Isa
3:9 The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare
their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have
brought evil upon themselves.
It’s
one thing to sin, but quite another to boast about it. The look of pride is unmistakable
on the faces of the proud. The look of godly sorrow over sin is also unmistakable.
One says, “look what I have done,” the other, “ Look! What
have I Done? The difference is eternal life or eternal death! Isaiah
puts it plainly, “woe to their soul!”
No
wonder Paul was so concerned about the Corinthian church and their attitude
toward a man committing the sin of incest! We read in 1Co 5:1-5, “It is
actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual
immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles--that a man has his father's
wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has
done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I indeed, as absent in
body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him
who has so done this deed. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are
gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus
Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that
his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
The
Holy Spirit speaking through the Apostle Paul, urges the congregation at
Corinth to mourn over this sin in their midst, and to expel the sinner if he
refuses to change his ways. The goal of this kind of church discipline is
always the restoration of the sinner, that “he may be saved in the day of the
Lord Jesus.”
In
the case at Corinth, there was a happy ending as the man repented, and was
restored to fellowship with the Lord and with the church.
It
always starts with heartfelt sorrow over sin.
2Co
7:10 says, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to
be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Calling
out sin, is not to be regretted. It is the path that leads to salvation,
whereas the nonchalant sorrow of the world produces death!
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