2nd Corinthians 7:8-10 | Godly Sorrow vs. Worldly Sorrow
We are there in 2nd Corinthians. On Wednesdays we have been making our way through this book verse by verse, chapter by chapter. We find ourselves in the midst of chapter 7. We’ve already dealt with the first seven verses in this chapter. Tonight we’re going to pick up there in verse number eight. We’re not going to make it too far tonight. We won’t finish the chapter. There is a passage we want to specifically look at tonight of verses 8 through 10. These verses are also often misunderstood. People use them to teach some crazy things.
By way of introduction, I’m going to explain some of these words before we dig in this chapter. 2nd Corinthians 7:8 “8 For though I made you sorry…”. He’s referring to the fact that he wrote a letter to them. He is referring to the Book of 1st Corinthians. He corrected them and rebuked them because they were doing a lot of things wrongly and not correcting them. The main focus was that they were allowing a young man to be part of their Church in open fornication. Paul was correcting them for that and telling them they were wrong and telling them that they needed to deal with that.
He says “For though I made you sorry…”. That word “sorry” is a word that we use a lot. You might say “I’m sorry” when you do something wrong. However, the word “sorry” comes from the word “sorrowful”. It means to have grief or to cause grief. If you are telling someone that you are sorry, what you’re saying to them is that you feel bad about what you did. You feel bad that you caused them grief or sorrow. That’s what the Apostle Paul is saying.
Here he says “8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent,…”. Now the word “repent” is a word that has a lot of controversy with it. A lot of people think about a lot of different things when they see the word “repent”. I want you to understand that the word “repent” simply means “to have a change of mind” or to decide something different. Here he says “I do not repent”. However, notice “8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent:…”. He is saying that he doesn’t change his mind or regret writing the letter but he did regret writing the letter earlier. He is saying that he did feel bad about it but he doesn’t anymore. He says “8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.”. I want you to understand that the word “repent” simply means to change your mind or change the way you think about something. There is an association there of regret. Let’s look at a few verses really quickly.
I want to just show you that the word “repent” means to change your mind. 1st King 8:47 “47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;”. We are talking about the children of Israel. Solomon is referring to the fact that the children of Israel are going into future sin and will find themselves under the judgment of God. In this passage he uses the word “bethink”. That means to “rethink”. If they were to start thinking different, if they were to reconsider. If they were to look at their situation and think “Maybe we should do something differently”.
An example of this is like with the “Prodigal Son”. The Bible says when he was at his lowest state, when he was wanting to feed himself with the husk of the swine, the Bible says that he came to the end of himself. He got to a place where he thought about his situation and thought that it wasn’t a good situation. In 1st Kings 8:47 it says “47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;”. You see the word “bethink” and “repent” are used interchangeably. Why would these words be used in this way? It’s because that is what the word “repent” means.
Now here’s what I want you to understand. Today there is a lot of false teaching and false doctrines out there. People have changed the definition of the word “repent”. Today when many Christians talk about the word “repent”, they simply define the word as “turning from your sins”. Anytime they see this word, they just give it this definition of “turning from sin”. Here is the truth, the word “repent” can be used in regards to someone turning from sin. For example, when you have the children of Israel under the judgment of God or the prodigal son who is living under the judgment of God in their lives, when they rethink and decide to do something different, as a result they are turning from sin. “Repent” can be applied to sin. You can change your mind about sin.
Here’s what we need to understand, we are against “repentance of sins” for salvation. However, we are not against repenting of sins. Every Christian should be repenting of their sins every day. So the word “repent” means to change your mind and that can be applied to sin. The problem though is just giving the word “repent” the definition of turning from sin.
God repented more than anyone else in the Bible. Over and over again in the Old Testament we see that God repented himself. What was God doing? He was changing his mind. There are times that God is going to bring judgment to people but they got right with God or Moses did intercessory prayer or they called out to him and then he bethought himself. He decided to do something different. He changed his mind. He decided not to destroy Nineveh. He decided not to bring judgment upon that land. He decided not to do those things. Did God stop sinning? God is not a sinner. If you say the word “repent” is to turn from sin then that is blasphemous. God is not a sinner. God repented but not of sin.
Here’s the other problem. People add the word “repent” into the context of salvation. When you give this definition of “turning from sins” for repentance in regards to salvation, you are adding works to salvation. People will teach that you have to “repent of your sins” to be saved. That is a works salvation. Go to Mark 1. People will challenge us on this topic and say “You must repent of your sins to be saved.”. We will challenge people back and say “Show me 1 verse that says you must repent of your sins to be saved.”. Then they will take you to a verse like Mark 1:15.
Mark 1:15 “15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”. People will say “See, it says you have to repent of your sins to be saved.”. What I don’t see in this verse it where it says “repent ye of your sins.”. It doesn’t say that. It says “repent ye”. When you understand that the word “repent” means to change your mind, means to be think yourself, then that makes sense. Here you have unbelievers who are being told that they need to decide to stop being an unbeliever and become a believer. They have to go from unbelief to belief. They have to change their mind about what they believe.
When it comes to salvation, what is the role that repentance plays in salvation? Here’s what you need to understand. If repentance plays a role in salvation, it means that you change your mind about believing the wrong thing to believing on Jesus Christ. If an atheist wants to get saved, they have to decide to stop being an atheist and start believing that there is a God and that his name is Jesus Christ. If a Muslim wants to get saved, they’ve got to stop believing in Allah and decide they’re going to repent and bethink themselves and change their mind and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If someone believes in works for salvation and they want to get saved, they’ve got to change their mind or rethink themselves and decide to stop trusting in their works and put their trust on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now when you grow up in our Church and are a young child and your parents preach the gospel to you, those kids aren’t trusting in anything false to get to heaven. They don’t have to repent or rethink themselves. They aren’t trusting in Allah or their works or anything like that. So when it comes to salvation, not everyone has to repent to be saved. However, those that are trusting something false to get to heaven have to repent or change their mind about what they believe. The word “repent” simply has to do with a change of mind. When you see the word “repentance” in the context of salvation, it’s always about going from unbelief to belief or believing the wrong thing to believing the right thing. It’s never about stopping drinking. Should you stop drinking? Absolutely. However, stopping drinking doesn’t get you to heaven.
Matthew 21:32 “32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not:…”. What was the problem with the Pharisees? Why were they on their way to hell? Here’s why. Because “ye believed him not.”. Everyone who goes to hell goes there because they did not believe. Matthew 21:32 “32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”. What’s the difference between the Pharisees and the publicans and harlots in regards to salvation? What did the Pharisees see? They saw that the publicans and harlots believed on Jesus. He says that when you saw that they believed, you should have also repented. The Pharisees should have also rethought or reconsidered.
What is the result of the Pharisees repenting according to this verse? “that ye might believe him.”. It doesn’t say that they should repent so they can stop drinking or stop fornicating or stop having a foul mouth. When it comes to salvation, repenting means to change what you believe. If they would have repented then they would have gone from believing him not to believing on him. The Bible is very clear about the fact that you don’t have to repent of your sins to be saved. If you believe that you have to repent of your sins to be saved then you aren’t saved because you are trusting in your works.
Go to Acts 19:4. This is a verse I like to bring up on this topic because sometimes people say John the Baptist saying “repent ye” and they get confused. In Acts 19 this is Paul but he is speaking about the ministry of John the Baptist. John preached a lot about repentance and people were misunderstanding his teaching on repentance. Paul is going to clear it up for us in Acts 19:4.
Acts 19:4 “4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”. Here is Paul giving commentary on John the Baptist preaching repentance. If you are looking for the best commentary for the word of God, it is the word of God itself. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Paul is telling us what John the Baptist meant when he preached repentance. He says “that they should believe on him…”. Some people teach strange things like John the Baptist being in a different dispensation and teaching a baptismal repentance and a different gospel. Well it sounds like he is preaching the same gospel to me. Paul was asked what it took to be saved and he said “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”. John the Baptist was telling people to repent meaning “they should believe on him”. That’s the same gospel. There’s only one gospel. There’s only one way to salvation. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”. There is no such thing as different salvations and different dispensations. You didn’t get that from the Bible. You got that from commentaries and men’s books but you didn’t get it from the word of God.
Go back to 2nd Corinthians Chapter 7. The first word we defined was “sorry” which means to be sorrowful or to have grief. The second word we defined was “repent” means to change. This is a word we will bring up a lot today but also next week as I give you “7 signs of genuine repentance.”. We will be talking about repenting of sin but not in relation to salvation. Sometimes people wonder whether or not repentance is genuine and Paul gives us 7 things that we can look for to know whether it is genuine or not.
2nd Corinthians 7:9 “9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.”. We’ve already preached through 1st Corinthians so if you were here for that then you should have an understanding of what is being talked about here. Paul is referring to the fact that this Church had a lot of problems and mainly they had a big problem of one guy living in open fornication. Paul wrote them a letter called 1st Corinthians where he rebukes them for their sin. As a result of that rebuke, he made them sorry.
2nd Corinthians 7:9 “9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.”. Paul is saying that he isn’t happy that they were made sorrowful or that he caused them grief. However, he does rejoice that they sorrowed to repentance. What does that word “repent” means? It means they changed their mind about what they were doing. The Bible says that they were glorying about the fact that they had open fornication in the Church. They were boasting. The word “glory” means to boast. Basically they had this attitude that they were the most loving Church in town that accepted anyone and anything. Paul rebukes them for that attitude and teaches them the necessity of Church discipline. The result of the rebuke is that the Church changed their mind about their attitude.
2nd Corinthians 7:9 “9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”. Let’s define this word “salvation” in verse 10. A lot of times when we see the word “salvation” or “saved”, we think of what we would refer to or what we consider spiritual salvation or the salvation of your eternal soul. We think of the fact that you’re not going to go to the 2nd death or lake of fire but will instead you’ll go live with God for eternity. Usually that’s what we think about. Often many verses in the Bible are referring to spiritual salvation. The Bible says “for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”. That is a reference to being saved spiritual. When Paul said “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”, he was referring to spiritual salvation. However, here is what you need to understand. The word “salvation” doesn’t always mean the salvation of the soul. In 2nd Corinthians 7:9, he’s not talking about the fact that they just got saved spiritually.
Matthew 14:28 “28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.”. I love the response of Jesus to Peter. Verse 29 “29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.”. Of course there is a famous story of Jesus walking on water and when they saw him they thought it was a spirit. Here Peter is telling Jesus that if it really is him then call him to come out on the water. Verse 30 “30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.”. Here Peter is seeing the storms and is afraid about sinking and then he asked the Lord “save me”. Is this when Peter got born again? Peter is already spiritually saved. When he asks the Lord to save him here, he is not referring to spiritual salvation. He is asking the Lord to save him from physically dying. Let me show you another passage.
In Matthew 10:22 it also uses the word “saved” and people use this verse to teach heresy since they don’t understand that it isn’t about spiritual salvation. Matthew 10:22 “22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”. I’m here to tell you that today also people will hate you if you are serving God. People will often quote this verse to try to teach that you must endure to the end to get to heaven. They use this to attack eternal security. The problem with that interpretation is that when you look at the context, it’s in reference to tribulation during the endtimes. He is saying that if you endure through the tribulation and don’t get killed by the antichrist then you will be saved physically from death by being raptured.
I want you to understand that when the Bible says “godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death”, this is not talking about being spiritually saved. It is referring to the fact that their Church was messed up and Jesus was probably getting ready to remove their candlestick unless they fixed the problems. They needed to change their mind in order to have their Church saved. The word “salvation” is not always talking about spiritual salvation.
Here’s why I make a big deal about it. My wife and I have literally sat in Church services where the preacher explains those verses and spends the next 40 minutes talking about why you have to be sorry for your sins to be saved. They teach you have to feel bad enough about it that you have sorrow. They said “godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation” and that is the only way to be saved and go to heaven. That is not what the passage is talking about. It’s not saying that you have to repent of your sins to be saved. It’s not even about the salvation of the soul. He’s talking to a Church of saved people. He refers to them as brothers and sisters in Christ. He’s talking about Church discipline. This is a passage that gets highly distorted, misused and misapplies just because it has the words “repentance” and “salvation”. A lot of you have probably heard preaching on this passage that is completely wrong.
In verse 8, the first thing we see is Paul’s rebuke. Paul rebuked these people. Now God uses his word to correct us because remember this is not a soul winning passage. It’s not Paul trying to get these people saved. It’s about Paul trying to save their Church from ruin and destruction. He says “8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.”. Go to 2nd Timothy 3:16.
God uses his word to correct us. 2nd Timothy 3:16 “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”. The Bible says “all scripture” which is why we preach through the books of the Bible that nobody else preaches through. We preach through Ezekiel, Isaiah, Joel. We preach through the tough passages and chapters. Why do we do that? Because we believe that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and all scripture is profitable. It’s profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Doctrine is talking about the right thing to do. Reproof is talking about how to make it right. Correction is talking about how to do it right.
2nd Timothy 3:17 “17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”. The Bible tells us that the word of God is going to help you in every area of your life. It will help you be balance, to grow and to learn. Paul made the Church sorry because of his letter rebuking them. What we need to realize is that sometimes the word of God is going to make you sorrowful. Sometimes it will grieve you or hurt you. It’s going to hurt your feelings. We live in a world where people think the Church is just supposed to make you feel good. Look, I hope coming to our Church makes you feel good. The truth though is that sometimes you’re going to have sorrow when you hear the word of God preached. Sometimes the word of God is preached and it applies to you. It may hurt you. Sometimes it will be reproof. Sometimes it’ll be correction. Sometimes it will be instruction. I want you to notice that God uses his word to correct us.
I also want you to notice in 2nd Corinthians 7:8 that it isn’t just God’s word that corrects us but God uses spiritual leadership to correct us. 2nd Corinthians 7:8 “8 For though I made you sorry with a letter,…”. When Brother Graham or Brother Oliver come up here and read the whole chapter, it’s funny how we don’t get emails about how people are offended by what they read. People don’t say “I know you were reading that about me.”. However, when a man of God stands up with the word of God and preaches and applies it, that is when people get offended. It’s when the word of God is expounded, applied and preached that people get offended. Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”. My job is to get up here and not just read the Bible but apply it. Notice that God uses his word to correct us but he also uses the man of God to correct us.
2nd Corinthians 7:8 “8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.”. As we walk through the book of 2nd Corinthians, there is this theme of ministry. I know you understand this verse intellectually but I don’t know if you really identify emotionally with it. We can read it and understand what Paul is saying. It is another thing to identify with it emotionally because you have gone through this. There have been so many times that I’ve stood up to preach the word of God and I knew that there was something in the Bible that I needed to say, something that I needed to correct, something that I needed to expound upon or apply and I knew it was going to hurt people’s feelings. I’ll be honest with you, there have been many Sunday nights where I will just be in the living room in the morning and ask my wife if she thinks they are coming back. I feel bad about what I have to preach sometimes. I do not repent though I did repent. Why? Because it needed to be corrected. We couldn’t allow that culture into our Church. Sometimes people bring problems here and we can’t allow a little leaven to leaven the whole lump. Sometimes my job is to be vigilant, to watch, to correct, to protect. Sometimes I have to make you sorry. I’m preaching this because this is what 2nd Corinthians is talking about but I warn you to be careful not to shoot the messenger.
God has always used the word of God and the man of God to correct his people. In 2nd Samuel 12:1, this is the chapter after David has committed adultery with Bathsheba. 2nd Samuel 12:1 “And the Lord sent Nathan unto David….”. Nathan is the spiritual leader, the prophet, the preacher, the man of God. “And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.”. I won’t take the time to read all the verses but Nathan starts by giving David a little story, a parable. 2nd Samuel 12:2 “2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:”. He will talk about this rich man who took the 1 little lamb that a poor man had to feed his friends. Nathan expounds this story and asks David what should be done to that man. David is really angry and says that man should die and restore 4-fold. Nathan could have walked away and just said “You’re right”. However, it is Nathan’s job to expound and apply that parable.
2nd Samuel 12:7 “7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man….”. He tells him that he could have picked any single lady and made her his wife. However, he decided to take somebody else’s wife and commit adultery wit her. He tells him that God gave him all of these blessings and delivered him from Saul and said if that wasn’t enough then he would have given him more. David chose to take something that didn’t belong to him. Nathan preached the sermon and applied it to David. You say why would Nathan do that? Because God uses the word of God and God uses the man of God to rebuke and to correct and to instruct and to explain and to apply. Let me just say this. When a man of God confronts you, you should know that they do it because they love you.
2nd Corinthians 7:12 “12 Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you.”. Paul says that the reason why he wrote unto them wasn’t necessarily because of the guy that was fornicating or the person that was being hurt in the fornication. He said that he did it because he cared about them and loved them.
Proverbs 27:6 “6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”. You should just know that if I ever step on your toes or offend you, that means that you have a Pastor who loves you and loves God. I’ll be honest with you. When I’m preaching, I can see people’s faces. God tells the prophets to not be afraid of their faces when preaching. Why? Because you can tell when people don’t like what you are saying. It would be a lot easier for me to just preach things that are encouraging and that are emotional and they make you feel good and to make you feel loved and just to not preach and not apply specific things to your life. Do you realize our Church over the years has lost so many people because of the preaching of the word of God, because of our stance on certain doctrines and certain things? It’d be a lot easier for me to just never talk about those things and then people would stay and the Church would be a lot bigger than it is now.
Why don’t I do that? Because I love God. Because I want to preach the word of God. What you need from time to time is to be sorrowful. If I have to stay up on a Sunday night wondering if a person will ever come back after what I preached, I feel bad. I regret it. I’m like Paul just saying “I know they needed to hear it.”. Why do I do that? Because like Paul said, that our care of you in the sight of God might appear.
Go back to 2nd Corinthians 7. I want you to see their response. We see Paul’s rebuke but now look at their response. 2nd Corinthians 7:9 “9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance:”. He tells them that he know he made them feel bad but he is glad that they felt bad. Why? Because it caused them to sorrow to repentance. Obviously when I get up to preach and apply the word of God, I’m applying it and preaching to the people that are here. Why would people think that they would show up to Church and never have the Pastor preach about them? People say “I think he was preaching about me.”. Of course I’m preaching about the people that are here. That is who I’m preaching to. I’m preaching to all of you. I hope sometimes the preaching does upset you so you will change.
2nd Corinthians 7:9 “9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”. Here’s a question I have for you. What does your sorrow produce? I know you feel bad because I preached about whatever you’re into but does it ever cause you to change and do something about it. Let me ask you, is there anybody is this world that can rebuke you and you receive it well? Because the Bible teaches that only a fool can’t be rebuked. We should all be willing to be rebuke and corrected. People hear that and they agree when it is just kept as a generality. However, when the preaching really hits close to him then people often get offended. Are you willing to receive rebuke from anyone? “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.”.
2nd Corinthians 7:9 “9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.”. Notice that phrase at the end “that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.”. Paul is addressing 2 different types of sorrow. There is worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. Godly sorrow hurts you but only for a little bit because then it helps you. You realize the changes you need to make and what you need to stop doing. That godly sorrows worketh repentance to salvation. What does worldly sorrow do? It only hurts but never helps. It produces no change. 2nd Corinthians 7:10 “10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”. Godly sorrow will help you but worldly sorrow only hurts you. We will delve into that more next week. Let me just give you a couple of Old Testament examples and we will finish up.
Sometimes people are really sorry when they get caught in sin or they get called out for sin. However, there are two different types of sorrows. They’re not both the same. How do we know if we have worldly or godly sorrow? How do we know if your kids have worldly or godly sorrow? What is the difference? Worldly sorrow is grief or hurt or pain because you got caught and you don’t like the consequences. Godly sorrow is hurt, grief, pain over the sin and the effect of the sin. Let me just give you an example of this.
In 1st Samuel 15 we have the story of Saul. Remember Saul was told by God that he was supposed to go and utterly destroy the Amalekites. Nothing was supposed to live and Saul didn’t do that. I won’t take the time to read the whole passage but when Samuel shows up, Samuel does what the man of God is supposed to do. He rebukes him. Saul claims he fulfilled the word of God. Samuel asks why he still hears some of their flocks and asks why they didn’t fulfill the word of God. What does Saul immediately do? He comes in human nature like Adam did in the Garden of Eden. He begins to blame other people. He says that the people wanted to sacrifice to God. He does this manipulation things as if they are blaming Samuel or as if their love for God is what made them sacrifice to God. He doesn’t take responsibility and admit it is his fault. When Adam was rebuked, he blamed his wife. This is usually what husbands do when there are problems in their marriage. They don’t take responsibility but say it is their wife’s fault. When people give you a bunch of excuses for why they did what they did then that is a sign of worldly sorrow. They don’t like the consequences.
Samuel responds “22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”. Notice verse 24 “24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.”.
Saul said he sinned which is good. However, I want you to notice that it all falls apart as he keeps going. Notice the excuses in the rest of verse 24. In verse 25 Saul shows his true motives. 1st Samuel 15:25 “25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.”. Saul is only concerned about his image. He’s not really sorry that he transgressed the commandment of God. He doesn’t want Samuel to be mad at him. Verse 26 “26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.”. Samuel could tell that Saul’s sorrow was not genuine but was simply worldly sorrow. He was only concerned with the consequences and his image and he is blaming other people.
Let me give you an example of godly sorrow in Psalm 51. This is David’s response after being rebuked by Nathan for his sin in 2nd Samuel 12. Notice how David does not blame other people for his sin. Psalm 51:3 “3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.”. Psalm 51:1-2 “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”. David also has sin like Saul but the difference is that David has godly sorrow. He realizes that he has sinned against God and it has hurt his relationship with God. Psalm 51:4 “4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.”.
I want you to notice the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow is blaming others. People with worldly sorrow will say they are sorry but it isn’t genuine. David is not concerned with his image or ego. He admits his sin and realizes it has affected his relationship with God. He’s grieved over that and for that reason David keeps the kingdom while Saul’s kingdom is taken away. David’s sin was way worse than Saul’s sin. However, Saul had his kingdom taken from him because he didn’t repent. He only had worldly sorrow. David actually got right with God. God forgave David and kept David on the throne and allowed him to be part of the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the son of David, a descendant of David.
Next week we will pick up right where we left off. We will look at 7 characteristics of someone with godly sorrow that has true and genuine repentance that you’ll see them do in their lives. The Apostle Paul is going to spell those out for us and we’ll look at that next time.
Let’s pray.