Join us now for the chapel hour, coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Our speaker today is Dr. Richard Gregory, pastor of Byron Center Bible Church in Byron Center, Michigan. The title of his message is The Nature of True Repentance. The text is from 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 8 through 11. It's wonderful to be with you again, and before I begin, I want to just extend my deepest sense of gratitude and appreciation to the administration for the privilege that they have granted to me to be here today and to enjoy the fellowship with you around the Word of God. I'd like to ask you, if you would, to take your Bibles and turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 11. As we discussed yesterday, God's heart is one that would desire to see us reconciled to Himself. Out of that passage in Isaiah chapter 30, we looked at the objective that God possesses for His patience so that He might be gracious toward us. We looked at the obstacle that He places in our way because of His pity, His desire to show mercy toward us and how He intervenes in our lives to bring us to a place where we understand we need God and we need to be reconciled to Him. Then we looked at the opportunity that He provides for pardon and how that He says, blessed is the man who waits for Him. God's heart is so large He loves us so much that He would send His only Son that He would die in our place and provide us the satisfaction of being reconciled to God as God's wrath is dealt with efficiently and effectively and eternally in the work of our Savior Jesus Christ. But as it is, we seem to be so prone to wander, so prone to allow our hearts to be captured by things other than our faithfulness and our service to our great God and Savior. We allow our flesh and the world and Satan himself to place between us and our God sinful practices and lures that indeed cause a disruption of fellowship whereby our ability to relate to our God is hindered. Oh indeed, We need not fear condemnation, those who are in Christ Jesus. But there is a sense wherein God is estranged to those who are committed to sin. The opportunity always exists and God is about the process of reconciling us to Himself. And then once having reconciled us to Himself, sanctifying us, through the work of His powerful Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, as I, as well as you, regularly experience, we run into things that cause us defeat. Sins that seem to so easily beset us. Ways in which our relationship with God is squelched to the point at times wherein we feel somewhat isolated and alone and like there's no help. Let us not forget the heart of God, that regardless of how far our swift horse has carried us, God says, I still see you. You're still as evident and obvious as that beacon on the hill, as that ensign, that sign, that flag that does wave. I see you. In regards to where we would flee, Psalm 139 says we find ourselves yet in His presence. God would have us turn and repent. God's interest in repentance is intense. Before we get into our text, let me read to you a couple of verses that give to us a sense wherein God has an urgent desire that we repent of our sin. and turn to Him. In Matthew 3, verses 1-3, we find that the idea or the teaching about repentance was the core of John the Baptist's ministry. He said, in those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of God is at hand. In Mark 1, verses 14-15, we read that it is the core of Jesus' message as He began His public ministry. Now, after that, John was put in prison. Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Mark chapter six, verse 12. It was the core of the disciples ministry as they were sent out by Jesus. The scripture says they went out and preached that men should repent. It was the conclusion of Peter's message on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 verses 36 through 38. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts chapter 26 verses 19 through 20. We find that it was the core of Paul, the apostles message to the Gentiles. Lest you think that it is only the gospel of the kingdom. He says, Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. At the conclusion of the Scriptures in Revelation 2 and 3, five out of seven messages to the churches concluded you need to repent Luke 15-10 We find that it is the daily occasion in heaven whereby rejoicing occurs. Likewise, I say unto you, Jesus says there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents. And as we saw yesterday, it is the occasion for the delay of the punishment and penalties of God The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering, I swear, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance." Repentance. Over the weekend, I was in the airport trying to get home to preach Sunday morning, and I was on an escalator, and there was a person that got on the escalator in front of me, and as he got on the escalator and I was preparing to step on, I was right behind him and he had one of those roll away or carry on pieces of luggage that has a handle and he was holding on to it. And when he got on the escalator, it started lifting him up. The handle extended further and fell down onto my step. And I moved my feet and it fell down onto my step and the man turned around and said, oh, sorry. I said, it's OK, you missed. And he said, whoops. It was a cordial exchange, and there was no offense made. There was no difficulty in relationship, and we had a moment of cordiality together as we went up the escalator. Some of us sometimes seem to have the same kind of flippancy about our sin that existed in that cordial exchange. We have the idea that when we sin, we, yo, God, that thing between us is okay, right? Good. Let's move on. And that's how we handle our sin. If even that, we have the sense that God is not all that offended by me because after all, I'm typically a fairly good person. And every once in a while I might fall or I might stumble, but certainly God understands that more times than not, I try. And so he'll just have to grant me a little license, a little leeway. It's no big deal. No big deal. We understand that there is a tremendous emphasis in Scripture on the need for sinners to repent. And I fear that we live in a day when this message is being completely overshadowed by a caricature of God that says that He just loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, and the issue of sin is not really all that relevant. Salvation is no longer, it seems, something that concentrates on the fact that it's from sin that we're saved. The ramifications of which we also are able to be delivered from the condemnation that results from sin. So many people just want to talk about the fact that they are saved to heaven. And so the introduction of sin is not something that prevails in even many gospel presentations to those who are lost. We have a sense, do we not, that our tremendously holy God is offended even by our sin? Even by the sins of those who are in His family. Sometimes we begin to think that God is only upset by sinners' sins, not saints' sins. But we know better. And in the text before us, Paul is agonizing in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 over the letter that he had written that he said he had been so regretful that he had sent because he knew that it would most likely bring offense, that there would be a fissure in their relationship that would probably not be correctable. And he was grieving. He says, In verse 8 there of 2 Corinthians 7, though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent. Though I did repent, though I did regret, for I perceived that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now, I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance, for you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world works death. Here you have two kinds of regret identified. The regret that is identified as the sorrow of the world that is kind of concentrating on, I'm sorry, I got caught. And that's the kind of regret that leads to death because there's no true repentance in that kind of sorrow. I'm sorry not that I got caught, but I'm sorry that now I have all these consequences I'm going to have to pay. I'm sorry because I'm going to have to pay these consequences. That's the sorrow of the world that leads to death. Sometimes we have a sorrow of the world that is nothing more than shame and we're embarrassed. And so we manage that shame. by striving to display some kind of a redemptive regret that will cause people to think more highly of us. And so our regret or sorrow is not generated by a true comprehension of the heinous offense that our sin has brought unto God. The repentance that he is referring to here, leads to salvation is a different kind of repentance. It's a repentance that begins intellectually with the knowledge of sin, where the Spirit of God brings us awareness that we have transgressed God. It begins with the knowledge of sin whereby our souls are impacted with a tremendous offense that leads to an emotional element of repentance whereby we truly mourn This, this is the convicting power of the Spirit of God whereby we're moved with the sense that we have offended the one who loves us and we love. There's a great sorrow and shame. The sorrow of the world stops there, but the repentance that leads to salvation allows that to serve as a platform by which true change occurs Which brings us to the third element of genuine repentance, and that is the volitional element that we saw even in Acts 2. What must we then do? Having the knowledge of sin and of sorrow and a sense of shame that we have offended our God, we then change. Volitionally, we turn our backs on sin and pursue the holiness that God would desire us to possess. That's the nature of repentance that God desires and gloriously brings. It's a gift that God works in our hearts that ought not be resisted, knowing that repentance itself is something that God gives. So when He is giving, it's prudent that we who would receive do so. And the gift of repentance that God would grant a sinner whom He is chasing That sinner needs to pause and wait and embrace that repentance that God would grant. What does it look like when a person repents, truly repents? What does it look like? All the glorious changes that are wrought in the heart of a sinner who truly repents. It's not like, hey, everything's right between us now, right? And moving on. It's not that at all. There are fundamental changes that occur every time an individual is brought to an awareness of sin, a sense of sorrow and shame, and then says, what must I do in response, whereby your heart becomes God's. And God says, this is what I want you to do. And we gloriously sense the breezes of the Spirit of God blowing freshly through our hearts. And that hope of glory whereby we are being conformed to the image of Christ has progressed ever so incrementally it seems at times, but every incremental small little change is so significant to someone who is desperate to become like Christ. Even the smallest changes bring us great rejoicing. In v. 11 of 2 Corinthians 7, we have several factors that are given. I'm just going to blow through these with you. Hopefully you can ruminate upon them and chew on them at a later time. He says there in v. 11, For behold, this very same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, meaning that you truly repented, has wrought certain things First thing, what carefulness this repentance wrought in you. What carefulness. I think this refers to a diligence that is born regarding rectitude, moral integrity. A diligence regarding rectitude. This term that is used here, carefulness, refers to an earnestness or an eagerness that exists that seems to contrast the repentant person with his condition prior to his repentance and the work of grace in his heart so that he no longer is careless or negligent as he was prior to his repentance. Moral integrity to this person now matters. Whereas before they repented. They were comfortable in their sin. Now there is a carefulness there. It matters. I'm no longer able to be apathetic. Continuing in verse 11, not only is there a tremendous diligence with reference to rectitude, but there is a defense of righteousness that is generated and wrought. See what it says there in verse 11. Yea, what clearing of yourselves What clearing of yourselves. The word for clearing here is where we get the word apology or more specifically apologetics. Apologetics is that discipline whereby an individual makes a defense of their position. Now, having had a true godly sorrow that has led to genuine repentance, a person isn't defending himself with reference to the fact that his sin was not all that bad. What he is defending is the transformation that has occurred, and he identifies this transformation from a state whereby he was content with his sin to a state whereby he is no longer content with his sin, and he desires God to work in his life. And there is a defense made. There is argumentation provided whereby he champions the cause of righteousness. And he says, isn't right. What God is making me is right. And here are the reasons why this is the only appropriate thing. That's the clearing of themselves. It reminds me of Psalm 51, verse 13, where David in his great psalm of repentance says, O Lord, restore to me the joy of my salvation and I will teach transgressors Thy ways. I will be given to apologetics, making a defense of righteousness among sinners. So a person who is truly repentant isn't capable of just remaining. It's no big deal. They become the champions of righteousness, making a defense of why that's the only way to live in the sight of God. Thirdly, in v. 11, it says, yea, what indignation. Indignation. This, I believe, displays the kind of disgust for reprobation. Disgust for reprobation. This term that is here, indignation, refers to the irritation associated with teething in children. and how much annoyance and displeasure exists as those teeth are trying to break through the gums and they'll scream and they'll express such outrage and indignation. This is the term here. There is a inability to just remain passive or apathetic, that there is a sense where there is a true outrage, a disgust with their previous sin. After they repented, They've become annoyed, outraged at the grief that sin causes. They're passionate. They're moved. This is the righteous indignation whereby they can no longer remain unmoved by sin. The way of sin brings to them agitation and discussed. He continues in verse eleven. And he says, Yea, what fear? What fear? There are some who believe that the context here talks about this being the fear of the Apostle Paul and that the idea that exists here is that they desire to not sense his wrath and I think that there may be an element of that. Certainly the context of Second Corinthians is the estrangement that Paul and the Corinthians sensed and felt because of the false teachers and the accusations that occurred against Paul. But I think it goes beyond the apostle Paul because the apostle Paul is not the issue with reference to our sin. God is. And I think that there is a sense here where you see a discernment born in the heart of the repentant. concerning the ramifications of sin. This term phobos refers to dread or terror, acknowledging that there has been a glimpse in the heart and mind of the sinner of the horror of their sin. Understanding that the fear of the Lord is to understand the precarious position of those who are outside the perfections found in Jesus Christ. and the absolute safety that exists for one who is in Christ Jesus. And what fear says they've gained a glimpse of the horrors of sin and they have gained a comprehension of the safety that is in Christ. And they have found themselves running to the safety that is in Christ from the horrors of sin. Thus, repentance brings the ability to see clearly the destinations associated with the life of sin versus the life of righteousness, causing one to choose the way of righteousness and blessing. He continues in verse 11, Yea, what vehement desire, what vehement desire, this means a longing that exists we find a desire for restoration. That's the desire that exists, a desire for restoration, a desire that is sparked by this repentance for the ability to be restored both to fellowship of God and to those from whom we have been estranged, such as the Apostle Paul. I believe it is more accurate to allow it to refer to the unrestricted fellowship that exists with God. a vehement desire, an intense passion whereby after you've repented, you're not of the same level of passion for God that you were before you repented. There's a vehement, intense desire. He continues in verse 11, Yea, what zeal What zeal? I believe this refers to a dedication to spiritual responsibility, a dedication to responsibility. It refers to an ardor, a intense, earnest concern. In a negative context, this refers to jealousy or envy, signifying that there is, again, great passion associated that prompts the activity. Apparently, the Corinthians were going about correcting their errors. allowing there to be punishment that resulted from the sins. So they were correcting those things that had resulted from their spiritual apathy prior to their repentance. There's a sense here where there is a desire for restitution that exists, which is a primary spiritual responsibility when there has been sin. We drive a nail into a board. We pull out that nail, there's still a hole. Sometimes we need to go back, spackle and sand and repaint and allow whatever correction is able to be made, allow that to be made with zeal. A truly repentant person doesn't say, God, I'm so sorry. Would you just clean that mess up for me? A truly repentant person has a dedication to spiritual responsibilities. He continues in verse 11. And he says, yea, what revenge! What revenge! I believe this refers to a deference to the repercussions of our sin. Meaning, we give way. We don't come to God and say, God, I'll repent as long as You don't make me pay the price. As long as I can get off scot-free, I'll repent. But if you make me pay a price, what's the use? What benefit do I get? I'm sure the school has seen on numbers of occasions people that have ostensibly been very repentant, only to find out when there has been repercussions to whatever sins or offenses have been made, the attitudes of those students change on a dime. And someone who had been previously Ostensibly, repentant becomes hostile, belligerent, and even bitter, displaying that their sorrow had been the sorrow of the world that leads to death. A person who is truly repentant has a deference to the repercussions. The word revenge here has the idea of punishment. It seems that they were interested in seeing justice prevail, meaning that they were not seeking to get out of the consequences that would be associated with their sin at all. So that there was no resentment. In the fact that there would still be consequences. They haven't succeeded in avoiding what they had sought to avoid. They were giving way to it. And even being party to it. As they were allowing the revenge of God to be executed even through their spiritual authority. Among others in their number. Who are errant. So there's a deference to the repercussions seen in, yea, what revenge? Justice. Finally, there is in verse 11, the next phrase, which says, in all things ye have proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. I believe this refers to the delight that exists in the soul of a repentant person in reconciliation with God. They were living in a way that demonstrated that they were done with their former sin and were delighting in the refreshing relationship that exists with God that provides them victory over their sin. A truly repentant person is fulfilled by the fact that they are once again able to enjoy God and enjoyment that they find superior to any other, there was a clear demonstration of a life change that was proving that there had been cleansing in their life. Some time ago, I had the opportunity to sit with a man who had been unfaithful to his wife. I was sitting in the room with him and his wife, and there was such a tremendously awkward silence She was on one side of the room on the sofa. He was in a chair on the other side of the room. I'm sitting there. And there was such tension, you could cut it with a knife. The Spirit of God, according to the tremendous mercies and grace of God, having hounded this man in his sin, chased him, and in great pity, placed himself as the obstacle in this man's way in giving him opportunity to receive his pardon, the Holy Spirit blew in this man's heart with tremendous force. And in one of the greatest displays of a repentant spirit I've ever seen, he got on his face on the floor and sobbed for ten minutes. I sat with my head bowed praying for the man. His conviction was great. It was intense. He was mumbling. Something inaudible. I leaned forward to hear and he was saying, oh God, oh God, thank You for loving me. Not letting me go. Proving that You care for me. I'm so sorry. He laid on the floor on his face and repented. He didn't care anymore about the facades that he had generated He didn't care anymore about what people were going to think of him. He only cared that he get right with his God. And he turned to his wife, and he says, I don't even expect you to forgive me. What I've done is so bad. But I want you to know, I've sinned against you, and I know it, and I regret it, and I want to make it up to you. Their marriage was saved. God restored them gloriously, marvelously displaying the evidence of repentance. Some of us here today may need to truly repent, perhaps for the first time. I would urge you recognize the heart of God, whereby he gives you the opportunity for pardon. You've been listening to the chapel hour coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker was Dr. Richard Gregory. PASTOR OF BYRON CENTER BIBLE CHURCH IN BYRON CENTER, MICHIGAN. FOR A CASSETTE TAPE CONTAINING YESTERDAY'S AND TODAY'S MESSAGES BY DR. GREGORY, SEND A CHECK FOR SIX DOLLARS TO CAMPUS STORE, BOB JONES UNIVERSITY, GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA 29614. BE SURE TO MENTION THE NAME OF THE SPEAKER AND TODAY'S DATE. THE CHAPEL HOUR HAS BEEN SPONSORED BY BOB JONES UNIVERSITY.