I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin. (Psalm 38:18)

A godly man will grieve over his sin. He will not simply regret his exposure as a sinner and its consequences, but he will be genuinely sorry for it. There is a carnal sorrow that is motivated by selfishness. For example, Cain mourned over the judgment he received after killing his own brother. He cried out, “my punishment is greater than I can bear.” (Gen 4:13)

Another side of carnal sorrow is guilt and remorse when people lament over what might have been. Saul cried to Samuel--but only to get his own way. Of course, the greatest example of carnal sorrow is the remorse of Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Knowing he’d been exposed, he sank into despair and took his own life.

Many people experience a carnal sorrow of despair, the pitiful grief of those who sorrow without hope. Oftentimes, this carnal sorrow stems from an unhealthy preoccupation with self. The great Bible Scholar J.C. Ryle writes,“it is possible for a man to feel his sins, and be sorry for them, to be under strong conviction of guilt, and express deep remorse, to be pricked in conscience, and exhibit much distress of mind, and yet, for all this, there’s no repentance in his heart.”

The apostle Paul speaks of a godly sorrow saying, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)

Let’s consider some characteristics of godly sorrow.

1. It is a work of the Holy Spirit.

If the Spirit of God dwells within you He will bring conviction to your heart over sin. Jesus, speaking of the Holy Spirit said, “and He, when He comes, will convict the world of sin.” (John 16:8) The LORD said through Zechariah that he would pour out the Spirit of supplication on Israel in the last days, and that they would mourn over their sin of rejecting their Messiah (see Zechariah 12:10).

You may ignore such conviction, grieving the Spirit, which will result in a loss of fellowship, joy and peace. It will also become easier to ignore the next time as your heart becomes spiritually hardened (see Hebrews 3:7-8).

When the prodigal son “came to his senses,” he realized his sin had been directed toward his father (see Luke 15:17-18). It isn’t just that sin negatively affects our lives, it’s offensive to God! Godly sorrow sees sin as that which provokes God’s righteous anger. It understands the ugly, insidious nature of sin and hates it.

3. It always results in repentance.

The Bible says, “for the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret.” (2 Corinthians 7:10) That is, we don’t merely feel bad about it, we turn from it and flee to Jesus for forgiveness. Regret wallows in grief while repentance moves you out of the mud. It moves you to act, to change, to make restitution, and to pursue holiness.

There is much indifference toward sin these days. Professing Christians even joke about things that grieve the heart of God. The Bible says, “fools make a mock of sin.” (Prov 14:9) The church loses its power when it loses a sense of sorrow over sin. Let’s take stock of our attitude toward sin. Would you rather just feel regret or true godly sorrow? Is there just a bad feeling or a change of behavior? Consider a poem by John Newton that we all would do well to embrace for ourselves:

I want a principle within of watchful, godly fear,

a sensibility of sin, a pain to feel it near.

I want the first approach to feel of pride or wrong desire,

to catch the wand’ring of my will and quench the kindling fire.