To start out the message, I’d like to review a couple of points that have been covered over the last several weeks. If you would, flip back to Revelation 19, where we will pick up a point that is going to work well into the message that I will be giving. In verse 7, it is talking about that upcoming wedding ceremony that is going to take place between the Lamb and, of course, His bride.

Of course, we have heard this talked about. At this point, that wife is prepared. She has actually looked at what God and Christ has given us as instruction in the Bible on how to prepare and to live our lives. But I tell you that this period of time—especially as we approach the Passover season—is the time to be preparing (to be ridding ourselves of sins, of this world, that nature) that we will truly be ready at this time for that ceremony. Or else, we won’t be one of those standing.

If you would, go over to Revelation 21. We realize that, at this point in time, we are betrothed to Christ. We should be like a young lady that is preparing for her wedding. We should be frantically busy getting everything in order. This is a real thing to each one of us. It is not just nice words that you read or a concept. It is reality! And we need to be busy now, today—as we prepare and get ready again to take that Passover so that when we walk in four weeks from now, we are ready to take the Passover.

Now, we know that Christ overcame all things; and He is already with God. But here is a promise for us (as the firstfruits) and eventually for all of mankind—if we overcome this world and this sinful nature, then we are going to inherit all things. That is our potential. That is our future. That is the reality!

When you look at people who are trying to do the right thing, so far we are not being persecuted by the world; but we certainly are a prey to Satan the devil. And as all of us know who have been in the church any period of time (which is just about all of us here), Satan really turns up the heat as we approach the holy days—and especially the Passover season.

Let’s go to Revelation 18, and pick up an important point about the society we live in. This, of course, is talking about the end time Babylon. But, as we read this, think about these United States and how this applies even now to the United States.

Literally, what we are talking about here is the earth. I believe, certainly here in the United States Satan is running amuck with his demons—polluting truth and trying to pollute and control everyone in this world. Truly, at one time or another, we were all part of his system.

This is a warning to the firstfruits—to come out of this system. Make sure that we don’t have any part of it in us. Make sure that her sins are not still part of our bodies where we have taken Christ in and He is dwelling in us.

So these are the punishments that are going to come not only on this Babylon, but on the whole earth. And we must come out of it.

Now, back to verse 7, because I want to emphasize a point here:

This sorrow that it is talked about here is toukosmou. Most people in the world are feeling this sorrow now. And, at times, we can be guilty of it. This sorrow leads to bitterness, resentment, and hatred. It has a deadly affect on mankind, and it can have that same affect on us. We can actually read the Bible and see sins pointed out to particular individuals in the Bible and approach it as “Well, that doesn’t apply to me.” We can shut the door, and say, “That’s not me” or “I have a reason for what I do” —and justify it.

Let’s go over to Isaiah 59. As we go there, think about it. How much have we—you and I—come out of this world? That is the agreement we made when we took our baptism. That man will no longer exist. No longer were we a part of this world. We are now sojourners on this earth, waiting for (as Abraham stated) the inheritance that will come in the future. How much have we come out of this world? How much is it still a part of us? How much of her sins are still hidden deep within us—either that we have not dealt with or refuse to deal with?

Now, you can say, “Tom, this is talking about what God is going to do with Israel.” Okay. Let’s look at that just in that context. Was everyone in that country a great sinner? Surely there were some that had really small sins and who basically tried to do things the right way and yet didn’t put the sins out of their lives. These words apply to us today too. Most of us have overcome tremendous sins in our lives and have turned and walked away from the world as a whole. But there are still certain ones that we need to look at, and make sure that we haven’t hidden some in the back of the closet. Or justified some. Or perhaps even turned our foot from doing those things, but never gone to God and been cleared of the matter by asking for repentance for it.

So try to think about this as we go through the message. I realize that none of us are out there participating full force in this world. But we really need to look closely, to make sure we have come completely out. That is, that we don’t have a foot still in the door of this world. You can look at it as, “Well, I only have little sins.” And certainly we can justify that. “I’m not a sinner. I basically try to do things God’s way.” But James says, in James 2:10, that if we stumble on one law we are guilty of breaking them all.

We get a quick picture of the fact that God doesn’t look down and say, “Oh, he’s a pretty good guy, and this guy is wretched.” We are either a sinner, or we have turned from sin. That’s how God looks at it. It is black and white. There is no gray area. You can’t plead before Him: “Well, the reason I do this is….” He doesn’t care. He wants us to come out of this world completely.

I’m going to give you a quote that Mr. Lee gave a couple of weeks ago that really hit home with me. “The one person whom you believe every single time they lie to you is YOU.” We can be our own worse enemy—the way we justify things, the way we set things we have done apart and we set a reason that we felt seemed like a good enough one to do that act; but, in fact, a sin is a sin. So, again, think about that as we go through this. And, to go along with that, Revelation 21:8 says that liars shall have their part in the Lake of Fire. So, if we are lying to ourselves, ultimately we are deceiving ourselves, reasoning, and justifying ourselves into the Lake of Fire.

So when it says that bride has made herself ready, now is the time that you and I are to be making ourselves clean. Not wait for somebody else to do it. Not wait for God to do it. We need to be doing our part. And certainly He’ll give us the power, and strength, and guidance as we look through His Word to dig out and get rid of those sins that we have buried.

As I look back on some of the things that I have done in my life, there is no doubt about it—that I tried to justify and reason around it. Possibly you have been guilty of the exact same things. But we need to come clean with God and make sure that we have been cleared completely of the matter (we are going to look, later, at what Paul has to say).

Stop and ask, “Do I really believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior? Do I really believe that I need to walk exactly as Christ walked? That I need to be pure and clean like He is, when that wedding is to take place?” I need to examine myself. Look closely. Not through my eyes, but through God’s eyes—the Bible. Through meditation, and (as we are going to look at) through godly sorrow—to really get close to God’s mind as we view our lives in what we have done, and what we are doing. We need to prove ourselves. We need to test it.

How do we test it? We put our lives up against Christ’s and the different examples we have in the Bible. How does it pare out? Are we on the same plane? Are we there? Or do we have shortcomings, sin, filth?

That is the thing. I think about when I have done things—and some things even intentionally. But here I have agreed to take Christ into my life, and allow Him to dwell in me. But I bring in a sin, or bury a sin, right in there with Christ. It is not fair to Him. And certainly we need to make sure that we get rid of it, and clear ourselves of those matters.

If we don’t do these things, if we don’t truly use this period of time—every day of our life, but especially as we prepare for this season—to truly examine ourselves, we’ll lie to ourselves and take it right in.. Examine ourselves in the area that we have reasoned and justified that it is really not so bad, but it is evil in God’s eyes. Again, we’ll believe ourselves. It is the person we trust. So we can’t trust ourselves. We have to trust God to show us who we really are.

And today is the time that we are going to be reminded of this, as we have in the last couple of weeks; and we are going to continue because each one of us is on a journey to become perfect like Christ. We have a part to play in this. We need to be scurrying about to make ourselves ready for that wedding instead of having a lackadaisical “Well, I’m a pretty good guy” approach. Pretty good isn’t good enough. We have to get to perfection. We constantly have to be looking at God’s Word and studying His Word so that we can see ourselves and see where we are in this journey.

But the physical work Christ did on the earth as a human being is done. He accomplished perfection. They are resting. They are waiting for us to fulfill what this day is—to truly rest; and ultimately what the Day of Atonement is, to be at one with God, resting in perfection. And we then can help others come to perfection and flush out things in the Bible that they need to understand (as Christ does and helps us pare out the sins in our lives).

So, how do we examine ourselves? Do we, while we are working, just meditate: “Well, how have I done this last year?” Certainly, that’s a part of it and we need to do that. There is a certain meditation. But let’s look at verse 12.

So, if we are not studying, we are not really using the tool that is going to help us to see what we need to get out—because as we study and use God’s Holy Spirit it is going to show us dirt that is still in our life. This Bible is a mirror that, as we look into it, we actually can see ourselves and what we look like in God’s eyes. And, if we don’t come up to the standard of what the Scripture says, then it is sin; and we must get it out. So as we look in a mirror and maybe there is an eyebrow that has its own way to go. So it has to be plucked. Or maybe a nose hair that must be gotten out of there. Or makeup, for the ladies, that is smeared; and you don’t want people to see you like that. It’s ugly. It must be taken care of.

But, if you don’t look in the mirror, you are not going to see it. You have already reasoned and justified that it is okay. But you have to look in this mirror [the Bible] to see that sin. It is filthy. It is dirty, and it is ugly; and it must go. We must come to perfection. Pretty good is not good enough. We want to be at that wedding ceremony. I do, and I know each one of us do. So today is the day we need to be at work—examining ourselves.

Again, we have been focusing on the fact of how we reason and justify things we have done. But God sees it all. There is nothing hidden. So, then, how are we going to explain it? “Well, here’s the reason I did that.” God doesn’t want to hear it. He’s going to say, “I gave you the tools. I gave you to Christ. I gave you the Scriptures. I gave you the Holy Spirit to understand it.” And we will have no reason, no justification, for why we didn’t do our part to get ourselves ready for the wedding.

Let’s go now to II Corinthians 7. We are going to look at the example of a group of people that could have justified; and probably at one time or another they did justify (as a matter of fact, I know they did—earlier in the writings of Paul.) why they were guilty of many of the sins that they were guilty of. One in particular where they felt they were really righteous in protecting the young man who was having a relationship with his father’s wife. Paul writes a very stern letter, and he gets personal with that letter (as you read through I Corinthians). There were sins within that church, just like there are sins here, and there are sins within any church.

We are to get that filth out. And, as you go through (and I certainly don’t have time this morning), you look at the love and concern that Paul had for these people. He wasn’t pointing out their sins to put them down. When it says, “Beloved,” Paul meant it. He cared deeply for them in godly love. He was trying to help these people.

This is our promise. This is our destiny. It is our future. And we have to clean ourselves up. The Bible is the tool we need to use to make sure that we are clean.

This sorrow is katatheon. This sorrow is a godly sorrow that cuts to the heart and brings about a change. This is the sorrow that Paul is talking about. But we all know that humans can allow words to cut them the other way—to where the Corinthians could have become bitter and hated Paul, and turned him off and shut him out. But Paul was really moved by the fact of what the Corinthians did. They took it to heart.

So he is relieved that what God inspired him to write there touched their hearts and made a difference.

As we study, it can go either way. We can look at it as quaint stories, or we can allow God’s Word—that mirror—to show us who we are and cut us to the very bone and the marrow of our bodies to purge out the filth that is still in there.

Now, verse 11; and this will be the focus of most of the rest of the message. They call it THE ATTRIBUTES OF GODLY SORROW. And, if you want a title for this message, that is what it is.

This godly sorrow produced a diligence in them. It made a definite difference in their lives. A carefulness—as they looked at what Paul had to say, and measured themselves to that. “Am I guilty of these sins? What have I done?” So, again, they looked at the letter Paul wrote as a mirror; and then they looked at themselves. They were diligent in applying themselves into that letter, just as we have to look at what God has given us and say, “How does that affect me? Am I guilty? Do I have shortcomings in that area?” So what diligence they had!

Hold your place there, and we’ll go over to II Timothy 3:16. Again, a very familiar scripture; but it is important that any time we are studying the Bible—Old or New Testament—that we keep this in mind.

The literal meaning there is “All Scripture is God-breathed.” Forty men penned it, but God inspired it. God put it in their minds. All they did was write out what He inspired them to give. It’s not 40 different men’s opinion of how to conduct things. God breathed these words, and they are for us!

If we are using these Scriptures, the man can come to perfection. With God’s help and with His Spirit, we will stand there in that marriage ceremony and be perfect—not just by our power, but certainly putting forth our effort. God will accomplish it through His Holy Spirit and His Words.

If we bury sins, they affect us. Isaiah 48:22 says that there is no peace for the wicked. So, if there is sin buried in you, there is something gnawing at you. It also will limit you in certain areas. We need to be clearing ourselves—clearing out, cleaning out (not just our houses which we do for leavening). Clean out the sin from our lives. Clear it out.

Well, how do we do that? How do we prove what God wants in our life? By His Holy Word—His God-breathed words.

So, if there is anything—any one that we are associating with that is pulling us away from God, or anything that is within us that is causing a chasm between us and God—it must be exposed. It must be put out there to be dealt with (instead of buried deep).

Again, we have to bring it out there. The only way we are going to be cleared of a matter is to put it out there before God. Not for everyone else to see, but before God; and truly sorrow over that sin—sorrow over what we have done. And ask God for repentance of it even if it is something we have turned our foot from and never took it to God. We need to be forgiven for it.

When you think about that word, it is disgust you have with yourself. We have this sin that is all around us. “How could I allow myself to allow this sin in? How could I take part in it?” We are to be righteously indignant against ourselves because we turned our foot from God and committed a sin. It is something that we need to really think about as we are going through this process. God has showed us what is right. So we owe it to God that we should be angry with ourselves—disgusted with ourselves, as part of that sorrow.

Let’s go to Psalm 51. You could probably grab 4 or 5 of the different psalms that David gave, because he really does cut to the heart of the matter. He committed some terrible sins; but, then, again here I am justifying that sin is sin. It is all disgusting to God. He hates sin.

He sees the need. He is disgusted by who he has become, with this sin in him.

And obviously so. These words are His, and they are just and pure. And that is what showed David his sins.

So he was brought up in this world of sin, and he has allowed sin back in.

As he pleads with God, he sees the wretchedness that he had become in that sin; and he wants so desperately to come back fully to God and be cleansed of the matter. He takes it to heart, and he sees what he is. And he is pleading with God. That’s what we are to do. Righteous indignation—to truly be disgusted at allowing filth, darkness, in this light with Christ (who dwells in us).

That seems to be an odd one to put in there. But, at the same time, that’s part of [true repentance from] sin. We need to fear to disobey God from the point that sin leads to death. The wage of sin is death. It is spelled out many times where sin costs people their lives. So sin kills.

There is a fear that even the saints and all people should have for God and for the Lord, Jesus Christ—because They are good and They are holy; and They demand for man to become holy as They are. And, again, They have given us the tools. We don’t have an excuse. However, we can have a Laodicean [attitude]. You know, everything is good. We are living in this luxurious country. Our needs are taken care of. Our wants, in many cases, are way above our expectations. And we can become sick and part of this society. So let’s make sure that we fear and have that proper respect for God.

Now, Romans 8:15. This points out a different type of respect. The typical person will fear God because God showed in the Old Testament that He wiped many people out. But we have a different calling.

So we have the Holy Spirit within us. We have been called to Christ. So we don’t have to fear death because we can depend on God to show us what needs to be changed, and the death penalty is erased by us accepting Christ as our Savior and walking like Christ walked. We can be forgiven totally of our sins.

This is a fervent [desire], a longing for, a fierceness, an earnest desire to change. It is not good enough to just kneel down in a casual way and say, “God, please forgive me of my act” and then go on with your prayer to God. It has to be from the heart and a vehement desire. “Please, restore me back to goodness, righteousness—to be dismissed of this filthy matter that I took a part in, that I allowed to affect me.” We need to truly, with every part of our fiber, when we ask for forgiveness, know that it comes from deep within the heart. It is not just a casual thing, like a sleepy time prayer—just rehearsed and right on through it you go. It has no effect for gaining repentance. These steps need to be taken. Godly sorrow needs to be a part of it when we ask for repentance.

Let’s go to Psalm 38—a psalm of David. “A time of chastising” is the heading.

A heartfelt search and repentance to God—that David took this matter to God, realizing what it was doing to him and what it means to God.

Zeal, a fervent mind, is the next one. Someone who wants to get to God and get this rectified right now. No longer justifying or reasoning, but going straight to God. When we are in the midst of a sin, God is a distance from us. We have distanced Him because of that sin, because of that filth. And we need to be made whole again, and we need to go to Him in a heartfelt and speedily manner—to not try to do these things on our own.

So he is crying out, and he sees that he needs God’s help to come to him speedily.

That sackcloth is sorrow—godly sorrow. He put this on, as he was praying to God. He has cut himself to his heart.

And vindication is, truly, the total fruit of repentance. That is, we took this sin—this matter—before God. We laid it out there. We thought about it. The Word cut us. We saw what was good, and we saw this evil. And we speedily went to God in godly sorrow and went through each one of these steps. And we are now truly vindicated.

The end of this verse says:

“Clear in this matter” means to be chaste, clean, pure, perfected. That is what happens when one comes to God in godly sorrow from repentance. We are then pure. No longer does that sin need to gnaw at us. It has been put away. God has forgiven us. We have done what God desires for us to do—to come in true repentance, in godly sorrow; and it’s gone. Now, there may be still effects of it on a human level; but it is gone. No longer are we charged with that sin. We are innocent, because of Christ’s blood—because we did what God asked us to do, because we desired righteousness. So we need to think about that as we are examining ourselves.

Let’s go to Psalm 32. I feel David wraps up the joy of repentance here. He is actually in a conversation with himself here, as he is talking his part as well as with God.

Then God replies.

Then, back to David:

Again, we are to go to God and make sure we lay it out there as we examine our lives—that we can be made pure and clean. John 1:29 states that the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. He paid our penalty. He came here to give His life as a sacrifice so that veil could be rent. We can come and ask for forgiveness. So Christ paid our penalty at death and through His blood we can be forgiven—as long as we make sure that we confess that Jesus Christ is our Savior. And, in that, it means we walk and try to walk like Christ did. That He truly is our elder Brother and the One we desire to marry.

We know Christ’s blood is our sacrifice and He is our High Priest. But how does God deal with our sins once we lay them out there for Him and repent of them?

If He did, we would die. That’s what sin earns us.

So, again, we can take that to heart. It is not something that we continue to beat ourselves up for. When we come to God in godly sorrow and repent, we are forgiven. We should no longer anguish over that sin. Christ made this possible, and God removes it. So let’s remember that. We don’t replay the sin once we’ve been forgiven.

Again, that confession is that He is our Savior and He is our pattern—the One we walk after.

So He understands the pulls. He understands the pulls of the flesh, and He can sympathize. He goes with us as we go to God.

When we have something sinful, don’t hold back. Let’s go to God. It’s what God wants. Come and confess our sins. Allow the Words to point out what we have buried. Lay it out there. God wants us to repent of our sins and be cleansed so that we can marry His Son and be perfect, be ready.

Let us collectively be examining ourselves now to make sure as we evaluate that we hate sin as much as God and as much as Christ do. Be sure we have no part of justifying it. There are no reasons for sin in our lives. Let’s make sure that we make ourselves ready. This bride who has made herself ready has used God’s breathed Words as a mirror; and in godly sorrow it has produced repentance unto salvation. This is there for each one of us. We are that bride. Let’s be about making sure that we are looking into this mirror as Passover approaches, and that we are ready for that special day.