(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

The part that I wanted to focus on is from verses 8 through 11, and I want to preach a sermon this morning entitled, Godly Sorrow Versus the Sorrow of the World. What's the difference between having godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world? All throughout the Bible, sorrow is mentioned many times in a positive way and other times in a very negative way. It's because there are two different kinds of sorrow that we can have in our lives. There's godly sorrow and then there's the sorrow of the world. Now look at verse number 8. The Bible reads, for though I made you sorry with a letter, which obviously sorry is derived from the word sorrow, though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent. For I perceive that the same epistle had made you sorry though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance. For you were made sorry after a godly manner that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this self same thing, that you sorrowed after a godly sort. And if he talks about sorrowing after a godly sort, the implication is that there is a wrong way to sorrow, the sorrow of the world. He says you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what vehement desire, yea what zeal, yea what revenge. In all things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. What is the difference between godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world? Well first of all, before we get into all the other scriptures, let me just explain to you what's going on in this passage. Let's get the context. A lot of people will misinterpret this passage because they don't understand the context. The context, you don't have to turn there, but the context is actually found in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, the apostle Paul had confronted them about sin that was commonly reported and commonly known to be going on in their church. There was a guy in the church who was living in fornication and the Bible says it was fornication such as was not even heard of among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. This guy's fornicating with his, now his father is probably already dead and he's fornicating with, because he used the word fornication not adultery, he's fornicating with his father's wife. He's not married to her. He's living in sin with her. He's going to bed with her, whatever. Now this sin was commonly known and nobody was doing anything about it and the apostle Paul explains a little leaven leavens the whole lump and you need to put away from among yourselves that wicked person. He said, you know, you are not supposed to company with anyone who is called a brother who's a fornicator. He said, look, the world is going to commit fornication, but when Christians are committing fornication or being drunk, etc., we should not even eat with those people. We should put away from ourselves that wicked person. That was the situation that was dealt with in 1 Corinthians 5. So when we get to 2 Corinthians chapter number 7 and he talks about making them sorry with his letter, he's talking about the fact that he used some really strong language there telling them to get right with God. Now go back, if you would, to 2 Corinthians chapter 2, 2 Corinthians chapter 2. We're getting the context of chapter 7. First there was that incident in 1 Corinthians 5 where we had this guy who's committing a major sin, he's living in fornication, and they're told to throw this guy out of the church and they said to pray that basically he would be delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. And you can get that all in 1 Corinthians 5. But look at 2 Corinthians 2, 6. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many, so that contrary wise you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with sorrow, wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. So what we get from this book of 2 Corinthians is that the guy had been thrown out in 1 Corinthians 5, now the guy has gotten right with God. So now Paul is telling them, now that he's right with God, his punishment has been inflicted, he's been humiliated and thrown out of the church, now you ought to forgive him and reach out to this guy and love this guy and restore him and get him back in trouble because you don't want him to be swallowed up of over much sorrow. Confirm your love toward him. And by the way, that's why we should never feel that it's unloving when we have to throw someone out of the church. People say, oh, well, you just don't love people if you're throwing out people in fornication. No, actually, love is that we walk after his commandments and sometimes being thrown out of the church is exactly the wakeup call that somebody needs in order to get right with God. And it's not that we just hate that person or that we just want them to die. No, we're throwing them out because the Bible commands us to throw them out and we're hoping that they will be able to be restored. We're hoping that they will get things right, repent and be restored unto fellowship once they get the fornication or the drunkenness out of the church the case may be. It's a wakeup call for people to be cast out of the church. So with that in mind, in 2 Corinthians 7 verse 8, he says, though I made you sorry with a letter, he's talking about 1 Corinthians. He says, though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent. Now what does it mean to repent? Repent means to basically change your mind about something, regret that you did something, you know, basically what he's saying, I do not repent, he's saying, I don't feel bad that I wrote you that letter, I'm glad I wrote you the letter. And when he says I do not repent, he's saying if I had it to do over again, I'd do the same thing. But watch this, he says, I do not repent, though I did repent. So what he's saying is when he first wrote the letter, he put it in the mail, and he thought to himself, oh, maybe I shouldn't have written that letter because it was so harsh. But he says, though I did repent, for I perceive that the same epistle had made you sorry, though it were but for a season. So he did not want them to just sorrow for the sake of sorrowing. He says in verse 9, now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, that doesn't give me joy just to make you sad, but he says, but that you sorrowed to repentance. So he's saying, you know, I'm glad I wrote the letter, even though I felt bad about it after sending it to you, I'm glad I wrote it because it caused you to get things right and to fix things. And he says, you know, I'm glad that you sorrowed to repentance, for you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death, for behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sorrow. Now I want to first of all point out to you, this letter is not being written to the guy who committed the sin. Notice that everything's plural here, ye, you, your. It's written unto the church at Corinth. That's why it talks about the guy in the third person in chapter two saying, hey, you guys need to forgive him. So when he talks about the godly sorrowing unto repentance, he's not talking about the fornicator. He's talking about the fact that the church repented, the leaders of the church especially repented from letting fornication go rampant to fixing it. So the repentance in this chapter was the leadership of the church of Corinth, the bishops, the deacons saying we're going to throw this guy out because we can't allow fornication in the church. Whereas previously they had just been allowing it to happen. Does everybody understand the context? That was the repentance. They were sorry and they changed their mind about the fact that, you know, we're not going to let this go on. We're going to change our course of action here where we're going to put away from among ourselves this wicked person. Now a lot of people will point to verse 10 and they'll try to make this a verse about going to heaven or hell because it says godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of. It's talking about the church being saved from destruction. It's not talking about any individual soul being saved from hell. All throughout the Bible when you see the word saved, you can't always just assume that it's talking about heaven and hell. For example, when Peter's drowning in the water, he said, Lord, save me. Is he saying, Lord, I know I'm a sinner. I don't want to go to hell. No, he's saying save me like pull me out of the water because I'm drowning. And here the salvation is not the salvation of the soul but the salvation of their church that's being destroyed and the church was saved. Just like when the Bible talks about women being saved in childbearing. It's not saying, hey, if you want to get to heaven, you better have children. You know, so a lot of times people will misunderstand the word saved. What this is talking about is the elders of the church saving the church by actually repenting of their anything goes attitude that they had in the past. Now let's apply this to our lives though. We in our lives need to make sure that when we sorrow for our sins, when we're corrected or rebuked or even just when our own heart smites us that we've committed sin, we need to make sure that we sorrow after a godly sort and that we have godly sorrow and not the sorrow of the world. See there are a lot of sorrowful people today in the world but that sorrow is not usually a godly sorrow. Now go to Luke chapter number 22, Luke chapter number 22. Now first of all, while you're turning to Luke 22, let me point out that the godly sorrow leads to repentance. Basically godly sorrow leads to somebody actually changing something, okay. Now in Ecclesiastes, you don't have to turn there but in Ecclesiastes 7, 2, it says it is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter for by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better. So the Bible is not saying there that sorrow is good just for the sake of being sorrowful just because it's great to be sad. No, he says the reason that sorrow is better than laughter is because by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better. See, godly sorrow leads to repentance. Godly sorrow causes your heart to be made better. That's why it's something that's good. Whereas the sorrow of the world doesn't lead to any of that. The sorrow of the world just leads unto death. Now why is it called the sorrow of the world? Because it's the way most of the world sorrows. That tells us that most sad people today, most sorrowing people today are not sorrowing after a godly sword, they're sorrowing after a worldly sword and I'm going to explain what that means. But if you look down at your Bible there in Luke 22, I want to show you the first example of the sorrow of the world. Basically there are three attributes that I found in the Bible of the sorrow of the world in order to differentiate it from godly sorrow. Number one is that the sorrow of the world is a sorrow that causes you to just give up and quit trying and I'm going to explain what that means. The sorrow of the world, it doesn't lead you to repent and do right. The sorrow of the world leads you to just give up and quit trying. Now this is very well illustrated in Peter's life. The apostle Peter denies Jesus Christ in Luke 22 which is a major sin. Look at verse 54, then they took him, Jesus, and let him and brought him into the high priest's house and Peter followed afar off and when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set down together, Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld them as he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said, this man was also with him. And he denied him saying, woman, I know I'm not. And after a little while another saw him and said, so of them. And Peter said, man, I am not. And about the space of one hour after, another confidently affirmed saying, of a truth this fellow also was with him for he's a Galilean. And Peter said, man, I know now what thou sayest. And immediately while he yet spake the cock crew, and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Watch the sorrow in verse 62. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Now let me ask you something. Did Peter have a lack of sorrow for his sin? He had sorrow. He was sorry. No question about the fact that he sorrowed here because he not only went out and wept, he went out and wept bitterly. Go to John 21, John chapter 21 verse 1. Let's see if Peter's sorrow was a godly sorrow that led to repentance or whether it was the sorrow of the world that works death. Look at John chapter 21 verse 1. The Bible says after these things, this is of course after Jesus has already died and been buried and risen again. After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. And on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathanael of Cana and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two other of his disciples, Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately and that night they caught nothing. You say what's the big deal? A couple of guys going fishing. Here's the big deal. Jesus had specifically told Peter not to do any more fishing. Peter had been a fisherman before the Lord called him to be an apostle. And Jesus from henceforth, meaning from here on out, thou shalt catch men. And he forsook the net. He forsook the ship. He forsook his co-workers and he went and followed Jesus. And he even brought it up to Jesus later in a bragging way. Lord, we've forsaken all and followed thee. What are we going to get for a reward? But here we see Peter going back to the old life, going back to his old job, giving up on preaching, giving up on soul winning, giving a disciple of the Lord and just saying, you know what? I'm just going to go back to what I used to do. I'm just going to go back to fishing. And notice this. He takes a bunch of people with him. And by the way, when you quit church and when you quit on God and quit soil, you're going to always take people with you. He says, I go fishing and then a bunch of other people go with him. It says they caught nothing. Verse four, but when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew that it was Jesus, knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, children, have ye any meat? They answered him, no. And he said unto them, cast the net on the right side of the ship and ye shall find. They cast therefore and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore the disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, it is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girded his fisher's coat unto him for he was naked and he cast himself into the sea. So Peter swims to shore, the rest of the boat comes to shore, they sit down with Jesus, Jesus has a fire going, they're cooking the fish. Verse 12, Jesus saith unto them, come and dine. And none of the disciples durst, durst means they did not dare. They durst not, where am I here? They durst ask him, they durst not ask him who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord. and giveth them and fish likewise. Verse 14, this is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after that he was risen from the dead. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me. He saith unto him, yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me. Look at the next words. Peter was grieved. So here we see sorrow again, don't we? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he saith unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus said unto him, feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest. When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me. And that's exactly what Jesus had originally said unto him when he told him to quit fishing. He said, follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. And here he tells him again, follow me. And of course we know that this time Peter follows him. Peter does the right thing. And Peter does a great preacher and a great apostle and doing great things for God. So what we saw in Luke 22, we saw the sorrow of the world. We saw a guy who had committed sin go out and weep bitterly, but that weeping of, you know what, I've done wrong, I'm sorry, and I'm going to fix it. I'm going to make things right. I'm going to pick myself up, and I'm going to make it up to God by being the best servant of God I can be. No, instead it's just, well, I guess I'm a loser. I guess I quit. Just throwing up my hands and quitting. Whereas in this chapter we see him having godly sorrow because he actually makes a change. So he has repentance here. He actually is going to follow Christ now, and he's not going to go back to the old way of life. Now here are some examples of this sorrow of the world, which I would classify as number one, a sorrow that just gives up and quits trying. For example, let's say a girl who commits fornication, right? So now she's no longer a virgin, and then basically she'll just say, well, you know what, I've blown it now, so I'm just going to go sleep around with everybody now. There are girls out there who do that. That's the mentality of just, oh, I'm not a virgin anymore. I guess I've blown that now. Now I'm just going to go out and just, you know, and feel bad. They feel bad about it. They feel sorrow and sorry, but instead of getting it right, instead of repentance, it's an attitude that just says, oh, well, I guess I'm not a virgin now. I might as well just go out and just be a whore. And that happens all the time, and it's the sorrow of the world, my friend. See, a godly sorrow from a girl who had lost her virginity and committed that wicked sin of fornication would be to be sorry that she had done so and to have repentance and say, you know what, I'm not going to do that anymore. I've done wrong, but I'm going to confess and forsake my sins, and I'm going to live a life now that is pure from here on out and not just, and look, you can see this mentality in a lot of people's minds. You know, this is kind of a silly example, maybe a carnal example, but think about when people go on a diet, right, and they've got this really strict diet of, oh, man, I'm on this diet and everything, and then what do they do? They accidentally eat the wrong thing and blow their diet. So then it's like, well, I already blew my diet, you know, and then they get out a half gallon of ice cream, plop down in front of the TV, and just use the scooper as their utensil, you know, and just eat that ice cream. Why? Because they give up. Because they just feel like, I failed. I'm a loser, you know. I guess it's just not going to work out, so I might as well just go off the cliff because, you know, if I'm going to fail, I might as well fail big, and you know what? It's a foolish mentality, and that kind of sorrow for your sin is the wrong kind of sorrow, and it's going to lead to death, okay, just, but, you know, I'm not just talking about the heart disease and the diabetes and the, but I'm just saying, you know, the sorrow of the world is leading to death. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. So when you get this attitude because you sin, where you're going to give up, people get this attitude. You see it in the Bible, where people just, they sin, and then they just give up. Oh, that's it. I'm a failure. I'm a loser. No, the Bible says, a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again, and, you know, when we commit sin, even a big sin like denying the Lord Jesus Christ publicly, I mean, that's a big sin, or if we commit a sin like fornication, a big sin, go out and get drunk, you know, you don't just say, oh, well, I fell off the wagon, I messed up, I might as well just quit. I might as well just quit trying. You know what? There's nothing noble about that sorrow. That sorrow is not making your heart any better. That sorrow is going to lead to death because that's the sorrow of the world. The right sorrow says, I'm sorry, God, I'm sorry that I sinned, I want to get it right because I'm sorry about the people that I've hurt, and I'm sorry about sinning against the Lord, and I'm sorry about what I've done, and I'm going to fix it. I'm going to change. That's the right kind of sorrow. When we're sorry and we're going to change, not just sorry, you know, so yeah, poor me, and what is it? It's just a pity party. A lot of people, they commit sin and then they have a pity party for themselves. You know, they're late to, it's the person who's late to work and then they're mad at the boss because they were late to work. You know, everybody just has a pity party. I know, I'm such a loser, I'm such a failure, no. You know, get out of the pity party and have godly sorrow for your sin and fix it and do right. But secondly, not only is the sorrow of the world a sorrow that gives up and quits trying, the sorrow of the world is also a sorrow that basically just assumes that God will not forgive us, that God won't show us mercy, and that God is done with us. That's the sorrow of the world. It just assumes that God is through with us. Now go to 2 Samuel chapter 12 and I'm going to show you two stories in the Bible that both use this phrase, you know, who can tell whether God will be gracious? Who can tell if God will turn and repent? And I think this second point will make sense to you once we see these two Bible stories. It'll really be illustrated unto you. What I mean by the fact that the sorrow of the world assumes that God won't forgive or show mercy. Look if you would at 2 Samuel chapter 12, 21, and just to quickly give you the idea of what this story is about. This is where David committed an adultery. Is that a pretty big sin, committing adultery with Bathsheba and then having her husband Uriah killed? These are major sins of adultery and murder. And he has repented of these things and he's sorry for these things and his sorrow was a godly sorrow where he truly was sorry and is going to do right from now on. Now, in verse 21, well before we get to that let me just explain to you that Nathan the prophet had confronted him and rebuked him and he had had sorrow and he was sorry and he realized he'd done wrong. But Nathan told him, you know, the child that is the product of this adultery, that child's going to die. That had been told to him by Nathan the prophet, because you've committed this sin, the child will die. He didn't say it might die, he said the child will die. But look at verse 21, this is after David's been praying and fasting and after seven days the child died. Verse 21, then said his servants unto him, what thing is this that thou hast done? Thou didst fast and weep for the child while it was alive. But when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. And he said, while the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he's dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. So David, while the child was still alive, is praying and begging God to be merciful. He's fasting and he's asking God not to kill his child. But the child ends up dying. When the child dies, he rises up, he eats bread, he washes himself, and then he goes and worships the Lord. And he has a good attitude toward the Lord and realizes that it's not God's fault, it's his fault. And he's going to do right now. But notice the phrase in verse 22, who can tell whether God will be gracious? See he believed that there was a chance that God would let his child live. He didn't just assume that for sure I'm doomed no matter what. Because a lot of people, listen to me, they get this attitude, well I'm doomed no matter what, so why try? I'm doomed no matter what, so, you know, why even get right with God if he can't fix things for him anyway? But go to Jonah chapter 3. Jonah chapter 3 uses the exact same phrase of who can tell. Now in David's case, was God merciful? In that case, no, God did allow his child to die. But in Jonah, we have the same type of a judgment being pronounced, they say who can tell, and God ends up being merciful and not destroying them, okay? And the point of what I'm showing you here is that you don't know what God's going to do. You don't know how harshly God's going to judge you. You don't know whether God's going to show mercy or not. So when you've committed sin, and you don't get this doom and gloom, God's not going to be merciful, God's not going to forgive me, everything's over, because then that leads to point one of just quit and don't even try. I mean think about this. In Jonah, verse 1 of chapter 3, it says, The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey, and Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Now look, did he say, unless you guys get right with God? Did he say there might be a way out, there might be a way to fix it? Here's the message. Forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, period. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and they went out and said, You know what, guys, we got forty days left. Let's party hardy. I mean we got forty days. Let's eat, drink, and be merry, because tomorrow we die. I mean these are going to be the best forty days, and we're going to run up the credit cards, and we're going to party, and we're going to have fun, and we're going to commit every sin in the book, because God's going to destroy us anyway. Look, if we're already being destroyed, God's already going to kill us all, why don't we just go out and just max out all the sin and just go nuts with it? Now look, isn't that an attitude that some people could have? There are people who have that mentality. You know, that's the sorrow of the world, where they hear, hey, God's going to judge you, God's going to destroy you, oh no, we're going to be destroyed, oh well, you know, might as well just throw in the towel, let's party, forty days. But look what they did. The people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast. That's the same thing David did, right? He fasted, proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes, and he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God, yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands, who can tell, exact phrase that David used, who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not. And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not. So here God says, hey, I'm going to destroy you. Your city is going to be overthrown in 40 days. And when they repented, what did he do? He turned from his wrath. He did not destroy them. Now, of course, this made Jonah upset because Jonah preached that they're going to be destroyed. He wants to see him destroyed. And then even after he sees that God has turned away from his wrath, he goes and sets up a little booth and he says, I'm going to sit here and watch and I'm not leaving until the city is destroyed, God, because that's what he told me to preach. I want to see it happen. Why? He didn't love the people, you know, so he just, he didn't even want to go there in the first place. And, you know, Jonah had a bad attitude. But the point that I want to make with this chapter is that you don't know if you're doomed. Who can tell? Just remember that phrase in your mind. Who can tell? We don't know what God's going to do. We don't know if God's going to be merciful. We don't know if God's going to pour out his wrath. We need to just repent and get right with him and sorrow unto repentance and be sorry when we do wrong and not sit there and think to ourselves, oh, too late, doomed, quit, stop trying, fail, and just give up. Just get out of church. What's the use? What's the point? God's going to punish me anyway. God's not going to bless me anyway. Look, there are people who are here in this auditorium right now who've made serious mistakes in their life, committed major sins in their life, and yet here they are serving God, loving God, being used by God, and being blessed by God. They're being blessed by God today. Why? Because when they realized that they'd committed sin, they had godly sorrow and not the sorrow of the world. The self-pitying, I'm doomed, God doesn't care, God doesn't love me. And look, even in David's case where the child died, God gave him another child with that woman, and God forgave, and God allowed him to still be used in the future going forward. We're not always going to escape the consequences of our actions, of course. You say, well, why was God more merciful to Nineveh than he was merciful to David? Well, because unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required. David should have known better. David had been walking with God since he was a kid. David knew the word of God well. Did the Ninevites know the word of God that well? So God was more merciful with Nineveh than he was with David. But both of them had a future. Both of them received mercy from God, just not the same type of mercy, but they both were able to pick it up and do better and live right and go forward. Now go to 1 Kings chapter 21. We don't know if God is going to cloud up and rain on us or be merciful or somewhere in between. That should not determine whether or not we make changes in our life. We just need to realize that a real godly sorrow for our sin is a sorrow that wants to change. What did the Bible say? Godly sorrow worketh repentance. So you say, well, how do I know if my sorrow is a godly sorrow? Well, if it works repentance, it's a godly sorrow. If it's a sorrow that says, well, I quit, I'm done trying, it's the sorrow of the world. If it's a sorrow that says, well, God's not going to forgive me anyway. God's done with me. God's not going to show mercy. You know what? Who can tell? You don't know that. You don't know whether that's really true. Now look, we're talking about God this morning, but this can even go for other relationships in our life and other authority figures in our life. This could be the child who basically realizes that his parents have busted him and his parents have confronted him with wrongdoing. He can go have a pity party and cry and, you know, it's like, why are you crying? You know, because I disobeyed, because I was so bad, you know, I made your life miserable. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you so sad. Right? I mean, kids also want to do that, right? And then get up the next morning and do all the same stuff to torment you. Why? Because it's not a godly sorrow. It's a self-pitying sorrow. Look, all kinds of people are wallowing in self-pity today. Look, how many people today are on antidepressants in America today? Does anybody know the figures on it? It's got to be some crazy high percentage of people. It's got to be millions and millions. Look, there are millions of people on antidepressants. Are they all just sorrowing after a godly sort? God, I'm so sad that I've done wrong, God. How can I do right, Lord? I want to do right by you. I want to repent. I want to fix things. No, you know and I know that 99% of these people who are depressed and sad and sorrowing, it's the sorrow of the world and it's leading to death. And it's not making a change in their life. It's not causing them to get right with God or fix things. It's just, oh, poor me, oh, I'm such a loser, oh, I could never succeed. Instead of fixing it, people just feel sorry for themselves. And that's not godly sorrow, my friend. Godly sorrow says, you know what, I can fix it. Godly sorrow says, God's not through with me. God's going to forgive me. God might be merciful to me. It's not over till it's over. And even if God does punish me, it doesn't mean that I won't have other blessings later. David was blessed with other children, okay? Look at 1 Kings 21. Here's a great illustration of the fact that who can tell whether God's going to be merciful or not? Verse 20 says, Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, oh, mine enemy? He answered, I have found you, and I have sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, for the provocation, wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin, and of Jezebel also spake The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city, the dogs shall eat, and him that dieth in the field, so the fowls of the air eat. Now look, is Elijah giving Ahab a lot of hope in this message? Hey, here's how you fix it, Ahab. Here's how you get it right, buddy. And everything will be fine. Is he giving him any hope? He's like, no, you're going to die. Your wife's going to die. She's going to be eaten by dogs. All your kids are going to die and be left in an open field to rot. Bye. I mean, that's the message. There's no, I mean, but look at Ahab's reaction, though. And first, before we get into his reaction, well, actually, let's get to the reaction. Verse 27, it says, it came to pass when Ahab heard those words, he said, well, you know what, I'm just going to go worship Satan then, because obviously there's no hope for me. I'm doomed anyway. No, look what he says. It came to pass when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring this evil in his days, but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house. So what we see is that Ahab humbling himself and getting right with God, it didn't remove all the consequences. And those consequences are still coming. But at least he gets a little bit of mercy from the Lord that it's not going to happen in his days, and that he could still be used by God going forward. And by the way, just to show you how bad he was, it says in verse 25, there was none like unto Ahab which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. He did very abominably in following idols according to all things as did the Amorites. But was he a pretty bad guy? Real bad guy. And yet when this guy humbled himself and fasted and prayed, did he find mercy from the Lord? So that should tell you that you should never get this I'm doomed, I give up, I quit attitude, because you don't know. And a lot of kids will get an attitude of just, well, I just can't win with my parents. I just can't win with my parents, and so I'm just not even going to try anymore. You know what? That is a wicked sorrow of the world. That's not godly sorrow. You know, or wives who would just say, well, I'm tired of trying to please my husband. He just can't be pleased. That's the sorrow of the world. It's not a godly sorrow. A godly sorrow says there's hope. A godly sorrow believes in the mercy of God, and a godly sorrow works repentance and says, you know what? I'm going to change. I'm sorry, so I'm going to change. Not I'm sorry and wah, okay? Now thirdly this, the sorrow of the world is a feeling sorry for yourself instead of feeling sorry about grieving the Lord and hurting the people around you, okay? That's a big difference between the godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world. Go if you would to 1 Samuel 15, because I think one of the people that best illustrates this is King Saul. Now King Saul made a lot of mistakes, and he kept being sorry for his mistakes over and over again. Saul makes mistakes, and he's sorry. Doesn't help him. His life gets worse and worse and worse until he ends up committing suicide, okay? David on the other hand, he makes mistakes, he's sorry, and things go well for him, and he fixes it. So what's the difference between David's sorrow and Saul's sorrow? Simple. David's sorrow is godly sorrow, Saul's sorrow is the sorrow of the world, and we can best see this illustrated in Saul's life as a sorrow that's sorry for yourself, not about grieving the Lord or the people that you're hurting. And by the way, whenever you sin, you're always hurting other people. It's never just you that's being hurt. You're always hurting someone else. Look if you would at 1 Samuel 15, 30. This is one of the early sins in Saul's life, the second big sin. 15 says, 1 Samuel, then he said, I've sinned, yet honor me now, I pray thee before the elders of my people and before Israel, and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord thy God. Now what's wrong with that sentence? I've sinned, but can you make sure that I don't look bad in front of people? Can you honor me now in front of the people? I mean do you see that? Okay fine, I've sinned, but honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel. Go to 1 Samuel 22 verse 8. So look, what's he really sorry about? Is he really sorry that he hurt the Lord or that he hurt the people around him? He's sorry about the fact that people are going to look down on him or that he feels bad for himself basically. Now I'm losing honor here. I need to be honored before the people here. Let's fix this. Look at 1 Samuel 22 verse 8 and let's see if anybody can tell me if Saul has godly sorrow or the sorrow of the world. It says in verse 8 that all of you have conspired against me. This is Saul talking. And there is none that showeth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse and there's none of you that's sorry for me. You know, nobody feels bad for me, nobody's sorry for me. I mean isn't this a guy who's just feeling sorry for himself even publicly? Okay go to 1 Samuel chapter 24 verse 16. 1 Samuel 24 16, I mean do you see a pattern with this guy? It says in verse 16 it came to pass when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul that Saul said is this thy voice my son David and Saul lifted up his voice and wept. So let me ask you this. In verse 16 does Saul have sorrow? He's weeping. He's crying. He definitely has legitimate sorrow. Now what's going on here? This is where he's trying to hunt David and kill David. And David rebukes him and explains to him why he's wrong and he's sorry and he's crying. He's weeping. And he said to David, thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil. And thou hast showed this day that thou hast dealt well with me for as much as when the Lord had delivered me into thine hand thou killest me not. Because he's hunting David but David had the chance to kill him and David shows him mercy and lets him go and says look I could have killed you. He's talking to him. He's yelling from far away from a safe point. I could have killed you and I let you go. Saul starts crying and he's sad and I'm sorry and you did right by me. Verse 20 and now behold I know well that thou shalt surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord that thou wilt not cut off for me and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house. And David swears. Why is he sorry? What's he sorry? I'm really sorry David. Can you please when you finally beat me and when you're in control can you be sure to show mercy to me and not kill my family and not do to you. So look do you see how this is a sorrow that's kind of a self-serve. Instead of just I'm sorry I was wrong I'm going to stop chasing you I'm going to stop coming after you. Instead he's sorry I feel so bad I'm really sorry can you just please actually swear and promise that you're not going to do me wrong. So it's not a sorrow that feels bad for others it's a sorrow that feels bad for himself. What's the proof? The proof is that two chapters later in chapter 26 he's doing the exact same thing. So in chapter 24 he's so sorry but you can tell it's a self-serving sorrow it's a pity party for self because in chapter 26 he's doing the same thing again. And then in chapter 26 he has another pity party, oh I played the fool I'm so sorry. And then what's he doing in 27 coming after him again. No repentance my friend. When the sorrow doesn't really lead to repentance it's not a godly sorrow. It's the sorrow of the world. This is like politicians who say they're sorry for being a whoremonger but then they just immediately want to run for office again. Now think about that I mean if you're a politician and you're going to get up and say you know what you know like that guy what Anthony Weiner it's a perfect example this congressman from New York he gets up and says you know oh I'm so sorry about all those filthy lewd text messages of course he won't use words like that those are the right words that he should have used filthy lewd disgusting I'm a whoremonger I'm evil but anyway he gets oh I'm so sorry I did that I let you all down I'm sorry but hey I'm running for mayor. I know I'm not congressman anymore but I'm running for mayor now. Look there's no repentance because look if he really felt hey I'm sorry I've done wrong I've let you down he wouldn't be trying to aggrandize himself further with more titles for himself. He's not do you think he's trying to become mayor because he just he just really knows that he's going to be the one that does the best job and or what maybe he wasn't running for mayor but whatever he ran for something else right after that scandal some other position. Not because he wants to help people but because of the fact that he wants to glorify self and by the way even after he apologized he was busted for more text messages and more smut and more adultery and more being a whoremonger okay because there's no real repentance because his apology was a fake apology it's like the it's like Bill Clinton's apology. You know first he's like do you look at me. I did not have you know what with that woman Monica Lewinsky you know he's probably like pointing at some other one I didn't have it with that woman you know Monica Lewinsky. But he lied he just tells a bold face lie and then when does he say he's sorry when he's caught when there's so much evidence that he can't deny anymore he didn't have real sorrow or repentance because if he had any real sorrow or repentance you know what he really would have done he would have said you know what and I'm sorry and that's why you know I need to step down as president because of the fact that our country needs to have a leader that the world can respect that people can respect and step down that would have been shown real repentance but instead it's like okay I've sinned honor me now before the people first he argues just like Saul argued then it's like okay I've sinned honor me now before the people then he runs for not only did he not step down not only did he finish the term he ran for reelection he runs another term and then he puts his filthy lesbian looking wife up for election okay look these people these politicians they don't have the sorrow that's godly when they sin it's the sorrow of the world and by the way the same thing goes for a pastor let's say a pastor is caught in one of these major sins like obviously everybody's a sinner but let's say one of these pastors that gets caught in adultery right major sin adultery then obviously if he's really repentant for having committed adultery he'll say you know what I'm sorry that I committed adultery I did wrong I let you down I'm stepping down as pastor and you know what he would do never be a pastor again never because he's not blameless he's never gonna be passed again doesn't mean that he can't serve God and look a pastor who did who was actually a saved bona fide Christian pastor it could happen because David did it King David it okay a real bona fide pastor did that the right thing to do would be to step down and say I'm sorry I blew it I let you down I'll step down from being pastor because I'm no longer fit to be your pastor and then he would never be a pastor again but you know what he would do is continue serving God because guess what this church is filled with people who are serving God are pastors you don't have to be a pastor to serve God see a real person who was sincerely sorry and showed repentance would continue to serve God humbly from the pew and they'd go soul winning and they'd serve God and love God but when they want to still come back and look I can name for you pastors who have committed adultery and committed adultery and committed adultery and been caught and step down and then just Pat a year or two later they're pastoring again what they're not really sorry they're not really and if there was repentance why were they committing adultery in church after church after church and then they finally get busted and it's wide open then they go around applying I know a pastor who applied for a job at a church as pastor and he committed adultery repeatedly and been busted with it where so he had to say something because he'd been caught in the past but he didn't want to tell them I've committed adultery so he would go into the job interview and tell them I've had a personal failure in my life I don't want to go into any detail just want you to know that I've had a personal fit so he said that at one church and they said well you know we're not looking for a pastor who's had a personal failure in his life but then he found another church that's like sure we're all a bunch of wicked devils anyway you know so you're our perfect pastor for us a serial adulterer is just what we need because then you're not going to preach on our sin you're not going to get hit hard on fornication or drunkenness or adultery you know you're not going to condemn anything that we do so great you know how much salary do you want so he's pastoring right now a big giant Church right now and he's a serial adulterer okay why because of the fact that he the sorrow of the world just like the politicians that do the same thing it's not a sorrow of I've hurt others I've sinned against heaven it's a sorrow that just says oh I'm sorry I got caught you know or oh I'm so sad that you know I'm such a weak person that I keep falling into sin and it's just a feeling bad for self instead of a godly sorrow that leads to repentance so let's close the sermon with this go back to 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 and I hope this sermon has helped you to have an understanding of the difference between godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world is sorrow a good thing in our lives well first of all we shouldn't go through life just continually sorrowing because the Bible says say that the joy of the Lord is our strength and that we should rejoice and and that joy unspeakable and full of glory it you know characterizes our Christian life so we should rejoice and have joy in our life but there are times when we should have sorrow and let me tell you some when you sin you should have sorrow you shouldn't just be able to sin with a smile and then just walk away and just think like who cares there's something wrong with you if that's your attitude there should be sorrow for sin but look just because you're sorry when you sin it doesn't mean that you're sorrowing after a godly sort and by the way just because your kid is crying when they get caught and you bust your kid with their hand in the cookie jar and they go does that really necessarily mean that they have godly sorrow no because that could just be a sorrow of I got caught or a sorrow of my parents spanked me every I do no matter how hard I try to get spanked every day there are kids who think that you know I remember I'll confess my sin to you I remember as a teenager I remember as a teenager having this thought if I remember thinking if Jesus lived in my house if Jesus were growing up in this home he would get yelled at every day I remember thinking that because I had this attitude like you can't win with my parents like you know if Jesus was growing up in this home and perfect in every way tempted at all points like as we are yet without sin Jesus would be screamed at in this house every day I give up but you know what it wasn't true that's what I thought and I honestly thought that in my teenage brain that no matter what I do I can't win with my parents not even Jesus could do it because he even if he was perfect they'd still scream at him because they just scream at us you know but then you know what though a little bit later in my teenage life I got into a good independent fundamental Baptist Church