What does First B Jackson teach about godly sorrow?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on godly sorrow begins with a straightforward distinction drawn from 2 Corinthians 7:10. Sorrow itself is neutral when it first lands on a person. It is going to go one of two directions depending on what is done with it. Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, something that carries no regret afterward. Worldly sorrow produces only death. Pastor Russ, Pastor Ray, Pastor Nathan, and Pastor Mark have each preached this text, and all of them hold that same hinge point: the grief is not the problem. The question is which way it moves.
The teaching traces how Paul had sent a painful letter to the church at Corinth, waited in real anguish not knowing how it would land, and then received word through Titus that the Corinthians had responded well. They did not get defensive. They sorrowed in a godly way, repented, dealt with the sin in their midst, and came out the other side with a clear conscience. Verse 11 gives a whole list of what that kind of sorrow produces: diligence, a clearing of yourself, righteous indignation toward real sin, fear of God, vehement desire, zeal, and vindication. The clearing of yourself, the preaching here is careful to say, is not covering your tracks. It is taking your own part in a relational breakdown honestly before God and before the other person.
The contrast between Peter and Judas has been used to make this concrete. Both grieved deeply over real failures connected to the same night. Peter's grief drove him toward God, and nothing about him was timid afterward. Judas's grief turned inward and produced only death. The teaching at First B Jackson does not treat pain as something to be numbed or denied. It treats pain as a warning that is meant to move a person somewhere, and the direction it moves makes all the difference.
Taught from 2 Corinthians 7:8-13 · 2 Corinthians 7:10 · 2 Corinthians 7:11 · 1 Corinthians 5 · 2 Corinthians 2
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 5
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.
2 You are puffed up, and didn’t rather mourn, that he who had done this deed might be removed from among you.
3 For I most certainly, as being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has done this thing.
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- December 31, 2023 Godly Sorrow Produces Repentance Pastor Russ unpacks 2 Corinthians 7:8-13 to show why godly sorrow leads to repentance and restored relationships, while worldly sorrow leads only to death.
- December 31, 2023 Godly Sorrow Versus Worldly Sorrow A New Year's Eve sermon from 2 Corinthians on how godly sorrow leads to repentance and restored relationships, while worldly sorrow leads only to death.
- November 1, 2015 Good Grief The pastor explores 2 Corinthians 7, showing how godly grief leads to repentance and life, while worldly grief leads only to death, using Peter and Judas as examples.
- November 1, 2015 But God Paul's letter to Corinth shows how godly grief leads to repentance and salvation, while worldly grief leads only to death. A study in 2 Corinthians.