Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Well, if you would open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5, we have begun a series in the Sermon on the Mount we're calling Kingdom Citizens.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

This morning we're going to be camping out on one verse, Matthew 5, 4.

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

But I just want to remind you, the Sermon on the Mount is the manifesto of King Jesus.

Our King is publicly declaring to His citizens who we are and how we are to live.

And so, becoming a citizen of the Kingdom begins with coming to terms with your spiritual bankruptcy.

Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

And so when we come to terms with our spiritual bankruptcy before God, our sinfulness, our debt,

spiritual debt before God, we realize that the only way to have this debt paid off is if God Himself is generous and pays our debt for us.

And as we know that God's debt relief program is not a program in which we kind of work our way out of debt.

His debt relief program is a person, Jesus, who paid our debt in full.

We are a forgiven people.

We were poor, but because Jesus, who was rich, became poor, He makes us rich.

He makes us rich in Christ.

Our spiritual poverty is the starting point of everything.

So if you think about the Beatitudes, all these blessings as progressive, as sequential,

what you'll realize is this, it all starts with being poor in spirit.

Recognizing our poverty.

And what flows out of that is mourning.

When you realize your spiritual bankruptcy,

it's not long after that, you begin to mourn it.

To be sorrowful over it.

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

My wife and I, we met in college.

We fell in love in college.

It was almost love at first sight.

But when Jenny and I were in college, we were both believers arriving.

But there was a young woman there whose name was Diane.

And she became a Christian while there.

And she was a bit eccentric.

She was, after all, an art major.

But what you can't deny is the work that God did in her.

It was a radical change in her life.

And I remember something.

I'll never forget it.

Every year at about the same time, Diane would remember her conversion.

And she would wear all black on that day.

And so you'd see her walking around campus dressed in black.

And it was her way of mourning her sins against God.

And remembering the great forgiveness she had received in Christ.

Her mourning, her sin against God was the starting point.

But it always ended with her being comforted in Christ.

We're going to take our cues from Diane, but more so from Jesus.

If you're a Christian, if you're a citizen of the kingdom of heaven,

you're going to mourn your sin regularly.

Because God is still holy.

And even though you've been justified by His grace, He's still sin.

And so we're going to be dealing with our sin all the way until we die or until Jesus returns.

And part of that, for a Christian, is mourning our sin.

Seeing it and responding to it as God would have us.

Our godly sorrow over our sin will lead us to the blessed comfort offered to us in Christ alone.

So this morning, make no question, I'm going to call you by God's Word to mourn over your sin.

But, ultimately, the call will be to find your comfort in Christ.

The way to find comfort in Christ is to go through mourning your sin.

So this morning, I'm going to have two main points.

First is, mourn your sin against God.

And then second, find your comfort in Christ alone.

The call to mourn your sin is ultimately a call to find your comfort in Christ.

So would you now look back at Matthew 5, verse 4.

Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn.

The first thing you need to realize about this,

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

The call to mourn is a condition to experience the blessing Jesus is talking about.

Now, when you read this, blessed are those who mourn,

I don't know about you, but it sounds a bit odd.

It sounds a bit paradoxical.

It's kind of upside down.

You could translate it this way, happy are the unhappy.

Seems a little weird.

But what you need to understand is,

it's the entire verse we need to understand this mourning in.

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

Mourning is a condition that must be met in order to receive God's comfort.

So what I'm trying to tell you is this.

The mourning Jesus is talking about, the grief, that's not the blessing.

But it's necessary in order to experience God's blessing.

In order to be comforted by God, we must mourn our sin.

So mourning is a condition to this blessing.

The second thing is this.

I want you to see under mourn your sin against God.

It's the kind of mourning Jesus is talking about.

He's talking about a sadness.

He's talking about a grief.

One commentator talked about it this way.

That this mourning is the emotional counterpart to being poor in spirit.

It's something that we feel.

When we think about mourning, I'm guessing you think about what I think about,

someone dying.

Mourning the death of a loved one.

And I'll never forget the day my grandfather died.

Never forget it.

It was back in 2000.

And what I'll never forget about it is how my grandmother responded.

My grandparents had been married over 50 years.

And the moment my grandfather died, they moved him to a gurney.

He was in his home.

And what I'll never forget is watching my grandmother bathe my grandfather's body.

And what was amazing and striking was how she was touching his body.

I was down the hall watching.

And as she was touching his body, a body she had known for 50 years,

she was mumbling,

I love you.

And what I remember most is a teardrop at the end of her nose

as she tenderly touched her dead husband's body.

Her mourning, my grandmother's mourning,

was an all-consuming mourning.

It took over.

The reason why I tell you that story is this.

The mourning that Jesus is talking about,

that word translated mourn

is the strongest Greek word for grief.

The strongest.

It's a grief that takes over.

It's a grief that says all things stop.

This has got to be dealt with.

Jesus chose this word for a reason.

When we mourn a loved one, it's serious.

When we sin against God, it is serious.

So this mourning that Jesus is talking about,

he's not talking about bereavement of someone's loss.

What he's talking about is an intense grief

over sinning against God.

John Stott said it this way,

this is not the sorrow of bereavement,

but the sorrow of repentance.

Last week I shared with you

the opening words of the ministries

of both John the Baptist and Jesus

when they went public with their ministries.

Do you remember what it was?

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The mourning of Matthew 5.4

is an intense grief

over our sin against God.

Feeling deep sadness

for sinning against our holy God.

Now, think about it directionally.

This is a God word sorrow.

This is a God word sorrow.

The Apostle Paul talks about this

as a godly sorrow.

A godly grief.

In 2 Corinthians 7,

in this godly sorrow,

this godly grief

leads to repentance.

He talks about a different kind of grief

in that passage as well.

a worldly sorrow.

And it doesn't lead to repentance.

It leads to death.

What's the difference?

Godly sorrow is God word.

It's concern about what God thinks.

Worldly sorrow doesn't care.

It's more concern about getting caught.

When we mourn the loss of a loved one,

we are acutely aware

of the one we've lost.

It leaves a hole, doesn't it?

There's a great emptiness.

It can become surreal.

When we mourn our sins,

we are acutely aware

of how offensive our sin is

to our holy God.

At the heart of godly mourning

is an awareness of God's holiness.

Do you remember Isaiah chapter 6?

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

God gives Isaiah a vision of himself

high and lifted up in the temple.

There are seraphim flying around.

God, they are the six winged angels.

Two, they cover their eyes.

Two, they cover their feet.

Two, they fly.

And they are calling out to one another,

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is filled with His glory.

Holy, holy, holy.

There's no other word in your Bible

that describes God three times in a row.

Holy, holy, holy.

God isn't described as loving, loving, loving.

He's not described as just, just, just.

He's described as holy, holy, holy.

Utterly set apart in who He is.

Perfect in all things.

The foundation shakes.

Smoke fills the temple.

This is a theophany.

God revealing Himself to Isaiah.

And what does Isaiah do?

Oh, yes!

Happy day!

Happy day!

Happy day!

Woe is me.

Woe is me.

For I am a man of unclean lips.

He's utterly aware of his sinfulness.

He comes into the presence of a holy God

and he becomes very aware of his uncleanliness.

He's acutely aware of his sinfulness

and he's grieved by it.

It doesn't say it,

but what Isaiah is experiencing is a godly sorrow.

Thank God that he sent an angel with a hot coal to cleanse him.

What a picture of grace and mercy.

Do you recall David's adultery with Bathsheba, 2 Samuel 12?

Starts with adultery,

leads to cover up,

followed by abuse of power,

followed by murder.

David had Uriah killed.

And David didn't see it.

So you know what God did?

He sent Nathan the prophet.

Nathan goes to David,

shares with him a little parable.

There's this poor guy who raised the sheep.

This rich guy,

someone come over,

the rich guy steals the sheep.

David's like,

how can that be?

And Nathan says,

you're the man.

You're the rich man who stole the sheep, buddy.

Cut David to the quick.

And what does David say?

2 Samuel 12, 13,

I have sinned against the Lord.

I have sinned against the Lord.

Psalm 51 is a psalm that David wrote

in response to this confrontation.

It's a beautiful psalm.

It's a psalm of contrition.

It's a psalm of godly sorrow,

of recognizing not only sin,

but need for the forgiveness of that sin.

And what's striking about Psalm 51

is verse 4,

against you and you alone have I sinned.

I mean, he sinned against at least

three or four other people.

But what he's saying is there

is first and foremost,

I have sinned against the holy God.

In 2 Samuel 12, 14,

God again is merciful.

The Lord also has put away your sin.

You will not die,

Nathan says to David.

Some people think that Psalm 32

is written in response

to this episode as well.

Blessed is the one whose transgression

is not held against them.

These are just examples of

godly sorrow

coming into being confronted by sin,

being aware of God's holiness

and responding in mourning.

Jesus is talking about

an acute awareness of your sin

and a corresponding sadness over it

because you know

you have sinned against a holy God.

The most glorious and wonderful person

in the universe.

At the heart of this mourning

that Jesus is talking about

is a heart,

is an awareness of the holiness

of God.

Mourn your sin,

brother and sister.

Sin is against a holy God.

But you may be thinking,

wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

I'm justified.

I'm in right standing with God.

I don't have to fear.

You don't have to fear.

There is therefore now

no condemnation for those of us

who are in Christ Jesus.

But you know what?

God is still holy

and you still sin.

Martin Luther put it this way.

This is Latin.

This is like the only four Latin words I know.

Simul eustus et peccator.

Simultaneously just and sinful.

That's what he describes

those of us who are righteous

in God's sight.

Those of us who've been justified.

We are in right standing with God legally

and yet we still sin.

And so even though

that we've been forgiven of our sin,

God is still aware of our sin

when we sin.

He doesn't hold us against us.

But he's aware of it.

There are warnings all over the New Testament

about people who persist in their sin

who are not aware of their sin.

Brother and sister in Christ,

do you grieve over your sin?

Do you mourn over it?

And do you mourn over it

because you know you're sinning against God?

I have three questions

to help you mourn your sin.

First one is this.

Are you willing to go there?

Are you willing to open yourself up

to the holiness of God?

Are you willing to go there?

When I was a youth pastor years back,

I would take groups of students up north

and we would go camping.

For many of them,

it was the first time

that they were living out of doors.

No longer with shingles,

two by sixes,

and plywood over their head.

The only thing separating them

from thunderstorms,

50 mile an hour gusts of wind,

potential bears and whatnot,

was this really thin nylon tent.

And man, they would feel exposed.

They would feel real small real quick.

They were hearing things

and experiencing things

that they just didn't realize

was out there.

When we come into the holy presence of God,

it's like living without your roof.

You're exposed.

You feel small.

You'll be aware of your sin.

Just like Isaiah.

The thing is,

we have a tendency

of trying to insulate ourselves

from God's holiness.

Do you make a joke out of your sin?

Do you minimize your sin?

Do you hide your sin?

Do you avoid your sin?

Do you blame others for your sin?

Do you know why we don't take sin

seriously enough?

It's because we don't take God's holiness

serious enough.

Are you willing to go there?

Are you willing to take the roof off

to God's holiness?

Would you ask God,

God, would you reveal yourself

to me in your holiness?

God, would you lovingly expose me

in your holiness?

Are you willing to go there?

Second question.

Are you seeing your sin as God sees it?

You've heard of beer goggling.

What we're talking about is Bible goggling.

Seeing your sin as God sees your sin.

And you see yourself accurately

when you see yourself

through his revealed word,

his holy word.

What does God think of pornography?

What does God think of outbursts of anger?

What does God think about sleepless nights

lying in your bed,

turmoil in anxiety, in worry?

What does God think about that?

What does God think about

your questionable financial dealings?

What does God think about that?

How does God see that?

When we go to his word.

And when we go to his word humbly

and we're confronted with his word,

we're going to see things

through his perspective

that maybe we don't want to see.

Are you seeing your life

as God sees it?

Third question.

Are you feeling about your sin

the way that God feels about your sin?

Do you feel what God feels towards it?

What does God feel towards the exploitation

of women in the sex trade?

What do you think God feels about that?

What do you think?

How does God feel about pornographers

trying to hook young boys at an early age

to milk them for what they're worth?

What do you think God feels about that?

How do you think God feels about

your talking about others behind their backs?

Do you feel what God feels?

Do you see it as God sees it?

Are you willing to go there?

Do you know where all this leads?

It all leads to godly sorrow for our sake.

It all leads to seeing ourselves

as God sees us.

And it leads us to repentance.

Turning from sin

and turning to God for comfort

that's found in Christ alone.

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

we cannot minimize our sin

by ignoring God's holiness.

Rather, we mourn our sin

by exposing ourselves to God's holiness.

And then he will lead us to comfort.

God is holy.

And we remain sinful.

We're going to keep mourning our sin,

but we're going to keep being comforted

by the comfort God gives us in Christ.

So brothers and sisters,

mourn your sin.

But let's turn the corner now.

Let's find our comfort in Christ alone.

Let's say

that God in his holy character,

in his holy kindness,

has begun to expose

an area of sinful speech in your life.

You've been praying,

oh God,

would you reveal yourself to me

in your holiness?

Oh God,

would you help me to see my sin

as you see it?

God,

would you help me to feel about my sin

the way that you feel about it?

And so God begins to do a work.

You've been noticing

how your harsh words

have been hurting your spouse,

been hurting your children.

Or maybe you're not a spouse,

or you don't have children.

Maybe you're hurting your brothers and sisters.

Or maybe your harsh words

are hurting your friends.

Or maybe your harsh words

are hurting fellow employees.

Has anybody spoken a harsh word in the room?

God's making you aware of it.

And the first thing that you wanted to do

when God began to reveal

his holiness here,

the first thing you want to do

is just kind of write it off.

I wanted to write off your harsh words.

You know,

I was just tired

and I just spoke out of my tiredness.

Well,

maybe you were tired,

but there was already something in you

in which that tiredness let loose.

another way that we write off

our harsh words is,

you know what,

they had it coming.

They had that baby coming.

They pushed and pushed and pushed,

and you know what,

they had it coming.

It's their fault.

You realize you've been writing it off,

but as you prayed about it

and as you asked God

to bring it to light,

you start to see your speech

through the lens of God's Holy Word.

Let's say you go to a small group

with other Christians

and a brother in the group

is saying,

you know what,

God has been convicting me

of my speech.

I came across Ephesians 4, 29,

and man,

He is showing me

how corrupting my speech is.

And you're provoked by it.

It stirs you

unto love and good deeds

by exposing your sin.

Ephesians 4, 29 says,

let no corrupting talk

come out of your mouths,

but only such is good

for the building up

as fits the occasion

that it may give grace

to those who hear.

The moment you hear it

in your small group,

you're like,

bam, bam!

Oh, no!

Oh, no!

I think there's something

going on with my speech.

God's Word exposes

the sinfulness of your speech.

He uses other brothers and sisters

to help get it done.

And so as you become

more and more aware of this,

you start asking the question,

when I speak harshly,

is that corrupt talk

or is that edifying,

building up talk?

Does it fit the occasion?

Does it give grace

to those who hear?

And then you humbly,

honestly say to yourself,

it doesn't.

I run my speech

along Scriptures

and I'm not doing that.

It's hurting other people.

And then,

you realize

Ephesians 4.30,

which says,

do not grieve

the Holy Spirit of God

who sealed you

for the day of redemption.

And you start realizing,

not only am I hurting people

with my corrupting talk,

but I'm grieving

the Holy Spirit of God

because He is trying

to unite His people,

not divide people.

And my talk

is actually dividing

the very people

He's trying to unite.

I'm grieving God

with my speech.

You know what happens then?

You feel bad.

You start to mourn.

You start to grieve

your grieving

of the Spirit of God.

You're saddened

by this thing

you see in yourself.

How's God

going to comfort you then?

How is God

going to comfort you?

Blessed are those

who mourn

for they will,

they shall

be comforted.

How's God

going to comfort you?

He promises

He's going to comfort you.

How's He going to comfort you?

You come face to face

with sin,

what are you going to do?

Well, God's going to

comfort you

through His promises.

God's going to remind you

of what He's done for you.

And so,

to wrap up

our time together,

I want to point you

to some promises

promises of God

that are aimed

to comfort

those who are

mourning their sin.

And you know what

they all have in common?

They're all ours

in Christ Jesus.

This comfort

that I'm about to tell you

is Jesus' comfort.

Comfort that's ours

because He shed

His blood for us.

Promise number one.

Be comforted by this.

Jesus paid it all.

Christ has paid

the penalty

for your sin

in full.

I find

it's really helpful

to get

real specific

about sin.

The more concrete,

the better.

The more specific,

the better.

Getting into the

nitty-gritty

of what's going on.

As one man said,

sanctification is

in the details.

So the next time

you speak harsh words,

you grab them

and maybe they're

already gone

out of your mouth.

And you speak

this promise to them.

Christ paid

for those words.

Those harsh words

which came out

of me

and I grieve it,

they've been paid

in full by Jesus.

Jesus was your substitute.

He died on the cross

for your sins.

He died on the cross

for those sins.

Jesus paid it all.

You know,

when Jesus paid it all,

when he paid

for all your sins,

you know,

we can think,

okay,

just kind of like

this general payment

for all of our sins.

Great.

But really,

here's what you need

to think about.

It was an itemized list

of your sin.

He paid it all.

He paid it all.

Jesus was

your sin bearer.

Jesus was your

wrath taker.

You know,

one harsh word

would have condemned

you for eternity.

It would have condemned me.

And what Jesus does

is he took our place

on the cross.

He died the death

that we were supposed

to die.

and he bore

the wrath

that was intended

for those harsh words.

Jesus paid it all.

1 John 1.9.

It's a great verse

in your Bible.

You want to flip

to it real quick?

John is so,

I love my Bible

because it's so realistic.

We will continue

to sin.

We are justified sinners.

1 John 1.9

says this,

If we confess

our sins,

if we confess

our harsh words,

he is faithful

and just

to forgive us

our sins

and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.

He can

because he paid it.

We go to him.

That word confess,

it's from a fancy

Greek word

which means

to agree with,

calling it the same thing.

When I'm grieving

my sin,

I'm seeing the sin

as God sees it

and I go to God

and confess it

and I experience

forgiveness.

I like 1 John 1.9

but you know

what my favorite verse

in 1 John is?

1 John 2.

Verse 1.

And a little bit of 2.

My little children,

I'm writing these things

to you

so that you may not sin

but if anyone does sin,

anybody raise your hand.

But if anyone does sin,

but if anyone does sin,

we have an advocate

with the Father,

Jesus Christ the righteous.

He's alive.

He's risen.

He's the righteous one

at God's right hand

right now.

We have an advocate

with the Father,

Jesus Christ the righteous.

He is the propitiation

for our sin.

That fancy word

means sin bearer.

He bore the wrath for it.

And so now

when I speak harshly

to someone,

theoretically of course,

when I speak harshly

and I'm aware of it

and I confess it,

do you know what Jesus

is doing at the right hand

of God the Father

who is interceding

for us right now,

Romans 8?

He's saying,

yeah, that one too.

Those harsh words covered.

I paid for that.

I was the propitiation

for those.

I bore your wrath,

Father,

for His sin there.

His death on the cross

paid for all of your sins,

every sin.

And so when we see our sin

and we mourn it,

we're comforted by the fact

that Jesus paid for it.

Does that do good to your soul?

That doesn't grow old for me.

Do you know why

it doesn't grow old for me?

Because I sin all the time.

That's why it doesn't grow old.

I need it as much today

as I did three days ago.

That's the first promise.

Let that turn your mourning

into gladness.

Let that comfort you.

The second promise is this.

Oh, let me just preface it

by saying this.

Have you ever felt like

there's a particular sin

that has like you

in a headlock?

You're like,

I can't stop doing this!

Every time you sin,

you're like,

what's going on here?

This shouldn't be this way.

It can be very discouraging.

Feel like this thing's

got your number.

Is this always going to be this way?

Am I ever going to grow here?

I'm ashamed by this.

I want this done.

Enters the second promise.

Christ Jesus

has broken the power of sin

in you.

He's broken it.

He's broken it.

Remember,

just because you've been justified

doesn't mean you're no longer

going to struggle with sin.

It's actually quite the contrary.

The moment you believed in Jesus,

the Holy Spirit of God

came and indwelt you.

And according to Galatians 5,

you are now kind of this

like mobile war zone

of desires.

The desires of the flesh

set themselves against

the desires of the Spirit.

The desires of the Spirit

set themselves against

the desires of the flesh.

You've got conflict in you.

You're a mobile conflict zone

of desires.

Does anybody agree with that?

Yeah.

What does Paul tell us?

Walk by the Spirit

so that you will not gratify

the desires of the flesh.

Greater is He that is in you,

brother, sister,

than your sin.

The Holy Spirit resides in you.

But that's just part of it.

I want to point you

to something even more sweet.

Romans chapter 6.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Have you read Romans chapter 6 lately?

Romans 6 · chapter mention

If you're struggling with sin,

you've got to read Romans 6.

It is like gospel fireworks

for those struggling with sin.

And here's what the point is.

Paul is saying,

hey, Christian,

you've been united with Christ

in His death and resurrection.

So you are dead to sin

and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Sin is no longer your master.

Grace is.

Jesus is.

Jesus is.

Consider yourself dead to sin

and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

And so you might have to say

to your harsh words,

you're not my master anymore.

No, no, no.

I'm united to Christ

in His death and resurrection.

That's what's true.

You fight with this promise,

this truth.

Sin isn't more powerful

than your being united to Jesus

in His death and resurrection.

Sin isn't more powerful

than the Holy Spirit in you.

And so what we do

to comfort our struggle with sin

is remind ourselves

of our union with Christ.

Sin is no longer my master.

I've been raised up with Christ

and now I can speak words

that build others up.

Let that comfort you,

brother and sister in Christ.

Let that turn your mourning

into gladness.

And I'm going to be honest with you.

If you're struggling with sin,

it is always good to have

a couple brothers and sisters

near to you

to tell you and remind you

you've been united with Christ.

I know it does me.

Let that comfort you.

The last promise of comfort.

Blessed are those who mourn

for they shall be comforted.

This is the one that I've just been

just delighting in all week long.

Last promise.

Do you know that there's coming a day

when Jesus Christ returns

and he's going to hand out

new resurrected bodies

to those he saved.

And you've got to understand

this resurrected body

has something missing to it.

It doesn't have a sinful nature.

You're going to experience

life in the new Jerusalem

without a sinful nature.

We'll be free.

Free of the flesh.

No more conflict.

So here's what that means.

There are no more sleepless nights

in the new Jerusalem.

No more sinful anxiety.

There are no harsh words

in the new Jerusalem.

There's no lust in the new Jerusalem.

There's no pornography

in the new Jerusalem.

There's no greed

in the new Jerusalem.

There's no pride.

There's no exploitation.

There's no abuse.

Not physical abuse.

Not sexual abuse.

Not mental abuse.

Not verbal abuse.

Because there's no sinful nature

in the people

who populate the new Jerusalem.

There are no presidential races

in the new Jerusalem.

No mud slinging.

But there's praise slinging.

Oh yeah.

There's no terrorism

in the new Jerusalem.

There's no anger

in the new Jerusalem.

There's no walking on eggshells

with people who have really

anger issues in the new Jerusalem

because they don't have

a sinful nature anymore.

There's no strained relationships

in the new Jerusalem.

Do you know who's

in the new Jerusalem?

Jesus is in the new Jerusalem.

You're going to see him

face to face.

You're going to hear him.

You're going to smell his breath.

You're going to feel his embrace.

Yes.

It's way better

than what it is now.

No sinful nature.

He's going to give us

a glorified body

without a sinful nature.

He eradicates sin.

Revelation chapter 21.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

Jesus comes back.

New heavens and a new earth.

And you know what he does?

He wipes away tears.

No more mourning.

No more pain.

No more suffering.

No more sin.

The ultimate comfort

is in the new Jerusalem.

Ultimate comfort.

No one has a sinful nature

in the new Jerusalem.

Can you imagine that?

Would you be comforted by that?

The days of mourning your sin

are numbered.

We will not mourn forever.

All these promises

point to one thing.

God is for you, Christian.

Even in your mourning of sin.

He wants to comfort you

in Jesus.

We must mourn our sin,

but when we do,

we are comforted

by these great promises

that are found

in Jesus alone.

He paid it all.

Penalty of sin paid.

He broke the power.

The power of sin broke

and we're united with Him.

And eventually,

the present sin

will be completely eradicated

when Jesus finalizes

complete victory.

Our mourning, our sin

is real.

Sin is real.

God's holiness is real,

but so is His comfort

that are found in Christ.

blessed are those who mourn,

for they shall be comforted.

Let's pray.

God in heaven,

would you show us

your holiness?

God, we are willing

to live with our roof off.

God, would you show us

our ongoing need

for holiness?

We are sinful people yet.

God, we also know

that You will comfort us.

You've already sealed

these promises

through the blood of Jesus.

They're ours.

And so, God,

as we see our sin,

would You also help us

to see our Savior

and find comfort

that comes from You alone.

In Jesus' name, amen.

God bless you.

For more

love

for him,

you

will be

for you.