AP

By James Jeffery

One True Assurance // Fundamentals of the Faith (Part II)

When was the last time you experienced grief over your sin?

The longer we live, the more we see the corrosive impact of sin on relationships. Sin hurts trust, ruins families, damages friendships, and leaves deep scars. Because of sin, we treat other people as a ‘means to an end,’ rather than loving them as image bearers of God.

• Rather than being generous, we take advantage of others.

• Rather than serving, we want to be served.

• Rather than celebrating the achievements of others, we envy them and seek to bring them down.

As a result of our sin, we experience ‘grief.’ This sorrow can be like a tonne of bricks weighing upon our shoulders.

The Only Hope for the Grieved

Thanks be to God; relationships can be rebuilt if there is repentance and forgiveness. In fact, every good relationship is built on these two practices.

For there to be repentance, there must be a proper grief over sin. Therefore, it is worth spending some time considering what such a grief looks like in practice.

In 2 Corinthians 7:10, we are shown the difference between godly and worldly grief. Restoration of our relationship with God enables us to have restored relationships with one another.

The Context of 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians was a follow-up letter Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. In his first letter, he addressed several concerning aspects of their life and doctrine. His aim in doing so was not to crush the Corinthians, but to lead them to repentance and restoration. 

In 2 Corinthians 7:9, Paul rejoiced that the Corinthian Christians were ‘grieved into repenting’ because of his first letter. That is, Paul’s letter brought them to an awareness of their sin, which caused them grief, which led them to repentance.

He praises God that their grief was not a ‘worldly grief,’ but rather a ‘godly grief.’ Here in 2 Corinthians 7, Paul explains three key marks of this godly grief.

1. Godly Grief is God-Oriented

Godly grief is directed toward God, because it is He whom we have offended. We recognise the nature of sin, being first and foremost a transgression against the Living God.

Recognising our offence is against God, we cry with King David:

“Against you, you only, have I sinned…” (Psalm 51:4).

We recognise something of the seriousness of our sin and its consequences. Godly grief leads us to bring our sin to God, the only one who can forgive us.

By contrast, false grief is motivated by fear of punishment. One only needs to think of criminals who are caught in the act. They do not grieve their sin, but rather grieve the consequences of their sin.

If this describes you, pray that the Holy Spirit would soften your heart to comprehend the gravity of your sin against God. Only God can reveal this to us.

It is worth noting that our grief will always be imperfect.

As R.C. Sproul wrote,

“I know that I have never in my life approached the full measure of remorse and contrition for my sin that I should have, but I also know that’s true of you as well as it is of me. I think it was Thomas à Kempis who said that the greatest saints rarely come anywhere close to feeling the full measure of weight of their own sinfulness. And I’m glad that the Holy Spirit reveals the depths of my sin gradually to me. If He would reveal to me right now the full measure of my guilt before God, I would be destroyed just at that one moment when Isaiah said he was coming apart. He disintegrated with his vision of God.”

Although our grief will always be tainted by sin, we can pray that God would soften our hearts toward Him.

2. Godly Grief Produces Repentance

Godly grief always leads us to repent of our sin. The word ‘repentance’ means changing our mind and turning around. It requires an entire 180-degree change of mind.

If there is no repentance, there has been no godly grief. If there is no godly grief, there will be no repentance. They are two sides of the same coin.

As C.S. Lewis writes:

“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.”

This helps us to see that sin is not just the ‘bad things’ we do, but rather who we are at our core. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.

3. Godly Grief Leads to Life

Godly grief leads to repentance, which leads to salvation and restoration. Only when we acknowledge our sin against God can we be healed by Him. When we do so, He forgives us and gives us new life.

The Apostle Peter is a powerful example of such grief. Though he denied Jesus three times, he repented and was restored to fellowship with God. Rather than falling into despair, he rejoiced in the mercy and forgiveness of Christ toward him, a sinner. 

Conversely, worldly grief leads to death. It is self-absorbed, prideful, and driven by a desire to escape the penalty of sin.

As John MacArthur puts it:

“Human sorrow and remorse without producing change has no redemptive capacity. It is nothing more than the wounded pride of getting caught. That kind of sorrow leads only to guilt, shame, despair, depression, self-pity, and hopelessness.”[1]

Judas Iscariot’s life stands as a solemn warning of worldly grief. After betraying Jesus, he regretted his sin. However, he could not stand the shame of having betrayed Jesus, and so tragically hanged himself on a tree.

The Bottom Line

God does not call us to be worthy before we repent. Rather, He calls us to come to Him today, to approach Him in our mess, and to ask Him to change us.

Whether or not you are experiencing godly grief, pray that God would create in you a heart that grieves sin for what it is. For only when we bring our sin to Jesus can we be healed and restored.

Closing Prayer

Dear Father,

Against You and You alone have we sinned. Forgive us of the many ways we have failed to love You and love others. Forgive us for being motivated by shame and guilt rather than a godly grief over our sin.

Cleanse and renew us today and restore to us the joy of Your salvation. Remind us that You are a gracious God whose steadfast love endures forever.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen.

[1] John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible, Accordance electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013), paragraph 22744.