Matthew 5:1-12

We'll do turn to Matthew 5.

I was driving this week and I heard the advert for Vitality Insurance. I don't know if you've seen it.

! It's not what do you want for your children? It's a really interesting question.

What do you want for your children?

And there were different responses, but it boiled down to health, happiness and security.

Three things that you can't guarantee, nobody can guarantee that they can give to your children apart from Vitality Insurance.

But it's really interesting, isn't it, that that is happiness still, the pursuit of happiness.

It's still such a big thing.

You want to be happy.

And our world is searching for happiness. It shows itself in different ways, doesn't it?

But happiness, according to the Lord Jesus, as we saw a couple of weeks ago, is found in the kingdom of God.

And that's not escapism.

You know the thought at the moment is that, look, holidays, people thinking holidays is what will make me happy.

Two weeks in the sun, that's what will make me happy.

According to Jesus, happiness is found in the kingdom of God.

I just need to get away from it all.

Christianity is not getting away from it.

By Christianity, one of the things I love about it is utterly realistic.

So look at verse 10.

Jesus says, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

They're not people who are escaping reality, they.

These are people who are facing up to the pressures of life and suffering as a result of it.

Look at verse 4.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

What I'm trying to do in these series of sermons on the Beatitudes is really try and unpack the Christian life

in the way that Jesus speaks about what true happiness is and what true blessedness is.

That's where we are tonight.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Tears are a part of life.

Tears are a part of life.

Tears are a part of life.

It's an Arab proverb and it says this.

All sunshine makes a desert.

All sunshine makes a desert.

To live means there has to be tears and sorrow.

And no one can live going through life without tears.

You can exist, but you can't live without tears.

And I'm not suggesting for one moment that if you come to Jesus Christ, all your troubles go away.

I hope you don't think that.

We don't believe it.

The Bible doesn't teach it.

Jesus does not promise you immunity or exemption in this life from any of life's disappointments

or frustrations or sorrows that are common to everyone.

And yet having said that, even at the natural level, I'm going to argue it pays to be a Christian.

Paul in 1 Thessalonians is dealing with the problem of bereavement in church.

People who are mourning the loss of loved ones.

And in verse 13 of chapter 4, he says,

I don't want you to be uninformed.

I don't want you to be ignorant about those who are asleep.

That you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

And so there are people out there in that church in Thessalonica

who are going through probably the most life-shattering experiences.

The loss of a loved one.

Bereavement.

And Paul doesn't say to them, oh, you mustn't sorrow.

He doesn't say, oh, you're letting the side down as a Christian by mourning.

He doesn't say, put a smile on your face.

No, he says to them this, you are going to sorrow,

but you are not going to sorrow as others do who have no hope.

And so even at the natural level, it pays to be a Christian.

We who are Christians are not immune to bereavement

or other life-shattering experiences that people go through.

We mourn, yes.

But not as those who have no hope.

And so these words, they make sense for the Christian,

even on the natural level.

They don't make sense for the non-Christian.

I've taken a number of funerals quite recently,

and over all the years I've been taking funerals,

it is very, very difficult to speak to those

who've lost a loved one who is evidently not a Christian.

I've met people who are inconsolable,

and it's been impossible to comfort them.

And so these words are not true generally,

but they are true.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,

even on the natural level for the Christian.

Now it seems to me that Jesus is not primarily

or even remotely talking about this kind of thing,

but I thought I needed to deal with it.

That's not his intention.

We need to understand the logic in these verses.

There's a logic in these Beatitudes.

I hope you can see it.

Look at verse 3.

That's where we start.

That's the soil out of which all the other Beatitudes grow.

That's where you begin,

and to be a Christian.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

That's where we start.

We start there,

with an awareness and an acknowledgement

that we are spiritually bankrupt.

And unless you've been brought there,

you haven't begun as a Christian.

That's where you begin,

and then it will lead on to a mourning

and to a sorrow,

a bewailing of your spiritual poverty.

It's not enough just to be aware of it.

It's not enough to acknowledge it,

as it were theoretically.

If the Spirit of God is at work in your life,

you'll be prepared to admit it

and acknowledge it before God,

and it will shatter you.

It will disturb you.

Literally, the word that Jesus uses here

is the word shatter.

See, if I picked up this glass

and I threw it against this wall,

it would shatter, wouldn't it?

It would splinter everywhere.

And that's exactly what Jesus uses here.

He says,

Blessed are those who are shattered to pieces,

for they shall be comforted.

Blessed is that person who is shattered

because of spiritual poverty.

That's the logic.

That's the progression here.

Blessed are those who are deeply,

inwardly concerned

about their spiritual poverty before God.

Robbie Burns, you know the Scotsman.

He has a poem.

I can't read it in Scotch.

But let me read it to you.

It says this.

Oh, would some power,

the gift to give us,

to see ourselves as others see us.

It would from many a blunder free us

and foolish notion.

Would some power,

the gift to give us,

to see ourselves as others see us.

It can be quite a shattering experience,

can't it?

To see yourself as others see us.

It's like that when I have to listen

to my own sermons.

Occasionally I do that.

It's so painful, isn't it?

You think, do I really sound like that?

You know, you watch a video of yourself

and you're talking in the background

and immediately,

on the video,

as you hear your voice,

you think,

do I really sound like that?

When we see ourselves as others see us,

we're shocked, don't we?

Some of us are at that stage of life,

isn't it,

where we look in the mirror,

we see our father.

So I really look like that.

I showed you when I,

at the time when I was 19,

I was in university,

and we thought we'd play a prank

on this girl,

Sarah Street,

and my friend said,

leave you hide behind the sofa

and when she comes in,

I'll ask you what she thinks of you.

And I hid behind the sofa,

no one knew,

and he asked her

and literally for 20 minutes,

she just let rip about me.

I didn't have the heart to jump up.

It was so,

I didn't,

I let her go out

and then I kind of crawled out.

It was awful.

What she said was true.

What must it be like

to see ourselves

as God sees us?

It's a shattering experience.

It happened to Isaiah.

The preacher Isaiah,

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6,

he sees the Lord

high and mighty

and he says,

woe is me,

I'm undone,

I'm taken apart,

I'm in pieces.

I'm shattered,

literally,

my eyes have seen the King,

the Lord of hosts,

and I'm a man of unclean lips

and I dwell in the midst

of a people of unclean lips.

Why does he talk like that?

Well,

he's seen himself.

He's seen himself,

not as others see him,

others thought that actually

Isaiah was a very good preacher,

it's very acceptable.

He'd been preaching for many years,

he'd been used by God,

but for the first time

in Isaiah 6,

it seems,

he's in the presence of God

and he sees him

as God sees him

and he says,

I'm a man of unclean lips.

Why does he use that phrase?

He uses that phrase

because he's a preacher,

his lips are the tools

of his trade.

And the lips of Isaiah

represented the very best

of what Isaiah had to offer.

His most consecrated

and devoted service to God

and he thought he was doing

really well as a prophet,

as God's spokesman,

and suddenly he comes

into the very presence of God

and he sees himself

as God sees him

and he realises

the very best part of him

is filthy.

And the best that he's got

to offer

is shot through

with pride

and self-righteousness

and he says,

I'm a man of unclean lips

and I've been found out.

I'm undone,

I'm shattered.

It was Peter's experience.

Do you remember,

Peter really thought

he was quite someone,

didn't he?

He compared himself

with all the other disciples,

we're really prone

to do that,

and he says to Jesus,

even if they all forsake you,

I will never forsake you.

I'll die for you

if necessary.

And you have that passage,

don't you,

where Jesus is arrested

and Peter is confronted

by the servant girl

and by another girl

and then somebody else

and he denies the Lord Jesus

with oaths,

with swear words.

I don't know that,

I don't know the so-and-so.

And with foul oaths,

he curses and he swears

and he denies

he knew anything at all

about Jesus Christ

and he denied his Lord.

Do you know what Luke tells us?

In Luke 22, verse 60,

Luke 22:60

Peter said,

man,

I do not know

what you're talking about

and immediately

while he was still speaking,

the rooster crowed

and the Lord turned

and looked at Peter.

Matthew doesn't tell us that.

But Luke tells us

that as the rooster crowed,

the Lord turned

and looked at Peter

and Peter remembered

the saying of the Lord

how he'd said to him

before the rooster crows,

today you will deny me

three times

and Peter went out

and wept bitterly.

See, what happened there?

It wasn't that Peter

had just been caught

in the act.

That makes us blush,

doesn't it?

That makes us kind of bluster

when we're caught

in the act of something

but it's more than that.

He caught sight of himself

in the eyes of Jesus Christ.

He saw himself reflected

in the look of Jesus Christ.

He saw himself

through the eyes of Christ

and he goes out

and he weeps bitterly.

And Jesus says to us tonight,

he says,

blessed are those who do that.

Blessed are those

who realize the truth

about themselves.

Blessed are those

who've seen themselves

as God sees them.

Not as they'd like

to think of themselves.

Not as they'd like

others to think of them.

Blessed are those

who are poor in spirit

and shattered as a result

who are deeply concerned

about their spiritual poverty

and bankruptcy.

Blessed are those

who mourn.

And I imagine

that there may be

some here tonight

and you think,

Paul, you're overstating this.

I'm not perfect.

I know that

but I can't say

that I'm shattered

about that.

I'm irritated

by my shortcomings.

I'm depressed sometimes

when I can't live up

to my own ideals

but shattered.

I wouldn't say

I'm shattered.

I wouldn't say

that I'm broken

hearted

about it.

Life has to go on,

doesn't it?

And I need to say

to you tonight,

if you've seen your sin

for what it is,

you would be shattered.

If you knew

what sin really was,

you'd be broken hearted.

And the reason

that you've not mourned

for your sin

is because you've not

realised what it is.

If I am tonight

on YouTube,

live on the internet,

called you out

as a criminal,

called your name

and called you a criminal,

you could go to Solicitor

tomorrow,

can you?

You could take out

a writ against me.

You could sue me

for libel.

But if I call you

a sinner,

it's no big deal,

is it?

After all,

we're all sinners,

aren't we?

No one's perfect.

Crime

is against society.

Sin

is against God.

sin

is infinitely

more serious

than crime.

Sin,

somebody has written,

sin can take

the loveliest life

and smash it

on a cross.

That's what sin

did, of course,

isn't it?

Sin took the life

of the Lord Jesus Christ

and mocked it

and nailed it

to a cross.

And that is what

sin has done.

My sin

and your sin,

it has crucified

the Lord of glory.

And Jesus

went to the cross

for the sins

of his people.

Christ Jesus

came into this world

to save sinners.

There's a great deal

of truth,

isn't there,

in the Negro spiritual.

Were you there

when they crucified

my Lord?

There's a real sense

in which you were there

and I was there.

It was my sin

that brought Jesus

to that cross.

He died for our sins.

It's the whole gospel

in that phrase.

He died for our sins.

What does that mean?

I might say to you,

if you're sitting here

with a streaming cold,

do you remember

before COVID

people got colds?

I saw a sign

on a protest

the other day

saying,

make influenza great again.

Let's say

you can remember

what a cold is,

all right?

Pre-COVID.

And you say to me

after the service,

I keep my distance,

but I say to you,

are you taking something

for that cold of yours?

You'd understand

what I mean,

wouldn't you?

What do I mean

when I say,

I hope you're taking

something for that cold?

That is,

I hope you're taking

some kind of medicine

or you're taking

something that will

take the cold away.

I'm asking,

are you taking

something against

that cold?

Are you taking

something for yourself

against the cold?

I see you next week,

I say,

how are you?

You say,

oh my cold is better now.

We don't mean that,

do we?

We mean the opposite.

We mean,

I'm better,

my cold is gone.

And when the Bible

tells us that Jesus

died for our sins,

that is the way

that we're to understand it.

He died for us

against our sins.

You and I are down,

not with a cold,

but according to the Bible,

down with sin.

From the moment

we come from our

mother's womb,

we're down with sin.

From the moment

we begin to exist,

from the point of conception,

where sin is by nature,

and we come into this world

down with sin.

And Jesus died on the cross

for our sins.

He died to make our sin better,

to make it go away.

He died as the remedy,

God's remedy for sin.

You've heard the story,

I'm sure,

but the firemen

arrive on a farm.

It's a country farm,

and everything is burnt out.

The barn is burnt to a cinder.

They finish putting out

the blaze,

and the firemen

wander around

inspecting the damage

on the kind of

charred ground.

And one of the firemen

comes,

and a hen

has been burnt to death

on the floor

of one of the buildings.

The firemen

pokes it with a stick

and moves it.

And underneath

that burnt hen,

they find little chicks.

Little chicks,

alive,

clucking around,

chirping around.

Jesus said,

he was coming down

from the Mount of Olives,

and he saw the

city of Jerusalem

spread out before him.

And he says,

O Jerusalem,

Jerusalem,

how often would I

have gathered you

as a hen

gathers her chicks

under her wings,

but you would not.

And Jesus wept

of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was destroyed

in the most terrible way.

Why?

Because they did not know

the things that belonged

to their peace

according to Jesus.

Jerusalem didn't realize

that God had come

into their midst.

They didn't know

that the Savior

walked their streets.

And even as he carried

his cross

to the place of execution

to Calvary,

the crowds line the route,

don't they?

The people of Jerusalem,

and Jesus sees

some women

who are weeping,

and he says to them,

don't weep for me,

weep for yourself.

They were saying,

such a waste,

such a tragedy,

a young man

in the prime of life,

so kind,

going to the gallows.

And they were weeping.

But they weren't

weeping for themselves.

And they didn't understand

what was happening,

you see.

They didn't realize

that Jesus going to the cross

wasn't some tragic

accident of history,

but that this was

the Son of God

who came to die

for their sins.

They didn't understand that.

They didn't understand

that it was their sins

that had brought them

to this point in history.

They didn't understand that.

And so Jesus says to them,

weep for yourselves

and your children.

Because unless you're

brought to that point

where you are desperately

concerned about the problem

of your sin,

the judgment of God

will hem down upon you.

And so Jesus says to you

tonight,

he says,

how often

would I have gathered you?

how often

would I have gathered you

but you wouldn't?

You wouldn't acknowledge

your need.

You were too proud.

You wouldn't acknowledge

your need of me.

So I want to tell you tonight,

you too will die

in your sin

under the judgment of God

unless you come to Jesus

and unless you shelter

beneath his

atoning sacrifice

underneath his propitiation

like we looked at this morning

for your sins.

That's what Jesus means.

What he's talking about here

in this little phrase.

He says,

blessed are those who mourn

for they shall be comforted.

Spurgeon put it

like this.

He says,

repentance.

That's what Jesus

is talking about here.

When Paul talks

about repentance

in 2 Corinthians 7

he calls it godly sorrow.

Spurgeon says

repentance is the tear

in the eye of faith.

That's what it is.

Repentance is the tear

in the eye of faith.

You cannot look

at a crucified saviour

dry eyed.

Blessed are they

that mourn

because

they are concerned

that the fact

of their sin

that is against God

and their sin

has crucified

the Lord of glory.

Blessed are they

that are disturbed

who care about that.

They will be comforted.

They shall be comforted.

Somebody has said

if you want to know

someone's character

you find out

what makes them laugh

and you find out

what makes them cry.

What makes you laugh?

What makes you cry?

There's a line in a hymn

Peter will remind me

what it is

but

the line of the hymn

is this

the pleasures lost

I sadly mourned

!

But never wept

for thee!

Till grace

the sightless eyes

received

thy loveliness

to see!

I mourned

the pleasures lost

but I never mourned

for him

the Lord Jesus.

Somebody's rightly

described the Beatitudes

as the birthmarks

of the child of God.

I think that's

a fair description.

A child comes

out of the womb

naked

and helpless

totally dependent

upon its mother.

So the Christian

is born again

poor in spirit

nothing

he has nothing

he is nothing

totally dependent

upon God

to save him.

What's one of the

first marks of life

in a newborn baby?

What do you

look for

when a baby is born?

It's the happiest

sound in the world

isn't it?

It's the sound

of a newborn baby

crying.

Although it's chosen

that

the midwife

holds him up

by the legs

and smacks him

on the bottom

and you hear

the sound

of a newborn baby

crying.

It's one of the

happiest sounds

in the world.

The sound

of a newborn baby

crying

as it comes

into the world.

Jesus

blessed are those

who mourn

blessed are those

who mourn

for they shall

be comforted.

And so can you

mourn over your

sins tonight?

Is that what makes

you cry?

Your sin?

I am not arguing

please don't

please don't think

that I'm asking you

to mourn over

your sins

helplessly

hopelessly

and desperate

but I am asking

you to mourn

over them

desperately.

We look at the

table don't we

gratefully

to Jesus Christ

because he has

borne our sin

and we look to him

the eyes of faith

with tears in our eyes

there's this paradox

isn't there

the great paradox

can you see it?

The person who mourns

and yet at the same

time is happy

I think it's so helpful

and so tonight

for those of us

who are in Christ

we're alive

we're not

we're not going

around as a

miserable sinner

going around

bewailing

and bemoaning

the fact

that you are

a miserable sinner

all the time

no no

that's not

that's not

what we want

God wants you

to mourn

he wants you

to be sorry

about your sin

all your

Christian life

but at the same

time

he wants you

to have this

deep profound

inward joy

of knowing

that those sins

are forgiven

knowing that those

sins are

cleansed

and put away

it's not either

or

don't fall

for that

the Christian

life is both

and it's

always repenting

always forgiven

and so

Jesus says

the Christian

life is a

life of

the happy

mourner

the happy

weeper

do you

recognise

yourself

a child

is overdue

Noah is

overdue

I think

for about

two weeks

and

when you're

overdue

time drags

it drags

doesn't it

a week

a week

overdue

is nothing

some babies

have three

weeks overdue

and they say

well we'll

induce you

because if it

goes on longer

than that

it can get

dangerous

there are

people that

sit in churches

that are not

a week overdue

or three weeks

overdue

they're years

and decades

overdue

and if it

goes on any

longer

it'll be

dangerous

because you

must be

born again

and Jesus

said you

can't see

the kingdom

let alone

get into

it unless

you're born

from above

so don't

go on

any longer

and you

look tonight

to Jesus

with the eye

of faith

not dry

eyed

what I mean

by that is

you don't

think well I

am a sinner

Jesus died

for sinners

hey presto

that's okay

isn't it

we look to

him not dry

eyed

we look to

him with

tears

moaning

over our

sin

with a

broken

heart

and maybe

tonight

it's a stage

before that

isn't it

you need

to look

to him

for a

broken

heart

maybe

your

heart

is too

heavy

and it's

too hard

and you

look to

him because

he will

break it

and he

will melt

it

and here

is the

wonderful

thing

that the

Lord

Jesus

he breaks

your heart

but at the

same time

he heals

it

it's the

same look

the same

sight

the same

sight of a

crucified

saviour

breaks your

heart

and comforts

it

and heals

it

blessed

are those

who mourn

for they

shall be

comforted

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray