Godly Sorrow

The title of today's sermon is Godly Sorrow. Godly sorrow. I invite you to open your Bibles with me. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 7, if you will. 2 Corinthians 7. We'll begin reading verses 8 through 13. 2 Corinthians 7 verses 8 through 13. The context of the verses that we're about to read is that someone in the Corinthian church, it's an unidentified individual, has committed a grave sin. We don't know what that sin is. It's not specified. Paul has determined that it cannot go unaddressed and it can't go undelt with.

On the account of that, he had written a letter to the Corinthian church. It was a painful letter. He had followed up the painful letter by sending his colleague Titus just to see exactly how the Corinthian congregation had responded to what was written regarding this sin that was within the Corinthian family. By the time that we read these verses, Paul is able to express somewhat of his relief that they had responded in a wise and in a godly manner to the reprimands that he had made in the letter. It's to this that he is referring to here in 2 Corinthians. Let's begin reading here. 2 Corinthians 7 beginning in verse 8 when he says, For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it.

For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner. What diligence it produced in you. What clearing of yourselves. What indignation. What fear.

What vehement desire. What zeal. What vindication. In all things you proved yourself to be clear in this matter. Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered the wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.

Therefore, we have been comforted in your comfort, and I have rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. Let's stop there. This will be our primary passage if you want to put a marker there. With this today, I'd like to address one of the problems we see in society today. It is the problem that society, in general, has turned away from sorrow.

21st century society has turned away from sorrow, and therefore has eliminated the benefits that sorrow can bring. Specifically, the benefits of godly sorrow, as mentioned by Paul here. Now, what do I mean that they've turned away from sorrow as a society? Well, I'll try to explain that as we go along here. But first, you'll notice from this passage that sorrow is what Paul is addressing.

And it's the sorrow that has emerged from this sin. And so, as it had become apparent, Paul knew that it couldn't be treated lightly, nor could it be treated carelessly, because Paul knows that sin must, in every case, be treated ruthlessly, ruthlessly, and quickly. And that's what Paul is doing in this letter. And he's able to say to the people here that he's glad. He's glad on the account that his confrontation to their problem through this letter, that they had been hurt, but they'd only been hurt by this letter for a little while.

But he was glad that their sorrow produced repentance, as it says here. So he was rejoiced full of that fact, because Paul knew that repentance that comes from this kind of sorrow would ultimately lead to an everlasting joy, because proper sorrow brings the sinner to repentance, which ultimately leads them to everlasting joy.

That's what we see here there in verse 11. Verse 11, if you have that kind of sorrow and it leads you to repentance, look at verse 11, then it also brings you a clearing of yourself. He says, a zeal, a vindication, and so on, all these wonderful things. An ancient commentator puts it this way. He puts it this way. In sin, pleasure passes, but sorrow remains. In repentance, sorrow passes, but a pleasure abides forever. I'll repeat that. In sin, the pleasure passes, but the sorrow remains. You know that. I know that. There's maybe a temporary satisfaction, but in the end, the sorrow, it remains after sin.

But in repentance, the sorrow passes, but the pleasure abides forever. So, as perplexing as it may seem, initially, Paul wanted to bring them to sorrow. He wanted to bring sorrow into their experience by expressing the absolute seriousness of the sin that was being committed. And again, Paul knew that when we do not address sin with that seriousness, if we seek to heal the wounds of our people lightly, if we seek to ignore and turn away from the experience of sorrow that sin brings, then we end up not experiencing the full benefit that proper sorrow can bring.

So, Paul wanted the Corinthian Church to understand proper sorrow for sin, the proper sorrow for sin, is in accord with God's intention. That's the second half of verse 9 there. You see that where it says, For you were made sorry, in a godly manner. So, the sorrow they felt was God intended. So, not just Paul. God intended for them to be sorry.

Now, that might not seem striking to us here, but I got to tell you, that flies in the face of the kind of preaching that puts forth the idea that God solely wants us to be happy. You listen to any length of time, to any of today's Christian radio station, let's say, and even across the country, you will regularly hear that you're supposed to go to church, and you're supposed to solely be happy. It's supposed to solely be positive. And no matter what happens in the middle of the message, the fellow stands up and he says, Now, one thing I don't want you to do is to go away unhappy, because God wants you to be very happy.

And when I hear that, I wonder, well, where does he get that from? No. Because in this example, Paul writes to him and says, God wants you to be sorry.

Not the same thing as being happy. You know, accept that God wants you to be happy only after you are sorry. That's what his intention for the Corinthian church was.

21st century preaching misses this in large. It's a vital aspect. People ultimately want to be happy. They don't want to ultimately be sorry. But because they don't want to be sorry, they ultimately don't end up being happy. I'm going to have to play that one back to see if that makes sense. But you see what I'm saying? If they would discover what it is to be sorry first, then they'd ultimately be happy. That's what Paul wanted to get across. And I think this is a vital thing to think about here. This vital distinction. Here in verse 10. Here's the vital distinction there again in verse 10. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. So think of this vital distinction here. Two kinds of sorrow. You may have never thought about this in depth. Here. Godly sorrow, worldly sorrow. So not all sorrow for sin is godly sorrow. Not all sorrow for sin is godly sorrow. That might be eye-opening. Think about that for a moment. So not all tears of regret over sin is proper sorrow. Even tears that people shed over deep regret over sin may not still lead them to salvation. In fact, Paul is saying here, there's even a kind of crying which leads to death. It's lethal. Isn't that what he's saying? A kind of worldly kind of crying over sin which leads to death. This is important for us to get today as we prepare together around the Passover table soon as we are de-leavening, getting the leaven out of our homes and symbolic of dealing with the sin in our lives. We need to think about these two kinds of sorrow here. Big distinctions between the two. But I think the first and foremost distinction between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow, the overarching distinction that we find, is that godly sorrow always begins with God and his glory.

Worldly sorrow always begins with man and his need.

A vital distinction. Godly sorrow begins with God and his glory. Worldly sorrow begins with man and his need.

So, an individual who's confronted with godly sorrow, when he's made aware of it, he will respond with the psalmist and he will say, Against you, God, and you only have I sinned and done evil in your sight.

We won't turn there, but that's Psalm 51, verse 4. Very familiar with those words. That's godly sorrow. Against you, God, and you only have I sinned. But when an individual is suffering from worldly sorrow, instead of explaining their predicament in terms of what it's done to their relationship with God, instead of explaining their predicament in terms of what it's done against the holy nature of God, instead of saying against you and only you have I sinned, rather, worldly sorrow says, I feel so bad because I've let myself down.

I feel so bad because I have failed my spiritual goals.

Or, I'm so fed up with myself.

Just know, being fed up with yourself is probably not godly sorrow. Why? Because it's perfectly possible to be fed up with yourself without ever coming to repentance. It's that simple.

Theologian David Wells, in speaking of a god-focused sorrow, he says, quote, I think it's a good quote, without the holiness of God, sin is just failure. But not failure before God.

It's failure without the presumption of guilt. It's failure without retribution. Indeed, it's failure without any serious moral meaning at all. Unquote.

So, such individuals never feel sorry for their sins. If you get down to it, they just feel sorry for themselves.

Again, worldly sorrow is always focused on the self.

So, it's no surprise then, with this kind of sorrow, you find those individuals not looking to God and not looking to the Bible for a remedy. They go looking for self-therapy of one kind or another.

And they find that within that realm, within the psychotherapy realm, there's so much futility. Because they're not operating with God. They're operating without God. And they ultimately run into a problem. The psychotherapy society ultimately runs into a problem.

And it's this. The more the therapist is able to bring the individual to a clarity, to an understanding of their wrongful thoughts or their wrongful actions, the more guilty the individual feels. The more and more guilty they feel. So, the more successful the psychotherapist is, the more and more guilty the patient feels. And that's a problem. That's a problem. Because without God and the Bible to turn to then, they ultimately don't know what to do with that guilty conscience.

So, you brought an individual to a wretched condition, a wretched position, without a cure. So, in large, if you wanted to summarize it, the psychotherapy realm, they find themselves pondering the great question of Macbeth. Some of you have read Macbeth. To the doctor in relationship to his wife. You remember the wife rings her hands. She's trying to get off the spots. But the spots aren't there. They're imaginary. The spots are on her heart.

So, the husband goes to the doctor and says this, quote, Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased? Pluck from the memory of rooted sorrow? Raise out the written troubles of the brain with some sweet, oblivious antidote?

Cleanse the stuffed bosom of the perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart?

unquote.

In other words, doctor, can't you do anything for my wife's sorrowful heart?

Doctor replies, quote, therein the patient must minister to himself?

unquote. In other words, no. There's nothing I can do. There's no oblivious antidote that can be offered for the heart.

So, as I said in the beginning, what we have found is 21st century society in general has had to turn away from the notion of sorrow.

Because once psychiatry has brought the individual to guilt and sorrow, they don't know what to do with it. So, they've had to all but dispense of any notion of guilt you will find. So, you talk to the average psychiatrist. They're always externalizing everything. Everything's external. So, you go and you say, I feel bad about this or I feel bad about that, doc. And the therapist is there and they're trying to cut through the exaggeration. They're trying to cut through the delusion. You know, they have to do that in therapy. But they end up cutting way too far. And they end up saying to you, well, Jay, I want you to sit down and relax because I want you to know one thing. It's not your problem. It's not your problem. And you say, oh, it's terrific. I'm thrilled to hear that. I like to think it's not my problem. No, it's not your problem.

It's not your problem. Of course, it's not your problem. And we can work through this, but I want you to first know it's not your problem. So, the result is the root cause of the guilt feelings are consequently ignored. A little poem I found to express this. I think it's quite telling.

Little poem goes like this. Here's a quote. Quote, I went to my psychiatrist to be psychoanalyzed to find out why I killed the cat and blackened my husband's eyes. He laid me down on the downy couch to see what he could find. So this is what he dredged up from my unconscious mind. When I was one, my mommy hid my dolly in a trunk. So it follows naturally, I'm always drunk. At three, I had the feeling of ambivalence toward my brothers. So it follows naturally, I poisoned all my lovers.

But I am happy now, I've learned the lesson this has taught, that everything I do that's wrong is someone else's fault. Unquote.

You see, that's human psychiatry. And it would be one thing if this was just in the psychology realm, but we're finding that it's slowly becoming an epidemic in the society's churches today. Society's churches are treating sin not in the way that Paul did. Immediate full force. You know, I'm gonna treat this sin with ruthlessness. We're gonna treat it quickly.

Churches today aren't doing that. Rather, they're diminishing the effects of sin, the seriousness of sin. With no absolute right or wrong, for example, you know, what was once considered sin as short as five years ago. It's not considered sin today.

So there's a diminishing, isn't there? Why? Is there a misunderstanding of worldly sorrow and godly sorrow? Have they succumbed to the psychiatrist realm? They don't know what to do with it. They don't know what to ultimately do with guilt, proper guilt and sorrow. Makes you wonder, then, how today's churches would have dealt with the issues of sin. You know, you look at these issues that Paul was facing.

How would they treat it today in today's societal churches?

How would they have treated the young man who found himself in the pigsty?

You know, how would modern thinking Christianity have handled the young man in the pigsty? We know the story. There he is, the young man. He's come to his senses in the pigsty. He's a far away from his father's house.

The young man stands up and says, does he say this? Let me ask you this. Does he say this?

I feel so bad for myself. I've let myself down. I have no money. I hate pig food. No one will give me anything. I'm not sure if it's my fault. No, he didn't say that. That would be worldly sorrow.

Rather, he came to himself and what did he say? I have sinned against heaven.

He says, and in your sight, father. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Take me back as your servant. And he arose. And while he's still a far ways off, the father sees him, begins to run to him. The father falls on his neck and kisses him. The son begins to confess. The father breaks in with comfort and encouragement. The son had godly sorrow, which led the boy to repentance. And that's the pathway to real joy. That's the pathway. Sorrow first, proper guilt, led him to godly repentance, which eventually would bring him forgiveness, restitution, hope, joy, blessings.

But today, often what we hear regarding the guy in the pigsty is, don't be too hard on yourself. You know, I bet your brother was pretty overbearing. I'm sure it was pretty hard living in that house, you know, growing up there. Let's get you cleaned up here. I'm sure we can make the pigsty comfortable for you. I'm sure we can make the pigsty comfortable for you. So, society today, and even Christian, so-called Christian society churches, we've got a lot of people living in pigsties.

They're only being brought to a certain kind of sorrow, only a worldly sorrow. They're being preached half a gospel. So, they're becoming half a Christian. They've never gotten cleaned up or changed. They're simply made comfortable in pigsty living. Is that what Paul did to the Corinthian church? Did he try to make them comfortable? Let's make you comfortable in this sin. Not at all. It's a dreadful thing to wander around with tears of worldly sorrow.

Maybe you found yourself there. God wants us to bring us to godly sorrow. Genuine repentance, tears of genuine repentance, which will bring a clearing of ourselves.

We're going to have more on that young man in just a minute. But, again, from the world's pulpits, they're ultimately bringing men and women to worldly sorrow.

The preacher is given the responsibility to make people happy. Therefore, men and women are free from the quest of godly sorrow, which would lead them to repentance, which would lead them to ultimate happiness, which is what they truly want. So, with regards to our preaching, we need to make sure that we are preaching that which confronts men and women more on a superficial need, which gives them only worldly sorrow. That stops short of giving them the real answers they need. But you hear all the time, you know, I don't want to come to church and just be drugged down, you know. The world's depressing enough. I don't want to come to church and be depressed.

And I understand that, you know. But do you go to the doctor hoping that they'll just tell you lies, you know? Tell you lies, tell you lies, tell you sweet little lies. I'm not going to sing, I promise.

Only a certain age group would know who that was. I think it was Fleetwood Mac. I'm not sure. I barely know. You know, tell me I'm fine when I'm really not.

Give me a good diagnosis when a bad one's true. That'd be horrible.

Now, you know, you see, to achieve the right end result that you're looking for, godly sorrow is the appropriate response to real guilt, you know.

I can't airbrush the problem. The worldly pulpits don't want to deal with proper guilt and sorrow. But that notion is exactly opposite of what Paul is doing here in this letter.

Because, again, if we observe this society with any kind of perception, we see that we're worse off than it's ever been. A man is exalted, god is diminished. Again, sin is being redefined.

And this is the main reason why. They're running from the guilt. They're running from proper sorrow. They don't know what to do with it. So, diminish it. Get rid of it.

So, people are not called to repentance. So, in the time we have left, let's ask, what should our sorrow bring us to? What is the nature of genuine biblical repentance? What is it? What exactly is it? Let me tell you what it first isn't. Genuine repentance isn't.

It isn't merely a sense of being sorry that you were found out. Or, it's not merely a sense of regret that leaves you where you were.

Okay, so it's not sorrow because you've been caught, and it's not sorrow that's supposed to just leave you where it found you. For example, for example, I'll give you an example. We'll see if this is worldly or godly sorrow. The mother calls into the kitchen and says to the child, the child is just now learning to tell time, and she says, Jimmy, what is the big hand on?

The little fellow takes his hand away from the freshly cooked cookies that he's not supposed to touch. Can't believe that his mother can somehow see through the walls, you know. But what he doesn't realize, she's asking what the big hand is on on the clock. But his conscience is so touched there, and she comes into the room. She finds him covered in chocolate.

She says, I thought you told you not to touch those cookies. He says, as a lot of young ones do, I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. I won't do it again, Mom. Mom, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm so sorry. Now, is that godly sorrow?

Well, we don't know. We don't know until she goes up the stairs and he hears the vacuum get turned on, you know, and he reaches for another one. Then we know that what was expressed in a momentary time, a momentary sorrow for getting caught, it wasn't a genuine desire to turn from something that had been identified as wrong activity for him. But when the Bible speaks of the nature of true repentance, it speaks of radical reversal, radical reversal. Godly sorrow leads to repentance.

It is a, it's not only a mind-altering experience, it's a heart-altering experience.

That's what we saw in that example of the young man in the pixe-dai, isn't it? Let's look at that. Let's turn there for a moment. Luke 15, if you will. We'll come back here in just a moment.

Luke 15. Go to that familiar story which I referenced just a bit ago.

Let's look at verse 12 and 19. So, Luke 15, we're going to look at verse 12 and verse 19. We don't have time to work through this completely, but I just want you to notice the change here in this boy as we think about Godly sorrow and the radical reversal it's supposed to produce.

Look at this. Luke 15 verse 12. He says to his father, And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me a portion of goods that falls to me.

So, in other words, give me my share of the estate. That's what his life is marked at this moment in verse 12. Give me. Give me. Notice verse 19, just seven verses later. Verse 19. Look what his life is marked by now.

Verse 19, And I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.

We'll stop there. So, verse 12, give me. Verse 19, make me one of your hired servants. Why is this? Radical change. Radical change. Is it simply because he doesn't like the pigsty?

Is it simply all his friends are gone and his money's gone? Is it simply, you know, he regrets it all. It's kind of a self-regret. He let himself down. Boy, I really let myself down.

No, I don't think so. I think a new kind of sorrow came into his experience in verse 19. Different kind of sorrow. Look at verse 17. You'll notice that he came to himself. Something came to himself here. Verse 17, But when he came to himself, he said. Let's read this. Verse 17 through 19. But when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father have food enough to spare, and I perish in hunger?

Now, he's going to really get to the bottom of it. I will arise, and I will go to my father, and I will say to him, think of the distinguishing between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. What is this young man say? He says, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants. So it's imperative we understand the true nature of biblical repentance. Without this kind of repentance, there's no salvation for you or I. That's godly sorrow.

Godly sorrow that let him out of the pig's thigh. Are you sitting there wondering today?

Where am I? I wonder which sorrow I have. Do I have godly sorrow? Do I have worldly sorrow? I wonder if I have godly sorrow? Let me get it to you as clear as I can. As clear as I can.

Godly sorrow is sorrow that leads you out of the pig's thigh. It's that simple. That simple.

Godly sorrow is sorrow that leads you out of the pig's thigh.

It's kind of sorrow. We're not here to make you comfortable in the pig's thigh.

Be weary of anyone who stands up here and tries to make you comfortable in it.

They don't love you. They're trying to lead you halfway. Our responsibility, Paul's responsibility at that time, was to lead men and women to godly sorrow. Let's turn back to 2 Corinthians 7, if you will. 2 Corinthians 7 and back to verse 10.

Let's really nail it down here.

2 Corinthians 7 and verse 10 again.

This is really a deep and awesome understanding, this distinction that we have come to this afternoon. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 10.

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produced death. In other words, godly sorrow produces change. That's what this word here is. Repentance, metanoea.

It's a verb. It means an about turn. A certain context is an about face.

You know that in the military. An about face. Turn your face around, is what Paul is saying here.

You're going in one direction, get going in the other direction.

Radical reversal. This is not a momentary flush of regret. Or a momentary experience of regret because you were found out.

This kind of repentance, this kind of turnaround, it's expressed all through Scripture. Once you begin to look for it, you will see it. Most often you'll see the phrase, and they turned to God from idols. You know, you can read past those kind of wording and just keep going, but it's a profound statement. Whenever you see this radical turnaround, and that's what we do in repentance, radical turnaround. It's not that you had a bad day. Someone from the pulpit gave you an emotional surge. I'm not here to give you an emotional surge. That'll fleet. That's fleeting. That won't last.

You know, you can't just decide to put on some practices of this Christian thing, but you know, keep going ultimately in the same direction as you've always gone.

That's not going to lead you to salvation.

You know, that's someone that's still going in the wrong direction with an interest in Christian things. What will that lead you to?

Are you someone who has a practice of so-called Christian things, Christian practices, but ultimately you're going in the same direction as you've always gone?

You look deep down inside. You know. I don't know. Only you know.

I'm kind of always that same. I'm kind of still that same guy. I'm kind of still that same girl as I always was.

You may be living between, somewhere between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow.

Have I made some corrections to my course, but am I radically changed? Am I radically changed in my thinking? I've really been. I've been trying to really practice this recently. You know, and if you've been in the church a while, it's very subtle. It's often kind of disguised. You know, it's a look and it's a bad thought that comes into your mind. What do you do with it? What do you do at that moment? Do you flush it out and say, Father, I'm sorry? And you revert your direction?

Maybe a prideful look? Maybe a prideful judgment on someone? Not having a healthy understanding of your own issues? That's a big one.

Anger? Men? You know this. Some women. You know? Boy, the explosion comes so quick.

Do you keep going?

That ultimately leads to unhappiness. But if you stop yourself, repent, say you're sorry, turn from that behavior. I'm telling you, on the other side of that, you'll immediately feel bad, really bad. But on the other side, there's joy and there's fulfillment. You'll feel it. Boy, I feel so good. I hate that I did that. But thank you, Father, for helping me see it and giving me the desire to change. This is what we're talking about today. Where are you?

We want to be radically changed. We're called not to par righteousness.

Higher righteousness. Higher righteousness. It's imperative for us to understand the nature of biblical repentance. It's a changed attitude.

It's a change attached to our sorrow. We want these words to be said to us there in verse 11. Man, this is what you need to pray for right here. Boy, I want these words to be said about me at some point. Verse 11. Oh, he says, what diligence it produced in you. What clearing of yourself.

There in verse 11, what indignation. In other words, you felt an anger toward the sin in your life.

You didn't want it. It discussed you. It's revolting. Pray that sin is revolting. Whatever your particular weakness is, first pray, God, make it revolting to me. Make it revolting to me.

What fear. You know, I don't want the sorrow that leads to death.

What vehement desire. What zeal, he says. A zeal to get rid of it.

Is it of high importance to you? What vindication? Are you being set free more and more from sin?

And he says, he concludes, in all things you proved yourself to be clear in this matter. That's what I want to be said of me in the end.

So, us sitting here, we do need to say one more aspect about godly repentance. And it's a fairly obvious one, but I think it's real important. There's a deception being taught in the worldly pulpits that can bleed into our church as well. It's simply this. Repentance does not merely begin the Christian life. They seem simple, but think about it. Repentance does not merely begin the Christian life. Martin Luther, who in 1517 nailed his theses to the door of the the castle church of Wittenberg, and he was putting an axe to the the nonsense of the current theology. He wasn't on target with many things, of course, but he was on target with this when he said, quote, When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, Repent, he meant that the entire life of a believer should be one of repentance. Unquote. He's on target. Some theologians in the mix of the worldly churches actually see the issue that they're facing. They see the error. Sinclair Ferguson, a Scottish theologian, was on target. He was analyzing his own pulpits, and he said this, quote, Seeing repentance as an isolated completed act at the beginning of the Christian life has been the staple principle of much of modern evangelical society. Unquote. So you see.

And he says, as a result, quote, it has spawned a generation who look back on a single act, thus repentance has been divorced from any genuine regeneration, sanctification, and has been severed from justification. Unquote. So you see his analysis of so-called Christian churches today. You see what he's saying. They're having a certain remorse in a single event, an emotional surge, and they've gone forward. They've raised their hand. They've signed a card, whatever it is. And they can forever look back on that isolated event, hang their Christian life on that one event and how they responded. We know the Bible says it's a genuine biblical repentance is ongoing repentance. Is that what we have? It's an ongoing change, striving to change, not just an emotional surge with religious connotations attached to it.

Is it possible to have new life with no accompanied lifestyle? So we can't let this seep into our life. Are we looking back to our baptism and hanging our spiritual experience on that?

Let me try to drop it down a few notches here. On June 7, 1997, Jennifer and I were married in the backyard of her mom's house. It's a beautiful wedding. Her brothers built a dance floor, twinkle lights and everything.

But on that day, the routine was fairly straightforward. Do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife, to live together in God's ordinance, in the holy state of marriage?

Do you keep yourself only to her as you both shall live? In other words, are you prepared to live in an exclusive relationship with this girl? Yes.

We received a piece of paper. We signed it. Now, what's the indication that there was a genuine commitment made on that day and in that ceremony? What's the indication that there was a genuine commitment made on that afternoon? The piece of paper? No. No. It's 21 years of married life. It's 21 years of saying no to temptation and yes to fidelity. It's 21 years of ratifying that certificate in how we live our daily experience.

It's authenticity what happened on that afternoon is in the working out of sickness and health and joy and sorrow and good and bad. All that in that arena in those 21 years. And any behavior contrary to that would cause in the eyes of the witnesses on that day to wonder if that was a genuine commitment made in that backyard on that afternoon. Any behavior contrary causing to question the authenticity because no lifestyle was attached to the profession that was made.

You see?

One more poem. I'll make it the last one. It is not enough to say I'm sorry and repent and then go on from day to day just living as we went.

Repentance is to leave the sins we loved before and to show that we did earnestly grieve by doing them no more. Don't hang your hat on the day that you were baptized. Is baptism required? Yes. Is it a solemn commitment that you must make with God? Yes. Yes. Is that it? No. I want you to know that's just the beginning. Just the beginning. So no matter where you are and how many years you've been baptized, you're still on a journey. You're still ratifying, showing that that commitment was authentic each day.

Biblical repentance is not locked up in some momentary time, but it's expressed throughout the totality of our days.

At the moment of baptism, God regenerates us with the power of His Spirit and implants in us the principle of a new life. Our new lifestyle is evidence of the change that has been brought. So, as we conclude today, in our thoughts today, in our prayers tonight, let's thank God and let's ask Him to bring us sorrow for sin. Have Him ask Him to bring us godly sorrow. Bring that into our experience. Help us to achieve a radical turnaround, a turnaround which allows us to bear testimony to the saving grace of our Father. Have Him work into us godly sorrow. May God grant us the discovery of godly sorrow, leading to genuine Biblical repentance today.