It's very good to be here. I realized, I think
it was yesterday, that I'd given this passage,
and as I was thinking again about this particular
passage and this particular sermon, I realized
that a number of you would have heard me speak
on this very subject just a few weeks ago. And
there was an immediate sense of panic, and then
I thought, actually, as I'm looking at this again,
boy, I need this. Have I done it? And there'll
be nothing that I say today that will be new
for any of you. You might not have ever heard
me preach before on any passage, but there'll
be nothing here that is new. And the real test
is not so much have I heard this before, but
have I taken to heart? And am I living in the
light of it? So let me pray with that in mind.
Loving Father, may we... Be those who not only
hear your word, but take it to heart and live
it out. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Just one of the
Beatitudes. The second one, blessed are those
who mourn, for they will be comforted. Do you
know what it is? to experience mourning. A deep,
gut -wrenching grief. The works of literature
express it powerfully. I can still remember when
I was a kid first encountering Lord Tennyson's
poem written after the death of his young friend
Arthur Hallam, died at the age of 22. Break,
break, break on thy cold grey stones, O sea.
and I would that my tongue could utter the thoughts
that arise in me. Well, many have seen the film
Four Weddings and a Funeral, and you'll know
Stop All the Clocks, very movingly read before
the grave of a friend in that film. Or for me,
the play that has gone under my skin, and actually,
now I think of it, was The Lord Used Towards
My Conversion. King Lear, which raises all the
big issues of life and what it means to be human.
And I've seen King Lear countless times. And
every time, Lear comes in at the end holding
the limp body of his daughter, Cordelia, and
crying out, Howl, howl, howl. I find I can hardly
watch him. And when, before I was converted,
I was asked, What's your favorite bit of the
Bible? It sounds weird because it didn't bring
me joy, but it moved me even as a kid listening
to the words of David mourning the loss of Absalom.
I heard it first in the authorized version. Oh,
Absalom, my son, my son, my son, Absalom. Would
God I had died for thee. Oh, Absalom, my son,
my son. Of course, many of us, perhaps most of
us, Don't need literature to give us a sense
of what it feels like to mourn because we mourn
the loss of a loved one. Think of one dear church
member. I was there within five minutes of her
husband's death and she said to me a day or two
afterwards, it feels like I've lost a limb. You've
lost a loved one, family member, friend. Or you
think of a broken relationship and you've grieved
over that, maybe parental divorce. And although
you've kind of moved on and no one would see,
the wounds go very deep and you bear them every
day. There's no emotion like grief. At its most
intense, it is all -encompassing and it shrouds
every day, even bright, sunny days. with a heavy,
dark canopy. Well, if we've experienced grief,
the words of Jesus are very hard to fathom. Blessed
are those who mourn. One translation has it,
happy are the sad, which of course is an absolute
nonsense. The sad are not happy. And in a period
of grief, Happiness is not a word you'd use to
describe that. So what's going on here? It is,
of course, the beginning of the Beatitudes, and
Jesus, at the end of chapter 4, we're told, has
just begun proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.
And the Sermon on the Mount is all about the
kingdom, what it looks like to live in the kingdom,
and what are the qualities that mark those who
are in God's kingdom, now that Christ has come
as king, who are those who are going to receive
the blessings of this salvation. And you get
the verbal inclusio, the brackets at the beginning
in the first beatitude, blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And at the end of verse 10, blessed are those
persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. And these beatitudes
are describing those for whom the kingdom is
theirs. In other words, these are the qualities
that mark those who belong to the kingdom. The
first, of course, is the poor in spirit. Those
who recognize their absolute dependence on God.
That without him, we're naked, destitute, unclean,
completely unfit for his presence. And the second,
the one we're thinking about now, blessed are
those who mourn. I take it that's the emotional
counterpart of the first. What does it feel like
to be poor in spirit? Well, it feels like grief.
It's expressed in grieving over sin and over
God's judgment against sin. And as with all the
Beatitudes, the background is the Old Testament.
The prophets had warned, if there's no repentance,
there will be judgment. And judgment came. And
by the rivers of Babylon there, we sat down and
wept. And they're not just homesick. The problem
is not just that they're a long way from Jerusalem.
More profoundly, they're a long way from God.
They're under his judgment. Jeremiah is the prophet
of exile, preaching leading up to exile. He's
known as the weeping prophet because he wept
so much. Jeremiah 9 verse 1, O that my head were
a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears.
I would weep day and night for the slain of my
people. And if we're right to take it, the lamentations
written by Jeremiah, there is him, as it were,
weeping day and night. How deserted lies the
city. Once so full of people, bitterly she weeps
at night. Tears are on her cheeks, the roads
to Zion mourn. Of course, not all wept at the
time of exile or leading up to it. Some were
complacent. They didn't face up to the horror
of sin. And in their complacency, they compromised.
So in exile, they adapted to Babylonian ways,
they adopted Babylonian gods. Well, they could
only expect the Lord's continued displeasure.
But to those who, like Jeremiah, mourned... Well,
they're the ones who receive the comfort of the
gospel, the promise of salvation. Jeremiah 31,
God says, I will turn their mourning into gladness.
I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
Famously, Isaiah 40, if you're familiar with
Handel's Messiah, you want to sing these words,
comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your
God. That's the comfort of the gospel to those
who mourn. Well, then came return from exile,
70 years in Babylon. They went home and there
was some measure rejoicing, but the godly continued
to mourn because they recognized that this isn't
it. And you remember the weeping of the oldies
as they saw the new temple where the youngsters
are cheering, but the oldies are weeping because
they know this is not it. This is great, but
this isn't the Ezekiel 40 to 48 temple. This
is not salvation. They're still mourning, still
looking forward to the promised Savior. And Simeon,
of course, is the model of that. In his old age,
still, we're told by Luke, waiting for the consolation
of Israel. And then, of course, he received amazing
divine comfort as he held in his own hands the
Savior. Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace.
I'm ready to die now. The disciples hearing these
words would have known the Old Testament background.
They would have known that the poor in spirit
are not simply the materially poor, but those
who recognize their dependence on God and his
grace. And that poverty of spirit is not simply,
as it were, an intellectual tick of a doctrine.
And we can tick the doctrine. We know we are
perverse sinners who deserve nothing but the
judgment of God. But it's not just what I think
in my head. Mourning speaks of what's going on
in the heart. So I might believe that I'm a terrible
sinner. Do I mourn over my sin? There's the question.
I love the prayer book, and I was brought up,
in fact, pre -evangelized, I would say, by the
prayer book. Day after day, in some period of
my life, certainly week after week, it was before
1980 when the alternative service book came in,
it was prayer book. And week after week, I heard
these famous words of Cranmer, his confession
in the context of the communion service. This
is the spirit of mourning. Almighty God. Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things,
judge of all men, we acknowledge and bewail our
manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time
to time most grievously have committed by thought,
word, and deed. Against thy divine majesty, provoking
most justly thy wrath and indignation against
us, we do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry
for these our misdoings. The remembrance of them
is grievous unto us. The burden of them is intolerable.
Have mercy upon us. Old -fashioned language,
isn't it? And too often old -fashioned theology,
even in evangelical churches. Here's John Stott.
He said, I fear that we evangelical Christians,
by making much of grace, make light of sin. And
I think there's something in that. We're so quick
to remind others and ourselves of grace that
at times we don't dwell enough on the horror
of our sin. We don't care enough to really fight
against it and to kill it. David Brainerd, the
18th century missionary to Native Americans,
wrote these words in his journal. In my morning
devotions, my soul was melted and I bitterly
mourned over my exceeding sinfulness and vileness.
When I read those words, it made me think, when
was I last deeply convicted of sin? And when
I was, what did I do about it? Did I repent?
Or did I bury the feeling? Too often, I apply
the gospel to myself very quickly. And so quickly
that I perhaps don't dwell on my sin and don't
determine that must stop. I need to root it out.
I care about my self -image. And that can stop
me dwelling on my sin. I certainly care about
what you think. And there are some sins that
I find impossible to root out on my own. So I
need to confess. And I need to say, brother,
sister, would you pray for me in this? Would
you keep me accountable? Will you keep reminding
me of these truths? And by the way, shame prevents
so often a real engagement with sin. And it's
much worse for Christian leaders because the
shame is higher. Because the moment you're a
Christian leader, even at a theological college,
kind of people put you in a different plane.
Someone even said to me once when I was a young
curate, oh, of course, you're never tempted in
that kind of way. As if somehow getting ordained
prevented temptation. I kind of thought each
stage of the Christian life might be easier.
When I get to college, it'll be a bit easier.
When I get ordained, it'll be easier. When I
stop being a curate, no, it doesn't, because
I bring the same sinful heart with me wherever
I go. But what makes it harder, very often, is
that sense that you've got to be this perfect
public Christian. It makes it much harder to
say, brother, sister, would you pray for me?
And much more important than I do. And now's
the time to start. Jesus said, if your hand caused
you to sin, cut it off. If your eyes caused you
to sin, gouge them out. When I face sin in the
church and the world, how do I respond? And boy,
there's a lot about, isn't there? I mean, there's
always been. But now it's exposed as never before.
And it's very ugly. And we've seen some horrific
sins exposed within churches, amongst church
leaders. Day by day we're seeing horrific sins
exposed in the public world from very public
figures. Now how do I respond? Sometimes it is
absolutely right to be angry. And perhaps we're
not angry enough at sin. But I wonder whether
my first instinct should not be so much anger
at that other person but my first instinct rather
than the wagging finger of condemnation is to
look within with tears of contrition for the
sins of my own heart that might be similar might
not have gone that far thank the lord for that
but it's only by god's grace but those sins are
within me in embryo form and have I been fighting
against them? Or if those sins aren't in me,
what about my other sins? Tears of contrition,
tears of grief for the pain of those who suffer
as a result of the sin of others. And above all,
tears at the offense to God. We follow a master
who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief. As he approached Jerusalem, he saw the
city and we're told he wept over it. Well, think
of Paul, very well educated, a man of culture.
And he came to Athens, which of course was the
cultural center of the world. And you can imagine
a man of such culture getting excited to be able
to see these beautiful works of architecture,
maybe to engage with some of the greatest minds
of the day. But how did he respond when he went
to Athens? Acts 17, Luke tells us, he was greatly
distressed to see the city was full of idols.
Grieved that God was so dishonored that these
brilliant people ignored him and worshipped other
gods. Do I recognize at least something of that
feeling of grief? My own sin, sins in the church,
sins... In the world. The offense. To God. I
think all of us would say. No not enough. But
by the spirit. Yes. Something. May even now.
A deeper sense. That's the spirit's work in us.
And let's listen. To the encouragement. Blessed
are those who mourn. For they will be comforted.
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They're the
ones who receive the benefits of Christ's salvation.
Some of us don't mourn enough. Some Christian
cultures don't mourn enough. Other people don't
rejoice enough. It might be Christian cultures
don't rejoice enough. Yes, there's a time to
weep. There's a time to laugh. There's a time
to mourn. And there's a time. to dance. And having
spoken that word of confession, deep confession,
then comes the comfort. Grandma says, hear what
comfortable words our Savior Christ says to all
that truly turn to him. Come unto me. All that
travail and are heavy laden and I will refresh
you. God so loved the world he gave his one and
only son that whoever, whoever, Comes to him.
Will not perish, but have eternal life. This
is the true saying, worthy of full acceptance,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,
and he is the propitiation for our sins. That
should get the heart throbbing. Maybe there's
a sin that is lurking. in our consciousness,
and we can't quite forgive ourselves. I think
two occasions I can remember when someone said
to me, they want to confess something and they've
come to see me, and in both cases I can see them
because they're in exactly the same chair in
my study, and both cases they couldn't get a
single word out. So deeply ashamed. And both
times I said, would it help if you wrote it down?
And through the tears... They nodded and each
wrote a different sin, obviously. And I was then
able to ask, do you believe that Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners? Do you believe
that he died on the cross for every sin of those
who trust in him? Even that sin? Yes. And then
because I remember a vague memory of an illustration
where someone had said this has happened, I just
thought about it. And I happened to have some
matches in the next door room. And I went and
got some matches. And I lit the bits of paper.
And as they were being consumed, I quoted scripture.
The blood of Jesus, God's son, purifies us from
all sin. And in both cases, they were hugely
encouraged. One started crying again. But it's
a very different kind of tears. Just tears of
joy. He knew that to be true. But he'd never
really connected Christ's forgiveness with that
sin. Brothers and sisters, I don't know most
of you, but I know a lot about you. Because I
know my Bible. And you know quite a lot about
me, even if you've never met me before. I know
you're a terrible sinner. And I know you've done
wicked things. And you're capable of much worse.
But if Jesus is your Lord and Savior, if you've
trusted in him, I also know that in his sight,
you're completely clean and completely pure and
justified. And that is an amazing truth. Oh,
for a thousand tongues to sing our great Redeemer's.
Praise Jesus, the name that charms our fears,
that bids our sorrows cease. He speaks, and listening
to his voice, new life the dead receive, the
mournful broken hearts rejoice, the humble poor
believe. So receive this comfort, that God looks
at you in Christ, not as a sinner, but as a saint.
Sometimes I need to confess my sin and then get
someone to tell me that truth. I know it. But
only when someone tells it to me do I begin to
believe it. That's why I need to hear preaching.
That's why the Lord's Supper is such a comfort.
Cranmer's words again, draw near with faith and
take this Holy Communion to your comfort. And
we know it in our heads, but here in tangible,
physical form. We're being reminded of the wonder
of the gospel. Of course, hardships continue
in this life. We'll experience many sorrows.
We'll continue to grieve over loved ones who
we lose. Hopes dashed, bodies and minds broken,
disintegrating. This is a veil of tears. But
like Paul, if we grasp these truths, We may be
sorrowful, yet we'll always be rejoicing because
I'm a child of God, accepted, loved. And even
the hard things in my life are overruled by him
as he works all things for my good and my conformity
to my Lord and my brother and my friend. And
in the midst of it all, there's certain hope.
Looking forward to the new creation. When there'll
be no more of those awful S's. No sin, no Satan,
no sickness, no suffering, no sadness. Every
tear wiped away. Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted. Just a moment of
quiet and then I'll pray.