Godly Sorrow

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

A graphic example of the contrast between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow is found in the lives of Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter. Somehow Judas allowed Satan to deceive him into betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Luke 22:3-5). When Judas realized what he had done, he was so remorseful that he hung himself. Was his suicide the result of Satan’s accusation or of God’s conviction? It had to be Satan’s accusation because it drove Judas to kill himself. Accusation leads to death; conviction leads to repentance and life.

When Peter denied Jesus, the remorse he felt was every bit as painful as that which Judas experienced. But Peter’s sorrow was from conviction which led to his eventual repentance and restoration to Christ (John 21:15-17).

“Worldly sorrow” is a feeling of remorse that you experience because you are caught doing something wrong. It does not produce the fruit of repentance. Instead it gives you the feeling of condemnation, fear and hopelessness. “Godly sorrow,” however, acknowledges that your relationship with God has been damaged by your actions. “Godly sorrow” says, “Against You, You only, have I sinned” (Ps. 51:4). “Godly sorrow” will move you to take positive actions to deal with the sin and evil.

When your feelings of remorse drive you away from God, you are being accused by Satan. Resist it. But when your sorrow draws you closer to God to confess your sins, you are being convicted by the Holy Spirit. Yield to God through repentance. Let’s also understand what true repentance is. Repentance is an inner change of mind resulting in an outward turning back, or turning around, to face and move in a completely new direction. There are several things that fl ow out of true repentance:

(1) Conviction. There are 3 things that lead to conviction: our conscience (Rom. 2:14-15), the Word of God (Titus 1:9) and the Holy Spirit (John 16:8).

(2) Contrition. This means there will be a deep godly sorrow and humiliation of heart because of sin. If there is no true contrition, a man will return to the old sin.

(3) Confession of sin. Someone once said, “Holding on to unconfessed sins in the soul is like keeping a bullet in the body.”

(4) Conversion. This results in a turning away from sin and a turning to God.

(5) Confession of Jesus Christ. Being bold to make a public confession of your faith in Jesus Christ.