“The Case for Christ - Repentance with Faith in Christ’

No doubt, most of us have been watching and reading the news with great interest these days. 

And, as you may have noticed, there is a renewed spiritual concern, a concern termed by one news reporter as ‘...a world going through self-inventory, repentance, and renewal...’ or ‘...a faith and culture that would anchor...life’, ‘...a need to rely on a power greater than one’s self.’

There are even Christians who are not very certain of Christ as being the ‘anchor of life.’

So, tonight, in the light of this general universal quest, let us see the work of Christ in repentance and faith in His work of the salvation of men as the guarantee for the ‘anchor for life’ that the world seeks today.

Let us start with what Paul wrote in 2 Cor 7:10, and I am reading from the NEB. There, he told the Corinthians: ‘...for the wound which is borne in God’s way (godly sorrow) brings a change of heart too salutary (or, too helpful, or too advantageous) to regret; but the hurt which is borne in the world’s way (worldly sorrow) is death.’

What prompted Paul to write this? 

As you well know, the situation at the Corinthian church was anything but right in the light of their being Christians.

At this point in their Christian walk, they had been very disloyal to the true and high calling in Christ and of His ministry through Paul to them.

The Gospel was being maligned by certain behavior and attitudes. And Paul confronted them about the problems.

In this evening’s text, Paul was following up his first communications with them.

His earlier rebuke had caused them much consternation, but that consternation had also worked for their good, for Paul told them in v 9: ‘...I now rejoice; not because you were grieved, but because your grief led you to repentance’, or ‘...the wound [of grief] led to a change of heart’.

He had heard encouraging news about their attitude toward his letter and toward his ministry of the Gospel.

In the light of that, Paul wrote: ‘Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.’

Paul spoke to them of two kinds of sorrow - ‘godly sorrow’ contrasted with ‘worldly sorrow’ - godly sorrow that is the ‘anchor for spiritual life’ that we so much need today.

First, what is the difference between the two? What is the contrast Paul is trying to show? 

Is not sorrow just sorrow - or what we call grief or suffering or anguish, misery, or distress or ‘troubles on every side’ - that one endures as part of the process through life? Let us see.  

We start briefly, first, with looking at ‘worldly sorrow’ which - as Paul said - leads to death. 

What did that mean? 

In developing his argument to the Romans of the work of Christ in both Jew and Gentile alike, Paul wrote, in Romans 3:10-11: ‘There is none righteous; ...there is none that understandeth; there is none that seeketh after God...’.

And he went on further in verses 16-18 by saying: ‘Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes.’

‘There is none that seeketh after God...’ and ‘...there is no fear of God before their eyes...’. There we have it.

That is the natural inclination of man under the state of  worldly sorrow. That is what is missing in man’s natural condition of misery - no genuine seeking after God in his condition, no thoughts of turning to Him for help. 

There are no spiritual blessings in that; instead, it is full of regrets, regrets that produce death, that only cause more confusion and chaos. The harvest of its deadly effect is just more sinful reactions and more misery.

As an example, a man may be having great difficulty in life as the result of the bitter fruit of sin in his past. He may be sorry enough that he did not live more soberly or perhaps, more chastely or more self-restrained in his day.  

There may be much grief, much suffering connected with his present condition, but it is still worldly sorrow because there are no thoughts about the divine corrective in any of it.

And the longer he continues on that course, the worse it becomes for him.

‘Godly sorrow’, on the other hand, is literally rendered as the ‘sorrow according to God’, or, as some have rendered it, ‘the pain God allowed to guide’.

It is the sorrow that has reference to God - that leads to a repentance because it puts sin in the fierce light of Jesus Christ. It sees its wrong by that light of Christ which is simply God’s divine ‘Corrective’.

It is ‘...even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. It is God’s righteousness: ...He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be the One Who justifies the man who has faith in Jesus.’ (Rom 3: verses 22 and 26) 

For that reason, it is a sorrow that causes no regrets in a person undergoing godly sorrow.

That is the sorrow as God intended sorrow to be. It is sorrow or grief that is intended to do the work of making a change of heart.

And its intent is to lead the heart into a fuller understanding and a fuller knowledge of the work of Christ in His continuing salvation work. 

And only that brings the blessings of the fellowship of the mind of the Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ.

This is what lies at the foundation of true Christianity: it combines faith in the Lord Jesus Christ with repentance - faith in Christ combined with repentance - because of the spotlight of Christ’s Light and Life upon hearts.  

All religions have some very good moral aspects connected with it, outlooks that direct the conscience and motivate one toward virtuous conduct.

But Christ brings the actual transformation and the heightened moral behavior is its visible effect.

How is that so? It is because the power of eternal morals and ethics is being transmitted by Christ Himself so that man can live in that heightened behavior.

That is the guarantee of godly sorrow, the promise, the pledge that Christians hold on to today. The Christian knows there is no power that can compare to it - human or imaginary. This is precisely the reason for Christ’s contemporary existence in the believer in this present day.

Let me just give a case to examine in our own hearts in this regard tonight. The admonition of the Scripture is to ‘love your enemies...pray for those who despitefully use you’ - is it not?

I ask you earnestly, and let us be honest with ourselves with our answer: have we done that in the light of current world affairs? If it were not for the power of Christ under His constraining love, would we really be able to do that in our own power?   

Listen: this is not mere human uprightness measured by outward conformity that we are addressing tonight; this is a transformed life coming out of godly sorrow. This is the unmistakable demonstration that God is working in the lives of many today.

Paul said, ‘all men alike are guilty of sin, are under its condemnation’ and all who are under that would be naturally held in the bondage of worldly sorrow alone.

But it is the ‘godly sorrow’, the spiritual fruit that comes from Christ which is produced in believers by the Holy Spirit that makes the difference. (Gal 5:22)   

For that kind of sorrow, Paul assured the Corinthians, one need never to fear regret, for it is intended only for good.

This is the process that was at work in the prodigal son. His sinful condition brought him to the place of much grief and sorrow.

But that did him no good for it was only worldly sorrow working more death in him.

There came the day when he finally came to himself. That was the day he gave up and lay aside all his foolishness and godly sorrow started its work.

He found he could not rectify his condition by anything he could do. He was completely under God’s mercy for the forgiveness of the sin that lay deep within him.

And, as he saw himself as the scoundrel that he was, he repented with a ‘godly sorrow’ by admitting in Lu 15:18: ‘...I have sinned against heaven...’: ‘...I have sinned against heaven...’.

Yes - there is the godly sorrow - it was not against his own father alone - it was, first, against heaven that he sinned; 
it was a wound that led to a change of heart.

After that, he was a different man and could meet his family in the spirit of honesty and humility.

Now - let us go back to the situation in Corinth.

You see - Paul tried to show these people how godly sorrow in them was a ‘pain that God was allowed to guide’, 
for their sorrow led them to repentance. (v 9)

Conscience was stirred and the wholesome sorrow that works repentance and salvation and life did its job toward a new, deeper understanding of the divine revelation of Christ.

Godly sorrow is for leading a man to that place where there is only Christ to cleave to, where He is the only Help of deliverance and the only Hope of a brighter Light at the end of our dark tunnels.

And how does it come about? We would all like to be able to put the answer into a simple formula - would we not?

We would say: ‘This is step one; this is step two’, and so on.

But, thank God, we cannot do that! We would be just barren imitators of the work of Christ in us and that would lead us on into even more death!

No - this is a question that is answered only by the Holy Spirit. There is no rigid uniformity of experience or character to laying these simple thoughts to the heart. 

And, as unfortuate as it is, there are those who bring much darkness and sorrow upon themselves by agonizing how deep their sorrow ought to go to be pleasing to God.

You may as well forget that approach for only God knows the depth a man needs to go in godly sorrow. Only Christ knows when enough is enough.

Remember, in this regard, it is not the amount of sorrow that will cleanse and lead to sincere repentance. It is only the blood of Christ that can do that and only He is able to apply that to the heart.

We do have the promise that: ‘...if our lives are lived in the Light, as God Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship ...and the blood of Jesus Christ continues to cleanse us from every sin.’ (1 Jn 1:7)  

Only He can apply the cleansing blood and the question we need to ask ourselves is not ‘Have I experienced enough sorrow to please God?’ but rather ‘Has it compelled me to apply the knowledge of Jesus Christ to this situation? Is He the focus of my attention now?’

The effects of that will become visible - believe me!

What were the visible effects in the Corinthians of Paul’s correction?

As we read on, we see that they put themselves in the right after their earlier scheme and conspiracy to discredit Paul’s ministry.

The truth they received from him compelled them to apply the knowledge of Christ that they did have to the situation to discern what the very best application of that knowledge was. And the first thing they did was to repent. Why was that necessary?

‘...that they may be pure and blameless until the day of Jesus Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.’ Phil 1:10-11.
 
In his first letter to Corinth, Paul had said: ‘Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, nor the church (the assembly) of God...’; ‘....nobody should be always seeking his own good, but the good of others...’.

In Christ’s love, things such as one’s influence on others, as well as the effect on one’s self, must be considered.

So the questions they had to ask themselves were: ‘Is this harmful?’ and ‘Is this helpful?’ to the ongoing of the Lord’s agenda upon this earth in His church.

Thankfully, there was the positive response to the correction by receiving it in a spirit of humility and with a willingness to follow God’s will together in the fellowship of the church.

And Paul commended them highly and showed them the proofs of their ‘godly sorrow’. He wrote: ‘See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what affection, what concern, what readiness to see justice done...’. 

How were the effects of their godly sorrow shown?  

First, their response showed up with ‘earnestness’ or with ‘seriousness of purpose’. Just playing ‘church’ was out of the question - they genuinely, sincerely changed.

Second, their response showed up in their willingness to clear themselves from blame: they stood blamelessly together in Christ so as not to be an offense to His Gospel.

Third, their response showed itself in their displeasure and resentment at the scandalous action of those who bad-mouthed Paul. They were horrorified over their own behavior and the effects it was having. They were being led astray by their own disobedience to Christ and it was having a disintegrating effect on the church.

Fourth, their response showed itself in their real affection and love for Paul and in their concern over how he would assess their repentance.

And, lastly, their response showed itself in their readiness for the proper amends to be made. They made the needed adjustments at once. 

Would you not agree that the combination of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ worked the work of Christ among them? Oh - yes it did! 

They rallied together to the true and high calling of God in Christ through God’s Way of ‘godly sorrow’.

What an ‘anchor for life’ it demonstrated to the world for all time and eternity!

Is it any different for we Christians today? Of course not! 

We, too, find this same ‘anchor of life’ in our daily troubles.
The reason so many of us cannot ‘see’ God is because we fail to apply the knowledge of Christ with repentance, with that sorrow that is according to God, that ‘pain that God will guide’.

Are we unsure about Christ? Do we have doubts about all of this? It can be resolved - you know!

Each time, with each application of Christ in ‘godly sorrow’, our anchor for life becomes more sure. 

Applying our faith in Christ with the pain we have in our troubles will do it!

It takes the combination of the two to make sure our salvation. God desires to guide our pain in time of trouble!

Believe it - accept it - act upon it - and find out for yourself the truth of this, His Word!

Respond as those in 1 Chron 5:20 did: ‘...they cried out to God in the battle, and He was entreated of them because they put their trust in Him.’

‘We have this hope, [in Christ] as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure...’. (Heb 6:19)

‘Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.’ (Ps 107:43)

I pray we will open our hearts wide to this truth that is only found in Christ, the Power far greater than ourselves, that Power that the world seeks and so needs! 

Amen!

Let us pray!