Open the Bible

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. Colin, you just talked about what worldly sorrow is. Obviously very different than godly sorrow. And we're going to spend some time looking at what that is today.

Colin Smith: Yeah, and it's full of hope. I mean the main point of this whole series is for us to understand what the Bible means by repentance that would bring joy to the angels in heaven. We tend to think of repentance too often as beating up on ourselves and, "Oh, I've failed," and all this kind of thing. And actually, it is the hidden path of a transformed life.

And that's what we're looking at today, the hope that is in the gospel and that is in repentance towards the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not simply remorse looking at the failures of the past. Repentance is looking to the future and what by God's grace I can become through His mercy.

Steve Hiller: All right, so for the person who maybe does have that tendency to look at something that they've done in their past and they're still beating themselves up about that and they maybe are even continually confessing that sin to God, what does that look like or how do they begin to turn that corner to be able in a sense to let go of that guilt of that past sin that they have confessed?

Colin Smith: Well, the corner is turned at the cross because at a certain point where we've looked into our own hearts and we've seen there's this sin, there's this failure, and it's wretched and I confess it and I hate it, what am I going to do with it? I've got to bring it to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got to lay it down there. I've got to say, "This is sin for which He died and for which His blood is sufficient."

And I'm going to lay it down at the cross and I'm going to thank the Lord Jesus Christ and look to Him, trust in Him for this to be cleansed and for this to be a means by which I'm brought into a newness of life, not going back to the old way, but living a richer and a fuller life that's going to be for His glory. That's repentance. It's a wonderful thing. It brings you into newness of life. That's why the angels rejoice over it. And if the angels rejoice, we should learn to rejoice over it too.

Steve Hiller: Well, that's what today's message is all about. It's called "The Distinguishing Marks of True Repentance." So if you can, join us in 2 Corinthians chapter seven. Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: I found in my reading this week a very striking statement from Charles Hodge, who was at one time the professor of theology at Princeton University in an earlier century. And writing on this passage in Corinthians, Hodge, who had great spiritual insight, writes these words.

He said, "It is a great mistake to suppose that the natural tendency of pain and sorrow is toward the good." Great mistake to think that it naturally moves in a good direction. "The natural tendency of pain and sorrow rather is to excite rebellion against God and all evil feelings. It is only then," he says, "when these are sanctified, that is, made by the Holy Spirit to bring into exercise patience and faith in the sufferer, that they then bring forth the good fruit of righteousness."

Now you see what he's saying. This is very important. The natural tendency of sorrow and pain is not good. The natural tendency of sorrow and pain is to excite within you some resentment towards God, to excite within you all kind, he says, of evil feelings.

And therefore, there is a particular need for a Christian believer to ask God to walk with us in our sorrow, to sanctify it, to cause it to go in a different direction, to make it godly sorrow that will not harm you in any way, but rather will bring forth the fruit of righteousness.

Now I was very struck just by one of the verses of the hymn that we sang earlier this morning, which exactly frames this prayer that the Holy Spirit would sanctify our sorrow, move it in a different direction from where it would naturally take us. Listen to this that we sang earlier. "When life's dark maze I tread and griefs around me spread, be thou my guide. Bid darkness turn to day, wipe sorrow's tears away, nor let me ever stray from thee aside."

You know what that's saying? It's saying, don't let me be like Esau. Save me from that. Don't let bitterness rise within me in my sadness. Don't let me distance myself from you. And please, oh Lord, do not distance yourself from me.

And you know where we have the model of that kind of praying, that grief will be sanctified, that it will be godly rather than worldly sorrow? We see it in David right there in Psalm 51. How does he pray? He's asked for forgiveness. He then says, "Create in me a clean heart, oh God." What comes next? "Do not cast me from your presence. Don't take your Holy Spirit from me."

You see what he's saying? "I'm going through such sorrow right now, oh God, I need you to walk with me." He seeks God in his sorrow because he knows that if God walks with him, he will make it through. That's a distinguishing mark of godly sorrow that leads to life and leaves no regret. Light from God, desire for God.

And here's the third thing. Hope in God. Now again, if we're to look for a contrast that will show us the difference between worldly and godly sorrow at this point, I think the very obvious contrast is again between David, who's our model of godly sorrow on the one hand, and Judas, who is the example given to us in the Bible of a man who gave way to despair and let go of hope with tragic consequences.

Now remember that Judas betrayed our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now that was a terrible thing to do. And let's just earth that before we go further, because there will be some in the congregation today and you have done a terrible thing and it plagues your conscience. You think about it at night and it's there with you in the morning.

Now the Gospel tells us that when Judas had betrayed Jesus and then saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse. Notice that word remorse that looks backwards, very different from repentance that moves forwards. He was seized with remorse and he returned the 30 silver coins to the chief priests and to the elders.

Now at first sight you think, "Well, this kind of looks like repentance. He's giving the money back. He must be really, really sorry." Yeah, but it was only worldly sorrow. And we know that for this reason, that although Judas experienced great sadness and great remorse that was very intense within him, yet it was not the sorrow that led to life.

Here's what happened. Judas says to himself, "Look what I've done. I have betrayed the Son of God. There's no hope for a man like me now, not after what I've done." And so the Bible tells us he went out and he hanged himself. Worldly sorrow leads, in the ultimate case here of Judas, to death.

Now I want to suggest to you that the greatest tragedy of Judas's life was not that he betrayed Jesus. The greatest tragedy of Judas's life was that he gave way to despair when he could have found hope in Jesus Christ. See, think about this. If he had sought after God, the blood of Jesus Christ could have covered for his sin also. There could have been cleansing and hope and forgiveness and life even for Judas. There was for Peter, who denied the Lord.

But the tragedy of Judas's life is that he followed the path of worldly sorrow that is without light and without God and ultimately without hope. And therefore, he gave way to despair rather than seeking the path of repentance, which is saturated with the presence of God.

And so I want to say this to whoever in the congregation may be feeling near to despair today. You've become consumed in your sorrow and it weighs upon you and you feel that there is no way out of the darkness in which you find yourself. I want to ask you some questions.

Where are you going with this sorrow? How sorry do you think you have to be? What are you accomplishing by this pattern of beating up on yourself that continues? Being sorry won't cleanse you.

See, that was grasped most clearly by Augustus Toplady. What a name, Augustus Toplady. His middle name was Montague just for good measure. But he wrote a marvelous hymn called "Rock of Ages" that some of us know I think reasonably well. And in that, he has these lines that are deeply perceptive.

He says, "Could my zeal no respite know," could I be passionately committed with everything within me with all my zeal to the work of Christ for the rest of my life without a single moment's break night or day. "Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow," if I were to cry over my sins and my failure forever so that my tears never stopped.

"Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone. You must save and you alone." Now you see what he's saying. The intensity of your sorrow, the length of your sorrow cannot cleanse you. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that can cleanse you. And that is why in the very next verse Toplady says, "Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to your cross I cling. Naked, I come to you for dress, and helpless run to you for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly," the picture of being washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, I come there, wash me, Savior, or I die.

Now you see the movement. He has realized it is not the length or the intensity of sorrow that will bring newness of life. It is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that will bring light and the presence of God and hope into my life. And therefore, from my sorrow, I must now embrace Him. I must with an open hand and an empty hand, nothing in my hand I bring, I must receive grace, forgiveness, which is what Peter did and Judas did not do. It's what David did and Judas did not do.

And you see it in David in Psalm 51. "Restore to me the joy of your salvation." You see, what right does David have to pray like that after what he's done? "Restore to me the joy of your salvation." That's how a man or a woman prays when you believe the Gospel. When you know that there is grace and mercy in God.

You don't stay in a life of sorrow. Godly sorrow brings us to repentance. That's why it's infused with hope. And there's all the difference in the world from that and the kind of sorrow that leaves you in despair. So, two kinds of sorrow. Worldly sorrow, which is sorrow without light, sorrow without God, and sorrow without hope. It leads to death, it kills you. It just has death all through it.

And then there's godly sorrow in which you have light from God and a desire for God and hope in God. And that godly sorrow brings you to repentance and therefore to salvation and leaves you without regret.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message today called "The Distinguishing Marks of True Repentance." It's part of a larger series all about the topic of repentance. And if you ever miss a broadcast in the series, you can come and listen online at openthebible.org or through the Open the Bible app, which you'll find at your app store.

But Open the Bible is made possible because of your generosity. So thank you for giving to and supporting this ministry. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a copy of Pastor Colin's brand new 30-day devotional book called *Grow in Faith*.

You know, Jesus said a number of times in the Bible, "Oh you of little faith." And a person's little faith can grow. We never should be satisfied with little faith. So how does it grow? Find out in Pastor Colin Smith's book *Grow in Faith*. We'd love to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for your financial support. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365 or openthebible.org.

Back to the message. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Now I want in these last moments to give three very simple and practical applications of what we have been learning together from the Bible here. Ask the question, "Now what is the use of knowing this? How do we apply this?" And I want to suggest three very different and distinct ways in which these distinguishing marks of true repentance may be useful to us.

The first is that we may use these marks as a guide for discerning true repentance in another person. Now none of us likes to be in a position where we have to make judgments, but all of us are called upon in very practical ways sometimes in ordinary life to do this. I doubt that there is ever a month that goes by without one of our pastors being asked a question that goes something like this. "He says he's sorry, but how do I know if he has really changed?" That's a real question for a person who's wanting to know whether it is safe to trust.

"She says she's come back to the Lord, but how do I know if her repentance is real?" Now, what are the criteria that you would use for answering questions like that? How do you discern? And these are important questions, not just for us as individual Christians. They're important questions for elders of the church in relation to issues of church discipline and restoration and trust with regards to responsibility. They are important issues on the national scale for denominational leaders dealing with such issues of trust in relation to responsibility. How do you measure true repentance?

I mean, do you count the number of tears? We've all seen people go with extensive performances of tears that may or may not mean anything. Do you simply count the number of months since a particular sin has been committed? I mean, no. What you do is you look for the distinguishing marks of true repentance. And they will guide you in the kinds of questions to ask.

Does this person have light from God with regards to what they have done? Does he or she see it clearly? Is there ownership? Have they faced it without excuse or evasion, without blaming other people, without trying to trivialize or minimize it? Does this person hate not only what came as a result of their actions, but hate the sin itself?

Is this person's focus on their own pain? Is their focus simply on their own reputation, like Saul's was? Or is this person taking genuine ownership of what he or she has done? Do we see in this person a desire now to walk with God more closely? Is there evidence of a new hunger for the word, a new commitment to prayer? Are there changing patterns that we see that reflect a drawing near to God in this person's life? Is this person laying hold of the grace of God as one who evidently and deeply is believing the Gospel?

Now you see, when you see these things, the distinguishing marks of true repentance, you have every reason to be joyfully confident that real and lasting change is happening and will continue to happen in the life of another person. So that's the first application. It's a very important one, that the distinguishing marks of true repentance are useful to us as a guide for discerning true repentance in another person. It's something you will have to do in different situations of life.

Second and more immediately and I think more importantly, these distinguishing marks are useful to us as a guide for deepening repentance in our own lives. Now here we come again to another very practical issue. What are you to do about the sin that you've fallen into again and again and again? The repeated sin. The thing that you have stumbled over at different times many times in different places and it keeps happening.

Now evidently at that point, if that is the situation, your repentance needs to be deepened at this point. And the distinguishing marks of true repentance will give you a guide as to how to pursue that. You may like to ask yourself questions like these. Have I really seen this sin as God sees it? Have I felt the weight of this thing that I keep doing as Jesus felt the weight of it when He died for this sin of mine on the cross? Because He felt its weight. Have I?

Do I hate this sin honestly, as much as God hates it? Or is there a part of me that still secretly cherishes and holds on to it? Have I really faced the darkness in my own soul that makes me keep behaving like this? Am I therefore sincere in my desire to walk with God? And am I now ready to embrace the Gospel in this regard, to trust Christ for forgiveness? Not as some kind of cheap grace that allows me simply to go out and easily do the same thing again, but recognizing that this forgiveness flows from His pierced hand to me for this sin. And do I, in embracing the Gospel, therefore believe and trust in the power of His Spirit that I may overcome it and gain victory over it in the days that lie ahead?

And that brings me to the last application, that these distinguishing and wonderful marks of true repentance may help us not only in discerning where it exists in other people and deepening true repentance in ourselves, but directing our prayers also in times of great sorrow. How should you pray? How should you pray when you find yourself in great sorrow?

Well, ask God to deliver you from worldly sorrow. Ask Him to direct your sorrow away from where it otherwise might naturally take you. Ask Him to give you light as you examine your own heart. Ask Him to walk with you by His Spirit as you commit yourself to the path of obedience. Ask God to give you hope as a person who truly now in your sorrow embraces the Gospel. Godly sorrow brings repentance. This is what gets you on the hidden path that so many never find to a transformed life. And it leads to salvation, Paul says. And because God wipes all tears from the eyes of His people, it will leave you without regret.

Steve Hiller: A message today about what godly sorrow truly is and how it leads to real repentance and how real repentance leads to true and lasting change. I hope that you've found today's message to be an encouragement. And if so, maybe you want to listen to it again or pass it along to a friend or a family member who you think would be encouraged by listening to Pastor Colin's teaching.

Ask about getting a copy of today's message or the series called *Repentance: The Hidden Path to a Transformed Life* when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365 or come to our website, openthebible.org. You'll find ordering information there. Again, that's openthebible.org.

Well, Colin, it's Friday and the weekend's coming.

Colin Smith: And I want to encourage you to get to church on Sunday. If you live in the Chicago area and you don't have a church home, I'd love for you to join us at The Orchard. There are six locations in the Northwest Suburbs. For more information, go to theorchard.church. That's theorchard.church.

Steve Hiller: Well thank you, Colin, and thanks for listening. I'm Steve Hiller and I hope you'll join us next time.

Colin Smith: This is Pastor Colin, and I want you to know about a resource that will help you in your devotional life. It's called Open the Bible Daily. My colleague, Pastor Tim Augustine, takes what you hear on Open the Bible and he edits it into daily bite-sized chunks that you can read in your devotional time in less than three minutes. Every day you'll find a verse of Scripture, a short teaching from God's Word, and an application that you can carry with you through the day. People who use this tell us that they read it every day, and I think that if you try it, you'll love it too. For more information, visit openthebible.org/daily. That's openthebible.org/daily.