What is Godly Sorrow – Guest Editorial Joel Parlour

 

“Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (2 Corinthians 7:8-10)

Have you had sin in your life that you cannot seem to repent of? Paul gives us the Biblical secret to repentance, and thus, salvation. True Godly sorrow does not just change your momentary struggles, but it changes your heart.

At just 15 years old, I made the biggest decision a person could make when I became baptized as a teenager in Syracuse, New York and made Jesus my Lord. I was studying the Bible as a teen on and off for the previous two years with several amazing men of God in my church. They were tremendously helpful to say the least. I would even say I owe my salvation to them to the same degree that Philemon owed his to Paul (Philemon 1:19).

 

I knew the depth of the covenant I made with God and sincerely surrendered everything to him. At that point “everything” really referred to my future, as I didn’t have much going on outside of school and playing basketball… lots and lots of basketball. As a teen, I had typical teen struggles. Every so often I would cheat on some homework or lie to my parents. Yet, one sin overshadowed them all, and that was chronic lusting. This lust led to watching pornography and in time watching it regularly, and also falling into impurity with girls, myself, and eventually falling away from God and his grace.

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:13-15)

 

Although I never said out loud that God was tempting me, my actions and confessions revealed that I blamed my circumstances on God. This caused bitterness which only led to a hardening of my heart and an increase in wicked sin. As a result, I died spiritually. In the same way that Esau’s grudge against Jacob led him to immorality with foreign women (Hebrews 12:15-16; Genesis 27:41, 28:26-29), my bitterness led me down a path of destructive sin. I was back in the party scene, being grossly impure with girls, watching pornography on a regular basis, and lusting nonstop. However, I never missed a church event and no one knew what was happening because it was kept in my heart. The worst part was that I was too ashamed to confess to anybody because I wanted to protect my reputation of being a good kid. Meanwhile, my relationship with God was completely deteriorating.

Maybe the struggle you’re facing is not with impurity. Maybe your struggle is just like mine. I want you to know that the secret to repenting of any sin is Godly sorrow. If you can genuinely have a Godly sorrow about your sin – whether minimal or significant in consequence – your change of heart will lead to a change of life. I can now say before the Lord that I have struggled with lust very little for a very long time!

So, what is Godly sorrow? I have read this passage for years and strongly desired a deep understanding of it. Yet, it is not complicated. If we break down this passage we can gain seven challenges for ourselves whenever we face our sin. If we deal with our sin the way the Bible teaches us to, we will gain a godly sorrow which leads to salvation!

“See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what 1earnestness, what 2eagerness to clear yourselves, what 3indignation, what 4alarm, what 5longing, what 6concern, what 7readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.” (2 Corinthians 7:11)

I like to call this the “Seven-Point Inspection”:

1. Are you earnest? Earnestness can also be defined as diligence. It is impossible to fully translate the energy of this word into English from the Greek, but it refers to an attitude change. You could say an earnest person is sincerely serious about their walk with God. When you have sin in your heart you lose sight (Psalm 7:14) of Jesus standing beside you (Matthew 28:20) and lose the gravity of life. You forget that God is above looking down (Hebrews 4:13), or just care very little, if at all. But let’s be real. If Jesus, post resurrection, were physically standing right next to you, then things would be very different. Just because he is there in spirit does not mean he is not literally standing there. Are you serious? Get serious. Be careful.
2. Are you eager to repent? This is absolutely a reference to urgency. When someone has Godly sorrow they are eager for vindication. Apologies flow off the tongue. An eager person does not wait to confess their sin to God. Consider David’s urgency when God used Nathan to bring his sin to light in 2 Samuel 12. David had no hesitation to confess to Nathan and God and quickly requested forgiveness. Eagerness means as soon as possible!
3. Do you feel indignant? Indignation comes from irritation. When sin finds you out it should be irritating. Not that you got caught! Not that it’s embarrassing! The irritation comes from connecting to the cross of Christ. Your sin killed Jesus. You think of the way things should have gone. You make decisions to never let it happen again. This spiritual anger is displayed throughout the Bible in many instances. Take for example Jesus clearing the Temple in John 2, or Moses killing the Egyptian in Exodus 2, or Moses burning the golden calf in Exodus 34. Share God’s heart and “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9)
4. Are you afraid? In the Greek, “alarm” is “fear,” Phobos. What scares you more: How God views you? Or how people are going to view you? You cannot please men completely (Galatians 1:10). You need to fear eternal consequences (Matthew 10:28). I love the heart of the psalmist, “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” (Psalm 2:11) Paul also writes about this when he says, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). Before the Israelites were given the Ten Commandments in Exodus 34, fifteen chapters prior they trembled in the presence of God. (Exodus 19:16) Be afraid. Be very afraid.
5. What “longing?” Longing is a term rarely used. The KJV says, “vehement desire.” In other words: There is nothing you want more than to repent. You want to repent like you want water on a tremendously hot day. You want to repent like you want a snack in the middle of the night. At this point, you may lose your appetite or have a hard time sleeping until your soul rests in the surety of your repentance. How badly do you want it?
6. How concerned are you? In the KJV, the word is “zeal.” Your zeal in repentance is not to hit the streets in evangelism or make up for your sin by some self-soothing method. Your zeal is purely for the righteousness of God. Your zeal is on behalf of the person you’ve sinned against. Empathetically, you zealously want to see repentance. Your heart is fully connected to the consequences and you’re as zealous as the other person, or God, to see repentance. Let your zeal match that of the other person to see your repentance. Got that?
7. Are you ready? All sin has consequence. None more devastating as death. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) In the Old Testament when people sinned against God the consequence recorded was often death. In fact, if you add up every instance where people sinned against God and he paid them back with death, you’d calculate a number over 2,500,000. Now, that may hurt your heart to hear. It is good to know, however, because that is how intensely God hates unrighteousness. That number does not include 49 other times where numbers were not recorded, two of which were the flood and the plagues in Egypt. Therefore, some scholars estimate that sin has killed over 24,000,000 people in the Bible. But, the truth is, if there were no sin in the world then there would be no death at all. So, really, every person who has ever died, died because of their sin. God is to be revered. Today we serve the same God who is capable of the same powerful display. When moments pass and sin is not avenged with death then come times of refreshing (Acts 3:19) and appreciation for another opportunity to repent (Titus 2:11; Romans 2:4). Truly, God grants repentance! (2 Timothy 2:25)

 

In the case where sin finds you out (Numbers 32:23) the best option is to repent. Godly sorrow is the fruit of true repentance. I get so encouraged by the grace of God. It is only because of the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8) that mankind can be forgiven by the blood of Jesus (Romans 3:25).

I pray that this Bible study greatly helps you. The Scriptures are true. If you are a baptized disciple of Jesus Christ your greatest challenge from now until Jesus’ return or your soul’s departure is perseverance. You will face many challenges in life, none of which will be greater than the battle in your heart against sin. A man or a woman of God who is filled with Godly sorrow will be untouchable by circumstance. They will find a peace and joy deep down in their heart given to them by God. “You know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:9) You know that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) Be encouraged to persevere to have Godly sorrow deeply embedded in your heart.

In closing let me remind you: “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) Once repented, get motivated! Live for Christ because he lives in you. A disciple of godly sorrow revolutionizes the world. Let us be the trailblazers who are compelled by Christ’s love to evangelize our lost world in this generation. God will use his sorrowful family of believers to do the impossible!

Your increasingly sorrowful brother,
Joel R. Parlour