Random Quotes & Articles to Provide Food for Thought
Psalm 51:1-13
This is one of David’s penitential Psalms—a Psalm of repentance or godly sorrow. You recall that he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then ordered the destruction of her husband, Uriah. Some time later, Nathan the prophet confronted David about his sin, and this Psalm was the result.
I want to talk for a few moments tonight on this subject of repentance or godly sorrow.
What is godly sorrow?
Godly sorrow is sorrow for sin combined with a deep concern for God’s glory.
Godly sorrow results when the Holy Spirit sends conviction to our hearts, and the realization dawns upon us, as it did upon David, that our sin is an affront to God’s holiness and His holy law.
We notice in verse 4 of Psalm 51 that David said, “Against Thee, THEE ONLY have I sinned.” That’s godly sorrow—the realization that my sin is something that is against God—that my sin is a direct attack upon God’s honor—an affront to His infinite holiness.
Have you ever considered that sin is something that we do against God—not anyone else? We can’t be said to sin against people in the same way that we sin against God. We may be said to HARM our neighbour, or INJURE him, but we cannot be said to SIN against him. Or let me put it another way: To injure our fellow-man is sin mainly because it breaks the law of God.
Let me illustrate from this very Psalm.
David had done a terrible thing to Uriah in taking his wife and then murdering him. It was a terrible injury against Uriah. But under the heart-searching scrutiny of the Holy Ghost, David saw that the SIN was against God. “Against thee, THEE ONLY have I sinned,” David cried–not “I’ve sinned against Thee AND Uriah,” but “Thee ONLY.”
So here we have a very important distinction—a principle which lies at the very heart of Evangelical repentance.
Let’s look at some other illustrations. You remember the story of Joseph, Jacob’s son. His brothers were jealous of him because he was Daddy’s favourite and so they decided to do away with him. First they were going to kill him, but instead they sold him as a slave and he ended up in the house of Potiphar in Egypt. One day, Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph into immorality. We find the story in Genesis 39:7 “And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.” What was Joseph’s response: “Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, AND SIN AGAINST GOD?”
See that? “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God.” Obviously this would have been a terrible act against Potiphar, but Joseph puts the emphasis in the right place, “I’m not going to do this because it would be a sin against God.”
Another example is that of the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15. You remember the story: there were two brothers, a younger and an older, and the younger decided to claim his inheritance early from his father and go and see the world and enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. But then he fell on hard times—so hard in fact that he ended up eating hog food in the hog pen. It wasn’t long before he began to be sorry for the terrible mess he had gotten himself into, and decided he would be better off at home as one of his father’s hired servants than eating that hog food. And so right there in that hog pen he started preparing what he would say when he arrived home. Notice what he says in Luke 15:18: “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee….”
See that? “I have sinned against HEAVEN (in other words against God) and before thee.” It was only BEFORE his father, but AGAINST heaven, or God.
So we can see from these various Scriptures that we experience godly sorrow when we realize fully what our sin is to God—to a God who is infinitely loving, infinitely just and infinitely holy.
Coming back to David, in another Psalm (Psalm 25:11) he writes these words: “For THY NAME’S SAKE pardon my iniquity; for it is great.”
Notice the words “for thy name’s sake.” In other words, David is saying, “Do it for your glory, Lord. Not for my happiness. Not for my satisfaction. Not for my peace. Not so that I can be rid of this burden of guilt. Not that. But FOR THY NAME’S SAKE–for the sake of Thine honour and Thy glory!” When we get to that point, we’ve entered into true godly sorrow.
Going back to Psalm 51:4 then, David said “I” have sinned. He doesn’t say like Adam: “This woman that thou gavest me.” He doesn’t say like Eve: “This serpent beguiled me or tricked me.” True godly sorrow says: I HAVE SINNED. It was ME! I did it Lord! I take full responsibility. Faulty repentance always betrays itself by blaming someone else.
In 2 Cor. 7:10 Paul talks about godly sorrow and he contrasts it with worldly sorrow. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” Worldly sorrow is regret at our foolishness and loss–disgust at ourselves that we could be so stupid. Worldly sorrow never brings relief because it lacks the vital element of concern for God’s glory.
An example of worldly sorrow is the regret experienced by Judas. You remember that after he betrayed Jesus and Jesus was arrested, he experienced regret for what he had done, and took the 30 pieces of silver back to the religious leaders. But his was faulty repentance, because immediately after giving the money back to the chief priests, he went out and hanged himself. So it is possible to experience remorse and regret for what we view as a terrible mistake, but never experience godly sorrow.
Another example is Esau, the brother of Jacob. We read in Hebrews 11:16-17:
“Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”
What was Esau’s problem? He was sorry for what he had lost, but he was not sorry for the foolish act of selling his birthright.
All sin brings eventually a sense of loss, but the sense of loss is not repentance because it doesn’t contain this ingredient of godly sorrow.
Worldly sorrow pays no respect to the SINFUL ACT–only to its painful consequences.
What about you and me? Do we know anything about this godly sorrow that leads to salvation?
I’ll finish with a short quotation from A. W. Tozer , one of the greatest preachers of the last century: “If I haven’t felt the sense of vileness by contrast with that sense of unapproachable and indescribable holiness, I wonder if I have ever been hit hard enough to really repent. And if I don’t repent, I wonder if I can really believe.”
Amen.
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