Sorrow, Guilt, Repentance And Forgiveness

Feature 2 – September 2021 — Grace & Truth Magazine

Sorrow, Guilt, Repentance and Forgiveness

It is important for us to understand the meaning of words used in the Bible. If we do we will have a better grasp of God’s thoughts toward us and what He desires from us.

The Lord created us with certain characteristics that are natural to humans. For example, God gave us emotions so we will feel sorrow or grief over something that has happened. We were given consciences that make us feel guilty when we do something wrong. He gave us minds so we can understand concepts. God may use what He has given us to speak to and teach us, but it is His Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that help us know real sorrow, true repentance and God’s forgiveness.

The four words in our title – “sorrow, guilt, repentance and forgiveness” – can all apply to our individual relationships with other people. Let’s look at what these words mean from God’s perspective and how they are involved in our relationship with Him, and then how this will impact our relationships with others.

Sorrow
In the Bible, sorrow can mean a few different things, such as “pain” or “labor.” God said to Eve that He would “multiply [her] sorrow” in childbirth, and He told Adam that he would have sorrow in working the ground after God had “cursed” it (Gen. 3:16-18 KJV). But often when the word “sorrow” is used in the Bible, it means “grief” or “anguish.” The person was feeling very badly about something. When Jacob’s youngest son Benjamin went the first time to Egypt with his brothers, Jacob told his sons to watch over Benjamin. He said at least two times that if anything were to happen to Benjamin, they would “bring down [Jacob’s] gray hairs with sorrow to the grave” (42:38, see 43:14). He meant that he would grieve for Benjamin for the rest of his life.

We also read about sorrow in the New Testament, with most of the references in John 16. The Lord had been explaining to His disciples that He would be leaving and they would be persecuted. He then told them, “Sorrow hath filled your heart” (v.6), but “your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (v.20). They were going to experience sorrow, but joy would come afterward when they saw Him resurrected.

Second Corinthians has the next most times the word “sorrow” is used in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul had given instructions about how to deal with a sinful situation. In his second letter to the church at Corinth he explained how to deal with the sorrow they had all experienced. He gave some clear teaching on the benefits of godly sorrow in chapter 7. We see that Paul was happy that they had been sorrowful after reading his first letter because it caused them to repent (2 Cor. 7:9). In verse 10 he wrote that godly sorrow leads to repentance, but worldly sorrow works death. The godly sorrow they had led them to have a righteous anger and energy to fix what was wrong (v.11). This passage in 2 Corinthians shows us that when we do something wrong, we can have sorrow or feel badly about it. Only then can we make a decision about how we are going to handle it.

Remember I mentioned Jacob earlier? Another one of his sons, Joseph, had been thrown into a pit by his brothers (Gen. 37). By the time his oldest brother Reuben came back to get Joseph out of the pit, the rest of the brothers had sold him as a slave to passing Midianite traders. It says in verse 29 that Reuben had sorrow and felt badly about what had happened: “he rent his clothes.” However, he did nothing. He just felt badly about it all.

Think about the story of Judas who betrayed the Lord Jesus. We read in Matthew 27 that when Judas realized that Jesus had been condemned, he “repented himself” (v.3). He went back to the chief priests and elders and said, “I have betrayed the innocent blood” (v.4). Judas was sorry for what he had done; he had grief, but we don’t read of him ever having godly repentance. He never sought the Lord’s forgiveness. He only thought about what he had done in relation to himself. Judas had seen the Lord forgive many people and he knew the Lord was gracious and forgiving, but he never turned to the Lord. Judas is an example of worldly sorrow.

Now compare Judas with Peter, who denied the Lord in Matthew 26:69-75. We find that Peter also had sorrow over what he had done, for he “wept bitterly” (v.75). Later we see that Peter and the Lord met together and there was true repentance. The relationship was restored, and the Lord was able to use Peter to do much more work for Him. This is an example of godly sorrow.

Second Corinthians 7 shows us that we can all experience grief over sinning, but what we do with that sorrow is critical. After Paul’s first letter, the Corinthians wanted to have the right view of their sin against God and to address the issues in the right way. When we sin, do we have godly sorrow, which leads us to repentance? Or, do we just feel badly that we failed – not having a true sense of our sin nor seeking to be reconciled to the Lord?

Guilt
In some ways “guilt” is a stronger word than “sorrow.” A person is guilty when they have done something wrong, whether they realize it or not. For example, a person could get a speeding ticket without realizing they had been speeding. Even though they were not aware that they were speeding, they are still guilty of speeding if they were driving over the speed limit. We are guilty because we have broken the law. When we break a law of God we are guilty of sin whether or not we want to admit it. Sometimes we acknowledge our guilt and at other times we do not. Joseph’s brothers realized they were guilty in how they treated their brother and they acknowledged it: “We are verily [truly] guilty concerning our brother” (Gen. 42:21).

Scripture tells us that we “all have sinned” and are “guilty before God” (Rom. 3:23,19). When we experience guilt in our conscience we cannot have true peace until we have taken care of it. We must acknowledge that we are guilty before God. He has provided a remedy for our sin and guilt in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus is the One who bore the punishment and judgment for our sins, and He alone makes it possible for us to be “justified” before God (5:1).

The Bible teaches there are some steps that lead to justification and forgiveness. After we have acknowledged we are guilty of sinning against God, we need to repent.

Repentance
Once we acknowledge that we are guilty of sinning against God, we can do one of two things:

• Repent, or
• Go on living our lives in guilt, knowing that judgment is coming upon us.

We have already learned that godly sorrow leads us to repentance. So, what does it mean to repent? Is it just to be sorry for our sins? Does it mean you decide to go in a different direction, not sinning anymore – that you are going to start to live for God?

Let’s ask ourselves a question, “What does God think about our sin?” In Isaiah, God is called “Holy, holy, holy” (6:3). A characteristic of sin is that it is the opposite of what God is. Sin is described as darkness, a burden, a debt, sores, and something that separates us from God. (59:2). It is horrible to God, and it is why He gave His Son. The Bible tells us God sent His Son into the world because He “loved” us (Jn. 3:16). God made His Son, Jesus, “to be sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:21). He judged our sin in the person of His own Son. Sin caused God’s Son to suffer on the cross and to be forsaken by God as He bore our judgment (Mt. 27:46).

How much do you think God hates sin? How much do we hate sin? Do we realize it was our sin that put the Lord Jesus on the cross? Our sins are something that God hates, and He judged them by judging His Son. We should hate our condition of sorrow and guilt, and see it from God’s perspective. The more Job, who was described as the most righteous man in the world (Job 1:8), understood the holiness of God, the more he realized his own sinful condition. At the end of Job he said, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (42:6). After he had an appreciation of how holy God is, then he had a sense of how far he had fallen short.

In Acts 20:21 we are told that we need “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” In the story of the prodigal, or lost, son in Luke 15 we see what happens when one is truly repentant and has faith to come to God. The son “came to himself” (v.17). He realized his own condition when living with the pigs. Perishing with hunger, he knew, was a result of his own sin. But, he had faith to get up and go to his father. The son admitted he had a problem he could not fix and saw himself as he really was: in a hopeless condition. Only then did he turn to go to his father, not away from him, for he knew of his father’s goodness.

We are told in Romans 2:4 that it is the “goodness of God” that leads us to repentance. Once we realize our horrible condition and we agree with God regarding our condition, then we also understand the goodness of God. We come to the Lord with confession and self-judgment. The Father runs toward us and He wants to receive us, which brings us to the last word in our title.

Forgiveness
It is a wonderful thing to know that we can be completely delivered and forgiven of all our sins. All our guilt can be removed through the work of the Lord Jesus. Luke 24:46-47 tells us Christ needed to “suffer” and “rise” again, and “repentance and remission of sins should be preached.”

When we were lost in our sins, God intervened in our situation by the gift of His Son. We then confessed our sin and repented toward God through faith in the Lord (Acts 20:21). The Lord’s death and resurrection made it possible for us to have remission, or forgiveness, of sins. There was a huge cost for us to have our sins forgiven and to be redeemed: Christ’s death and the shedding of His blood (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14).

God’s forgiveness is very different from the way we forgive each other. We may forgive someone for something, but we may still not forget what they did. God not only forgives us but He does not remember our sin anymore (Jer. 31:34). He has removed our sin from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Ps. 103:12). Micah said God would cast our sins into the deepest sea (Mic. 7:19). How wonderful that God offers complete forgiveness and removal of all our guilt forever! We have complete deliverance from our sin, and it was done in an amazing manner.

The Lord does not forgive grudgingly, but we see examples in Luke 15 of His attitude toward us when He forgives us. The shepherd rejoiced when he found his lost sheep. The father ran to the prodigal son when he saw him coming. The woman searched diligently for her lost coin. The Lord delights to forgive us. It cost Him everything, but He forgives us freely and willingly.

It is important to remember that forgiveness does not just apply to us at the moment of salvation. After we are saved we still have the root problem of sin dwelling in us. Even though we belong to the Lord we still sin. We learn that “in my flesh … dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). Only the Lord Jesus can deliver us from our sinful nature (vv.24-25). We see ourselves as dead (6:11) but “risen with Christ” (Col. 3:1). Our focus is now on things connected with Christ and not on things of this earth. Through this we have deliverance from the power of sin. We can still find ourselves sinning again but we are promised, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).

Conclusion
This article has only scratched the surface of these wonderful topics. You can read the story of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis 37–50. Look carefully for examples of sorrow, guilt, repentance and forgiveness. The story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 also gives examples of these four words.

God so loves us that He has made it possible for us to know Him as our Father and for us to be made His children (see 1 Jn. 3:1-2). There is a remedy for our sorrow, guilt and lost condition. When we think of everything God has done for us, it will help us to be faithful to Him while we are in this world that is opposed to Him.

By David Pickering

People set a standard of good they can attain, and one of evil to exclude themselves. Then they congratulate themselves for not doing evil that others have done. All this proves that men simply judge themselves by what suits them. But there is a standard with which all are compared and will be judged, for all fall short. It is a standard of righteousness – the righteousness of God. When a person begins to compare himself with God, his conscience is awakened to think of sin as before God. He finds himself guilty and ruined, and will not attempt to justify himself. The person will be anxious to know whether it is possible that God, before whom he knows himself condemned, can pardon or forgive him. “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more” is the gracious message pronounced by the Judge to the ruined sinner, standing consciously convicted before Him. If you desire to have God’s full and free pardon, you must stand first as the guilty, self-condemned sinner alone with Jesus. —John N. Darby (adapted from his comments on John 8:1-11)