Text: Romans 1: 14-16 (King James Version)
"Father, I am your servant, willing and desiring
to be
used to
bless your
people."
The Fields are white and the laborers are
few!
C.H. Spurgeon said, "If God does not save a man by truth he certainly
will not save them by lies, and if the old gospel is not competent to work a
revival, then we will do without the revival;"
2 Corinthians 7:6 Nevertheless God, that comforteth
those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of
Titus;
2 Corinthians 7:7 And not by his coming only, but by
the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest
desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.
2 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.
2 Corinthians 7:9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were
made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a
godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in
nothing.
2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh
repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world
worketh death.
2 Corinthians 7:11 For behold this selfsame thing,
that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea,
what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what
vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have
approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
Let's pray.
Father,
Open my eyes so I can see Your truth.
Open my ears so I can hear Your
voice.
Open my mind so I can understand Your Word.
And open my heart so I
may receive all that You want me to receive. AMEN
Introduction: "Now I rejoice, not that you
were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance."
As we begin this
message, I want to say something to you about my purpose, and more importantly,
your purpose, for being here. I often hear people say, "Man, you sure did step
on my toes today, I really needed to hear that!"
I understand what people mean when they
say that, and I appreciate it. But, I did not come here just to make you feel
guilty about your short-comings and sins in regards to your relationship with
God.
You see, if every Christian in this room right now were completely
honest they would have to admit that there is some area in their relationship
with God that needs improvement. I have to be completely transparent and tell
you that there are lot's of areas in my life and relationship with God that need
to be improved.
The question you face right now is this: what are you
going to do about your guilt? I am here this week, not to make you feel guilty,
but to be an instrument that God can use to bring about a genuine change in your
life. Experiencing a feeling of Guilt about our sins does absolutely no good
unless it motivates you to change your heart! And, God wants to change your
heart so that you can experience true revival!
We are going to look at a
passage right now that is going to help us understand the seriousness of the
decisions we need to make over the next few days in these meetings. Revival is
not a time when we get the preacher from down the road to come in and do some of
his best messages so that we can punish ourselves through guilt and then go back
to doing the same old things we were doing after things get back to
normal!
Revival services are for the church; they are times when we must
soberly reflect upon the condition of our personal and corporate relationship
with God.
Revival services allow the Holy Spirit to deal with us by pointing
out the areas of our lives that do not please God - that is if we are open to
that.
Revival will only come when we make a genuine commitment to change
those things that the Holy Spirit points out to us through Christ who
strengthens us!
Are you ready for that? Are you tired of being stirred
but not changed? If your answer is no, then you are wasting your time by coming
to these meetings.
If you are not ready to change then you
might as well send me home right now and cancel the services. But if your answer
is yes, then let us see what God tells us we need to do in His word.
In
this passage, we are going to examine three basic truths that will help us
understand that God wants the conviction we feel in our hearts to produce a
change in our actions. I am going to ask that you get out your pen, pencil,
crayon or lip stick and write these truths down as we go through them. They are
going to be like building blocks for everything else we do this
week.
Give brief background on four letters to Corinth..Paul sent Titus
to Corinth with the third (Flaming) letter. This is the one that Paul is
referring to in this passage.
The first truth is..
I. GUILT IS A MEANS
TO AN END AND NOT AN END IN ITSELF (v. 9)
1. Paul rejoiced, not because
his letters to the Corinthian church made them feel bad, but because the letters
forced them to deal with the issues they faced as a church. They certainly had
plenty of issues to deal with!
(1) There were divisions in the church..I am
of Paul, I am of Cephas..
(2) There were "super saints" in the church trying
to run the show.
(3) There was sexual immorality in the church - incestuous
relationships..
(4) Lawsuits among the members - couldn't deal with their
problems so the turned to the world
(5) Marital problems (Ch. 7)
(6) These
were just a few of the problems down at Corinth Baptist Church
2. There
is a difference between "godly" sorrow, and "worldly" sorrow - "worldly" says,
"I am sorry that I got caught!" - "godly" says, "now that God has helped me see
these sins, what does He want me to do about them?"
3. God doesn't just
want to make us feel guilty about our personal and corporate sins, he wants us
to deal with them!
(1) He doesn't just say, "I think I'll let ______ squirm
for a little while, then I'll let him/her off the hook!"
(2) God comes to us
and says, "What are you going to do about this sin? Do you it is affecting our
relationship with each other."
4. I believe that God has some issues he
wants you to deal with today..(personal & corporate sins)
The second
truth is..
II. REPENTANCE IS THE ONLY TRUE REACTION TO GUILT (v.
9)
1. Paul not only rejoiced because the Corinthians finally came around
and dealt with their sins, but that they followed through with a genuine
repentance.
(1) A false repentance (worldly) is one that never gets beyond
the emotion of guilt.
(2) You may feel sick to your stomach for a while, but
you know the feeling will soon pass.
(3) In turn, Satan uses that against
you, he comes to you and says: "Your Ok now because you felt bad about what you
did. Don't worry about it.
2. The word used here for repentance however
means: A change of mind, a change of heart, a change of attitude..I'm sorry and
I am going to do something about it! I am going to change with God's
help!
3. Paul even brings salvation into the picture - not that he
questioned their salvation, but that when we are saved, It is not our guilt that
brings leads to salvation, but the decision to turn from our sins and accept
God's free gift of eternal life!
4. God wants the conviction you may be
feeling in your heart to produce a change of mind and attitude!
The third
truth is..
III. VISIBLE CHANGE IS THE EVIDENCE OF REPENTANCE (v.
11)
1. Paul not only rejoiced because they followed through with genuine
repentance, but that there was visible change to prove their repentance. Sorrow
produces repentance and repentance produces a changed life.
(1) They went
from laziness to diligence - being quick to do what was right.
(2) From guilt
to a clear conscience through confession of sin.
(3) From apathy to
indignation over their spiritual condition.
(4) From a lax attitude about sin
to fear lest their sins be repeated.
(5) From mediocre to having a vehement
desire to do what was right in God's sight.
(6) From indifference to zeal in
turning back to God.
(7) From indictment over sin to vindication.
2.
They were no longer just stirred by the words of Paul, they were changed by
them! They brought forth fruits worthy of repentance!
3. Are you going to
be stirred by my words or are you going to be changed by them when you leave
this place???
(1) Are you going sit there and be lazy or will you be
diligent?
(2) Are you going away from here with guilt, or are you going to
lay your guilt at the foot of the cross?
(3) Are you going to remain
apathetic (unresponsive) about your spiritual condition or are you going to get
upset?
(4) Are you going to have a lax attitude about sin, or will you leave
with a healthy fear of God?
(5) Are you going to just sit there mediocre or
are you going to have a vehement desire to do what is right?
(6) Are you
going to be indifferent, or will you be zealous and turn back to God?
(7)
Will you continue to be indicted over your sins, or will you be vindicated by
the Holy Spirit?
4. God's desire is for you not to leave this place the
same as you came in! Will you let him have His will and way in your
life???