Blessed Ye that Weep

Q: What does the Bible say about weeping and mourning?

The Bible teaches that those who weep now are blessed, as they will be comforted and laugh in the future (Luke 6:21). In Luke 6:21, it is stated, 'Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.' This verse highlights a profound spiritual blessing associated with mourning in the context of repentance. Unlike the world’s reasoning that views weeping as a sign of despair, God's Word assures us that there is a happiness that comes from sorrowing over our sin. This mourning is not about surface emotions; it is a deep, spiritual work of God’s grace in our hearts as He creates in us a new spirit that recognizes our need for Him.

Q: How do we know that spiritual mourning is a true work of God?

Spiritual mourning is a true work of God evidenced by the believer's recognition of their personal sin and the grace found in Christ (Zechariah 12:10). Spiritual mourning is initiated when God grants a person a new heart and spirit. As stated in Zechariah 12:10, 'I will pour out on the house of David the spirit of grace and supplication.' This divine intervention leads a person to behold Christ crucified, recognizing that He was pierced for their own offenses. The weight of one’s sin becomes a personal, heavy burden, leading to genuine sorrow. This mourning serves as evidence of God’s grace working in the heart, highlighting the necessity of repentance and faith.

Q: Why is understanding mourning important for Christians?

Understanding mourning is crucial for Christians as it reveals our need for repentance and leads to true joy and comfort in Christ (Luke 6:21, Zechariah 13:1). The importance of understanding mourning for Christians lies in its connection to repentance and the comfort that follows. Jesus teaches in Luke 6:21 that mourning leads to laughter, illustrating the blessedness of being brought to confront our sin. True mourning, as described in Zechariah 13:1, opens a fountain for sin and uncleanness—pointing to Christ as the source of forgiveness and cleansing. When Christians grasp the depth of their sin through mourning, they can truly appreciate the joy and comfort that comes from the assurance of their salvation through Christ's sacrifice.

Q: How does God comfort those who mourn?

God comforts those who mourn by revealing the cleansing power of Christ’s sacrifice and granting them new life through the Holy Spirit (Zechariah 13:1). The comfort God provides to those who mourn comes through the realization of grace and the assurance of forgiveness found in Christ. In Zechariah 13:1, God promises a fountain open for sin and uncleanness, symbolizing the cleansing power of Jesus' blood. When believers mourn for their sin and turn to Christ, they receive His comforting presence and a renewed spirit that assures them of their justified status before God. This ongoing comfort reinforces the truth that their sin is fully dealt with, allowing them to experience true joy in their relationship with Him.

Alright brethren, let's go to Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6. In Luke chapter 6, we're going to be looking at one sentence. Luke 6 in verse 21. The last sentence in verse 21. Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh. Matthew says, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. So this is our subject, blessed ye that weep.

Now this is totally opposite to man's reasoning. Man doesn't think you're happy if you're weeping. That's what the word blessed means, happy. And carnal reasoning says you're not happy if you're weeping. But the Lord says happy are those who weep now. You shall laugh.

Does that mean all people? Sin is in the world and so man is faced with trouble all the time. And there's a lot of weeping that goes on in this world. But no, it doesn't mean all people. Mourning here and laughter is a spiritual blessing. It's a spiritual gift that only the Lord creates and he only creates it in his people. This is a spiritual blessing.

Now we're gonna look at three things here. We're gonna see how mourning is created in a sinner. How are we brought to weep? We're gonna see what it is that makes us weep. What are we weeping about? And then thirdly, we'll see how we're comforted and made to laugh and rejoice. How we're made happy.

Now most of our text is gonna be found in Zechariah chapter 12. If you'll turn there with me, Zechariah 12, and mark it because we'll be here the rest of the time mostly. Zechariah 12. Now first of all, this morning, this weeping, this sorrow, is created in us by our Savior, by Him creating in us a new spirit. By our Savior creating in us a new spirit. He says here in Zechariah 12, 10, he says, I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, I will pour the spirit of grace and of supplication.

Now we see here who this is done for. It's done for the house of David, the spiritual house of David, the spiritual Jerusalem. Paul said in Galatians, Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us all. This is heavenly Jerusalem. This is the Lord's people that are chosen of God, blessed of God in Christ by His grace. the spiritual house of David. Our Savior said, I lay down my life for the sheep. He justified the house of David. He justified every citizen of this Jerusalem. Every one of his people, he justified by his one offering.

And he said, them I must call. Them I must call. They're justified. He must call us. And when he calls us, he sanctifies us within. He gives us a new spirit that we did not have before. He says, I will pour upon them. He did this on the day of Pentecost when he gave the Holy Spirit, but he does it in the heart personally when he sends the Holy Spirit, and a new spirit's created in us, a spirit of grace, a spirit that knows we need grace. and a spirit of supplication so that we call upon the Lord.

This is how he grants us repentance from self, our whole selves. We're granted repentance from our whole selves. When the scripture says deny yourselves, when I was growing up and I would visit places that preached works, they would teach you to deny yourself, but it always meant some particular sin. The Lord means your whole self, everything about us. That's what true repentance is. Repentance from false religion, repentance from dead works, repentance from everything and anything that we were trusting in.

Our Lord said he would send the comforter, the Holy Spirit, And here's how he comforts. This doesn't sound right to a carnal man. This is how he comforts. He said he will convince, he will convict and convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they believe not on me. Of righteousness because I go to my father. And of judgment because the prince of this world is judge.

This is what the Holy Spirit will teach. Christ said, he shall glorify me. And he gives this Holy Spirit and he gives us a new spirit. This is why it's so dishonoring for anybody to say that they came to Christ by their will, that they accepted Jesus, they made the decision, because it denies the glory that belongs to the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus, God raised him. and gave him the glory to do this work.

He's the prince and the savior who grants repentance to his people. And it's him speaking here in Zechariah. He says, I will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication. That's his glory. So he gives it, that's how we get it, the spirit, he gives it. All right, now secondly, the weeping, the mourning is by him making us behold him. Look here now in verse 10, Zechariah 12, 10.

He said, 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. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced.

Now our natural heart is a heart of stone, scripture said. We don't feel anything spiritual. We don't feel anything that's of God. We have a heart as stone. That's why he has to give us this new spirit, this new heart. But when he gives it to you, he's gonna turn you to look to Christ, to see him crucified. This is very personal. He's gonna make you look to him crucified. He said, they shall look upon me. They'll look upon me.

You remember when the serpents were, the children of Israel disobeyed God and the serpents, he sent serpents to bite them. And the serpents bit them and they were dying from the venom. And the Lord made a serpent, had Moses make a serpent out of brass and lift it up on a pole. And the Lord said, when they look, that's all, just when they look to that serpent on that pole, they'll be saved, they'll live. And our Lord told us, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever looks, whosoever believes on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Well, this mourning begins by the Lord giving us a new spirit and making us look and behold Him on the cross, crucified, pierced. And He makes us see Him there and it makes us begin to mourn because we see there that he was pierced for me. That's what he makes you see personally.

He was pierced for you. When he works this in the heart and makes you look to him, he's going to make you know Christ did that for you. If you're his and he gives you this spirit and turns you to look to Christ, that's what you're going to find out. He's going to reveal it was you he was dying for.

This is how the Lord singles us out. We can be in a congregation of folks, and when he makes you start hearing this gospel, it's like it's nobody there but you and him, and it becomes intensely personal. We look upon him, and he says, you're gonna look upon me whom they have pierced. That's what he causes to happen. It's exactly what he does in the new heart, and he gives a new heart.

You're gonna cry out and you're gonna mourn, and that's when sin becomes real. That's when it becomes real. This is the only way God could save us. The only way God could save a sinner is by a man's sin, a man had to die. And so the Son of God took flesh like his people. And when he went to that cross, because he's holy and without spot, he had to be made sin. And so the Lord laid on him all the sins of his people, and then God was just to pour out justice on him, made him a curse.

And the Lord's gonna make you look and see, and he's gonna convince his child that he was pierced for you personally. Look down at Zechariah 13, seven. Zechariah 13, seven. Awake, O sword against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I'll turn my hand upon the little ones." What a blessing that God, by His grace, sent His Son to bear that in place of His people. This is what Christ did for His people.

Now, when He gives you this new heart, now you can feel. spiritually you can feel. We're not trusting in feelings, but you're going to feel this. That's why it gives you a heart of flesh to feel. You wouldn't mourn unless you felt something. You're going to feel this.

You that know him know this, and it's going to be so personal, because he's your kin. He really is. He says, they will mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son. They shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Our Lord said, blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are they that weep. This is what we're talking about. The mourning of repentance. That's what this is, the mourning that comes from repentance or with repentance. No mourning because you got caught. That's not what we're talking about. It's not mourning because we didn't get our way or God took something from us. This is the mourning of knowing that was you on that cross and Christ was pierced because of your sin.

That's what he teaches his child. What a blessing that we have a substitute. God provided a lamb. And let me say this now, this is important. We're so depraved by nature and so desirous of glory that belongs to the Lord that folks think that mourning earns them something with God. And if they weep enough, that earns them something with God. And that's why God will be favorable to them. Brethren, if God does this work in you and he grants you repentance by making you look on Christ and mourn for him, that's not why God did it. That's the evidence that God already was gracious to you and already had favor on you and showed you mercy.

We wouldn't repent otherwise. He did this. Augustus' top lady wrote, not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy laws demands. Could my zeal, no respite, no. Could my tears forever flow. All for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. Only he is our atonement, our salvation.

Like everything else in our salvation, Christ gets the preeminence in sorrow. He's the man of sorrows acquainted with grief. He said, through Jeremiah, is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done to me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Our Lord's sorrow came because he's the perfect man. who knew no sin, and he's bearing the sin he hated, and he's bearing it before the father he loves, and he was afflicted in just, in justice, and he's bearing that affliction from the father he loved. Nobody ever sorrowed like he did. His sorrow's the only sorrow that God looks to and is pleased with.

He satisfied God. So this weeping, this mourning, He creates it. He gives a new spirit. He gives a new heart. And it's from beholding him. And it's from knowing I pierced him. I pierced him. Now, in the first hour that God makes you spiritually weep and spiritually mourn, that's why. And then every hour after that, when the Lord chastens and he brings us to truly mourn our sin, This is why He does the same thing. He keeps you looking to Him and knowing this sin is against my Savior. He bore this. He was pierced because of this. And this is why, this is how He continues to keep us repenting and why we saw right now. Now, let's come to this last thing. And stay there in Zechariah just a moment. Here's the last thing. Our Lord said, Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh. He said, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. What's the comfort? What is it that's going to make you laugh with joy? Here it is in Zechariah 13 and verse 1. in that day. It's that first day he revealed himself to you, and in that day, when you need to be turned and corrected, it's in that day, when he worked this work in you.

In that day, there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. For sin and for uncleanness. Christ is our justification and He's our sanctification. When we're brought to this morning, the way we're going to be brought to be comforted and to laugh with joy and be happy is the Lord's going to make us see He is that fountain. Our Lord is that fountain.

When He brings you to behold Him and He brings you to cry out to Him, He's gonna bring you to say what David said. David cried out, wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. He cried out, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. And the Lord's gonna make you know he's that fountain for sin.

He justified everybody for whom he died. And when he brings you to behold him, He makes this scripture alive in your heart. When he had by himself purged our sin, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. He sat down because he finished the work.

There was no chair anywhere in that tabernacle because none of those sacrifices ever finished the work. They never put away sin. But our Lord arose and he sat down because he by himself, by one offering, purged all the sins of his people. Before the law, God's people have no sin. Before God, they have no sin. He loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin.

And he's the fountain open for sin and uncleanness, for sanctification. Whenever we are made to see that we are the sinner and everything about us is sinful, he brings you to cast it on Christ and the spirit of God purges your conscience from dead works. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? The only way we're gonna stop all these evil deeds that we think are righteousness, these evil deeds of of looking to our church attendance and looking to our praying and looking to our inflicting something on ourselves for our sin and for doing all these works. The only way we're gonna be granted repentance from all those dead, wicked works is God giving us a heart and turning us to Christ and his blood purging our conscience to see He's the one offering that God's pleased with.

He's the one offering. He alone justified and sanctified his people. And when the Lord does that, he washes away the sin that was corrupting our understanding and corrupting us from believing on him and trusting him alone. And they said if the sins purged, if they cleared any of those folks, they would not have offered those sacrifices again.

And when he makes you see you're not guilty before God, before the law, and it'll always be this way, when he makes you see that, you'll stop working to try to gain his favor and earn heaven. That's when you'll really start serving God, because then you're doing it now, toward one you love, just because you want to, just because you're thankful and grateful for what He's done for you.

That's what makes us laugh with joy. That's what comforts us. And He doesn't do this one time, brethren, because we need it done to us. We need to be kept looking only to Christ. And when we sin, when we fail, when our feet become dirty, again and again, he makes you know, it's not by works of righteousness we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing, the washing. When he regenerated us in that first hour and renewing of the Holy Ghost, he continues to renew you to look only to Christ. And he shed this on us abundantly through Jesus Christ because he justified us. We should be made heirs of eternal life because Christ made it so it's just for God to give it to us. And so he'll keep on making you see it's all him and him alone.

Every time that we truly spiritually mourn, it's because he made us look to him and see we pierced him. And every time we're comforted and we We rejoice and we laugh with joy. It's because he made us see our sins are put away. God remembers our sin no more. He said, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. He said, in those days and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none. the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve." Now, before the Lord gave us this new spirit, we never mourned our sin.

Never. We never did. We never rejoiced in Christ. Anything we did that appeared religious was just a form, because we had none of this in the heart. None of this had been done for us spiritually. We had no hunger for Christ. We were full of our own imagined goodness, and we didn't think we needed him. We thought God was pleased with our form.

Paul said, exercise profiteth little. That means the form is not what profits. It's Christ, and it's what he does in spirit. It's not the form. God's not looking at the form. God doesn't look at the outward. Man looks at the outward. Men try to please men by doing something outwardly so men can see. But he told Samuel when he went to call David that Jesse sent in all his finest, tallest, most handsomest sons and ones that look like they ought to be a king. And the Lord said, don't look on the outward appearance. God doesn't judge like man judges. God looks on the inward. He looks on the heart. He looks on the spirit. and it's not until he does this. And look, go with me to Luke 6. I want you to see this back there in our text.

For those right now that feel like they're full and they don't need Christ and they got all these good works and they're not mourning their sin, there is actually preachers who won't preach about sin. They won't preach about blood. They'll say, They don't wanna, you don't bring that up. God's people don't do that anymore. God's people do. The true God's people do. We wanna hear it. We wanna hear this over and over and over.

But look, when a man thinks he's rich and he's full and he doesn't mourn spiritually, Luke 6, 25, the Lord said, woe to you that are full, for you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. I'm telling you, brethren, if you're here today and you don't believe on Christ, cry out to God for mercy. Because if he doesn't have mercy and he doesn't give us this true mourning over sin, if he doesn't make us behold Christ and make us truly know him and believe him, we're looking at an eternity, an eternity of mourning and weeping, of hungering.

You know, the rich man in hell could see. He could see Abraham. He could see there was a great goal fixed. He couldn't go over there to the glory where they were, but he could see. The Lord said it will be eternal hunger, knowing what you could have had and never having it. Weeping and mourning. The glory that's gonna be the painful thing about hell is Christ. He's preeminent in everything. And the punishment of hell will be beholding him who we should have trusted and didn't trust and not be able to have him. Cry to him for mercy now, but for his people.

You mourn now, you weep now. And we do. We do. You know what I'm talking about. You just weep about your sin. How can you know your sin's forgiven and yet you weep over your sin? You see your sin like you never saw it before. You see your sins in things that you never saw it was in before.

In everything. But for you that know him, He's gonna keep on comforting you, assuring you he's put your sin away. He's gonna keep on purging your conscience so you know you're comforted and you have rejoicing in him. And then in that day, go with me to Revelation 21.

Right now, he only gives you a little taste of the morning. He doesn't let you weep a long time. Scripture says his anger endureth for a moment, and his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. He keeps on giving you the joy.

But one day, when He raises us, here, Revelation 21. Verse one, 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. 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. I tried to write an article in the bulletin on this. How did he say it? Read that article about death being swallowed up. It's swallowed up of life of Christ, the life.

And we'll just we will have one solid, everlasting day of knowing Christ. Knowing him perfectly. with no sin whatsoever, nothing to sorrow about, sins are what causes our weeping, and eternal, continual joy with our Redeemer. Him, Him, Him, Him, knowing Him. Do you see how Christ is everything?

This morning comes from seeing Him. Knowing Him, repentance comes from looking to Him and knowing I pierced Him. Comfort comes from looking to Him and knowing my sins put away. I've been cleansed by His blood. And that eternal rejoicing will be Him, knowing Him and being with Him forever. I pray the Lord comfort you with those words. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. Let's go to Him, brethren.

Our Father, we thank you for your blessings Lord, we can't even begin to adequately praise you or thank you for what you've done for us, for giving your only begotten son. Lord, we thank you. We thank you. Lord, thank you for making us weep. Thank you for making us mourn. You always bring that comfort and that joy. Thank you for making Christ to be the focus for everything, preeminent in everything. And Lord, continue to renew us and keep us, keep us looking only to our Savior, finding all our comfort and our joy in him only.

And Lord, for our brethren who are nearer, we don't know the day could be, We could be a younger one, but for those that are nearer, Lord, we pray you comfort them with these words. Make them to know what a joy awaits. And for us brethren that are here that remain, comfort our hearts knowing anytime one of our brethren depart, Lord, they're getting to see you. They're getting to know our Redeemer. That's the comfort for us right now when our brethren depart. Lord, keep us, just keep us. We need you constantly. In Christ's name we pray, amen.

Blessed Ye that Weep

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about weeping and mourning?

How do we know that spiritual mourning is a true work of God?

Why is understanding mourning important for Christians?

How does God comfort those who mourn?

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Blessed Ye that Weep

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about weeping and mourning?

How do we know that spiritual mourning is a true work of God?

Why is understanding mourning important for Christians?

How does God comfort those who mourn?

Sermon Transcript

About Clay Curtis

Comments

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