Okay, Matthew chapter 5. Now, we started last week going
through the Beatitudes, and this week we're going to take verse
4. Matthew chapter 5, verse 4. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Now, we'll take each half of
this. First of all, it says, blessed
are they that mourn. Now, happy are they that mourn? Supremely favored of God are
they that mourn? We usually say we've been blessed
when things go the way we want them to go, don't we? Have you
ever thanked the Lord because He made you to mourn? We mourn the death of loved ones. Often unkind words or deeds spoken
by us or spoken by someone to us may cause us to mourn. were
brought to grieve often in our necessary dealings in this world. And yet as sorrowful as those
things may be, there's a far, far worse reason that the blessed
person mourns. Last week we saw that those who
are blessed of God are those in whom the Holy Spirit has created
a new spirit. And in that new spirit, We're
made to behold how poor we are in ourselves, in trespasses and
in sins. Do you realize that all sorrow,
all mourning is traced directly or indirectly to sin? Every bit
of it. Death is the result of sin. Where there's no sin, there is
no death. Unkindness, the opposition we face from others every day,
these are all the result of sin. But what makes sin so exceedingly
sinful for the believer, for the blessed man, is that our
sin is against our holy, just, and good God who's dealt graciously
with us all our days. The psalmist said, I'm ready
to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me, for I will declare
mine iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin. This
is where true mourning is, is over sin. Those who are blessed
mourn because we know that our sin pierced the Lord Jesus Christ,
nailed Him to the cross. Now let me ask you something.
Did your sin nail Christ to the cross? Did you pierce the side
of Christ? Did you crucify Christ? Turn with me to Zechariah 12. This is the blessed person. This
is the blessed person now. Zechariah 12, verse 10. It says, This is the Lord speaking. And I will pour upon the house
of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace
and supplications And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for Him
as one mourneth for his only Son, and shall be in bitterness
for Him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." Look at Isaiah
chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53. Will, you look on with Emma there. Isaiah chapter 53. I ask you, did you pierce the Lord
Jesus Christ? Did you nail Him to the cross?
If you're a believer, if you've been blessed, if you have been
blessed of God to see that you're poor in your spirit with nothing
to offer God whatsoever, and you've been made to mourn over
your sin, here's why you mourn. Isaiah 53 verse 4 says, Surely
he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities,
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. This is what the
blessed man mourns over when he beholds sin in himself. He
mourns over that. I heard someone say one time,
they were talking to a young man and they mentioned something
to him about something that was ungodly, that was unrighteous
and a terrible act. And they made the comment to
this young fellow, and they said, well, that's what Christ died
for, so you can enjoy something like that every now and then.
That's not what the believer feels. The blessed man doesn't
feel like because Christ purged him of his sin and put him away,
that now he just goes out and sins. He has no desire for that. Instead, when he sins, he is
brought to remember continually, it's this very thing that I am. Sin. That I am. Through and through. That I think. That I breathe. eat, that I live, that I perform
continually. It's this thing right here that's
happening right now that put my Savior on the cross. This
is why He went to Calvary to bear this sin that I'm so lightly
taken for granted and just walking in right now. That causes a believer
to mourn. But where does comfort come from
when we begin to mourn like that? Where does the comfort come from?
There at the end of Isaiah 53, verse 5, it says, And with His
stripes we are healed. With His stripes we are healed. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Now, let's look at this second
part. They shall be comforted. Look over at Psalm 126. Psalm
126. The comfort of those who mourn
over their sin is Christ Jesus Himself, who is indeed our forgiveness
of sin. Now look over here at Psalm 126.5.
I like this right here. Psalm 126.5. The Lord likens
our tears, the tears of the blessed man, the tears of the believer
who truly mourns his sin. The Lord likens our tears to
seed which brings forth a bountiful harvest. Look at this. Psalm
126.5. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him. You see, when we're made to mourn
our sin, We've been blessed because God causes us to behold Christ
Jesus our Lord. And when we behold Him, here's
what we behold. He is the one who went forth
weeping. He's a man of sorrows acquainted
with grief. He's the one who went to the
cross and on the cross He was bearing precious seed. He was bearing the sins of all
those whom God gave Him before the foundation of the world.
His children, His offspring, He was bearing precious seed.
And He Himself is Christ the seed. He said before He went
to the cross, He said, except a corn of wheat. We planted some
seeds the other day. We planted some tomatoes and
we planted some squash and cucumbers and things like that. You take
that seed and it has to fall into the ground. And it has to
be broken. And then from it comes a harvest. that grows up. And Christ said,
I must go to the cross for except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground. He came to this earth. He came
to where we are. He said, and except it be broken.
He went to the cross and He was broken that calvary for His people.
And He says, but if it be broken, it brings forth much fruit. And
He says here that He will come again with rejoicing, bringing
His sheaves with Him. You know what sheaves are? That's
when you go out and you gather up all of the harvest and you
bind it together in the sheaves and you come with the, it's the
fruit that you got from planting and sowing and harvesting. He
said He'll come forth with the sheaves. And so when we're made
to mourn, that's when we're the most teachable. That's when we're
really the most teachable. You know, if you look back there
at Psalm 116, while you're there, Psalm 116. Listen to this now. It's difficult
to do anything but look up to God when you're cast down. We
find it near impossible to stiffen our necks in rebellion when our
hearts are melted in sorrow and the flames of obstinacy turn
to smoke when they're drowned in our tears. But listen to Psalm
116.3. The sorrows of death compassed
me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble
and sorrow. Then, then, called I upon the
name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver
my soul. You remember at Cana, at the
marriage feast, you remember Christ caused those earthen vessels
to be filled with water. And then he turned that water
into wine. And you know what it made the
governor do? It made the governor call the bridegroom. He says,
when I fill you with tears, and I sanctify those tears so that
you behold the blood of Christ, it's going to cause you to call
upon the bridegroom. That's Christ the Lord. Look
what he did here. He says, So the blessed man is
comforted, and he rejoices, saying, Gracious is the Lord, righteous,
yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple.
I was brought low, and He helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my
soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. How did
He deal bountifully? He chose me freely. He came to
where I am and purged my sin completely. He made me holy and
without blame before God and love. He sent forth His Spirit
and He's given me eternal life. And there is therefore now no
condemnation. He's dealt bountifully with me.
If He sends me through a veil of tears and sorrow to cause
me to quit looking at myself and feeling sorry for myself
and looking at this flesh and mourning something that I didn't
need to hold on to anyway, to cause me to look to Christ, It'll
be okay. He dealt bountifully with me.
He dealt bountifully with me. Well, I want you to consider
something. I want you to consider what the
Lord has provided for His people. And this is our closing application. Consider what our Lord has provided
for His people. God the Father gave His Son The Son said He came for this
reason, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto
them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy in the place of mourning,
the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness, that they
might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
He might be glorified. Christ Jesus the Son has given
us to comfort the Holy Spirit, to comfort us. We've been given
the Scriptures, God's Word. You know how when you give your
word on something, you sign your name at the bottom? That's why
you sign your name. God signed His name right here
in every letter of this book. So you have His Word on it, and
it's written in the blood of Christ. The Lord Jesus has given
us the ordinances, baptism, and the Lord's Table to remember
Him. to delight in Him. He's given us ministers of His
Word who have a commission from Him to speak comfortably to the
Lord's people, to declare to them that their warfare is accomplished.
They can't do it themselves. He did it. So, let me ask those
of you who are seeking comfort somewhere else. Why? Why are you? Don't you see you're not going
to find it anywhere else? Do you see what God's given?
Do you think He would give you comfort anywhere else? You don't seek comfort in Christ
because Christ hasn't been made all your consolation and all
your comfort. The whole don't need a physician
to seek to. Are you sorrowing over your sin? Or are you just feeling sorry
for yourself? Big difference. Big difference. If you have been brought to see
your sin, here's what the Lord says. He says, Come unto Me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But it's going to be a gift.
It's going to be free. It's not going to be earned.
And it's going to be what He gives. But when He gives it, you'll
finally find rest for your soul. You'll finally find that comfort
and that consolation that you've been longing for. And that's
why He said, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be
comforted. I've got one more Scripture.
Turn to Revelation 21. Revelation 21. This comfort comes to us in three
ways. Christ is our comfort as we endure
suffering. That's what we come into these
trials and we suffer in them, but He's our comfort during those
trials. And then afterwards, He turns
us again to behold Christ and we get a foretaste of heaven
divine. We get a foretaste of what it
will be like to be with our Savior. It yields the peaceable fruit
of righteousness. And then comes the full reaping
in the great day of our Lord. And here it is, Revelation 21,
verse 1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no
more sea." I heard this the other day. You
know why there was no more sea? It divides. It divides. No more division. There is no more sea. And I,
John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall
be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death." neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away." Passed away. It just strikes me when
I look into something like this. It strikes me just how we're just looney tunes to look
for comfort anywhere but Christ. Just absolutely crazy. Insane. It just is utter backwardsness
and utter ignorance to do so. Pray God will cause you to seek
comfort in Him. I pray for that. I pray God will
cause you to seek comfort in Him, to mourn, to mourn over
your sin and what you are, that you might find that it's all
been forgiven in Christ. That'll be a happy, happy day.
All right.