Happy are the sad
Notes
Transcript
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Introduction:
I’ll be honest with you this was an interesting study for me because let’s be honest who wants to study mourning? I mean come on!
In one of the great Psalm of David, he recites the the depths of pain that the heart knows in the disappointments and sorrows of life. And then - this is Psalm 55 - he cries out and says,
And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove!
For then would I fly away, and be at rest.
Lo, then would I wander far off,
And remain in the wilderness. Selah.
I would hasten my escape
From the windy storm and tempest.
Davids cry in these verses are a cry that every one of us at one time or another have cried. When we face sorrow, when we face disappointment, when we face tragedy, when we face discouragement we all say what David did, “Oh if I could only escape, if I could only fly away and be at rest.” This is the cry of fallen humanity, a cry for freedom from life’s sorrows, a way of escape.
Anyone who has been through hard times and pain in life understands the longing and desire to escape and just the desire to get away! However, thats whats interesting about our text because what its saying is “Happy are the sad.” This is contrary to everything we know as humans. if your sad your not happy. But Jesus said happy are the sad Blessed are those who mourn.
In fact, Jesus said in
Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger.
Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
Woe to you that laugh for you will mourn and weep? Happy are you that mourn for you shall be comforted? This is totally opposite of the worlds philosophy. It’s a new approach to life. And that’s exactly what Christ is doing here, he is offering a new approach to life.
I originally thought this verse was more speaking to those who were mourning because of life or a lost loved one or something like that and Christ was trying to be an encouragement to them. But after studying it out that not what it means at all.
So let’s take a look at what it really means, shall we?
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Have you ever mourned? Well, interestingly enough in the Greek language there are nine different words used for the word mourn. I had no idea there were that many levels of mourning! The word used here is “pantheo” which is the strongest of all the words used.
Now just what kind of mourning is Jesus talking about? What does he mean when he says, “Blessed are they that mourn?” What kind of blessedness is available for what kind of mourning? Well, the Bible talks about all different kinds of mourning, by the way. There are a lot of different kinds of mourning. Let me just share a couple with you.
First of all, there is what you might call general sorrow, just the sorrow of life, a kind of a proper sorrow, if you will. A kind of a sorrow that is acceptable, that is very normal. Weeping and mourning in this sense is a part of human life. In fact, it’s a gift of God. Did you know that? Did you know that the ability to cry is a gift of God? The pain and the anxiety that you hold in would be poison your entire emotional system if it couldn’t be released in tears, if it couldn’t be released in sorrow.
Sometimes people cry when they’re thankful. Sometimes they cry out of earnest love. Sometimes they cry out of concern. Sometimes they cry out of disappointment, sometimes out of discouragement, sometimes out of loneliness, and sometimes just out of love. Love makes people cry.
Our Lord wept at the grave of Lazarus because he loved him and he had compassion. He wept over the city of Jerusalem because he loved them and had compassion. Mary Magdalene wept because Jesus was dead and those are the sorrowing tears of death, and that’s very normal, and that’s a God-given way to release that terrible pain that’s in your heart. Nothing wrong with that.
And so there is a sense to mourn in a very normal human way can be a blessing because you release those kinds of things. It’s as if tears are a gift from God for the release of pain, and there’s a time for that. Ecclesiastes Chapter 3, “A time to be born, a time to die, a time to laugh, a time to cry.”
But in addition to that there’s another kind of human weeping that is different. It is not proper. It is improper. It is illicit. This is when a man mourns because he can’t satisfy his lust. It’s when he’s got the tears of an unmet evil desire.
Remember when Ahab mourn. He wanted Naboth's vineyard. He coveted it so much that it says in
And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
He went into mourning because he wanted what wasn’t his. That’s an illicit, wrong kind of mourning.
There is also mourning like mourning in everyday life. You miss the bus, spill the coffee things like that. Not really a big deal. Then you also have mourning as you mourn for someone who has died. In Gen. 23 we see Abraham weeping and mourning over the death of Sarah. But here in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 4, we have a different type of mourning.
Listen, you can cry your eyes out about your problems and you can weep all you want about loneliness, and about discouragement, and about disappointment, and out of earnest love, and you can weep all you want about all those things, and you can cry your head off about your unfulfilled lusts, and when you’re said and done, every bit of that worldly sorrow will not bring you life.
But, there’s only one kind of sorrow that brings life, and that is godly sorrow, which leads you to – what? - repentance. Therefore, we conclude that it is sorrow over – what? - sin that is the issue. That’s the issue. It is godly sorrow, sorrow over sin. The sorrow of the world is useless. It works death where godly sorrow works repentance, which brings salvation, which brings comfort. That’s the whole idea. That’s the key. Godly sorrow is linked to repentance, and repentance is linked to sin.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
The issue, beloved, go back to it, Matthew 5:4, the issue here is not being sorry because you’re lonely, not being sorry because you’re discouraged, or disappointed, or because you have such an earnest love, or because somebody died. It’s not being sorry because you don’t get what you want. It’s not being sorry because you feel so guilty. It’s being sorry because you’re a sinner. That’s the issue.
You’re not mourning here over circumstances, human circumstances. Over sin is what you’re mourning about. Remember verse three, where the beatitudes all began? “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It’s a sense of being spiritually bankrupt. It is the thing that says “in my flesh there dwelleth – ” what? “ - no good thing.” That’s what it is.
And that’s the intellectual part, and verse 4 is the emotional part. Because your mind is convinced that you are spiritually bankrupt, your emotion takes over and you mourn that bankruptcy. Such are kingdom people. Poor in spirit is a recognition that we have nothing, and that we are nothing, and that we can do nothing, and it results in being a crouching, cowering, beggar who has no resource, no capacity to help himself.
If we are repentant of our sin not only for salvation but after Salvation of the sin we commit, God says he will bring comfort. The “comfort” is the comfort of forgiveness and salvation.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,
That her warfare is accomplished,
That her iniquity is pardoned:
For she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
The word mourning here in our text is a verb. That means it shows action and it is always happening. So if we are always mourning or repentant of our sins then this verse tells us we will always be comforted. And who doesn’t want to be comforted by Christ?
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So the question is this. How can you become a Godly mourner?
1) Eliminate the hindrances
a) What’s hindering you from realizing sin? What’s making your heart hard?
i) Love of sin
ii) Despair (Hides mercy behind dought. God’s grace is able to reach you!)
iii) Conceit (I’m not that bad)
iv) Presumption (cheap grace, I have my ticket punched I can sin all I want to. Isa. 55:7 “Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts: And let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” If the wicked don’t forsake is why there is reason to believe he doesn’t even have any pardon.
v) Procrastination (Life is but a vapor. Your not promised tomorrow.)
vi) Laughter (Some people don’t want to deal realistically with life or sin and just want to laugh all the time. They feel that if they can keep the laughter going they will never have to face the real issue. They need to repent of their sin.)
2) Study sin in the scripture.
a) Jeremiah
3) Pray for a contrite heart
a) He will not turn away anyone who asks with a contrite or repentant heart.
The second question to day is this. How do you know you are a mourner?
1) Ask yourself if you’re sensitive to sin.
a) How do you react to sin? (Do you weep about your sin and others sin?)
2)Do you have a sense of God’s forgiveness? Do you know real happiness, joy, peace that comes from a real cleansed life?
I hope you a mourner, because I want you to be comforted, I want you to be happy, and so does God.
And if you are not “Born again” and you have never repented of your sins. My prayer for you is that you would repent of your sins and trust in Christ alone to save your from Hell and have the comfort from God!
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Lets pray:
Father , We thank you for this message you have given to us today. Help us to take what we have heard and apply it to our heart and if someone is listening to this message that doesn not know you as Savior that they will get that settled now. In the name of Jesus, amen.
