Blessed are those who mourn.

If you have a bible open it up to Matthew 5. I have titled the message this morning. Blessed are those who mourn. pray with me.

So we are continuing our study in the book of Matthew in the section known as the Sermon on the mount in a section of scripture known as the Beatitudes.

Last week we covered verse 3. Which said. Matthew 5:3

Matthew 5:3 ESV

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And that very verse ties into the message this morning in fact all of verses collectively tie into each other quite well. As we will see.

Now last week if you remember the idea that I wanted to ingrain in your head was this.. Those who understand that they can do nothing to save themselves but need God to save them, are poor in spirit, and the kingdom of God is theirs.

Now I also want you to remember what I said about the word blessed we have been seeing here and will see the next several weeks.

Now there is an idea that many believe the word blessed means happy because of its translation in the greek, and I believe it goes beyond just a simple emotion.

Now to be blessed means to have this deep inner joy of those who have long awaited the salvation promised by God and who now begin to experience its fulfillment. There is a here an now reality from the words that Jesus is teaching us in the text.

Another man said blessed is a positive judgement by God on the individual that means to be approved or to find approval. So when God blesses us he approves us.

Which is the biggest blessing we can have.

One more man said. Blessedness is not simply a nice wish from God, it is a pronouncement of what we actually are approved. Blessedness indicates the smile of God or, as one man put it, the Applause of Heaven.

That is what we will be working with when it comes to being blessed as we continue our study.

So today we are in verse 4, Which says..

Matthew 5:4 ESV

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

ties well into what we discussed last week, but I believe it goes deeper for us.

As I was studying this week one man said something insightful. He says.. The intimate connection of this second Beatitude with the first is beautiful and compelling. The first Beatitude, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," is primarily intellectual (those who understand that they are spiritual beggars are blessed);

the second Beatitude, "Blessed are those who mourn," is its emotional counterpart. It naturally follows that when we see ourselves for what we are, our emotions will be stirred to mourning.

Again, as with the previous Beatitude, we cannot place enough stress on the importance of these spiritual truths as they relate to the gospel. The Beatitudes are not the gospel because they dont explain Christ's atoning death and resurrection and how one may receive him. But they are preparatory to the gospel.

The Beatitudes are preparatory in the sense that they slay us so that we may live. They hold us up against God's standards for the kingdom so that we can see our need and fly to him. They cut through the delusions of formula Christianity and expose the shallowness of evangelicals who can give all the "right" answers but do not know Christ.

Man that is powerful isn’t it. The statement when he said they cut through the delusions of formula Christianity and expose the shallowness of evangelicals who can give all the "right" answers but do not know Christ. Opens up what I want to you to see as our main idea this morning…

Christians are to mourn over sin because God will comfort them.

This is a paradox.. What is a paradox… A paradox- a statement that seems to go against common sense but may still be true.

It seems unnatural that mourning desperately over our sin would cause us to be comforted by God.

This doesn’t mean we are to walk around like Dopey from the seven dwarfs. Having no Joy what so ever going around with this attitude of complete hopelessness.

Nor does it mean that we are to go around and say poor me look at how hard my life is.

But it does mean a few things. Take note of a few of them today the first is this.

Christians must mourn over all sin.

Now we talk about sin in this church I believe every time we meet... we talk about sin all of the time and we all know the basic idea hopefully that we are sinners, But does that even mean anything to you. do we really see the impact sin makes in our lives. I am so sure we do not fully understand.

Sin impacts everything, It impacts our relationships with God, with one other, it even damages our selves greater than we can even understand. Paul lays out what sin truly does to us in the book of Romans 3.

Romans 3:10–17 (ESV)

10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;

We talked about that last week, but there is an idea out there that there are good people out there, and the bible speaks clearly that their is not. Our standards of what it means to be righteous cannot be met in our flesh.

11 no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.”

There is the deadness that sin produces. I sent Bill something this week I found really good. It said A young man mockingly said to a preacher. You say that unsaved people carry a great weight of sin. Frankly I feel nothing. How heavy is sin? 10 pounds 20 pounds 50 pounds 80 pounds 100 pounds? The preacher thought for a moment and gently replied if you laid a 400 pound weight on a corpse would you feel the load? The young man was quick to say of course not its dead. The preacher replied. the person who doesn’t know Christ is equally dead. And though the load is great he feels none of it.

13 “Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

Our mouths are horrible. Some of the things I say even haunt my very own soul because I am so wicked apart from Christ.

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 in their paths are ruin and misery,

17 and the way of peace they have not known.”

Our deeds are dirty because we seek to do what our own flesh desires. Not what God desire us to do.

Sin produces in us nothing good, and what should we do about that sin? Repent turn from it. Maybe church family our biggest problem we have is that we are not truly mourning our sin. I think so often we acknowledge it, we confess it, and thats it. We don’t truly turn from it learn from it. when don’t do what our Lord asks us to do in this text which is truly mourn from it.

Well how do we mourn? What does it look like to Mourn? I said I would be quoting Martyn Lloyd Jones alot in this study here is what he said..

Let us then, try to define this man who mourns. What sort of man is he. He is a sorrowful man, but he is not a miserable man. He is a serious man, but he is not a solemn man. He is a sober-minded man, but he is not a bad tempered man. He is a grave man, but he is never cold or prohibitive. There is with his gravity a warmth and attraction. This man, in other words, is always serious: but he does not have to affect the seriousness.

The true Christian is never a man who has to put on an appearance of either sadness or cheerfulness. No, no; he is a man who looks at Life seriously; he contemplates it spiritually, and he sees in it sin and its effects. He is a serious, sober-minded man. His outlook is always serious, but because of these views which he has, and his understanding of truth, he also has 'a joy unspeakable and full of glory'.

I would argue he is blessed.

So he is like the apostle Paul, 'groaning within himself, and yet happy because of his experience of Christ and the glory that is to come. The Christian is not superficial in any sense, but is fundamentally serious and fundamentally happy. You see, the joy of the Christian is a holy joy, the happiness of the Christian is a serious happiness. None of that superficial appearance of happiness and joy! No, no; it is a solemn joy, it is a holy joy, it is a serious happiness; so that, though he is grave and sober-minded and serious, he is never cold and prohibitive. Indeed, he is like our Lord Himself, groaning, weeping, and yet , for the joy that was set before-enduring the cross, despising the shame.

That is the man who mourns; that is the Christian. That is the type of Christian seen in the Church in ages past, when the doctrine of sin was preached and emphasized, and men were not merely urged to take a sudden decision. A deep doctrine of sin, a high doctrine of joy the two together produce this blessed, happy man who mourns, and who at the same time is comforted. The way to experience that, obviously, is to read the Scriptures, to study and meditate upon them, to pray to God for His Spirit to reveal sin in us to ourselves, and then to reveal to us the Lord Jesus Christ in all His fullness. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Do you relate to that kind of mourning? Are you searching the scriptures finding sin in you and being comforted knowing you are forgiven? Christians must mourn over their own sin.

Christians must mourn over the sins of the world.

This is the one we do I think more than our own. It’s a-lot easier to see the brokenness of the world. And say what are you doing. Why are you not mourning over the sinful things you are choosing to do. Sometimes I just take a step back and I think how can the world be so indifferent to the things of the Lord, but this is what every generation has done… David himself said this.

Psalm 119:136 ESV

136 My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.

The world does not break for their own sin. They are not moved by its weight like I talked about earlier, but you cannot be indifferent to wickedness of the world either, because Christ was not. He weeped when he saw his own people reject him. Mourning over sin is important its also important to do that to be saved.

second point is this…

You must mourn over your own sins to be saved.

Just like last week when I said you need to be poor in spirit to be saved you must also mourn over your own sins to be saved, and these things cannot be pulled apart.

In fact I was reading a story this week in one of my commentaries that caught my attention. In matters of spiritual life and health, mourning is not optional. Spiritual mourning is necessary for salvation. No one is truly a Christian who has not mourned over his or her sins. You cannot be forgiven if you are not sorry for your sins.

This was powerfully argued in the article "There Is One Thing Worse than Sin," which first appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times. In it, Dr. Thomas

F. Roser compared the equally reprehensible sins of Congressmen Daniel Crane and Gerald Studds. Both had been censured by the House of Representatives -Crane for having sexual relations with a seventeen-year-old female page and Studds for having relations with a seventeen-year-old male page. Roser observed:

Being censured is the only thing Crane and Studds have in common. The nation got a glimmer of their philosophical differences when Crane admitted tearfully to his district, then to the full House, that he "broke the laws of God and man," casting a vote for his own censure, facing the House as the Speaker announced the tally. Studds, in contrast, acknowledged he was gay in a dramatic speech to the House, then defended the relationship with the page as "mutual and voluntary." He noted that he had abided by the age of consent, and said the relationship didn't warrant the "attention or action" of the House. Studds voted "present" on the censure and heard the verdict from the Speaker with his back to the House.

Roeser went on to contrast the different moral traditions both these men represent -properly excusing neither one for his sin.

But there's one consolation for Crane. His ... philosophy teaches that there is one thing worse than sin. That is denial of sin, which makes forgiveness impossible.

The saddest thing in life is not a sorrowing heart, but a heart that is incapable of grief over sin, for it is without grace. Without poverty of spirit no one enters the kingdom of God. Likewise, without its emotional counterpart— grief over sin—no one receives the comfort of forgiveness and salvation.

The guy hit the truth right on the head did he not? To often we become so numb to the sins of the world we do not even see it as sin. Friends we brush over all kinds of things that should greatly trouble our spirit. We have become so numb to sin that we don’t even mourn it, we make excuses for it. We partake ourselves in things that our ungodly and unholy. and mourning over our sin is where we find something greater and that is forgiveness.

On Wednesday night we were talking about this a little bit, and brother Nathan made a good point about sin, and David when he sins did not seek to blame anyone for it, rather he admitted it. In Psalm 51 it says this…

Psalm 51 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. 1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

David knew something you and I must know we cannot enjoy the fellowship of God without the confession of sin. We want to be like the man broken before the courts saying I have sinned against God and Man im guilty. Let us not be like the man who commits sinful acts one after another justifying it before man and God.

Be truly broken mourning over your sins so that you can be forgiven of them.

last point is this..

Comfort comes to those who mourn over their sins because they are forgiven.

The biggest blessing that comes from those who truly mourn over their sins is they are forgiven of their sins. What Jesus is really saying here in the text. Blessed are those who mourn over thier sins for the shall be immediately comforted and will be comforted for all of their days.

Other religions do not have what believers in Christ have the forgiveness of sins. Believers in Christ have this wonderful truth that when we run to Jesus he comforts us. We have the Holy Spirit God himself in us comforting us.

One man said… How comprehensive our comfort is! It is immediate. It comes to us alone.

It comes personally in the Person of the Holy Spirit. And it is based on the forgiveness of our sins. That is why we are called "blessed."

What a stupendous paradox! Jesus stands truth on its head to get our attention, and he says, "Would you be comforted? Then mourn. Would you be happy? Then weep.

To those who are not yet believers, perhaps unsaved evangelicals, understand that this paradox is meant to lead you to salvation. If a spirit of mourning is welling up within you, then let your mourning elevate you to him.

Do as the prodigal son did. He recognized his condition and mourned over it and in the midst of his misery said:

Luke 15:18–20 ESV

18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Do you acknowledge that there is nothing within you to commend you to God? Are you mourning? Do you ache with the guilt of your sin before God and man? If so, and if you are a Christian, return to the Lord and be restored to fellowship. If you are not a believer, come to him now and he will give you the kingdom. He will put his robe on your shoulders, his ring on your hand, and his sandals on your feet and will prepare a feast for you. You will be comforted!

That is what he has done for me and hopefully this is what he has done for you.

Many of us in this room listening online need to learn how to mourn some of our sins so we can be comforted.

Friends do you mourn over your sin? Christians are to mourn over sin because God will comfort them.

Leave here today knowing that truth with all certainty. If you don’t know it with certainty know that Jesus Christ came lived a perfect life died on the cross rose again so that he could comfort you when you mourn from your sins, Run to him confess your sin turn your life the other way, and you will be comforted.

Let us pray.