Godly Sorrow vs. Worldly Sorrow — 2 Corinthians 7:10 Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody, and once again, we'll pick right up where we left off in our last program, which was in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and now we're ready to go into chapter 7. And again, we always like to welcome our television audience from wherever you are, and as I'll be making mention of in this chapter 7, I'm just like Paul in that regard, and we love to hear from you. We love your letters and your comments, and most of all, we want you to realize that we have no one that underwrites us. We aren't associated with any large group, and we just totally depend on God's people to help us meet our commitments. And again, we like to let people know that we have everything available on video, audio, and the printed page, and also we have begun a quarterly newsletter. So if you'd like to get our newsletter, you drop us a note if you don't already get one, and we'll put you on our mailing list. You will not be solicited for funds, believe me, but we just try to let people know where we are, what we're doing, and we try to have an article every quarter on prophecy. So if you're interested in that, you drop us a note. Okay, let's go again into the book, 2 Corinthians chapter 7, and always remember the background for all these letters of Paul. This is a second letter to the Corinthian church. The first letter was one that really dressed them down on a few things, and they had a lot of problems. And now the second letter, of course, is sort of a, what shall I call it, kind of an ointment to kind of just soothe their feelings, and yet at the same time give us the response from the apostle himself to the things he was hearing coming out of the congregation at Corinth. 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1, "... having therefore these promises..." Now remember what he just said in the last verse, in chapter 6, that if we have the wherewithal, that as a result of God's saving grace, to separate ourselves from the ungodly world around us, then God will be a Father unto us. He will call us sons and daughters, and that's our relationship, of course, with God as members of the Body of Christ, so having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting," or growing in maturity, "...in holiness in the fear of God." Verse 2, "...receive us, we have wronged no one." Now you pick this up again, why does he say something like this? Because this is what he's being accused of. He's been accused of everything. He is accused if he picks up an offering that he's embezzling it. He's accused of bringing a false gospel. He's accused of coming up with something that he alone dreamed up, and on and on the list could go. All right, so he says again, we have wronged no man. We have corrupted no man. We have defrauded no man. Now listen, what does all that imply? This is what he's been accused of. Every one of these things that he is giving a response is that he has been accused of it, and he is simply reiterating it's not true. It's not true. Verse 3, "...and I speak not this to condemn you, for I've said before that you are in our hearts to die and live with you." In other words, the man was so full of love for these Corinthians that in spite of all the bad things that they said about him, he still loved them. Now that isn't always easy, but he did. He still loved them. Verse 4, "...great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation." Now isn't that amazing, that in spite of all of the bad things that they were saying about the man, he still loved them, and on top of that, he bragged about them to his other congregations. He would actually tell the people at Ephesus, Oh, I've got a great bunch of people down there at Corinth. Oh, they've got problems, but I love every one of them. Alright, read on. Verse 5, "...for when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh," that is the physical body, "...had no rest, but we were troubled on every side, and without were fighting some with a fear." Now if you remember several programs back when we were in II Corinthians 5, when Paul was talking about death, remember that? To be absent from the body, present with the Lord. Well now, even though it was all by inspiration, there was also the physical element, because what had he been close to evidently up at Philippi? Physical death. He had been sick in bed, but he had survived, and on top of all of his trials and tribulations of the attacks from outside, from the pagan world, from the Judaizers then, horror of horrors. He was supposed to have met Titus, remember, over at Troas on western Turkey, what used to be Troy. He was supposed to have met Titus, and he came, and it was time to leave, and still no Titus. Now you want to remember, they didn't have communications in those days, and so he had no way of knowing what happened to Titus. He should have been here, and so all of that was just weighing down on the man. Then he ends up sick in Philippi, and so this is what he means now in verse 5, that when he came across from western Turkey, or what was then Asia Minor, and came across the Aegean to Macedonia, he said, "...our flesh," his body, "...had no rest, and we were troubled on every side." Now verse 6, "...nevertheless God, who comforteth those that are cast down." Now, I have to wonder a lot of times, and I'm not saying this to be critical, but you know our society has gotten to the place that whenever there is a tragedy, for example, sometimes a high school will have multiple deaths, maybe a school bus rolled, or something like that. In my land, they've got to bring in psychologists and counselors to help these kids handle their grief. I'm sure that there's something good about that, but why have we come to the place as a society that we have to have that kind of psychological help for a tragedy? Listen, my Bible says that God is the source of our comfort. I don't need a psychologist to come in and tell me how to straighten out my thinking. It's right here in the Book, and this is exactly what Paul is showing us, that in spite of all of his pressures, in spite of all of his grief and his disappointments, yet who carried him through? God did, and He never doubted it for a moment. Verse 6, "...nevertheless God, who comforteth those that are cast down." He knows when we need help. He knows when we're cast down, and He's there. In verse 7, He comforted us by the coming of Titus, who finally found Him. Now He missed Him at Troas, and we don't know how much longer this was afterwards, but it must have been a fair amount of time, because He'd been up at Philippi, He'd been sick in bed, and He has moved on down, and now He finally comes in contact with Titus. Now remember Titus is coming from Corinth. Titus has been down there working amongst these Corinthian believers, while Paul was over here at Ephesus. Now then he says, and not by his coming only. It was great to see Titus. It was wonderful to know that nothing had happened to him, and now he had made contact, and he said, it wasn't just that he came, but by the consolation, wherewith he was comforted in you. Now don't forget who he's writing to. He's writing to the Corinthians, that he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, and your mourning, in other words their attitude of heart, and your desire and your fervent mind toward Paul. Now do you get the picture? Here Titus has been down there at Corinth, Paul is over here at Ephesus, and he's written that letter to the Corinthians, where he had to dress them down severely, and he's heard all of these things coming out of the Corinthian congregation that were against him, and that were condemning him, but now here comes Titus with nothing but good things that the Corinthians were saying about the apostle Paul. Now what does that show you? How human he was. There isn't a person sitting in this room, there isn't a person listening to me on television that doesn't like to be complimented. Isn't that right? When a job is well done, what do we like? A word of compliment. Like I told the station manager here, Gary, I have no problems thanking people who do a good job. I don't care what it is, because I know that everybody likes a word of compliment. I do. Now I don't want a lot of flowery stuff that I think, well, they don't really mean this, but a word of compliment can do more for you than anything you can imagine. That's the way Paul was. Oh, he was tickled to death to see Titus, but what thrilled him more was the report from the Corinthian people that they still loved him, and they still held him in high esteem, and oh, he says, I rejoiced all the more. Verse 8, for though I made you sorry with a letter. Well, what's he talking about? The first Corinthian, when he had to address their problems, and we're going to look at one or two of them in just a moment. But he said, even though I made you sorry with that first letter, I do not repent, or a better word I think would be regret, because it had to be done. Though I did repent or regret, for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, or hath made you regret some of the things that were going on, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, verse 9, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repent. In other words, did the first letter work? You better believe it worked. And well, let's go back to the first Corinthians. Chapter 5 is the one that he's going to be dealing with the most, because he uses the pronoun his. So we know he's talking about a man, an individual. But here in 1 Corinthians 5, along with all the other problems at Corinth, they had divisions. Some were following Christ, they thought. Some were following Apollos. Others said, no, Peter is my man. And still others said, no, Paul brought us the gospel, we'll follow Paul. So they had those divisions, of course. They were taking one another to the pagan courts in lawsuits, and they had all these other problems, but the most major problem that the Corinthian church had was this one right here in chapter 5, and it was gross immorality. Verse 1, 1 Corinthians 5, verse 1, it is reported commonly, now remember this is that letter that he's making reference to in 2 Corinthians. It is reported commonly that there is fornication or immorality among you as such as not so much as named among the Gentiles, those pagans, that the Jews thought were as low as dogs, remember. But he said, you as believers are permitting an act of immorality that even the Gentiles wouldn't think of doing, and that is that one should have his father's wife, a stepmother. And he says in verse 2, you are puffed up, and you have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. In other words, what were the Corinthians doing about this gross immorality? Nothing, nothing. If anything, they were smiling about it, they were making snide remarks, see. And so he says, verily verse 3, I as absent in body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my spirit and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one unto satan for the destruction of the flesh, not the soul, the flesh, in other words physical death, if this guy won't straighten up. And then verse 6, they were just as guilty as he was, why? Because they were glorying, they were gloating over it. And he says, don't you realize that a little leaven permeates the whole loaf? Well, he goes on to say that they had to deal with it, and now when you come back to the second letter, did they? Yeah, they dealt with it, and they brought the man evidently back into fellowship, and his sin was naturally forgiven and cleansed, and the letter had done its work. Reading on, 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 10, For godly sorrow, or a godly regret of something done that's wrong, godly sorrow worketh repentance or a change of mind to salvation not to be ever sorry for. Have you ever talked to a true believer that says he's sorry he became a Christian? Have you ever? No, I never have. Never, never have I ever run into someone who has a genuine salvation that says, I wish I'd have never done it, never. And so here again, to take care of this individual sin situation was the salvation, not the eternal saving of the soul, but the, what shall I call it, the salvation of the time, the situation, it had to be corrected, and it was. But the sorrow of the world worketh death, if there is no saving grace involved. For behold this selfsame thing, dealing again, or referring back to this one individual, for behold this same thing, that you sorrowed, or you looked at this thing after a godly sort, now that's a small g. In other words, they looked at that whole situation as God would look at it. And they realized the sinfulness of the whole situation, and it had to be dealt with. And what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, what way of desire, what zeal, what revenge, and all things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. In other words, when the Corinthian church took this gentleman aside, and laid out God's view of his actions, and the reverberations that it was having in the pagan city of Corinth, the news like that travels in any city, what did it do for the whole congregation? It enhanced every one of them, when they could see that God could move into a situation even as vile as this one, and clear the deck, and make everyone once again in fellowship with the Holy God. It just reverberated throughout the congregation. Verse 12, wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, although certainly that man was involved, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you. Again think about these things. Just mull this over. What's Paul saying? If Paul would have treated this as the congregation was, and just glossed over it, and just thought oh well, you know boys are going to be boys, forget it. What would that have said to the congregation about him? Well he's no better than the rest of us. He looks at it like we do, it must not be all that bad. But when he dealt with it, and he dealt with it severely, and says you deal with this man, and you turn him over to the power of Satan that he can touch the flesh, unless he turns around in repentance and gets right with God. I mean it's just a perfect picture of how you and I have to even today deal with sin. God hates it. God isn't going to wink at sin, even though he has paid for it, and he's forgiven it because of his death on the cross. Yet God is never going to wink at sin. He can't. And so Paul says all of us profited from this situation. He did, the congregation did, and certainly the guilty party did. Verse 13, Therefore because of what had now happened, everything got squared away, therefore we were comforted in your comfort. In other words Paul says, As you feel, I feel. And exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus. Now you can pick up here that Paul had a lot of love and respect for Titus. And he says, For the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by whom? The Corinthians, you all. And so even Titus had his whole spiritual life enhanced because of the reaction of the congregation in Corinth toward this adulterous individual. Verse 15, And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, while he remembereth the obedience of you all, and how with fear and trembling you received him. Now do you see what's going on here? This young man Titus, a new believer, a student of the apostle Paul, and yet when he came into the situation at Corinth, realizing their carnality, realizing how unspiritual many of the members were, and yet because of the letter of the first Corinthians and the change that whole congregation, just because Paul took as we'd say the bull by the horns and he addressed the issues and he said, Now look people, deal with it. And because of it, it not only enhanced Paul's ministry, it enhanced the congregation, and it enhanced this young man Titus. Now verse 16, I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things. Now that's quite a statement to make with a congregation of carnal people recently brought out of paganism, and again this is what I have to stress over and over and over that these Corinthian believers have been pagan, idolaters, immoral, everything that went along with it, and yet here they're brought out by believing the gospel, and they have become new creations in Christ Jesus, and they were a thrill even in their carnality to the apostle Paul and to his helper in the ministry, Titus. Well again, I think you can see so much of this was in the same area that Christ dealt with in his earthly ministry. Now you all know the account. Let's go back and look at it for just a moment, because see all of this is not new. This is in a little different setting of course, but go back to the woman in John's gospel taken in adultery. You might have to help me. I think it's in John, I hope it is, yeah, chapter 8, chapter 8, John's gospel, John's gospel chapter 8. Now this is the Lord Jesus Himself dealing with a woman who was a known adulterer. Verse 1, Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them. Verse 3, and the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. It wasn't hearsay, it wasn't a rumor, it was proof positive. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, and absolutely that's what the law said. They were to be put to death. But what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. Do you picture that? Can't you just picture that? Just as if he wasn't even hearing a word they said. He just totally oblivious to their screams for her death. And so verse 7, when they continued asking him, in other words, they just kept prodding him and prodding him and prodding him. Come on now, tell us, what are we supposed to do with her? Then he lifted up himself, and he said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground, you know I've often wondered, and I've never been able to read from anybody, I wonder what he wrote. Now if somebody knows, you tell me at break time. But I would like to know what he wrote. I'm sure he wasn't doodling. I'm sure that he was putting something in the sand that those religious leaders of Israel saw what he was writing. But whatever, read on. And they who heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even until the last, and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. And when Jesus lifted himself up and saw none but the woman, he said to her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? And she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee, go. But what was the key? Sin no more. Now this does not give license to adultery by no stretch of the imagination. No more than the man back here in I Corinthians. But what does it show us? That God is so willing and ready to forgive, but with forgiveness, what does He expect? A growth in spirituality. Now I think you can pick that up so graphically after King David sinned in adulterous situation with Bathsheba. I think one of the most heart-rending portions of Scripture is David's confession of his sin in Psalms 32, where he just pours out his heart to God, that it wasn't only that he had sinned against himself and Bathsheba, but he had sinned against his God. But his confession is such that, how does he put it? He was in a cold sweat because of his guilt, but once he confessed it and he got right with God, David went on and he continued his walk with his holy God. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time, for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.