THE GOOD END of GODLY REGRET (2nd Cor 7:5-13)

SERMON BY PASTOR ANDREW PEH

SNIPPETS
7 Degrees of Repentance
1. Earnest: to be serious towards your attitude to sin
2. Eager to clear yourselves of sin by distancing yourself from it
3. Indignant rather than indifferent, from "bochap" to "pik chik" about sin
4. Alarm: have a heightened sense of a Holy God and what he cannot tolerate
5. Longing: to make things right
6. Concern to go beyond right beliefs, to right behavior and attitudes
7. Readiness to see justice done.

God's Holiness and Grace that must be held in tension

1. Grace without a sense of holiness: will negate the goodness of the good news that we have received. Salvation is free but it doesn't mean that it is without cost to God.
2. Holiness without grace: Suffocating, blind obedience done without joy.

Quotation from Dietrich Bonhoeffer
" Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing....[45]7]"
Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian 'conception' of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins.... In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.[45-46]

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. 'All for sin could not atone.' Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin....
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.[4
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and self all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

Application:

1. Godly grief begins with an Act of repentance. John 8:11b And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either Go From now on sin no more."
2. The need for accountability, being our brother's or sister's keeper so that he/she can keep a steadfast walk with God.

 Thoughts for the Week

1. Do I care more about my brother's feelings rather than his faith in the Lord?
2. Will I allow a friend to speak hard things to me?
3. Will I live with having no rest in my spirit by prayerfully confronting a friend about the error of his ways?