We have a ministry this morning. If you guys want to get in the ministry, it's open. And it's a ministry that is often neglected. And it's a ministry that is well needed. And it's the ministry of rebuke. Some people wonder, you know, will I die for Jesus? Would I be a martyr for Him? And then they say, hey, maybe you should tell them they're doing something wrong, and they say, I'm not gonna do that. Why, because that makes me uncomfortable? Don't you think dying for Jesus will make you uncomfortable? Maybe we should start here. This is a ministry that is well needed and is neglected. And you know, I don't know if it occurred to you, but there's a lot of passages in our Bible that we have just because of this ministry. You ever read the book of Galatians? He said, when He was come from Antioch, I withstood Him to His face because He was somewhat to be blamed. You know what the book of 1 Corinthians is? It's confrontation. You guys have a problem. You're carnal. And I wanted to give you more, but you're a bunch of babies. You're prideful. You have this guy in the church that's doing all these bad things and you won't bring down judgment. You're getting drunk at the Lord's Supper. You're sleeping with the prostitutes at the shrine. You're messed up on the resurrection. And the rest will I set in order when I come. There's more. That's why we have the book. The book of 2 Corinthians, the back story to this is he planted the church. The divisions took root, the pride took root, and then he wrote them 1 Corinthians, which is a pretty tough letter if you were going to receive that. Imagine receiving that from the Apostle Paul and you'd be like, this is not a good guy. Well, obviously they didn't respond well to it, because if you look at 2 Corinthians 2, Paul went and visited them. And he said in 2 Corinthians that he's writing, I determined this myself, I would not come again to you in heaviness. For I made you sorry, who is then that maketh me glad? The same which made sorry by me. The only person that grieved me, that's the person that can make me happy. And I wrote this same unto you, lest when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice. And it says in Luke 4, for out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears, Not that you should be grieved, but you should know the love which I have more abundantly unto you all. So Paul went and visited them, and then he wrote another letter that we do not have. And this letter, I'm telling you, it was a severe letter. It was no holds barred. It was much more strong than 1 Corinthians according to this verse, but we don't have it. And the Corinthians, the response to that is they repented. They were broken. They cleared themselves. And because of that other letter and that confrontation, that ministry of Buke, Paul went from weeping to rejoicing. And you know the Bible says, if you just think about some proverbs, it says, reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man and he will what? Love thee, you know it. The Bible says open rebuke is better than secret love. You know what rebuke means? It means to admonish, to convict, to correct, to tell a fool. Open rebuke is better than secret love. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. What do you think? Oh, I think you're doing a really good job. Well, do they really think that? Is that really what you need to hear? The Bible says, take heed to thyselves if thy brother trespass against thee. If he sins against you, it says, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. Just keep your hand here, 2 Corinthians 7, look at Revelation 3.19. The Bible says, them that sin, rebuke before all that others may fear. It says, preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering. It says, the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. And it says, this witness of them is true. Wherefore, rebuke them sharply. Why? That they may be sound in the faith. Now look at this, Revelation 3.19. Who's speaking here? Jesus. And what does our example say? What does our Savior say? What does our Master say? What does the One say that we should be like Him? As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. It's out of love. Be zealous therefore and repent. You know, most people in the church have lost this skill. And you know what it is? If you haven't done this, it's disobedience. So don't try to dress it up as anything else. It is disobedience to what God wants us to do in each other's life. And that's why we have this book and this chapter in this first place. And the reason they don't do it is they place their emotions above God. I don't want to feel uncomfortable. They don't want to feel bad. They don't want to make other people feel bad. They care more about comfort than the will of God. You know, here's a big one, and I've learned this in my own life, is this. The people that upset you the most, one of the reasons you don't go help them is because you do the exact same thing and you haven't removed the beam out of your own eye so you can help them remove the speck. Always pay attention to this. Whenever someone makes you mad or what they do makes you really angry, you say, where is this in my life? Where is this in my life? Because I'm telling you, it is one of the best indicators to find sin in your life to be repentant of that you're unaware of. And then you can help them. And it's because that you care more about yourself than you care about them. So you need to get good at this ministry of rebuke. Confrontation is not easy. It's not. It takes humility. And by the way, if it's out of, you know, if you never tell anybody when they've done something wrong, unless you get angry enough, then you're not doing it right. We're gonna see in this passage, it's out of a place of sorrow. It's an internal wrestling. But, you know, I love them enough to say this. I want to help them. But if you're doing it only when you get mad enough, that's not the ministry of rebuke. That's something else. And that's not what the Lord is talking about here. Because it's easier to say nothing if a person's walking to the edge of the cliff. It's easier just to observe them. You know, there was a story sometime, this house was on fire, and they interviewed all the people. Why didn't you go knock on the door and tell them? They're like, I didn't want to disturb them. It's easier to say nothing. Well, they might get upset if I wait. There's a fire in the house. At some point, you'd need to tackle them, amen? And so, this is what it is, but now here, let's look at this, let's look at some of the verses, because I will say this, that this ministry comes with personal sorrow. And look at verse 8. He says, for though I made you sorry with a letter. You know this word sorrow, sorry, is in here eight times. There's a lot of sorrow. Paul talked about anguish. and many tears when he wrote this letter. Though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent." I'm not sorry that I wrote this strong letter to you. But I did repent. There was a minute there where I was like, how are they going to take this? I perceived that when they received this epistle, How are they going to take this? Oh man, the sorrow that it's going to cause them. Though it for a season. I wrote a letter and I confronted the problem in no uncertain terms and it was strong. And it was a rebuke. And I'm glad I did it. I do not repent. Though I did repent. Paul said, great is my boldness of speech towards you in 7 in verse 4. Great is my glorying of you. It says in verse 5, we were come to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest. We were troubled on every side. Without we're fighting, within we're fierce. And Paul is over here in Macedonia and people are trying to kill him. And there's all this trouble that's coming on him from the outside. There's spiritual attacks, Satan is hindering him, there's persecution, there's this fear that comes along with satanic attacks and spiritual warfare. There's all of this trouble that's going on in his life. And he said, I gotta tell them, this isn't good, guys. This isn't God. This is exactly what you're doing. Now Titus, take this to them. Lord, help them to receive it. Maybe I shouldn't have wear out it. Now I think I should have done it. Man, I'm not sorry I did it, but I was sorry. But then I'm not sorry. Do you see the ministry of rebuke comes with some personal sorrow? It comes from internal wrestling. Don't get mad at the person that is rebuking you in the spirit of love. Because to get to that point, they had to do business with God. To get to that point, there had to be some, God, how do you want me to confront this? Well, I just have to do it. And God helped him to receive it. And Titus takes that letter over there to give it to him, and Paul's just, oh man, what are they gonna do? How are they gonna receive it? And I'm telling you, with this ministry, there should be this wrestling in our spirit. There should be this prayer. There should be this love. That doesn't mean the truth is dumbed down. But I'm telling you that Jesus was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. And I'm telling you, there's points in the Christian life where it is very difficult. And humans are the same the world over. And I'll tell you how humans from the South are, where I'm from. God bless you. But they will not, no matter what happens, ever say anything to your face that they really think, they'll just stab you in the back. I know the Hispanic culture, it is very difficult for them to confront it, but it's not difficult for us from the South, from wherever you are, wherever your culture's from, the world over, people don't like to do this. They don't like to do this. This is growing up in Christianity. This is biblical Christianity. This is taking the cross of Christ and taking up your cross and following Christ. They don't want to do it. They'd rather die than do it. And so what happens is sin settles everywhere. And nobody is addressing it. And they're just waiting on it to get addressed from the pulpit or somebody else to address it. This is how we minister to one another. This is how the body of the Christ perfects itself in love. But it has to be in love. And that personal sorrow is good. As long as you work out that with the Lord. And you keep going. And you know what? He said, I had no rest in my spirit, in 2 verse 13, while that was gone. Well, I didn't know which way it would fall. I had no rest in my spirit, but in verse four he says, Great is my glorying of you, I am filled with comfort. I'm exceeding joyful in our tribulation. You know what, Paul said, man, all this stuff I was going through, all of this stuff I was going through, when Titus came back and said, man, they loved the letter, and boy, it stung, and they wept, and they were sorrowful, and boy, they were taken aback. but it purified them. He's like, I don't care about all these attacks and all these people trying to kill me. I don't care about that. I am so happy that they repented and they were restored. Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee. You know, the people I love the most in this world are people that have said to me, what you're doing is not good. And you don't see it, but this is what's going on, and nobody will say it to you. But I'll tell you, because I love you. The closest people in my life have been people that rebuked me. and told me about the mustard on my face that I didn't know about. And I try to pastor that way. I try to do it. Because I care about people. And we have to be like Paul, we have to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, and care about one another to do that. And it doesn't damage relationships if there's a proper response. It doesn't. It says, we were comforted by the coming of Titus when he told us in verse 7 of your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me. So I rejoiced more. And man, you know why you love them? Because you know it's at a great personal cost. You know it's from a price of great risk and difficulty if it goes the wrong way. Now, we know that sorrow, personal sorrow, is part of the ministry of rebuke, but it also projects sorrow onto others that can take two different paths, godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. So let's look at the next verse, 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 9. So there's personal sorrow, there's projected sorrow. I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, not that you felt bad, but that you sorrowed to repentance. I was glad that this produced a change in you. Repentance If you're not a Christian and you believe that when you die nothing will happen, repentance is when you stop believing in nothing and start believing in Jesus. Repentance in a believer's life should be a constant. A daily, hourly, minute-by-minute thing. Always under correction and bringing it into light of the Holy Spirit and where you want to go. And that change should be reproduced. I rejoice that you sorrowed to repentance. You were made sorry after a godly manner. Look, that you might receive the damage done in us by nothing. Oh, I'm like, who's messing with their phone? Elon Musk is listening to me or something. The AI is over there, commenting and correcting by, that's not correct. Never had that happen, amen? But he says here, in verse 9, not that you were made sorry, not seery, okay? After a godly manner, that you might receive the damage by us in nothing. So, what happened is, if you're sorry after a godly manner, it doesn't damage the relationship. You see that? It wasn't damage. The relationship actually took on a new level. There was more love. And the types of sorrow that happens, the godly sorrow or the worldly sorrow, determines what happens. But if it's godly, it leads to repentance, not revenge. If it's godly, it will bring about a change in a godly response. If someone rebukes you and it's based on truth, but if somebody tells you something that you're doing wrong and you allow that to damage the relationship, you are misusing sorrow. You're misusing it. The one that was so bold to tell you is now also, if it's godly sorrow, your biggest supporter. Your biggest advocate, your biggest recommender is what Paul was. The one that was grieved now rejoices over you. Godly sorrow ends in joy, and it leads to change. And it's not about emotions, it's about direction. Look at verse 10. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. Oh man, I've been doing the wrong thing. And that's why there's all these problems in my life. I need to change that and bring that along and God and then that problem, that sin goes away and I'm saved from that sin or I've been trusting the wrong thing and I've been wrong and I need to trust Jesus and it leads to salvation. Either in your circumstances or in your life. It leads to salvation not to be repented of. You know, the decay is arrested. The deteriorating condition goes away. It's not to be repented of. It's not double-minded. I'm done. I'll never do it again. You know, I had a preacher that I used to listen to when I was a kid and he said he'd go down to the rescue mission and preach and he'd preach against alcohol and he said those old drunks would take that bottle from the back and say, I'm done with this, I'll never do it again. And it'd smash on the wall and go down. Splash on him and he'd smell like he drank. Tears in their eyes, I'll never do it again. And he said, come back the next week, and the same guy's throwing the bottle. Not to be repented of. It's not double-minded. It's not vacillating. It doesn't go back and forth. Worldly sorrow, on the other side, works death. Look at verse 10. It works death. It's something to be repented of. It's a festering wound that never heals and turns septic and kills whatever's in its path. It tends towards destruction. It destroys relationships. It's toxic. And it turns inward at some point and ends in death. Judas, Remember what he did? He repented of himself, and he took the 30 pieces of silver and cast it down, and he went and hung himself. Remember Cain? God had respect unto Abel's offering, and Cain's offering wasn't expected, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said, what are you mad about? Why is your countenance falling? If you do well, you'll be accepted. If not, there's sin is the problem. And then he's talking to Abel and he rises up and he kills him. God says, where's your brother? I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper? What does that have to do with me? And God said, his blood's crying to me from the ground. And now you're gonna, have to go out, and you know what he said? My punishment is greater than I can bear. Ahithophel, when he heard that his counsel was not followed, he went home, set his house in order, and hung himself. Ahab, Naboth, sell me your vineyard, and God forbid, I'm not going to go against God. I'm not going to sell it to you. And it goes home and lays there. In sorrows. Why are you sorry? He won't give me the vineyard. Did it end in death? Jonah, do you do well to be angry? I do well. Even unto death. You know, worldly sorrow is experienced with hopelessness. Look at what I'm doing. I'm just no good. There's no hope for me. Just can't get it together. Just do the same thing over and over. They have it so good. Look at me. Woe is me. Depression. Hopelessness. No hope. And it ends in death. Things don't get better. They get worse. So when you're confronted with your sin, what is the effect in your life? Is it all this condemnation? Jesus died for your sin. He shed his blood for your sin. You are not your sin. That's a behavior that needs to be changed with the help of God. And there needs to be godly sorrow that leads to repentance. Now what is godly sorrow? What is godly sorrow? What is the effect of the right kind of rebuke in response to that? from the Word of God, from the pulpit, from another brother. It says in verse 11, for this selfsame thing you sorrowed after a godly sort. And he draws attention to what that godly sorrow produced, and he lists seven things. Seven things. And he gives his affirmation every time. Yea, what? Carefulness. it wrought in you. Are you experiencing the condemnation of the hopelessness? Or are you directing that sorrow towards repentance? And are these seven evidences what carefulness it wrought in you? You threw the ball and broke his window. It's just a window. I did? Sure, can I pay for that window? And I will never throw the ball in that direction again. I'm going to go across the street and throw the ball over here. What carefulness it wrought in you. What clearing of yourself. I want my name off of this sin. I want my name to be disassociated with it. I want my trust to be restored. I don't want to make excuses, but I want to take action that clears my name and nobody would ever suspect that I was involved with this. And I know you don't have to believe me, but just watch. You will see that I'm serious about this. I want you to test it. I want you to watch. I want you to verify. And I want you to get to the point where you're convinced that he's not involved in this. If that sin was associated with black, they were white. They took a different route home. They poured their root beer into a cup. Matter of fact, they didn't even drink root beer, because they didn't want to get anything like a glass bottle. I never want to be seen or associated with this. If sin was the edge, they stayed away from the edge, all the way over here. What indignation. I can't believe that I, a child of God, was involved in this. I am so mad. I'm indignant to think that I ever got involved with that. I can't believe it. I'm not mad at Paul. I'm mad at my sin in my life. What indignation? What fear? Boy, I don't want to offend a holy God again. I want to cleanse myself of all filthiness of the flesh, verse 1, and of the spirit. I want to have the right attitude. Because that bad attitude might lead me to this sin. What fear! God is holy and I must walk humbly before my God. What fear? I'm going to retrace my steps and I'm going to see where I went. Oh, that's where it was. Never going down there again. What lie did I believe? This lie I believed. No, no, no. I'm going to believe this truth instead. Boy, I could fall back into that. Boy, I tell you what, people get their homes broken, and they put burglar systems up, and cameras up, and they wanna prevent that thing from ever happening again, and boy, I'm telling you what, that sin's gonna come knocking, and there's gonna be a camera there, and there's gonna be a burglar system, and I'm gonna have armed guards there, and I'm gonna have people praying, and I don't ever wanna get involved in this again. God, help me! What fear! I don't ever want to fall into pornography again. I don't ever want to fall into these things again. Keep that computer out there. I got a dumb phone and a Tom Tom. I don't have one, but if you need that, I would get it. I'm going to tell all my secrets. Here, I have this apple eye tag on, and if you ever see it over there, call the ambulance. Boy, here's my patterns. Here's all my secrets. What fear. This is what sorrow should produce. This is what the ministry of rebuke should produce. What vehement desire. Boy, when the saints go marching in, I want to be found in that number. When the saints go marching in. Boy, I want to please my God. I want to please Him. And there's nothing more in life I want than when the Lord comes back, He said, well done. Boy, I want that! Thank you for telling me. Because that's what I want. I want to please God. What zeal! It didn't crush their spirit. It reignited their passion for the Lord. What zeal! You mean God will forgive me for that? You mean God could restore me? You mean there's still a place for me? Yeah! Boy, I'm going to go for that. I'm going to take that opportunity, and I'm going to serve the Lord. What revenge. Not on Paul, but on the sin. I'm going to take the money I wasted on that, and I'm going to give it to God. I'm going to expose everybody. I'm going to tell on everybody. You know what I always thought when I was a kid? Why do these dumb kids sin with each other? Somebody's eventually gonna get right with God. And I'm praying that someone in the church among the kids gets right with God and tells everything and takes a vengeance on the secrecy and the sin. What revenge? Boy, I'm gonna do that. I'm going to make sure. I'm going to fight against it. I'm going to spend my efforts attacking this. And I'm going to take vengeance on this and turn it for God. And he said, in all things, you have proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. The Apostle Paul said, I'm convinced. Boy, I am rejoicing. I'm rejoicing. Repentance isn't proven by what you say. It's proven by what you do after you say you're sorry. There's seven things. Just put that checklist up. Have I repented? Because if I've repented, these seven things should be there. Seven's the number of perfection, right? not that I'm a number person, but I can't even count, but seven bullet points, seven principles that should operate in my life. And then Paul goes on to say in verse 12, wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for the cause that had done the wrong, nor for the cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you when the sight of God might appear unto you. Paul said, the reason I wrote the letter and rebuked you wasn't even so much about the situation, I was concerned that the love that I have for you before God, that God knows about, you might know about that too. Isn't that a blessing? I know the people that really care about me before God are the ones that rebuke me. And he says in verse 13, wherefore we are comforted in your comfort, and exceeding the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed. Do you realize with repentance, the very one that grieved us and grieved you, can be also the same person that doubles the encouragement and the rejoicing? What a blessing. Isn't God good? It's a God of redemption. A God of making things better than they were before through a biblical response. His spirit was refreshed. The same one that grieved was now refreshing Titus. Titus is like, man, I can't wait to bring Paul this news. Verse 14, for if you have boasted anything of him, of you, I am not ashamed. But as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found of truth. And His inward affection is more abundant towards you whilst He remembered the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received Him. I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you." In what? All things. You know what true repentance does? It expands your credibility to other areas of your life. More affection than before. So what do you have? What's operating in your life? Godly sorrow or worldly sorrow? And will you say, Lord, I'm sorry. I need to be involved in this ministry that you've called us to do. And I will do my job as a good soldier of Jesus Christ and I will have a good attitude, and I will be more concerned about them, and how they're going to receive it, and praying that they receive it right, and there's not going to be any of my anger in there. This is not personal. This is for the Lord. And for them, because I love them and want to help them. And I will be obedient and take part in this ministry. I'm going to have the pianist come for the fans to come and play. And we're going to bow our heads and close our eyes. And as soon as he begins to play, if God spoke to your heart, if you want to say you're obedient to him, you can come to the altar. If you want to come get some of those seven things in operation in your life and you want to tell him about that. If you want to repent of worldly sorrow. Whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life free. Let's pray. And come, if God spoke to your heart, you come.