WWUTT 1688 We Have Been Comforted (2 Corinthians 7:13-16)

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In 2 Corinthians 7 we read about a godly sorrow that leads to repentance versus a worldly sorrow that leads to death.

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Among the disciples there were two disciples that exhibited this godly sorrow and worldly sorrow when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will for questions and comments send us an email to when we understand the text at gmail .com.

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Here's your teacher Pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky. We come back to our study of 2 Corinthians finishing chapter 7 today.

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If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there. I have just the last few verses to get through verses 13 to 16 but there's one other thing about yesterday's reading

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I want to come back to. So let's begin reading in verse 8 and I'll go to the end of the chapter out of the

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Legacy Standard Bible. This is the Word of the Lord through the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth.

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For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it.

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For I see that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while.

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I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to repentance.

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For you were made to have godly sorrow, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.

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For godly sorrow produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation.

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But the sorrow of the world brings about death. For behold, what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow has brought about in you, what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong in everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

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So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be manifested to you in the sight of God.

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For this reason we have been comforted. And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.

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For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before Titus proved to be the truth.

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And his affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling.

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I rejoice that in everything I am encouraged about you.

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If you haven't yet listened to yesterday's message, I would encourage you to go back and listen to that, 2nd

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Corinthians 7 verses 8 through 12. I was late uploading it on Tuesday.

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I had an injury that contributed to my lateness, getting that posted online.

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But I mentioned some things in there about experiencing a godly sorrow that leads to repentance.

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And I mentioned a couple of stories in there too of a couple of young men, one who experienced a worldly sorrow that leads to death if he doesn't repent, and the other who experienced a godly sorrow that led to repentance.

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I wanted to mention one other example there, and this one from Scripture. I wanted to do this yesterday, but kind of ran out of time.

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So I'll mention this here as we get toward finishing up the rest of chapter 7. So once again, in verse 10,

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Paul says, godly sorrow produces a repentance without regret leading to salvation.

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But the sorrow of the world brings about death. So we have this contrast between a godly sorrow and a worldly sorrow.

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The godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance, turning away from that sin and walking in righteousness.

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Worldly sorrow, there are all kinds of people that can experience worldly sorrow. They're upset because they got caught.

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They're upset because they had to face the natural consequences of the sin or the stupid thing it was that they did.

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But they don't really experience a genuine sorrow that leads them to turn from that wickedness to God and be forgiven, or to turn to righteousness, no longer walking in that sin anymore, but going the way of Christ.

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So they experience a worldly sorrow. They feel bad about it. There are people in this world who feel bad about the stupid things they do all the time.

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But does it actually lead to righteousness? No. It's a worldly sorrow that will eventually lead to death and the judgment of God when they have to stand before him on that day.

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So we need to experience a godly grief over the sin that we do, that we may come before God and ask for his forgiveness and then turn from that sin and not be in it anymore.

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We rejoice that the grace of God is upon us, that has justified us, that has cleansed us from all unrighteousness, that we may walk justified, no longer condemned, no longer in regret, but we rejoice in the goodness of God, his mercy that had been shown to us through Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, rose again from the dead, as it says in Romans 4, he was raised for our justification.

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So we rejoice that our sins have been paid for by the precious blood of Jesus, and so let us walk in that way, not as slaves to unrighteousness, but as slaves to righteousness.

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And if your heart is convicted by the Spirit of God, if you have that godly grief, then it's going to produce in you that desire for the righteousness of God.

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Now, like I said yesterday, I shared a couple of contrasting stories about two young men, one who had experienced a worldly grief and one who had experienced a godly grief that led to repentance.

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We have the best example in the Bible between two disciples. Do you know who I'm talking about?

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One disciple experienced a godly grief that led to repentance, and the other disciple experienced a worldly grief that led to his destruction.

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Who am I referring to? Surely you know, this is Peter and Judas.

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They both betrayed the Son of God on the night that he was arrested. When Jesus was arrested, when he was tried, it was a kangaroo court, you know, it was not done justly at all.

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Then he goes before Pilate, he goes before Herod, the crowd shouts, crucify him, he's crucified on a cross, he dies, he's buried, he rises again on the third day, all right?

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This is the story of Jesus' crucifixion and his resurrection. On the night that he was arrested, both disciples,

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Peter and Judas, both of them betrayed Jesus. We call Judas the betrayer. That is his reputation unto his death because he never repented.

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But Peter had betrayed Jesus too. Both of them, Jesus prophesied about in the

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Last Supper, saying that Peter would deny him three times and Judas would be the one that would betray him, the one who dips the morsel with me in the cup, he is the one that is going to betray me.

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And then Jesus says to Judas, what you are going to do, go quickly. And he left the supper and went out to tell the

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Pharisees where Jesus was. He said, the one I kiss is the man. He betrayed Jesus with a kiss.

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But then after Jesus is arrested and he's taken into the city,

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Peter is following close behind and somebody recognizes him and says, hey, you're one of his disciples.

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And Peter says, no, I tell you, I don't even know the man. And this happened two more times.

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Somebody saying, yeah, you're a Galilean. I know you're one of the ones who was with Jesus. And Peter adamantly denied it.

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I don't know him. Though Peter had arrogantly said just hours before, even if all these others turn away, even if I have to die with you,

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I will never deny you. And the disciples who were there, they were with him. They agreed with him.

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And yet the thing that Jesus said he would do before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

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That was what Peter said. That was what Peter did. Jesus said to him, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

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So as much as Peter was so confident in himself, really was full of himself.

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He had the spirit that was willing to go with Jesus to death, but he wouldn't do it. And when somebody even recognized him and said, you're one of his disciples,

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Peter denied it three times. And when the rooster crowed, the scripture says that he went out and wept bitterly for he realized what it was that he had done.

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Luke's gospel even records that Jesus looked at him though Peter was a distance away from him.

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When the rooster crowed, the Lord turned and looked at Peter. This is

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Luke 22, 61. The Lord turned and looked at Peter and Peter remembered the word of the

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Lord, how he had told him before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.

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And verse 62, and he went out and cried bitterly.

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Now Judas realized also that he had betrayed Jesus. And he tried to return the 30 pieces of silver that he was paid.

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The priest would not take it from him because it was blood money. He had been paid that money to betray somebody and so they couldn't take the money back.

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So Judas throws the money into the temple court and it's that same money since they couldn't take it into the temple, it was blood money, but they use that money to buy a field and it was the field that Judas would fall into and it would burst open and it would be called the field of blood.

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So Judas went out and hung himself, he hung himself kind of over a cliff and then the eventually after the body bloated and all that other kind of thing, the the branch snapped, his body falls into a field headlong is what we have recorded in Acts chapter 1 and then his head hits the ground and his intestines burst open and so that got referred to as the field of blood.

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But this is what happened when Judas experienced his sorrow. What a gruesome end.

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How how a bloody disgusting end there was to the life of Judas. He also felt sorrow over what he had done.

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He realized that he had betrayed the Son of God and tried to return it.

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He tried to undo it and turn it back but it was already too late. And the sorrow that Judas experienced was worldly that led to his own death.

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The son of perdition as he was called and is in hell where he will be for all eternity.

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So we have these two stories of these two disciples, both of whom betrayed

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Jesus, both of whom experienced sorrow after betraying Jesus.

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But Peter's sorrow led to repentance and Judas's sorrow was worldly and led to his death.

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At the end of the Gospel of John, in John chapter 21, Jesus is eating breakfast with Peter and it's there that he asks

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Peter three times, Peter do you love me? And Peter responds, Lord you know all things, you know that I love you.

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And so three times Jesus says to Peter, then feed my sheep, then feed my lambs, then tend to my flock.

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And we understand that as the Lord forgiving Peter and restoring him to the mission that he had called him to from the very beginning.

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Come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Shepherds of the flock of God even.

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And you know mixed metaphors but it it works. And then in 1st Peter chapter 5,

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Peter refers to himself as a shepherd who is subject to the chief shepherd.

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And this is every pastor. That word pastor means shepherd. We are shepherds of the flock of God, subject to the chief shepherd who is the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter having experienced a godly grief that led to repentance, the

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Lord forgave him and restored him to the mission. Judas experienced a sorrow that led to his death and he is in eternal punishment to this day.

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There's our biblical example right there of godly sorrow versus worldly sorrow.

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Godly sorrow that leads to salvation but the sorrow of the world brings about death.

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And then verse 11, 2nd Corinthians 7 -11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has brought about in you, what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong in everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent of the matter.

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So although I wrote to you it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended but that your earnestness on our behalf might be manifested to you in the sight of God.

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And I mentioned yesterday at the conclusion of that that the Corinthians now had something that they could look back on and see that their faith in Jesus was genuine because when convicted over their sin they turned from the sin back to the righteousness of God.

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So that your earnestness on our behalf might be manifested to you in the sight of God.

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And my friends I hope it's the same way with you as well. When you get caught in sin do you just try to hide it?

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Do you give some sort of a temporary apology hoping that'll be enough and everybody would just be like oh it's okay you know come here and everything will be fine?

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Or do you experience a genuine sorrow over that that leads to repentance?

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And you can look back on that situation and you can see your faith is genuine because when you were convicted over your sin you experienced sorrow over that.

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That you would turn from that sin and not go back to it. But as it says in 1st

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John 1 9 you've been cleansed of all unrighteousness. I hope that the sorrow the conviction that you experience over your sin is genuine and that you go in sin no more.

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So let's finish up now 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 with these last few verses here.

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Verse 13 Paul says for this reason we have been comforted because you experienced a genuine sorrow over your sin.

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We've been comforted. The tearful letter was worth it because you were convicted and now you are walking in righteousness.

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And besides our comfort Paul says we rejoiced even much more for the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.

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Now the bookends to this this kind of concludes something that Paul had mentioned back in verses 6 and 7.

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So then verses 8 through 12 are where Paul talks about the godly sorrow that they experienced.

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Verses 6 and 7 Paul talked about Titus coming to them. God who comforts the humbled comforted us by the coming of Titus and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you as he reported to us your longing your mourning your zeal for me so that I rejoiced even more.

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Titus came to where Paul and his missionary brethren were and reported to them that the letter

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Paul sent had an effect a godly effect that they were convicted over their sin and repented of it and Titus also rejoiced in this like when he came with the news to Paul and the fellow missionaries he was like guess what guys that letter that Paul had to send guess what's happening there in Corinth revival is breaking out right it's repentance all over the place they have shown themselves to be genuine in the matter and so even

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Titus was overjoyed by this his spirit has been refreshed by you all so that they would know when

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Titus had to come when he when he witnessed what was going on here in the church he didn't go away back to Paul to say oh man

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Paul they are messed up over there do you know what's going on over there no Titus comes with a joyful report and his spirit had even been refreshed so verse 14 for if in anything

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I have boasted to him about you okay so there's really got to think of that as a comma after the ending after the anything so you read it as for if in anything

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I have boasted to him about you I boast about you I don't talk to Titus about like yeah be careful about those

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Corinthians all this weird stuff that's going on over there these sins that I constantly have to keep calling out about them no

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Paul had said to Titus the spirit is genuine there for as they're growing in sanctification as they're having to be less like the world and more like Christ when you have to convict them over something they listen to it and they experience sorrow over it and they genuinely repent of it and so Paul had boasted about the

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Corinthians in this way and Titus got to witness it for if in anything

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I have boasted to him about you I was not put to shame but as we spoke all things to you in truth so also our boasting before Titus proved to be the truth

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Paul would have been put to shame if he would have been boasting to Titus about their genuine hearts and then he goes there and finds out what

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Paul said wasn't true but it turns out it was true it was the truth that they walk in truth and desire to know the truth repenting of lies that they may receive the truth verses 15 and 16 and his affection abounds all the more toward you as he remembers the obedience of you all how you received him with fear and trembling knowing that the word that Paul spoke was the

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Word of Christ so they received Titus with fear and trembling not ostracizing him not not rejecting him not like get out of here man cuz you're gonna give

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Paul a bad report no they received him with fear and trembling and they listened to the word that had to be said so that Titus was able to go back with the message that the

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Corinthians were receptive and repentant and so Paul says in verse 16 I rejoice that in everything

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I am encouraged by you and that really brings to a close the first section of 2nd

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Corinthians chapters 1 through 7 are the are the first section of 2nd

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Corinthians the next section is much shorter it's just chapters 8 and 9 but then

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Paul jumps back into zealous mode confronting these false teachers and man he comes with both barrels in chapters 10 through 13 so next week

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God willing we're gonna come back to 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 and we're gonna read about generosity

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Paul's encouragement to the Corinthians to be generous to others if indeed they have this grace of God that is upon them they have turned from their sin to walk in righteousness but they're also going to demonstrate their love for others and that's what we're gonna read about in the in the next section of 2nd

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Corinthians here but as we finish this up today and as we think about what it is that we've read may we desire that godly sorrow that leads to repentance don't try to hide your sin don't try to cover it up don't try to make excuses for it if you have if you have to be confronted in something somebody admonishes you they correct you with goodwill they want to bring you back to righteousness have the humility to be receptive to that correction may the

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Holy Spirit convict your hearts so that the sorrow that you experience will be a godly sorrow leading to repentance and grace

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Heavenly Father we thank you for your patience toward us we are as good as dead men and women that's what we deserve we we deserve the judgment of God to be separated from you forever but you have shown your love for us and that while we were yet sinners

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Christ died for us forgive us our sins Heavenly Father and may we walk as sons and daughters of God pleasing unto your name by the

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Holy Spirit who dwells within us it's in Jesus name that we pray amen you've been listening to when we understand the text of pastor

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Gabe Hughes Monday Tuesday and Wednesday Gabe will be going through a New Testament study then on Thursday we look at an

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Old Testament book on Friday we take questions from the listeners and viewers tomorrow we'll pick up on an