Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

If you would open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5, we started a series in the Beatitudes.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

It's on page 962 of your Pew Bible, and I'm going to read the Beatitudes right now.

We're going to focus on Matthew 5 verse 4 this morning.

Matthew 5:4

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him,

just like we're coming to him this morning.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

May God bless the hearing of God's words.

Amen.

Any Charlie Brown fans in the room?

Whoa, we got some amens?

Good.

We all know that Charlie Brown is a glutton for punishment.

And regularly what will happen when Charlie Brown is on the receiving end of something that doesn't work out,

he will lament, and he will say,

Good grief.

Good grief.

And we all know what it's expressing.

It's all, you know, he's expressing kind of like disappointment in his circumstances.

But then when you look about, when you actually think about those two words, good grief,

you're like, what?

This is like a contradiction in terms.

It's an oxymoron.

What grief is good?

When we think about grief or mourning,

we're thinking about a deep sadness over the loss of something good.

Whether it's a job,

or your health,

or the strain of a relationship,

or even the death of a loved one.

When we think about mourning,

we're thinking about the loss,

sadness over the loss of something good.

Last week, we started this series in the Beatitudes,

just to remind ourselves what it means to be a kingdom citizen living here in the fall of 2024.

And last week, I walked you through the Beatitudes,

and one of the points I made is that all eight of these Beatitudes,

they are, it's like a kingdom profile.

It's a character profile of someone who has been brought into the kingdom of heaven,

into the kingdom of the beloved son.

So all eight,

we're to take as,

to mark each of us,

every Christian,

is to be marked by these character traits.

And today, we're looking at the character trait of mourning.

Blessed are those who mourn.

This mourning is a godly grief.

This mourning that Jesus is talking about is lamenting over sin.

Sin against God.

When you're spiritually bankrupt,

when you are poor in spirit,

you will grieve sin.

Citizens of the kingdom,

they grieve what grieves God.

We have a whole new value system.

Now, I don't know if you realized this when you became a Christian.

But when you became a Christian,

you opened yourself up to a whole new kind of grief.

A godly grief over sin.

Sin against God.

Because your whole life has shifted

from orbiting yourself

to orbiting the living God.

So this morning,

as we look at this beatitude,

we're going to see two parts of it.

Our good grief,

blessed are those who mourn,

and God's promised comfort,

for they shall be comforted.

The question before us this morning is,

not if you mourn.

We all mourn.

We all grieve.

We're living in a sin-riddled world.

The question is,

do you grieve what grieves God?

And is there anything in you today

that is grieving,

offending the living God?

Charlie Brown.

Charlie Brown.

Turns out there is a good grief.

It's called godly grief.

And let's look at it.

Blessed are those who mourn.

That word blessed

shows up a number of times

in the Beatitudes,

nine times all the way through verse 11.

And it's Jesus announcing blessing

on all those people

who are demonstrating

these character traits

because they have been delivered

from the domain of darkness

and transferred into his kingdom,

the kingdom of the beloved son.

These are people who have received

God's transforming grace

and have been moved

under the saving reign of Jesus.

Jesus.

These are graced people.

These blessings.

This is God's goodness

to these people

who have received

the new covenant blessing

of being in Christ.

And so what I want you to help you understand

is when we read

blessed are those who mourn,

this mourner

in chapter 5 verse 4

is a kingdom citizen.

They are grieved

over what grieves God.

And what I want to try

to convince you of this morning

is this.

For you, Christian,

that's normal.

It's normal

for kingdom citizens

to grieve that which grieves God.

It's normal.

So these blessed ones

are those who've been graced by God,

who've been brought into his kingdom,

who share God's heart,

particularly when it comes to sin.

Sin in them

and sin outside of them.

So what kind of mourning

is this exactly?

What are we talking about here?

Well, last week we saw

blessed are the poor in spirit

and that poor in spirit,

you're poor in spirit

in relationship to God.

And it carries down

into verse 4.

That we are mourning something,

we're grieving something,

we're lamenting something

in relationship to God.

This is a godly sorrow

over sin.

That word sin

tends to take a bum rap

in our culture today.

Dismissive.

Biblically speaking,

it means missing the mark.

Imagine

an Olympic archer

pulling back the string,

releasing an arrow

at the target,

and that arrow

just missing the bullseye

by two centimeters.

That's missing the mark.

If they miss the mark

by two feet,

it's missing the mark.

What sin is,

is missing the mark

of God's character

in His command.

It's not believing Him

or obeying Him.

And biblically speaking,

everyone sins.

For all have sinned

and fall short

of the glory of God.

For all have missed the mark

and come up short

of God's perfection.

Sin is a human problem.

And I just want to remind you

when talking about sin,

that sin,

just one,

will condemn you

to an eternal punishment

apart from God.

Because when we sin,

we sin against

an eternal,

holy,

and just God.

for the wages of sin

is death,

eternal death,

God's wrath

for eternity.

Sin is serious business

in God's sight.

I want to ask you

just to evaluate yourself.

have you recently

given thought

to how offensive

and grievous

your sin is to God?

Let me point to a couple things

that will help that.

Think about sin's punishment,

which I just referenced.

in John 3, 36,

we read this,

whoever believes in the Son

has eternal life,

whoever does not obey the Son

shall not see life,

but the wrath of God

remains on him.

When you think about

the punishment of sin

being God's eternal,

just,

tormenting wrath,

it should make you think

sin is serious business

in God's sight.

But,

and then when you think

of sin's solution

that God provided,

John 3, 16,

for God so loved the world

that he gave his only Son

that whoever believes in him

shall not experience

the eternal wrath of God,

but have eternal life.

When you think

that what God did

in order to rescue sinners

from their sin against him,

that he became a man,

that he lived a perfect life,

that he died on the cross

and bore God's wrath

for all of our sin,

for anyone who would believe,

so that there's no more wrath.

And then he was raised

from the dead.

What is this

that God would do

such a thing for sinners?

It's getting at

the seriousness of sin.

Let me try to push this home

a little bit more.

Imagine with me.

Do you know right now

on the seventh floor

of the Museum of Modern Art

in New York City,

there is Van Gogh's

Starry Night?

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Do you know what the painting

I'm talking about?

It's a masterpiece

worth millions.

Let's say that

the Museum of Modern Art

calls up the Salvati's

and they're like,

hey, Mike and Jenny,

do you want to hang Starry Night

in your living room

for a little bit?

And we're like,

yeah, sure, okay, yeah.

So they bring it on,

we hang it in our living room

and then I invite everybody

from our church

to come take a look

at Starry Night.

So you come over

on a Saturday morning,

but you stop off

at Oliver's

on your way here

to our house

and you pick up

your favorite jelly donut

with raspberry jelly.

You walk into our house,

you walk up to Starry Night

with your donut in hand,

you're like,

hmm, yes, yes, yes,

it's just speaking to me,

yes, yes, yes.

You take a bite

of your donut

and it squirts

raspberry jelly

all over Starry Night.

You're like, oops.

You kind of sneak your way

into the kitchen,

you grab some paper towels,

you come back to Starry Night

and you proceed

to wipe your raspberry jelly

all into Starry Night.

Everybody in the room

who knows Starry Night's value,

it's a masterpiece,

they are mourning

and grieving, right?

Because you've just

utterly defaced

something of incredible

worth and beauty.

What makes that act

so grievous

is not your jelly.

It's the work of art.

When we sin against God,

our little jelly squirts,

we're sinning

against the most glorious,

treasured being

in all of creation.

Listen.

Brothers and sisters,

our problem is not

that we take sin

too seriously.

We don't take it

seriously enough.

And that has everything

to do

with how we think

about God.

We have a man-centered

view of God,

of our sin,

a man-centered view

of our sin.

And what we need

is a God-centered view.

He's the masterpiece,

the treasure

above all else.

And when we see

our sin against Him,

we will grieve.

We will mourn.

Because we're gaining

His heart.

We need a God-centered

view of our sin.

One of my favorite

preachers and writers

is John Piper.

And he gave a talk

called,

What is Sin?

Listen to what he wrote.

My definition of sinning

is,

sinning is any feeling

or thought

or speech

or action

that comes from

a heart

that does not

treasure God

over all things.

In the bottom of sin,

the root of all sinning

is such a heart,

a heart that prefers

anything above God.

A heart that does not

treasure God

over all persons

and all other things.

What is sin?

Sin is,

follow this,

the glory of God

not honored,

the holiness of God

not reverenced,

the greatness of God

not admired,

the power of God

not praised,

the truth of God

not sought,

the wisdom of God

not esteemed,

the beauty of God

not treasured,

the goodness of God

not savored,

the faithfulness of God

not trusted,

the promises of God

not believed,

the commandments of God

not obeyed,

the justice of God

not respected,

the wrath of God

not feared,

the grace of God

not cherished,

the presence of God

not prized,

the person of God

not loved.

what John Piper does for us

is he helps us think about our sin

against God, the center of all things.

This is a biblical view of our sin.

A God-centered view of our sin.

But what about sin in you?

If you're a Christian in the room,

according to Galatians 5, 16 and 17,

when you were converted,

things got interesting.

Because now you have a conflict of interest

within yourself.

You have your flesh,

the desires of your flesh,

wanting to do sinful things,

and you've got the Holy Spirit of God living in you,

the desires of the Spirit,

wanting to form,

he wants to form in you

good God-glorifying things.

And so there's this conflict within us

did you know, Christian,

that you are simultaneously justified and sinful

at the same time?

Declared righteous in God's sight,

and yet we have a sinful nature?

You know what the question becomes?

Here's the question.

Do you have a godly sorrow

over the pride in you presently?

Over the lust in you?

Over the greed in you?

The gossip?

The hate?

The lack of self-control?

The question becomes,

how does God see these things in you?

How does he feel about these things in you?

Ephesians 4.30 says,

do not grieve the Holy Spirit

who has sealed you for the day of redemption.

Do not grieve him by sinning.

I don't know what's happening in you right now

hearing this.

I hope it goes something like this.

God, would you help me

to see and feel

about my sin in me

the way that you see and feel

about the sin in me?

Would you show me?

Would you grieve me?

Would you burden me?

Would you help me to see

my utter bankruptcy in your sight

so that I can mourn it?

When God lovingly convicts

his sons or daughters of their sins,

you can say,

I am a blessed child of God.

You know why?

Because God,

your heavenly loving Father,

is at work in you

so that you can share

in his blessed holiness.

It is a good thing

that you grieve your sin.

It's a good thing.

And if you're new

to the Christian faith,

I want to help you

set your expectations right.

Because as you grow

as a Christian,

you don't grieve less.

You grieve more.

because you start seeing

the utter effect of sin

in your life.

And as you get to know

your God more and more,

you start realizing,

oh, this sin in me

must be grievous in his sight.

He's so holy and good and just.

And so the reasoning goes,

Christian,

if you're maturing in Christ,

you're not going to be

less grievous of your sin.

You're going to be more

as you become more and more holy.

But what happens

if you don't grieve your sin?

What happens if you don't care?

Well, that probably means

you're not a kingdom.

You're not in the kingdom of Jesus.

And what you need to hear

is that you need to cry out to God

and say, oh God,

would you burden me?

Help me to see my sin.

Take it seriously as you see it

so I can run to Jesus.

Or maybe you are a Christian

not taking their sin seriously.

We've seen that.

We saw that in the book of Judges.

God's people being canonized,

becoming like the world.

When you become like the world,

you're not going to grieve

what grieves God.

You're going to do

what's right in your own eyes.

You're not going to seek

to do what is right

in God's eyes.

And so if you're a Christian

in the room

and you're like,

man, I'm not grieved.

Well, is it because

you've just been canonized?

And that's something

to repent of.

God, forgive me

for living according

to the world's values,

not yours.

Brothers and sisters,

this is our good grief

of being a kingdom citizen.

We're sharing in God's heart

towards sin in us

and outside of us.

This is normal,

brothers and sisters.

This is normal

for those in the kingdom.

But I want to move now

from our good grief

to God's comforting promise.

Blessed are those who mourn,

for theirs is the kingdom.

Oops, for theirs,

for they shall be comforted.

Amen.

Time out.

I forgot something.

And it's important.

Before we move on

to the promised comfort,

which I think a lot of you

want to move on to right now,

I need you to help you

think about something.

I want to introduce you

to the idea of lament.

C.S. Lewis

has written

a commentary on the Psalms.

I was given this

by a friend this past week.

And C.S. Lewis writes,

I think we delight to praise

what we enjoy

because the praise

not merely expresses

but completes the enjoyment.

It is its appointed

consummation.

So when we in the congregation

are gathered

and we're dwelling upon

these glorious truths of God,

we're just delighting it,

we're enjoying it,

that it's not complete

until we sing

his praises together.

Then it's complete.

You see my point?

See what he's writing?

Applied to mourning

of sin.

Applied to

godly grief.

The appointed

consummation

of godly grief

when you're seeing

sin in you

or outside of you

is what the Bible

calls lament.

It brings closure.

It brings expression.

And it's always

in the minor key.

It's not always

fun to sing.

It's not always

fun to speak

because it's a sadness.

In your Bibles

there are different

kinds of laments.

There's personal lament.

Psalm 13.

Psalm 51.

When

David sins

adultery

with Bathsheba

then kills

her husband Uriah

to cover it up.

He writes

Psalm 51

and in verse 4

he says

in this lament

to God

against you

God

and you alone

have I sinned.

That's a God

centered view

of his sin

operating.

And that's

a personal lament.

And so personal lament

is giving expression

to godly grief.

It contains confession.

But you're expressing

your sorrow

over your grief

for what you've done

in God's eyes.

Not only is there

personal lament

there is corporate lament.

And just as a

point of reference

would you just write

if you're taking notes

Ezra chapter 9

Ezra 9 · chapter mention

and 10.

Take a look at that.

God's people

are intermarrying

Ezra

one of the leaders

of God's people

he actually

prays a prayer

of lament

not for his sin

but for the people's sin

and then the people

join in

in chapter 10

and there's all this

weeping going on

do you know

what that means?

It's corporate

lament

for their sin.

And then there's

the Jesus lament.

in Luke 19

Jesus has just

entered Jerusalem

and we read this

and when he drew near

and saw the city

he wept over it

saying

would that you

even you

had known on this day

the things that make

for peace

but now they are

hidden from your eyes

the things that make

for peace

Jesus was referring

to himself

they didn't recognize him

for the days

will come upon you

when your enemies

will set up a barricade

around you

and surround you

and hem you in

on every side

and tear you down

to the ground

you and your children

within you

and they will not

leave one stone

upon another

in you

because you did not

know the time

of your visitation

Jesus is lamenting

over Jerusalem

that he has come

and they don't

recognize him

and now salvation

is going to pass them by

and judgment's

going to come.

Jesus weeps

and pronounces this

lament

how many

don't show your hands

but how many

in this room

have friends

and family

we love

that at present

have rejected

Jesus

they have not seen

the time of his

visitation as of yet

and so God's wrath

hangs over them

my friends

don't hate them

grieve them

grieve

what is happening

there's another

lament

in Psalm 119

136

where the

psalmist says

I cry

streams

of tears

because

this people

does not

obey your

commandments

so brothers

and sisters

when we

become aware

of the murdering

of image bearers

in the womb

and we

know

the command

thou shall not

murder

we grieve

that

because it grieves

God

when we see

men marrying

men

and women

marrying women

we grieve

that

because that's

not God's

design

one man

one woman

for life

under God

when we

see the

confusion

of biological

men

thinking that

they're women

and biological

women thinking

confused that

they're men

that's not

God's will

and design

we grieve

that confusion

and chaos

and cry out

to God

when a hurricane

like Helena

rips through

our nation

when tornadoes

and floods

and forest fires

wreak havoc

and bring death

and we see

sin's

distorting effect

on God's

created order

we grieve

that

it's not the way

it's supposed to be

God's sovereign

over all these

things

we lament

it

oh God

have mercy

Thomas Watson

Puritan

said this

till sin

be bitter

Christ

will not

be

sweet

and the way

that you learn

to grieve

your sin

is to grieve

it in light

of who

God

is

and you learn

to lament

you learn

to lament

now to the

promised comfort

we fly

blessed are those

who mourn

what a glorious

promise

for they shall

be comforted

glorious promise

when you

are grieving

your sin

when you

are grieving

the sins

of those

around you

the sins

of our culture

the sin

affected

created order

when we're

grieving

these things

take heart

be comforted

there's a promise

promise

says

don't you want

to know

this is a

comfort from

God

brothers and

sisters

in our

grieving

when we

grieve

what God

grieves

we are

comforted

by God's

promise

promise

and I

hope you

see in

this

passage

in verse

4

for they

shall be

comforted

is a

future

promise

let me

aim you

at this

future

promise

in

Revelation

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

chapter

21

Zach

made

reference

it

this past

week

in the

word of

encouragement

let me

read it

to you

be

encouraged

grievous

ones

mourners

of the

kingdom

be

encouraged

then I

saw a

new heaven

and a

new earth

for the

first heaven

and the

first earth

had passed

away and

the sea

was no

more

and I

saw the

holy city

new

Jerusalem

coming down

out of

heaven

from God

prepared

as a

bride

adorned

for her

husband

and I

heard a

loud voice

from the

throne

saying

what are

you

saying

what's

going to

be

said

behold

the

dwelling

place of

God

is with

man

he

will

dwell

with

them

and they

will be

his

people

and God

himself

will be

with them

as their

God

he

will wipe

every tear

from their

eyes

and death

shall be

no more

neither

there shall

be

mourning

nor crying

nor pain

anymore

for the

former things

have passed

away

we have

a promise

of a new

heavens

and a new

earth

and with

the new

heavens

and the new

earth

comes a

new

reality

there's no

more mourning

no more

no more

crying

no more

pain

do you

know why

there's

no more

sin

not even

in you

you'll have

a new

resurrected

body

none of

that

no more

but that's

not the

best part

it's like

the gospel

the goodness

of the gospel

is God

look who

it is

it's God

himself

wiping away

the tears

from your

face

it's his

presence

when faith

turns to

sight

we see

him

face

to face

we will

be in

his

presence

we will

hear his

audible

voice

we will

smell

him

and be

with him

are you

mourning

sin

oh

be comforted

by that

promise

we're one

day closer

my friends

do you know

what that's

called

that's

called

hope

hope

is this

forward

looking

faith

in the

future

fulfillment

of God's

promise

that's

hope

and when

we are

grieving

our sin

against

God

we need

that kind

of hope

and he

gives it

that's a

comfort from

God

that's a

future

promise

friends

that's the

text

let me give

you a

present

promise

Jesus

at the

end of

the

great

commission

says

go make

disciples

and he

closes it

with a

promise

he says

lo I am

with you

always

even to

the end

of the

age

so not

only is

God's

promised

future

his

presence

God's

promise

now

is his

presence

and he

manifests

his presence

to us

right now

not

physically

you don't

smell him

you don't

hear him

audibly

you're not

feeling he's

kind of hand

wiping away

your tears

he's manifested

in us

by his

Holy Spirit

but there's

more

if right

now

you are

overwhelmed

by your

own

sinfulness

Christian

you're like

I have

not been

wanting

to look

at this

sin trash

in me

because I

don't want

to deal

with it

and I

certainly

don't want

to go

to God

with it

if that's

you

oh I've

got a

promise

for you

God's

word

has a

promise

for you

it's

the promise

of justification

it's

it's

this

promise

that if

you put

your faith

in Jesus

Christ

you have

peace

with God

because he's

declared you

righteous in his

sight

all of

your sin

has been

forgiven

because all

of God's

wrath has

been poured

out on

your sin

so that

there's no

more wrath

there's

there's

therefore

now no

condemnation

no more

wrath for

those who

are in

Christ

Jesus

and not

just that

you have

been imputed

with the

righteousness

of Christ

you stand

before

God

righteous in

his sight

with Christ's

righteousness

and so

you have

hope

that you

can stand

before the

judge

without being

condemned

because of

the finished

work of

Jesus

he's

declared

you

righteous

in his

sight

receive that

promise

live in that

promise

it doesn't

mean you

don't own

your sin

it means you

freely go to

the throne

of grace

with your

sin

what's being

promised

in Matthew

5

4

is the

future

presence

of our

Lord Jesus

in a new

heavens

in a new

earth

when there's

no more

sin

but there's

also the

present

presence

present

promise

he's with

us

our sins

are not

over our

heads

anymore

but there's

coming a

day my

friends

when there's

no more

hurricane

helenas

there's no

more contentious

presidential

elections

there's no

more abortions

there's no

more sexual

sins

there's no

more identity

chaos

there's no

more threat

from creation

itself

because it's

all been

completely

done

with

so now

we

we lament

with

hope

secure

in these

promises

when we

take sin

seriously

because God

takes sin

seriously

we lament

we give

voice to

that

by lamenting

it

but we

also

stand

upon

these

promises

our

good

grief

blessed

are those

who

mourn

God's

promise

comfort

for they

shall be

comforted

as a

Christian

as a

citizen

of Christ's

kingdom

living in

the sin

riddled

world

you will

mourn

the devastation

and offense

of sin

as you

get to

know your

God

and as

you see

your sin

more

accurately

but you

will do

so with

hope

in God's

promises

and be

blessed

he's wiped

away the

penalty of

your sin

and he

will wipe

away every

tear

from your

eye

blessed

are those

who mourn

for they

will be

comforted

this is

no

Charlie Brown

good grief

this is

the grief

the blessed

grief

of a

citizen

of the

kingdom

God in

heaven

Father God

we come

to you

now

and we

come to

you

with honest

hearts

we come

to you

acknowledging

the sin

at work

in us

still

we all

have sinful

natures

still

we grieve

our pride

we grieve

our lust

we grieve

our words

that we

speak

in anger

we grieve

these things

God

we grieve

the way

that instead

of loving

one another

we hate

each other

how we

avoid

each other

we grieve

these things

God

we grieve

the American

church

and how

the American

church

takes you

so lightly

how we

are

infrequently

considering

the glory

of your

name

how we

belittle

you

and how

casual

we are

when it

comes to

you

God

we grieve

this

we

grieve

along the

lines of

Isaiah 520

our culture

which is

calling evil

good and

good evil

we grieve

that

we

we grieve

those who

put darkness

for light

and light

for darkness

who put bitter

for sweet

and sweet

for bitter

oh God

we grieve

this in our

culture

we grieve

this in our

city

we grieve

over the

children who

are traumatized

in the

neighborhoods

around this

building

who are

growing up

in contexts

that are

just so

difficult

we grieve

these things

God

and we

call upon

you to

bring about

a gospel

change

in us

in the

American

church

in the

neighborhoods

surrounding

this building

the people

in our

lives

oh God

would you

use us

to bring

hope

God

we

acknowledge

this

promise

of yours

of a

future

comfort

God

would you

press that

in deep

into our

hearts

we

God

take great

hope

in knowing

Lord Jesus

you are

with us

that we

are justified

would you

press these

things deep

within our

hearts

as we

see our

own

sin

God

we

are

your

mourners

and we

are so

thankful

for your

comfort

and we

pray this

all in

Jesus name

Amen