Godly Versus Selfish Sorrow

Rev. W.C. Lamain (1904-1984)

The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:10 speaks of two kinds of sorrow: namely, a godly sorrow which worketh a repentance not to be repented of, and the sorrow of the world which worketh death.

Unregenerate persons do sometimes experience a certain kind of sorrow for sin. We read that Esau could find no place of repentance though he sought it diligently with tears. Judas Iscariot cast the thirty pieces of silver into the temple and cried out, “I have betrayed innocent blood.” It is evident that no true sorrow, such as that wrought by the Spirit of God, was in Esau or Judas Iscariot.

From such cases as these it is evident that a person may have sorrow for some sins but it is not a sorrow for every sin, either secret or open. A sorrow of this kind does not proceed from the heart but always from an intellectual persuasion and a troubled conscience. It is not a fruit of the love of God or a smarting for sin as caused David to complain, “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight” (Psalm 51:4a).

The merely professing believer does not realize that a knowledge of sin presupposes some knowledge of the majesty of God and that sin is an assault upon God as well as opposition to God, an affront to God and His perfections. God’s people who are truly convinced of sin and brought under the discovering influences of the Holy Spirit feel the greatness of their iniquity. They do not palliate or extenuate their guilt but confess before God and man how abominable their transgressions are.

Commission of sin makes one uneasy. If conscience still speaks, a sinner is plagued and aroused, and a kind of gnawing is felt. Thereby, a person experiences a little of what will be felt by the damned through all eternity. Hence, if there is a sorrow, it arises primarily from fear that one will be found out to be a hypocrite.

A person can also be afraid to sin by reason of his position in life, and one can be kept from committing some sins because of the reproach it will bring on his good name, which is of no little importance. You need only remember the anxiety of Saul when he asked Samuel, “Yet honor me now before the elders of my people.”

Some sins disfigure and destroy the body, and for this reason people are careful not to commit sin openly. To be sure, the commission of certain sins is very costly, and because the love of money is uppermost with some and their hearts are set upon the things of this world, they are fearful of the out-breakings of sin. I could go on mentioning many more things, but why? What I already have said was intended only to give some idea of the reasons why the external believer fears sin. In such there is no evidence of a true sorrow for sin or that an impression of the greatness and love of God has created a concern to be kept from sin.

God’s people grieve because of all their sins, original as well as actual, sins of omission and commission. They know of times in their lives when they preferred to die rather than sin against God. They are not strangers of Paul’s complaint in Romans 7:24, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” The external believer knows nothing of a longing desire to be washed, cleansed, and sanctified through the blood of Christ. Conscience convictions alone will never keep a person close to the throne of grace. He is a total stranger of being “delivered” from sin.

An aversion to sin is found in a measure, at times, in those who have a form of godliness but who are strangers to the power thereof. It is possible for a person to manifest an external zeal in which he excels even the godly in some respects. Think of the zeal of Jehu, the son of Nimshi, when he strove against the house of Ahab. We observe above all that his zeal was not exercised against every sin. Some sins are kept under control and remain concealed as was done by Rachel with the teraphim which she had taken from her father’s house. This is not striving against all sin.

God’s people hate every false way. They hate every sin and have a desire unto all righteousness. God’s people, of course, will never be perfect in this life. In many things they offend all (James 3:2). Sometimes, by surprise they are taken captive by the law of sin which is in their members, but it is to their grief and sorrow. How reviving it is, then, when sin is subdued again and the power of Christ for the mortification of sin is glorified in their souls. In themselves there is no might against this great multitude, but their eyes are upon God in order that they may strive in His strength against all that displeased Him. Sin is and remains a grief and burden to them at all times.

May the Lord bless these few words so that the work of God may be manifested and more firmly established by the Holy Spirit. Peter permitted the Lord Jesus to examine his heart. Oh, that we were privileged to do as he did.

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