SORROW THAT LEADS TO SALVATION

II Cor. 7:10 ... "Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death." (NKJV)

      After Paul had established a congregation of the Lord's church in Corinth, he stayed there a year and a half to build it up and strengthen it before going on to other fields of labor. It was not very long afterward, however, when he received reports that the young church was beset with many problems. So he wrote them a corrective epistle in which he warned them "not to associate with immoral people," (I Cor. 5:9), This epistle has not survived. Later, he received a report from the house of Chloe that "there are quarrels among you," (I Cor. 1:11). Paul responded with the epistle which has been preserved in the Bible as First Corinthians. Thereafter, something developed in the attitude of the Corinthians against Paul himself, perhaps involving slander against him as a true apostle. The strain was so great that he felt it best not to come to them in person lest a confrontation occur that might prevent a resolution to the problem. Therefore, he chose rather to write a third epistle, not preserved in the Bible, which is often called the "severe letter," (II Cor. 2:1-4). This he sent by Titus and then waited with great anxiety in Macedonia for his assistant to return with a report of its effect upon them. To his great relief and joy this severe letter had made a positive impression, thus reconciling the apostle and these rather difficult converts.

      Paul rejoiced, not that he had produced great sorrow in them, but that the sorrow had led them to repent. He distinguished between two kinds of sorrow, "godly sorrow" and the "sorrow of the world." The first one leads to repentance, which in turn leads to salvation. The second type of sorrow leads to "death." Godly sorrow translates a phrase that conveys the idea of sorrow with a view toward God. The Corinthians came to realize that their offense toward Paul went ultimately unto God as well, as indeed every sin does. When David cried in Psa, 51:4, "Against You, You only, I have sinned," he did not mean that he had not sinned against Uriah, Bathsheba, the child of their adulterous union, and the nation which he governed. He simply meant that he understood that his sins were ultimately against God. When one realizes that his sins always reflect upon the honor of God, no matter against whom they might have been directed on the human level, he will be led into the kind of sorrow that leads to repentance. Repentance then activates an immediate cessation of sinning and the concerted effort to undo or negate the effects of the sin to the extent that such is possible. It is for this repentance that God waits before He extends forgiveness to the sinner. That forgiveness is the offender's salvation.

      Worldly sorrow is nothing more than regret that one has been uncovered in deeds he has done that have resulted in pain to others. Worldly sorrow leads to death, not in the literal sense of the cessation of physical life, but rather in the sense of an alienation  from God that precludes future reconciliation with Him. Judas Iscariot is a striking case of one who suffered worldly sorrow due to the atrocious sin he committed. He "repented" (Mat. 27:3), but it was no more than deep remorse over the enormity of what he had done. He saw, too late, that he had made himself  the "son of perdition" (Jno. 17:12), alienated forever from God. In this vain sorrow he destroyed himself. Sin is too disastrous to react to it with sorrow that produces no more than embarrassment in being discovered or grief over the consequences it brings into your life. The only wise response is sorrow that confesses the offense against God, that produces thorough repentance, and that pleads the forgiveness of God. Such a person God will forgive and exalt to renewed, wholesome life, for there is the precious promise in Psa. 34:18, "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are contrite in spirit."

NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION

 II Cor. 6:2 ... "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

      Throughout the New Testament the announcement is emphatically made that a unique day is coming when God will summon all people before Him to give an account of the way they conducted their lives. The criterion of judgment will be the standard of God's will, which He revealed through selected men and commissioned to be taught to every person in every generation, (Mat. 28:19-20). This standard defines good and evil, educates people to distinguish between the two, and urges them to choose the good and reject the evil.  As humans we are, even at our wisest and strongest, still basically ignorant and weak creatures. We continually "sin and fall short of the glory of God," (Rom. 3:23); and "if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us," (I Jno. 1:8). If we take this sin with us into death, it shall also come with us into the Judgment, where it shall bring down upon us the eternal punishment of God. 

      When a person has fallen through thin ice into a lake, it is too late for him to save himself from the dreadful results of drowning in freezing water. The time to be saved was before he walked out on the ice, when  he could have chosen a different path that would sustain him. When a motorist is plunging off a cliff after failing at high speed to negotiate a mountain curve, it is too late to save himself from the fiery impact at the bottom. The time to be saved was before he approached the curve, when he could have slowed down and kept traction on the road. When someone has engaged in promiscuous activity and contracted AIDS, it is too late to save himself from the terrible consequences of the disease. The time to be saved was before the AIDS virus entered his body, when he could have practiced abstinence.

      It is easy to understand situations like the three just described, where a person can take action soon enough to avert destruction of life and health. We count those foolish who disregard warning signals, continue heedlessly into a danger zone, and then pay the ultimate price. We are told in Pro. 22:3 (NIV) that "a prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it." If we transfer this concern into the spiritual dimension, the same conclusion follows. No one can bypass the "judgment seat of Christ." To appear there with the sins of your life upon your soul is no less foolish than the choices made in this life that lead to tragic death. To become a believer when you at last meet Christ (as indeed everyone will, Rom. 14:10b-12) is to meet Him too late! To confess the error of your lifestyle and wish to repent when Jesus as Judge pronounces you unfit to enter heaven is too late! To develop the fervent desire to worship God with all your might, when you are forced to conclude in His very Presence that this is "man's whole duty," (Ecl. 12:13), is again too late!

      The opportunity to face reality, to build faith, to turn away from sin, and to devote your life to living by God's standard (righteousness) is RIGHT NOW! The only hindrance is pride, which rebels at the thought of submitting your own will to the will of someone else, namely GOD. The person thrashing about in the freezing pond would gladly go back to the place before he stepped on the thin ice. The motorist hurtling into a ravine would immediately return to the quarter-mile before the curve, if he could. The person covered with sores and dying of AIDS would welcome the opportunity to undo his promiscuous conduct before he became infected. But the day of salvation is NEVER YESTERDAY, because no one can go back in time. At the Judgment, multitudes would gladly return to this present life to believe in God and serve Him diligently so that God would save him. It is only TODAY when you can make that critical, vital decision.