10 Minutes
Godly sorrow is our conviction that such sorrow of soul is a sign of spiritual health. It is one element in the experience as true believers which we must expect to have. Here is the sadness for today... this felt sense of sin is comparatively rare today. Too many of us no longer grieve over what we are. We no longer weep to think that we are corrupt in heart and blemished in character. Believers speak of human depravity as if it were not a felt infirmity. Sin, if it is confessed at all, is confessed with careless formalism. Sin is more than just a religious term for an evil which believers talk about. Too many think sin not to be a personal experience. Godly sorrow is preparative to repentance and in some sense the cause that will produce repentance. Sorrow according to the will of God is wrought by the Spirit of God. Past sins are not to find pleasure in but are of use to teach us new lessons. Old sins are often a photo-fit picture of our present spiritual deficiencies. Old sins are an index to unobserved infirmities. If we would be familiar with tomorrow's temptations, let us consider well our yesterday’s shortcomings. Sin causes us to lose the joy of our salvation and robs us of peace. We do not feel too saved right then. Anguish of heart, separation from God, loss of confidence. What are we seeking to gratify in remembering past sins? Sensual appetite is that concern of something you thought might be a sin or other violation of the moral doctrine. Suggestion to sin is not an actual sin. Be aware of the devices of the enemy. Actual sin is any willful thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to the law of God. This is where godly sorrow works revenge...the crucial difference is in an action of the will. Suggestions to sin are not actions of the will, but happens without involvement of the will. They are thoughts, emotions, and inclinations that are internal. They come from the world, the flesh, and the enemy, but in particular, our flesh. Entertaining or pursuing such thoughts is against purity...that is sin. In this, God is still faithful and just. He will forgive, He will cleanse...if we confess and repent with godly sorrow.
This is why we are admonished to pray without ceasing. Focus on the things of God helps to heal our faculty. Remember, the vice of folly is the thought of foolishness, which is opposed to wisdom, is a sin. Growing in virtue is our learning to govern our emotional life with our spirit and our will as we examine the value of spiritual heartbreak. Being godly sorrow unto repentance requires a deep conscience dive. We should desire that as we repent, the atonement of Jesus Christ becomes fully effective in our lives. Embracing Jesus’ sacrifice is to make a concerted effort to uncover every sin that our prayer for repentance resonants to the core of the soul. This is that way of salvation that brings us inside the life of Christ that we be not separated from God. Godly sorrow is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gift of God’s forgiveness and the sacrifice of Jesus being offered are able to clear the conscience of the faithful. Godly sorrow for sin and sincere repentance requires a clear conscience that is built upon an honest confession of those things that are plaguing our conscience and a complete surrender to the finished work of Christ on the cross to make us right with Christ and by faith enter into the righteousness of Christ offered to us by God! Living in this dignity of perfection in God’s sight enters us into the abundant life of Christ. It is our time to dive deeper into the most precious and rewarding life of all...the life of Christ...the life wrought in us by godly sorrowness for sin committed and sin justly forgiven by God, thus clearing our conscience.
The conflict brought forth by the war for souls centers on godly sorrow as opposed by worldly sorrow. Godly sorrow inspires change and hope through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Worldly sorrow pulls us down, extinguishes hope, and persuades us to give in to further temptation. Godly sorrow leads to conversion and a change of heart. There are many people who long to have a deeper sense of their sinfulness, and then with a certain show of conscientious hesitation, they make an excuse for the exercise of simple faith. That spiritual disease, which keeps sinners from Christ, assumes a different shape at different times. They believed in being self-righteous. In this last day the evil has taken another, and that a most extraordinary shape. Men have aimed at being self-righteous after quite a singular fashion; they think they must feel worse and have a deeper conviction of sin before they may trust in Christ. These do not feel their need of Christ enough; they have no sufficient contrition for their sins and their repentance is not for their rebelliousness toward God. They have lost subordination to God and His Word.
In this is found the depth of godly sorrow for the sacrifice of Jesus. There are those who choose to infer truth forming a barrier that keeps a soul from Christ. Doctrinal truth must come against every wall that hinders a soul. When God's word comes home as the sharp sword to many, they attempt to blunt its edge. They don’t want to feel it. If they are sorry because they cannot be sorry enough on account of sin, why they are already sorry. If they grieve because they cannot grieve enough, why they do grieve already. If it is a cause of repentance to them that their heart is very hard and that they cannot repent, why they do repent. All this is saying is that God has given them the way of repentance, but it must be accepted. These will never feel as they ought, until they do not feel what they ought; they will never come to Christ until they do not feel that they can come. They know not that they are to come as they are; come in all their poverty, and stubbornness, and hardness, just as they are now, take Christ to be their all in all. Godly sorrow will remove the weight of original corruption upon their consciences in this last hour. By faith they might find their consciences so purely and sincerely drawn out to God in the repentance they perform.
II Corinthians 7:10, 11
These words contain a reason, proving that they had received no damage, but profit by the sorrow that had possessed them, from the nature of it, a "godly" sorrow; a sorrow which had God for its author. Godly sorrow did not arise from the power of free will, nor from the dictates of a natural conscience, nor from a work of the law on our hearts, or from a fear of hell and damnation, but it sprung from the free grace of God. It is a gift of His grace, the work of His Spirit, and the produce of His almighty power. Being such, which by no means, as judgments, or mercies, or the most powerful ministry of the words themselves could effect; it was owing to divine instructions; it was heightened and increased with a discovery of the love of God, and views of pardoning grace and mercy being attended with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This godly sorrow has God for its object, as well as its author; it is a sorrow "which is for God", on the account of God, His honor, interest, and glory. It is a sorrow for sin, because it was committed against a God of infinite holiness, justice, and truth, goodness, grace, and mercy; and it is a sorrow "according to God". According to the mind and will of God; it is, as it is rendered "grateful to God". What He took notice of, observed, and approved of; and was also such a sorrow as bore some resemblance to what in God goes by the name of grieving and repenting, in that He had made man without sin, yet because of sin; there being in godly sorrow a displicency with sin, an hatred of it, and a repentance that ever it was committed. Moreover, this sorrow is further described, from its beneficial operation, it "worketh repentance"; it is the beginning of it, a part of it, an essential part of it, without which there is no true repentance. This produces it, issues in it, even in an ingenuous confession of sin, a forsaking of it, and in bringing forth fruits meet for repentance, in the life, and conversation. And this repentance is unto salvation; not the cause or author of it, for that is Christ alone; nor the condition of it, but is itself a blessing of salvation, a part of it, the initial part of it, by which, and faith we enter upon the possession of salvation. This is an evidence of interest in it, and issues in the full enjoyment of it.
This godly sorrow and repentance, is such as is not to be repented of; or that is stable and immovable, which "never returns", but remains the same not repented of; for to either of them may it be applied. Salvation is not to be repented of; it is not repented of by God, neither of the thing itself, nor of the way and manner in which it is effected, nor of the persons saved by it, and God’s choice of whom He chooses to it. Neither is it repented of by us, who believe in Christ to the saving of our souls. Nor is true repentance, which is connected with it, to be repented of; God does not repent of giving it, for "His gifts and calling are without repentance". Neither does the repenting sinner repent of it; nor have we any occasion to, since it is unto life, even "unto eternal life", as it is called "repentance unto life". This sorrow is likewise illustrated by its contrary, the sorrow of the world which worketh death; a worldly sorrow is such, as is common to men of the world. It springs from worldly selfish principles, and proceeds on worldly views; it is often nothing more than a concern for the loss of worldly things, as riches, honors or for a disappointment in the gratification of worldly lusts and pleasures: and this worketh death; temporal and eternal death. It may bring diseases and disorders on the body, which issue in death; and sometimes puts men upon destroying themselves. It works in the minds of men a fearful apprehension of eternal death, and, if grace prevent not, issues in it.
Godly sorrow is the body and blood of Christ. Sorrow readies the ground. Godly sorrow is a great privilege being with God’s people at the end. This is how God is deserving of all our love. His grace to sin no more and godly sorrow working repentance to avoid the every near occasion of sin that we might be saved. God’s godly sorrow is the kind of good grief that will lead us to repent more quickly and yet not get weighed down with vain regrets. It is a time when God allows us to focus on our souls. We groan for restoration that is at the core of our struggle. Because of God’s promises we find godly sorrow to be God’s caring, His convincing what can never be lost if we stay in Christ Jesus...the deepest expression of His unshakable love.
As we dive deep into the valley of our conscience, we find God’s presence and protection as we negotiate the treacherous grief that sin causes. There is no explanation to be given for our sin. Our dependence is upon the forgiveness and cleansing of God. Our hope in this godly sorrow is that it has a good effect and that it brings us to the feet of the Savior.
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