Is it Enough to be Sorry?
Mark 1:2–5 (ESV)
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” 4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
pray
Last year on one of my trips back from Missouri, I was in no particular hurry so I got off at one of the Sardis exits off of 55
I found a hiking trail in the woods
It was a beautiful day, so I got out and began to walk down that trail
It wound around and around, twisting down through the woods up and down.
I thought of that trail when I read this passage about John the Baptist preaching “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”
How do I make the paths of my Christian life straight?
What message did John preach that straightens our paths?
V4 said John came preaching in the wilderness a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins
And then v5 gave the result: all the land of Judea…were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins
This is the straightening of crooked paths that leads to Christ
Let’s focus on these words this morning: confession and repentance
This is the message for all of us this morning
- Confession
Preachers do word studies in the original language of the Bible when preparing messages
If you look at the word confession, it is composed of three Greek terms
- One means “out of” indicating something “out of” our innermost being
- Second term means “the same as”
- Third term means “to speak words”
So, if I confess something, I speak words out of mouth that are the same as what I have hidden in my innermost being
When I confess my sins to God, I am agreeing with Him that my condition is sinful
And I may as well confess my sins to God
God already knows everything about me inside and out
I verbally confess my sins to God, agreeing with him that I have had sinful thoughts in my heart or sinful ways toward others
Yet confession alone is not enough to receive forgiveness
Just agreeing with God that my ways are sinful is not enough for those sins to be forgiven
Notice our second word of focus this morning:
- Repentance
Back to our Scripture: the people came out to John confessing their sins and were baptized with a baptism of repentance
Repentance means to change your mind or to change your heart about something
It means to change direction
I can confess my sin all day long, but I must change my heart about that sin
I can’t just keep doing the same thing; I must change my direction
In other words, I confess my sins with my mouth and determine not to continue in that sin
2 Corinthians 7:10 contains a logical progression about this
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
Godly grief or sorrow, a true brokenness over sin, leads to a change of life and brings deliverance
Worldly sorrow does not bring deliverance, but destruction or death
Worldly sorrow, means just saying I’m sorry
- I’m sorry I got caught
- I’m sorry I embarrassed myself
- I’m sorry because of the consequences
- I’m sorry I hurt others or disappointed others
That’s not godly sorrow, that’s worldly sorrow
It’s not enough just to say I’m sorry
We must have a godly sorrow if we want to be delivered and forgiven of our sin
Let’s consider what the:
- Characteristics of Godly Sorrow
How do we tell the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow?
Back to:
2 Corinthians 7:11 (ESV)
11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point, you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.
This verse has 7 characteristics of what Godly sorrow is
Some of these have similar meanings but gives us a good solid grasp of what godly sorrow is
- Earnestness
This implies taking a matter seriously
If I am taking my sin seriously, if I have godly sorrow over it
We’ve already said that godly sorrow is more than just saying I’m sorry I got caught or sorry it happened
Godly sorrow wants to do the right thing, which is to repent from it
Another characteristic of godly sorrow:
- Clearing ourselves of it
The verse said, “eagerness to clear ourselves”
This carries the shame for what we have done
We are ashamed of ourselves and want to move quickly to correct the situation
Godly sorrow produces:
- Indignation
Indignation means that we are genuinely upset at ourselves over our sin
It bothers us to the point where we are grieved over it
- Fear
Our sin is not something that we easily forget
Godly fear says that I don’t just ignore my sin too quickly and just move on
It hangs in my mind and I fear that I have upset God with my sin
Another characteristic of godly sorrow:
- Longing
I use the ESV. Other versions of the Bible have the word “vehement”
Vehement means that I have an intense desire to do something with my sin and I want to be right with God
I am ready to face the consequences of my sin
- Zeal
Again, this characteristic of godly sorrow just means that I am eager to turn things around
I’m sick of sin, I don’t want it in my life,
I have a zeal or a passion to be right with God!
And then:
- Vindication or punishment
Indicates a readiness to set things right and do it now
Again, I am ready to set things right and accept the consequences of my sin
In summary, if I have genuine godly sorrow over sin:
- I’m serious about dealing with it
- I am ready to be clear of it
- I am upset even grieved that I have done it
- I can’t just ignore it and move on
- I am passionate about dealing with my sin and being right with God
- I am ready to repent and not continue in it
- Ready to set things right and do it now
Once we get to this point we enjoy:
- The Fruit of Repentance
In Luke 3, people were flocking out to John the Baptist to be baptized
He called them a brood of vipers, because they were coming to him to be baptized to escape the wrath of God
Some people come to Christ, and want to be baptized so they are right with God and then you see no change in their lives
They just want to be baptized in the church because it’s the right thing to do
But they don’t want to give up their sinful lifestyle
John the Baptist told them to bear fruit in keeping with repentance
In other words, prove that you have made a change in your life
It isn’t about just saying I’m sorry
Show in your life that you have repented from sin…prove that you now belong to God
God doesn’t just flippantly forgive everyone because He’s God
There have been Christians who say, “I know that my life choices are against the Bible, but I’m so unhappy. I know God wants me to be happy”
Yeah, God wants you to be happy, but he wants you to repent from your sin before it destroys you
Or after saying that they know their lifestyle is against the Bible, they may say, “I’m just going to do it anyway and trust that God will forgive me.”
May I remind you this morning that genuine forgiveness cost Jesus his life on the cross?
I invite you to get alone with God today and ask Him: is there something in my life, Lord, that I need to repent of?
Does my life need some straightening out?
It’s not enough just to say, “I’m sorry”.
That’s worldly sorrow
May God give us godly sorrow that leads to repentance