Revering the Word
2 Corinthians 7. The beauty of Godly sorrow and repentance.
Good morning, everyone. This morning, we are in 2 Corinthians chapter 7. At the end of chapter 6, Paul was talking about how, as believers, we really do need to separate from that which is unholy and to make sure that we're living to honor God. And when we do, he gives us this great promise that he will dwell in them and walk among us. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord almighty. And those things were all sad, but they were set in conjunction with, you know what, believer, what harmony does Christ have with a false God? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? And again, it's not that we're not supposed to try to reach this lost world, we are, but we aren't supposed to affiliate with the unbelieving world in a sense that we take part in their sin, and that we don't represent the holiness of God. And he desires as our father, and we as his children, that we would live lives honorable to him. So in chapter 7, then, it says, therefore, after it says, you know, he is our father, and we are his sons and daughters, therefore having these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord or completing holiness in the fear of fear of God. So as, you know, as we have a proper reverence and respect and fear of God, we become more complete, we become more holy, we, you know, the very first command of God, as I've created you in my image and likeness, and he's wanting us to embrace becoming more like him, and he's given us the spirit to help enable us to do just that. All right, now as we move to verse 2, we're really going to see the context of this letter come in. It's a very personal letter that Paul's writing back to this church, and please recall that they had entertained false teachers and people who were saying negative things about the Apostle Paul, and he had a painful visit where he rebuked them. He also gave them what's known as the severe letter, which we don't have a record of, but it was, it was a letter calling them out for not honoring his teaching and for following false teaching. And but by now, in the writing of 2 Corinthians, as we'll see in this chapter in particular, Paul got a positive report that they responded well to his rebuke, and that they were indeed falling in line with him and his teaching. And yet, though he's still, you know, relationally, I think, concerned that some, you know, might be mixed or twisted in their thoughts regarding him. So this is what we have in verse 2, make room for us in your hearts. We wrong no one. We corrupted no one. We took advantage of no one. And he's saying, hey, listen, before you, you know, have believed these false reports about us, please don't make room in your, in your heart for us to be able to teach to you because we didn't do anything wrong. I do not speak to condemn you for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. He's like, hey, man, I love you guys. Everything I did was to, to help. Please don't, you know, listen to the false things, make room for us. And then he says this, great is my confidence in you. Great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort and I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction. And part of what is helping him is he got this report from Titus. And he felt so much better that they were turning away from their past sin and that they were responding well to his letter and and coming in alignment with the word of God. Verse 5, for even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side conflicts without fears within. He, you know, after he had left there in the past, he was very mixed because he knew he gave them, he really gave it to them and told them what they were doing wrong. And, and then he wrote a severe letter to them, you know, and he was concerned that they might just reject him or just might turn away or not respond positively. Think about that. When you tell someone what they did wrong, it takes great maturity on their part for them to respond well to it. And a lot of people don't. A lot of people, you, you know, you come to them and say, brother, what you did there was inappropriate. And, and they can respond, you know, in a negative way and they cannot respond positively. But in this case, Paul, Paul didn't know how they responded. And he was concerned, he, he legitimately was concerned that they weren't going to respond well to his previous letter. But now he found out they did. And he was very much relieved about that. Verse six, but God who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus. That's who gave him their positive report. And not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me so that I rejoiced even more. And they, they longed to see Paul again, they mourn that they, they did for a while turn away from him. And Paul was just greatly comforted by that news. For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, that's the severe letter we don't have a copy of, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. So, you know, after Paul sent it, he's like, Oh, no, you know, like, what if they respond to this letter really negatively? For I see that the letter caused you sorrow, though only for a little while. I now rejoice not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance, for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. And he's, you know, there is a place for sorrow. Like, if you get called out, you know, for something legitimate, like, and then you're like, you know what, I need to learn this, I need to repent of this. That's a really healthy thing, because now, you know, you're learning, you're learning from someone else, the error of your ways, but, you know, if you don't respond, well, to that, then you can end up just being embittered, you know, and Paul was grateful that they did respond with a godly sorrow to what he had said so that they could learn from it and change. Verse 10, "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance, without regret leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death." See, so they could have responded in bitterness and anger and unforgiveness, but instead they responded with repentance and it was a beautiful thing. "For behold, what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow has produced in you, what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what a vengeance of wrong, in everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the manner." So Paul is just feeling very good about where they are at now, because they have realized the error of their ways. They want to fall in alignment with Paul, they want to find and fall in alignment with godly teaching, and he's just so grateful right now. You know, he did care about them a lot. He spent like a year and a half in Corinth and wrote many letters to them. So to have everything get, you know, messed up would have been a great disappointment to the Apostle Paul, but seeing that they're responding in this way was super great encouragement to him. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender, nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God. He's saying, you know what? What's really happened is God sees what you're doing. God sees your repentance. God sees and God is pleased. It all worked out well, Hallelujah. For this reason, we have been comforted. And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even more, much more, for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. And you know, Titus was so happy to get such a positive report and be able to give it to Paul. And Titus was refreshed by his visit to the Corinthians. And you know, we got just a real great positive experience going on here. For if anything, I have boasted to him about you. I was not put to shame, but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before Titus proved to be the truth. And Paul says he had hoped that they would respond well, his affection abounds all the more towards you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you have received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you. What an interesting thing to say. I mean, they, they became obedient and received what Titus had to say, because Titus was kind of working on behalf of Paul there to go to Corinth and they received him with fear and trembling. That's, that's interesting. You know, there's such a positive thing to Godly fear, not, not like, not fear in a lack of trust of God, but the kind of fear where you say, you know what, I value what God has said so much. I value Godly instructions so much. I, I value so much honoring and living in obedience to God that if I find out that there's something that is not of God or something that we're not doing right, I have the kind of fear that, you know what, I don't want to live that way. I don't want to, I don't want to live apart from God. And with that fear and trembling, it produces like a godly sorrow, which then leads to repentance, which then leads to, you know, a really strong, holy relationship with God. And ultimately, that's the kind of life that leads to fruit and praise God that they received Titus in that way. And Paul's just rejoicing about how this all has come back together again, a restoration, a reconciliation, but it came with the truth, with people telling the truth, and it came with repentance, where repentance was necessary and needed. And this is what Godly people do. And that's what happened here. And it turned out really well. So, you know, remember that we all should remember that in our futures, evaluate your life, evaluate your actions, repent, ask for forgiveness where you should, and allow God to do a work in you because you fear and love him. And he can bring about really sweet restoration and reconciliation if we would just allow him to do that. Thank you for listening. And God bless you all.