The Only Way to Happiness: Be Sad!
The Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto 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 they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Introduction:
Introduction:
We live in a society of discomforted people.
People who know no joy, no happiness, no contentment, and no comfort.
The Psalmist knew well that feeling when he exclaimed through the feelings of betrayal:
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.
Such is the cry of a man who wanted to escape the pain and sorrows of life.
According to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in America.
In 2018 48,344 people died as a result of suicide; that is an average of 132 suicides per day.
In 2018, there were an estimated 1.4 million suicide attempts; so even though the attempt failed, there was the hopelessness and the comfortlessness that brought people to the point where they believed taking their own life was the answer.
For the past nine years, the suicide rate has been the highest among middle aged men between the ages of 45-54; and accounted for 69.67% of the suicides in 2018.
Our society is a society of very sad, miserable people.
And in their hearts they long to get away, to look away, to run away, to find the place where sorrow does not exist, where pain is not present, the place of perfect calm, peace, and comfort.
But, admittedly, a place that is hidden and elusive.
And that leads us to the paradoxical statement made by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
In a very bizarre twist, Jesus Christ says something that is completely opposite of what the world thinks and offers.
He says, you want to be happy, then be sad!
What?
Be sad?
It is the mourners that are the people that are truly happy.
The opposite is also true in this context; the people that are happy, by the world’s standards, are those that are truly miserable.
This is contrary to the whole world structure of human expectation.
The pleasure madness, the drive for amusement, entertainment, thrills, the mania that seeks the next high, the money, the energy, and enthusiasm expanded in living it up.
All of those things are an expression of the world’s aim to avoid mourning.
Yet Jesus said:
Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
This is really the new approach to life.
It condemns the shallow, superficial laughter of life, the frivolous happiness of the world and pronounces true blessing and true happiness and true joy and true comfort and true peace on those who mourn.
Now, this is contrary to all the world’s expectations.
The first one certainly was.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
If you want to be happy, you have to be poor.
That goes against the grain of everything that our society works so tirelessly to achieve.
It was particularly true in the days of the Apostle who lived under the burden of a system that said the Kingdom of Heaven belonged to those who achieve greatness by their own spiritual efforts.
Jesus said, until you reach the point where you realize that you are spiritually bankrupt, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.
And Jesus makes an equally shocking statement with the second Beatitude.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Happy are those people that are sad.
And I want to break this great truth down into four manageable parts so that we can clearly understand this great truth.
We want to look first at The Sense of Mourning; what did Jesus mean when He said, Happy are those that Mourn?
Second, The Sum of Mourning; what is the result of someone who is truly mourning?
Third, The System of Mourning; what is involved when someone has the proper Mourning?
Fourth, The Soundness of Mourning; How do I know if I have the proper Mourning?
These are such important distinctions to make.
Notice:
I. The Sense of Mourning
I. The Sense of Mourning
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Although mourning is a universal emotion for both the believer and the unbeliever, some forms of mourning are not legitimate forms of mourning.
Some forms of mourning are normal and others forms of mourning are brought about solely because of sinful passions and objectives.
There is a proper and an improper form of mourning.
A. Improper Mourning
A. Improper Mourning
Frustration over failed plans or ideas is not true Biblical mourning.
The Lord does not offer any solace for those who mourning solely based on misguided loyalties and affections.
We see in one of sons of David, Amnon, who had an improper form of mourning.
And Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do any thing to her.
Ammon’s grief was brought about because by incestuous, unfulfilled lust.
Yet, there are those who carry, perhaps, legitimate sorrows to the extreme.
When a person grieves so hard because of the lost of a loved on to the point where that person cannot function, their grief becomes sinful and destructive.
Much of the time that kind of grieve is a product of guilt, and is essentially selfish and for the Christian is a mark of unfaithfulness and shows that we really do not trust God.
I am reminded of the time when God came to Samuel because he was grieving the fall of King Saul.
You remember Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, head and shoulders above the rest, and depended on God, at first.
Then became proud in his accomplishments and thought that he had a better way than God.
And then because of the events the surrounded Saul and the people of Israel with the battle against the people of Amalek, where Saul disobeyed the voice of the Lord, God rejected Saul from being King.
And when God rejected Saul from being King, that means that His spirit left him and the prophet (the voice of God to the King) came no more to tell him the commands of the Lord.
Samuel, the prophet, went into a period of mourning over Saul.
And even though Samuel was mourning for a legitimate reason, it caused the loss of him being able to function properly and then God stepped and rebuked Samuel for his sinful mourning.
And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.
Get up, Samuel, you have a job to do and you are letting your mourning over Saul affect your service for me.
Improper mourning.
David, also mourned that way, in part to try and atone for his guilt.
When his rebellious son Absalom was killed, the Bible tells us that he went into inconsolable mourning (2 Sam. 18:33-19:4).
Joab, the captain of his army, had to finally step in to remind David that by his mourning over their enemy that he tells everyone else that they are unimportant.
And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines;
In that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well.
Absolom had raised up an army of rebellious people and had driven the king our of his throne.
Now, David’s love for his son was understandable, but David’s judgment had become perverted.
Probably because of his great feelings of guilt by being such a poor father, and that he knew that Absalom’s death was part of the judgment God sent because of his sin of murder and adultery with Bathsheba.
David’s mourning was abnormal because the judgment on Absalom was justified.
So, there, is an improper kind of mourning.
There is also an improper mourning over sin.
The improper mourning over sin would be the mourning that does not lead to repentance but only wants blessing or wants things the way that they use to be.
We see that, again, in the example of Saul in 1 Samuel 15.
Same story that we saw above, but let’s look at Saul’s response to the judgment of God.
Because many times we mourning over our sin for the improper reasons.
Because of the sin of Saul repeatedly disobeying God, He had taken the kingdom away from Saul.
Saul had said that the people wanted to keep the best of the flock so that they could make a sacrifice to the Lord.
God does not buy Saul’s excuse for disobedience and says through the Prophet Samuel.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
Notice Saul’s response:
And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.
Was Saul’s mourning the proper mourning?
Well the Lord did not believe so, notice what He said through the Prophet:
And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
But Saul was not done:
And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
But the LORD was not done speaking either.
And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.
And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.
But Saul is still trying to convince Samuel that he is truly mourning and sorry for his sins; he is putting on a good show.
Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.
So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.
Saul put on a good display to try and convince the man of God that he mourning and was truly sorry for His sins.
Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
Was Saul’s mourning the proper mourning?
Was it the kind of mourning over sin that Jesus is calling for in Mathew 5?
Well, the Lord must not have thought so.
And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.
And as you read the account you will come to the same conclusion that Saul’s mourning was not the mourning that Christ was calling for our text.
Why?
Because for starters had Saul’s mourning had been the mourning that would lead to repentance, HE would have taken the sword and hacked Agag to pieces, not Samuel.
Saul was mourning because he was afraid of losing a blessing, losing other benefits; it was an improper mourning.
Judas Iscariot is another example of improper mourning.
He most definitely was mourning, but it was an improper mourning.
It is an example of mourning because of guilt and not repentance.
For if it had been out of repentance, He would have gone to the feet of Jesus Christ and plead for forgiveness.
But instead, in an effort to absolve himself from the guilt of his actions, he went out and hanged himself.
So, there could be mourning in a persons life, but that mourning could be an improper mourning.
B. Proper Mourning
B. Proper Mourning
There is also the kind of mourning that is reasonable and appropriate.
To express these sorrows and to cry over them opens an escape valve that keeps our feelings from festering and poisoning our emotions and our whole life.
It provides a way of healing, just as washing out a would helps prevent infection.
You know, a trouble-free life is likely a shallow life.
We often learn more and become mature in our spiritual lives through times when everything is not going so well.
Sarah’s death caused Abraham to mourn in Genesis 23:2.
But he did not weep because he had a lack of faith but for the loss of his beloved wife, which he had every right to do.
Loneliness for God, from which he felt separated for a time, caused the psalmist to say:
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
Defeat and discouragement had set into the heart of young Timothy and caused him to mourning.
Leading Paul, his spiritual father to write:
I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;
Feeling anguish over the sins of the nation of Israel and God’s coming judgment on them caused Jeremiah to mourn.
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
Concern for the spiritual welfare of the Ephesian believers had caused Paul to mourn.
Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
The earnest love of a father cause him to be grief-stricken over his demon possessed son, even as he brought him to Jesus for healing.
No doubt tears ran down the man’s face as he confessed:
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
And while these are proper reasons to mourning, these are not the godly mourning that Jesus is calling for in Matthew 5.
C. Godly Mourning
C. Godly Mourning
Now, although the the type of mourning that has been discussed has nothing to do with the second beatitude; Christ is concerned about all the legitimate sorrows of His children.
And He promises console, comfort, and strength when we turn to Him for help.
But those are not the kind of mourning that is the issue here.
Jesus Christ is speaking about godly sorrow, godly mourning, mourning that only those who sincerely desire to belong to Him or who already belong to Him can experience.
The Apostle Paul speaks of this kind of sorrow in his letter to the Corinthians.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
The only sorrow that brings spiritual life and growth is godly sorrow, sorrow over sin that leads to repentance.
Godly sorrow is linked to repentance, and repentance is linked to sin.
As the first beatitude makes crystal clear, entrance into the kingdom of heaven begins with the recognition of you spiritual poverty.
The person that is poor in spirit comes to Christ empty-handed. totally destitute and pleading for God’s mercy, because he is a beggar.
Because without a sense of spiritual poverty, one cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Spiritual poverty leads to godly sorrow; the poor in spirit become those who mourn.
David, after his great sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, repented and expressed his godly sorrow.
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Though Job was a model believer and “was blameless and feared God,” there were still some other things about the greatness of God and his own unworthiness, about God’s infinite wisdom and his own very imperfect understanding.
Only after God allowed everything dear to Job to be taken away and then lectured His servant on His sovereignty and His majesty, did Job finally come to the place of godly sorrow, of repenting of and mourning over his sin.
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
Listen, while God loves and honors a morally righteous life, it is no substitute for a humble and contrite heart, which God loves and honors even more.
For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
The word “mourn” here is the word “πενθέω” and of the nine words used for sorrow and mourning in the NT, this is the strongest one used.
And this represents the deepest, most heart-felt grief, and was generally reserved for the grieving over the death of a loved one.
It was a word used in the Septuagint for Jacob’s when he thought his son Joseph was killed by a wild animal (Genesis 37:34)
This word is also used of the disciples mourning for Jesus before they knew that He was raised from the dead (Mark 16:10)
The word carries the idea of deep inner agony, which may be expressed by outward weeping, wailing, or lament.
But happiness or blessedness does not come in the mourning itself.
Happiness comes with what God does in response to it, with the forgiveness that such morning brings.
David knew well this happiness of mourning when he stopped hiding his sin and confessed it.
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Godly mourning brings godly forgiveness, which brings happiness.
Matthew, vols. 1-4 (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary) Godly Mourning
Mourning is not merely a psychological or emotional experience that makes people feel better. It is a communion with the living, loving God who responds to the mourner with an objective reality—the reality of divine forgiveness!
David experienced and expressed many kinds of common human sorrow, both proper and improper.
He mourned over being lonely, over being rejected, over being discouraged and disappointed, and over losing an infant child.
He also mourned over Absalom, whom God had removed to protect Israel and the messianic throne of David.
But nothing broke the heart of David like his own sin.
No anguish was as deep as the anguish he felt when he finally saw the awfulness of his offenses against the Lord.
That is when David became happy, when he became truly sad over his transgressions.
Sermon on the Mount—The Message of the Kingdom Truth Upside-Down
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.
The world’s philosophy, that has crept into the Church, is hide the sin, do not talk about it and you will be happy.
But Jesus said that the way to true happiness is to mourn, mourn, mourn over you sin; have deep hearted anguish over your sin and that will lead to the knowledge of spiritual poverty and entrance into the kingdom.
Godly mourning will bring godly happiness, which no amount of human effort or optimistic pretense, no amount of positive thinking, can produce.
Only mourners over sin are happy because only mourners over sin have their sins forgiven.
Because for the believer, sin and happiness are totally incompatible.
Where one exists, the other cannot.
Until sin is forgiven and removed, happiness is locked out.
Matthew, vols. 1-4 (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary) Godly Mourning
Mourning over sin brings forgiveness of sin, and forgiveness of sin brings a freedom and a joy that cannot be experienced in any other way.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
There is a progression here; if you do not see yourself as spiritually bankrupt and; therefore, mourn over your sin, you will never hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Mourning over sin is not being engulfed in despair.
Event eh person that has been severely discipline by the Church should be forgiven, comforted, and loved.
Nor is godly sorrow wallowing in self-pity and false humility, which are really badges of pride.
True mourning over sin does not focus on ourselves, it does not even focus on the sin.
It focuses on God, who alone can forgive and remove our sin.
It is an attitude that begins when we enter the kingdom and lasts as long as we are on earth.
It is the attitude of Romans 7.
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Listen, the mark of spiritual maturity is not sinlessness, which is reserved for heaven, but a growing awareness of sinfulness.
Jesus said that true spiritual poverty comes as we realize the great depths of our sins, and being that the Greek word in our text is present, participle, it is a continuing realization in our lives.
Happy are those that feel anguish over their sins, a deep lament over them, for in them we recognize out spiritual poverty and are candidates into the kingdom.
In his 95 thesis, Martin Luther said that the Christian’s entire life is a continuous act of repentance and contrition.
II. The Sum of Mourning (vs. 4b)
II. The Sum of Mourning (vs. 4b)
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
The result of godly mourning is comfort.
This is the real reason why they are blessed, because they receive comfort.
“Comfort” is the word “παρακαλέω” the same word that is rendered Comforter in John 14:16, speaking about the Holy Spirit.
As the mourning that we will feel rises to the throne of God, His matchless and unsurpassed comfort descends on us from Him by Christ.
Those people that have a deep heart-felt anguish over their sins, as they confess them to the Father will find comfort.
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
The one who mourns over sins is blessed because:
A. Forgiveness
A. Forgiveness
That is the basis of all comfort, the fact that they have received forgiveness.
Believers are the only people in the worlds who are feee from the guilt of their sins.
The word they is emphatic; Blessed are those who mourn, for they ALONE will be comforted.
The comfort springs from a changed life that begins within.
B. The Holy Spirit
B. The Holy Spirit
“παρακαλέω,” as I said before the same word used for the Holy Spirit.
Because, you see, God’s comfort is relational.
It comes in the form of his divine companionship; He is our ally.
He personally bids up our sorrows and consoles us.
This is absolutely comprehensive comfort.
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 wonderful paradox.
Jesus stands worldly truth on its head to get our attention, and he says, “would you be comforted? Then mourn. Would you be happy? Then weep.”
Mourners are truly happy because they mourning results in absolute forgiveness of sins.
Matthew The Second Beatitude
Most beautifully is this “comfort” summarized in Lord’s Day 1 of The Heidelberg Catechism:
“Question. What is your only comfort in life and death?
“Answer. That I, with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who with his precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, wherefore by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto him.”
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
So, we see The Sense of Mourning.
We see the Sum of Mourning.
III. The System of Mourning
III. The System of Mourning
A very important question that needs to be answered.
What does true mourning over sin involve?
How can we become godly mourners.
A. Eliminate Hinderances
A. Eliminate Hinderances
The very first step is to remove those things that keep us from mourning, the things that make us content with ourselves.
Those things that make us resist God’s Spirit and question His word.
Those things that harden our hearts.
Because a stony heart does not mourn.
It is insensitive to God, and His plow of grace cannot break it up.
It only stores up wrath until the day of wrath.
1. Love of Sin
1. Love of Sin
This is the primary hindrance to mourning.
Holding onto sin will freeze and petrify a heart.
2. Despair
2. Despair
Despair hinders mourning because despair gives up on God, refusing to believe that He can save and help.
Despair is really putting ourselves outside of the grace of God.
And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.
The one who despairs believes that he is destined to sin, because he believes that God has given up on him; therefore, he has given up on God.
Despair excuses sin by choosing to believe that there is no choice.
Despair hides God’s mercy behind a self-made cloud of doubt.
3. Conceit
3. Conceit
Conceit tries to hide sin believing that there is nothing over which to mourn.
It is the spiritual counterpart of a doctor treating a cancer as if it were a cold.
If it were necessary for Jesus Christ to shed his blood on the cross to save us from our sin, our sin must be great indeed.
4. Presumption
4. Presumption
This hinders mourning because it really is a form of pride.
It recognizes the need for grace, but not much grace.
It is satisfied with cheap grace, expecting God to forgive little because it sees little to be forgiven.
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.
Matthew, vols. 1-4 (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary) Eliminate Hindrances
No pardon is offered to the unrepentant, presumptuous person who refuses to forsake his sin. The gospel that teaches otherwise has always been popular, as it clearly is in our own day; but it is a false gospel
3. Procrasatination
3. Procrasatination
This hinders godly mourning because it simply puts it off.
“One of these days, when things are just right, I will take a hard look at my sins, confess them, and God’s forgiveness and cleansing.”
But procrastination is foolish and dangerous.
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Listen, the sooner that the disease of sin is dealt with the sooner comfort will come.
Matthew, vols. 1-4 (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary) Eliminate Hindrances
The most important step we can take in getting rid of hindrances to mourning, whatever they are, is to look at the holiness of God and the great sacrifice of sin-bearing at the cross.
B. Study God’s Word
B. Study God’s Word
The second all important step in godly mourning is to study God’s Word.
To learn what an evil and repulsive things it is to God and what a destruction and damning thing it is to us.
We should learn from David.
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Sin tramples on God’s laws, makes light of his love, grieves His Spirit, spurns His forgiveness and blessing, and in every way resists His Grace.
Sin makes us weak and impure.
It robs us of comfort and, much more importantly, robs God of His glory.
C. Pray
C. Pray
Pray with Contrition of heart, which only God can give and which He never refuses to those who ask.
We see The Sense of Mourning.
We see The Sum of Mourning.
We see The System of Mourning.
IV. The Soundness of Mourning
IV. The Soundness of Mourning
How do I know if I have godly mourning or not?
A. Am I sensitive to Sin
A. Am I sensitive to Sin
Do I laugh at it, take it lightly, or enjoy it.
If any or all of those things are true of us, we can be sure that we are not mourning over it and are outside of the sphere of God’s blessing.
B. Check our Sense of God’s Forgiveness
B. Check our Sense of God’s Forgiveness
Have we experienced the release and freedom of knowing our sins are forgiven?
Do we have His peace and joy in our lives?
Can we point to true happiness He has given us in response to our mourning?
Do we have the Divine comfort He promises to those he has forgiven, cleansed, and purified their lives?
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Well, in the end I guess we can sum it up by saying happy are the sad if your sadness is the right kind of sadness.
Who enters the kingdom?
Those who are spiritually bankrupt and those who mourn over their.
And once they enter the kingdom it does not change.
All believers continue to recognize their situation as one on spiritual bankruptcy and they will continue to mourn over the sin that causes them to forsake the comfort that produces the true happiness.
If that is not you, then you are not in the kingdom.
But Gos invites you to be a mourner and to come with a broken spirit, realizing you bring nothing and reach out for the mercy and grace of God provided through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who paid the penalty of your sins.
Take the gift, mourning over your sin, and enjoy the happiness that God provides.
This is the invitation of Jesus Christ to you.
That is how He started His preaching ministry, offering true and lasting happiness.
I rejoice that in His grace He saw fit to include me.