So, let me read for us here, it says, "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Make room for us in your hearts. We wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one.

I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. Great is my confidence in you. Great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am overflowing with joy in all your affliction.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side, conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus. And not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you.

As he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more." Let's take a moment to pray. God, we do ask for your spirit's work. Each time on the weekend, each time we open your word, each time we're exposed to your truth, I pray, Lord, that on every level, both from our mind and the way that we think, both on the level of our heart's desires, our will, and also on the level of our action and how we apply things.

God, would you do your work, the spiritual work of causing your word to impact us and be evident in our lives. Particularly today as we think through this topic of genuine repentance, this topic of the heart of Apostle Paul, I ask, Father, that you give us great insight. We thank you it's in Christ and we pray.

Amen. Okay. As you look at that passage that we just read together, there's probably a lot of initial sentiments. Apostle Paul speaking in very sentimental terms, emotional terms, very loving terms, mentioning how he wants them to make room for them in their heart, how he's not speaking to condemn, how he wants to be together with them essentially rejoicing over them, essentially saying how much he loves them.

Now as we think about this, there's an interesting statement he makes that he wrote a letter to them that was hard to accept. He wrote a letter to them that caused them sorrow. And what's really interesting about that is he says, "At one moment, I regretted it." What gives?

What I'd like to do is help us understand and drop down into a kind of point where we can sympathize with Apostle Paul and understand where he's coming from and why he would write this way. And that's why in order to do that, my introduction is going to be really long.

The very first passage I want you guys to turn to is, oh sorry, you know, we're already there. Just take a look at verses five through eight. "Flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side, conflicts without, fears within, but God who comforts the depressed comforted us." So as you take a moment to think about that, it is very, very fair for us to conclude, Apostle Paul has been through incredible difficulties, yes?

He's been through a lot. He describes conflicts and pressures externally. He describes a kind of tumultuous insides of fear, uncertainty, and he basically says, "There has been no rest for us." Okay? And as we think about that, we go to the very beginning. So now, I'll turn to chapter one, 2 Corinthians chapter one, and I believe we can put that up there too, starting from verse eight through ten.

And the way that Apostle Paul describes his affliction is he says it was abundant. Okay? Part of the reason why 2 Corinthians begins with Apostle Paul saying that there was lots and abundant comfort for me is because there was so much affliction and pain. Let's read 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse eight through ten says, "For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia." So he wants the church to know how much he suffered, and he describes it by saying, "The burden was excessive beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life.

Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. He delivered us from so great a peril of death and will deliver us. He on whom we have set our hope and he will yet deliver us." As you hear his description, I wanted all of us to start thinking about and perceiving and picturing what kind of suffering is he talking about.

He is talking about a kind of suffering where the burden is excessive and it is beyond what he believes he can handle. And I started thinking, "What kind of hardships have I experienced?" There were moments when, you know, just again, some of the more tangible, difficult moments is just having a little infant baby at home, right?

You're tired, you feel like a zombie and the kid's crying in your face and you start thinking, "I can't do this," right? You start having moments and statements like that come out of you, half joking, the other half is like, "For real, this is too hard," right? I don't know why I'm holding the baby like this.

Hold the baby like this, okay. On the flip side, you guys have all had moments probably when you were at your end in terms of energy. You had projects due, you had work due, you had people who are depending on you, you have family depending on you. There were many moments in ministry where I just, at the end of the day, it's like three in the morning, I'm dead tired, I have to get stuff done and I started thinking, "I've got no more left," right?

And I started using funny voices to complain and et cetera, et cetera. I'm sure you have all experienced moments when you are really, really tired. Yes? You don't have to raise your hand, I'm just going to assume so. As I started thinking about that, I started thinking, "Can that be a way of me sympathizing with Apostle Paul?" And I started, "Probably not," because he's talking about like burden beyond like bearing, like being able to do it.

And I recall to me my parents, my parents who were born in Korea a long time ago and went through as a teenager, the war generation, hungry, lost, losing their parents, immigrating to the US. And one of the memories that I distinctly remember that has been etched in my mind was when I was in fifth grade, my parents worked at the swap meet.

I'm not sure if you guys have ever even heard of it now, they're very limited. Down in San Diego, there's a big one right on their San Diego sports arena. That was some of the hardest work they've done. They'd have to get up at 4.30 in the morning, drive to the storage, get their truck, pull out all the boxes, pull out the pipes, lay it on the asphalt.

It's cold and dark out there. They set up the tent, they take out the boxes, they were selling T-shirts and wallets. Literally each shirt was like two bucks. They put it out there, they work all day. You're under a canopy tarp, it's hot, it's very, very exhausting. They had no time to even go to the restroom.

I was in the fifth grade and I was sitting here thinking I'd be a good son. They're like, "You can go, I'll just watch the register." They're like, "Ha ha, thanks but no thanks." How can they entrust me with that stuff with me and my brother there? And then the other part of it is that they just kept going and going and going until the thing closed at five.

At which point, they're exhausted but they have to put the clothes back in the box, put it in the truck, take the canopy down, take the pipes, they're all metal pipes, put it in the truck. And I remember my parents, after having done all that, paid their workers, they're gone.

It's like six at night. They walk to the front of the truck, they go both sit inside and I just started seeing them cry because they were so tired. And here's me just messing around with the boxes and the pigeons that are flying around over at the swap meet, looking at my parents like, "What's going on?" And I just realized they are at their wit's end.

And I remember thinking as a young kid, it was my first moment where I had this very kind of worldly ambition and I said, "I'm going to work so hard. I'm never going to see my parents like this." I felt that. And I'm sure for your own respective lives, you guys have had hardships.

There are various people in your life, they have had hardships. Where we are at our own strength's end. And the things that are coming at us, whether it be external or internal, it doesn't care whether you can handle it or not, it's going to happen. And I wonder, can we sympathize with Apostle Paul when he says, "I have had pretty much the peril of death on me all day long." And then I realized, oh goodness, although I can imagine to some degree and appreciate the kind of suffering and hardships he went through, this is still very different.

Yes? This is still very different. I can appreciate the kind of hardships that my parents have gone through, but what Apostle Paul is going through is very different because he says, "I literally despaired of life." Which means that in the moment he was looking at his current circumstances and saying, "I'm pretty much going to die." And there is no hope of escape.

He was on the cliff's edge all the time. That's quite incredible. What are we supposed to think about that? Now there's other passages that continue to expand on us dropping down into Apostle Paul's experience and appreciating the kind of suffering he went through. Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 8 through 12.

Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 8 through 12. Apostle Paul says this, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always caring about in the body the dying of Jesus." So essentially what I just said, he repeated in another form, he was literally at the edge.

He's struck down, he's perplexed, he's pushed to his limits, he's pretty much at the edge. And then he says, "So that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." So we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake. So that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh, so death works in us but life in you.

Verse 15, "For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of things to abound to the glory of God." I think about this and I'm sitting here thinking, "Okay, what is there to learn about the kind of hardships that Apostle Paul went through and how he went through it?" What I realized is quite profound and amazing is that for people who are in survival mode, yes, they're going to work hard.

If you've come from, let's say, you've been through recession, you've been through the pits, maybe you had physical ailment, maybe you're an immigrant, maybe you had certain life experiences that put you in a kind of circumstance where you feel like, "I am in survival mode," then it makes sense.

You're going to work hard, you're going to sacrifice. We talk about blood and sweat and tears, right? But we do that because why? Because I want to survive. Apostle Paul says very clearly, "I am being delivered to death for first the sake of my Lord and then for you." Who thinks like that?

If it's not about your survival, why would you go through all those hardships and suffering? That's my question. And then I think, "Okay, it was good for my mind to go to my parents." Why? Because parents do that. They will suffer. They will sacrifice. I always laugh and make fun of my parents sometimes.

I'm like, "Why are you so cheap? Just throw away the Ziploc bag. You don't have to wash it, right? It's like a penny." It's like, "No, I'm not throwing away that Ziploc bag." But when it comes to your kids, they're dropping money for everything, sporting, snacks, food, games, anything.

They just drop whatever, tuition. They're just dropping money like crazy, like insurance, car. They don't even think twice. It's like, "For the kids, anything. For me, I'm not throwing away the Ziploc bag." I always laughed at that because at my house back when I was a kid, we would have Ziploc bags drying on the various things.

It's like a distinct image in my head. And I think it's appropriate. Apostle Paul is thinking like a parent over the entire church. Whoa. Yes? Apostle Paul is thinking like a parent over the entire church. And he says, "I am being delivered to death for you, all things for your sake, so that you would give things to God." Apostle Paul is thinking that his suffering is more not just simply for his own survival.

His suffering is for his children. And that's exactly what he says. Second Corinthians chapter 12, verse 14 through 16. Chapter 12, verse 14 through 16, he says, "Here, for this third time, I am ready to come to you. And I will not be burdened to you, for I do not seek what's yours, but you." Oh, man, this book is so intimate.

I don't want your stuff. I want you. Why? Because children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. And here's Apostle Paul alluding to this universal principle that everybody already accepts, that children do not save for parents, but parents save for children. Why?

Because he sees himself exactly in that relationship to the church. You are my spiritual children. I don't want your stuff. Do you see what I'm doing? I want you. Verse 15, "I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

But be that it is may, I did not burden you myself. Nevertheless, crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit." He's being sarcastic there. And I hope you guys already start to see the scenery of what's going on. He's loving them like parents. He's loving them like good mom and dad would.

And every time he loves them, they start questioning, "What are you doing?" And he's being sarcastic. Do you think I'm trying to bribe you? You think I'm trying to dupe you into loving me back to get your stuff from you, like your donations and your tithes? I want you to start imagining from an Apostle Paul's perspective.

He loves them now like his own precious children. And here they are with a suspicious eye like, "What are you doing? Why do you want our money?" Right? "Why are you speaking to us that way?" Now, another passage that talks about the exact same idea is chapter 6, verse 3 through 13.

2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 3 through 13. He says this, "Giving no cause for offense in anything so that the ministry will not be discredited," okay? He has to uphold the work that God has ordained him to do. He has work that God has designed him to do. And he says, "But in everything, commending ourselves as servants of God in much endurance." Look at this long list of afflictions, hardships, distressions, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, in labors, sleeplessness, in hunger, in impurity, in knowledge, and patience, and kindness, in Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report, regarded as deceivers and yet true, as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live, as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.

Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians. Your heart is open wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Now in a like exchange, I speak as to what? Children, open wide to us also. And I took a moment to think about, "Oh, goodness, how can I relate and appreciate what Apostle Paul is doing?" And the picture of the parents is right on, but think about mature parents who have children, who have gained independence, gone off to college, working the dunce.

I remember certain times when my parents would nag me, "How come you don't go?" Okay? For those of you who have more older children who are now off out of your house, you know, there may be times when you're like, "God, they don't even think of us." I wonder if Apostle Paul has that sentiment.

My house, the doors are wide open to you, but is your door open for me? In you living, I get it, you have your work, you have your school, you have your own family now probably, you have your own priorities, but is there any space for me there? Have you made any room for me?

Right? And for parents who are a bit older, I want to commend you. That is a very vulnerable situation. For those of you guys who have older parents, I hope you understand. Some parents complain like, "How come you don't make time for me?" Yes, it sounds like nagging, but I want you to understand how vulnerable of a position that is for a much more older, mature individual to look to their children and say, "Can you include me?" Some of us aren't even willing to do that with their own friends.

It's too hard to ask like, "Hey, can you invite me next time when you hang out?" It's too humbling to ask that. But for older parents to ask to their own kids, "Can you make room for me?" I want you to understand and feel perhaps the heartbrokenness and the affections that Apostle Paul is going through.

Does that make sense? He has to ask, "Would you open wide your heart?" I'm not sure if any of us have ever talked like that to another individual. Perhaps not even like romantic relationships. I mean, when was the last time a young man said to a young girl, "My heart's open.

Can you make big space for me? Can you open your heart?" Nobody really talks like that, right? Apostle Paul is so open because he sees the whole church as his spiritual children. And I hope you're being inspired by this. We are all called to be in loving Christian ministry to one another.

And to what degree can we express this kind of loving affection and adoration? And I say here, the reason why I'm sharing with you this because I'm a pastor, right? This is like rebuking me like crazy. And part of it is, yeah, like I just see everybody as my friends.

And the great thing is I am at a church where I'm treated extremely well. Can I just confess that? I'm treated super duper well at our church. I'm just praising God and thankful for that. I'm just saying. You guys get it, right? It's hard for me to empathize with Apostle Paul, but we have to.

He says, "I wrote a hard letter to you, and I wrote it in tears, and I was in regret." And for us to appreciate that, we have to think from his perspective. But it gets worse because I want you to imagine. He says in that passage, chapter 6 right here, verse 8, that there is evil report and good report.

What does that mean? That means Apostle Paul was loving this church like a parent, like a father, and some people regarded him as a deceiver. They attacked his character. And I started thinking like, "Whoa, I want to imagine that too. Like what would that be like? Go back to my scenery that I gave to you when me as a fifth grader was looking at my parents crying in front of their truck because they were so tired they couldn't drive home.

And then imagine me sitting there thinking, "What's going on? Why are they crying?" And rather than having the good son's heart and thinking, "Oh, goodness, I want to help you," imagine if I had a wicked heart and I turned and I said, "Why are you crying? Why are you doing this?

Why are you getting up at four in the morning, going home at seven at night, and then crying over it? All you care about is money. That's why you're crying. All you care about is success. I'm leaving." Can you imagine if I did that? What pains Apostle Paul would feel in his heart?

And I started thinking, I just started imagining like, "What would I feel like if Yoshi did that to me?" And I was like, "Oh, I can't even think of it, right? How dare you?" You know, like, it would be crazy, right? I didn't even want to think about it.

But that's what he's saying he's been through. The buildup from chapter one through chapter seven, Apostle Paul has been through loving his church, loving his church like a parent, and they regard him as a deceiver, and they question his intent. Wow. Talk about ouch, right? He says very clearly, "Listen, I have had external pains, but there's no pain like getting hurt by my own children." Take a look at this, 2 Corinthians 11, verse 23 to 31.

This is one of the more famous lists of Apostle Paul's difficulties and pains that he's been through. He says this starting from verse 23, "Are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane. I'm more so, in far more labors and far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.

Five times I received the Jews' 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys and dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers in the sea, dangers among false brethren.

I have been in labor and hardship through my sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food and cold exposure. Apart from such external things, there is daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?

If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying." I want you to think about that for a moment. He says just right there, "I have been through so much and I want you to know it." Because that's reality.

He's not bragging. He's not sitting there doing, "I'm going to give you a testimony, but it's going to be a bragamony. Here it is. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. What's up now?" Right? That's not what He's doing. He's saying, "I want you to understand this degree of pain I have. I have all the externals, but apart from all this, more than all this, I have this concern for you that burdens my soul." And He says, "Who is weak without me being weak?

Who is led into sin without my intense concern? If I have to boast, I boast of what pertains to my weakness." What weakness is He talking about? What weakness? Is He weaker than them, the church? Is He talking about a kind of weakness where like, "Yeah, I've got to boast of my weakness because Christ is more.

So my weakness is I can't get up to do Bible study." He's not talking about that kind of weakness. My weakness is I'm falling to sexual immorality and it's hard to fight temptation. He's not talking about that kind of weakness. What kind of weakness is He boasting? What's the central point in His suffering that He's saying, "This is where my heart is." And it's exactly what I said to you earlier.

His weakness is synonymous with a vulnerable heart of love. Brothers and sisters, He has made Himself weak to feel the pain of loving the church. And this is where the gospel shines. I believe Apostle Paul has met, truly, truly met the Lord Jesus, right? Who is it that has initiated and set the ultimate, ultimate example of being so vulnerable, carrying all the risk?

Loving sinful man is risky business. It threatens your well-being. It threatens your comfort and your sanity. What's more, it threatens you with the great, great heartache of being betrayed. If you notice, Apostle Paul says right at the beginning of that, right at the beginning of that, "Are they servants of Christ?" What is he talking about?

At the beginning of chapter 11, Apostle Paul realizes, and Apostle Paul comments on and instructs them, "You have these false teachers who are entering your fold. How is it that you're turning to them already?" On a human level, do you think Apostle Paul felt betrayed? There is a certain virtue called loyalty.

He sacrificed, he worked. He says he works day and night, not reserving anything, not his own well-being, not his own money, not his own life. After two years of ministering with them, after two years of instruction, loving, caring for them, nurturing them, they say, "I don't know about you.

I doubt whether you're really doing this out of good intentions. I think I'll go with them." The kind of pain Apostle Paul felt was deep. It was so deep. And so, I want you to understand this. Why? Because for us to appreciate 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 1 through 7, where he says to them, "Make room for us in your hearts," where he says to them how he does not speak, even though he's speaking harshly, strongly, firmly in correction, he's not speaking to condemn, is he?

But rather, he is desiring to love them. His desire to speak truth to them. He wants absolutely what's best for them. For us to appreciate that, we have to follow the trail. And so, at this point right now, now I've finished my introduction. We're going now into the main first point.

And the first point is this. As we look at 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 1 through 7, we see against all that I just said, against all the pain I just described to you, Apostle Paul's loyal heart of love for his spiritual children. Apostle Paul's loyal heart to his spiritual children.

I read again for you, and he says, "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in fear of God. Make room for us in your heart." Again, he's vulnerable. Again, he's making requests that's even hard for us. He says, "We wronged no one.

We corrupted no one. We took advantage of no one." What he's meaning there is he had integrity. There was no compromise. He did right by them. And then he says, "I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together." What is he saying?

My intention. It's not to come down on you and destroy you. He has actually said in another passage that he does not write to destroy, but he wants to spare. He loves them so much he's willing to spare them. He says, "I have said it before. You are in our hearts to die together and to live together." If you highlight in your Bible, if you draw or do stars, think about what he's saying when he says that, "I have said before, you are in my heart.

We die together and live together." What does that mean? All I'm going to say is, "Wow, what devoted loyalty." Have you guys seen that kind of loyalty in our day? I know you're sometimes arrogant, fleshly, you're selfish, defensive, and you're accusatory to me. But I've told you before, we're going to die together and we're going to live together.

What kind of loyalty is that? So Paul takes the initiative. You might be willing to go chase after other teachers. You might be thinking that you have other parents. But I'm telling you now, we die together and live together. What kind of amazing loyalty that is. Paul's heart is deep with love.

Paul's heart is deep with affection. And that's why when he says that he is writing this letter with tears, that's why when he says that he regrets, and sometimes he doesn't regret, you recognize that the struggle is real because the love is real. Right? And I want to challenge you now.

Is it important for us at times in ministry to admonish, to exhort, to correct, and rebuke? And the answer is yes. Because of the importance and because of the weight of ministry, whenever there is sin, it must be addressed. Whenever there is ungodliness, it must be addressed. But do you see the heart of Apostle Paul?

He wants them to feel his love. And he says, "I want you to know what kind of love I have for you." And the amazing thing about it is Apostle Paul does not delight. He's not overjoyed and comforted. He's not rejoicing just because, "Yes, finally, you get my authority.

Finally you listen. Fools." No, he says, "I'm glad because I saw and I heard report of your longing, of your mourning and zeal." Apostle Paul has a heart of a parent. To see you do well brings joy to my heart. For every single one of us, whether you're currently in ministry, in some kind of role that God has designed for you to have authority and say over people as parents, husbands, wives, whatever it may be, well, they made this be an inspiration for us to have this kind of heart.

And Apostle Paul models for us what John says in 3 John 3-4, "For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in truth." This is the heart of every parent.

Not that on Mother's Day, on Father's Day, like, "There better be a banquet. You better show me your love." Like, that's not what parents are thinking. Parents want to know, "Are you well? Are you walking in the way that you should?" Now it is approaching that time where it's Mother's Day and Father's Day, so I just encourage every single one of you, show appreciation, you know?

Show that gratitude. Show that understanding. It's like, "Man, I know you sacrificed a lot. Might have done it a different way, you know? But I see your sacrifice and love." That's the heart of Apostle Paul, and that's what I wanted you to see, because that heart from Apostle Paul was consistent, consistent, and that heart was portrayed to the church, and the church now needed to respond to that.

What were they going to do now that the love of Apostle Paul came to them in a different format? Before it was just teaching, before it was just visits, before they were walking together, but now this letter comes, and it's a strong rebuke, a kind of letter that could have destroyed somebody, he says.

It literally could have owned them. What are they going to respond with? What are they going to say? So now we move into the Corinthians' heart of sorrow and repentance. Okay, the Corinthians' heart of sorrow and repentance. Look at this passage with me in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 8 through 12.

Chapter 7, verse 8 through 12. And Apostle Paul says, "For though I cause you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, for I see that the letter caused you sorrow, though only for a little while." And again, you almost feel it, the heart of a parent.

It's like he knows he has to say what needs to be said. He knows he has to do something that potentially even risks having his own children give him a longer stiff arm. They already gave him one. Now he's entertaining even the risk of even having bigger divide, right?

So he's like, "I don't know if I…" Then he says, "But for a little while, now I rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance. For you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you. What vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong.

In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter, so although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf may be made known to you in the sight of God." Wow.

For the heart of the Corinthians, what a journey. The church. It's not every single person in the church, but it seems to me that a mass pocket at least of the church went through a drastic journey. One where they began with very antagonistic to Apostle Paul, one they were accusatory, rebellious, stubborn, very fleshly.

And clearly when Apostle Paul started speaking and saying, "You guys need to stop doing that and knock it off. When you have feasts, wait for one another. Why in the world are you running to the front? Don't be arrogant. Don't have divisions. Don't have this immorality be permitted in your church." And then all of a sudden people are like, "Who are you, dude?

You're unimpressive. Your speech, your image, everything about you is so-so, man. Take it easy." And then it eventually came to a point where they did not like what he had to say. However, what's clear here is that once they received the strong, strong rebuke, sorrow happened. Quickly, I ask you this question and I need you to think about a scenario.

Was there a moment in your life where somebody rebuked you harshly? Like they said, "Listen, man, I need to say something to you, okay?" And they told you like it is. And they told you, "You're doing this and that and this." And it was just direct, it was immediate, and you're just like, "Whoa," right?

Now if you can't think of something like that, then I want you to think of a scenario where you felt like a failure. Every single one of us has felt sorrow, either because someone imposed it on you and said, "You need to recognize," and you're like, "Ugh," right? Or every single one of us, no matter how young we are, we have felt moments of failure.

And I'm guessing for students, you felt like, "Oh my goodness, I can't carry this weight." Maybe at certain points, you felt like you disappointed your parents. Those emotions are strong. Maybe for those of you guys who are working, you felt like a failure because of X, Y, and Z.

Husbands and wives, you felt like a failure because you couldn't fulfill your roles. Parents, you felt like a failure because you couldn't control anger. Whatever it may be, we've had moments when we felt like we not only transgressed the standard of God, but the standard of the people, and you feel sorrow.

I need you to think about that moment. When was the last time you felt deep sorrow? Why? Because the question is, how did you respond to that sorrow? This passage is asking us, how do you respond to the sorrow that we are going to experience at one point or another in our lives?

And Apostle Paul says there are two distinct paths. One path is the sorrow of the world and death. The other path brings salvation, joy, restoration. Do you know the difference? When you tell within yourself which path of sorrow you're taking, if you have moments when you're being rebuked, if you have moments when you're being corrected, or you yourself feel the guilt, what do you do?

I'm going to walk with you down certain things. A, there is a sorrow of the world, and very clearly, the indicator is that it produces death. What kind of sorrow produces death? You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to say certain verbiage, certain phrases that I've heard from myself and I've heard before.

And you ask yourself, has your thoughts, have the internal voice ever said these things? For example, someone comes to you and rebukes you strongly, and instinctually, your heart starts to say, "What? Why do you hate me so much? You don't trust me? If you don't want me around, just say it." Were there ever that kind of resentment?

Was there ever that kind of defensiveness? Maybe there's something of wounded pride. "What? I've been good to you, actually. Do you discredit everything I've done? You're saying I'm all bad? Am I all wicked?" Has your heart ever said that? That's a heart leaning towards bitterness. Perhaps there was despair.

"Fine, then, if you think that, then I'm no good. What am I going to do?" "Fine. I'm just a bad, bad person, I admit it. I'm so bad, I'm not even going to try anymore. I'm so bad, God can't even forgive me. I'm so bad, I'm just going to go in a corner.

I'm so bad, I'm going to quit." Maybe you haven't said those things verbally, but in sorrow, have you ran away and escaped? In sorrow, have you given up and quit? So many people, so many people resort to this kind of sorrow, and clearly it produces hopelessness and depression. Right now in America, the statistic is 50 million plus people in America say they have clinical depression or some kind of depression where they struggle with thoughts of suicide.

That absolutely breaks my heart because what it says is, "Yes, we know every single one of us is going to feel sorrow to some degree, but there's a massive portion of us that have no idea what to do about it." And that breaks my heart. We have to stop looking at, "Oh my gosh, look at my broken hand, look at my broken feet, look at my feeble knees, look how weak I am." And the gospel says, "Look to Christ.

There is hope not here. There is hope with Christ, amen? There is absolute hope with Christ." And this passage is going to talk about how this reaction to sorrow, this reaction to guilt, this genuine repentance is going to lead you to hope and change. And so Apostle Paul says, "Rather than just having horizontal shame, rather than defensiveness, resentment, rather than depression, rather than hopelessness, let there be godly sorrow where it produces repentance." And you guys know that repentance is pretty much synonymous with change.

Is there going to be a change of thought? Is there going to be a change of belief? Is there going to be a change of will? Is there going to be a change of desire? Is there going to be then a resulting change of action and a change of behavior?

But what I'd like to highlight for you as I wrap this sermon up and point to is when Apostle Paul looks at these people, he says, "There has been a godly sorrow in you and what I see is earnestness." He repeats it twice. And he says, "Behold," and he says, "Look at this thing." What am I talking about?

Look at the passage again. And he says, starting from verse 10, "The sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold." Anytime he says, "For behold," you should stop there and put exclamation point.

He is pointing a finger and saying, "Look." What does he say? "Look at the earnestness, this very thing, this godly sorrow has produced in you." Essentially, he is equating godly sorrow with earnestness. He's equating this eagerness, longing, and he describes it as zeal. He describes it as mournful longing to be with Apostle Paul, to reconcile, and then he describes it in further indications.

And we don't have time to go over all this stuff. So those of you guys who are thinking like, "Wow, you had a long introduction. The sermon is going long." Is he going to go through all these points? My answer is going to be, we're going to fly through it and get to one singular point.

There is vindication, there is indignation, meaning anger towards the sin, there is fear, fear of offending God, fear of sinning again, there is longing, there is zeal, there is avenging, and there is a demonstration that they want to be clear and innocent of the entire matter. What does that show you?

Important question right there. What does that show you? And to make sense of all this, I want to give you a tangible case scenario. Imagine if I was a lazy, lazy boy. So lazy I grew up in absolute neglect of my responsibilities and my parents kept having to scold me, "Pick up your clothes, put away your dish." I went off to college and I was the laziest boy ever.

My roommates felt like they had to do intervention. The roommates had a team meeting and said, "We need to go talk to Mark because that got him lazy." And then after graduating college, I was so lazy, I went back home rather than looking for work, I didn't even try, I just went back home and said, "I'm here." And the parents are like, "Oh goodness." I lived at home for two, three years without even trying to find work and my parents all of a sudden decide, "I need to talk to you." Why am I going through this long example?

Because I just want to show you that in this scenario, I deserve to be harshly rebuked. The parents come down and say, "Mark, lazy boy, you need to understand. You've been lazy in high school, you've been lazy in college and you're lazy now. And your neglect is hurting people.

It's hurting your brother, it's hurting your sister, it's hurting us because we're sitting here worried to death about you. What's going to come of you? You need to understand. Do you get it?" And imagine lazy boy Mark goes, "Okay, I get it." Would you be happy with that? Honest question.

Lazy boy Mark said to the parents and mom and dad, "Okay, I get it." Would you be happy with that? Probably not, right? Mom and dad would be like, "Look, I'm not about to talk to you. What do you mean okay? Do you mean okay like I heard you but I don't agree?

Do you mean okay like I heard you but I do agree? What do you mean?" Frustrated, right? It's very frustrating. And then lazy boy Mark goes, "I said okay. I get it, okay? I get what you're saying." And parents are like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I know you heard me but I really want to know." And lazy boy Mark was like, "What?

You want me to cry about it or something? Fine, give me some money. Let me rub it right here and cry. You want me to cry?" And the parents are like, "Oh my... Get your own onion. Look how lazy you are." Parents would be frustrated, right? Now the conversation is...

There's no conversation. Why? Because they're just like... And the parents are like, "Oh, what do we do with you? What's wrong? What's wrong in this scenario?" And this is what I'm talking about is true repentance. He says, "Looks like earnestness." You see, there is this principle I learned through doing my devotions through this.

You know, the reason why I walk through from Apostle Paul's perspective is because he has a desire for the church, his children. And my first question is, have I accepted that desire? Do I understand his desire? And the second thing is this, my level of sorrow is directly correlated with my desire.

Let me repeat that, okay? My level of sorrow is directly correlated with my level of desire. And that's why when we're kids, your parents say, "No, you can't have that." And you're like... And you're just crying like the world is over because in that moment, that's all I want.

What I've also seen, there are people who come into my office crying, bawling, you know, and they're like... And I'm going, "Okay, got my notepad out, I'm ready." It's like, "What's going on?" They're like, "I lost my patience with my kid." I'm like, "Oh, I do that all the time." You know, like part of me is like, it's like it's light, you know, but why?

And I get rebuked by that because I realize I'm inspired, like, "Oh my goodness, you want so badly to be a good parent that your moment of weakness in failing to be patient with your child breaks you." Right? Your level of sorrow is directly correlated with the level of your desire.

And when that desire is unmet, your sorrow grows deep. If your desire is deep, then your desire denied is going to produce in you an incredible amount of sorrow. So let me ask you this. Is it fair for me to look at Lazy Mark and say, "It is very clear to me, you don't want diligence.

You don't want what I'm saying to you. You can say okay to me, but I'm going to judge you right now. You don't want it." Is that fair? You don't want what I want for you. How can you sit there and say, "Okay, I said okay." You can't do that.

As exhortation to you, we many times, we're all guilty of this. I'm guilty of this. There are moments when I'm like, "Oh, I should be more patient." There are moments I'm like, "I should be more humble. Honestly, I should be more humble." I say things haphazardly to my wife sometimes, and I'm like, "Ugh," like my mouth, gosh.

We all struggle with those certain frustrations. If I see it like haphazard little mistakes, of course, why would I be sorrowful? But there are moments, and you guys all know, when you're sober and you're like... You know, like in marriage, you look at your wife and you're like, "I want to be a good husband so bad." And even moments when I neglect you, it breaks my heart.

Why? Because you know I love you. Because you know I want to be a good husband to you. Because I want to be fulfilling God's design, but also I want to be fulfilling your desire for love. And so even in my neglect, it breaks me. And to you, where is your earnestness?

In areas of humility, in areas of caution, love, care, patience, in all of these things, where is your degree of desire? Can people watch you and say, "Behold, what earnestness." Look at him. Look at the vindication. Look at the longing, the mourning, the desire to be innocent, and all of this.

I am not asking you to go have a good cry. I'm asking you to look deep because the Lord looks right here. Right? And he asks you, "What do you want? What do you want most of all?" And this is where Christian repentance happens. This is part of the gospel.

God affords us the opportunity to repent simply of your desire. "God, I repent of the desires that I've had to secure my own, to be fleshly, to satisfy myself. And right now, I confess to you, even though I have some of these desires, you know I love you. You know I want what you want for me.

If you can confess that." The Lord says, "Look at this. What longing, what mourning, what zeal." And God satisfies that longing and says, "In that kind of repentance, there is no regret." Amen? And I pray for all of us. We today walk through Apostle Paul's heart for his church, but we know that is reflective of the Christ and God Apostle Paul knows.

God has sacrificed for us as a good father. Amen? And in our appreciation of that, we then turn to him and say, "God, I trust your heart and your desire for me. I desire the same." Let's pray. Lord, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your fatherly love. We call you Father in many of our prayers.

We sing about you. And today we get a greater glimpse and a greater appreciation by walking through this passage. You have sent for us, Father God, even individuals in our lives to care for us. And it's all reflective of your protective, involved love and affection for us. And to that, God, we say, "Thank you, thank you." And Lord, I pray that all of that would then affect us deeply to trust your intent, to trust your love, and to help us, Father God, to come to you with genuine repentance, submitting to you not only simply our minds and our concepts and beliefs, but truly the will and desire of our hearts.

And I ask, Father God, that by the Spirit you would help us to examine, are there any hurtful ways in us? Are there any self-preserving, self-excusing, self-defensive mentalities in us that we need to lay down before you? And I pray that by your Spirit you would help us do that.

We thank you and love you. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.