What is an example of false repentance?

Carlton McLeod explains in this video that there was a young man who attended his church whose conversion seemed to be genuine. He attended and gave faithfully. He served in the church. He married someone in the church. He received marital counseling. 

Things seemed to be going well. Among the elders, this man was even considered to be a deacon. But, abruptly, he left his wife and the church. He decided that God didn't want him to be unhappy and because his current situation and marriage made him unhappy, he was free to leave. It was heartbreaking.

Acts 4:11-12 (NKJV) - "This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."



There was a young man who was very dear to our church, very dear to my wife and I, many of the leaders at our church, whose conversion seemed to us as genuine as any other. Very faithful attender, very faithful giver, student of the word, lots of questions, servant in the church, marries a girl at our church. And I had the privilege to do their marriage counseling, their premarital counseling as we walk through the scriptures about marriage and the covenant of marriage blessings of marriage and things seem to go well for several years one day out of the blue he decides I'm done with the marriage we get this frantic phone call he left So the elders move on as elders do. We try very quickly, hey, what's going on? He's not answering phone calls.

Wait a minute. I saw his tears. I saw him a student of the word. I saw the dedication in his eyes. He was there before many.

He served faithfully. This young man, many were thinking, maybe he could be a deacon. I think maybe he has the stuff to be a deacon in our church or possibly even a minister in our church one day. And he's gone. So we finally get, one of the elders finally get a hold of him before I did.

And hey, what's going on? Well, I'm just done. Well, but the Bible says and God says and this is your wife. I know what God says, but God loves me. And God has a plan for me that's better, has a plan for me that doesn't include being unhappy and I'm unhappy.

Brother, this isn't right. I finally talked. Brother, this is not the way of God. This is you've made a covenant. This is to death do us part.

Well, God loves me. And it's just as easy for me to go down here to this church down the street and start over. And how dare you judge me? We found out later that he was very, appearances were very important to him. Putting forth the right light before everyone, that things were in order and so forth, and it just blew up and broke our hearts.

It was heartbreaking. It was heartbreaking.