Would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter 5? Verse 4. Blessed. Blessed by God. In a state of
blessedness are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Now, talking about a statement
that on the surface doesn't make sense to us. Blessed are they
that mourn. Have you ever mourned? It's a
horrible thing. It's a difficult thing. It's
a troubling thing. And I can much easier get a hold
of, sad are they that mourn. Unhappy are they that mourn. But that's not what the Savior
says. He says, blessed, blessed by God are they that mourn, for
they shall be comforted." Now what is this mourning that he's
speaking of? We read of the wisdom of going
into the house of mourning, and that the fool goes to the house
of mirth, but the wise go into the house of mourning. And mourning
and sorrow is better than mirth. We just read that from the wise
man. Now what is all this about? What does it mean to mourn. Blessed are they that mourn.
Now I dare say you probably know that the mourning he is speaking
of is mourning over sin. Not mourning over the consequences
of sin. Everybody does that. But mourning
over the being of sin. Everybody mourns over the consequences
of sin. I want you to think of the trouble
sin has brought into your life. The trouble sin has brought into
my life. It wrecks homes, it wrecks bodies,
it wrecks relationships. It blinds us. It causes us to
not be able to see. Oh, the trouble. that sin brings. And you know everybody is sorry
when they get caught, aren't they? Everybody's sorry when
they're exposed. I hate being exposed. Wouldn't
it be horrible if The thoughts that you've had this very day
were exposed to everybody where everybody could see them. Nobody
likes that, but that's not the morning he's talking about. He's
not talking about mourning over the consequences of sin. He's
talking about mourning over the being of sin. David put it this
way in Psalm 51 against thee and thee only have I sinned. and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when you speak, and that you
might be clear when you judge. Now, what is this thing of mourning
over sin? Now, the first time the word
mourning is used in the scripture is when Abraham mourned when
his wife Sarah died. There was a time of mourning. Now, before she's dead, you have
some hope that maybe somehow things will get better. Maybe
God will perform some kind of miracle and heal her and raise
her up. But once she's dead, you mourn
because there's absolutely nothing you can do to bring her back. Then you begin to mourn. Mourning over sin is very much
like that. I mourn over my sin. when I see
that I don't have the strength or the ability to do anything
about my sin. And what grief that brings. I'm not talking about a justification
in it. Well, you don't know nothing about it, don't worry about it.
No, there's a mourning, a true mourning over sin. You mourn over sin when you see
you're powerless to do anything about it and you hate it. Let
me show you some scriptures. Turn to Psalm 38. I don't know how many times I've
turned to this psalm. Verse 4, For mine iniquities are gone over
mine head, as an heavy burden. They're too heavy for me. My
wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I'm
troubled. I'm bowed down greatly. I go
mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with
a loathsome disease, and there's no soundness in my flesh. I'm feeble and sore-broken. I've
roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart." Turn to Psalm 55. Give ear to my prayer, O God,
and hide not thyself from my supplication, attend unto me,
and hear me, I mourn in my complaint, and I make a noise." Now, every
believer knows what he means. The Lord knows what this means. Turn to Psalm 88. Now, this is the Lord speaking
from the cross. I want to read this entire psalm.
Psalm 88, O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before
Thee, Let my prayer come before thee, incline thine ear unto
my cry, for my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth
nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go
down into the pit." Can't you see this is the words of the
Lord? He says, I'm counted. I'm being numbered with the transgressors.
I'm counted with them that go to the pit. I'm as a man that
hath no strength, free among the dead like the slain that
lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more. forsaken by God, and
they're cut off from thy hand. Thou has laid me in the lowest
pit, in darkness, in the deeps, thy wrath lieth hard upon me,
and thou has afflicted me with all thy waves." Who can this
be but the Lord? This couldn't be anybody but
the Lord speaking. Verse 8, Thou hast put away mine
acquaintance far from me. Thou hast made me an abomination
unto them. I am shut up. I cannot come forth. Mine eye mourneth. You know, the Lord mourned on
the cross. He mourned over sin. So, How can this be a blessed
thing to mourn? Blessed, happy, blessed by God
are they that mourn. Do you know anything about what
it is to mourn over your sin? Like you mourn over a dead person. That's what mourning means. You
can't bring them back. You mourn over your sin. How in the world can it be a
blessed thing to mourn? Well, here's the first reason.
Because Christ said it was. That's enough of a reason right
there, isn't it? Our Lord said, blessed are they that mourn. And he lets us know this. Blessed
are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. They are the only ones who shall
be comforted. All who mourn over sin are going
to be comforted. Turn with me for a moment to
Isaiah 61. Now, our Lord quotes this in
Luke chapter 4. You'll remember it when I start
reading this. Isaiah chapter 61. He said this at the announcement
of his public ministry in Nazareth. The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me. Because the Lord hath anointed
me to preach good tidings unto the meek, he hath sent me to
bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, and for some reason The rest
of this passage of scripture is not quoted in Luke chapter
4, but let's go on reading it. And the day of vengeance of our
God to comfort all that mourn. Now, how in the world can the
day of vengeance be something to comfort? Well, when I understand
that God had vengeance on my sins in the cross, and now I
won't have to, that comforts me. I'm comforted from that. I'm comforted in the day of vengeance
when God took vengeance in His holy justice and wrath against
my sins in my blessed substitute. And I'm comforted because I'm
not going to have to. Let's go on reading. Verse three,
to a point That word appoint is a glorious word. It means
literally to ordain and purpose. I love God's ordination and purposes,
don't you? I love the way he purposes something
and it comes to pass. Whatever he purposes must come
to pass. to purpose, to appoint unto them
that mourn in Zion. There it is. They mourn in Zion
to give unto them beauty for ashes. Now you think of how fragile
ashes are. That's my righteousness. And
what does he do? He gives me beauty for those
ashes, the oil of joy for 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. They shall be comforted. All that mourn over sin shall
be. This is our Lord's promise. Lord,
I'm mourning overseeing, comfort me. I need the comfort of the
Lord himself. You know, the only one who comforts
is the Lord himself, I can say now. It's like Romans 8, 28. Everything's working together
for your good. Well, yeah, but when the Lord says that to me,
it means so much more. when the Lord says that. And
I'm thankful when somebody reminds me that, when I need to be reminded
of it. But I know the only time it really does anything for me
is if the Lord Himself, by His Spirit, speaks into my heart
and lets me know that all things work together for good. To them
that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Oh, when He speaks, what comfort
there is. They shall be comforted. Now, who is the one who comforts
the mourners? Well, God the Father. God the Father is called in 2
Corinthians 1, verse 3, the Father of mercies and the God of all
comfort. It was he who said, comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. You speak comfortably to
Jerusalem. God the Son is the one who comforts
all that mourn. God the Holy Spirit is called
the comforter. And we read this, I've talked
about God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit as the ones
who actually administer comfort by His Spirit to reveal His gospel
to me. But I love this, in Romans 15,
four, we read of the patience and the comfort of the scriptures.
Now, what that lets me know is if I derive comfort from something,
I better derive it from the scriptures. I better have a scripture that
backs up my comfort. For instance, what comfort these
words are, and you that were sometimes alienated enemies in
your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the
body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. How comforting, and that's the
Word of God. I couldn't believe that if the
Word of God didn't say it. The Word of God says regarding
every believer, this is what the Lord did by His blood, He
made every believer holy right now. Unblameable right now. and unreprovable right now in
the very sight of God. When God looks at me right now,
he sees that one who is holy, who's without blame, who has
nothing to be reproved of. You say, how can that be? Well,
through the gospel, but God's word said it. And that's what
I'm holding on to, the comfort of the scriptures. And then we
read in 1 Thessalonians 4 that we're to comfort one another.
Comfort one another with these words. It's a comfort to me just
to see you. People who believe the gospel.
People who really do believe that Jesus Christ is their righteousness
before God. People who really do believe
that salvation's of the Lord. People who find all their hope
in His grace. Brethren's what it is. Brethren.
Don't you love the brethren? what we comfort one another with
these words. Now, what is it that ministers
comfort? Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. What is it that ministers comfort? Well, the shepherd. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear
no evil. Thy rod and thy staff, the rod and staff of his word,
they comfort me. You see, the Lord is my shepherd. And because my shepherd is the
Lord, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green
pastures. I'm not gonna lack peace. He
leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads
me in paths of righteousness for His namesake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for Thou art
with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort
me." Isn't it comforting to have the Lord as your shepherd? Turn
to Isaiah 40. When Mitch was praying to open
up this service, he was talking about how we thank you that you
look to the Lord's finished work and not to our works. Well, look
here at Isaiah 40. I've already quoted part of this.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth your God. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. It's accomplished. It's already
done. The Lord has already won the
victory for me. The warfare's over. It's accomplished.
When he said it is finished, my salvation was signed, sealed,
and delivered. That comforts me. All that God
requires of me, I have in Christ right now. And God can't look
for anything more out of me? He doesn't want anything more
out of me because he has everything in Christ. Now, that comforts
me. Her warfare is accomplished.
And because of that, her iniquity is pardoned. You know, when you're
forgiven, here's what happens. You find out you've been forgiven. You find out you've been forgiven. Not you will be if. You find
out, your warfare is accomplished and your iniquity is pardoned. For she had received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. Beginning
in verse 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and a good hope through grace. Comfort your hearts. and establish
you in every good word and work. Now I love to think of these
words, the everlasting consolation, the everlasting comfort. It's
a comfort that never had a beginning and will never have an ending.
And it's a good hope through grace. Now here's, here's the
question I want to ask. It's a very simple question.
How much of your salvation is by grace? How much of your salvation is
by grace. Is it all of grace? Then what
comfort there is. This is the everlasting consolation
and good hope through grace that he comforts us with. All of salvation
is by the unmerited favor of God. God gives everything He
gives to me. I already have it, and He gives
it to me by grace for Christ's sake. And how that comforts my
heart. There's no grace that I don't
have. All grace, the God of all grace, every grace there is to
have, all that's encompassed in God's grace, every believer
possesses. And that comforts my heart. If
you made salvation in any way dependent upon my works, or upon
my character, or upon something I needed to do, I wouldn't have
any comfort. I'd be scared to death. I wouldn't be saved. But if it's all of grace, by
grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. What
comfort. The reason our hope is good is
because it's all of grace. Turn to John chapter 14. Verse 26. The Lord is speaking
of the Comforter. What a name for the Holy Spirit.
The Comforter. The Comforter. What a precious
name. What a precious title. What an
endearing name of God, the Holy Spirit. Now remember this, all
you know of Jesus Christ is through God, the Holy Spirit. He's the
one who teaches you. And if you have any comfort and
I have any comfort, it'll be because God, the comforter comes
to you and comfort you with the gospel and enables you to believe. Now, if he doesn't come, you
won't find any comfort. But if he does, Oh, the comfort,
but the comforter verse 26, which is the Holy ghost, whom the father
will send in my name. He shall teach you all things
and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever. I've
said to you that that's what he does. He brings to our remembrance
the word and we find comfort. He said in verse 27, peace I
leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth,
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Now look in John 16, verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It's expedient for you that I
go away. For if I go not away, the comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I'll send him
unto you. And when he has come, he will
reprove or convince or overwhelmingly convict the world of sin and
of righteousness and of judgment. Now, what does he mean by the
world? Is he talking about unbelievers? No, no. Unbelievers are not convicted
of sin of righteousness and judgment. They don't have any understanding
of that. But he's talking about the same world of John 3.16,
that God so loved that the one believing His Son should not
perish, but have everlasting life. That's the world he's speaking
of. Now, he says, when He has come, He will convince the world
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. This is what the
Comforter will do. Verse 9, He'll convince of sin,
because they believe not on Me. Now when you're convinced of
sin, You're convinced that there's nothing in you. You can't even
come up with faith. You can't even come up with faith.
And it's only when you're completely emptied that you're comforted
because you learn not to look to yourself for a thing. You
look to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you're comforted. You know,
it's a comforting thing to be a nothing. It's a comforting
thing to be nothing but sin because it's easy to trust Christ as
your righteousness when you're nothing. He says, of righteousness,
verse 10, because I go to my father and you see me no more.
It is comforting to be convinced that his righteousness is the
only righteousness and he brings his righteousness to the father
and so I'm complete in him. That's comforting. And then he
says in verse 11 of judgment, because the prince of this world
has been judged, his judge has been judged. It's comforting
me to know that all judgment took place on the cross, and
the devil was defeated on the cross, and my sin was put away
on the cross. All judgment has already taken
place, and the prince of this world has already been judged.
I'm comforted. In Acts chapter 15, Verse 31,
we read where they rejoice for consolation when they heard of
their freedom from the Mosaic law. You can look that up if
you want, but they rejoice for consolation because of their
freedom from the Mosaic law. Now, only freedom from the law
brings comfort. And here's a simple way to understand
what this means. If I say, if you don't love me,
you're going to be punished. How much loving you can do to
me? It's impossible to love under
those circumstances. If you don't love me, you're
going to be punished. You're going to be in trouble.
You ought to love me. And you're wrong and you're evil
and not loving. Anybody love from mind? No. That's what's
called law. That's what's called law. It
doesn't enable anybody to love. All it does is expose that you
don't love. All it does is expose sin. You see, the law is not our rule
of life. Love is. As far as that goes,
I don't need to worry about the law. I've kept the law. In the
Lord Jesus Christ, I've kept the law perfectly. We ought to
try to keep the law. I don't need to try to keep the
law. I've kept it. And the law has nothing to say to me. Remember,
the law was not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and
disobedient. That's what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.8. What comfort there is in freedom
from law. Lord tells me He loves me for
Christ's sake. And He's not going to stop loving
me. He can't love me any more than He does, and He can't love
me any less than He does. And what comfort there is in
freedom from the law. Turn to Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6. Verse 17, wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his
counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong
consolation. Strong comfort. Who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope that's set before us, which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth
into that which is within the veil. Whether the forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Now, you notice that word strong
consolation. Not just consolation, but strong
consolation. Now, what is it that gives us
this strong consolation? Well, first, when he talks about
the heirs of the promise. Now, an heir is when God gives
me something, not because of my works, but my connection with
somebody else. the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything
I have is given to me because of connection with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's the heirs of the promise, the promise of grace,
heirs of the promise. When he said God willing to show
the heirs of the promise, listen to this, the immutability of
his counsel. Now what's immutability mean?
It means changelessness. God never mutates. He's always
the same. He never changes. The immutability
of His counsel. Malachi 3, 6, I'm the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. Now, if the Lord loves me, it's
because He's always loved me. He never began to love me. And
His love to me was in His Son, and His love cannot change. The believer has never been under
the wrath of God. Now, we felt like we were. We
surely felt like we were, but a believer has never been under
the wrath of God. The believer is under His immutable
love. Now, I realize some people will
say, well, you can't say that. Why not? Why not? I wouldn't
give anybody even the slightest hope who didn't bow the knee
to Christ that God loved them. But God's love is the assurance
of the believer. It's an eternal love. Behold,
I've loved you with an everlasting love. There was never a time
I began to love you, and there's never a time when my love will
end. I can't love you any more than I do, and I can't love you
any less than I do. That comforts me. because of
his immutability. He never changes. You think about
how mutable men are. You think about how easily they
mutate and change and they're up here and then they're down
here. Men are so fickle and fallible and mutable, but not him. When
he shows the heirs the immutability of his counsel, Verse 18, that by two immutable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie. We might have
strong consolation. You know, we're comforted by
what God can't do. You know, there's some things God can't
do. People say, well, God can do anything. No, He can't. He
can't lie. He can't lie. He can't save at the expense
of His justice. He can't just sweep our sins under the carpet.
But bless God, He can't send that person to hell that Jesus
Christ died for. His justice demands their salvation
because they have no sin. He can't fail. He can't be anything
but what He is. And we are comforted from that. We're comforted by what God cannot
do. And here's what we've done, that
by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have this strong consolation who have fled for
refuge. And I have no doubt that he's
talking about the cities of refuge. In the Old Testament, there were
six cities appointed, and it's given to typify the gospel. If
a man had killed somebody accidentally, The problem with this thing falls
apart is our sin's not accidental. Someone said, I didn't mean to
do it. Yeah, you did. Yeah, you did. I mean, there's no such thing
as, but still the type. There were these cities appointed,
six cities, where if you killed somebody accidentally, their
family had the right to kill you. It's called the avenger
of blood. And what you would do, you'd
run to one of these six cities of refuge, and if you could get
into that city, you were protected. The avenger of blood could not
take you. And we have fled for refuge to
lay hold, he says, upon the hope set before us, which hope we
have as an anchor of the soul. And I love this imagery, an anchor
of the soul. Now, this anchor is within the
veil. We can't see it. What good does
an anchor do you that you can see? Doesn't do you any good
at all, does it? If the anchor's, well, that's
a beautiful anchor, I mean, that'll really do the job. But what good's
it doing if it's in the boat? The only time that anchor does
you any good is when you throw it off and it goes into the deep
and you don't see it and it's caught and your security is in
that anchor. That's a beautiful illustration
of what faith is. You can't see the anchor. Look
what it says regarding this, which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which in earth into that within
the veil, the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God, whether
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made in high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. I have a forerunner who has already
ran before and come into the veil as my representative, my
great high priest, and what consolation there is in that. Now blessed
are they that mourn. Do you mourn over sin? Do you know what David meant
when he said, my sin is ever before me? It's always there. If you mourn over sin, you're blessed by God. And you
are comforted with the comfort of the gospel and what comfort
there is in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Let's pray together.