May God bless us together this
evening as we continue our meditation in the fifth chapter of Matthew. And of course we are meditating
on what we commonly call the Sermon on the Mount. And this
evening we'll speak on the fourth verse. The fourth verse reads,
blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. It is quite amazing really to
think that such words are so appropriate and so encouraging
to the true church of God. And on the other hand, they really
mean nothing to those who are not believers. We know that naturally
people do mourn when loved ones die or different difficulties
come into their lives and they naturally mourn. but here quite
clearly the Lord is speaking on a spiritual level and he's
addressing the disciples and the multitude and speaking in
this way, blessed are they that mourn. Well, who are those who
mourn? Without any doubt, they are only
those whom the Lord has touched their hearts. And when I say
that, I mean that the Lord has come and reveals to them something
of their sinful state before a holy God. And how they fail,
and how they do those things. Indeed, as the Apostle spoke
when he wrote the epistle to the Romans at 7th chapter, doing
those things that he would not. And we find ourselves perhaps
doing those things that we would not and thinking those things
that we would not. And then what does it cause?
What does it bring us to? Surely it brings us to a state
of mourning before God. There is, I believe it was, Rutherford
who said, O thou had not of myself, but he didn't stop there and
we mustn't stop there. O that I had not of myself, but
Christ." And what a great blessing that is if we realise our own
utter unworthiness and we mourn because of it and we look out
of ourselves and desire that Christ will come and indeed fill
us with his person so that we meditate on that great and glorious
work of salvation. And then you see it will turn
our mourning into joy, realising that sinner that we are, vile
sinner that we are, yet Jesus Christ came to seek and to save
those who are lost. And therefore, it will be an
encouragement, therefore, to realise that we are not out of
the secret. Those who do not realise they
are mourners are out of the secret. And that is the secret of the
Lord is with them. that fear him, and he will show
them his covenant. He will show them the great truths
of God, contained in the word of God, contained in the covenant. Blessed are they that mourn. Well, we read together that 51st
Psalm, which of course speaks really about what true mourning
is. And what does that mean? It means
sorrow for sin. We do sin. We are sinners. We will never be free from a
sin, sad as it sounds, this side of the grave. But what a blessing
it is if the Spirit of God gives to us when we have sinned, which
we will, that true and right spirit of confession. And it
will be really then a time of blessing, although we will be
mourning because of our sin. and we will continue really to
be like that. Day after day we have to mourn
because of our attitudes, because of the sin which does so easily
beset us. We classify that as besetting
sins. It shouldn't have glory in it,
but of course there are those sins which perhaps are more attractive
to us than other things, and that may be different to every
one of us. there are those sinful things and the devil knows what
things attract us and he's very apt at directing us to things
that do not profit and things that cause us to mourn because
of the evil which we find within. And what does it do? Surely it
creates in us as such a concern that we come like David did and
said, have mercy upon me, oh God. Now, we know what David
sinned, those two terrible sins, but of course, there were very
many more sins that David committed, which are not actually spoken
of in particular detail. But there were those sins, but
he cries out here, the Lord will have mercy upon him according
to thy loving kindness. Now, I believe when the Spirit
of God has shown us at how we stand before a holy God, and
how we've sinned against him, perhaps sinned against lighter
knowledge, cannot claim any excuses, and then to think of the loving
kindness of the Lord. Well, you know, the word goes
on here to say, for they shall be comforted. Now, true mourners
are not left that position. The Lord does come and he comes
and he comforts them and surely there is no greater comfort to
know that the Lord has died to take away our sins and it's because
of his loving kindness toward us. According to thy loving kindness,
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions." It's wonderful to think, and what a comfort
it is to think, the Lord's mercies are tender. Tender to ward us. He doesn't deal with us as our
sins deserve. He doesn't beat us hither and
thither. It's His tender mercies. The
goodness of God leads us to repentance as we realise His great kindness
to ward us. and his mercy. And surely it
brings us, as we mourn because of our sins, that we might not
sin, that we might be able to stand firm against the continual
temptations of Satan. And we have to realise that in
me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, We can't actually
stand ourselves, but we can also perhaps echo the words of the
Apostle when he said, I can do all things through Christ that
strengthens me. The Lord does enable us sometimes
to turn away from sinful things, to turn away from sinful thoughts. and to desire that we might be
more Christ-like and a true follower of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. So when the Lord Jesus came,
remember this is really just the second statement he made
when he says, blessed are they that mourn. Well, it's very important
then to have the evidence that we do mourn And that means that
we're really sorry for our sins. We really desire to repent of
our sins and to turn to the Lord. It's true mourning. It's not
just words. It's not just a vain statement. It's because the Lord is dealing
with our heart. You know, David in this Psalm,
he says, creating me a clean heart. Lord. He knew where the
problem was. It was in his heart. That's what
was the problem. And therefore he desired that
he might be cleansed, create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me." Well, these are good prayers,
aren't they? We can often have a wrong spirit. And you know,
when we do, I believe that causes us to mourn, doesn't it? We don't
enjoy having a wrong spirit. We mourn over it. and desire
the Lord will indeed be gracious to us and cause us to come and
say, cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy
Spirit from me. And that may be a fear. And you
and I have sinned and disobeyed the word of God. Do we fear the
Lord might take away his Holy Spirit from us? David was fearful
of it. It's an evidence, isn't it, of
the reality of the conviction of sin, making us mourn and concerned
that the Lord will not take His Holy Spirit from us. We know
we deserve it. But then when the Lord comes
and shows us the comfort of His mercy and of His love to us,
and David goes and says, restore unto me The joy of thy salvation. Sin sometimes will cloud that.
It's as though blackness comes over it. And we can't seem to
get beyond our sin. And not surprising, is it? We
know how bad it is. Well, then surely such a word
as this is a comfort to us. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. What a blessing
it is to be upheld. When temptation comes into our
path, the Lord holds us up. The Lord delivers us. The Lord
is gracious to us. Surely as we reflect on that,
how comforting it is to realize the Lord has looked upon us because
He's loved us. And, you know, the prophet Isaiah
spoke of these things, and in the 40th chapter, he said, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, speak ye comfortably, unto Jerusalem. Anyway, it's a word of encouragement
and it's a word of help and it's a word of support to us to realize
the Lord does come and the Lord does comfort and the Lord does
deal with us in love. He says, speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. Well, By God's grace, our warfare
will be accomplished, because the Lord has fought the battle
for us, and he has conquered sin, death, hell, and the grave.
Isn't that a comfort? Isn't that a help to us? To realize
that we are relying upon what Christ has done, not on what
we've done, because we find sin all around us. We can't think
a good thought without sin, pride creeping in, and how it makes
us mourn, does it not? As you and I see, perhaps when
we think our good deeds, what do we see there? Pride, spoils
it all, makes us mourn. Well then, here are these gracious
words, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, to the church of God.
And cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. You know, it's a total, it's
a complete forgiveness with the Lord, isn't it? The Lord doesn't
half forgive. Sometimes we're apt to just half
forgive. You know, the Lord forgives totally. And what a wonderful thing it
is. And the Lord spoke through his
servant Isaiah, when he said, come now. Yes, that means we
can come at any time, every time of need, when perhaps sin is
heavy on our soul and we perhaps sometimes are reluctant to come
to the Lord. Well, here is a gracious word
of invitation, come now. Yes, come now. And let us reason
together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they
shall be as wool. What does that mean? It means
really a complete forgiveness. What does it mean? It means washed
in the blood of the Lamb. Isn't that comfort? Isn't that
a support? Isn't that encouraging? therefore
we see how this works out for the honour and glory of God.
It causes us to recognise and to see something of our true
state before a holy God, how unholy we are. What does that
do? Well if we're a true believer
it'll make us mourn and we won't realise that it's a blessed position
when we're mourning but then as the Lord directs us to what
He has done, to atone for our sins, that's a comfort. And then we can recognise and
see how all this is working together for good. All things work together
for good to those who love God and to those who are called according
to His purpose. He brings us into these conditions
to cause us to mourn so that we may come and glorify his name
for his great and wonderful work of salvation and come and praise
God for all that he's done. Well, may we thank God that there
were such words like this spoken by the Saviour for our encouragement. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Amen.