Young People's Group

SINCERELY REPENTING FROM OUR SINS

by Pastor Mitch
October 07, 2007

An Example Of Taking Repentance Seriously

It is not an uncommon practice for many to take repentance lightly. More often than not, it is fair to say that when people sin gravely against the Lord, they tend to just frivolously whisper a simple and dismal “sorry” to him, assuming that it is good enough. How wrong they are in responding in such a casual way! We too may be guilty of this. An example of one who took repentance seriously was the Corinthian Church. Paul noticed how the Church sought to genuinely repent from their sins. Young people, let’s seek to learn from their sincere example.

Sorrowing In A Godly Manner

“But that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner… For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner” 
2 Corinthians 7:9-11

When the Corinthian Church read the first letter from Paul, they were deeply convicted by what he wrote. They had sinned much before God. Their genuine sorrow over their sins led them to true repentance. There are two types of sorrow that people can have. Firstly, there is the right kind of godly sorrow that brings about salvation over sin. Secondly, there is the wrong kind of sorrow that causes people to be in despair. The Corinthian Church obviously had the former as they responded to their sin problem. They went further in dealing with the sins in their life. They sought to be cleansed from their sin. Young people, we too must learn to sorrow correctly over our sins and to repent fully from them.

Making Every Effort Not To Return To Sin

“What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” 
2 Corinthians 7:11

After the Corinthian Church repented and cleansed themselves from their sins, they made every effort not to return to them. Full repentance wrought within them the diligence to guard themselves from sin. They sought to exculpate themselves on the matter of committing sins. There grew within them feelings of anger against sin. They knew how deadly sin was and they cultivated a healthy fear of sin. There was this zeal and strong desire not to return to sin. They sought to be vindicated from the sins that they had committed. Young people, we too need to put up our own defenses against sin. Sincere and godly repentance includes the idea of making every effort to prevent ourselves from returning to sin. In all that we do, let’s seek to purify ourselves of any matter regarding sin. Let’s prove ourselves to be exonerated from any sin that may have plagued us.

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