The following was originally presented as a sermon, while preaching through the Articles of the Confession of Faith of Grace Baptist Church of Pontotoc, Mississippi.

The subject is Godly Sorrow, from the Article dealing with How Salvation Is Obtained. The theme is the necessity of godly sorrow working in an individual to produce repentance unto salvation.

The reader should keep in mind as he reads this booklet that this message followed several others from the same Article. There is much more involved in obtaining salvation than this element, but we felt it was needful to present this particular section in booklet form due to the neglect of this area in much of the preaching of our day.

The complete Article 'How Salvation Is Obtained,' follows this Introduction. The entire Confession of Faith will be made available to those who would be interested in receiving it upon completion of preaching through it in its entirety.

Individual sermons are available on audio cassette & video cassette tape. They may borrowed on an as-available basis by those who request them. There are usually four sermons per video and one sermon per audio tape. One video tape may be borrowed at a time, and upon its return, another may be borrowed.

To obtain audio or video tapes, contact the church at the address on the back cover.

I. God operates through human agengy (preachers & witnesses) - Romans 10:14-15; Acts 8:29-31; I Corinthians 1:21, 3:5; II Corinthians 3:5-6, 5:18-20; I Thessalonians 2:13; Revelation 12:11.

II. God operates through divine ageny (the Holy Spirit) - John 16:8; Acts 1:5-8; I Corinthians 12:13; II Corinthians 3:18; John 3:5-8; Galatians 4:29; Ephesians 2:22; I Thessalonians 1:5; Titus 3:3-5.

III. God operates through the instrument of the Word of God:

A. The written Word of God (the Scriptures) - John 5:39-40; II Timothy 3:15&17; James 1:18; II Peter 1:19-21.

B. The preached Word of God - John 6:63; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 4:2&12; I Peter 1:23-25; Ephesians 1:13.

IV. God uses these agents to work in those who are His people - John 6:37, 10:14-16, 17:2,6&9-12.

A. Calling them from among the world - Romans 1:6-7; 8:28-30; I Corinthians 1:9&26; Ephesians 4:1; Matthew 9:13.
 
 
 
 

IV. (Continued)

B. Reproving them of sin, righteousness & judgement - John 16:8; Romans 3:19; II Timothy 4:2; Acts 2:37, 9:5.

C. Causing them to desire the things of God -

Psalm 10:17, 110:3; Hebrews 12:11; Philippians 2:13.

D. Producing in them godly sorrow - Psalm 34:18, 51:17-19; Proverbs 15:13; John 16:21; II Corinthians 7:9-11.

E. Granting repentance (Acts 5:31, 11:18), which is done by:

1). His goodness - Romans 2:4.

2). His commands - Mark 1:15; Luke 13:1-5; Acts 17:30; Matthew 11:20-24, 21:28-32.

3). His working of sorrow - II Corinthians 7:9-11.

4). His servants - II Timothy 2:24-26.

5). His longsuffering - II Peter 3:9&15; Romans 2:4.

F. Giving them faith - John 6:29; Acts 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Colossians 2:12; II Peter 1:1.
 
 

IV. (Continued)

G. Giving them life (quickening) - John 5:21; Ephesians 1:13, 2:1; Colossians 2:13; I Timothy 6:13.

H. Forgiving & purging (cleansing them from) their sins - Ephesians 1:7, 4:32; Colossians 1:14, 2:13; Titus 3:5; I John 1:9, 2:12.

I. Reconciling them unto Himself (making peace with them) - II Corinthians 5:18-20; Ephesians 2:13-16; Colossians 1:21-22.

J. Clothing them with righteousness - Romans 3:21-22, 4:5-8, 10:4; II Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9 [types of this seen in Genesis 3:21, 37:3].

K. Justifying them (declaring them just, or as they ought to be) - Romans 5:1&9, 8:30&33; I Corinthians 6:11; Galatians 2:16; Titus 3:7.
 

Godly Sorrow

Tonight we are going to speak about God producing in people, godly sorrow, in order to be saved. I call this the most unknown doctrine in the Baptist Churches. Most Baptists have never heard of the doctrine of godly sorrow and do not even know it exists. One of the reasons for the ignorance is the teaching of 'decisional regeneration,' which says that all it takes to get saved is to make a decision for Christ. I want to talk to you tonight about what it takes to get saved and the requirement of God that godly sorrow must be involved.

One of the reasons that godly sorrow must be there, in order to be saved, is because of repentance. Repentance is required by God for salvation. Therefore, godly sorrow is required. Now most people have heard of the doctrine of repentance. Growing up in the Baptist Church, I heard that a man had to repent. However, there was not much expounded about repentance other than sermons on, "repent except you perish." If you understand that repentance is required, and you begin to say, "I need to repent, but I am not even sure how to do that," then you will want to understand godly sorrow, because godly sorrow is that which works repentance. Therefore, since repentance is required, whatever works repentance, is required. It is hard to have a cake unless you go and put together the ingredients that make a cake. You can desire to have a cake all you want, but somewhere you have to go get those things that make it what it is. Godly sorrow is one of those ingredients that produces repentance.

Go with me to II Corinthians 7:10, and while you are turning there I want to remind everybody who is listening to this, that sections A, B, C, D, and E, (of the Articles of Faith from which this is taken - T.O.) are not steps. You do not take step A and then step B. There is no such thing as steps to get saved. It is a work. All the ingredients of salvation work together. There is an order to salvation. However, you cannot find where one ingredient ends and then one begins. Let me describe it this way:

The other day we were discussing the time segments of the lives of Methuselah and Abraham and how long they lived. If you were to make a time line out and you placed the life of one of the men who lived 900 years on it, Noah or whomever, then you were to put his sons along side of his life line and then the lives of those after them all the way to Abraham, you would find that one man did not start when the other one ended. So they were, for a period of time, living at the same time. They were coexisting together until one died and the other kept going. And if you trace that time line down, it would amaze you how many of those Bible people lived at the same time and knew each other. There is an outside possibility that Abraham knew one of the sons of Noah. So they could have sat down and had a conversation. The reason I am showing you this is because there are times when two things coexist together, yet one produced the other. But it does not mean that just because one produced the other, that the first has stopped working. So, for instance, when we talk about repentance and faith, repentance comes first, because it works faith. And at some points, they coexist together. They are all working at the same time. That is why it is not a series of steps. You cannot say, "I am going to repent today, and, tomorrow, I'm going to believe," as if at the end of repentance, you step down on the next step to faith.

If you make salvation a series of steps you take to get saved, you put it in man's hands to produce it. For example, if you attempt to get people to acknowledge step number 1 in the 'Four Spiritual Laws' tracts, you have just told them they can save themselves by taking a series of steps, and said God does not have to work these things in a person. That is one thing that is wrong with Baptist Evangelism. We do not let God work the ingredients of salvation. We have put them in the hands of man and made them steps. I do not want to do that. Even though our confession is outlined like steps, they are not steps. Thus, my emphasis! These are not steps. And a lot of them coexist at the same time. For instance, while God is reproving you of sin, he is also causing you to desire the things of God. God showing you sin is that which will cause you to need Him. So they are happening at the same time. And, at the same time he is showing you your sin, He is producing in you godly sorrow.

Now, the verse that I want to look at to start with is II Corinthians 7:10. Remember, I said this is the most unheard doctrine of the Baptist church. It is a doctrine of the Baptist Church, because we believe the Bible and there were old saints, old Baptists, who did believe this doctrine. Just because most of us have never heard of, it does not mean it is not true. I have to admit I never heard the phrase 'godly sorrow' until I was twenty-six years old. I grew up in the Baptist church and never heard it and never heard a sermon on it. But it is a doctrine that is necessary in order to be saved. It is an ingredient in salvation that you must find. Without it, you can never say that you have repented in a godly way, because godly sorrow works true repentance to salvation.

Let us read verse 10: "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death." So there is a godly sorrow that works repentance to salvation. And if you are saved, you came through that divine order. It is a logical order and it is a designed order. Godly sorrow is that which works and causes you to change your mind and turn from your way and be saved. "Unless a man repent, you shall all likewise perish."

Now the phrase 'godly sorrow' is interesting. First, you notice that this verse talks about two sorrows, one that sorrows to repentance producing salvation and one that sorrows to death. We will start with the negative and work toward the positive. Let me give you a definition for sorrow. The word sorrow means to be grieved, to be vexed, to be afflicted, to mourn. "Blessed are they that morn for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven." It means to be sorry for something, to wish that it had not happened, to regret it. However, there is a worldly regret, sorrow and anguish and there is a godly regret. And it is hard to tell the difference looking at an individuals' countenance. However, the same word is used to describe both kinds. Let me show you an example of worldly sorrow. Matthew 19: 22, says, "But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions." (AV) The rich young ruler came to Jesus wanting to inherit eternal life. Jesus began to ask him about the commandments and he was so proud of himself. He said that he had done all those things but The Lord said he lacked one thing. Verse 21, reads, "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." When the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Now the word sorrowful is the same word that Paul uses in II Corinthians. Here, in Matthew, is a man who is sorrowful, but he did not get saved, because he did not repent. He just agreed and walked away. It did not do anything for him. It did not cause him to turn from his money, because he loved money more than God. That was his sin. He did not change his mind about his money. He was sorry that he could not have it and went on his way. He wept over it, but it did not produce anything in this man but death. So, it was not a sorrow of a Godly sort. The most important phrase that is in II Corinthians 7:10, is 'godly sorrow.' If what you are doing is of God, it will cause you to change. To be godly is to head toward God. That would be the godly thing to do. And repentance is changing direction. Change of mind that causes a change of direction. And you know it is godly sorrow because it changed you. If weeping does not change you, then you're just weeping and not repenting. Somewhere, for it to be godly, the sorrow that takes hold on you and the crying that you do over your sins when you see your sinful condition, must cause you to turn from your sin.

Go back to II Corinthians 7. Let me show you something that happened. Paul is preaching this because the Corinthian church was doing a bunch of wicked things. They were really in a mess. Paul wrote them a letter. As a matter of fact, it was a very tough letter. He wrote them the letter we call I Corinthians. It was a stout letter about all their troubles and their divisions. He scolded them pretty hard. He said, in effect, if I have to come to you in person, you are going to wish I had not come. I will come with a rod! He was upset with them in that church, because they were acting like children. After mailing the letter he wished he had not because he had been so hard. But, then, after he saw how they reacted to it, he was glad he wrote it. I know how that is, because you begin to wonder, was I too strong? But, because of the result, you are glad that you were strong. You see this in II Corinthians 7:8, "For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season." (AV) They were made sorry by a letter. Lots of things can produce godly sorrow, but, basically the main ingredient is, somewhere you have got to be told what your problem is. You do not get saved without the Holy Spirit saying, "This is your problem." How you react to that reproof determines whether or not you get saved. You cannot get saved unless you come through the reality of seeing your real problem.

For people the problems may differ. You cannot pour yourself into the mold of the rich young ruler unless you are rich. We all have the common ingredient, which is that the Lord Jesus told him his problem. But he did not sorrow after a Godly sort. He sorrowed after a worldly sort. And a worldly sort is in effect saying, "I am sorry I am doing this, but I like this more than I want to change." He still loved the world. So he did not come out of the world, because he still loved the world. That is very obvious, is it not? That is what worldly sorrow is. You cry about it but you are still doing it because you like it. Somewhere in there he knew that he could have eternal life but he did not want it that badly, because he did not sorrow to repentance. What saves you is when sorrow gets a hold on you so strong that you absolutely turn away from that which you are loving and you come to God. If you say that, "It is going to take more than yourself to accomplish that," you would be right! Is not that what Jesus was saying when He said to the disciples, "With men this is impossible, but not with God?" This was a work of God.

I know it is a work of God, but how do we tell the difference between those who have godly sorrow and are really saved, and those who have worldly sorrow and are lost. Do you not know that in the church there are those who would make themselves to appear saved? People do not want me judging, but there are certain ways that God has given for us to be able to know saved and lost people. When we do this, we are not condemning anybody. But I am giving some discernment. As a matter of fact, I John 2:19, shows us one of the only ways we can know sometimes, whether or not people are really saved. I John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." (AV)

There is a manifestation, which is turning from worldliness, and from sin. For if one has truly turned from the world he could never go back. You say, "I've never been worldly." That is your first problem. You are still worldly, because you have never turned from the world. One might say, "I grew up in church. How could I be worldly growing up in church?" Every person born starts out in the world, and, if they happen to be born in a Christian home they are just a worldly church member. You do not know how bad religion is. You have never repented of just old hypocrisy and religion. That is what I got sick of. It was my hypocrisy and my religion. So everybody has a problem. It is just not the same or the same similitude. The Bible would say our sins are of different similitudes. Which means they are of different likenesses. However, it is all called sin.

Back to the subject at hand: unless you see some evidence, you do not know for certain if they have really repented. Therefore, judgement is based on whether or not they have ever turned, because that is the only way you can look at godly sorrow and worldly sorrow and tell the difference.

What would cause a man to leave the world? What would cause a man to turn out of his sin and go toward God? What would cause a man who knows that there is pleasure in sin and is prone to like it, to leave it and follow after God? I always thought that everybody out in the world is not enjoying sin. Was that stupid?! One reason I did not know that was because I was not out in the world enjoying it. But, I came to realize that sin has got pleasure with it. And they are out there sitting around the campfire with Old Milwaukee beer saying, "It doesn't get any better than this." Those guys really think that! Why would they ever want God? The only hope they have is that God would get a hold of them, causing them not to want sin anymore.

I would like to attempt to give a description of godly sorrow using the scripture. When we look at this, we will understand how godly sorrow produces repentance. Look with me at John 16: 21. "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." (AV) The word anguish in the above verse is the same Greek word for sorrow found in II Corinthians 7:10. What gets that baby out of the womb? Travail, anguish and sorrow. If you look at sorrow as a work of travail, then you will understand how it could produce repentance. Especially if you are a lady and you remember when travail took hold on you. When a woman is pregnant, the first eight or nine months, before it starts getting heavy, she falls in love with the idea of having a baby. When she finds out she is pregnant, it is a blessed thing. She thinks, "Wow! There is a baby actually living in me." She almost says, "If this could just last forever; these wonderful feelings." But I tell you it does not. And when it gets time, that baby starts getting bigger and things get heavy. And all that heaviness causes her to say, "I'm ready to get this over with now. I am really ready to get this over with." But you just think you are ready then, wait until travail gets a hold of you. And notice it is what gets a hold of you, not you getting a hold of it. If some of you could have gotten hold of it, you would have had that baby long before you had it. But the baby was not ready to be born yet.

Godly sorrow gets a hold of you. That is why repentance is a gift. Because God got a hold of you and made you hate where you were and caused you to want out. We also need to remember to look at the other side of the picture, that of the baby. In salvation you are not the mother; you are the baby. When the woman is in travail and anguish, she is having what they call contractions. What these contractions are doing is applying pressure on the baby. Nobody can remember as an infant, what that felt like. But do you not think that if you are getting squeezed that hard you would not feel the pressure? They say there is a tremendous amount of pressure applied to deliver a child. As a matter of fact, there is a dangerous point somewhere during the birth where a baby does not need to get stuck in the birth canal because of so much pressure. The pressure alone can kill the baby. Now, that is a powerful thing. And you women know that it is powerful because it was affecting you. What do you think that pressure was doing? It was delivering the baby out of the world of darkness into the world of light. How do you think you got delivered from darkness into His marvelous light? Think about where that child is. That child is in a confined area, in darkness, under pressure. That describes what happens when you get saved. And, for a time, that is all there is darkness, not knowing what is going on, then a deliverance into His wonderful light.

Psalms 48:6, says, "Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail." (AV) Here we see a good picture of travail. I am using this verse because of the phrase, "took hold upon them." This verse is describing what travail is and how it gets a hold of you. It is like somebody reaches out and grabs you and all of a sudden there is pressure. You did not produce it. That is why I always ask, when dealing with people about their salvation, who was working it, you or God? Who was in control? Did you bring that on yourself or did God bring that on you? And the next question would be, what source brought the pressure on? Now, for the Corinthians, it was a letter that brought it on. The letter made them sorrow. You would be surprised, if you went back and thought about your experience, to see what actually brought it on. In salvation, there is something that puts the pressure on you. It is usually a message which reproves of sin, because you are sorrowing over something. Something in a sermon says, "You are in trouble!" There is a realization of how lost you are. Everybody's experience is different, but God gets a hold of you. After the point in which sorrow takes a hold of you, it will not let up until you are delivered That is why I like to sit around and wait, when I see God get a hold of someone. It will not be long before we can start saying, "Glory to God, this one is about to come through!" The only thing that produces real repentance is sorrow and anguish getting a hold on you. If God did not work on you, and pressure you out of the world, you would not ever come out of the world.

The problem with man is that we are not willing. So, God has to rebuke, reprove, scold and afflict. But that is what it takes. If a person thinks that he did not need that, then that is the first thing that needs to happen to him. He needs to repent over his unbelief, because he has yet to see himself like God sees him. If one says that he did not have to go through all that because he had not sinned that much, then that tells us that he has never repented.

So you see, you can describe Godly sorrow as travail. The reason I say this is the most unheard doctrine in the Baptist church is because most have never really seen it happen to anyone. I had never seen it happen. Some of the older Baptists probably saw this and knew what travail was. But travail was a foreign word in churches that I grew up in. It was only found in the writings and recollections of the old revival meetings, how they would travail with people. They would not travail for them. They travailed with them. But in today's evangelism it is one of the missing ingredients in salvation. If it is missing, then there is no salvation.

Now let us look at Isaiah 66:7-9, in order to prove the above statement, that if it is missing, then there is no salvation. In Isaiah 66:7, we read, "Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God." (AV) Isaiah is asking a question here which has an obvious answer, "Before she travailed, she brought forth? Before her pain came, she was delivered of a child?" The answer is found in the statement, "Who has heard such a thing?" So how can a man say he is born again and yet never travailed? Who has heard of such a thing?! So how can a man say he is saved and yet never had godly sorrow? Whoever heard of a child being born the natural way without the sorrow? The natural process is the picture of the spiritual. No child has ever been born without going through the anguish and travail of birth. That is what it says in Isaiah. Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such a thing? Have you ever heard of it? Have you ever seen it? Well, in the Baptist churches I grew up in, we heard of it and saw it all the time. Everybody was saved without godly sorrow (I am speaking sarcastically.) You just went down the aisle, repeated the prayer after the preacher, gave Jesus your heart and the preacher your hand. "Sit right down over there and fill out the card," they tell you. No wonder we had so many problems in the churches I grew up in!

To Continue Click Part 2: Godly Sorrow