Let us turn again in the Word of God to the passage we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, reading in verse 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 11. For behold, this selfsame thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge, In all things, you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. We shall consider these words in their context as the Lord is pleased to enable us. To be clear in this matter, in other words, that you have a genuine dependence, that it's sorrow produced not by the world, but produced by God. Now repentance is something that needs to be examined as well as faith. You can have a false faith and you can have a false repentance. Conviction of sin alone never saved anybody. There's a lot of people in the Bible with conviction of sin. But you're not saved by conviction of sin, just like you're not saved by the law. And the law will give you conviction of sin, but it will not give you anything else except conviction of sin. Repentance is not a work. That would be more like penitence, where you whip yourself. Roman Catholics did it with a whip, but there's a lot of people do it with a whip in their mind, whipping themselves with their guilt It's all they can think about, their guilt, their sorrow. But repentance is not a work. It is, as your catechism reminds you, a saving grace. Repentance and faith are gifts to you by the purchase of them of the blood of Christ. He ascended up on high He received gifts for men. And he gave these gifts to men and women. Of course, the gift of God is Christ himself. But the gift of God and the Son is the Holy Spirit. And with the Holy Spirit comes faith and repentance. It's not a work. You're not saved by thinking that if I repent, I will recompense God. I will give him something back. That is you making your salvation conditional on what you do. So it's not a work. And it's more than just a sorrow because there's a sorrow which is according to the world. And that's the sorrow the world gives you when you are frustrated. You've had a loss. You've been a failure. All that is circumstantial to the world you live in. But the sorrow that God produces in our soul is the work of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the question's raised, what comes first, faith or repentance? In the order of nature, faith comes first. If you didn't believe you were a sinner, and if you didn't believe that God is able to forgive your sins, you would not repent. You repent because you believe you are a sinner, according to what God says. And so you repent by looking to Christ for forgiveness, because repentance is not, as I said, simply sorrow for your sin. That's just you looking inside yourself. You have to look away to Christ for repentance. Look at Zechariah 12. They shall look unto me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn. That is the cause of true repentance. Look into Christ in faith, and you will find repentance. But do not make a religion out of your religious poverty or sorrow or conviction. I remember an old elder telling me that or 50 years ago. He saw them in the church and he said, weeping buckets, weeping buckets, tears, weeping, moans. And he said, many of them never crossed the line. They're still where they are 50 years later. Sin is something you should be ashamed of. And you take that to God in private. When you mourn, you do not display your sorrow to others. It is repentance towards God, sorrow towards God. God sees it. And in a sense, God is expecting it because he produced it. In his time, many a person can labor under conviction of sin. and looking for Christ and don't get a sight of Christ. But in His time, in His time, the same light of the Spirit which convicts you of sin will spotlight Christ to your soul. You see, it's the same light that shows you your sin that shows you Christ. We have to keep the balance in these things. A religion which is only composed of law just leads to misery and despair because there's no mercy in the law. And the law is a hard taskmaster. The law will say to you, do this, do this. Then it will say, do more, do more. And the law will never be satisfied. There's no mercy in the law. you have to look to Christ for mercy. So to come to these words then, to prove that your repentance is genuine, the apostle gives seven marks here, seven tests or signs of true repentance. If you have true repentance, these are the effects in other words. John the Baptist said something like that when he said, bring forth the fruit of repentance, or the works that are fitting to follow repentance, not just a recitation of the Lord's Prayer. That's not repentance. But God can use that to bring us all to repentance, forgive us our debts, but it ends with thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory of forgiving all our debts. So repentance is a change of mind and it will lead to a change in behavior. It will lead to a change in the way you look at God, look at Christ, look at yourself, and accept finally God's way of salvation. Not yours, but God's. That in itself is actually a mark of grace. That you're willing to be saved in God's way, not yours. Not the church's either. God's way of salvation. What's God's way? Faith alone and Christ alone. That's it. What must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Full stop. You know, there's a lot of people who put an and at the end of that. And then they give you a list of things you have to believe and do. That's not the gospel. That's the gospel plus. So the first matter here is carefulness. You have to be watchful because when you come to repentance, The first thing you're aware of is that you should distrust yourself. You should suspect yourself. Because all those years, you thought you were right. And there was no danger. And that Jesus was just a figment of history, or even the imagination. But when you believe the truth, it has an effect on you. And the first effect is repentance, carefulness, watchful, because now you believe the heart is deceitful above all things, and it has to be watched. The human nature, it can justify anything, including sin. Now, if somebody might say, well, nobody's perfect. Nobody's sinless, no. But you have to watch that you don't lower God's standard. You have to watch that you don't lower the ideal and the aim in life, which is to be conformed to the image of Christ. And that is perfection. Somebody might say, well, what's the use? I can't attain that on this side of death. No, you can't. Nobody's sinless on this side of death, but do not lower the ideal. The same apostle said, one thing I do, I stretch forward for the mark. Now we will sin, no question about that, but we're not to accept it. The Corinthians had been sinning and they were tolerating sin. And they were very watchful about other people, but you might say their own vineyard they did not keep. And they were even justifying it. And Paul wasn't very popular when he stirred up that congregation by pinpointing something they were doing nothing about. But of course, if we're honest with ourselves, there's weakness in our own lives, which requires repentance. And repentance, remember, is never found alone. It's always twinned with faith, and both faith and repentance, they come from Christ and they go back to Christ. Both focus on the person of Christ, the work of Christ. Carefulness, guard against temptation, especially the first step, The first step will lead to other steps. So you have to watch that first step. It's like stepping into a whirlpool. First step, well, yes, I'll do this, but I can get back out. And then this is attractive. Let's go a step further. And you find it more difficult to get back out after that. Some people abuse the gospel and then they say, well, I'll just commit this sin and I'll repent afterwards. That is an abuse, remember. And yet, how often is this done? Do we not sometimes give ourselves an indulgence or we trivialize sin in order to commit it? And we say, well, it's just a little one. Carefulness, we do not lower God's purpose, his aim, it should be ours. And the comfort, of course, is the Lord will perfect that which concerns me. Notice how the chapter begins there, perfecting holiness. It doesn't say anywhere, you're not made perfect in holiness. It's a present continuous tense. You're striving after it. You're pursuing it. You're running the race. You're praying to be kept on the path of the race. And how do you run? Not by might, nor by strength, but by my Spirit. And to whom does the Spirit direct us? Not to ourselves. He doesn't even speak of himself. He says, looking unto Jesus, That's how you run the race. Yes, you fall, you stumble, but God will pick you up. But you have to repent each day. If we examine our repentance day by day, and it is a lifelong exercise, it's a bit like the old English bishop said, you know, he said, often our repentance needs to be repented of. It is glib. It is shallow, it is routine. And while the heart was in it in the early days after conversion, it's more often in the lips now than in the heart. But there's forgiveness, you see. Dependence goes to the fountain open each day for sin and for uncleanness and draws out of that daily pardon. Carefulness. Maybe you think you've been going well. There's been no great trials or temptations, and you think, well, the rest of the journey will just be like this. Rutherford said, when the temptation sleeps, you feel secure. And you may have something coming towards you, and you think, I can handle that. Well, it's not a temptation then. Because when a temptation comes, you will feel the power of it. You will be attracted to it. Don't think the devil doesn't know you either. He knows the bait. What will hook that person, need a different bait for that person. And he's been studying human nature for thousands of years. And he's caught many a fish, you might say, who didn't see the bait beneath the hook. Certainly Eve didn't. And I think it's Spurgeon that says, that first temptation is a pattern for all the temptations that come after. Yea, has God said. She began to discuss sin instead of fleeing. She was attracted to it, it was nice to the eyes, pleasant to the eyes. And then she fell into it, suddenly, And in her case, there was no way back. But happily, someone else came into this world. The last Adam. And he did what the first Adam failed to do. Just as the first Adam carried us into sin, so Christ carries his people into righteousness and right into heaven with himself. Carefulness. Then he says, clearing of your sins. Instead of defending your sin, justifying your sin, trivializing your sin, you acknowledge it. You are being honest to God at last. Now David committed two great sins, you might say, a lot of other sins, but two very notable sins, murder and adultery. But for almost a year afterwards, he went up to the tabernacle every day, performed his worship, sang the praises, no doubt maybe confessed a creed of sin, forgive us this day our daily debts, but he didn't mean it. But when he was brought to repentance, and remember, repentance is lifelong. It's not a once for all thing. David was a man after God's own heart. But in his middle age, he became careless. He thought he could relax in the fight, but he could not relax in the spiritual fight. But in Psalm 51, he said, I acknowledge my sin unto thee. Or he has not covered his sin, but he looked to Christ to cover it with his blood. He didn't cover his sin. Against thee only have I sinned. There's the standard. And in thy sight done thyself. John Owen comments on that. He said he could never get it out of his mind. He was replaying it in his mind. And the guilt was getting deeper and deeper. But God brought him to repentance. What a repentant. Around about 400 AD, there was an emperor called Theodosius. And he committed adultery. And Ambrose, the minister at Milan, friend of Augustine, he went up to him and he said, you have to repent. This is wrong. And Theodosius said, but David was a king. David committed adultery. Yes, he said. And as you have followed David in his sin, now follow him in his repentance. And he went out. Clearing of himself. Disapproving, indignant with himself. The Christian looks back and says, how could I possibly have done that? Maybe they were surprised into it. Maybe they thought they could go so far and then they found they were sucked into something. Of course, the Corinthians in certain sins, they were actually upholding one another to compromise. They were supporting one another regarding a sin that they were tolerating in the midst. But the Lord said, thou shalt not run with a crowd to do evil. Some people say, oh, there's safety in numbers. No, friend, there's safety in exodus, like Joseph. Whatever it is, the first reaction of your conscience will be the best one. You don't talk to the serpent, you get out. Eve had a false confidence that she could Talk to the serpent and prevail. Many a person has unwittingly taken on the devil, as if trying their power with the devil's power. And the devil will win. Because there's only one power greater than sin and evil in this world, and it's God's. It's God's power. It's not us. Clearing of themselves. They're sincere about it now. Confessing their sin. And then indignation. Now this reflects the mind of God, of course. God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. So why did we, why did we tolerate it if he doesn't tolerate it? He's indignant with himself, he's angry with himself. Maybe before that he was angry with God. Maybe he said, it's unfair that God has put me into these circumstances. What could I do? But now he's angry with himself. He sees his ingratitude. Is this the life to lead when you've been redeemed by Christ? as David was, as Paul was. And remember, many of these Christians were backsliders. Because Paul says in another chapter, such were some of you, but now you are washed, you are justified, you are sanctified. But you've also been harboring sin. And treating sin as something trivial. as something little. There was a little boy who met a snake, a little snake, and it was a legend. And the boy picked up a stone to kill it. And the little snake said, don't hurt me, I'm just a little one. I can't do you any harm. So the boy had pity and he went his way. The boy grew up. Ten years later, he met the same snake. But the snake had also grown up. And the snake killed the boy. That's what happens when you let something grow inside of you. You think it's trivial. You can handle it. It grows as you grow. It needs the power of Christ to subdue iniquity. It's not a mark of grace. to continue for year after year covering up sin. To continue in doing something you know it is wrong. But sometimes of course you do repent and then you find in life the same temptation keeps coming back. So you have to be not just angry about it, you have to pray for some kind of wise strategy. What can you do to prevent this happening? Or, to take Thomas Chalmers' point of view, what can you do to absorb your mind more in Christ and the things of Christ? He said there are two ways to handle something that's bad, that's sin. He said either you put effort into getting rid of it, or you fill your mind with something else, something better. and that has to be Christ. Indignation, fear. When a person comes to this realization that they've been tolerating sin and are now repenting, they're afraid now of what power they see in themselves. Robert Murray MacChain said that he looked into his own heart and he saw there the seed of every possible sin. Now you might say fear, fear can be a motive in keeping you safe, remember. If there's something that can harm you, you should be afraid of it and you should steer clear of it. Now that might be something in your life, but it might also be places to go or company to keep. If it can hurt you, it may cost you, but you better stay out of it. Coming out from among them and being separate. Some people say, well, that's very strict. No, it's for your own good. It's for your own good. Fear, concerned at how far they went. before they realized this is going the wrong way. This is abusing the grace of God. Fear of self, distrust of self. Some people take it as the fear of the Lord. Well, if you do take it that way, it means you're recovering something you've lost. Because if you have the fear of the Lord, the reverence, Well, you wouldn't be tolerating the sins that you do tolerate. But none of us, sadly, can keep constant watch, diligence, awareness all the time. We're not built, especially since the fall, I mean, to have that consistency. There will be sin every day, and that's why we're told to repent every day. That doesn't mean to say that we should take it for granted, because then, well, we think, well, we become rather despairing. We accept the status quo. We think to ourselves, well, I'm never going to get free of this, so what's the point? The point is that If you're predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son, well, shouldn't that conformity start now? And that becomes seeking to be more like Christ. Some people measure holiness by how many rules they can keep. How many rules they can keep, that's their holiness. That's not holiness. Holiness is conformity to the image, the character of Christ. That's the standard for holiness, the person of Christ. Certainly the standard God's aims at because we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son. We must pray to start now. Now remember that the law never saved anybody, but conformity, desire, Not just to see Christ, but to be like him. That's lying ahead of the Christian on the journey. Fear, desire, desire for Christ. Holiness, to be like God. Some people are so taken up with punishing themselves, they forget that there's forgiveness with God. McChain said, for every look at sin, give 10 looks to Christ, because if you don't, you'll end up in despair. Now there are people today, and they're miserable all their lives, because all they've got is the law. Take away the law from them, they've got nothing left in their religion. Christ is a kind of add on to them. It reminds us of Bunyan. Remember the devil met the Christian pilgrim. And he said, I would point you, regarding this burden on your back, this heavy load of guilt, there's a Mr. Legality, lives in the town of Morality over there. He's very good at taking off burdens. Yes, but in the wrong way. It's the only way to get rid of the burden of your sin. And you might say it's summed up in that command, cast thy burden upon the Lord, because we can't carry that load. But he was wounded, he was wounded for the sins of his people. And he carried a weight on the cross, the weight of all the sins of all his people during all their time on earth. We would sink under that, but God held him up on the cross to bear that away, and that's why he can bear with us even though we sin on the journey. Rutherford reminds us, yes, the Christian has a guilt, but it is not a guilt that requires atonement, because atonement has been made. And that's why God can say he has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, because it's been atoned for. Is it not humbling that the sins that we confess are the very sins for which Christ died? Now you see, there's your motive to repent. Not to put up the law, but the beseeching, the entreating of the gospel. So fear, desire, zeal. You've recovered a desire for holiness. You've recovered the beauty of holiness. A lot of people have a negative point of view regarding holiness. It's don't do this and don't do that and don't do the other. There is a beauty in holiness. It also means that you've recovered a telescopic sight to your faith. You're no longer looking around you or at the present. You're looking into heaven. And you're saying with the apostle, there remains a rest for the people of God. All the days of my appointed time, I will wait until my change comes. Sin is left behind like the Egyptian bodies at the Red Sea. for the honor of Christ. Be very aware that your sins may have caused disorder, as David did. It was said that it caused the daughter of the Philistines to rejoice because it was public. Now, not everybody gets into that situation, but our most important world is the one inside here in the heart. That's the one we have to walk. So, zeal for the glory of Christ in our salvation. We can't get to heaven by our own strength. We can't deserve to go to heaven by our own merits. We stand upon his merit. And when it says in Psalm 84, from strength to strength unwearied go, until in Zion they appear, that's not their own strength, that's his. You're not left to battle with sin on your own, or you would never win through. And the law cannot help you, but the gospel points you to someone who can. And the father said regarding his people, I have laid help upon one that is mighty, mighty to save. And then the last one here, revenge. Revenge against sin and Satan, and revenge against tolerating what you were tempted to tolerate before. We're all tempted to lower our standards as we go on through life. But while we cannot attain to sinless perfection in this world, it doesn't mean that we don't look for perfection in the next world. We're like the heart panting for the water brooks. To be with him, to see him, to be like him. To glorify him when we behold him face to face, and to be glorified ourselves when we see him. We shall be like him. but revenge against all that would hinder us and take our eyes away from the beauty of the holiness of Christ Jesus. The heart is deceitful. Now to take revenge, to put it briefly, is to do the opposite of what you were doing before. Because if it's sin, obviously the wrong choice has been made, the wrong way has been taken, is to go back. It's what's said in Isaiah. Thou shalt hear a voice behind you. Behind you, you're going the wrong way. This is the way. Walk ye in it. And there's a peace of conscience you will find in holiness, which you will not find in any other direction. At the same time, you'll be aware of yourself, your past history, You know what will take away that peace. And that fear of losing your peace should keep you from sin. The Lord will speak peace to his people, but let them not turn again to foolishness. So all of these are found in some degree in every Christian who has faith and repentance. Our time has gone, but just to sum up, these evidences, fruits, effects, marks, they may not be found in you strongly or consistently, but as long as they're there, and as long as you desire that they should be there, you will continue on the journey. You will fight against sin. It's not the glorious fight you thought it was. There's stumblings, slips, failures. You go off the path. But repentance is God's way of bringing you back on the path. And it's a wonderful thing to be in the company of God. But it's a more wonderful thing that He wants us in His company. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to Him daily with repentance. You will be cleansed from sin. Your peace will be restored. And He will be more precious than your eyes.