Matthew 5:4

Blessed Mourning

Now we come to another great verse here in this beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. These verses are so rich and so loaded with treasure that we can’t afford to rush through them. Each week I am blessed by the study of these verses as we go along.

Opposite of Society

But yet again - we have something here that is totally opposite of the world’s view.

The world says - Happy are those who are never sad! Happy are those who never have to mourn or cry in any situation.

In fact, the world tries to insulate us from sorrow and mourning altogether.

Our world is infatuated with entertainment. Entertainment obviously isn’t bad by itself, but in our society entertainment has reached a point where it keeps our focus on something other than reality.

It has reached a point where some people use entertainment as an escape mechanism and they don’t see the world as it really is.

The entertainment industry has “desensitized” us to the corruption of our society. They are trying to rationalize and justify what God calls sin.

I say that to say this - we are too often distracted by entertainment to focus on our spiritual condition and the spiritual condition of the world around us.

We generally regard mourners as the most unfortunate of people. We see them as people to be pitied, helped, comforted, but not as those to be envied as the recipients of God’s blessing. And they are blessed, Jesus says, because they will be comforted.

It has reached a point where some people use entertainment as an escape mechanism and they don’t see the world as it really is.

Let’s break this down and see what this means.

Mourning Definition

Over what?

Normal things? Tough days? Hard Times?

It must have a spiritual meaning, just as “poor in spirit” had a spiritual meaning.

It must mean more than our normal circumstances of life.

There are 9 words for sorrow and grief in the Bible and of all of them, this is the strongest word that is used.

Pentheos is the word used here.

It means lamenting for sin. It means literally that we lament over sin. It has a deep meaning of utter frustration of sin in our lives and the lives of others.

Examples of this word used in scripture.

Paul rejoices over them being GRIEVED INTO REPENTING.

So, what we are talking about here in this “mourning” is really repentance.

Godly grief. Repentance. That is the idea here.

v.10) Godly grief vs. Worldly grief

So, we see here there is a difference between Godly grief and worldly grief.

How do we contrast Godly grief vs. worldly grief?

Peter and Judas

Peter’s denial - - “wept bitterly” - REAL REPENTANCE

Judas’ denial - - Judas “changed his mind” - ONLY REMORSE

What do we see as an outcome of Peter’s life? We see a changed heart as a result of truly being broken over sin, he came back in a big way. He was a HUGE part of the early church and the leader of the apostles. By the way, Peter was scheduled to be crucified according to church history for preaching the Gospel and he wouldn’t allow them to crucify him in the same way Jesus was. He was crucified upside down.

That’s Godly sorrow!

Mourning over sin is what we are talking about.

- Jesus wept. This is often referred to as the shortest verse in the Bible, but why did Jesus weep? Was it over his friend Lazarus dying? That is the typical explanation. But we know that Jesus knew He would raise him up in a short time. So it couldn’t be that Jesus was weeping over something He knew He was going to fix soon.

The suffering that God’s people have to endure in this life. He hates to see his children suffer.

Jesus wept because of the effect of sin on this world that would ultimately result in Him having to lay down his life to remedy sin’s effect on the world.

Mourning = Repentance over sin.

This mourning that Jesus is talking about is a deep, genuine sorrow over our sin.

But not only our sin, the sin of the whole world.

“My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law”

Let me ask you a personal question - What is your attitude toward your sin?

What is my attitude toward my sin? Am I flippant about my sin? Do I have a genuine lament and concern about my sin? Do I see my sin as serious in the eyes of a Holy God?

When you watch the news does it break your heart at all of the sin that is affecting the world?

“My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law”

Now, I don’t mean that we condemn ourselves. That isn’t the point either. It’s that we take our sin seriously. We don’t shrug it off because Jesus has forgiven us. We see our sin as the very sin that put Jesus ON THE CROSS!!!

sums it up perfectly.

is a direct correlation to .

See the references to “poor”, “broken-hearted”, “proclaim liberty to captives” “comfort the mourning” “oil of gladness instead of mourning” “garment of praise instead of a faint spirit”

This is a direct correlation to what we are talking about. Being bankrupt in spirit, broken-hearted, then being comforted by God.

Then we see

This is a Godly sorrow over sin.

Direct Result - Follows “poor in spirit”

Again, not a coincidence that these are in this order.

Being poor in spirit (realizing your spiritual bankruptcy) leads to you mourning over your sin!

The attitude of being “poor in spirit” is an intellectual knowledge of who you are.

The attitude of mourning is an emotional reaction to being “poor in spirit”.

Repentance is a natural progression from coming face to face with the holiness of God!

Remember the tax collector - “Be merciful to me - a sinner!”

Regret, remorse, and repentance - What’s the difference?

Regret produces self-pity

Remorse produces sorrow

Repentance produces change

Repentance turns from sin to obedience. It moves you to CHANGE!

One Time Condition or Continual?

How can this comfort us?

Is this mourning a one time condition or a continual condition? Is it something we do once and we are in the Kingdom or is it something we keep on doing? Do we keep on mourning?

It’s both!

It’s a one time condition that follows you seeing your need for Jesus as your saviour. All of you that are Christians in here experienced that feeling of you mourning over your sin. You felt the weight of it, the burden of it. You felt how needy you were and that you couldn’t save yourself.

But it’s also a continual mourning over the sins that we struggle with. Not because we aren’t saved by grace, but because we see how good and holy God is and we MOURN when we disappoint Him.

It’s alot like disappointing a parent, only on a lot larger scale. When I was a kid I didn’t want to disrespect my parents because I knew I’d get the belt. Now that I’m older, I don’t want to disrespect them because I know it would hurt them.

In other words, our obedience changes to become out of love rather than duty. It changes our motivations for obedience.

So in dealing with our sin - here is some helpful advice that I read “Take your sin serious, but remember that you are forgiven.”

OK - Let’s get to the COMFORT!

What type of comfort are we talking about? How does God comfort us?

First of all - let us be sure that there can be no comfort to those who don’t mourn. There can be no comfort, where there is no grief.

I think there are 5 ways that God comforts us. Certainly there are more, but these are just examples.

The comfort of forgiveness. God’s justifying forgiveness.

- “as far as the East is from the West, so far does He remove our sins from us”

- “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

- “give them the oil of gladness instead of mourning”, “the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit”

The comfort of God’s Word.

Haven’t you known times in your own life where God’s Word has been a comfort to you?

The comfort of the Holy Spirit applying God’s Word to us.

He reminds us of scripture and applies it to our situations.

Comfort of other believers.

HEAVEN!

We can be assured if we repent and mourn over our sin, we will be comforted NOW, and FOREVER MORE!