The Beatitudes (Part 4): Blessed are they that Mourn

“You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

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Reading

Matthew 5:1–12 ESV

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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Preamble

Blessed are those who mourn

Matthew 5:4 ESV

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Natural Mourning

Sinful Mourning

Spiritual Mourning

2 Corinthians 7:10 ESV

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

True Repentance Described: (hell would swallow me up)

A lack of true repentance in the modern church

Not a perpetual smiling face!

Sin is Rebellion against God

Gods Pleasure at Repentance

Blessed are those who mourn

Matthew 5:4 ESV

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

The problem in the modern church

Christians have rejected the authority of scripture

The Beatitudes for Today Blemishes in the Body

one professor who told his students that the Bible ‘had no more authority than a daily newspaper …’ Mysticism is rampant; professing Christians are often more interested in angels and demons than in the person and work of Christ. Public worship is increasingly being geared to the worshippers rather than to the One being worshipped. Biblical ethics are compromised or abolished. In some charismatic circles epidemic hysteria is masquerading as a mighty work of the Holy Spirit. In others, miraculous healing is being promised on a ‘name it and claim it’ basis. Rodney Howard-Browne, prime mover in the so-called ‘Toronto Blessing’ movement which burst on the church scene in the nineteen-nineties, cheerfully announces himself as a bartender for the Holy Spirit. Pseudo-prophets dispense pseudo-prophecy with scant regard to biblical criteria. In some circles, entertainment evangelism has become the norm, and at times is carried to the point of absurdity; on one visit to the United States I was given a leaflet advertising the services of ‘Skipper, the Gospel Monkey’. Serious literature is being neglected; many Christian bookshops are almost a contradiction in terms, with a heavy emphasis on music, games, trinkets and ‘Jesus junk’. Moral standards are crumbling, while dishonesty, immorality, greed, pride, sharp practice and self-serving are often tolerated, even among local church leaders, without any semblance of biblical discipline.

Arrogence from the modern believer - Corinth

1 Corinthians 5:2 ESV

And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

2 Corinthians 12:21 ESV

I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

God requires humility

Acts 20:19 ESV

serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews;

Acts 20:31 ESV

Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

Sadness at arrogant sinners

Philippians 3:18–19 ESV

For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

Grief over a Sinful world

God’s Dealing with failure to mourn

Ezekiel 9:4 ESV

And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.”

Ezekiel 9:6 ESV

Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house.

Event entertainment embrasses mans sinful nature

Why aren’t we mourning?

The Beatitudes for Today Satan on the Loose

seventeenth-century Scottish preacher David Dickson wrote, ‘Two things in sin chiefly move the godly to mourn for it. One is the dishonour it brings on God. The other is the perdition it brings on the sinner.

Perdition - eternal judgement

For they shall be comforted

Matthew 5:4 ESV

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Comforted: “parakaleo” to “Call to ones side”

Strengthened by outside resources

The Father

God gives endurance and encouragement

Romans 15:5 ESV

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,

The Son

Advocate - speaks in our defence

1 John 2:1–2 ESV

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Advocate

Do not consider law courts - play down weakness and use strengths to try and pursuade

We have no merits

We are guilty, depraved, corrupt, helpless and hopeless

Jesus prenents Himself, as the attoning sacrifice

The Holy Spririt

Counsellor

Sprirt of Truth

John 14:16–17 ESV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

The Beatitudes for Today The Christian’s Comfort

nineteenth-century American preacher C R Vaughan expresses something of what this means: ‘He is there to impart holiness, to give grace according to the day, to bestow wisdom, patience and courage, to sanctify and comfort in affliction, to erase the image of Satan, to impress the image of God, to conquer the unholy passions, and to fill the soul with all the fruits of the Spirit.’

Word of God

Romans 15:4 ESV

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Faithful Preaching of the Word of God

1 Corinthians 14:3 ESV

On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

Fellowship of Christians

Philemon 7 ESV

For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Romans 1:12 ESV

that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

Certainty of Christ’s Return

1 Thessalonians 4:18 ESV

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 John 3:2 ESV

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Ephesians 5:27 ESV

so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Habakkuk 2:14 ESV

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Heaven

Revelation 21:3–4 ESV

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

This life is characterised by Mourning

Heaven is characterised by the absense of mourning

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Closing Prayer

Doxology

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