Be Earnest in Repentance

Today I want to help you answer a very specific question. The question is this: How am you supposed to respond to conviction of sin? Let me repeat that question. How am you supposed to respond to conviction of sin?

Most of you have been Christians long enough to know that sermons can be pretty convicting. We get a lot of those around here, don’t we? The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword.

But sometimes you might not like the conviction. Maybe you try to excuse your behavior or you pretend the sermon doesn’t apply to you. Or maybe it was convicting but you leave and never give it a second thought.

These are all signs that we are walking by the flesh and not by the Spirit. But God is gracious, and His Word is able to penetrate even hard hearts. And when the sword of the Word makes it’s mark, it hurts. And you know it does.

And the same was true for the church at Corinth. They were a problematic church with a complicated history. After Paul’s first visit to plant the church, he got word of major sin problems. So he wrote them a letter, and it wasn’t the book of 1 Corinthians. Then they sent a messenger to Paul with a letter of their own. His second letter in response is what we call 1 Corinthians. Then Paul sent Timothy, and later Paul himself visited for the second time. After that Paul wrote them a third letter severely rebuking them for sin and sent Titus to follow up afterward. Finally Titus brought back good news, like the third time Noah sent a bird from the ark. That was when Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, which was actually his fourth letter to Corinth. And later on he visited them in person for a third time.

I don’t expect you to remember all that, but I share it to make a point. Sin is messy. Paul’s relationship with the church at Corinth involved at least three visits, four letters, and five messengers. Sometimes the same may be true in your life. It might take 3 sermons, a couple men’s breakfasts, a few lunches, and a month of Wednesday nights to get to the point where you recognize sin in your life. And I ask you again, How are you supposed to respond to conviction of sin?

Today we are going to be looking at 2 Corinthians 7:9-11, which is in the fourth letter Paul wrote to Corinth. This is the one where he was rejoicing that they had finally repented. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 7:9-11.

2 Corinthians 7:9–11 LSB

9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to repentance. For you were made to have godly sorrow, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10 For godly sorrow produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world brings about death. 11 For behold what earnestness this very thing—this godly sorrow—has brought about in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

Pray

Alright, this passage is loaded. The verses we are looking at actually belong to a larger section that fills almost the entire chapter. Paul’s point here is that he has been comforted by the good news of the Corinthians’ repentance.

And I want to warn you, there is a lot of meaty truth in the verses we’re looking at this morning. There’s so much, in fact, that we’re not even going to be able to cover it all. Instead of looking at everything here, I am just going to highlight a few key truths that will help you respond biblically when you are convicted of sin.

In this passage, Paul uses the word “sorrow” to describe conviction over sin. He’s talking about how you feel when it finally sinks in that something is wrong, that you’re not okay. And he does not tell you that it is okay to not be okay.

Instead, he presents two options, and you have to decide which one you want. On the one hand, he describes the miscarriage of worldly sorrow, and on the other he exults in the magnificence of godly sorrow. So when you feel sorrow over sin, you have to choose whether you want seek a miscarriage or magnificence.

And here is the difference between the two. The miscarriage of worldly sorrow is only characterized by regret, and it ends in death. It means that you just feel sorry about what happened, and that sorrow leads to your demise. But the magnificence of godly sorrow is not like that. Instead, it extends beyond regret and is primarily characterized by repentance before God. In turn, that repentance leads to action, and it ends in salvation. So you really have to choose whether you want the path that leads to death, or the path that leads to life. Will you only regret your sin, or will you repent? My goal is to help you understand why repentance is more than just regret, why it demands action on your part. And my hope is that you will be motivated to take action when you see all this in light of your future salvation.

The Miscarriage of Worldly Sorrow

So let’s consider our first point, the miscarriage of worldly sorrow. As I said, there are many things in this text that we will have to leave for another time. I just want to direct your attention to two key truths about this worldly sorrow. The first truth is that it is characterized by regret, and the second is that it ends in death.

Characterized by regret (v 10a)

Look with me at verse 10, and notice that Paul contrasts godly sorrow with worldly sorrow. One leads to salvation, and the other brings about or produces death. How does this happen? The answer to that question is the crux of the contrast. Paul says in verse 10 that godly sorrow produces repentance without regret, and what he implies is that worldly sorrow produces regret without repentance. In fact, he says this more plainly in verse 9. He says, “I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to repentance.” Here he is rejoicing that their sorrow led to repentance. But notice he acknowledges that it did not have to. It could have ended in regret. It could have just been sorrow for sorrow’s sake. This is why worldly sorrow is characterized by regret.

The Mirriam-Webster dictionary defines regret as “sorrow aroused by circumstances beyond one’s control or power to repair.” It’s the feeling you get when you realize it is too late. Regret looks at effects and consequences. I don’t need to describe regret in too much detail because I know that you’re already familiar with it. We have all born the burden of regret. It may have been something you did or said, or even something you didn’t do or say, or maybe it’s just something you wish you would have known. Regret comes in many shapes or sizes, doesn’t it? PAUSE

Probably the most famous biblical example of regret is Esau, as he is described in Hebrews 12:16-17. It says,

Hebrews 12:16–17 LSB

16 that also there be no sexually immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.

The problem with regret is that it has a worldly focus. It just looks at consequences and leads to shallow apologies. You know that kind of apology, where you just tell someone, “I’m sorry you got upset when I said...” That doesn’t mean anything! All you’re doing is telling them you regret the consequences, but you’re not admitting sin.

This is what Esau did. After Jacob tricked Isaac into giving him the blessing, Esau sought that blessing with tears. He wept before his father. But he never admitted that he had foolishly sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. What’s more, he never confessed that he had scorned his family heritage in God’s covenant with his grandfather Abraham.

In one of his classic biographies, the ancient historian Plutarch relates a story from Rome. The leaders of the city asked for someone to lead a war for them, but most people were skeptical. One man named Marcius accepted the challenge, gathered a small army, and came back victorious. Here is Plutarch’s description of his return:

The Harvard Classics 12: Plutarch’s Lives (Coriolanus), p. 164 (logosres:hvdcl12;ref=Page.p_164;off=780)

he [Marcius] reserved nothing for himself in private, but returned safe to Rome, while those that ventured out with him were seen laden with pillage, and driving their prey before them. This sight filled those that had stayed at home with regret for their perverseness, with envy at their fortunate fellow-citizens, and with feelings of dislike to Marcius, and hostility to his growing reputation and power...

This description is so insightful. It reveals several indicators that your sorrow over sin is just worldly regret. For one thing, maybe you’re only sorry for your sin when the results of your decision make you look bad. Or, maybe you only feel conviction when you realize that someone else is better off than you now. You may find that you are alienating yourself from people who have done the right thing where you have done wrong. Or you may even catch yourself competing with godly people by making excuses for why they have it easier and you’re not so bad after all.

All of these are telltale indicators that you are not yet repentant. All you’ve got is regret.

Ends in death (v 10b)

I’m sure you can tell by now where you’ll wind up with this worldly sorrow. Look at the end of 2 Corinthians 7:10 and see where it says that “the sorrow of the world brings about death.” Most commentators point out that Judas is the perfect example of this worldly sorrow. He regretted betraying Jesus, so he went out and hung himself.

That’s true, but this death is also like the death Adam and Eve faced in the garden. Which is to say that this worldly sorrow does eventually lead to physical and spiritual death. But it doesn’t happen immediately.

One commentator, James Denney, describes the death of worldly sorrow this way:

“If death is to be defined at all, it must be by contrast with salvation: the grief which has not God as its rule can only exhaust the soul, wither up its faculties, blight its hopes, extinguish and deaden all.”

Notice that this death pervades even life itself. Regret is like cancer. It kills even while you are still alive. Another commentator says that "the grief of hopelessness” “drains away life and joy, and brings death only very, very slowly.”

These things prove the dangers of regret. John Wycliffe in an old sermon talked about “gnawing yourself to death for things that happen in this world.” So also you may be tempted to linger in regret. Regret is like scratching poison ivy. In the moment, the pain feels appropriate, but it actually spreads the infection. Ultimately, it consumes you.

This is why I titled this point the miscarriage of worldly sorrow. God gifted your conscience with sorrow in the desire that it would birth repentance. If it merely produces regret, though, it is like a miscarried child. If sorrow for sin does not lead to repentance, then it dies in its infancy. Sorrow is a means to an end; it is not an end in and of itself.

The Magnificence of Godly Sorrow

So now we turn to our second point, the magnificence of godly sorrow, the magnificence of godly sorrow. Once again, this passage teaches so many things, but we will only extract a few key ideas. I want you to see that godly sorrow is characterized by repentance that leads to action and ends in salvation. This is the magnificence of godly sorrow.

Characterized by repentance (v 9, 10)

The first thing to know is that godly sorrow is characterized by repentance. Paul makes this very clear for us in the middle of verse 9, where he says he rejoices that the Corinthians “were made sorrowful to repentance.” He then confirms this same idea again at the beginning of verse 10, where he says that “godly sorrow produces repentance.”

So the task before us now is to discern the difference between regret and repentance. Let me explain the difference to you in summary. Regret has everything to do with sin and its consequences. Repentance has nothing to do with your sin and everything to do with your relationship to God. You could say that repentance is “Godward.

Let me back that up with a helpful quote from Scottish theologian H. R. Mackintosh. He says,

“Recognition of sin by itself is not repentance; it may be defiance. Nor is sorrow for sin repentance, if it be alone in the mind; it may be remorse or despair. Abandonment of sin, by itself, may be no more than prudence.”

See, you can manipulate your sin however you will without acknowledging God. This is why repentance includes a sorrow for sin but goes beyond it. Repentance adds to regret the dynamic of a relationship with God. Worldly men regret their sin, but godly men repent of it before God. We can see David express this progression in Psalm 51.

In Psalm 51:3, David expresses his regret, “For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.” If he were to stop here, then he would die the death of all the world. But he continues in verse 4, “Against You, You only, I have sinned / And done what is evil in Your sight, / So that You are justified when You speak / And pure when You judge.” This spirit defines godly repentance. It is a confession of your offense against God. You must realize that your sin is not just wrong, it is offensive. It violates God’s justice and righteousness. You have sinned against Him.

This is often a sudden realization. Probably you’ve seen the consequences and regretted your sin for some time. But one day you realize how it has offended God. One day you see how you have violated the love of Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. This realization is the spark that kindles repentance, and this realization is also the gift of God.

In Romans 2:4, God warns us that we much not quench this fire that He ignites. He asks, “Do you think lightly of the riches of My kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that my kindness leads you to repentance?” This passage (and others like Acts 11:18 and 2 Timothy 2:25) teach us that true repentance is the gracious gift of God. We do not repent in order to earn His favor. We repent because He has shown us favor! He is the one who opens your eyes and ears to realize that your sin was not just wrong, it violated His command. He shows you that it did not just reap bad consequences in this life, but it offended Him and profaned His love for you in Christ Jesus.

This is the realization that Esau missed. And that is why if you look back down at 2 Corinthians 7, you can see Paul describe the sorrow as “godly,” “according to the will of God,” or “in the sight of God” in verse 9, verse 10, verse 11, and verse 12. Four times he reminds us that repentant sorrow has an eye toward God.

Leads to action (v 11)

This leads us to our second point. Godly sorrow is characterized by repentance toward God, and it leads to action. It leads to action. This makes sense. A child may not clean their room right away if they are left to their own devices, but when they know their father is watching them, then they get right to it. God’s omniscience prompts our action.

And I think this is where so many of us fail to fan God’s gift of repentance into flame. We feel the sorrow of conviction, and we confess it before the Lord. But then we feel discouraged, as if confession wasn’t enough. PAUSE.

And that’s partially true because biblical repentance is always validated by the good works. Faith always produces works. Paul said in Acts 26:20 that he preached to the Gentiles “that they should repent and turn to God, practicing deeds appropriate to repentance.” This validates your desire to do something about the sin you confessed.

So look with me at verse 11, where we can see seven different actions of biblical repentance. This is a trophy list for the Corinthians that defines repentance more clearly than any other text in Scripture. For the sake of time, I can only give you a brief definition of each term, but afterward we’ll consider Zaccheus as an example of them all.

The first characteristic in verse 11 is earnestness, and it governs the rest of the list. You should have a “hop to it” sense of urgency, and there should be no room for indifference or apathy about your sin.

Vindication expresses a desire to get right in the sight of God and man through confession and renewed obedience.

Indignation conveys a righteous anger toward the shame your sin has brought on you, others, and God.

Fear implies a submission to God’s authority in His own right and also toward the leaders He appoints over you.

Longing involves great desires for restoration and reconciliation in the areas where your sin has caused division and separation.

Zeal requires mature discernment and expresses an energetic desire to quench sin in your pursuit of holiness.

Lastly, avenging of wrong leads you to make restitution for your sin by setting things right and by restoring whatever was lost.

And as I said at the beginning, all of these things should be characterized by a blood-earnest sense of priority and urgency. These are the deeds appropriate to repentance. I know that was way too fast and not satisfying at all, so I think the best way to help you understand this verse is to look at the story of Zaccheus’ repentance.

Turn with me to Luke 19. The story of Zaccheus fills the first ten verses, but since I’m sure you’re already familiar with this wee little man we are going to jump down to verses 5-9. Let me read it for you now:

5 Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. 7 And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 But Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have extorted anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.

First of all, do you see how Zaccheus’ sorrow had a God-ward focus? In verse 7, it was the crowd that was grumbling, but in verse 8, Zaccheus responds to Jesus. Zaccheus had sinned against the crowd, maybe even some of the specific people walking with them. So while his resolutions involved the crowd, his confession was before the Lord.

We can also see here all seven marks of repentance that we just examined in 2 Corinthians 7. Notice the earnestness here in Luk 19:6, where Zaccheus hurries to do what is right. Then in verse 7, see Zaccheus’ indignant desire to be vindicated when he hears the crowd grumbling about him and how he stops in verse 8 to sort it out. Later in verse 8, see the submissive fear that Zaccheus demonstrates by addressing Jesus as his Lord. See how his longing prompted him not only to give to the poor but to add further restoration to that as well. His zeal thrust him through the pain of promising to part with the riches of verse 2 in the quadruple restitution of verse 8. This was all prompted by his desire to avenge his wrong of extorting people, which he also confesses in that same verse.

Isn’t this wonderful? Doesn’t this confirm for us the necessity of practicing deeds in keeping with repentance? Not only did Zaccheus become innocent by confessing his sins to God, he demonstrated innocence through his actions. If you look back at 2 Corinthians 7:11, you’ll see that this is exactly how Paul sums this beautiful verse up. He affirms them for demonstrating their innocence. Not only must you become innocent in Christ, you must demonstrate it.

Perhaps the cynical ones among us would wonder whether Zaccheus actually followed through on his promises. But remember that Jesus, who knows the hearts of men, settled the matter by proclaiming salvation for Zaccheus.

Ends in salvation (v 10)

This leads us to our final point. Godly sorrow is characterized by repentance, leads to action, and now we see that it ends in salvation. Look at the middle of verse 10, where Paul says the repentance of godly sorrow “leads to” or “produces” salvation. Since this is something you already know well, I am only going to touch on it briefly.

Acts 3:19–20 LSB

19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,

These two verses pull together all three effects of godly sorrow. First, there is repentance. Then you must “return” or perform deeds in keeping with repentance. Finally, the Father sends Jesus to accomplish your ultimate salvation. This is the salvation that Paul is referring to in 2 Corinthians where he is addressing you as believers. And all of this just goes to show why your conviction over sin should lead to action. Repentance is the path to eternal life.

Conclusion

I’m sure you can tell by now that there is so much more in this text. Our time is limited, though. And before we wrap up, I’d like to take a few more minutes and help you pull this together. This is such a practical topic.

I think in a well-taught church like ours, it’s tempting to be trite about conviction. It’s easy to talk about how “convicting” some sermon or book was. Maybe even a quote. But how often do you actually do something about it? And if you do do something about it, why don’t you admit it? Why don’t you tell someone where you were wrong? Can you humble yourself to tell them how you have committed to change? See it’s really easy to hide behind a smokescreen of “conviction.” But it is a fatal mistake to be a hearer only and not a doer of the Word.

Consider these things when you find something convicting. First, have you confessed that sin before God? If not, then your conviction is just worldly sorrow, and you’re still on the path to death. Don’t mock the power of conviction if it hasn’t even driven you to your knees. Second, have you confessed that sin to someone else? James 5:16 says to confess your sins to one another. You gain a tremendous advantage over sin if you bring it out into the light. And after David repents in Psalm 51, he determines before Yahweh to “teach transgressors your ways.” And he meant it. Third, are you actually committed to change? Remember some Athenian philosophers told Paul they would hear him again. But today they are surely perishing in hell. You must be a doer of the Word, and not a hearer only.

But more than these things, I want to speak to you men who weep with conviction over old sin. Perhaps you did or said something a long time ago, or maybe there are things you haven’t done that you should have. Either way, you’re thinking about it now because the consequences still linger. Your family isn’t the way you wish it was, or you’ve lost some relationships that you wish you could get back. Maybe there were opportunities you’ll never have again.

I don’t have a magic pill for you. Sometimes God plays for keeps, and your burden is always less than you deserve. But there is some hope in what you’ve heard today. If you’ve ever felt like a worthless nobody because of your sin, remember that Zaccheus was worse. He literally got out of a tree to serve dinner, and people hated him. He was not just a tax collector, he was a “chief tax collector and he was rich” it says in Luke 19:2. That should have been enough to bring down his gray hairs to the grave with sorrow. But even though he was past his prime, he took action. And consider how he did it. He found the area of his greatest weakness, his finances, and determined to make that his greatest strength. The Corinthians did something similar, and that’s why we remember them today for their example of repentance. This is how you can find hope and bring glory to God. Remember that 1 Corinthians 1:27 says,

1 Corinthians 1:27 LSB

27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

Isn’t that beautiful? This is why God chose Paul to go from persecutor to preacher and from murderer to missionary. God wants your failures to write His case studies. This is how He gets the glory. Be determined to decrease so that He may increase. Figure out your greatest weakness and put your repentance into action. Search God’s Word, listen to good teaching, read the best books. Get to the bottom of it. What is the specific type of sin? How and why does it offend God? How should you combat it? What is God’s will in this area? Aim to become an expert in this area.

It doesn’t matter whether you think this is realistic. First of all, know that this is not an option—this is what God commands you to do. 2 Corinthians 7 teaches that biblical repentance requires action. Second, do you think maybe none of this will fix your situation? Do you think your consequences are a hopeless mess? Well, you may be right. Moses never saw the Promised Land, and Cain never got his blessing. If you are able to set right some of what has gone wrong, then praise God for that! But let the consequences of your behavior be a fire of motivation in the study. You, of all people, should be the one to figure out how to overcome this terrible sin. Perhaps God will be pleased to use your mess and the knowledge you gain from God’s Word to help someone else. Zaccheus made financial restitution by giving away his wealth. If you feel like part of your life has been a disaster, then maybe you can find someone younger and save them the grief you experienced. The Corinthians couldn’t undo the offenses they had given to Paul. But they did restore their innocence by taking swift and extensive action to avenge their wrongs.

So now you have two options today. You can choose the miscarriage of worldly sorrow, the one that is characterized by regret and ends in death. Or you can choose the magnificence of godly sorrow, the one that is characterized by repentance, leads to action, and ends in salvation. Choose life, and glorify God in your repentance.