Godly Sorrow Leads to Repentance

Transcript

GR 1815
10/04/2015
Godly Sorrow Leads to Repentance
2 Corinthians 7:8-13
Gil Rugh

We're going to 2 Corinthians 7 in your Bibles, 2 Corinthians 7. We took a break last week in our study, but now we’ll pick up again in this 7th chapter. You remember Paul had written a very serious and difficult letter to the Corinthians. I'm taking that the first letter to the Corinthians as we have it, 1 Corinthians, is that letter. Some hold that there was a severe letter written that we don't have a record of and Paul's addressing. It won't change what is in this letter. But I do think he is talking about 1 Corinthians. He wrote that letter and sent it to Corinth with Titus and he is anxiously waiting to hear how the Corinthians responded. We went through 1 Corinthians and looked at some of the serious and firm things Paul had to say, things he had to deal with. You know how it is if you have to go and confront someone either personally or by letter, a believer, about sin. You are always uneasy about how are they are going to respond. Paul has a deep love for the Corinthians, and he is waiting to hear.

So that's what he's talking about into 2 Corinthians 7. In verses 5-7 where we have looked he talks about what happened when he met Titus. Just a review, I know some of you can't see it too well, I'll use just the pointer here. The rest of you look on the map. You see the red dot over here where Ephesus is. This is where Paul is when he writes 1 Corinthians. Then he leaves and goes up to Troas, that's up here, right on the water, a port that you can cross over. He expected, probably Titus went across right here over to Corinth. Corinth is over here, straight west from Ephesus. So Titus would have taken the letter, we assume he went that way. Paul goes up to Troas and he had anticipated that Titus would come up around evidently and meet him in Troas. But Titus doesn't show up so Paul is more concerned. You know how your mind goes, maybe you have teenagers and they are out in the car and they are supposed to be home at a time or call you and they don't. Pretty soon your mind can begin to think there was a car wreck or maybe something happened. Our minds are like that. Well Paul has written a severe letter. Maybe it didn't go well, maybe the church split over this and Titus is delayed, caught up in trying to deal with things. At any rate, no Titus here.

So Paul crosses over into Macedonia. That's what we have in 2 Corinthians 7:5, “Even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest.” Still troubled. Where is Titus? “We were afflicted on every side.” In Macedonia where Philippi is, Thessalonica, Berea, Paul has been there before, he has had battles. Enemies of the Gospel still oppose him. “But God who comforts the depressed,” verse 6, “comforted us by the coming of Titus.” “The message he brought,” verse 7, “was a great comfort.” So that's where we are. Paul may be at Philippi here, he doesn't say what city. This is Macedonia up here, you see it, this part of Greece; down here is Achaia. Athens and Corinth are in the southern part of Greece, the province of Achaia. So when he says I was in Macedonia, he is in one of these where probably he had been before, probably Philippi, but whatever those cities. Titus comes, he brought great news. There was a positive response to Paul's letter.

So you come down to verse 8, Paul picks up where we pick up. “For though I caused you sorrow by my letter I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that that letter caused you sorrow, only now for a little while.” And what Paul goes over in these verses is the impact of that letter that he wrote and its positive effects on the Corinthians. And that will be down through the first part of verse 13. Paul had misgivings about writing the letter. When he says in verse 8, “I do not regret it, though I did regret it,” these are two of the same words there, refer to, one writer said, a feeling of anxiety over something that can't be undone. And if you've ever read a letter like that, nowadays I guess you send an e-mail and then you wonder if you should have sent it that way, I wonder if I should have worded it differently, I wonder if it was the right time. Paul, we talked about in our previous study in this section, was human. He said in verse 6, “God comforts the depressed,” He comforted us, we were depressed, we were down, we were discouraged. And he is unsure. He doesn't regret that he told them the truth, but he regrets, did I say it right. That's it.

I did regret it, I don't regret it, I did regret it. Paul got no pleasure out of causing people sorrow. It wasn't something he got joy out of, it was a great grief to him. And it ought to be to us, no delight in having to correct conduct. You discipline your children but not because it gives you great joy, you do it because it's necessary. That's here. Why I don't regret it? Verse 8, “I see that that letter caused you sorrow though only for a little while.” That's unfortunate but the outcome has been good, and that is verse 9, “I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance. For you were made sorrowful according to the will of God so that you might not suffer loss by us in anything.”

Paul talks about repentance here. “You were made sorrowful to the point of repentance.” The goal is not to cause someone grief, to bring them to tears. That in and of itself accomplishes nothing, in fact it is damaging. The sorrow of the world we are not looking for. What Paul is pleased about, their sorrow was temporary because they weren't just made sorrowful, they were made sorrowful to the point of repentance. We are familiar with the word repentance. If you've studied the Bible much, it is used quite often, often in the Gospels. It's not used much by Paul. In fact it's only used in three other passages besides this one in all of Paul's letters, either as a noun or a verb. Four passages are the only times Paul uses the word repentance in all of his letters. Doesn't mean it's not important. The word repentance is a compound word, basically means to change your mind, to be of another mind. But in the biblical use of it, it's always a change of mind or attitude that results in changed or altered behavior. That's the outflow of it. When you've truly repented, your life changes. That's what Paul is talking about here. “You were made sorrowful.” Sorrow is not equated with repentance. Sorrow may bring the tears. There is sorrow. There is grief. But if it stops there it's not godly sorrow. But sometimes, as believers, when we are confronted with our sin and realize the seriousness of our sin and the grief of it, we are sorrowful. There may be tears, may initially feel so disappointed and discouraged over what we've done, but godly sorrow doesn't stop there. It leads to repentance, a change in my attitude and thinking that results in a change in my conduct. So for the Corinthians they are confronted about sin, they are made sorrowful. They realize it is sin, they are guilty. I made them sorrowful. They didn't stop there, they really changed their minds about the situation and functioned as they should.

Back up to Romans 2, you see where Paul uses this word. We'll see how he uses it there. Here he's talking about in the context an unbeliever, and I want you to see the connection. We can talk about repentance on the part of a person who has never been saved, may need to repent to be saved. We can talk about repentance on the part of a believer who has been in sin. Just like you can talk about initial saving faith when you place your faith in Christ for the first time and experience forgiveness of sins. You can talk about the walk of faith of one who is a believer in Jesus Christ. And repentance is not the same as faith, but they are inseparably joined together. So in the package of God's saving grace we can talk about faith, we can talk about repentance, sometimes conversion, conviction of sin. So sometimes we say, repent and be saved. God instructs all people everywhere to repent for He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man that He has approved by the resurrection from the dead. What he's talking about, you need to repent, you need to believe, you need to be saved. Now the emphasis added there is you need to change your mind about your sin and your guilt, recognize your terrible position before a holy God and cast yourself on His mercy and believe.

So don't think you're adding something to faith, it's an inseparable part of faith, just like a recognition of sin is an inseparable part of saving faith. If the Spirit hasn't brought conviction of sin, that's what Jesus said He would when He came into the world, convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. If God doesn't bring conviction of sin, I can only think of one person I spent time sharing the Gospel with who I could not get to agree that they were a sinner. I'm not sinful and I don't sin so I don't need your salvation. We can't go anywhere. There is no salvation without a recognition of your personal sin and guilt before a holy God. That's part of what I would call the package of God's saving grace—the conviction of sin, the need for His righteousness. So it is with repentance, it brings you to a change in thinking. I formerly saw myself as okay, or I formerly saw myself acquiring righteousness through the activity of my church or my baptism or whatever else. There has to be a change in thinking. Now I see that I must place my faith in Christ, I must believe in Him.

So even though we can talk, so since they are all part of that package of saving grace, sometimes we use just one. We say you need to place your faith in Christ. But included in that you have to recognize your sin and guilt, repent, turn from your sin, change your thinking. That's part of God's grace in that like the Spirit brings the conviction of sin, He is the one who also brings the conviction of the need to turn from your sin and place your faith in Christ, a change of attitude and you believe and are converted.

I want you to understand that because here Paul talks to those who are not believers, in Romans 2, he's talking to the Jews. He talked to the Gentiles primarily in Romans 1 and showed their guilt because he's building to Romans 3 when he says we have shown the whole world is guilty and under the condemnation of sin, Jew and Gentile alike. So he's demonstrated the guilt and the sin of the Gentiles in Romans 1, beginning in verse 18, and in Romans 2 he shows the guilt of the Jews who thought they were all right. Of course I agree that the Gentiles are sinners and need converted, but we are Jews. Just like you talk to someone, they might agree, yes, I know people need to be saved. We are Lutherans, we don't need it; we're Catholics, we don't need it; we're Mormons, we don't need it. But they need it. He's talking to Jews, and note what he says. Romans 2:4, “You think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance.” He's going to go on and talk about faith in Romans 3 and righteousness, but repentance here is used of saving faith. This gracious work of God is to lead you to repent, change your thinking, recognize your sin and guilt, recognize God has provided righteousness and salvation in Christ. That's what God's gracious kindness, patience, tolerance does, giving you time to repent. “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” If you refuse to repent, he talks about unrepentant heart, your inner person, refuse to change the way you are thinking, your attitude toward yourself, your need for righteousness, you can't be saved.

But Paul writes to the Corinthians back in 2 Corinthians 7 and talks about they had repented. They were already saved. But we go through the same process. Once you are saved by faith you live a life of faith, once you've repented of your sin now you live producing the fruits of repentance. But do you know what we do? Even as believers we sin. God's grace provides salvation in Christ that is ongoing cleansing. But we get off track, we get involved in sin. That's what had happened to the Corinthians. Paul rebuked them. They were complicit in the sin of the person in their church there, we'll mention a little bit more in a moment. But when confronted by Paul's letter, they grieved. We have been guilty. They repented, they changed their minds and their behavior. So there is repentance for the believer as well.

He says in verse 9 that “you were made sorrowful according to the will of God,” godly sorrow. And that's the same thing, it's parallel there, “you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance, you were made sorrowful according to the will of God.” Sorrow that does not result in repentance is not godly sorrow. And it was “so you might not suffer loss through us in anything.” If they hadn't repented, the results of Paul's letter would have been negative for them because it would have compounded their guilt and further moved them down the road they shouldn't be on in promoting, encouraging and being involved in sin.

Paul didn't write it so they would suffer loss or be damaged. Look at verse 10, “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation.” It just doesn't lead to remorse or something that can't be undone. Same word regret that we had in verse 8 when Paul said, “I don't regret it thought I did regret it,” that sense of anxiety about something that can't be undone. I wrote that letter, said those things, I can't get it back kind of thing. “The sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance” and when a believer recognizes their sin, there may be sorrow and they change their thinking, if you will, now see it as God sees it and deal with it so their conduct is altered. You don't regret that. As a believer it's a relief, it's done, thank God for His grace. Sometimes you look at it and say what was I doing, what was I thinking, why would I do that. We need to be thankful and we move on.

It leads to salvation. That doesn't meant that they weren't saved or they lost it. When we talk about Roman Catholicism, this is a major difference—how you are saved and do you stay saved. In Catholic theology you get baptized and you are saved, and now you maintain your salvation by certain activities that involve your partaking of the sacraments. But you are not fully saved and you might never experience final salvation because you could commit a mortal sin and never come and receive the forgiveness through the priest by telling him every detail of that mortal sin and experience forgiveness. So it is a conditional salvation. Our salvation is not conditional. This godly repentance just indicates you are on the road, you have repented in a saving way and now you deal with sin in a biblical way. Sometimes it takes confrontation, hard and serious confrontation, like it did with the Corinthians, the letter that Paul wrote with tears and grief. And it ends up, they repent. Indicates the culmination of that road was godly repentance, His salvation.

What about sorrow that doesn't lead to repentance? “The sorrow of the world produces death.” One person who has a very fine commentary on this section put it this way. The world's grief is deadly in its effects, producing resentment, bitterness and hardness of heart. Murray Harris in his commentary on Corinthians. The world's grief is deadly in its effect, produces resentment, bitterness, hardness of heart. The ministry of God's truth is either hardening or softening. If all you have is worldly sorrow, people cry all the time.

I'm going to get my confession out of the way, I got a ticket this week. I told the officer it was Marilyn's fault, she was supposed to be watching the speedometer. The officer was gracious. I said can she share the ticket? She said no, but she can take the test on the computer if you want. I was sorrowful for that. One, it cost me money. Do you know what? I didn't really repent because going down the road do you know what happened to the speedometer? It must be broken, it kept inching up so I didn't have true sorrow that led to repentance, although I was a lot more careful.

We repent of our sins, we stop it. When the world cries, there is no outlet. Sometimes you watch a program on TV, one of the police shows or something, people get arrested, they have the evidence and they are guilty of murder. They cry. That's worldly sorrow, it goes nowhere. They may be bitter that their life is ruined. You confront people with the truth of their sin, it can make them bitter. So we have to be careful, the sorrow of the world produces death. That's all it does—bitterness, resentment.

So it's not just it's neutral, at least they were sorry. I'm concerned for that, especially in the spiritual sense. Did it produce a change? Bring about the change of life that we are talking about? Look at verse 11, “For behold what earnestness this thing, this godly sorrow,” that's what this thing is. That earnestness. And what he's going to do in verse 11 is talk about the results of godly repentance. It produces a change of mind that results in a change of life, your conduct. It's called fruit.

Back up to Matthew 3. John the Baptist preaching and the religious leaders in Judaism come out to hear his message. And John is a popular guy, I mean, the nation is enthralled with John. A prophet has appeared on the scene. Many people are coming out, acknowledging their sin and being identified with the message of John by baptism. So some of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to John to get baptized, verse 7. They are not acknowledging their sin and guilt, they didn't see themselves that way. Remember the prayer of the Pharisee? I thank you, Lord, that I am not a sinner like other men. John says to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” When it comes to salvation one of the first fruits of repentance is a recognition of your sin and unrighteous, lost condition before God. That's too humbling for these Pharisees and Sadducees. They just wanted to become part of this popular movement. I'm not interested in being reduced to a sinner like this publican. No. So John says you will produce the fruits, you see fruit in keeping with repentance. One of the things that salvation, genuine salvation does, it breaks you down and humbles you right at the beginning. You can't bring your pride to the cross, so to speak. It is so difficult. That's why Jesus said it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom. I'm self-sufficient, proud and you want me to say that is nothing, that I'm no better position than this homeless drunk. No, no, I don't want to hear it. Fruit where repentance and repentance always has fruit. So when I as a believer get into sin, fall into sin, if I truly recognize and acknowledge it is sin and I change my thinking about it, I change my conduct. That doesn't mean I will never fall into it again, sadly we do. Jesus said, I believe in Luke 3, if a brother sins against you seven times in a week, forgive him. If he repents, forgive him seven times. The repentance has to be there, some indication it is genuine. It will bear fruit.

Come back to Acts 26. I mentioned Paul only uses the word repentance in four different passages, but Luke in Acts records one of Paul's sermons where Paul is preaching repentance, so just don't get confused. It is a sermon of Paul that is recorded by Luke, so when I say there are only four passages in Paul's writings, I mean the letters that he wrote. Acts 26:20, Paul is before King Agrippa and he is presenting his case for proclaiming the Gospel. He gives his testimony about what life was like for him as he was a Pharisee and faithfully doing all that Judaism required and persecuting believers. But then God appeared to him on the Damascus Road and spoke to him and told him after his conversion he was to go and present the message of Christ to the lost. So verse 20, Paul says to King Agrippa, “I kept declaring to those of Damascus first, those at Jerusalem, then Judea, then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.” It's not that the deeds save you, but if you have really changed your mind, if you've really turned to God, you don't continue on the same godless lifestyle. If you've truly repented, changed your mind, you recognized the truth, you recognized the one and only Savior, you've cast yourself upon Him because you realize righteousness . . . You should live a life that is the walk of the believer, the conduct of the believer. You bring forth deeds, works appropriate to repentance. It's not salvation by works, it is works that are a result. Now we are partakers of the divine nature, we live differently.

Come back to 2 Corinthians. Paul may use the word repentance, more limited faith because his most common word is the word faith. And they are not different, they are just part of the package. So he likes to use the word faith to summarize God's salvation, which always involves conviction of sin, recognition of righteousness only in Christ. Repentance a change of mind and attitude toward yourself and your own condition and Christ and the salvation provided in Him and faith and trust in Him alone. But sometimes we say you need to repent, sometimes we say you need to believe, sometimes you say you need to be converted, to turn. It's all in the package of salvation. If you are not careful, you break these out and make them so totally distinct. They are not the exact same in meaning, but they are all a necessary part of the package of salvation that is provided by grace. “For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves....” he's talking about that whole package of salvation and everything in it. So it is not a work, it's a result of the Spirit's work in our heart and our life. So they were made sorrowful according to the will of God in contrast to the sorrow of the world. Sorrow that leads to repentance, sorrow according to the will of God is leading to salvation. The sorrow and grief and tears of the world are leading to death.

Back up to 2 Corinthians 2, one more passage related to this. In giving off the knowledge of Christ in the Gospel Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:15, “we are a fragrance of Christ to God.” He is pleased with the aroma, like a pleasing aroma that rises up that you are telling people about the salvation provided in His Son. “We are a fragrance of Christ to God,” now note this, “among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” Present participle. We have been saved, we often say we have been saved in the past from the penalty of sin; we are being saved from the power of sin; and we shall be saved from the presence of sin. We like those particular words. They express something. There is a past tense to our salvation, there is a present tense and there is a future tense. God has guaranteed it from beginning to end. The difference we have with someone like Roman Catholicism who says you have to maintain that salvation by involvement in the church and its sacraments. And you can lose it. And it's not complete, you may have to go to purgatory and get some things burned off. We say God has done the work completely in Christ. “He who has begun a good work in you will continue to bring it to perfection until the day of Christ Jesus,” Paul wrote to the Philippians in Philippians 1:6.

So here there's the present tense. “Among those who are being saved” and there are “those who are” in the process of “perishing.” They have never experienced salvation by faith in Christ, they are on the road to eternal destruction. The end result of it is what is called the second death. They are perishing. That's what we are talking about, the sorrow of the world. Jesus talked about it with the narrow gate and the broad gate, the narrow road and the broad road. You enter through a broad gate, you travel down a broad road and you end in destruction. You enter through the narrow gate, then travel the narrow road, it ends in life. It's not salvation by works. Once you are born into God's family, your life is changed on the inside. That makes all the difference in the world.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 7:10, “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, results in salvation. The sorrow of the world produces death.” Then he goes on. Verse 11, “For behold what earnestness this very thing,” now the fruit we picked up on and then we went to look and talk about fruit and results. I think there are seven things here that he mentions that are evidences, immediate evidences here. You have to be careful. I would like to live a sinless life, but I probably won't, I know I won't. So we have to be careful, I must not have repented because I sinned again. Sadly we do. Jesus talked about the repentance and forgiveness and it happens several times. But here are some of the things you would see.

“Behold what earnestness,” that devotion here, that heart passion, “this very thing, this godly sorrow has produced in you, what vindication of yourselves” by changing their attitude and changing their action. It vindicated and demonstrated they are believers. They have responded to the correction, you have vindicated yourselves. What would it have been if they had said no? We're taking a stand with the man in sin and his defiance of Paul. Paul would have to wonder, did I labor over you in vain, as he had to ask the Galatians. Did you really believe? Why would you choose sin and rebellion against God if you really know what His grace is and His salvation is?

“What vindication of yourself, what indignation.” Now they realize and they stand and are opposed to sin. “What fear.” All this goes together. “What longing, what zeal.” And these words longing, zeal, earnestly, there is a passion that comes. I want to be on the right road, I want to serve Him, I want to be faithful to Him, I don't want to be involved in sin. “What avenging of wrong.” They dealt with the issues that have to be dealt with. “In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in this matter.” He's dealing with the things he wrote to them about. Now keep in mind this is not a perfect church. Back in 2 Corinthians 1 we found Paul having to defend himself and explain why his travel schedule changed and it wasn't an indication he wasn't a trustworthy man. This is a church that still has things to deal with. When we get further on we're going to find out that Paul has to tell them, I hope you will deal with some of these other things or I'm going to have to come with a disciplining rod. Won't be pleasant for you or me. You know a thing about Paul? He can have an appreciation here for God's work of grace in their lives and responding in this situation. That's not clouded and he doesn't miss the joy and appreciation of this because he knows there are other things that have to be taken care of. This is a sign of growth.

It's something like, going to use our children again, and you have to rebuke them and correct them and they respond and correct what you've done. And you compliment them and you tell them how good that is and you appreciate it. But that doesn't mean there aren't other things that may have to be dealt with. Now I don't have to be in my room anymore. No, you do because you also have to clean your room . . . There are other things that have to be dealt with. But sometimes we lose the appreciation because all we want to see is his everything, but there are things that have to be taken care of.

But I appreciate Paul here. You have demonstrated you are innocent in this matter, this is the main thing I was dealing with here. Remains to be seen whether they will deal with what he talked about in 2 Corinthians 1 of this letter, whether he deals with the things he will deal with in later chapters. He doesn't let things go but he can give the compliment of appreciation for their godly response in this situation.

I want to say something about this zeal. Back up to 2 Corinthians 2, I was going to say it later but I'll say it now, tie together here. Paul indicates how hard it was to write this letter. “For out of much affliction,” 2 Corinthians 2:4, “out of much affliction, anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears. Not so you would be made sorrowful but you might know the love which I have for you.” Again the correction. Paul didn't write because he got any delight out of having to correct them on things he knew would be very painful for them. But he loved them enough to do it. It's like Proverbs, if you love your child you will consistently discipline him. One who doesn't discipline his child hates his child. So Paul loves them, these are his spiritual children. Sometimes he is God's instrument of discipline, but it's because he loves them. And then “if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me but to some degree in order not to say too much. Sufficient for such a one for this punishment.” And in their zeal the danger is that now they may go overboard the other way. First they wouldn't discipline the sin in their midst and so they become complicit in the sin because they can live in an incestuous relationship openly and consistently. That's fine, we're not going to deal with it. That's a problem. But now the other side may come, he's dealt with it, repented, stopped the sin and as we noted, now we have to say, verse 8, “affirm your love.” And that zeal, that passion to want to do what is right and stay on that track may carry them the other degree. The words, that earnestness, that zeal, that passion, we want to do what is right, but you also have to forgive him when he repents, welcome him back. So the balance to be kept for them, and sometimes we do want to go overboard

Come back to 2 Corinthians 7. In verse 12 he makes an interesting statement. “Though I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender.” That's interesting. He didn't write for the benefit of the man who was in sin, I take it in 1 Corinthians 5, living in that incestuous relationship, what Paul wrote about him, kick him out of the church. Secondly, “I didn't write for the sake of the one offended.” Who is the one offended? Paul. He refers to himself here in that third person way, he'll do that over again in 2 Corinthians 12:2, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago.” The end of that verse, “Such a man was caught up to the third heaven.” Verse 3, “ I know how such a man was caught up . . .” He's talking about himself, you see he is doing it there, standing, in effect, outside of himself, kind of like a third person. But he's the one.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 2:5, “If any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree—in order not to say too much—to all of you.” Because this man's sin, come back to 1 Corinthians5.” Paul had written a letter before 2 Corinthians, we call it 1 Corinthians because that's the first letter we have preserved for us in our Bible. But in 1 Corinthians 5:9 he says, “I wrote you in my letter,” so there was a previous letter that the Spirit of God has not seen fit to have preserved, “not to associate with immoral people. I did not mean with the immoral people of this world or with covetous, swindlers, idolaters, then you would have to go out of the world.” Evidently the Corinthian church has come, like some churches that come to the position, everybody sins; we're just not going to deal with it. Well, Paul says, I say you have to deal with those who are practicing open sin, known sin. That doesn't mean you don't associate with unbelievers who are in sin, you don't expect anything else from an unbeliever. Doesn't mean you condone their sin, but you're not trying to get the unbeliever to live a godly life. You like to share the Gospel with the unbeliever so he has a transformed life and now can live a godly life.

“I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother.” Note he says so-called brother, anyone called a brother, on their testimony. Once a person gets mired down and persists in ongoing sin, it does become a question. But he is called a brother. He is immoral, covetous, idolater, not even to eat with such a one. Now I say this because when Paul said the one offended, it wasn't just for me. He was offended by this, this was a stand against Paul. Paul had written a letter telling them the truth of God and what was required of this man stood in defiance of it. I will not quit my immorality, I will not give up this relationship. And the church decided they weren't going to make an issue of it so it could go on. Paul has to say in verse 13, “Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” So Paul is offended by this, he is hurt, it's a challenge to his authority as an apostle, his teaching. It's not just a private matter in the church.

So when you come back to 2 Corinthians 7, “I wasn't writing for the sake of the one offended,” it was. And the Corinthians' failure and unwillingness to deal with this in response to that prior letter he had written joined them with this man in taking stand against Paul and what he taught. But Paul said, I didn't write for my benefit. “I wrote that your earnestness,” verse 12, “on our behalf might be known to you in the sight of God.” I wrote so you would really deal with it and have the confidence and assurance and blessing that comes from knowing I am doing what God would have me do. And he's doing it in the sight of God, a desire to please Him. That's why I wrote the letter. I wasn't writing it so I would get benefit out of it, I wasn't writing it so you would get benefit out of it. I was writing it so the man guilty could benefit, I was writing it for your benefit so you could deal with it and have that zeal for the Lord in honoring Him restored in your life, be pleasing to Him, function in His sight.

“For this reason we have been comforted.” There we come back to this word comfort. Remember we started back in 2 Corinthians 1, comfort, that word the Holy Spirit becomes a name for him, the paraclete, the one who comes alongside to give aid, to give comfort. Again Paul says the Spirit works through His people and through the Corinthians the Spirit has worked to bring comfort to Paul.

Now the rest of verse 13 down through verse 16, he's going to talk about Titus and how their godly response at Corinth has been such a great blessing to Titus and how he has such great affection for them. And do you know what that is going to lead into? It just amazes me, the Spirit directs Paul as he is functioning under direction of the Spirit. I don't know whether at this point I would want to talk about money with the Corinthians. But you know what he is preparing the way for as he talks about Titus and how Titus was comforted by them and how much he has a deep affection for them? Do you know what he is going to tell them in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9? Titus is coming back, he's coming back for the money. You say, that could be misunderstood. Maybe, Titus, we ought to just drop the money issue right now. No, no, we'll be biblical. If the Corinthians are functioning as they should, they'll understand. If they are not, we'll be back in the fire.

So what he says about Titus, “besides our comfort, we rejoiced even more for the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.” And it is, Titus goes over there carrying this letter. It wasn't easy to be Paul's representative, here I am carrying this letter that I know has some hard things in it. Paul told me, he has encouraged me that they will respond well, but we'll see. What a relief it was for Titus. “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 our boasting before Titus proved to be truth.” Paul appreciated even in this struggling church that we probably think of mostly because of its problems. I remember one of my professors early in my training said when you go to a church, teach the letters to the Corinthians early because you will cover all the problems and troubles that are going to come up in your church. Deal with them before they do come up. And yet Paul says I told Titus that you were a good church. Paul appreciated the fact that they were a church that had trusted Christ. They were a church that had been gifted by the Spirit, they were a church that God had worked in greatly. They were a church that needed some discipline and correction to get their life together. But, Titus, they are a great church and I have every confidence they are going to accept this letter as they should. Didn't keep Paul from being depressed, didn't keep Paul from having fears, wondering how it was going to be. He is human.

“His affection abounds all the more toward you as he remember the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling.” Titus is going there concerned, Paul has concerns, and the Corinthians know Titus is coming back with another letter and we're in trouble and they had fear and concern. Do you know what? When one person deals with their sin and handles it as they should, it spreads. That encourages another person. The Corinthians are confronted by their sin, they deal with it, Titus is refreshed and encouraged and just deepened in their love as he sees believers who really love the Lord and want to deal with their sin and are grieved over their sin. And he brings the report to Paul and Paul is just so encouraged and relieved and refreshed that it just spreads out. And do you know what? You never know what God is doing when you are faithful. Here we are 2000 years later being refreshed and encouraged with how these people responded to the Word of God and dealt with the sin. I mean, you don't know how God is using you to comfort, using the Corinthians to be a comfort. And Paul had been comforted, Titus had been comforted and now he has such a deep affection, he is looking forward to going back. And we grow that way. That's why God puts us together as a family. We grow together. We don't condone sin, but sin is forgivable. We help people who are in sin to get out of it, deal with it, confront them because we love them, not because we like to get involved in other people's mess. How encouraging it is when you are used of the Lord, to help somebody get back on track. And then that's an encouragement to someone else, and we grow. Paul grew through this, he was discouraged and depressed, we read and now what a blessing. Do you think Paul didn't have to grow? He grew. How gracious God is, how good He is, He deals with these situations that could have been such a mess and he has brought us through it. We're God's people. We have the same Spirit. He's working the same way.

That's why this is here. Not just so we could learn some interesting history of an old church back in antiquity. No, it's written for us so we could learn and benefit and appreciate. God is using us that way. We want to be involved in one another's lives, we want to be the instruments that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, uses to bring His comfort and His ministry to others. In that way we grow. So Paul concludes, “I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you.” There are other things to be dealt with, but Paul's confidence that the Corinthians will deal with it as they should has been reinforced and that will enable him to be even more effective in his coming ministry to them.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, only You can work in such marvelous and great ways in our lives to bring Your salvation to the hearts of those rebellious against You, lost and without hope in the world but by the work of Your Spirit we were convicted of our sin, the need of righteousness in You, the awful destiny of judgment apart from Your saving grace. Lord, You not only saved us to rescue us from the hopelessness of hell, You saved us that we might live as testimonies of Your transforming grace. You have brought us together as a family of believers so that we might function together, experience the benefit of ministering to one another, of being ministered to by one another. Lord, we are encouraged. There are times when we are discouraged, we get disheartened, but, Lord, we are encouraged as we see in Your Word Your gracious work, knowing You are at work today in Your church, even as You were then. Continue to bring us to maturity in Christ, we pray in His name, amen.