Piper's Notes

December 30, 1984

Bethlehem Baptist Church

John Piper, Pastor

THE GOOD END OF GODLY REGRET

(2 Corinthians 7:5-13)

For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest but we were

afflicted at every turn - fighting without and fear within. 6) But God, who comforts

the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7) and not only by his

coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he told

us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

8) For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it (though I did

regret it), for I see that the letter grieved you, though only for a while. 9) As it is,

I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into

repenting; for you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10)

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no

regret, but worldly grief produces death.

This is the last Sunday of 1984. As we look back over the year everyone of us who

is honest has something to regret. Even though we can count our many blessings

and name them one by one, the list of our blunders is also a long one. Resolutions

unkept; bad habits unbroken; anger unconquered; scripture unmemorized; letters

unwritten; opportunities not taken. The higher your goals and the keener your

conscience, the greater your regret. It can be a very depressing time of year.

So I want to talk about regret this morning. The text is 2 Corinthians 7:8-10 and the

doctrine I want to unfold is this: the good end of godly regret is salvation. Before we

try to unpack this statement, let's get the situation clear.

Paul had written a letter to the church at Corinth. The letter was a response to a

situation caused by some opponent that had swung the allegiance of the church

away from Paul. Notice verse 12: "So although I wrote to you, it was not on account

of the one who did the wrong, nor on account of the one who suffered the wrong

(perhaps Paul himself), but in order that your zeal for us might be revealed to you in

the sight of God." In other words, somebody had done a wrong to someone else

(maybe Paul) and had somehow dampened the zeal of the Corinthians for Paul.

Perhaps his authority or his character had been maligned, and the church had fallen

for this and lost their affection and longing and respect for Paul. Paul writes a stern

letter to try to point out the wrong and stir up their support once again.

He probably sends it with Titus from somewhere in Asia and promptly sinks into

depression that they might be alienated by his letter and his ministry with them be

ruined for ever. According to 2:13 he had hoped to meet Titus with news of their

response in Troas. But Titus didn't show. Then 7:5 says Paul crossed on over into

Macedonia struggling all the way with "external conflicts and internal fears."

Finally Titus comes with news from Corinth in verses 6 and 7. The letter has worked.

Their zeal for Paul was restored. Then Paul writes these rich words from which we

take our message today (vv. 8-10):

For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it (though I did regret it),

for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not

because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting; for you felt

a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces

repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces

death.

So the teaching that I want to unfold is this: The good end of godly regret is

salvation. To unfold this truth I'll make three points:

Godly regret is good.

Godly regret produces repentance.

Godly regret leads to salvation.

But before we look at these three points we need to define "godly regret." The term

is used twice. Once in verse 9 and once in verse 10. "For you felt a godly regret so

that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that

leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death." The grief in

view is grief over the way they had fallen for Paul's opponent and mistreated Paul.

It's the grief of regret over past sin. It's called godly, or literally, "according to God."

Notice in verse 10 that the opposite of godly grief is not feeling no grief but feeling

worldly grief."

This is crucial to notice. The opposite of godly remorse is not always

remorselessness. The powers of darkness in the world are much more subtle than

that. There is a grief, a regret, a remorse which is "of the world" and not "according

to God." You can feel sorry for something in a worldly way which leads to death. So

what we need to do is distinguish godly regret from worldly regret.

I would suggest two ways to distinguish them.

1) Worldly regret is when you feel sorry for something you did because it starts to

backfire on you and leads to humiliation or punishment. It's the reflex of a proud or

fearful ego. Pride will always regret making a fool of itself. And fear will always

regret acts that jeopardize comfort and safety. So feeling sorry for something we

have done is in itself no sign of virtue. But godly regret is the reflex of a

conscience that has wounded God's ego, not its own. Godly regret grieves that

God's name has come into disrepute. The focus of godly regret is God.

2) A second way to distinguish worldly regret from godly regret is that godly regret

is owning to God's word putting its finger on sin in our lives. Worldly regret is

owing not to God's word but to the attitudes of men whose praise we don't want to

lose. We can feel extremely sorry for something we have done if we detect that

the people around us think it is stupid or silly or reprehensible. The word of man

not God becomes the criterion of guilt.

So in summary, godly grief, or godly regret, is the uncomfortable feeling of guilt

when the word of God shows you that what you've done is sin and thus has brought

reproach on God's name. (Of course, if other people have been hurt by your sin,

godly regret will want to redress the wrong and so remove the reproach upon God's

honor.) Godly regret is the regret of a God-saturated heart, not a world-saturated

heart.

Now back to the main doctrine of this text: The good end of godly regret is salvation.

Three brief points under this head:

1. Godly regret is good. Paul said at the end of verse 7 and the beginning of verse

9 that he rejoiced over what the Corinthians had experienced. It was a good thing.

But it's like saying pain is good. We don't really mean that pain all by itself is a

good thing. We mean that in a world where you can bleed to death it's good to feel

pain when you are cut. It's good to feel pain before the tumor is inoperable. It's good

to feel pain before the infection leads to gangrene.

Godly regret is to sin what pain is to disease. A sensitive conscience is a gift of

God, just like nerve endings that recoil from scalding water. Yet it is amazing how

many people today teach and counsel that guilt feelings are unhealthy and harmful.

Of course, there are guilt feelings that are unhealthy just like there is pain that is

psychosomatic. It does not signal any real disease. There is such a thing as false

guilt. In fact, I think Paul was experiencing it in verse 8. "Even if I made you sorry

with my letter I do not regret it (though I did regret it)…" Paul had tortured himself for

weeks it seems with guilt that perhaps he shouldn't have sent that letter. But all for

nought. His letter was of God. His regret was unfounded, unnecessary. There was

no disease. It was a false alarm. We ought to try to overcome all such false guilt.

But there are those today whose opposition to guilt is much deeper than that. It is a

rejection of sin and its horrendous proportions in relation to God. Real guilt, real

regret, is good and should not be avoided. Frontier doctors used to use whiskey to

dull the pain before an amputation. That's o.k. The tragedy is when people try to use

whiskey or other artificial means to dull the moral pain of regret and fear. Physical

pain and moral regret always point beyond themselves to other problems to be

solved. The pain and regret are only symptoms and they are good for that purpose.

Instead of running from them, we should face them head on and admit the disease

and seek a deeper cure in Christ.

2. Which leads to the second point: Godly regret produces repentance. Verse 9

says that Paul's joy was not based merely on the guilt that the Corinthians had felt,

but on the repentance it produced. "I rejoice not because you were grieved, but

because you were grieved into repenting." Then verse 10 states the general truth:

"Godly grief produces repentance." The first thing to notice is that repentance is not

identical with grief or regret over sin. It is the result of these emotions. To feel sorry,

to feel grief or guilt or regret over a past sin is not the same as repenting.

Repentance is the change of attitude or behavior that results from the feeling of

remorse over the sin. I think it would be wise to say that godly regret is the first step

of repentance. And repentance follows and completes the change of heart.

So the test of godly regret is repentance. The test of whether our grief is of God or of

the world is whether it produces change. Repentance is turning away from and

renouncing one way and going in another. In verses 7 and 11 Paul describes the

change he heard about in the Corinthians. Their indifference to his presence had

turned to longing. Their rejection of his authority had turned to zeal. Their gullibility

had turned to indignation against the opponent. In other words, godly regret is a very

fruitful emotion. It does not immobilize you in the pits of depression. It is temporary

and effective. Notice that last phrase in verse 8: "I see that the letter grieved you,

though only for a while." If the feeling of regret and guilt holds you in its grip week in

and week out long after the sin is past and you have turned from it, then it is not the

grief of God but of the world. It is Satan's attack. If he cannot keep you from

regretting your sin, then he will do his best to keep you from enjoying your

forgiveness. If he fails in his attempt to keep you from grieving over sin, he will do his

best to turn your godly grief into an ongoing bondage of unwarranted guilt. And if

there is any work of the devil that the Son of God died to destroy it is this one,

namely, robbing God's children of the enjoyment of their forgiveness. Godly grief

throws us to the foot of the cross. The dying Christ slays the dragon of guilt and

frees us to turn boldly away from sin, rebuke the defeated devil, and walk joyfully

with God in the narrow path of righteousness that leads to life.

3. Which leads us to the final point: Godly regret leads to salvation. Verse 10:

"Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but

worldly grief produces death." This helps us understand the depth of Paul's

struggles back in verse 5: "fightings without, fears within." What did he fear? He

feared that his work might have been in vain and that some of the professing

believers in Corinth would be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and follow the way

that leads to death not salvation.

He says in 11:2-3, "I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to Christ to

present you as a pure bride to her one husband. But I am afraid that as the serpent

deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and

pure devotion to Christ." So at the end of the book (13:5) he calls them to test

themselves: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test

yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? -- unless indeed you fail

to meet the test!"

What is the test? What is the evidence that their faith is genuine? The answer of

7:10 would be: there is a path that leads to salvation and one that leads to death.

The way to test your faith is to test which path you are on. The path that leads to

salvation is not the path of sinless perfection (just as we saw last week that's not

the test). It is the path of godly grief and genuine repentance. "Godly grief produces

repentance that leads to salvation." Are we grieved by our sin with a godly grief and

do we turn from it -- that is the test of our faith and the evidence that Christ is in us.

Godly regret is good.

Godly regret produces repentance.

And, therefore, godly regret leads to salvation.

I close with two obvious practical applications of this truth:

1) Be willing to cause godly regret.

2) Be willing to accept godly regret.

When I say, Cause godly regret, I don't mean cause your brother or sister to sin. I

mean, if necessary, help them recognize their sin. This is never easy. We can take

heart that Paul did not find it easy. When he wrote his letter it caused him

tremendous discomfort until he knew the Corinthians had taken it well. We risk

being rejected and criticized when we care about someone enough to put our finger

on their sin. But we should follow Paul's example and do it anyway. It could be that

their salvation is at stake and you are God's way of bringing them back to the path

of repentance that leads to life.

We should be willing to accept godly regret. Put yourself in the place of the

Corinthians. You get a stern letter from someone. It is a rebuke and a call to

repentance and an expression of love. How would you respond? Would you bristle in

self-defense and start to point out the other person's flaws to conceal your own? Or

would you be like the Corinthians and let yourself be moved to godly grief and

repentance?

On these two points let's be like Paul and the Corinthians. Let's be willing if

necessary to cause godly regret like Paul did and let's be willing to accept it like

they did. Because, the truth stands sure: the good end of godly regret is salvation."

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