Chapter 9: True and False Repentance For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 2 Corinthians 7:10.
In this chapter the apostle refers to another epistle which he had formerly written to the church at Corinth, on a certain subject, in which they were greatly to blame. He speaks here of the effect that it; had, in bringing them to true repentance. They sorrowed after a godly sort. This was the evidence that their repentance was genuine.
"For behold this self-same 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."
In the verse which I have taken for my text, he speaks of two kinds of sorrow for sin, one working repentance unto salvation, the other working death. He alludes to what is generally understood by two kinds of repentance. And this is the subject of discourse tonight.
TRUE AND FALSE REPENTANCE.
In discoursing on the subject, I design to show, I. What true repentance is. II. How it may be known. III. What is false and spurious repentance. IV. How it may be known.
It is high time professors of religion were taught to discriminate much more than they do in regard to the nature and character of various exercises on the subject of religion. Were it so the church would not be so overrun with false and unprofitable professors. I have, of late, been frequently led to examine, over and over again, the reason why there is so much spurious religion, and I have sought to know what is the foundation of the difficulty. That multitudes suppose themselves to be religious, who are not so, unless the Bible is false, is notorious. Why is it that so many are deceived? Why do so many, who are yet impenitent sinners, get the idea that they have repented? The cause is doubtless a want of discriminating instruction respecting the foundation of religion, and especially a want of discrimination respecting true and false repentance.
I. I am to show what is true repentance.
It involves a change of opinion respecting the nature of sin, and this change of opinion followed by a corresponding change of feeling towards sin. Feeling is the result of thought.
And when this change of opinion is such as to produce a corresponding change of feeling, if the opinion is right and the feeling corresponds, this is true repentance. It must be right opinion. The opinion now adopted might be such an opinion as God holds respecting sin.
Godly sorrow, such as God requires, must spring from such views of sin as God holds.
First. There must be a change of opinion in regard to sin.
1. A change of opinion in regard to the nature of sin.
To one who truly repents sin looks like a very different thing from what it does to him who has not repented.