1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,520 we have prayed earnestly that, Lord, you would meet with us, Lord. Father, Lord, the purpose 2 00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:11,560 of worship is to describe worth and honor and reverence to your holy name. And, Father, 3 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:15,520 Lord, we don't just come so that you hear from us, but, Lord, we come so that we might 4 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:20,880 hear from you. Lord, you have given to us your word, and the entrance of your word gives 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:27,080 light. Lord, might you give us your spirit today, illumined hearts, and, God, help us, 6 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:32,600 Lord, to understand the holy text that is set before us. We pray this in Jesus' name, 7 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:33,600 amen. 8 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:40,360 As you read through the pages of the New Testament, I don't think you can help be struck by some 9 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:44,280 of the things, and I wouldn't even dare to say outrageous things, that our Lord said. 10 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:50,200 Let me give you two examples. In Luke 14, Jesus said, if anyone comes to me and does 11 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:57,440 not hate father, mother, wife, children, brother, sisters, yeah, in his own life, he cannot 12 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:03,280 be my disciple. I mean, that's a very strong statement. It's somewhat difficult to understand, 13 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:08,080 and certainly difficult to swallow. Is Jesus saying that we must absolutely hate our family 14 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,480 if we are going to be his disciple? Another occasion, he's talking to people who are 15 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:18,600 dealing with sin, and he said, if your eye causes you to sin, well, pluck it out. Cast 16 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:25,120 it from you, for it is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to enter it with 17 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:31,480 two eyes and be cast into hellfire. Now, obviously, in both of these examples, our Lord is saying 18 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:36,280 these things to capture the attention of those who are listening to him. He's using what 19 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:43,040 we know as hyperbole, but in the text today, in Matthew 5-4, there's no hyperbolic statement 20 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:49,240 here, and he's not even using language for dramatic effect. Instead, in Matthew 5, what 21 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:55,040 we find at the very beginning is a benediction. Our Lord is pronouncing a blessing upon his 22 00:01:55,040 --> 00:02:00,280 people, but what is surprising is that this blessing comes in the most unexpected ways. 23 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:04,480 Now, when we're talking about a blessing, we're talking about the blesser, God, he is 24 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:11,440 pronouncing a state that is bestowed upon his people. These are not commands. It's not 25 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:15,720 comparatives. This is not something you and I do. This is the indicative mode. You are 26 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:21,240 blessed, he says. But admittedly, if we look at him on the surface, these seem very strange. 27 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:26,940 Notice what our Lord says. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. If 28 00:02:26,940 --> 00:02:33,720 we wanted, we could translate this several ways. Happy are the sad, because blessed is 29 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:40,880 mercadios in Greek. It just means happy. Happy are the sad. Happy are the unhappy. Favored 30 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:46,120 by God, because that's what it means to be blessed, are those who are mourning and in 31 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,920 sorrow. Now, if we look at it that way, it just doesn't make sense. I mean, how is that 32 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:58,440 even possible that those who are favored by God find themselves in mourning? We might 33 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:03,920 expect to find just the opposite. Blessed are those who are in grand celebration. Blessed 34 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:11,360 are those in mirth. They have been adopted by God. But Jesus, speaking of his kingdom 35 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:17,520 and life in his kingdom, on this side of heaven, says blessed are those who mourn. Now, this 36 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:22,160 goes without saying that not all who mourn are blessed. You might find a thief and he 37 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:28,360 may be mourning sitting in a jail cell lamenting the fact that he was caught. That's not blessed 38 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:33,300 state. Instead, our Lord is pronouncing a blessing on those who are mourning and they're 39 00:03:33,300 --> 00:03:42,800 doing so for the right reasons. Back in our country in 9-11-2001, 2,996 people lost their 40 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:48,800 lives due to terrorist activity. Just this past year, on October 7th, 2024, Hamas led 41 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:57,320 an attack on Israel where 1,139 people were slaughtered. You and I live in an age of terrorism. 42 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:03,560 All around us we see senseless killings. We live in an age with a threat of nuclear war. 43 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:10,280 We live in an age of disease. You and I have experienced a pandemic that killed millions. 44 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:15,960 We live in an age of cancer. And sadly, we even see children get cancer. I mean, who 45 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:20,400 among us has not been moved by watching the commercials that's put out by St. Jude's 46 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:27,800 Hospital? We see many people who desire to get married and yet they remain single. We 47 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:32,800 see couples who have a tremendous desire for children and who would make great parents 48 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:37,760 remain childless. And we are left scratching our heads because our world really does not 49 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:45,760 make sense. We live in an age of injustice. The poor are exploited. The righteous are 50 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:53,120 persecuted. And the seemingly evil are exalted. We live in an age of political corruption 51 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:59,800 at the highest levels. We live in an age of debauchery and filth. Just look at the beginning 52 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:06,600 of the Olympics and I know how they've explained it away. We live in an age of death. Young 53 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:18,200 and old, rich and poor, all die. And so when we live here in this age, in your soul, don't 54 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:24,720 you long for something more? Don't you find yourself mourning, truly mourning over the 55 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:33,040 fallenness and rebellion of our world? We lament. We lament the present and we long 56 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,880 for the future when the cursed world will be but a distant memory. That's what God's 57 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:42,400 people do. Because right now we live in an age that stands in opposition and defiance 58 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:49,640 against God. So the people of God mourn. We mourn in this present age and we long for 59 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:58,280 something more. What are we longing for? What's that existential angst that's in your soul? 60 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:04,040 It is for the kingdom of God to come in its fullness. This is why the saints have always 61 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:10,280 prayed as our Lord taught us, thy kingdom come. That's what we're waiting for. That's 62 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:17,040 what we're longing for. Our Lord says, bless, now you're favored by God. If you find yourself 63 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:24,180 in mourning, sorrow, for you will be comforted. Because the reason you're going to be comforted, 64 00:06:24,180 --> 00:06:29,760 there is coming a day when there will be a great reversal of fortune. Do you see that 65 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:35,840 by faith? The wicked is going to be judged and righteousness will be honored. The kingdom 66 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:43,920 is coming and one day it's going to arrive in fruition. But that day's not yet come. 67 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:54,120 And so we what? We lament. We sorrow. We grieve. Or we mourn. Because we understand this world 68 00:06:54,120 --> 00:07:04,040 this age, it's not as God intended. Childhood cancer is not blessed. Nuclear wars, innocents 69 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:12,240 being slaughtered. But friends, we did this. In our sin, we have destroyed shalom and brought 70 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:20,720 in chaos. And our Lord says, if you understand that and you're mourning, it's a good thing. 71 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:30,080 Because ultimately, one day, you will find comfort. The ultimate consolation is coming 72 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:35,440 because the King is coming and he's bringing the kingdom with him. Now we're in Matthew 73 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:40,080 5 and we're in this section known as the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes is simply a Latin word for happy. 74 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:45,440 That's why we call it this. Now these Beatitudes, some people will lift them from their context 75 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:51,560 and they make them mere pithy statements that all you should seek to emulate, be meek, be 76 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:57,800 poor in spirit. But that's not what our Lord is saying. These are not commands. I love 77 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:01,800 what Lawrence Farley in his commentary, he said, these Beatitudes, like the rest of the 78 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:08,640 sermon, are not moralistic maxims for the world at large, but they are promises to Christ's 79 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:13,920 disciples. They were never meant to be seized on by the world as bits of Christian folk 80 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:20,080 wisdom, as if they could be applied apart from saving faith in the Lord. It is here 81 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:25,880 that Christ, God's Messiah, is pronouncing a blessing on his people and he's going to 82 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:34,160 show us through this great sermon, 5, 6, and 7, what life in his kingdom looks like but 83 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:39,480 on this side of heaven. Now admittedly, these Beatitudes, they're paradoxical. At first, 84 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,280 they don't make any sense. They seem very strange. They are opposite of what the world 85 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:47,640 would say. Because if you would go out into our culture, the world says the way to happiness 86 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:53,280 is for things to go your way, to get what you want. The blessed person in the world 87 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:59,280 is not mourning. He's living life to the fullest. In fact, the society in which we 88 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:06,060 live says, you are blessed if you can fill your life with pleasure and passion, however 89 00:09:06,060 --> 00:09:14,480 that may look. YOLO, right? You only live once. That's the mantra of our culture. And 90 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,480 yet ironically, the most miserable people on the planet this morning are those who are 91 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:24,280 self-absorbed and they cannot deal or cope with anything that doesn't go their way. That's 92 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:29,680 life in the kingdom of man. So people assume that if you can avoid pain, if you can avoid 93 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:34,240 heartache, if you have no trouble and you have no disappointment, well, that's a surefire 94 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:40,640 way to being happy, to being blessed. And our Lord says, nope, that's not true at all. 95 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:45,120 There's an old Arab proverb, I think it's so wise, it says, all sunshine makes a desert. 96 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:51,480 It's true in our lives as well. Now here our Lord comes on the scene as the King, John 97 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:57,760 the Baptist called him the Lamb of God, and he turns conventional wisdom upside down. 98 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:02,800 And he says, hey, if you want to know who God's favor rests upon, look at those who 99 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:08,840 are currently mourning, not those who are in revelry. We mourn because our society is 100 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:14,360 unjust and we live in an unjust culture. As Isaiah said, I live as an unclean man in the 101 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:21,760 midst of an unclean people. And yet there's another mourning this morning, mourning this 102 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:30,080 morning that our Lord is also pleased with. This is the mourning over our sin, grieving 103 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:36,720 over the way in which we daily fail the Lord and we fail to honor Him in obedience. Do 104 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:42,240 you feel like that sometimes you just feel like a failure? Lord, I want to please you. 105 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:49,120 I fail. I see this, there are days I start out my day in prayer and I'm like, Lord, help 106 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:58,600 me, help me. And two hours later between Adar and Gabi, that battle has been lost. So three 107 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:05,080 weeks ago we looked at Matthew 5.3, blessed, happy are those who are poor in spirit. Not 108 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:10,240 poor, not financially, it could be. The spiritually bankrupt is what the word literally means. 109 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:15,280 So there's poor in spirit are those who have come to the realization that we possess nothing 110 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:20,600 in and of ourselves that can commend us to God. The poor in spirit realizes we have no 111 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:26,060 righteousness. As good as you are, worldly speaking, you are not good before God. And 112 00:11:26,060 --> 00:11:31,960 Jesus opens and says blessed are you because the kingdom is for you. It's a realization 113 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:38,240 of our true spiritual condition. But that's an intellectual awareness. Verse four is the 114 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:43,360 emotional response we have to that. We have come to understand that we are spiritually 115 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:52,600 bankrupt. We have nothing to offer God. And so we grieve and we mourn over that condition. 116 00:11:52,600 --> 00:12:01,360 We've been humble to see our need and we now have holy sorrow over it. That's good. The 117 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:06,560 Anglican Bishop, J.C. Ryle, he said, a right knowledge of the way to heaven is to feel 118 00:12:06,560 --> 00:12:14,360 that we are on the way to hell. To be sensible of our own corruption and abhor our own transgressions 119 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:20,440 is the first symptom of spiritual health. We must know the depth and malignancy of our 120 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:27,040 disease in order to appreciate the great physician. Basically he's saying before you can ever 121 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:35,200 really lavish and revel in grace, you must understand your sin. We see the pattern that 122 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:41,000 Christ is discussing. It's antithetical to the normal worldview. Everything in the kingdom 123 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:47,520 of God is antithetical to the kingdom of man. In fact, the values of God's kingdom are vices 124 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:55,160 in man's kingdom. And the vices in man's kingdom are actually the virtues of God's. Remember 125 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:59,440 as I said earlier, the world says no, bless if you can be entertained. If you can keep 126 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:06,080 yourself amused constantly, if you can numb your pain, if you can forget your misery. 127 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:10,320 Our world doesn't like to be on mourners, people who are sad. It's not fun. It brings 128 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:19,080 them down. And if life's not fun, well life's too short, right? That's our culture. Fun, 129 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:27,160 recreation, carpe diem, that's the gods of our world. And friends, listen carefully. 130 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:32,640 Sadly, too many profession Christians are seeking the same hedonistic lifestyle. Our 131 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:40,240 Lord Jesus Lord, Master, he says, you are fortunate and favored by God if you are now 132 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:46,160 in a state of mourning for it's coming a day of ultimate comfort. The blessed by God, we 133 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:52,760 feel this weight of sin and we lament over it. John Stott said, this mourning that is 134 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:57,280 blessed is not the sorrow of bereavement like death to which Christ refers. It's a sorrow 135 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:03,520 of repentance. It's a second stage of spiritual blessing. It is one thing, he says, to be 136 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:09,520 spiritually poor and acknowledge it, but it is another to grieve and mourn over it. Or 137 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:17,280 in more theological language, confession is one thing, contrition is another. The psalmist 138 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:23,680 David in Psalm 51 says, the sacrifices of God, not lambs, not bulls, not goats, it's 139 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:32,640 a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart. These, O God, you will not despise. Far from 140 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:39,920 despising these, O God, you take delight in. The broken heart and the contrite spirit. 141 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,520 I'm sorry for quoting so much, but I just couldn't leave them out. Spurgeon, let me 142 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:51,360 say what he said. Let a man once feel sin for half an hour, really feel its tortures, 143 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:56,600 and I warrant you, I guarantee you that he would prefer to dwell in a pit of snakes than 144 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:03,000 to live with his sins. If you can look on sin without sorrow, you have never looked 145 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:11,040 on Christ. But the problem in our day is the culture has made inroads into the church. 146 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:22,380 We're not in mourning. We laugh at sin. We laugh at godless humor. Far too many people 147 00:15:22,380 --> 00:15:29,880 are entertained by that which God hates. Not only do we laugh at the wrong things, we don't 148 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:35,440 mourn for the right things. There is a godly mourning or sorrow and there's a worldly 149 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:41,360 sorrow. Paul talked about it in 2 Corinthians 7. Godly sorrow, well, that produces repentance. 150 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:48,160 That leads to salvation. You're never gonna regret that. But the sorrow of the world, 151 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:54,200 it produces, it leads to death. We mourn, we grieve like the world does when we are 152 00:15:54,200 --> 00:16:01,000 in mourning because circumstances do not come out in our favor. Events don't turn out like 153 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:06,040 we'd hoped and then we're sad, we're despondent. Well, that's what the world does. That's not 154 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:11,960 the blessed mourning our Lord is speaking of. That's in fact very self-centered. The 155 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:16,960 mourning our Lord blesses is those who are grieving over their sins and their offenses 156 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:26,800 against God. You see God. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. That leads to salvation. Sorrowing 157 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:33,240 over sin, mourning over sin, and not just a sin before we are saved, daily we feel the 158 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:40,400 weight, Lord. Lord, I feel I'm prone to wonder, prone to leave the God I love. That's your 159 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:46,200 experience. It's mine. Alexander McLaren says, there are a few things which the so-called 160 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:51,760 Christianity of this day needs more than an intenser realization of the fact and the gravity 161 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:57,560 of the fact of personal sinfulness. There lies the root of the shallowness of so much 162 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:03,560 that calls itself Christianity in the world today. It is a source of almost all the evils 163 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:08,080 under which the church is groaning. And I am sure that if millions of the people that 164 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:14,000 complacently put themselves down in the census as Christians could but once see themselves 165 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:20,200 as they are and connect their conduct with the way God thinks about it, they would get 166 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:29,240 shock waves or shocks that would sober them. Friends, judgment begins at the house of God. 167 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:35,240 We need to do soul searching. It is time not morbidly but it is time to search the recesses 168 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:41,980 of our hearts, look for the idols that have been erected there and repent. It's a good 169 00:17:41,980 --> 00:17:46,920 thing to repent. It's a good thing to confess our sins like as Jamie led us in. We need 170 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:57,480 to do so. Part of this repentance is grieving over how wayward we are, how sinful we are. 171 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:00,840 But one of the things that is so very evident is that we don't grieve the way we should 172 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:06,440 is the way that we do not take Lord's Day worship seriously enough. Far too many of 173 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:10,080 God's people have other priorities and they will forsake the worship of the triune God 174 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:16,600 in order to follow their own agendas. It is sinful. Jesus in the sermon will tell us in 175 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:20,760 Matthew 6 verse 33, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these 176 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:29,040 things will be added unto you. Seek first. Se teo primacy. First. That means nothing 177 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:35,840 has priority over the worship of God. Nothing, friends. Not sports, not a golf game, not 178 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:40,000 a hobby, nothing. We find God's people, they get a boat, they miss every weekend because 179 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:45,480 they're out celebrating on the boat. That is sinful. And it needs to be mourned and 180 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:52,520 grieved. That's your agenda over God's. Seek first. And you have to do something with the 181 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:59,600 text. Don't explain it away because in the day of judgment it is not explained away. 182 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:06,600 Seek God's kingdom and the primacy of his agenda in our lives. But there's a lowering 183 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:13,400 commitment towards the worship. I feel we're doing a great, as a pastor I truly lament 184 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:17,440 this. We're doing a great disservice to our children. I think we're leading them away 185 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:23,220 from the faith. The more our kids used to get not being in church, the more we teach 186 00:19:23,220 --> 00:19:32,660 our kids not to be Christians. David, Solomon, Rehoboam. Look at the progression. David's 187 00:19:32,660 --> 00:19:36,760 full-hearted devotion to the Lord. Solomon had half-hearted devotion to the Lord. Rehoboam 188 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:43,640 didn't even know the Lord. But as Americans we pursue hobbies with vehement passion, offering 189 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:48,280 lukewarm worship to the living God. As though God is satisfied that we're merely here and 190 00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:56,680 we'll offer up our paltry praise. Mourn, repent, grieve over that. Spiritual poverty, verse 191 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:00,440 three, leads to godly mourning, verse four. It's just a natural outflow of it because 192 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:05,960 we have sinned grievously against God. Psalm 51 that we looked at earlier, this is David's 193 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:11,640 great psalm of repentance over he was confronted with sin of adultery with Bathsheba and he 194 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:17,000 writes, I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is always before me but against you and 195 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:23,080 you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight. That's it, friends. David knew 196 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:28,040 he sinned against Bathsheba. He knew he sinned against Uriah. But he said, no, it's against 197 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:36,520 you, Lord. I've broken your law. This is a humble heart. It's a spirit of contrition. 198 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:41,040 Isaiah wrote this, but on this one while I look, God says on him who is poor and of a 199 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:47,520 contrite spirit. And notice this last phrase, and who trembles at my word, tremble to be 200 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:56,480 in fear to shake. We need a reverence for the living God, a holy reverence, one that 201 00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:03,480 trembles there. That's the one that God looks at. This word for mourn in verse four of Matthew 202 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:08,000 five, it's a Greek word, pantheon, it literally means to wail. It's like the wailing or the 203 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:15,720 grieving over the loss of a loved one. I mean, this is a deep hearted, a guttural grief here. 204 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:21,160 There are several words that can be used. This is the highest one that our Lord is using. 205 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:27,240 Wail loudly, Jesus said. Sinclair Ferguson said, it is emphatically not to be equated 206 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:31,600 with a heavy and depressive spirit. This is not being melancholy. Some of us by nature, 207 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:36,720 he said, are more melancholic and sink more easily into our spirits. By contrast, the 208 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:41,400 man who genuinely mourns because of a sin has been drawn out of himself to see God in 209 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:49,440 his holiness and grace. It is this, his side of God that has made him mourn. Paradoxically, 210 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:54,320 it is the same side of God that will bring him comfort because the God against whom he 211 00:21:54,320 --> 00:22:01,200 has sinned is the one who forgives sinners. Amen. The good thing about God is he's holy, 212 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:07,480 but he's merciful. And it's of his mercies we are not consumed. And Jesus said, listen, 213 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:14,720 God's blessing is upon you, you grieving ones. You've sinned against God and you realize 214 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:20,640 it and it produces contrition. That's favor. But there are scores of people in the church 215 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:26,440 of Christ who never mourn. They don't, they don't want that. This doesn't make sense to 216 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:33,760 them. Sin is taken in a glib manner. And friends, there is no comfort to those who do not go 217 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:41,120 to war with their sin. The one who truly does is blessed by God because it's evidence of 218 00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:46,960 a Holy Spirit born repentance. Now this blessing, it's not because you're sorry, it's not because 219 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:51,480 you're grieving. There's no merit in that. It's what the Lord does in response to it. 220 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:56,600 What does the Lord do in response to it? He gives comfort, the comfort of forgiveness. 221 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:06,160 Godly sorrow brings divine forgiveness, which brings divine blessing. Those who mourn can 222 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:11,300 be truly happy because they are the ones, only ones who will ever experience the forgiveness 223 00:23:11,300 --> 00:23:20,160 of God. Brings freedom, friends. But you and I feel it, even after we're saved, we continue 224 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:26,760 to sin. But we ought to grow more deeply in our mourning because of our sinfulness. We 225 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:32,160 really should. We also should understand more deeply of God's love and mercy. We ought to 226 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,760 shout at this. I mean, every Lord's Day ought to be just a triumphant celebration and then 227 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:41,600 also a mourning. And I know that's paradoxical. We mourn and yet we rejoice. We mourn because 228 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:46,920 who we are, we rejoice because of who he is. But see, to grow in grace is growing in awareness 229 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:52,560 of our sin. The world says, eat, drink, and be merry. Tomorrow you die. There's no inventory 230 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:57,240 of themselves. They don't try to see if they're taking sin too lightly. They don't even believe 231 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:04,840 in sin. So I'm not saying being golfed in despair or swallowed up in self-pity. That's 232 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:11,720 a false humility. True mourning over sin does not focus on us. It does not even focus on 233 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:16,200 sin primarily. It focuses on God, the one sinned against, and who alone can forgive 234 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:25,440 us of our sin. Don't stay here, go there. Don't stay in lament, go to worship. But worship 235 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:31,120 is preceded by lament. You and I are never going to be sinless in this life. But the 236 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:35,680 mark of the mature believers, we're growing in the awareness of sin in our life. Do you 237 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:40,480 feel like the longer you walk with Christ, the more sinful you are? Because you start 238 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:44,000 to see it even more. Because when we're first starting out, we're like, we don't see sin 239 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,200 the way God sees sin. But the more we grow in holiness, the more we grow in who he is, 240 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:52,760 the more sinful I become. I think that's the prophet Isaiah there in Isaiah 6. Isaiah was 241 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:59,640 a righteous man. He saw God and he said, whoa, I'm undone. Now what's the result? Verse 242 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:06,240 4, they, those who are mourning will be comforted. Every tear you shed will be wiped away by 243 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:11,840 the hand of God himself. Comfort is the Greek word parakeleo. And you know the Holy Spirit, 244 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,560 this is the noun that's used in the Holy Spirit in John 14. The Holy Spirit is called our 245 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:21,000 periclete, the one who comes alongside us to bring comfort, to bring help. Here the 246 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:29,560 mourners are promised comfort, future comfort. Present sorrow, future comfort. Isaiah 61, 247 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:35,160 writing of the Messiah. Man, this is an incredible verse. Here's what Isaiah wrote. And again, 248 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:40,960 our Lord quoted this, Isaiah 61, beginning of verse 1, the spirit of the Lord God is 249 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:46,400 upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent 250 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,920 me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of 251 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:55,400 the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day 252 00:25:55,400 --> 00:26:02,240 of the vengeance of our God. That's not comfort. And it goes on. What else has the Lord sent 253 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:09,240 you to do, Jesus? To comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give 254 00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:15,480 them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the 255 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:22,160 spirit of heaviness. Man, friends, think about this. You and I are not just promised forgiveness. 256 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:27,680 Verse 3, you were promised entrance into the kingdom of God, but the ultimate treasure, 257 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:34,240 the ultimate, I mean the absolute ultimate is the presence of God Himself. We will be 258 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:41,200 with God. So now what? Just check yourself. See if there's anything. Is there a love of 259 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:46,660 sin there? This is the primary hindrance to godly mourning. Holding on to your sin, holding 260 00:26:46,660 --> 00:26:51,800 onto it, will make you more resistant to the work of the Holy Spirit. This is when you 261 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:55,080 know something is not right in your life. It could be a relationship. It could be a 262 00:26:55,080 --> 00:27:03,080 habit. It's wrong and yet you refuse to forsake it. You love it too much. You can't call Him 263 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:08,240 Lord. Second would be conceit. You try to cover your sin. You choose to believe, well 264 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:12,640 there's nothing to mourn over here. Listen, there's nothing to see here. You explain it 265 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:17,820 away. The Proverbs says, he who covers the sins will not prosper, but who so confesses 266 00:27:17,820 --> 00:27:26,920 and forsakes them, they find mercy. Third is presumption. Presumption is pride. Pride 267 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:32,040 says, yeah I need grace, but I don't need a lot of grace. This is the attitude that 268 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:39,120 says I will sin, but God will forgive me anyways. I've had several people through my 20 years 269 00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:43,820 here at Mamrie now who sat in my office, crossed on me and they said, will God forgive me if 270 00:27:43,820 --> 00:27:46,480 I do this? And I'm like, you're asking them a question. They're like, well I'm going to 271 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:49,760 do it anyways. Usually it's in reference to leaving their spouse, choosing another person 272 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:57,800 to be hooked up with. I'm going to do this and I know that God will forgive me. It's 273 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:03,680 not true. This is a minimization of sin and seriousness. There is no pardon offered to 274 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:10,320 the one who sins presumptuously because there is no repentance in that man or woman. You 275 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,800 don't say I know it's wrong and I'm going to do it anyways. That's not repentance. That's 276 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:21,200 arrogance. That's defiance. That's a willful sin against a holy God. Those who arrogantly 277 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:28,920 presume upon the grace of God are not mourning over their sins. Procrastination. Well, I'll 278 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:34,520 do this at some point. I'll get serious about this stuff. It's foolish because you don't 279 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:41,360 know what a day may bring forth. What's the key here? To look at the holiness of God, 280 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:47,200 to see our sinfulness, to see the great sacrifice of his son that was offered for our sin, and 281 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:53,120 seeing God's sinfulness and our, God's holiness, excuse me, and our sinfulness and the grace 282 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:59,520 that's offered to us in Christ will thaw a cold heart like nothing else can. It's the 283 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:03,600 only thing that can. Friends, if you come to the table and you cannot have your heart 284 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:11,400 warmed by the thought and remembrance and communion of Christ, pray. Beg God that he 285 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:18,400 would give you a contrite heart not to take sin flippantly. So how then do I know if I'm 286 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:23,440 mourning in a godly way? Do you laugh at sin? Do you take it lightly? Do you take it flippantly? 287 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:27,520 Are you entertained by it? Now again, I want to caution. This is not being a Pharisee, 288 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:31,840 one who looks good on the outside, has no internal brokenness over it. The Pharisee 289 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:36,880 never mourns over his sin. He mourns over the loss of prestige. He mourns over the loss 290 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:43,760 of reputation. But the godly mourner is one that's concerned with the harm that our sin 291 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:50,520 does to God's glory. We're not worried about being exposed. In light of all that God has 292 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:55,240 done for us, church, I mean, think about it. Stop for a moment in this day of worship. 293 00:29:55,240 --> 00:30:02,080 In the light of all that God has done for you to bring you out of sin, certainly you 294 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:07,720 cannot go on sinning willfully and tolerating it in your life. It is time to make holy war 295 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:15,040 with it. Focus on the promise that Christ gave. Focus on that promise and receive it 296 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:20,200 in faith. What is the promise? Happy, blessed are those who mourn. Why are they happy? Why 297 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:28,640 are they blessed? Verse four, look at the promise of Christ. Here is just God's grace. 298 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:34,720 You will receive comfort. There's coming a day, guys. It will all be behind you. It'll 299 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:39,120 be a day of rejoicing, a day of feasting, a day of celebration on earth. Chris Miller 300 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:44,820 in his commentary, he says, Christ will provide freedom from the guilt of sin, resurrection 301 00:30:44,820 --> 00:30:50,580 from the sting of death, justice for those oppressed by a violent world, disciples who 302 00:30:50,580 --> 00:30:55,400 view the brokenness of their own lives and of others' lives as God does. Oh, they will 303 00:30:55,400 --> 00:31:00,940 find many reasons to mourn, but they also look forward to the future when God will set 304 00:31:00,940 --> 00:31:06,520 this world straight and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning. He's 305 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:13,760 quoting there Revelation 21, Revelation 21, verses three and four. And I heard a loud voice 306 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:21,600 from heaven saying, Lord, make this reality. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men 307 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:27,080 and he that is God will dwell with them and they shall be his people. God himself will 308 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:33,640 be with them and be their God. Amen. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. 309 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:40,120 There shall be no more death. That's gone. Nor sorrow, nor crying. That means no more 310 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:49,280 mourning. There'll be no more pain for the former things have passed away. How long, 311 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:54,920 oh Lord, till this day becomes a reality. Before we prepare for communion, we're going 312 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:59,560 to sing that song, How Long, Oh Lord, How Long. Brian, Shelby, Kirsten, when you come. 313 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,920 Junior Church is making their way back in. Children, go ahead and sit with your parents. 314 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:07,440 And I'm gonna ask you to go ahead and stand as we sing this song as a way to prepare our 315 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:11,000 hearts to enter into time of communion with our Lord.