WEBVTT 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:11.460 2 Corinthians chapter 7, that's in the New Testament, 00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:16.739 close to the back of your Bible. We'll start 00:00:16.739 --> 00:00:26.000 in verse 2. Accept us, we have wronged no one, 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:30.280 corrupted no one, defrauded no one. I don't say 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:32.740 this to condemn you, for I have already said 00:00:32.740 --> 00:00:35.369 that you are in our hearts. to live together 00:00:35.369 --> 00:00:38.469 and to die together. I have great confidence 00:00:38.469 --> 00:00:42.869 in you. I have great pride in you. I am filled 00:00:42.869 --> 00:00:47.329 with encouragement. I am overcome with joy in 00:00:47.329 --> 00:00:51.350 all our afflictions. In fact, when we came into 00:00:51.350 --> 00:00:55.549 Macedonia, we had no rest. Instead, we were troubled 00:00:55.549 --> 00:00:59.350 in every way. Conflicts on the outside, fear 00:00:59.350 --> 00:01:04.549 inside. But God, who comforts the humble, comforted 00:01:04.549 --> 00:01:08.849 us by the arrival of Titus, and not only by his 00:01:08.849 --> 00:01:11.950 arrival, but also by the comfort he received 00:01:11.950 --> 00:01:15.810 from you. He told us about your deep longing, 00:01:16.109 --> 00:01:19.650 your sorrow, and your zeal for me, so that I 00:01:19.650 --> 00:01:23.890 rejoiced even more. For even if I grieved you 00:01:23.890 --> 00:01:27.530 with my letter, I do not regret it, even though 00:01:27.530 --> 00:01:30.489 I did regret it since I saw that the letter grieved 00:01:30.489 --> 00:01:34.420 you, yet only for a little while. Now I rejoice, 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:38.359 not because you were grieved, but because your 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:42.120 grief led to repentance. For you were grieved 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:45.400 as God willed, so that you didn't experience 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:50.200 any loss from us. For godly grief produces a 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:53.640 repentance not to be regretted and leading to 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:57.299 salvation. But worldly grief produces death. 00:01:57.700 --> 00:02:01.260 For consider how much diligence this very thing, 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:05.480 this grieving is God's will, has produced in 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:09.580 you. What a desire to clear yourselves. What 00:02:09.580 --> 00:02:12.580 indignation, what fear, what deep longing, what 00:02:12.580 --> 00:02:17.300 zeal, what justice. In every way you showed yourselves 00:02:17.300 --> 00:02:21.419 to be pure in this matter. So even though I wrote 00:02:21.419 --> 00:02:24.479 to you, it was not because of the one who did 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:28.020 wrong or because of the one who was wrong, but 00:02:28.020 --> 00:02:31.520 in order that your diligence for us might be 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:35.099 made plain to you in the sight of God. For this 00:02:35.099 --> 00:02:38.360 reason we have been comforted. In addition to 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:42.740 our comfort, we rejoiced even more over the joy 00:02:42.740 --> 00:02:47.319 Titus had, because his spirit was refreshed by 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:51.479 all of you. For if I have made any boast to him 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:55.280 about you, I have not been embarrassed. But as 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:58.419 I have spoken everything to you in truth, So 00:02:58.419 --> 00:03:01.979 our boasting to Titus has also turned out to 00:03:01.979 --> 00:03:05.259 be the truth. And his affection towards you is 00:03:05.259 --> 00:03:08.699 even greater as he remembers the obedience of 00:03:08.699 --> 00:03:12.060 all of you and how you received him with fear 00:03:12.060 --> 00:03:15.560 and trembling. I rejoice that I have complete 00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:20.000 confidence in you. Let's pray. God, we come to 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:23.419 you. We thank you for this good word and the 00:03:23.419 --> 00:03:26.060 reminder that it is, dear Lord, that sometimes 00:03:26.060 --> 00:03:30.099 we... need to be corrected. And so I pray, dear 00:03:30.099 --> 00:03:33.000 Lord, that we would have a right response to 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.139 your word when they convict us, dear Lord, or 00:03:37.139 --> 00:03:40.000 maybe when other people point out things in our 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.520 life that are not the way they should be. God, 00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:46.400 I pray that we would not grieve ourselves to 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.240 death, but that we would grieve ourselves to 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:51.780 repentance, dear Lord, that we would see the 00:03:51.780 --> 00:03:54.020 things in our life, the sin in our life that's 00:03:54.020 --> 00:03:56.849 not... It's not right, dear Lord, and that we 00:03:56.849 --> 00:03:59.030 would turn from it and turn to you. I pray that 00:03:59.030 --> 00:04:02.169 your Holy Spirit would be with us tonight, that 00:04:02.169 --> 00:04:05.009 you would lead me in the words that I'll say 00:04:05.009 --> 00:04:07.849 for these next few minutes, God, that you meet 00:04:07.849 --> 00:04:10.590 us where we are. I pray that we'd be free of 00:04:10.590 --> 00:04:13.490 distractions and worries, and I pray that everything 00:04:13.490 --> 00:04:16.230 here tonight will be for your glory. And I ask 00:04:16.230 --> 00:04:21.689 these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, throughout 00:04:21.689 --> 00:04:25.100 this book, we've seen... kind of this theme of 00:04:25.100 --> 00:04:28.620 Paul really defending himself. It appears as 00:04:28.620 --> 00:04:30.639 though the people in Corinth, maybe they're being 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:33.079 swayed away by other people teaching different 00:04:33.079 --> 00:04:35.720 things. Maybe they're talking bad about Paul. 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:38.480 Maybe there's a little bit of tension there with 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:40.759 Paul. After all, when you read 1 Corinthians, 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:43.220 he was pretty stern with them on a couple of 00:04:43.220 --> 00:04:45.079 things that were going on, a couple of things 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:49.089 that needed to be corrected. And that's a hard 00:04:49.089 --> 00:04:51.790 part of being a brother or sister in Christ because 00:04:51.790 --> 00:04:55.810 certainly grace is what Christianity is. And 00:04:55.810 --> 00:04:58.610 so we want to be those who show mercy and grace. 00:04:59.069 --> 00:05:01.629 But then there are also times in Scripture that 00:05:01.629 --> 00:05:04.470 we see Jesus or we see Paul talk about that sometimes 00:05:04.470 --> 00:05:08.370 things arise in the church amongst brothers and 00:05:08.370 --> 00:05:10.670 sisters in Christ. And sometimes those things 00:05:10.670 --> 00:05:14.629 have to be addressed. And sometimes we kind of 00:05:14.629 --> 00:05:18.540 go too far one way or another. Sometimes we say, 00:05:18.620 --> 00:05:20.920 well, I want to be gracious. I'm not going to 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:22.860 say anything. I'm just going to give grace. And 00:05:22.860 --> 00:05:25.079 other times we say, ah, that person's doing wrong. 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:27.519 I'm going to point out everything they're doing 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:30.120 wrong. And sometimes we can go too far one way 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:32.439 or another, and we don't want to be guilty of 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:35.259 either. We want to give people grace, but at 00:05:35.259 --> 00:05:37.300 the same time, we don't want people to continue 00:05:37.300 --> 00:05:40.160 to live in sin, especially not in a... group 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:42.839 of believers, not in a church. We want to keep 00:05:42.839 --> 00:05:46.339 a loving spirit. We want to be obedient to God. 00:05:46.459 --> 00:05:48.759 We want to do as God wills. We don't want any 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:51.680 drama or any trouble, or we don't want to do 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:54.660 anything that's going to make God look bad. We 00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:57.720 are God's representatives, and so we want people 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:02.300 to see the Lord in us. We don't want to just 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:04.319 give grace and let people get away with everything, 00:06:04.459 --> 00:06:07.180 but on the flip side, We don't want to stand 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:09.019 at the door and point out, well, I saw what you 00:06:09.019 --> 00:06:10.819 did and I know what you did and I know what you 00:06:10.819 --> 00:06:13.220 said and just start making a list of people's 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:16.379 sins and calling them out. Both of those things 00:06:16.379 --> 00:06:21.220 can be dangerous. And so we need to be very prayerful 00:06:21.220 --> 00:06:23.379 in life because there are times in life that 00:06:23.379 --> 00:06:25.519 we step out of line. There are times in life 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:28.620 that other people step out of line. But our desire 00:06:28.620 --> 00:06:31.879 should be for brothers and sisters in Christ 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:35.120 to not live in a sinful way. And that should 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:39.470 be... others desires in our life we do it out 00:06:39.470 --> 00:06:41.970 of love when we see someone that's harming themselves 00:06:41.970 --> 00:06:44.889 or doing something that's not healthy we don't 00:06:44.889 --> 00:06:47.329 want to see them continue down that path no more 00:06:47.329 --> 00:06:49.470 than you would allow a child or a grandchild 00:06:49.470 --> 00:06:52.250 to do something dangerous i say that maybe you 00:06:52.250 --> 00:06:54.110 would i don't know there's some some parents 00:06:54.110 --> 00:06:56.050 and grandparents they let their kids do stuff 00:06:56.050 --> 00:06:58.149 and i think man i don't know that doesn't seem 00:06:58.149 --> 00:07:01.129 like a like a healthy thing to do it seems like 00:07:01.129 --> 00:07:03.949 maybe you need to step in and say no That's a 00:07:03.949 --> 00:07:06.569 hard word to say, right? You've got to say no 00:07:06.569 --> 00:07:09.889 sometimes. And that's kind of what Paul did in 00:07:09.889 --> 00:07:12.649 1 Corinthians, is there were some things going 00:07:12.649 --> 00:07:16.610 on, and he stepped in and he said no. Now, it's 00:07:16.610 --> 00:07:19.350 believed that Paul probably wrote several letters 00:07:19.350 --> 00:07:22.269 to the Corinthians. Maybe what's being referenced 00:07:22.269 --> 00:07:24.769 here was something that was said in 1 Corinthians. 00:07:24.850 --> 00:07:26.930 Maybe it was in one of these lost letters that 00:07:26.930 --> 00:07:30.290 we don't have. It really doesn't matter. Whatever 00:07:30.290 --> 00:07:34.139 was said... was a problem that had to be addressed. 00:07:34.579 --> 00:07:37.160 And Paul said, look, here's how this problem 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:41.360 needs to be dealt with. Now, how did they respond 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:45.000 to that? Well, that's what Paul was worried about. 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:48.319 How do people respond? How do we respond? Have 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:51.339 we ever been called down by somebody for something 00:07:51.339 --> 00:07:54.269 that we did? A way that we were living. A way 00:07:54.269 --> 00:07:56.269 that wasn't right. And somebody that loves us 00:07:56.269 --> 00:07:58.230 and cares about us, not somebody that was just 00:07:58.230 --> 00:08:00.569 passing judgment and condemning us like they 00:08:00.569 --> 00:08:02.629 were holier than thou, but they really cared 00:08:02.629 --> 00:08:04.310 about us and they sat us down and they said, 00:08:04.350 --> 00:08:06.170 look, I'm really worried about you, brother. 00:08:06.269 --> 00:08:08.290 I'm really worried about you, sister. I'm worried 00:08:08.290 --> 00:08:10.110 about the way you're living and the things you're 00:08:10.110 --> 00:08:13.230 doing. Maybe you've had that happen to you before. 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:15.209 Maybe you were the one on the receiving end. 00:08:15.810 --> 00:08:19.079 Maybe you were the one on the giving end. But 00:08:19.079 --> 00:08:21.459 when people come to us and point things out that 00:08:21.459 --> 00:08:24.259 we're doing that aren't right, what's our response? 00:08:24.620 --> 00:08:27.319 Well, maybe there's a lot of responses we could 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:29.819 have, but I think we could sum it up probably 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:31.959 in three responses that we would usually have. 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:35.559 Maybe we hear what they say, and it just kind 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:39.059 of depresses us, and we just kind of dwell on 00:08:39.059 --> 00:08:41.799 it. It just kind of gets us down, and we just 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:44.740 don't really do anything about it. Or maybe we 00:08:44.740 --> 00:08:47.029 get defensive. Maybe that's probably our first 00:08:47.029 --> 00:08:49.409 thing. If somebody comes and says, hey, you need 00:08:49.409 --> 00:08:51.210 to be careful. You shouldn't say this. You shouldn't 00:08:51.210 --> 00:08:53.789 do that. And our first response may be, oh, yeah, 00:08:53.870 --> 00:08:55.269 we'll hear about this thing that you're doing. 00:08:55.710 --> 00:08:58.730 Okay, well, maybe they are doing something too. 00:08:58.850 --> 00:09:02.470 But as Jesus said, we need to take the log out 00:09:02.470 --> 00:09:04.870 of our own eye before we try to take the speck 00:09:04.870 --> 00:09:06.690 out of our brother's. Now, Jesus doesn't say 00:09:06.690 --> 00:09:08.490 don't take the speck out of your brother's eye. 00:09:09.049 --> 00:09:11.330 But I think what Jesus says is, if we're going 00:09:11.330 --> 00:09:14.490 to try to love and restore people and get them 00:09:14.490 --> 00:09:16.929 in the right place, then before we ever start 00:09:16.929 --> 00:09:18.950 that process, then we need to check our heart 00:09:18.950 --> 00:09:21.070 and make sure we're in the right place and let 00:09:21.070 --> 00:09:23.330 God work on us first and make sure we're coming 00:09:23.330 --> 00:09:26.429 at this from a position of love and caring about 00:09:26.429 --> 00:09:29.769 the person. And so sometimes people may point 00:09:29.769 --> 00:09:31.490 out to us, hey, man, you shouldn't have done 00:09:31.490 --> 00:09:33.490 that or you shouldn't have said that or maybe 00:09:33.490 --> 00:09:35.629 these choices you're making are not healthy choices. 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:38.460 And we may be quick to be defensive and say, 00:09:38.500 --> 00:09:39.960 oh, yeah, well, I think what you're doing is 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:42.879 not healthy. And that's not a good response either. 00:09:42.919 --> 00:09:45.000 We don't want to just take what somebody tells 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:47.820 us and just give up. We don't want to take what 00:09:47.820 --> 00:09:51.139 somebody gives us and become defensive. Perhaps 00:09:51.139 --> 00:09:53.320 it'd be good for us just to not say anything 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:56.360 and just think about what they say. And maybe 00:09:56.360 --> 00:10:00.360 we think about it. We look to Scripture. We kind 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:03.019 of gauge, okay, here's what my life is. Here's 00:10:03.019 --> 00:10:05.590 what the Scripture says. And maybe we really 00:10:05.590 --> 00:10:07.649 think about what they say and pray about what 00:10:07.649 --> 00:10:11.169 they say. And maybe the accusations or the concerns 00:10:11.169 --> 00:10:14.710 that they have, maybe they're not, maybe they're 00:10:14.710 --> 00:10:17.210 unwarranted. Maybe you look at it and you say, 00:10:17.269 --> 00:10:18.990 no, I don't think I'm doing wrong in this area. 00:10:19.090 --> 00:10:22.190 But then again, maybe somebody comes to you and 00:10:22.190 --> 00:10:23.909 says, look, brother, look, sister, I love you. 00:10:24.330 --> 00:10:27.470 And here's some stuff going on and you can't 00:10:27.470 --> 00:10:31.570 keep living this way. And maybe our response 00:10:31.570 --> 00:10:34.450 is we hear that. We think about that, and we 00:10:34.450 --> 00:10:37.090 say, you know what? He's right. She's right. 00:10:38.190 --> 00:10:41.090 This isn't healthy. And that's the response that 00:10:41.090 --> 00:10:44.070 Paul got. Paul had told them some pretty tough 00:10:44.070 --> 00:10:46.309 things, and what was their response going to 00:10:46.309 --> 00:10:49.509 be? Well, what he told them grieved them, and 00:10:49.509 --> 00:10:52.330 that hurt Paul. Paul said, look, I didn't want 00:10:52.330 --> 00:10:54.269 to grieve them. I don't want to grieve you no 00:10:54.269 --> 00:10:56.389 more than I don't. I don't have a child, but 00:10:56.389 --> 00:10:58.289 I would assume no more than a parent wants to 00:10:58.289 --> 00:11:01.509 discipline a child. You probably don't have pleasure 00:11:01.509 --> 00:11:03.730 in that, I would imagine. Most people don't have 00:11:03.730 --> 00:11:06.590 any pleasure in punishing their child or whipping 00:11:06.590 --> 00:11:09.730 their child. There's no joy in that. You know 00:11:09.730 --> 00:11:12.450 that brings some amount of grief to your child, 00:11:12.529 --> 00:11:15.450 and as a parent, it brings some grief to you. 00:11:15.490 --> 00:11:18.509 But you have to do it. If you love them, you 00:11:18.509 --> 00:11:21.419 have to. If you don't discipline your child, 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:23.620 then you have to ask yourself the question, do 00:11:23.620 --> 00:11:26.399 you really love your child? If the child is doing 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:29.000 something dangerous and deadly and they continue 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:31.179 to do it and they're over there and they're playing 00:11:31.179 --> 00:11:32.860 by the fire and you say, don't get too close 00:11:32.860 --> 00:11:34.559 to that fire and they keep getting closer to 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:36.159 the fire and you say, don't get close to that 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:38.600 fire, well, you know the result. If they get 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:40.539 too close to that fire, they could be burned, 00:11:40.620 --> 00:11:43.159 they could be killed. And so at some point, if 00:11:43.159 --> 00:11:45.799 they don't listen to your warnings, you may have 00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:48.080 to get stern and you may have to get on to them 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:50.340 pretty hot and heavy. And you may have to say, 00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:52.100 don't get near that fire and pop them a couple 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:54.980 times. And then they'll probably cry. And it'll 00:11:54.980 --> 00:11:57.320 hurt their feelings. And you don't want to do 00:11:57.320 --> 00:12:00.559 it. But what's better? To have a child that's 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:02.379 going to cry for five minutes and get over it? 00:12:03.019 --> 00:12:05.519 Or to have a child that falls into the fire? 00:12:06.419 --> 00:12:08.539 Paul didn't want the Corinthians to fall into 00:12:08.539 --> 00:12:11.539 the fire. He saw that they were making some decisions 00:12:11.539 --> 00:12:14.399 and choices and doing some things that believers 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.429 shouldn't do. And so he had to address it. And 00:12:17.429 --> 00:12:22.929 that's what we see in these verses. In verse 00:12:22.929 --> 00:12:25.110 8, he says, For even if I grieved you with my 00:12:25.110 --> 00:12:28.370 letter, I do not regret it, even though I did 00:12:28.370 --> 00:12:30.629 regret it since I saw the letter grieve you, 00:12:30.710 --> 00:12:34.590 yet only for a little while. He says, look, I 00:12:34.590 --> 00:12:37.809 don't regret what I did. I did a little bit because 00:12:37.809 --> 00:12:40.009 I knew it was going to grieve you, but I knew 00:12:40.009 --> 00:12:42.730 it was going to be short -lived. But I had to 00:12:42.730 --> 00:12:45.639 do this. I had to do this. I had to get you to 00:12:45.639 --> 00:12:47.679 this point. I had to get your attention so that 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:50.759 you realized what you were doing was sinful. 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:55.220 But what does he say in verse 9? Now I rejoice. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:59.259 Now, why is he rejoicing? He's not saying, oh, 00:12:59.340 --> 00:13:01.159 I got on to you and it hurts your feeling so 00:13:01.159 --> 00:13:03.720 bad and now you just got the molly grubs and 00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:06.460 you feel so bad about what you did. No, that's 00:13:06.460 --> 00:13:09.000 not why he's rejoicing. He says, now rejoice, 00:13:09.259 --> 00:13:12.840 not because you were grieved, but because your 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:16.100 grief led to repentance. Now, Paul wasn't just 00:13:16.100 --> 00:13:18.340 some big meanie. He wasn't just saying, I don't 00:13:18.340 --> 00:13:20.340 want these Corinthians to do anything fun. I'm 00:13:20.340 --> 00:13:22.139 just going to go and tell them don't do X, Y, 00:13:22.139 --> 00:13:23.700 and Z and whatever they like, I'm going to tell 00:13:23.700 --> 00:13:26.220 them not to do it. That wasn't Paul's desire 00:13:26.220 --> 00:13:29.039 at all. He wasn't trying to be judge of the world 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:33.500 and judge of Corinth. He was seeing the people 00:13:33.500 --> 00:13:36.980 who were living in a sinful way and he was concerned 00:13:36.980 --> 00:13:40.000 about them and he says, I must address this. 00:13:40.299 --> 00:13:43.639 And he did address it. And the result was a good 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:46.600 result. They listened to what he had to say. 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:50.159 And what does he say? He said that your grief 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:54.990 led to... Repentance. That's the goal right there. 00:13:55.070 --> 00:13:58.490 That's the goal. Restoration. We don't want to 00:13:58.490 --> 00:14:00.250 just call people out for their sin and make them 00:14:00.250 --> 00:14:03.470 feel guilty. We want them to really be changed. 00:14:03.610 --> 00:14:06.370 We want them to know that we love them. We could 00:14:06.370 --> 00:14:08.289 go get a megaphone today and go stand out on 00:14:08.289 --> 00:14:10.809 the street corner tomorrow in Liberty, and we'd 00:14:10.809 --> 00:14:13.009 see a lot of people that come by and a lot of 00:14:13.009 --> 00:14:14.909 people that we know things that they did, and 00:14:14.909 --> 00:14:17.250 we could just call them all out. You did this, 00:14:17.250 --> 00:14:19.509 and you did that, and you did the other. But 00:14:19.509 --> 00:14:22.220 what's the goal in that? Is there any love in 00:14:22.220 --> 00:14:24.360 that? Is there any restoration that's going to 00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:28.820 take place in that? Absolutely not. And that's 00:14:28.820 --> 00:14:31.539 not what Paul's doing. He said, look, you got 00:14:31.539 --> 00:14:33.340 some problems and you need to deal with these 00:14:33.340 --> 00:14:35.360 problems and you need to deal with these people 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:37.580 and you need to try to restore these people. 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:41.139 And when they heard what Paul said to them, they 00:14:41.139 --> 00:14:44.059 listened to what he said and it led to repentance. 00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:47.720 What is repentance? Repentance is simply turning 00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:50.620 from your sin. It's not just saying, okay, God, 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:52.460 forgive me, and going back to it, but saying, 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:54.480 okay, I'm going in this direction towards sin, 00:14:54.620 --> 00:14:58.559 and now I realize Paul has taken the blinders 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:00.960 off and shook me and woke me up, and now we realize, 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:02.779 wait a minute, I'm going in the wrong direction. 00:15:03.419 --> 00:15:05.240 I'm going to turn and go the other way. That's 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:08.529 repentance. To say, okay, I'm living for the 00:15:08.529 --> 00:15:10.750 world, I'm living for myself, but wait a minute, 00:15:10.870 --> 00:15:13.070 I realize that I'm going in a bad path, but over 00:15:13.070 --> 00:15:15.509 here is Jesus, and so I'm going to turn from 00:15:15.509 --> 00:15:18.129 my way into the world's way, and I'm going to 00:15:18.129 --> 00:15:23.909 turn to Jesus. And that's what the gospel is. 00:15:24.809 --> 00:15:27.830 It's that Scripture tells us what sin is, that 00:15:27.830 --> 00:15:31.409 we are sinners. The Holy Spirit convicts us. 00:15:32.750 --> 00:15:35.549 Are we grieved by our sins and the things that 00:15:35.549 --> 00:15:38.710 we do and the way that we act? Does that bring 00:15:38.710 --> 00:15:43.870 grief into our life? Probably so. I think it 00:15:43.870 --> 00:15:46.809 does for everybody. The question is, how do you 00:15:46.809 --> 00:15:52.429 respond to that grief? He said, your grief led 00:15:52.429 --> 00:15:56.470 to repentance for you were grieved as God willed 00:15:56.470 --> 00:16:00.529 so that you didn't experience any loss from us. 00:16:01.049 --> 00:16:06.110 For godly grief produces a repentance not to 00:16:06.110 --> 00:16:10.269 be regretted and leading to salvation. Okay? 00:16:10.330 --> 00:16:15.090 So you were grieved as God will. Isn't that beautiful 00:16:15.090 --> 00:16:17.710 to know that God's part of this process? That 00:16:17.710 --> 00:16:21.769 sometimes God allows us to go through things 00:16:21.769 --> 00:16:24.269 that are really difficult and really uncomfortable 00:16:24.269 --> 00:16:27.490 that make us feel pretty ashamed and make us 00:16:27.490 --> 00:16:30.610 feel pretty rotten. God allows us sometimes to 00:16:30.610 --> 00:16:34.269 have those life experiences and not because he 00:16:34.269 --> 00:16:37.850 doesn't love us, but because he does love us. 00:16:38.490 --> 00:16:42.429 God chastens or God disciplines those that he 00:16:42.429 --> 00:16:46.570 loves. We look at the story of Job. That's the 00:16:46.570 --> 00:16:49.350 story of great suffering. Did God do that because 00:16:49.350 --> 00:16:51.580 he didn't love Job? Nope, he did it because he 00:16:51.580 --> 00:16:54.320 did love Job. And Job was a pretty righteous 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:58.580 guy. But even still, Job grew in the Lord through 00:16:58.580 --> 00:17:00.980 that whole process. There's nothing that happens 00:17:00.980 --> 00:17:03.960 in our life that God does not allow to happen. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:07.220 God is in complete control of everything. There 00:17:07.220 --> 00:17:10.519 is not a thing in this world that does not happen 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:13.279 that God does not know about and God does not 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:16.519 allow. Even in the story of Job, Satan wanted 00:17:16.519 --> 00:17:19.119 to go get the best of Job. But what did he have 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:21.039 to do? He had to get permission from God. The 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:23.859 devil can't just do what he wants to do. He couldn't 00:17:23.859 --> 00:17:27.220 in the story of Job. He can't today. And God 00:17:27.220 --> 00:17:30.099 uses sometimes even things that are pretty rough 00:17:30.099 --> 00:17:33.240 and bad decisions that we've made. And sometimes 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:36.759 he uses those things to shake us up, to get our 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:40.440 attention so our eyes will be open. And what 00:17:40.440 --> 00:17:44.759 did he say? That godly grief produces repentance. 00:17:45.579 --> 00:17:47.279 Praise the Lord. That's the kind of grief that 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:50.200 we want to have. Godly grief. We want to see 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:52.599 the things that we do that we're made aware of 00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:55.619 that aren't good, that aren't right. And we want 00:17:55.619 --> 00:17:57.319 to go to the scripture and we want to go to the 00:17:57.319 --> 00:17:59.779 Lord and say, okay, God, I need you to help me 00:17:59.779 --> 00:18:01.519 with this. I need you to help me to really look 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:04.420 at my heart. I need you to open my eyes, dear 00:18:04.420 --> 00:18:06.279 Lord. I don't want to live this way. Show me 00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:08.819 these things. God, I want to repent of these 00:18:08.819 --> 00:18:11.119 things. I want to turn from these things. And 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:17.079 Paul says that godly grief. leads to repentance, 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:21.480 or excuse me, produces repentance not to be regretted 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:25.599 and leading to salvation. So that's the goal. 00:18:25.779 --> 00:18:27.920 The goal is not just to point out other people's 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:30.440 sins. The goal is not just to be a big meanie. 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:32.880 The goal is I love you and I'm worried about 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:35.079 you and I don't want to see you going down this 00:18:35.079 --> 00:18:38.119 path. I want you to turn from this path so that 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:41.309 you can receive salvation. That's the goal of 00:18:41.309 --> 00:18:44.809 God. That's the goal of Paul. But what's the 00:18:44.809 --> 00:18:50.630 opposite? But worldly grief produces death. Now, 00:18:50.650 --> 00:18:52.950 there's a lot of people who are grieving decisions 00:18:52.950 --> 00:18:55.170 that they made and things that they've done, 00:18:55.369 --> 00:18:58.869 but it's not a godly grief. They're not seeking 00:18:58.869 --> 00:19:01.470 God in that. They're just living with that grief. 00:19:01.910 --> 00:19:05.109 People go to the grave with that grief. Some 00:19:05.109 --> 00:19:07.029 people never seek the strength of God and the 00:19:07.029 --> 00:19:09.599 comfort of God. It's some people you've probably 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:12.359 heard or said of folks that they grieve themselves 00:19:12.359 --> 00:19:15.420 to death. Sometimes you see that, that people, 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:18.400 they'll lose a loved one and they just never 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:20.680 get over it. And I'm not saying that they're 00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:23.180 not Christians, but I'm saying that God doesn't 00:19:23.180 --> 00:19:25.619 want us to live in that kind of grief. He wants 00:19:25.619 --> 00:19:29.160 us to, in the midst of our grief, trust in Him 00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:31.599 and be strengthened by Him and know that He loves 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:34.180 us, whether it's grief of our sin or grief over 00:19:34.180 --> 00:19:36.980 a lost loved one or whatever that grief may be. 00:19:37.549 --> 00:19:40.609 As the scripture says, we don't want to be those 00:19:40.609 --> 00:19:43.569 who grieve like those who have no hope, right? 00:19:43.690 --> 00:19:46.049 So grief in and of itself isn't a bad thing, 00:19:46.190 --> 00:19:49.130 but grief shouldn't have the final say in our 00:19:49.130 --> 00:19:52.230 life. We shouldn't grieve over our sin and just 00:19:52.230 --> 00:19:54.690 let it drag us down. We should know that there 00:19:54.690 --> 00:19:56.769 is forgiveness through Jesus Christ if we would 00:19:56.769 --> 00:20:00.970 only call out to him. And godly grief will lead 00:20:00.970 --> 00:20:05.069 to repentance, but worldly grief will lead to 00:20:05.069 --> 00:20:09.380 death. He continues on in verse 11. For consider 00:20:09.380 --> 00:20:12.240 how much diligence this very thing, this grieving 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:17.400 as God wills, has produced in you. What a desire 00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:21.000 to clear yourselves. What indignation, what fear, 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:25.720 what deep longing, what zeal, what justice. In 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:29.720 every way you showed yourself to be pure in this 00:20:29.720 --> 00:20:33.269 matter. So there was a change. There was a change 00:20:33.269 --> 00:20:35.710 in these people's lives. Paul had called out 00:20:35.710 --> 00:20:38.109 some things that they had done. Obviously, they 00:20:38.109 --> 00:20:40.390 had listened to those things. They had repented 00:20:40.390 --> 00:20:43.549 of those things. And Paul was rejoicing because 00:20:43.549 --> 00:20:47.269 he loved these people. He loved that their life 00:20:47.269 --> 00:20:49.970 had been changed. And it changed how they acted. 00:20:50.069 --> 00:20:53.190 There was a feeling of guilt that was gone. He 00:20:53.190 --> 00:20:57.130 said, you have a desire to... Clear yourselves. 00:20:57.269 --> 00:20:59.029 I think maybe there he's just saying you've got 00:20:59.029 --> 00:21:02.690 a clear conscience. Your whole attitude has changed. 00:21:02.910 --> 00:21:05.430 You have been transformed. You have been made 00:21:05.430 --> 00:21:08.410 into a new creation. You are on fire from God, 00:21:08.490 --> 00:21:10.890 and that's the goal. We don't want to just go 00:21:10.890 --> 00:21:13.009 through the motions. We don't want to be those 00:21:13.009 --> 00:21:16.869 who are just kind of dragging along in sin. And 00:21:16.869 --> 00:21:18.509 maybe there are some things in our life that 00:21:18.509 --> 00:21:20.269 shouldn't be the way they are, and maybe there 00:21:20.269 --> 00:21:23.390 are times that somebody who loves us... pulls 00:21:23.390 --> 00:21:25.430 us aside and say, hey, brother, hey, sister, 00:21:25.509 --> 00:21:27.849 I'm worried about you. But if that's ever the 00:21:27.849 --> 00:21:30.390 case, we always need to be prayerful about that 00:21:30.390 --> 00:21:33.630 if we feel led to do that. We always want to 00:21:33.630 --> 00:21:36.569 be prayerful and let that be led by God that 00:21:36.569 --> 00:21:38.630 we go into these things with the right attitude. 00:21:38.990 --> 00:21:41.609 If we're ever the one that's pulled aside, we 00:21:41.609 --> 00:21:45.269 always want to listen to what they say, and that's 00:21:45.269 --> 00:21:47.549 hard. We might have to bite our tongue, but we 00:21:47.549 --> 00:21:49.190 have to think about who's the person telling 00:21:49.190 --> 00:21:51.869 us this. It's probably going to be somebody that 00:21:51.869 --> 00:21:54.569 loves us. So we need to listen to our brothers 00:21:54.569 --> 00:21:57.289 and sisters in Christ and take what they say 00:21:57.289 --> 00:21:59.990 and pray about what they say and see what the 00:21:59.990 --> 00:22:04.049 Word of God says so that if we are grieved by 00:22:04.049 --> 00:22:07.369 our sin, that we would have a right response 00:22:07.369 --> 00:22:10.190 to it. The people of Corinth had a right response 00:22:10.190 --> 00:22:13.690 to their grief. They repented. They turned to 00:22:13.690 --> 00:22:17.269 God. And as a result, Paul rejoiced over what 00:22:17.269 --> 00:22:20.890 had taken place. Let's pray. God, we come to 00:22:20.890 --> 00:22:23.769 you. We thank you for your word. I pray that 00:22:23.769 --> 00:22:25.970 you would help us to examine our own lives, dear 00:22:25.970 --> 00:22:29.309 Lord. Maybe there are some things in our lives 00:22:29.309 --> 00:22:31.990 that shouldn't be there. And I pray that you 00:22:31.990 --> 00:22:33.990 would point those things out to us, dear Lord, 00:22:34.089 --> 00:22:36.190 that your Holy Spirit would convict us. Maybe 00:22:36.190 --> 00:22:39.130 even tonight, coming into this building, there 00:22:39.130 --> 00:22:42.710 are some things that have been grieving us, dear 00:22:42.710 --> 00:22:45.589 Lord. And I pray, God, that your word would... 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.039 spoken to us tonight that we would repent of 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:51.180 those things that we would seek you and and not 00:22:51.180 --> 00:22:53.460 let the grief get the best of us dear lord not 00:22:53.460 --> 00:22:57.099 let our grief cause despair but let our grief 00:22:57.099 --> 00:23:00.819 lead us to jesus christ where there is hope and 00:23:00.819 --> 00:23:03.019 so i pray god that you would help us to be those 00:23:03.019 --> 00:23:05.339 who experience your grace who give that grace 00:23:05.339 --> 00:23:08.220 to others those who are corrected by your word 00:23:08.220 --> 00:23:10.799 and maybe even by our brothers and sisters in 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:13.680 christ when we need it and god help us to pay 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:17.440 attention to those areas in which you try to 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:21.160 reach out to us and speak to us and make us into 00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:24.319 the men and the women that you want us to be. 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:27.759 And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.