Happy are the Sad

Pastor Bill Woody

Bill Woody

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Grace to You :: Unleashing God's Truth, One Verse at a Time

Happy Are the Sad

Scripture: Matthew 5:4

Code: 2199

Matthew 5:4, says, "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted." In one of the great

Psalms of David he recites 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, "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. I

would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest." Well, David echoes a cry that has come

from the lips of all men at one time or another when they face sorrow, when they face

disappointment, when they face tragedy, when they face discouragement, they say like David, "Oh if I

could only escape, if I could only fly away and be at rest." David echoes the cry of fallen humanity, a

cry for freedom, a cry for life on wings, to fly away and be removed from the pain and the sorrow, the

anguish.

Anybody who's ever been through those kinds of things knows what it is to yearn for comfort in a life

of pain or a life of sorrow or disappointment or bitterness. We all have longed to run away, to look

away, to flee from sorrow to the place of comfort that is always so hidden and so elusive and the

deeper the sorrow and the deeper the disappointment and the deeper the pain the more elusive that

place of comfort is. And I guess that's the paradox of this beatitude, because here it says, "Happy are

the sad." We never thought that was true. Comforted are the mourners. That's contrary to everything

we know.

The whole structure of our life, the pleasure madness, the amusement park mentality, the

entertainment mania, the constant thrill seeking, the money, and the energy, and the time, and the

enthusiasm expended in living it up are an expression of the world's desire to avoid the mourning and

to avoid the sorrow and to avoid the pain. But Jesus said, "Happy are the sad, happy are those that

mourn."

In fact, Jesus also said in Luke 6:25, "Woe unto you that laugh now for your laughter shall become

weeping." Now that's different. Woe to you that laugh for you shall mourn and weep? Happy are you

that mourn for you shall be comforted? Just the opposite of the world's philosophy. A new approach

to life and that's just exactly what Jesus is doing isn't it in the Sermon on the Mount? He's offering a

new approach to life. It condemns the apparent laughter and happiness of the world. It pronounces

blessing, it pronounces happiness, it pronounces joy, peace, and comfort on those who mourn.

You say, "Well John what in the world does this mean?" Let's answer that question first of all and we'll

cover four questions tonight and give you answers to them, hopefully. First of all what does it mean

blessed or happy, marikos, are those that mourn? In what sense is that true? Let's talk about it. There

are in the Greek language nine different verbs used in the New Testament that speak of grief. This is

the strongest of the nine. This is the most severe. But the very fact that there are nine different verbs

in one language to express the concept of grief is a pretty good indication that it is a way of life, that it

is part and parcel of just living, and in fact the whole of man' history is the story of tears and it's the

story of sorrow, and by the way, we have had a lot of it but we haven't had anything like what is yet to

come.

In the 24thChapter of Matthew and the 4thverse, "Jesus answered and said unto them, 'Take heed

that no man deceive you for many shall come in My name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many

and ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled for all these things must

come to pass but the end is not yet for nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom.

There will be famines, pestilences, earthquakes in various places.'" Now if you know anything about

Matthew 24, you know that Jesus was talking about a time at the end of the age and He follows it up

in the next verse by saying, "All these are only the beginning of sorrows." You haven't seen anything

yet. The history of man is the history of sorrow. It's a history of tears. It's a history of pain and grief,

and man has only seen the beginning of it.

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.

You see weeping and sorrowing is like the releasing of a pressure valve that lets all of that out of your

system so it doesn't poison your whole emotional character. It's a gift from God. It releases pain. It

permits a healing process and when pain is kept inside and when remorse is kept inside, and when

sorrow and mourning are kept inside they poison the emotions. It's very natural to mourn. It's very

natural to do that. Abraham wept when his wife died. He had every right to do that. That's how he

dealt with his grief. It came out in tears and mourning.

In Psalm 42:1-3, we hear the Psalmist mourning and this is what he says. "As the hart," h-a-r-t, it's a

small deer, "As the deer 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 food day and night while they continually say unto me where is Thy God." In other words, the

sorrow and the grief over the absence of God was released in the heart of the Psalmist through the

tears that came coursing down his cheeks. And you see that he was suffering from loneliness and

loneliness is reason enough to cry. It's reason enough to have some tears. And for even a child of

God who may at one point in his life feel lonely and estranged from God, tears are a very normal way

to deal with such sorrow.

In 2 Timothy 1:3-4, Paul said to Timothy, "I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure

conscience that without ceasing, Timothy, I have remembered thee in my prayers night and day."

Listen to this: "Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears." Timothy was weeping

because of terrible discouragement and defeat. I've shed some tears sometimes of loneliness,

sometimes of discouragement and defeat. That's normal.

The 9thChapter of Jeremiah, the prophet who had been called by God to preach to Israel about a

coming judgment, came and preached with tears. This is what he says in Jeremiah 9:1, just listen,

"Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for

the slaying of the daughter of my people." The psalmist wept because he was lonely; Timothy wept

because he was discouraged; Jeremiah wept because he saw the judgment of God about the fall of

the people he loved. He was disappointed, disappointed, tragically disappointed and he had so much

of it inside of him that he wished that his whole head was like a river so it would get out of him.

In Acts Chapter 20, the apostle Paul met with the Ephesians elders and he talked about his tears in

verse 31. "Therefore, watch and remember that for the space of three years I ceased not to warn

everyone night and day with tears." The psalmist had tears of loneliness, Timothy had tears of

discouragement, Jeremiah had tears of disappointment, Paul had tears of concern, tears of care,

tears of anxiety.

In Mark Chapter 9, a father brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus and the tears were running

down the father's cheeks as he said, "If Thou canst believe all things are possible to him that

believeth and straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, 'Lord, I believe, help

Thou mine unbelieveth.'" You say, "What kind of tears were those?" They were the tears of earnest

love for a son that wanted to see a son delivered from a demon.

Something, I suppose, like Psalm 126 verse 5, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth

forth and weepeth bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves

with him." Earnest love, and in the Psalm 126 it's that earnest love for the lost that makes you weep.

In Luke 7:37, a woman came into the Pharisee's house where Jesus was reclining and resting and

she brought an alabaster box of ointment, you remember the story. Luke records for us that the

woman stood at His feet weeping and she wept all over His feet and then she washed His feet with

her own hair. And when the Pharisees questioned why Jesus would you ever allow a scarlet sinful

woman like this to do that to You? And Jesus gave them a little lesson on how people who have been

forgiven are very grateful. What kind of tears were those? They were the tears of devotion; they were

the tears of worship; they were the tears of heartfelt gratitude.

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. 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. This is the tear of Ammon. You remember that Ammon in II Samuel

13 wept and mourned until he became sick wanting to defile his own sister sexually. Thus did Ahab

mourn. He wanted Naboth's vineyard. He coveted it so much that it says in I Kings 21:4, "He laid on

his bed, turned away his face, and wouldn't eat any bread." He went into mourning because he

wanted what wasn't his. That's an illicit wrong kind of mourning.

And then also sometimes there is the mourning, the foolish extended mourning of people who can't

let somebody go. You see it very often when somebody dies and a person becomes a literal basket

case. It happens even in the case of Christians. Recently heard of such an individual who's in our

vernacular lost his mind because of the loss of a partner who went to be with Jesus Christ. That's

pure selfishness. The depressing sorrow of one whose so selfish he cannot rejoice in the exaltation of

the one he loves so deeply.

Now there's another kind of illicit sorrow and that's the sorrow that's over done because of guilt. You

know there are some people who just get super sorry and super mournful as a way of atoning for their

own sin. A good Biblical illustration of this is David. Absalom, you remember, had tried to dethrone his

father. You can read II Samuel Chapters 15 through 20 and get the whole story, but I'll just give it to

you in a little short vignette here. Absalom tried to dethrone his father. Absalom was proud, he was

egotistical, he particularly like his hair, and Absalom plotted against David, he plotted against him to

dethrone him and he drove David right out of the city. He drove his own father out of Jerusalem. He

took over the palace and he planned a coup that would wipe out David's forces. So the battle came

off. Unfortunately for Absalom his side lost and he was slain.

David had told his soldiers, "Now when the battle starts," David said in 18:5 of II Samuel, deal gently

for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom." Be easy on Absalom. You say easy on a vile,

sinful, evil, rebellious man. Be easy on him. And when David was told that he was dead he said, "Oh

my son, Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my

son." Now his love admirable, his idea is stupid. Who wants Absalom to run Israel? The nation

needed David, not the sinful proud, egotistical Absolom. Why was David sorrowing like that? Because

David was full of guilt because he'd been such a terrible father and his sorrow was something like a

catharsis to wash his own soul from its obvious failures. There's no doubt in my mind that Absolom's

death was part of the payment for sin with Bathsheba.

You remember, if you go back in II Samuel 12, God said to David, "You will pay four times for this sin.

As the Lord liveth," he said, "The man that hath done this thing shall surely die. He shall restore four

fold." There were four great tragedies that came to David: the baby died born of Bathsheba, his

daughter Tamar was sinfully violated, his son Amnon was slain and Absalom was slaughtered, and

the mourning over Absalom was kind of an atonement. And in II Samuel 19 it tells us that the soldiers

were actually ashamed they won because David was so sad. And Joab says, "I perceive if Absalom

had lives and all of us had died it would have pleased you well." You see then there is an improper

kind of mourning.

Some people say well in general this beatitude is just true, you know, when you weep you feel a lot

better. Sorrow has a way of just sort of building you up and strengthening you and they even write

poems about it. You remember the old poem: I walked a mile with pleasure, she chatted all the way;

but left me none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow and nare a word said

she; but oh the things I learn from her when sorrow walked with me. It's a very nice poem. The Arabs

used to say, "All sunshine makes a desert." Sorrow does teach us a lot. It's a nice sentiment, but this

is not what this is talking about. It is no talking about the sorrow of the world, whether licit or elicit. It is

not at all. It is talking about a godly sorrow that is very different.

I want you to look at II Corinthians 7 and see the difference. In II Corinthians 7:10, the apostle Paul

helps us to understand it. He says this: "For godly sorrow," now it's not the sorrow of the world, "godly

sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world works

death." 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.

There's only one kind of sorrow that brings life and that is godly sorrow, which leads you to what

repentance; therefore, we can conclude that it is sorrow over what, sin that is the issue. That's the

issue. Godly sorrow. 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.

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? I told you 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, and what He is saying, our Lord is saying in verse 3 is happy is the man

who is absolutely destitute spiritually, who is nothing but a beggar who has to plead for mercy and

grace because it's that kind of man who gets the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven.

So what are we saying, people? Listen to it. Entrance into His kingdom begins with an overwhelming

helpless feeling of spiritual poverty. It begins with a sense of the bankruptcy of the soul. That's where

it begins. As long as you live on this earth you will never enter God's kingdom unless you have a

sense of spiritual bankruptcy and if you are a child of the kingdom you'll never loose that sense, but in

your flesh continually dwells no go thing. As long as we live we have the same sense of spiritual

poverty. If it wasn't there at the start you're not a Christian. If it's not there now it's questionable

whether you are a Christian, because it's part of kingdom people.

George McDonald refers to this principle in his exposition on the Sermon on the Mount. He says this:

"The poor, the beggars in spirit, the humble men of heart, the unambitious, the unselfish, those who

never despise men and never seek their praises, the lowly who seek nothing to admire in themselves;

therefore, cannot seek to be admired of others. The men who give themselves away these are the

free men of the kingdom. These are the citizens of the new Jerusalem, the men who are aware of

their own essential poverty, not the men who are poor in friends, or poor in influence, or poor in

requirements, or poor in money, but those who are poor in spirit, who feel themselves poor creatures

who know nothing to be pleased with themselves for and desire nothing to make them think well of

themselves, who know they need much to make their life worth living, to make their existence a good

thing, to make them fit to live. These humble ones are poor, whom the Lord calls blessed."

McDonald says, "When a man says I am low and worthless then the gate of the kingdom begins to

open to him." Such poverty in spirit, beloved, in verse 3 will lead to mourning in verse 4, true

mourning over sin. Only the beggar can say, "Woe is me for I am undone." Only the beggar can say,

"Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord."

Look at David. After his terrible sin with Bathsheba,

after he had managed to make sure that Uriah, her husband, was murdered, he not only saw how

poverty stricken he was, he not only saw he was absolutely hopeless, that in sin did his mother

conceive him in Psalm 51, but he mourned so deeply that it wrenched his soul to its very depths.

Look at Job. Job had everything. Do you know how rich Job was? Job was so rich that in Chapter

29:6 it says he washed his doorstep with butter. That's rich! Also makes your doorstep very slippery!

Job had everything, but the man was never really made a man until he comes clear to the 42nd

chapter after having God flatten him, until he realized he was nothing and he says, "I have heard of

Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee," and his response, "I abhor myself and

I repent in dust and ashes." Anybody whoever gets a true picture of who he is related to God has that

same reaction. That's the only way to the kingdom. You've got to crawl. The word mourning here in

this verse is the strongest of all the Greek words. It is reserved for mourning for the dead. The

passionate lament for one loved deeply and lost.

In the Septuagint it is used of Jacob's grief when he believed Joseph, his son, was dead, Genesis 37.

It's used in the gospels in Mark, for example, in Chapter 16:10, "And she went," and this is, of course,

after the death of Christ, "And told those who had been with Him as they mourned and wept." It's the

same word. It's the strongest word that you use when someone is bewailing the death of one greatly

beloved. You find it in Revelation 18, as the evil system bewails the death of its commerce in the

great Babylon's destruction in the time of the tribulation.\

Now let me say another word about this concept of this word itself. The word conveys the idea of a

deep inner agony, not just an external wailing. There's another Greek word that has to do with just

shouting out a wailing. This is a deep inner pain. We see it with David if you go back to Psalm 32. Let

me just read you a few verses. Psalm 32 verse 3, "When I kept silence my bones became old through

my roaring all the day long." You know when David wouldn't confess His sin to God it just tore him up.

It just ate him up inside. "Day and night Thy hand was upon me, my moisture," or my life juices, the

blood and the lymphatic juices and all of those things saliva and everything else in the body, "was

turned into the drought of summer." His whole person was just wrenched. And then he says, "I

acknowledged my sin unto Thee, my iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgression to

the Lord and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."

In Psalm 51, in reflecting on the same sin with Bathsheba he said, "Have mercy upon me, O God,

according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my

transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity; cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge

my transgressions and my sin is ever before me." I can't get it out of my vision; I can't get it out of my

mind. And verse 10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not

away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy

salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." Listen when he mourned and he confessed his sin he

was cleaned out. It was a whole different attitude. And you know what he said in Psalm 32 when he

got it all out? He said blessed, happy, happy is the man who mourns, because happy is the one

whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy is the man unto whom the Lord does

not impute iniquity. You know what mourners are happy? Because mourners over sin who are the

only ones who are what, forgiven. The rest of the world has to live with that guilt endlessly with no

relief.

Beloved let me say this: the happiness doesn't come in the mourning. It comes in what God does in

response to it. You just try as a Christian to keep sin in your life and bottle it up and you just see how

ruinous it becomes. You confess it and see the freedom and the joy that comes in forgiveness.

Listen David had experienced the tears of loneliness. David had experienced the tears of rejection.

He had experienced the tears of frustration, the tears of discouragement and disappointment. He had

experienced the tears of defeat. He'd even experienced the illicit tears of his own guilt where he tried

to atone for his own sin, but nothing ever broke the heart of David to tears like his own sin. And then

God comforted him and He said, "Happy is the man whose transgression is forgiven." Happy are the

sad. You know what the world says? Pack up your troubles in your own kit bag and smile, smile,

smile. And the Bible says, mourn, mourn, mourn.

Look at James Chapter 4. There's not enough of this, people, in our lives not enough. James 4:8 says

this: and I want you to hear it, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands

ye sinners. Purify your hearts, ye double minded." Now listen to verse 9, "Be afflicted and mourn and

weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourself in the

sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up." Listen, there's no greater word I can think of to Christianity

of our day than to start crying instead of laughing. It grieves my heart to see the frivolity and the

foolishness and the silliness that goes on in the name of Christianity. I have a word for those people.

My word for those people is this: Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to

mourning and your joy to heaviness. Listen, nobody ever came into the kingdom of God who didn't

mourn over his own sinfulness. And you can't verify to me that you're a true Christians or anyone else

unless throughout your life there is the same sense of grief over the sin in your own life.

Now I don't mind being happy because I'm forgiven, but I can't enjoy that happiness until I have dealt

with sin. Child of God is one constantly broken over sinfulness. You know it's hard for me to be happy

much any more. It really is. I used to be a lot happier than I am now. I know too much to be happy.

Ezekiel said this: Ezekiel 21, "A sword, a sword is sharpened and also furbished. Should we then

make mirth?" He said are we supposed to be laughing and joking? A sword is sharpened and

furbished. In other words God is ready to strike an eternal judgment. What are we laughing about? It

isn't a joke.

In Isaiah 22:12, we see a further word along the same line. "And in that day did the Lord God of hosts

call to weeping and to mourning and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth." He was giving a

picture of judgment coming on Jerusalem. He says you ought to be weeping. And verse 13, "Behold,"

what did he see? "Joy, gladness, slaying oxen, killing sheep." In other words having a big party and a

feast, drinking wine, "Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die. And it was revealed in mine ears

by the Lord of Hosts, surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die." Why? Because as

long as you're laughing about it you'll never know its cleansing. See. You laugh when you see evil?

Do you laugh when evil is portrayed on your television set? Do you laugh when you hear something

about somebody doing an evil thing? Do you laugh at jokes that talk about ungodliness? Are those

things laughable things?

Proverbs 2:14, says that some delight in the perverseness of evil. II Thessalonians 2:12 uses the little

phrase rejoice in iniquity. Do you do that? You know I really believe, people, that the church today

has a defective sense of sin. It has a defective doctrine of sin. We think, so many people think the

Christian life is a joke, that the church is something that you make fun of, that you laugh about it. And

there are people who have set themselves up as sort of critics of the church who do satire on the

church as if it was a joke, as if it was something to laugh at. They spend all their time thinking of funny

ways to comment on Christianity. We put on Christian frivolity. I'm not against having fun, you know

that, but I think the Old Testament is pretty clear when it says, "A merry heart doeth good like a

medicine." But we're so out of balance that we've lost all of this sense haven't we? People say, "Oh

this charismatic movement, the greatest revival I've ever seen." Listen I never saw so much frivolity

and silliness in my life, and that's a far cry from mourning. Conviction of sin must precede conversion

and it must follow it. That's the path of blessedness.

It's amazing, some Christians spend all of their life trying to find happiness and they'll go to get some

counseling and they'll read a book on it, The Christian Secret of a HappyLife, and they'll try to find all

of this stuff and what they really need to do is mourn because that's the road to happiness. Now when

you're spiritually bankrupt and when you're a sinner you can respond several ways. First you can

deny it like the Pharisees did and just put on a phony front and live a whole life of deception and

make everybody think you're really perfect. Or when you face your spiritual bankruptcy you can admit

it and then you can try to change it yourself by saying boy am I going to get this one on. I'm going to

roll up my sleeves and make myself a better person, moral rearmament. Or you can admit it and

despair so much that you go out and hang yourself like Judas. You just can't hack it. You're a sinner

and you know it and you just can't handle it.

A young man in our church, been here ever since I came here, two days ago, no yesterday took a

gun and killed himself, found his body. He knew he was a sinner, sure, couldn't handle it. Despair was

so deep he took his life. So you could deny it, put on a phony front, you could admit it and try to

change it yourself, you can admit it and sink into despair or you could admit it and turn to God for

grace and mercy. And the last choice is the right choice.

What did the prodigal son do way out there eating the pig slop? Did he deny his circumstance? I'm all

right. This is really not bad stuff. I'm going to make it. Or did he admit it and say I'm going to work my

way up on the farm? I'm going to show them I can perform. Or did he admit it and despair and just fall

down and drown in it? No he did the right thing. He admitted it and then went back to the father where

the source of grace and mercy was to be found. He mourned.

Salvation comes by repentance, comes by mourning, and God demands it. I really feel, people, that

there are an awful lot of folks in this world who think they're Christians but they didn't come to Christ

with a bankrupt spirit mourning over sin and that's the only way in. And if it isn't true in your life right

now I question whether it ever was true that you were saved. You know it's amazing when somebody

says to somebody in Christian circles for the most part, are you a Christian? They will say yes. Well

how do you know? Most times they will say well I remember when I went forward, or I remember

when I gave my, in other words the whole basis of the assurance that they're a Christian is based on

the past. The New Testament never deals with that. The New Testament never talks about a

decision. The New Testament never talks about walking an aisle, never talks about signing a card,

never talks about having a counselor tell you, you are a Christian. All it talks about is you are a

Christian if there's present evidence. See. That's always the issue.

And in II Corinthians 12:21, and lest when I come again my God shall humble me among you that I

should bewail many who have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and

fornication and lasciviousness, which they have committed." Dear Paul says, "If you're not going to

cry about it then all that's left is for me to cry about it." God demands repentance. He demands

realization of sin. I'm not talking about wallowing in self-pity. I'm talking about genuine repentance and

if you don't know the difference you've got a problem.

By the way, in II Corinthians 2:7 it says that we shouldn't let somebody be swallowed up with over

much sorrow. There's too much of this. And also it tends sometimes to lead to a sense of spiritual

superiority, holier than thou. You know like the little girl who saw the jackass with the long face and

said he must be a very spiritual Christian. Happiness comes in true mourning, a broken and contrite

heart. "Thy wilt not despise O God," Psalm 51.

Can I go further? I believe this: That we have mourned in spiritual poverty over our sin when we came

into the kingdom and we continue to do it all our life long. Romans Chapter 7, and I hinted at it this

morning and I want you to see it, Romans 7. People think that this was a thing that happened to Paul

in his life and once he got to Romans 8 he never had a problem with it any more. That isn't true. In

Romans 7:15 he says, "The things I want to do I don't do and things I hate I do and he says in verse

17, "It's sin that dwells in me," and he goes on to talk about it. "In my flesh dwells no good thing for to

will is with me," verse 18, and "How to perform that which is good I find not." And he goes down to

verse 20, "Sin that dwells in me," and he says, "I find a law when I would do good evil is present.

I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against

the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." In other

words righteousness and sin are fighting. "O wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the

body of this death?" In other words, this is a way of life with him. This isn't a one-time deal that he

knocked off. Well it says in verse 25, "I think God through Jesus Christ our Lord." And people say,

"There it is the victory," but they don't read the rest of the verse. "So then with the mind I myself serve

the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." Just because he knew where the victory was didn't

mean it was once for all. He fought it every day of his life until he met Jesus face to face. It's a way of

life to deal with sin. It never changes.

Listen, look at verse 23 of chapter 8, he says, "And not only they, not only creation groans, but look,

ourselves also who even have the first fruits of the Spirit even we groan waiting for the adoption that

is the redemption of our body." Listen, it isn't just creation groaning. I'm sick of this fight myself. I'm

sick of this sin. I want relief. No wonder he said, "far better to depart and be with Christ." No wonder

he said in II Corinthians 5, "For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothes upon with our house,

which is from heaven." Listen beloved, you get saved by being bankrupt in your spirit and mourning

over your sin and that's the way it ought to be the rest of your life. You ought to really be upset about

your sin.

You know John in I John gives the evidences of a Christian and one of them is this: "If we are

confessing our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." And what that really means in the

context is this: if we are the ones continually confessing our sin we give evidence of being the ones

who are being forgiven. In other words the forgiven ones, the subjects of the kingdom, the children of

the king, the sons of God, are characterized by constant confession of sin.

Remember a guy said, "Boy have I been liberated." UCLA student, have I been liberated. Somebody

just reinterpreted I John 1:9 and I know now that I don't have to confess my sin. Been great! I said,

"When did you find that out?" Oh a few months ago. Great. I said, "I want to ask you a question. Do

you confess your sin?" He said, "I just told you I don't have to." I said, "I know you did. Do you

confess your sin?" He said, "Yes, and that's what bothers me." I said, "It's a good thing. Whatever that

little thing is you learned you're overruled by your own new nature, which is characteristic of any

believer he will confess his sin."

By the way, going back to Matthew Chapter 5, the verb here is a present tense, penthountes,

continuous action, the ones who are continually mourning are the ones continually being comforted.

Luther in his 95 Thesis said that our entire life is a continuous act of repentance and contrition. David

cried it out Psalm 38, "For my iniquities are gone over my head. Like a heavy burden they are too

heavy for me." It was a way of life. He just faced his sin as a reality all through his life.

You know something? In all of the New Testament we find so much about Jesus, but one thing we

never see Jesus do in the whole New Testament account is laugh. He never laughed. Oh I don't know

if He did laugh or not, but it isn't recorded. Hard for me to imagine that He had much to laugh about.

He was hungry, he was angry, he was thirsty, but it never says He laughed, and that's such a part of

human emotion, but it does say He wept.

He was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. I think we've left that. We've been sucked into

an entertainment, thrill seeking, pleasure mad, silly world of

fools and jesters and comedians, some of them even trying to ply their trade in the church. Do you

know that it was man introduced the other night on Christian television program as the leading

Christian comedienne? Who needs that? That's what it means. You understand now don't you what it

means to mourn over your sin?

What's the result of it, second question? These will be shorter and I didn't say all I wanted to say

either about that. You realize that you just get the tip of the iceberg week after week. Living with that

frustration is very difficult. What is the result of mourning? You say so what's it going to get me? I

mourn around, mope around, sorry for my sin, what do I get? Comfort, comfort. By the way, as I said

before, mourners are not blessed because they mourn, mourners are blessed because they comfort.

You don't mourn; you don't get comforted. You just try to hide your guilt and it eats away. There's no

happiness in the sorrow of the world because it can't be comforted.

And by the way, they use the emphatic pronoun autoi here, which means blessed are they who

continue to mourn for they alone shall be comforted. It is only the mourners who know the comfort of

God. It is only those who mourn for sin who know what it is to have their tears dried by the loving

hand of Jesus Christ. They shall be comforted, parakletofrom which we get paraclete, the one called

along side to help, the one Jesus referred to the comforter. By the way the Bible tells us God is a

comforter, Psalm 30:5, Psalm 50:15, Isaiah 55:6-7, Micah 7:18-20, and on and on and on talks about

the comfort that God gives us. He helps, He succors us, He hears our cry, He meets our need, He's

always there beseeching and admonishing and consoling and sympathizing, and encouraging and

strengthening, and forgiving, and restoring and that adds up to comfort.

As our mourning rises to the throne of God His unsurpassed and matchless comfort descends from

Him by Christ to us. God is a God of all comfort, the Bible says. And do you know who the first

comforter was? The first comforter was Jesus because He said, "When I go away I'll send another

what, comforter." He was the first one. God, the God of all comfort, Christ, the Paraclete, called along

side to help and the Holy Spirit followed up on the work. God is a God of comfort. Christ is a Christ of

comfort. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of comfort.

And, beloved, I don't believe that this is a future tense thing completely. I don't believe in just saying

well gut it out folks because in the kingdom you'll get comfort. I don't think that's what He said. When I

think of the connection here and you can do some study in the verse itself in detail in the Greek and

the implication here is that comfort runs along side of mourning. As long as you continue to mourn

you will continue to be comforted. It is the now concept. Oh there's a final aspect. Sure, there's a final

aspect when we all go into the eternal kingdom in Revelation 21:4 says, "And God shall wipe away,

what, all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more sorrow, no more crying, neither shall there

be any more pain for former things are passed away, but that's future.

But there's a present tense. The Spirit is the comforter. When Christ was on the earth He was the

comforter. By the way, the word of God is a comforter. Did you know that? The Bible is a comforter. It

says that in Romans 15:4, "Whatever things were written in earlier times were written for our learning,

that we through patience, and listen to this phrase, and comfort of the Scriptures." Why was it written?

To comfort us because it tells us about God's love and it tells us about His forgiveness, and it tells us

about His help, and it tells us about His encouragement and His presence and all of those things. So

we would say the subjective work of the Holy Spirit comforts us and the Scripture comforts us and I'll

tell you something else we comfort each other, don't we. I love to hear the apostle Paul when he

says, I was comforted in the coming of so and so.

As we deal with our sin God comforts us by the inside work of the Spirit, by the work of the word, by

the ministry of other believers and when we are comforted then we are happy. Happiness comes to

sad people, not because they're sad, but because their sadness leads to comfort. I love what Jesus

said in Matthew 11:28, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest."

You know something? You're not going to come looking for rest unless you know you've got a load,

right? Unless you're heavy laden, unless you feel your sin, unless it's bending your back and

weighing you down, and then you come and you find rest. He takes away your heavy load and gives

you His yoke, which is easy and His burden, which is light.

Listen carrying on my back the standards of God and the commandments of Christ is an easy burden

compared to carrying the weight of my sinfulness. Comfort, comfort for as long as we mourn, for as

long as we confess sin. Beloved, it comes down to that. Listen now, as you confess your sin day after

day, day after day before the Lord He gives you comfort, He gives you comfort and in that comfort

comes the happiness and then you can smile, and then you can laugh, and then you can rejoice.

You say well I now know what it is, it's to mourn over sin. I know the result. I'll be comforted and in the

comfort comes happiness. Let me ask you a third question. How can I become a mourner? How can

you become a mourner? Now this is our closing two questions and I want you to think about them.

How can you become a mourner? First eliminate the hindrances, eliminate the hindrances.

You say, "John, what do you mean?" I mean that most of us have hindrances to realizing sin. You

say, "These are the things that make our hard heart." These are the things that make us past feeling.

These are the things that make us resist Spirit, that make us insensible. A stony heart just doesn't

mourn. It's void of grace. The plow of God can't break it up. It just treasures up wrath against the day

of wrath. Get rid of the hindrances. You got to get rid of the stony part. You say, what are those things

that make a heart stony?

Let me give you a list real quick. Here are the hindrances to mourning. These are the things that

make the heart stony. One: Love of sin. Listen, if you love your sin you will freeze your heart into

impenitence. You will petrify your heart if you love sin. Second: Despair, despair. You know what

despair says? God can't forgive this. It undervalues God's power. It minimizes the blood of Christ. It

devalues God's grace. It is drawing God down from the reality of who He is.

Jeremiah 18:12, "They said there is no hope so we will walk after our own devices and we will

everyone to the imagination of his heart." In other words God can't do anything about us anyway.

We're beyond hope so let's go at it. That is the language of despair and despair hides mercy behind

ignorance. It hides grace behind doubt. Listen, I don't care how bad it is, I don't care how evil you are

God's grace is able to reach you, change you. One of the hindrances to mourning is love of sin and

the other is despair that wants to hide God's mercy behind the cloud of death.

Third: Conceit. Another hindrance to mourning is conceit and that says, well I'm not that bad. You

don't know me if you think I should get sad about what I am. I'm all right. In fact, I'm pretty good. This

is a foolish doctor treating a deadly disease as if it was a cold. Listen, if Jesus Christ had to shed his

blood and die on a cross for your sin you're bad, you're real bad. So am I. And by the way, if you think

you're not bad you're worse than everybody else because that's the worst sin of all. So love of sin,

despair, and conceit are hindrances. So is presumption, number four.

You know what presumption is? It's cheap grace. Well, you know, I one time said I wanted Jesus in

my heart and I went through the deal and went down the aisle and I got baptized. What do I need to

worry about? I'm just going to do whatever I want and I'll be all right. I don't need to confess my sin. I

get upset about the thing and like the guy I told you about this morning said the other day, he said,

they don't have to change anything in your life just take Jesus and you're all right. He'll clean up.

Isaiah 55:7 says, "Let the wicked forsake his way and return to the Lord and He will have mercy on

him and he will abundantly pardon. And if the wicked does not forsake his way there is reason to

believe that he hasn't got any pardoning." See. Don't you ever presume. There's no such thing as

cheap grace. No license. So love of sin, despair, conceit, presumption.

Number five: another thing that hinders being a mourner is procrastination. Well I'm going to have to

get around to doing that. One of these days I'm going to have to get a good look at my sin and really

get my act together. You want to know something? It might be too late. James 4:14 says, "Don't you

know that your life is a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away," and before you start

talking about tomorrow you'd better realize there won't be a tomorrow. Don't be a fool. Listen, the

sooner the disease is dealt with the sooner the comfort comes and with it the blessedness. And if you

never deal with it in time you'll spend an eternity without God. Don't put it off.

Well what are the hindrances? Love of sin, despair, conceit, presumption, procrastination, I'll add one

more: laughter, laughter. You say, "What do you mean by that?" I mean there are some people who

just don't want to deal realistically with life. They just want to laugh all the time. It's just one big party

and as long as they can keep the party going they'll never have to face the issue. Listen to this: Amos

6:5, he talks about these unrighteous people, he say, "It's really a woe, woe to them that chant to the

sound of the harp and then vent to themselves instruments of music by David that drink wine in

bowls," in other words a cup isn't enough, they've got to have a bowl of it, "and they anoint

themselves with the cheap ointments, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. They shall

go captive with the first that go captive," he says. Fools that laugh when there's no cause for laughter,

no place for laughter, no reason for it. They should be in sorrow.

In Job 30:31, again, this hindrance is indicated, "My harp is turned to mourning and my flute into the

voice of them that weep." In other words, our world is mad about parties and music. You know one of

the first things God's going to do when the whole thing comes down and the tribulation is shut off all

music. Did you know that in Revelation 18, all music is just going to just stop. People are going to

have to stand around facing reality. Turn off the radio once in a while. Help you to realize what's really

going on inside of you.

Well love of sin, despair, conceit, presumption, procrastination, laughter. These are hindrances. You

say, "Well John, how do you get rid of the hindrance?" Well one way is to look at the cross. If you're

playing with all these ditties and you don't understand the significance of the cross, you don't

understand what Christ did. You see Christ dying for you, if that doesn't break your stony heart I don't

know what will.

Christine Rosetti wrote this: "Am I stone and not a sheep that I can stand O Christ beneath Thy cross

to number drop by drop Thy blood slow loss, and yet not weep? Not so those women loved who with

exceeding grief lamented Thee. Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly. Not so the thief was moved. Not

so the sun and moon that hid their faces in a starless sky, a horror of great darkness at broad noon. I

only I yet give not ore, but seek Thy sheep through shepherd of the flock. Greater than Moses turn

and look once more and smite a rock."

Listen, if you've got hindrances in the way take a look a t the cross, a good look and see how much

you need Jesus Christ, how much you need to face your sin. Look what it cost Him. So first remove

the hindrances. Second, study sin in the Scripture. Study it. David said, "My sin is ever before me."

Study David. Study Isaiah who said, "O woe is me, for I am an unclean man. I dwell amidst a people

of unclean lips. Study Jeremiah who wept over sin. Study Peter who said, "Depart from me I'm a

sinful man." Study Paul who said, "I'm a chief of sinners," and listen to them talk about their

sinfulness, and then when you've compared yourself with the greatest of men who ever lived try to

convince yourself you're not a sinner.

Sin tramples on God's laws, sin slights His love, it grieves His spirit, spurns His blessedness, sin

affects us drastically. It makes us naked. It makes us impure. It robs our robe and our crown. It spoils

our glory. It leaves us in filthy rags and filthy garments. Made in God's image we become like beasts

that perish. Eliminate the hindrance and study sin.

Third, pray for a contrite heart. After all only God can do that and he'll not turn down one who really

asks. So, what does it mean, How can I be a mourner? Remove the hindrances, study the Scripture, and pray.

In conclusion, how can I know if I'm a mourner? How can I know when I get there? Very simple. Are

you ready? Ask yourself if you're sensitive to sin. Are you? How do you react to sin? Do you laugh at

it? Do you let it pass by? Do you take pleasure in it? Some of you are doing it. Some of you are living

in it, all kinds of sin, and you never deal with it. Maybe it's the sin in an immoral area. Maybe it's a sin

in your business. Maybe it's dishonesty. Maybe it's a failure to pray. Maybe it's a failure to think good

thoughts; failure to be loving. Maybe it's, who knows what? How do you react to it?

Do your mourn over your sin? Let me go further. I believe if you're a true mourner you'll not only

mourn over your sin, but you'll mourn over the sins of the world. You know I see Jeremiah, Jeremiah

cried and he said, "Oh that my head were a fountain of waters that I could weep and weep."

Jeremiah, what do you want to cry about? I want to cry about these people. These people are sinful

people and they're damned. These people are going to be judged. Do you feel that way about other

people's sin? Jesus sits at the top of the mountain and looks down on Jerusalem and says he wept.

"Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft I would have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her brood, but you

would not." He wasn't weeping over himself, he was weeping over them. You see Ezekiel, and you

must see Ezekiel weeping in Chapter 9, the whole of 9 and 10, you can look at, but in 9:4, "The Lord

said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the

foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst of it."

You go find the mourners. You go find the people that cry for their brothers and sisters.

In Psalm that great 119, that long Psalm in verse 136, "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes,

because they keep not thy law," says the Psalmist. Do you weep like that? Is your heart literally

broken when God's heart is broken? Do you say with David in Psalm 69, "Zeal for thine house is

eaten me up; the reproaches that fall on you are fallen on me." I cry when you cry. Lamentations

1:16, Jeremiah says, "For these things I weep. Mine eye runneth down with water when I see the

people of God turning from Him." I mean do you really weep over your sin and the sins of the things

around you? If you're a mourner, you do. And I'm not talking about an outward disfiguring of your face

like the phony Pharisees in Matthew 6 that fixed up the outside and didn't mourn on the inside. I'm not

talking about the phony mourning of Saul in I Samuel 15, who says, "I have sinned," and then he

whispers to Samuel but honor me before the people so I don't mess up my reputation. I'm not talking

about that.

Are you sensitive to sin? And the second way to know if you're a mourner is do you have a sense of

God's forgiveness? Do you know joy in your life? Do you know real peace, real happiness, real

comfort that comes to a forgiven, cleansed, purified life? I hope you're a mourner because I want you

to be comforted, 'cause I want you to be happy. So does God. Let's pray.

Father we just thank you so much for a great time in Your word tonight. How rich, how deep, fulfilling

these great truths. Bless every life here. Lord help me to be a mourner. I want to be the kind of

person you want me to be. I want to hurt when you hurt, I want to be sensitive to my own sin, and oh

God I want to have Your heart for the sin that's around the world, sins among the brethren, sins of

those who don't name your name even. May I ever be grieved with sin. Never let me get cold; never

let me get calloused so I'm not sensitive any more. Help me to fight for Your honor with great zeal to

defend Your righteous standard. And when I break it or anyone else breaks it may my heart be in

anguish for then and then alone will I know the great comfort and happiness you want to give.

And Lord if there's someone here tonight whose never come to the bankruptcy of spirit that issues in

mourning we pray that tonight might be that night and in so mourning come to the only one who can

comfort, the Lord Jesus Christ who died paying the penalty for their sin. And for those of us who are

Christians, Father, who maybe forgotten how we ought to be towards sin, we've gotten a little

calloused and the world has sucked us in to its own patterns and we've forgotten how evil it really is

and we don't hurt any more over sin, God, renew a righteous spirit in us so that we can sense what

You sense. Meet every need, Father, wherever we might be. That whatever place in a relationship to

You, bring us to that place where You want us to be. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

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Notes:

Happy are the Sad

Text:

Introduction:

Body:

Conclusion:

Study Notes:

David Jerimiah’s Introduction

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” One of the most astounding truths about our generation is the belief that happiness and freedom from pain are our inalienable rights as American Christians. We believe that a man who manages his life well has the right to live above pain and enjoy happiness. And yet, deep down inside, we know that only children believe that pain always goes away. Pain is a part of life, and there is no guarantee of happiness.

Dr. Joseph Fabry has said that the focus of a man’s life is the pursuit of meaning, not the pursuit of happiness. If we expect everything in life to be pleasurable, we invite frustration. In recent years we have seen some preachers offer a “positive mental attitude” philosophy of life, negating the example in Scripture that hurt must sometimes happen. There has never been an attempt on the part of the biblical authors to give us a Pollyanna view of life. “Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile” isn’t found in the Old Testament. Instead, the Bible offers a realistic appraisal of life in the human realm. Abraham cried when his wife Sarah died. David mourned over the loss of his son Absalom. Jeremiah, the “weeping prophet,” preached his message of judgment with tears. A woman came to Jesus and washed His feet with her tears. The Lord Himself wept at the death of His friend Lazarus. He anguished in the Garden of Gethsemane, watched Peter weep bitterly over his denial of Him, and comforted the weeping Mary Magdalene outside the tomb on resurrection morning. Where did we ever get the idea that there is something foreign about tears in life? Why do we think that tears are a sign of weakness or that they demonstrate a lack of faith in God? That’s not the message of the Word of God.

The Bible never asks us to pretend we don’t hurt. It doesn’t tell us to pretend sorrow is not real. You cannot make truth disappear merely by wishing it so. In fact, Psalm 56:8 says that God bottles our tears and keeps them, so special are they to our Heavenly Father. Yet, having said that, I struggle with Christ’s teaching that those who mourn shall be happy. How can hurting and happiness be synonymous? What do tears have to do with laughter?

Happiness Is Discovered When We Sacrifice the Present for the Future

If a Christian accepts the crosses of life, he or she will ultimately be able to wear the crown. If we choose to live for the world to come, we may meet all kinds of sorrow, but we know that joy awaits us. In the story of Lazarus and Dives, the rich man cried out to Abraham in torment after his death. But he was told that he had received good things in this life, so he had earned punishment in the next life. That’s the trade-off we face. We sacrifice present joy for future joy. We can take the easy road now and sacrifice the future, or we can sacrifice and discipline ourselves now so that we experience joy in the future. If we mourn now, we shall laugh later.

Students understand that truth. If they discipline themselves today, do their assignments and keep up to date on their reading, they will do well at the end of the semester. Their sacrifice today will bring joy later. But if they decide to experience their joy now, putting parties ahead of homework, their joy now will result in mourning at the end of the semester when grades are posted. Jesus understood this principle. Happy are the hurting, for they shall be comforted. Happiness is discovered when we sacrifice the present for the future.

Ecclesiastes

Chapter 3, "A time to be born, a time to die, a time to laugh, a time to cry."

We've been sucked into

an entertainment, thrill seeking, pleasure mad, silly world of

fools and jesters and comedians, some of them even trying to ply their trade in the church.

How can I be a mourner? How can I be a mourner? Remove the hindrances, study the Scripture, and pray.

I believe if you're a true mourner you'll not only