Paul says that it's obvious that there's godly sorrow in your life because these are the things, the attributes that came from that very thing. Godly sorrow produces and repentance shows diligence. It also shows that clearing, that it's a clearing of guilt and shame from knowing that we were brought our sin to God and we now walk in the right way. And it produces an indignation. We are indignant at ourselves and our foolishness in sin. This is the kind of attitude that makes repentance last. Alan Redpass said this. He says, "I am glad that the Bible allows me to get mad, mad with the devil, to think that he had the audacity to pull me down and make me do that. What indignation, what fury at sin and all the agencies of sin." We are, it's okay to be filled with indignation towards a sin in the devil. What godly sorrow produces fear that we would never fall in that same sin again. Also, it produces the eminent desire. This is a heart that really desires purity and godliness and does not want to sin anymore. This beheminate desire is expressed through heartfelt prayer and total dependence on God. What zeal, the ancient Greek word speaks of heat. We are hot towards God and his righteousness and hot against sin and impurity. Instead of laziness, we have zeal in our walk with the Lord. What vindication you are vindicated as a Christian even though you have sinned. No one can doubt it because the measure of a Christian is not whether or not they sin, but whether or not they repent. Also, you proved yourself to be clear. We are clear of guilt and sin. The stain of sin is gone. Their actions and repentance prove them clear. It wasn't words or feelings that prove them to be clear, but the actions of their life. Once again, let me give you a quote from Ellen Raypath. He says that Godly sorrow leads to repentance, therefore is a sorrow that leads to a change of purpose, of intention and of action. It is not the sorrow of idle tears. It is not the crying by your bedside because once again you have failed. Nor is it vain regret. Wishing things had never happened. Wishing you could live the moments again. No, it is not that. It is the change of purpose and intentions, a change of direction and action. That's Godly sorrow. Worldly sorrow is, I'm sorry for the consequences of my sin. Godly sorrow is, God, I am sorry that I sinned against you and I sinned against others. Verse 12, "Therefore, although I wrote to you, "I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, "nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, "but that our care for you in the sight of God "and not appear to you." So here, most commentators agree that the incident that Paul is speaking of here is something that we do not have knowledge about. It's not the guy in first Corinthians who had been sleeping with a stepmother and all of that. This is not the incident that Paul is talking about. There was some kind of dealings within the church. That was a problem that Paul wrote to him about. And he says that he wrote to them so that they would understand his love for them. He didn't take sides in the matter. He simply addressed it. But the cool thing about it is Paul could have easily, in his writings, mentioned their names. He could have mentioned everything that they did and all of that, but God's grace is that we do not have that information. How would you like to be the one? He says, "And I wrote a letter to corn. "And I want to talk to you about Bob "and also about Mike. "You know, forever in the word of God." You know, I think about those who Paul and some of his other epistles. He speaks about them and about the things that they did wrong. And I thank to myself, oh my gosh. Now for all generations, right? It's known. Here, we see the grace of God that we really do not know what had taken place there. But he says in verse 13, "Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort "and we were joys exceedingly more for the joy of Titus "because his spirit has been refreshed by you all." Verse 14, "And if you had anything I have boasted "to him about you, I am not ashamed. "But as we spoke all things to you in truth, "even so our boasting to Titus was found true." So here we have a clear statement that Paul, when he was sending Titus with a letter that he had boasted about the coins, the Corinthians, about how there was an openness, that there was a desire for godliness and those kinds of things. I really believe that Titus didn't want to go. That Paul was sending Titus and Titus and him, I don't really want to go there. I don't want to go there to be with the Corinthians. Titus knew the condition of the Corinthian church. The reputation of Corinth was such that in the world, if you were caught up in debauchery and sexual sin and all these kinds of things, the reference was that you are a Corinthian. That's what they were known for. Titus didn't want to go there. He was going, well, I'm sure he had some people go with him, but nonetheless he didn't want to go and he didn't want to take the letter. But yet when it got there, he was refreshed because of their reception in verse 15 and his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. Therefore, I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything. Paul went to great lengths to emphasize Titus' respect and devotion for the Corinthians. Paul emphasized their relationship with Titus because he was sending Titus back to them to collect the money for the Jerusalem church and we'll see that next week in chapter eight. And so it's a good thing that they did, that they received Paul and are a Titus in the letter because there were still more dealings to go on. So as we come to this, we come to the conclusion of our chapter. The question for us today is how do we respond to the exhortation and the rebuke that's offered up here to us? Sometimes God uses the brethren for this purpose, but I can tell you this, I've never seen it where beforehand before a brother has ever come to me, the spirit of God has been working on me for that issue. And usually God has to send somebody to me because I won't listen to the spirit. The spirit has been confronting me, convicting me. And I'm saying, oh, no, I don't wanna deal with this until somebody comes to me and says, hey, you know the Lord has shown me this is what you're doing and you need to repent of this. God is faithful, He loves us enough that He will not allow us to continue in our sin which brings death, death in a relationship with God, sometimes fiscal death in His life. And God loves us so much that He desires that we would not experience those things. He demonstrates that truth in the first chapters of Genesis when He created Adam and Eve. And how His greatest desire was that they would simply walk an obedience to Him. And when they failed to do that, He slaughtered the animals and made clothes for them having our first animal sacrifice for them. God's desire was to maintain communion, relationship and fellowship with Him. And it's the same thing He desires for us too. But what are you doing with the things that God is working in your life and your heart? Are you sorry that you got caught? Are you sorry that you send against God? That kind of sorrow produces good things in our life. Godly sorrow produces a changed life. That's my question for you today. Are you being changed when God brings His word to us, whether by someone or by a spirit through His Bible? What are you doing with it? But here's the thing. I want to conclude by going back over our verse in Isaiah 61. Because it's important, we're going from the assumption that if you're here today and you're listening to me teach that I'm going to say 90% of everything I said is addressed to those who know Christ already, that are walking with Christ and that they're struggling or need to change or whatever it may be. And no apologies for that because that's what's there in our text. But certainly in order for any of this to apply to you, there's one thing that has to be settled between you and God. And that is, have you confessed your sin to Christ and asked Him to be the savior of your soul? If you have done that, everything I said today means absolutely nothing. You can't have Godly sorrow unless you indeed know God yourself. I never had Godly sorrow before I met Him. I was sorry for a lot of the things that I did. I was sorry I got caught. I was sorry that it cost me so much. But I wasn't sorry with that Godly sorrow. You must know God and the only way that we can do that is through Jesus Christ. He died for our sins so that we could have forgiveness. And it doesn't matter what that is. That's the wonderful thing about it. No matter how great a sinner you might perceive yourself to be, your sin is not greater than the forgiveness of God. And in Isaiah here, it says that He was anointed. Jesus was anointed to preach that good news to the poor, those who have no spiritual life, no relationship with God, and to heal that broken heart, and to mend and to make your life fresh and new, and to proclaim liberty. Right now, if you don't know Christ, you are captive to your sin. You cannot help yourself. You will sin because you have to. Your flesh dictates that to you. But that can be broken as you give your heart and life to Jesus. When you do that, his spirit comes in, and he enables you to have liberty in your life, to actually be subfree from sin. Not that you'll become sinless, but you'll be enabled not to sin near as much. And then also that opening of the prison to those who are bound. Oh man, one of my favorite scriptures is the one where Jesus says, whom the Son is set free is free and deep. Such a great freedom, knowing that I don't have to carry the burden of sin on my back anymore, that I have been set free from all these things because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. In a moment, I'm going to ask this all to pray. And if you don't know Christ, I'm going to give you an opportunity to respond to that invitation to receive Christ today. If you've never done that, then I want to pray with you to lead you through a prayer of how to invite Christ into your heart and into your life. And he promises that if you will do that, that he indeed will come and he will reside in you. And he will forgive you of your sins and you will have eternal life. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your incredible love. And we thank you, Lord, that you once again offer that invitation for eternal life. And I pray, Lord, if there's any here today, that your spirit has touched their heart and they want to respond to your invitation to come, to be forgiven. Lord, that you give them a courage to simply do that. Lord, I thank you for this and I commit this to you in Christ's name. And so now, as we're sitting here, I would ask, is there anyone here who wants to receive Christ as their Savior today? If that is you, raise your hand, and I will lead you in a prayer of acceptance so that you can have forgiveness of your sins. Anybody at all? You don't have to worry, you're amongst friends. Everybody will rejoice in your decision in order to follow Christ. And if that's you today, if you would like to do that, do not resist him. He has brought you here to receive him as your Savior. Anyone at all, this morning. Okay. So, Father, we thank You. We praise You for our time together in Your Word. And we ask for Your blessings upon us. In Jesus' name, amen. Would You all stand, please? Now, may the Lord bless you today and strengthen you and encourage you. May You find a nice place to keep cool. It's going to be a hot one. And I pray that this week that You walk in the love and the mercy and the grace of God throughout Your days, and that You draw near to Him. Be quick to repent and to exercise the Godly sorrow that leads to a changed life in Jesus' name. The Lord bless you.