What is Godly Sorrow

As you're well aware—and this is no news flash to anybody—we are living in a deeply troubled world. Our world is troubled on every level, emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually. Now, so much for the bad news. We got that out of the way. I spent 15 seconds on that. That's all I'm going to spend on that. Thanks be to God that you and I can celebrate God's life-empowering, life-giving solutions to the troubles of the world. Thanks be to God that we can share information with the rest of the world that talks about these wonderful things you and I have come to believe. Thanks be to God that we can share good news, the good news that God is a plan of salvation, a plan that gives life, real life, eternal life. Thanks be to God that mankind's destiny, mankind's potential, goes far beyond mankind's greatest dream. For a lot of people who don't know God, don't care to know God, atheists, they feel when you die, that's it. You go into grave and that's it. Well, we know the good news that that's not the case. Thanks be to God that our God is a loving and compassionate God, a God of grace and mercy. In that grace and mercy toward us, He's opened up our hearts and minds to understand His plan of salvation. And today we're taking a look at the last day of Unleavened Bread, a beautiful time that shows something that is very close to God's heart. And that is for us to be living in an unleavened fashion, to be getting rid of sin and every vestige of sin. And to be not only getting rid of sin, because the days of Unleavened Bread picture more than just getting rid of the negative, we must bring in the positive. We must bring in the righteousness of God. So you and I can thank God for the unique, deep spiritual insights that we have by looking at the Holy Days. We have spiritual tools that help comfort us and strengthen us. I'm not going to turn there, but in your notes you might want to jot down 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7. 2 Timothy 1 says, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. You don't see a whole lot of a sound mind today in the news, do you? You see a lot of confusion. You see a lot of people who have got really wacky ideas, but God has given us the power of love and of a sound mind. Also, thanks be to God that we've got knowledge of God's plan to encourage us. Mankind needs encouragement. Again, in your notes, you might want to jot down. I'll read it for you, but jot down Jeremiah 29 verse 11. I've quoted this on a number of occasions here since I've been your pastor. Jeremiah 29, 11 says, For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and to give you a hope, a future and a hope. So, brethren, on this last day of Unleavened Bread, we want to take a look at a spiritual dynamic that very much is a part of these days of Unleavened Bread. This spiritual dynamic is essential to our understanding. It's essential to our spiritual well-being at all times. Today, we're going to be studying the spiritual dynamic of godly sorrow. Godly sorrow.

For those of you who like to take notes, and the number of you do, I've got a question here. It's a little bit of a wordy question, but it kind of highlights what I want to cover so far as the theme today. The question is this. What is godly sorrow, and what does that have to do with the days of Unleavened Bread? What is godly sorrow, and what does it have to do with the days of Unleavened Bread?

Let's begin, though, by getting our spiritual bearings. This is the school of Leviticus 23, where all of the beautiful holy days of God are enumerated and discussed. Leviticus 23. I was encouraged when I saw that the Supreme Court of Wisconsin struck down the governor's mask mandate, and I thought, good! We'll be able to go to services and not wear those funny masks and be able to breathe properly. Then I find out, well, really, nothing's changed. Nothing's changed. I took a look at the article that was talking about that, and I don't know if the governor put on another mandate or what he did, but nothing's changed.

We still have to wear the masks and so forth, so we'll continue to abide by those laws. But here we have in Leviticus 23 God's commands. These are not directives of men. These are God's commands. Chapter 29 of Leviticus, starting here in verse 6. Leviticus 23 verse 6. And on the fifteenth day of the same month as the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord. Notice, to the Lord. Not to Judah. To the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. Now, you know, when you look at the holy days of God, there are two. You've got the days of unleavened bread and you've got the feast, where you've got seven days. That says something, doesn't it?

God is telling us something by the way this holy season is constructed. Seven days of unleavened bread. Seven denoting completeness. God wants us to completely get rid of every vestige of sin. And He wants to make sure we're bringing in His righteousness. Verse 7. On the first day, you shall have a holy convocation. A summons by God. A commanded assembly. You shall do no customary work on it. No, God wants us all to be thinking very deeply about the meaning of these days. You shall offer an offering made by fire. Verse 8 here. To the Lord for seven days.

The seventh day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. Now, brethren, this shows these days of unleavened bread are quite unique. Yeah, there are two times during the year when we've got seven days, talking about the same thing, unleavened bread and the feast. But only during the days of unleavened bread do we have two holy days.

Now, you might be thinking, you have to put Mr. Delisandre at the feast. We've got two holy days. Well, yes, you've got feast, which is one holy day, but then the other holy day is the last great day. That's a separate and distinct holy day with its own special meaning. So, only one holy day season in the year, these days of unleavened bread, do we have two holy days. God is telling us something.

Seven days, two of those days, are holy convocations. So, God wants us to really think deeply as we start the holy day system of what we're to be accomplishing. The Passover pictures God's forgiving us of our sins through Jesus Christ, but then what? Do we just live any old way after Jesus Christ died for us? You know, I was making a comment. I gave the sermon, the same sermon last week in Chicago.

There are those people, sometimes even church people, a few times you've heard even church people say, well, I don't know if God loves me. Mostly, it's people in the world. But, you know, I was saying last week in Chicago, if you could take people and transport them back into time and let them stand in front of Jesus Christ after he had been tortured. After Jesus Christ went through all, you know, there's the time where he had the various trials of six trials before the torturing.

But to understand and to look at his body after that torturing and to realize he did that, and if a person says, he never loved me, well, wait a minute, he did that for you. He did that for you. And you're going to tell me he doesn't love you?

So what do we do after that Passover service, after that Passover festival? Well, God wants us to walk in newness of life. And through these days of unleavened bread, he tells us how we are to do that. We are to get sin out, we are to get that leavening out and bring in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So these days picture a way of life that God wants us to live, an unleavened way of life. Christ said, I've come that they may have life and they might have it more abundantly. And we have the abundant life as we are deleavening ourselves with God's help. Now, some people would say, well, Leviticus 23, that's Old Testament, that's Old Covenant. Well, you know better. You're a very well-schooled group of people in the Bible. You know that the Bible is not at war with itself. It's not the Old Testament versus the New Testament. It's not God versus Christ. It's a beautiful picture. Let's take a look at where this is verified in a New Testament. That's over 1 Corinthians chapter 5. We're reinforced here in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, our need to keep these days. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, starting here in verse 6. Verse 6, Your glory is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? A little leaven is dangerous. A little sin can really take over. It expands. It conquers. That's why we de-leaven so very carefully. We want to make sure we get every last little bit out, because we realize the danger of not getting every last little bit out. Verse 7, Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump. We are new creatures in Christ. In your notes, you might want to jot down 2 Corinthians 5.17. 2 Corinthians 5.17. We are new creatures in Christ. We are a new lump. Notice verse 7 here again, Since you are truly unleavened, for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. So Christ was sacrificed for us, making us a new lump, making us unleavened as our sins were forgiven. See the beautiful context we see here that verifies what we saw over in Leviticus chapter 23, verse 8. Therefore, let us keep the feast. Let us not do away with the feast. Let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. For the new covenant Christian removing leaven from our homes for seven days reminds us that we, through prayer, through God's help, must recognize sin and get it out of our lives completely. Days of unleavened bread are a time of personal reflection. What is it in my life? What thought patterns? What habits? What things that I'm doing just by habit, by road? Need to go.

Let's turn over to Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews chapter 12.

In verse 1, Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 starts with the word, therefore, and again, as you know, being as well-schooled as you are in the Scriptures, when you see that word, therefore, basically it's telling you to think about what you just read, and in this case, in chapter 11. But all these people who gave up everything to de-leaven their lives, everything to de-leaven their lives and to follow the great God. Hebrews 12 verse 1, therefore, we also, we also, we're the same family.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they're part of our family. Moses, Joshua, David, they're a part of our family. Peter, Paul, the apostles, we've had a very great family. Spiritually speaking, we've got a high bar to get to live up to. And of course, all of that under Jesus Christ. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, talking about chapter 11, let us lay aside every weight. Let us de-leaven ourselves with God's help. And notice, sin is referred to as a weight. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. So this first verse actually is a good verse for our days of unleavened bread. We need to get rid of the sin, and then we'll run with endurance as we're adding the things of God to our lives, the race that is set before us. Now, all of this is preparatory, all of this is predicated and gave us background information to get into this idea, what is godly sorrow? Why is godly sorrow an important topic to discuss during the days of unleavened bread? Well, let's take a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 7.

When Paul wrote, you know, we're going through this in the Bible studies, Mr. Morrison is going through 1 Corinthians right now. I'm sure that we'll get to 2 Corinthians in time. But 1 Corinthians was one of the most corrective books that the Apostle Paul ever wrote. I've often used that book as an example. People say, well, I wish we were like people back in New Testament times. You know, some people almost give you the impression, they think that everybody in New Testament times walked on water. Well, I would encourage you to read the book of 1 Corinthians. They didn't all walk on water. There were a lot of issues there in that church, but they still were God's people. They had a long way to go, but God wasn't going to give up on them. But notice here, 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 10. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation. So if we want to de-leaven our lives with God's help, we need godly sorrow. Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. So we want the right kind of sorrow. And, you know, as I was putting my thoughts together for this message, I was thinking about, and to me, looking at people's lives examples is always as meaningful to me. That's one of the reasons I came in and was able to be baptized in a church. I knew all the wise and the wherefores, all the scriptures, as I was counseling with Dr. Albert. But, you know, I was having such a hard time because Satan, realizing I wanted to give my life to God, he said, okay, let's throw a wrench into monkey works here. Let's give Randy doubt that he never had in his life. Let him, as a student at Ambassador College, who was getting great grades in all of his theology classes, let's let Randy Del Sandro doubt the existence of God. Let's let him doubt the existence of the scriptures. And I mean, there was a wall of doubt that hit me like I could not believe. And so I was told, well, you need to take a week, take a day and fast this week. And I went back to Dr. Albert and said, Dr. Albert, I fasted. I said, I can give you whatever, ask me whatever question you want. I can answer it, but it's not in here. He says, we'll fast again. Well, we did that for five straight weeks. Then after five weeks, you know, a day each week fasting at the sixth week, he said, Randy, he said, you start, talk to your employer, you start on Friday and you don't stop until you're through. You don't stop until God gives you the power to break through. That took three days, three days and three nights, 72 hours of fasting. But the thing that helped me the most is one of my fellow students said, you know, Randy, look at the people you've lived with in the dormitory. Look at how they were before they were baptized. And then after they were baptized, there are fruits and people's lives that are unmistakable when it comes to the Holy Spirit. And that, that got, that was something that got to me. Maybe that wouldn't get to you, but it got to me. It helped me to really understand that then I was able to break through with God's help and was able to be baptized. So, personal example is always meant a lot to me. You take a look at Judasus Carriot and Peter. Both handled the events surrounding Jesus Christ's death in the wrong way. Judas brazenly betrayed Jesus Christ with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave.

Peter denied knowing Christ three times, swore about not knowing the man. But one of those men, Peter, had godly sorrow. He came to true repentance. He came to be a man God used greatly. He had godly sorrow. But Judasus Carriot had worldly sorrow. Judasus Carriot had remorse. He felt bad. He felt so bad he went out and hung himself. But he didn't repent. So, we don't want Judasus's kind of repentance. We want Peter's kind. We want godly sorrow. Godly sorrow. Worldly grief does not progress toward repentance. There are deep regrets people have, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to change their hearts or minds. It doesn't necessarily mean they're going to mend their lives. Worldly sorrow is self-centered. People can feel humiliated. They did something wrong or they got caught.

But that doesn't mean they've got godly sorrow. So, again, during these days of unliving bread, when we want to have godly sorrow to get sin out of our lives, how do we understand the dynamics that are here? And as I thought about this, I saw four different aspects of godly sorrow that I want to cover with you today. Four aspects of godly sorrow. Spiritual dynamics. Spiritual dynamic number one, if we're going to have godly sorrow, we must understand that God calls us. God calls us. And what does that have to do with these days of unleavened bread? Well, God has called us to an unleavened life.

Brethren, we have to appreciate the fact that godly sorrow and repentance comes only from God. We can't manufacture that. That is something that we receive through the grace of God. It's miraculous in that sense. The rest of the world doesn't have it. But miraculously, God has opened up our hearts and minds to understand things. He begins by calling us a gift of God's grace. Let's go to something very basic here. And the scriptures I'm going to cover with you today are very basic, but they're beautiful. Just because something's basic doesn't mean, well, we've heard that before. No. When you walk into a building, you want to make sure that building is properly put together. You want to make sure the foundation is right, and so on and so forth. Let's go to John chapter 6. Again, very familiar scriptures. John chapter 6, verses 44 and 45.

And just think about this as being the spiritual dynamics here. John chapter 6, verse 44, red lettering in my Bible. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. If we want godly sorrow, we have to appreciate the fact that God has to open the gateway of our mind. God must open the gateways of our mind to accept information from him. Information from him. It's through God's grace. It's miraculous. It doesn't happen to everybody. It's happened to you. It's happened to me. God has to turn the light on in our mind. Verse 45, it is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. How beautiful is that? God teaches us spiritual principles that we can learn from no other source. We can get from no other source, but from God only. It's a tremendous spiritual dynamic. And our father, most of us in this room are parents or grandparents, both. We know what it was like to teach our young. We know what it was like when we were telling our kids about not crossing the street. And you can see in our face and their eyes that they were getting it. Sometimes they didn't get certain things we were teaching, but other times you could just read it in their face. They got it. Well, our father wants us to get it. And he's supernaturally, powerfully opening up the gateways of our mind to accept his truth, teaching us spiritual principles. Let's turn now to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, because God gives us tremendous tools. Let's just take a look at two of them here. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, starting in verse 9, verse 2, But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. This is true of mankind in general. They may be brilliant human beings. Brilliant.

You know, over in my hometown of Detroit, one of the suburbs is Dearborn, home of Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company. Mr. Ford and the people that followed him put together a beautiful museum. You can go through that museum. It would take you days to go through that museum and see everything's there. They've got all sorts of things there. You want to see locomotives. They've got X number of locomotives. They've got a beautiful car display, different cars, airplanes. You go for days and days and be in there. They've got the the the automobile that John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot in. They've got the chair Abraham Lincoln was shot in. It's a very interesting place to go. But also, they've not only had the museum, they've got Henry Ford Village. And there you've got a place like Noah Webster's home where they took it down wherever it was to begin with and and transported and rebuilt it there. You see all sorts of wonderful things there. One of the things you see, Thomas Edison's original laboratory, they disassembled that, brought it over to Dearborn, reassembled it. But you also have the Wright Brothers bicycle shop. And you walk into the Wright Brothers bicycle shop and you realize that from the time they took their first flight in Kitty Hawk to the time we were standing on the moon, it was only a matter of 60-some years.

What is man capable of doing? But he's not capable of understanding the things of God. You are because he's opened your mind. Because he's teaching you. That's miraculous. That's beautiful. But notice verse 10 here. 1 Corinthians 2.10, But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. So here's one of those beautiful tools God gives us as Holy Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. The world has had its great thinkers, its great philosophers, and people of the world who don't know the truth of God, they stand in awe of some of these world philosophers. And yet their philosophies are of the flesh. They don't produce anything. But God, through the Spirit, helps us understand the deep things, not just the trite things, or little things, or we things, the deep things of God. So that's one of the tools we have, the Holy Spirit. There's another tremendous tool we see over here in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 4. And you know where I'm going. Hebrews chapter 4. We see this other powerful tool that God uses in his working with us, calling us and teaching us. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12. Hebrews 4, 12. For the Word of God. Yes, God gives us a Spirit, but He also gives us the Word. His thinking in print. For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than an eight-two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, to the joints of marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This tool can discern whether we are going on a leavened path in life or an unleavened path in life.

God gives us that direction. So the first spiritual dynamic we have heading toward godly sorrow is God working with us by calling us, by opening up our minds. Dynamic number two of the four.

Dynamic spiritual dynamic of godly sorrow number two. God convicts us of our sin and of our being a sinner.

Convicts us of our sin and our being a sinner. It's not just what we've done. It's what we are, who we are. Why is this important to the days of unleavened bread? Well, God convicts us that we need to live an unleavened life. We need to be convicted of that. Let's go to John 16.

John 16 and verse 8. Again, read in my Bible, read lettering in my Bible.

We'll start in verse 7. John 16. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper, God's Spirit, will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him. I will send the Holy Spirit to you. And when he has come, when the Holy Spirit has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. So once again, we've got God's Holy Spirit, one of those great tools that God gives us, that convicts us of the leavening in our life and shows us how we are to live a de-leavened way of life. We must be convicted. 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1.

Verses 9 and 10.

If we confess our sins, now to be able to confess our sins, we need to be able to see what they are. Through the Scriptures, we understand what sin is, what the leaven is. And then we can be convicted of that leaven and confess our sins. And it says, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

There are plenty of people I've known over the years in the church who wonder, has God forgiven me? Well, if we are truly repentant, if we've got true, godly sorrow, if we not only regret what we've done but take steps to amend our life accordingly, then it says, God is faithful. I don't know about you, but I will live with the faithfulness of God every day of the week. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

You know, we can think about this whole idea about conviction when we think about how God was teaching Old Testament Israel. We've gone through the five different major sacrifices that God gave to that nation. One of the sacrifices was the sin offering. Sin offering did not picture a specific sin. The sin offering pictured the individual as having gone away from God. Then you've got the trespass offering, and the trespass offering dealt with specific sin. So one of the offerings dealt with the individual. One of the offerings dealt with the specific sins. God wanted His people to understand that we must be convicted of those sins so we can properly repent. Moving on to dynamic number three.

Spiritual dynamic of Godly star number three is that God grants us repentance. God grants us repentance. What does that have to do with these days of unleavened bread? Well, God grants us repentance so we can live an unleavened life. But God must grant us that. Let's go over to 2 Timothy chapter 2.

2 Timothy chapter 2. Talking about the work of the ministry, but as we're talking about the work of the ministry, notice what it says here. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 24. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach and patient.

Hopefully the pastors you've had over the years were true to this statement.

A servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, and humility, correcting those who are in opposition. You see, brethren, we can be very much in opposition to what's in our best spiritual interests. That's human nature. That's who and what we are apart from God. We're in opposition to what God wants for us. Going on that same verse, verse 25, if God perhaps will grant them repentance. So you see, brethren, this is why it's the grace of God that has worked in your life. It is miraculous in that sense. Not everybody's been given the gift of repentance. You have. God loves you so much, He's granted you repentance, the opportunity to see yourself and to know how to change using God's Holy Spirit and God's Word. If perhaps God will grant them repentance so they may know the truth, not just the truth of what the Bible says, it would certainly include that, but know the truth about who we are. I'm sure every one of us in this room has been self-deceived at one time or another. We've thought better of ourselves than we should have at one time or another. We've not seen the truth about ourselves at one time or another. And change is not that that's true for every one of us right now. Chances are there are things in your life and in mine that we really don't see. Where we're falling short of the glory of God. And God has got to grant us repentance so we can see ourselves better. Verse 26, that they may come to their senses, spiritually speaking, and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. So yes, we have to have God grant us repentance. We also need the will of God in our life to want to repent. If you'll turn to Philippians chapter 2 and verse 13, I'm going to read this in a new Living Translation. You know, the other day in Chicago, I pulled out my trusty little bottle of water, started to drink. It always is better when you take the cap off.

You don't get much out of one of these things if you don't take the cap off. So there are times you can look pretty foolish standing in front of people. I feel like I had to milk that bottle there. The water just wasn't coming. Philippians 2.13, this is New Living. By the way, New Living Translation is a wonderful translation to kind of add color to what the Scriptures have for you. It's good when you and I are studying the Scriptures, especially if you've got a computer and you've got access to the internet. Over the years before I knew these things existed, I spent thousands of dollars I've got three major Bible programs on my computer at home. But you can get so much of that stuff now free. There are so many different sites out there. Blue Letter Bible would be one. You can have any number of Bible translations. It's absolutely free. There are commentaries, interlunaries, you name it, it's out there. It's free. So it's always good when you're studying to take a look at parallel Bibles. Look at a number of translations to get the meat out of what a Scripture is talking about. But here in Philippians 2.13, in the New Living, it says, "...for God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him." Giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

And so we certainly want to be thankful that God grants us repentance. That brings us to the last spiritual dynamic. And I won't get this done in the next seven minutes, so we will go over time a little bit. Spiritual dynamic number four about understanding what godly sorrow is, is that dynamic number four, we must bear fruits worthy of repentance. We must bear fruits worthy of repentance. It's not just a matter of knowing something. It's not just a matter of academic understanding. I think I may mention to you on a number of occasions over my 40-plus years in the ministry, as I've gone to visit people in the various states I've worked in. I think I've worked in eight different states. As I've invited people to services who knew about the Sabbath, who knew about the Holy Days, who knew about tithing, who knew almost everything there was to know, and I invited them to services, I would say 90% or more never came. The great majority never came.

You see, there's a difference between those people and you. And I say this to your credit. You knew you needed to change, but you weren't wanting to just accept that knowledge. You wanted to do something. As I said there in Acts 2, when I heard this wonderful sermon, what did they say to Peter and the rest of the apostles? Men and brethren, what must we do? There was a time in your life when you said, what must I do to be baptized? What must I do to be able to come to services? It was more than just an understanding of things. You wanted to roll your sleeves up and do something, and that is dynamic number four. Bearing fruits worthy of repentance. What does that have to do with days of unleavened bread? Well, God desires we bear fruits of an unleavened life. Unleavened life. Let's look at Psalm 51. We know that Psalm so well. Psalm of repentance by David.

Psalm 51 verse 4.

I wrote down the wrong scripture. I anyhow, where David talks about how he is sinned only before God. I thought, oh, no wonder why. I'm in Isaiah 51. Let's go to Psalm 51. So, I think I've got the right scripture there.

Psalm 51 verse 4. Against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight, that you might be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge. The idea here in Psalm 51 verse 4 is that Godly sorrow is directed toward God. Godly sorrow is directed toward God. We are grieved. We mourn over what we've done, how we've transgressed against Him, how we've broken His law, how we've come short of His glory.

In your notes, you might want to jot down Romans chapter 7 where we see where the Apostle Paul felt deep sorrow over his sins that he had committed. Of course, here in Psalm 51, we read of David's heartfelt prayer of sorrow. In Job chapter 42, Job said, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. So we must bear fruits worthy of repentance. So where does that take us? Well, how do we know if we're bearing fruits worthy of repentance? Thankfully, God gives us that understanding. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 7.

2 Corinthians chapter 7.

Let's reread verse 10. 2 Corinthians 7.10, for godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation. Boy, we want that, don't we? Not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. Well, we don't want that. Verse 11, though, is key. For observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner. So starting here in verse 11, we've got fruit that shows whether we've got godly sorrow. And brethren, this is not just something we read prior to being baptized. When you are analyzing yourself, you know, this time of Passover is a time we use for self-examination. Not that we don't examine ourselves the rest of the year, but it's an intensive examination. So when you're looking at something in your life and you're trying to figure out, well, have I really repented of that or not? You ask yourself, well, what does the fruit say? Well, what fruits do you use? What checklist do you use? Here is a checklist. There are seven different fruits that show whether you have godly sorrow or not. Whether you've got sorrow at 0% or sorrow at 100%, you've got a checklist right here. For observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner. What diligence it produced in you. Two, what clearing of yourselves. Three, what indignation. Four, what fear. Five, what vehement desire. Six, what zeal. Seven, what vindication. In all these things, now if you see yourself with all those seven fruits, then this last sentence is true. In all these things, you have proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. What matter? The matter of having godly sorrow. So let's take a few moments here, and I said, we'll take you a little over time today. Let's take a look at each of these seven fruits, and we won't spend for hours, you know, you won't be falling out of the loft here. We won't be spending that much time. But number one, diligence. The truly repentant, converted Christian will be on the lookout for any and all ways that are contrary to God's teachings. Just like when you first, at least for those of us who weren't born into the church, when we found out what things we should not be eating, remember those first times we went to go buy groceries? We're looking at all those labels. People around us are getting miffed because we're reading every label, and it's taking us hours to go do our grocery shopping. Why? Because we were diligent. We want to make sure that we weren't getting something that didn't have, you know, unclean meat or food in it. We want to do our very best to make every effort, try as hard as possible, to walk in the light. We want to be diligent. And, brethren, I fear that that diligence is lacking in some today. I think that's why we have a Laodicean era, and I think we are in the Laodicean era. It doesn't mean you have to be Laodicean, but I see too much around me. Not that I'm thinking of any of you, but as I hear about other areas and other things, and what some people are saying, and the way some people are perceiving things, I think we're not as diligent as we should be. Let's take a look at Deuteronomy chapter 4. I just want to look at one scripture here. Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 5 through 9.

Deuteronomy 4 verses 5 through 9. Surely I've taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore, be careful, and be diligent to observe them. For this is your wisdom and your understanding and insight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, Sure, this great nation is wise in understanding people. I've had members come up to me and say, as they've been keeping the truth of God, the laws of God, being a light where they work or in their community, the people have said these sorts of things to them. And people have said, I don't know what church you're going to. I'm not much of a church person, but if I was going to go to church, I'd go to your church. I've had people say that to our members. Or people walk into a restaurant, seeing our children so well-behaved, and say, Wow, you're really doing something right. For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments, as there in all this law, which I set for you this day, only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life, and teach them to your children and to your grandchildren. Be careful. Be diligent. Fruit number two. A clearing of yourself. A clearing of yourself. The truly repentant, converted Christian will demonstrate how serious they are by showing their disapproval of sin, which they've been guilty of, and their wanting to clear their name before God, to repent. The phrase clearing of themselves means working toward having a good reputation with the one who counts God. We want a clear reputation before God as repent. Let's turn over to Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4.

Nor give place to the devil. We don't want to give any place to the devil. We want to make sure we're clear along those lines. We don't want him to have a toehold or a foothold. We don't want him to have a base of operations. Number three of the seven. What indignation. Indignation. A truly repentant, converted Christian will absolutely hate sin. Loth sin.

Why do we have to have an anger or an indignation against sin? Because if we don't, we'll be cozy with it. If we don't, we won't want to root it out of our lives. We have to detest it. We have got to hate it. We don't want anything to do with it. Romans 12.

Romans 12. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Again, another Days of Unleavened Bread Scripture. Abhor the evil. Abhor the leaven. Cling to what is unleavened. Cling to what is good. Cling to what is good.

Item number four. Is fear.

A fourth fruit of godly sorrow is fear. The truly repentant, converted Christian, fears God. We're not talking about shaking in our boots, but we are talking about a positive kind of fear, a awe and reverence in understanding who God is, a respect for God, for God's ways. And that grows in our hearts. A couple of Proverbs here we want to take a look at. Let's go to Proverbs chapter eight to begin with.

Proverbs chapter eight.

Verse 13. Proverbs 8 13. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. See, we're seeing now these principles are building one on another. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Yes, we want to fear God. We want to also have an indignation against sin. They work together. Pride and arrogance in the evil way. And the perverse mouth, I hate, says God. Proverbs chapter 16 and verse six. Proverbs 16 and verse six. Proverbs 16 and verse six. In mercy and truth, atonement is provided for iniquity. And by the fear of the Lord, one departs from evil. Why is that true? If we fear God, have awe of Him, respect Him, love Him, then we want to be like Him. And if we're going to be like Him, we can't have anything to do with sin in our life. He's our Heavenly Father. We pray our Father in Heaven. We're a part of the family. In our family trade as we hate sin and walk away from it. Number five.

Fruit of godly sorrow is a vehement desire. The truly repentant, converted Christian will have a great, vehement desire to change, to go God's way. This is of the heart. This is of the mind. It's who you are. It's the direction you want to go. No. You must vehemently want to change, to be more like God.

We want to be unleavened every day of our lives. Be more Christ-like, to emulate His example, to allow the Spirit of Christ to work deeply in our lives. Let's take a look at John 6, which was read to you on Passover evening. John 6. John 6, verse 31-35. John 6, verse 31.

Our Father, the manna in the desert, and as is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said, And Lord, give us this bread always. They had a vehement desire. Give us this bread always. I'm sure as you were sitting there on Passover evening, whether you were in your home or you were here in services, as we were going through the bread and the wine, you had a vehement desire, a strong desire of your heart and your mind to be just like your elder brother, Jesus Christ. You probably thought about ways in the past year where you were not like Jesus Christ, and you were saying to yourself, I don't want to be like that next Passover. I want to make sure things are different. Maybe I won't be totally perfect, but I want to make some real inroads on those things in my life. Let's take a look at Matthew 6. I have another scripture here. Matthew 6.

Matthew 5, verse 6. Matthew 5, verse 6. It'd be attitudes.

Matthew 5, 6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are those who hunger. The word there in the Greek means to crave ardently. It means to seek with an eager desire. To long for. So you're hungering, you're craving, you're seeking, you're longing for. And it says, Blessed are those who hunger and those who thirst. The word for thirst there means to desire passionately. Desire passionately. So when you read Matthew 5, 6, you don't get the idea of somebody who just kind of, yeah, I want to change. Some willy-nilly, weak-wristed person who, if it comes, it comes, if it doesn't, it doesn't. No, you have, you long, you crave, you desire, your desire passionately. You want to go God's way. That's your vehement desire. Number 6. Fruit is zeal. As we said before, passion is great. We need passion. And all of us show that passion differently. But we need the right kind of passion. A truly repentant, converted Christian is full of zeal. It's an energetic, unflagging enthusiasm, especially for the cause.

The cause of repentance. Let's go to Revelation 3. See what God has to say to the Laodiceans. Revelation 3, starting here in verse 17. Because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Brethren, I really see this as being a problem for some in a church today. We've been in a church 20, 30, 40 years, where maybe the fourth or fifth generation, I know everything. I've heard all these sermons. I've read the Bible through. And yet, we can be complacent.

And do not know that we are wretched— spiritually speaking, we are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. What does God say here? Christ said to this church, verse 18. I counsel you to buy from me gold, refined, in the fire. Real character. That you may be rich spiritually, white garments, without spot. That you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eyesab, that you may see, because you're not seeing right now. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent.

Be zealous and repent. And now this verse 20, which is interesting. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

It's as if Christ is standing outside of the house. He's not really in the house. They have walked away from so far that Christ is outside looking in, and Christ has got to stand at the door and knock. Let me in.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me. We will abide with one another. The last fruit of godly sorrow. The nude King James calls it vindication. But I will quote to you from the King James, the authorized version. The King James lists the seventh fruit of godly sorrow as revenge. Revenge. I think that's much better. The truly repentant, converted Christian takes godly revenge. What is godly revenge? Godly revenge is turning our back on Satan. Godly revenge is turning our back on Satan's ways. We repent. We turn 180 degrees and go a totally different direction. We move toward God. We move away from Satan. A beautiful scripture here, and I've quoted this to you, I think, a number of times. Book of Joel.

In the minor prophets, you've got Hosea and Joel. Joel chapter 2 has got one of the best definitions of repentance in the scriptures. Joel chapter 2 verses 12 and 13.

Joel chapter 2 verses 12 and 13.

Joel 2, 12, Now therefore says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart. You're zealous.

And you're going to do with all your heart. Not part of your heart. All of your heart. All of your heart. With fasting and weeping, with mourning. Yes, you're into it, and you're going to do something. You're going to fast, and you're showing some emotion here. You're weeping. You're mourning. It's a part of your heart. This is not just some analytical detail here. This is something that you really mean. So, rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God. Quit going the way of sin. Return to the Lord your God for He's gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and he relents from doing the harm.

Brennan repentance is a way of thinking.

It's a way of living. A way of thinking, and because it's a way of thinking, it's a way of living. One last time. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians, chapter 7. Last scripture today. 2 Corinthians, chapter 7, verse 11.

For observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner. Then we've got these seven fruits. Diligence. Clearing of ourselves. Indignation. Fear. Vium and desire. Zeal. Vindication or revenge. If we've got those fruits, then we've got godly sorrow. And all these things you've proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. So today, as we were analyzing during this last day of Unleavened Bread, as we were analyzing what it means to have godly sorrow, we saw there are four basic spiritual dynamics. Number one, God calls us. Number two, God convicts us. Number three, God grants us repentance. And number four, we bear fruits worthy of repentance. Brethren, let's live the way God has called us to live. Let us live in a way that is fulfilling godly sorrow.