Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: We recognize that we've done something wrong. We recognize that it has caused pain, undermined relationships, that the consequences will now live with us for a long time, and the damage will be difficult to rectify. And we feel genuinely grieved over it. But this grief is nonetheless entirely worldly.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're listening today. Jonathan, I think a lot of people do feel badly for what they have done. They feel badly for the people they've hurt. They feel badly for some of the decisions that they've made and the pain that that has caused. How is that different than biblical repentance or godly grief?

Jonathan Griffiths: We need to learn to discern the difference in our own hearts because when we engage in sin, when we do what we know is wrong and we cause damage, we can feel sorry about it, but largely feel sorry for ourselves, sorry for the consequences that we're now having to carry, embarrassed perhaps of what others have seen in us.

There can be a kind of grief, but what is lacking is a real sense of repentance toward the Lord, a real sense of burden that actually I've dishonored the one who made me and who gave his son for me and who loves me and to whom I owe honor and allegiance and worship.

Sometimes our grief over sin can be a selfish thing, a self-focused thing, rather than a God-centered thing. But godly grief that leads to repentance and that ultimately leads to salvation is a grief that recognizes first and foremost we've sinned against the Lord, and we need to address that.

And that's the grief that we need to cultivate in our own hearts. It is the grief that will lead to repentance, real change, and that will issue forth ultimately in salvation.

Steve Hiller: And we're going to continue to look at that today. 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 is where we are, so grab your Bible, meet us there as we continue our message, Grieving Well Over Sin. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: I guess we're all familiar with this term, "crocodile tears," which I've sometimes used before. Crocodile tears, as you know, simply refers to fake tears, false tears. The term seems to have its roots in the observation that crocodiles reportedly shed tears while eating their prey. Clearly not due to remorse. "You're so delicious, but I really feel bad about eating you." That seems unlikely.

I gather it's more likely due to the fact that crocodiles are breathing so heavily when they're eating their dinner that their sinuses stimulate their tear ducts and they begin to cry. Crocodiles have this association with fake tears, but human beings are perfectly capable of shedding them too.

Worldly grief over our wrongdoing can lead to crocodile tears. It can even lead to real tears, but still, it must not be confused with godly grief. Godly grief isn't focused on me. It's focused on the Lord. It takes seriously the fact that I have dishonored the Lord and grieved his spirit.

It is concerned less with immediate temporal worldly consequences of sin, and it is much more concerned with the eternal ramifications. Godly grief brings about a powerful result. It brings about repentance. Notice it again there, verse 10: "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."

See what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment. When Paul addressed the sin issue in the church at Corinth, whatever precisely that sin issue was, the church collectively recognized that he was right.

They recognized that they'd been collectively responsible for a sinful disposition and some sinful behavior. It seems as though one individual in particular was the ringleader, and his or her sin needed to be addressed in a particular way. But they all shared some responsibility for this. When they were confronted about it, they were grieved over it. Their grief led to repentance.

Repentance literally speaks of a change of the mind, a wholesale change in attitude and disposition with respect to the behavior in question. What did this change of mind look like in the lives of the Corinthians, in this fellowship of believers? Well, it looked like, says Paul, an eagerness to clear yourselves, an indignation with respect to what had happened, a godly fear of the Lord, and a recognition of accountability before him.

A longing to make things right with others and with the Lord, a zealous energy and a determination to do so. And ultimately as well, a collective punishment of some kind of the ringleader, the wrongdoer, some form of appropriate discipline to show that they as a group utterly rejected the behavior and wanted nothing to do with the rebellion or whatever it was that had taken place.

Repentance means more than simply feeling sorry. It means dealing with the issue. It means dealing with the sin. It means giving it up. It means turning from it in truth. Paul says this is a model of godly grief. We need to note it, we need to learn from it, and we need to live it.

Whereas worldly grief is essentially just a form of self-pity, a combative, dramatic form of self-pity, a sort of theater, godly grief, by contrast, leads to repentance, to an energetic, zealous, fearful, wholehearted renunciation of the sin and a determination, with the Lord's help, to make things right.

That's godly grief. Friends, we need to learn godly grief. We need to learn repentance. We need to learn it again and again, and we need to constantly grow within it. The longer I go on personally in the Christian life, the more I see that repentance is hard. In fact, it's the hardest thing about being a Christian.

It's actually entirely beyond us in our own natural strength, and we desperately need the Lord's own gracious help by his spirit to live this out. The truth of that is demonstrated by the simple fact that we find ourselves needing to repent again and again of the same sins. Isn't that true? Don't you find that in the Christian life?

We think we've repented of something, we think we have renounced a behavior, an attitude, a way of thinking, a way of speaking, a way of relating, whatever it is, and then we find ourselves repeating the same old pattern again and again.

We discover that repentance, which perhaps we thought was easy and straightforward, is actually very, very hard. When our repentance proves superficial and short-lived, we can become very, very discouraged. But when that happens, we can also be rightly prompted to ask: Is my grief a worldly grief or is it a godly grief?

I think we need to be asking that question, and we need to confront that question in our own hearts and in our own minds. We need to check our hearts and ensure that as believers our grief is indeed a godly grief. I want to come back to that in a moment, but at this point, I would like to ask the question of you if you are new to Christian things as to whether or not you have ever experienced godly grief and true repentance.

I ask that because I'm aware that it's very possible that as we discuss these things now and you reflect upon them, you're beginning to realize that your grief over your wrongdoing has only ever been a worldly grief. You've felt bad about things you've done because you've seen there are consequences.

You've seen that the way you've treated others, the way you've behaved at work, the way you've handled people, possessions, opportunities, relationships, it's lacked integrity or it's caused damage, it's brought you heartbreak, it's brought you loss, and you've grieved over that fact in the past. Perhaps you've deeply grieved over it.

But you are beginning to recognize that that grief is actually only, ultimately, a form of self-pity. What you have not ever grieved before is the fact that you've dishonored the Lord God of heaven, the God who made you, the God who sent his son to die for you and to pay the price of your sin.

You grieved over the personal inconvenience and the loss caused by your sin, but you've never grieved over your guilt before God and the offensiveness of your sin in his sight. It's never been godly grief until today. You're starting even just now to see things in a somewhat different light.

You're starting even during the course of this message to gain something of a new perspective. If that's the case, let me just encourage you right there. It's not a natural thing for us to experience godly grief over sin. It is rather a profoundly spiritual thing. It is something that God by his Holy Spirit enables.

And the wonderful truth is that the God whom you and I have offended by our sin has sent his son to die for us, to pay the price of our wrongdoing, to pay the penalty of our sin. The God whom you have grieved by your sin, he offers to you forgiveness if you will but place your trust in Jesus Christ and receive that forgiveness as a gift.

If the Lord is today stirring any sense of godly grief in your heart, let me encourage you: Do not delay in responding to his gracious gift and to his wonderful invitation. The apostle Paul tells us that godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret.

It's a delightful truth. It's painful to be grieved over our sin. Godly grief is not a comfortable thing, but rather a deeply unsettling thing. But there are certain very uncomfortable things that do us ultimate good. I saw in a social media post just this week from one of my relatives that one of the children in the family was in hospital just having had an appendix removed.

I was very sorry to hear about that. Undergoing surgery as a little kid is no fun. There is pain involved, great inconvenience, and discomfort, but it's also really good to have the appendix out if it's about to rupture. In fact, it is life-saving to have the appendix out if it is causing trouble and it's about to explode like a grenade in the gut.

Godly grief is uncomfortable, and if you're feeling it now over your sin and the memory of things you have done, you will be feeling uncomfortable, no doubt. But godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation. It leads to heaven rather than hell. It leads to life rather than death. It leads to forgiveness rather than condemnation. It leads to salvation, and salvation carries no regret.

Regret's an awful thing to live with. We've all got regret in our lives. We all wish we had done certain things differently and could redo those things, but it's a terrible thing to live with eternal regret, to regret having rejected the salvation of God, to regret having been too proud to repent and to turn to him for salvation. But godly grief, it leads to repentance, which leads to salvation, and there is no regret in that.

Friend, let me encourage you to choose an eternity that is regret-free. Embrace godly grief now, repent before the Lord, and receive his gift of salvation. Don't hold back in that, and don't delay. For us who do know him, let me encourage you to check that your grief is godly grief and is not worldly grief.

Allow the Lord to teach you and to re-teach you and to continue teaching you what true repentance looks like, and seek with his help to grow in that grace. We are more than capable, each one of us, of shedding crocodile tears, even as believers. We know that because we often return to the sins. Too often return to the sins that we have in theory repented of before.

Allow the Lord to teach us, and to teach us again what it means to repent, and then to live out that repentance. The Corinthians model for us what godly grief looks like, and Paul, for his part, models for us what godly grace looks like, and that's the next point. The lessons here are no less significant, no less profound for us.

Remember again with me for a moment the emotional character of all this, how much Paul had been hurt by some at Corinth, how much their sin had concerned him, had weighed him down as a pastor. We've been reminded already of the pain of his last visit and of the weightiness of sending that challenging letter to them.

As a pastor, as an apostle, Paul is representing the Lord in this matter. He is speaking the apostolic word to them, and his rebuke comes with the Lord's own authority. What happens next? What happens when the apostle Paul brings the word of God to the people by way of rebuke and admonition? What happens when a strong word comes from the apostle because there has been sin in the church?

The word of God has obviously had an effect in the lives of the Corinthians. God has done his powerful work by his word to bring about that repentance. God does that. God's word is powerful to bring about change where change sometimes seems just impossible.

Paul better than anyone else knew that and had the confidence of it, and so he must not have been shocked to learn that the Corinthians responded in repentance when the word of God spoke into their situation and when the word of God got to work in their hearts and their minds. Paul wasn't shocked about that, but he was delighted.

The joy and the relief and comfort that has come to his heart in learning of their response is palpable, and it really jumps off the page. Perhaps you felt it as we read verse 4: "I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort; in all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy."

Paul has heard the reports of their repentance, and his heart is glowing. The dominant theme of his heart, his overwhelming emotion and response, is one of comfort. Paul is filled with comfort. He was comforted by the coming of Titus because Titus himself was comforted as he learned of the godly grief that the Corinthians exhibited as he saw their repentance and their change of heart.

Paul was comforted because the earnestness of the Corinthians has become evident in their response. There is a great worldly instinct in the fallen human heart to enjoy the "I told you so" moment, to relish seeing people fail when we've criticized them. That's the world's way. That's the way of pride.

To bring a criticism to someone and then to take some perverse delight in watching them fall flat on their face. But that's not the Lord's way, and it's not Paul's way. When the Lord brings his rebuke through his word, he does so that we might repent, that we might draw near to him once more, and that we might be restored in his presence.

Paul exhibits here the very grace of God in his pastoral approach to these believers. He issues the rebuke, he speaks the word of God with clarity and firmness, and when they respond in godly grief and repentance, he is not merely happy. It's deeper than that. He is comforted in his heart of hearts and in his soul.

He is comforted because he loves them and he cares for them, and he longs for their salvation and not their condemnation. He is comforted because they are demonstrating that they are true Christians whose hearts have been touched by the grace of God and who are sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. He is comforted because he knows that this is a good spiritual sign.

When God brings his word of rebuke to us, it is never to condemn us. It is to bring us always to repentance and to restoration. The Lord delights in seeing us turn from sin and turn once more toward him. That's an encouragement for you and me as recipients of the word of God.

But it's also a reminder for us when we speak the word of God to others, when we challenge brothers and sisters in their sin, when we seek to point out a matter that just has to be addressed. Our desire is not to see a brother or sister fall flat on their face. Our heart's desire is to see them repent and to be restored.

Our heart should sing for joy, as Paul's does, when that takes place. We should be those who are comforted when our brothers and sisters turn from wrongdoing, comforted because we care deeply for them, comforted because we long for their salvation and for their spiritual good.

With that in mind, let me ask you if there happens to be a situation where you have highlighted an issue, a matter of sin or wrongdoing with a brother or sister. If there is, is your true longing within this that they would repent and be restored? Is your greatest longing for their salvation and their spiritual good?

And would your heart and soul sing? Would your heart and soul be comforted by their turning once more to the Lord? I hope so. In our pride and our own sinfulness, we can fall short of the godly grace that Paul demonstrates here and that he models here.

It's such a delight to see Paul's evident love for these Corinthians who have actually been so rough on him and have been such a disappointment to him in many ways. It's such a delight to see how his heart glows not only with comfort but even with godly pride over them. Notice how the chapter ends.

Therefore, we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you.

Sometimes sin takes us to what appears to be the end of the road, a dangerous cliff edge. It can take us there personally and privately, it can take us there corporately and relationally. But the delight of this passage is the reminder that it doesn't have to be the end of the road.

If there is yet breath in our lungs and a willingness of spirit, the Lord gives us the opportunity to turn. And when we do turn in godly grief, there is grace to receive. And when others do, there is grace for us to extend. May the Lord give us grace to grieve sin well and to give and receive grace as a true gospel people. Let's pray together.