Blessed are Those Who Mourn

Lord, we thank you for today, and we thank you, Lord, for all

that you do. We are blessed to be able to be

here this evening and study Your word together.

We thank You, Lord, for those who have come and they have

taken time out of their busy schedule to make time to hear

the word of the Lord and to grow in their walk with you.

We pray, Lord, that you bless them in a very special way

because of the effort they have taken to be here, and pray that,

Lord, our time together this evening withdraws closer to Your

presence. We're so grateful for your word.

Our prayer, Lord, is that we would delight in your word more

so than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.

For your word is true and all that it contains is life and

godliness. And we are grateful in Jesus

name, Amen. Take your Bible and turn to the

greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher, whoever

lived Matthew, chapter 5-6 and seven, the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

And notice how the Lord doesn't begin his sermon.

He doesn't begin with an opening illustration.

He doesn't begin with an antidote.

He doesn't even begin with an illustration that would cause

the audience to laugh. Think about that.

Our Lord just dives right into it because he's the King and the

King is presenting the Kingdom and he wants those who hear to

know how to get into the Kingdom and then how they can grow up in

the Kingdom. He gets right in or right down

to business. And, and what he says at the

very beginning is important because he offers joy, gladness,

He offers happiness and the very first word he uses, in fact, he

uses it nine times in the first few verses.

Blessed and the audience, of course, is Jewish.

So the Jewish audience would already be drawn to what their

scriptures say. And when Jesus would talk about

blessedness, they would think of things like Psalm chapter 33,

Psalms 33 · chapter mention

verse #12 which says blessed. Blessed is the nation whose God

is the Lord and the people whom He has chosen for his own

inheritance. And they would think, well

here's the king, and the king is coming to offer a blessing.

And we know that blessing comes to the nation whose God is Lord.

And we are that nation. We are the nation of of Israel.

And blessing comes to the people that God has for his own

inheritance. And we are those people.

We automatically have blessing, and they would be drawn to the

verse we used last week, Psalm 144 verse #15 how blessed are

the people whose God is the Lord?

And so they would think, well, we are the people of God and He

is our Lord. So we are a blessed people.

Israel, because of their inheritance, because they were

God's chosen people, already believed that they were the

blessed people. But when the king comes and the

king is offering his Kingdom, he takes it in a whole new,

different direction. The nation would even think of

verses like Psalm one where it says how blessed is the man who

does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the

path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.

And they would think, well, we don't do that.

We don't stand with sinners, we don't walk with scoffers or sit

with them. We, we stay away from those kind

of people. We must be the blessed people.

Then the psalmist would say. But as the light is in the law

of the Lord, and in this law he meditates, stay and night, and

he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not

wither. And whatever he does, he

prospers. And they would think, yeah, I

delight in the law of the Lord, but I'm not so sure I'm

prospering. I'm not sure so I'm productive.

I'm not so sure that that what the psalmist says is happening

in my life. And they might even be drawn to

a verse like Psalm 119, verse #1 which reads as follows.

How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the

law of the Lord. How blessed are those who

observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart.

And on the one hand, they would think, wow, we are a blessed

people because we're God's chosen.

We are God's inheritance. And then he would think, well,

wait a minute, my delight really isn't in the law of the Lord and

my way really isn't blameless and, and I am not walking in the

ways of righteousness. And there was a reason for that.

And the reason simply was the fact that that Israel had a hard

time keeping the commands of God.

God would give them his commands.

The Bible says that the oracles of God were given to the Jewish

nation. Israel had the word of God.

The Gentiles nations didn't have that, but the nation of Israel,

they had God's word written down because they were given to his

people and they knew the requirements of the law.

They knew what God's Word said, but they also knew that the

standard was perfection and they couldn't keep that.

And so they got to a point where they just continue to rebel

against the authority of God's Word.

And God would send prophets and God would send kings and, and

God would send judges to draw them back in to repent from

their ways to understand the truth of the word of God.

He, he would plead with them through these prophets because

he wanted them to, to follow him and serve him and honor him.

Because they were the testimony to a Gentile world who had no

law. But Israel had the law.

And they if they don't obey it, they don't follow it.

How can they present the God of Israel to a lost world?

But Israel kept rebelling and disobeying the word of the

living God, so much so that that God sent them into into

captivity, into Babylonian captivity.

Things just got progressively worse.

Jeremiah the prophet Jeremiah's name means the Lord throws right

and and Jeremiah was thrown into Israel's disaster.

God took Jeremiah and threw him into the last few years right

before Israel in the captivity to plead with them to beg them

to turn from their ways. And so we had a 40 year ministry

where Israel never listened and never turned and never repented.

Nobody ever said Jeremiah. Great sermon.

I'm going to follow what you said.

Nope, nobody did that. In fact, Israel never turned and

Jeremiah would, would, would lead them to the truth of God's

word, but they never followed. They turned their back on the

Lord and they went into captivity just as it was

prophesied by Isaiah and by Jeremiah as they went into

captivity and they were there for for 70 years, God gave them

another prophet, a man by the name of Ezekiel.

And Ezekiel would prophecy during their captivity, trying

them help them, help them to understand the promises of God

that that one day God would deliver his people.

And in the book of Ezekiel the the 36th chapter, Ezekiel

promises what God's going to do. And God's going to do something

for his own name sake. He's not going to do it for

Israel's sake. He's going to do it for his own

name's sake. In fact, he says that in verse

22 of Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse #23 and verse #32 three

Ezekiel 36 · chapter mention

times. He says, I'm doing this not for

your sake, but for My sake. I'm doing this because of My

word and My commitment and for My glory.

I'm doing this because I have made a promise.

And he tells them that in verse 25 he will sprinkle clean water

on them. And verse 26 they will have a

new heart and a new spirit. And in verse 27 says I will put

my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and

you will be careful to observe my ordinances.

He said, I'm going to, I'm going to give you my spirit because

you are unable to walk in my ordinances.

But once my spirit is within you, it will cause you to obey

me and follow me without exception because you're going

to love me and you're going to serve me.

And the nation of Israel would hear the words of Ezekiel the

prophet. And supposedly they would they

would long for that opportunity. But way before Ezekiel there was

there was Isaiah and I Isaiah said those very familiar words

that Isaiah 61 words that we read.

I believe it was last week about what the Lord would say in in

the synagogue in Nazareth and Luke 4 when he said the spirit

of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has an ordered

me to bring good news to the afflicted.

He he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim

liberty to captives and freedom of to prisoners, to proclaim the

favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God

and to comfort all those who mourn.

So when Messiah comes, he's going to restore sight to the

blind. He's going to preach the gospel

to those who are poor and afflicted.

He's going to release the captives, and they're thinking

physical captivity. They're thinking physical

poorness. They're thinking physical

comfort, joy. That's what they're thinking.

And notice what it says in verse #3 to grant those who mourn in

Zion, giving them a Garland instead of ashes, the old of

gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of

a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of

righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be

glorified. Messiah is going to come, the

Redeemer, the Savior, and the Spirit of the Lord will be upon

him, and he's going to preach the gospel.

And those who are blind will be able to see, and those who are

poor, they'll be released from there their affliction.

Those who are captive will be set free.

And comfort will come, and a crown of gladness will come to

you, and a mantle of praise. And you will be like thick,

strong oaks. You'll be immovable.

The problem with that is that Israel misread that.

They thought that, that their, their mourning would turn to

comfort their, their captivity, mourning their Babylonian

captivity where they, where they mourned.

And they wept and they, they cried because they had lost

their, their, their city and they had lost their, their,

their land. And they were taken into

captivity. And they thought that if they

mourn, they, they would be, they would be comforted.

We see Israel, they mourned because of their captivity, but

they did not mourn because of their iniquity, that they

mourned because of the consequences of sin, but they

did not mourn because of their sin.

That was their problem and that was always their problem.

So you jump to the New Testament and the king has already

presented his credentials, saw that in Matthew chapter 4 where

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

he had already healed everybody. So the messianic credentials

have already been presented. So there's there should be no

doubt in people's mind that this is more than a prophet.

This is more than just another individual with some kind of

supernatural abilities, but this actually is the Messiah.

The Messiah has come, and then he begins to preach and present

the Kingdom, because he went throughout all Judea preaching

the gospel of the Kingdom, because he so desperately wants

people to be a part of his Kingdom.

That's why he came, came to seek and to say that which was lost.

As the King, He presents the Kingdom, wanting people to enter

into that Kingdom, to be children of the Kingdom,

children of the king. So he's going to give them the

opportunity to understand entrance into the Kingdom and

then how they grow up in that Kingdom.

And so he begins with blessed Macarioi, inner contentment,

joy, blissfulness. You want true joy, you want true

happiness, you want true contentment.

Not something that's affected in any way by that, which is

external because it's all internal.

We are so easily affected by our surroundings, right?

We, we, we are happy or sad dependent upon what's happening

around us, right? If my team wins, I'm happy.

If my team loses, I'm sad, right?

If I get a raise, I'm happy. If they take my job away, I'm

sad. Every everything around us is

built around the external. In crisis, I I want to give you

deep, true inner joy that's unaffected by any circumstance

because I want you to experience my joy.

Because the Kingdom of heaven is not eating and drinking.

It's not defined by your physicality.

It's defined by righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy

Spirit. That's the Kingdom of heaven,

and those in the Kingdom, those who are children of the king,

have experienced his righteousness, because he who

knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the

righteousness of God in him. So those in the Kingdom

experienced his righteousness, and only those who are righteous

before him are truly at peace with Him, and only those at

peace with him experience the joy that he gives to them

because they've been forgiven of all their sins.

So Jesus comes and he begins to preach, Blessed are the poor in

spirit. Verse 3, for theirs, literally

the text says theirs and theirs only is the Kingdom of heaven.

And then he says, blessed are those who mourn, for they

emphatically they and they only will be comforted.

And a Jewish audience would be drawn right back to Isaiah 61,

knowing that when the Messiah came, he would comfort those who

mourn. But the question is, what kind

of mourning is Christ talking about?

And what kind of comfort comes to what kind of mourning grief

is, is really natural to us, is it not?

We, we are, we are grieving people and, and in the midst of

our grief, we want comfort. Now I'm a parent and, and I,

I've got 8 kids and, and I've raised those kids along with my,

my wife, Lori. And there, there were times

where my kids would cry, right? They would mourn and they would

come to me for comfort. That was always a bad idea,

always a bad idea, because I would always say this, Is there

blood? No tears?

If there's no blood, is it broken?

No tears. Rub dirt on it.

Off you go. But my wife, on the other hand,

was the comforter. They would go to her and she

would wrap her arms around them. She would kiss their Boo boos

and they would be all better because she would.

She was the one of true comfort. But whenever we grieve, for

whatever reason, we are grieving, we would love to be

comforted. And so the question comes, what

kind of mourning receives the kind of comfort that the King is

offering? So we have before you an

outline, and hopefully you've received an outline and the four

main points of the same main points as were last week.

And they will be the four same main points every week.

Because we want to #1 define, define the condition of what it

means to mourn. And then we want to describe the

consequences to those who mourn. And then we'll detail the

characteristics and then we will simply determine our course of

action from there. So first of all, let's define

the condition mourning. Blessed are those who mourn.

That there are 9 different Greek verbs to describe grief and

mourning in the New Testament. The one that's used here is the

strongest of the 9:00. So that should tell us a little

bit about the kind of mourning that brings comfort.

If you recall the the book of Ecclesiastes, it was Solomon who

said these words in chapter 3 verse #1 There is an appointed

time for everything, and there is a time for every event under

heaven. He goes on to say that there is

a time to give birth and a time to die, a time to plant and a

time to uproot what is planted, a time to kill and a time to

heal, a time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a

time to dance. Solomon knows that mourning and

grieving are. Are naturally appointed times

all throughout our lives, like dying and giving birth, like

planting and uprooting that which is planted?

There is an appointed time for every event under the sun.

And there is a time to mourn. There is a time to grieve.

There also is a time to laugh. Oh, interesting fact.

The Bible records no incident in which Jesus ever laughed.

Did you know that? Not one record of Jesus ever

laughing. We know he rejoiced, but never

did he laugh. Did he become angry?

You bet. Did he cry?

Absolutely. That's all recorded.

But there is no record of Jesus ever laughing.

It doesn't mean he never did. He might have, I don't know.

I wasn't there and it's not recorded in the scriptures.

And yet he did grieve. He grieved quite regularly.

Quite often he became angry. Angry at sin and those who

rebelled against him and those who would turned your back on

his Father. But never is there a record of

his laughing. I find that quite interesting

because we love to laugh, don't we?

We love comedies, we love sitcoms, we love to laugh

because it gives us some kind of freedom emotionally.

It's not a sin to laugh. It's not.

It's just quite interesting that there's no record of Jesus ever

laughing. Maybe he laughed when he created

you. I don't know.

Some of you are pretty funny looking, so I don't know.

Maybe he did. But the Bible doesn't tell us

that either. But the point being is that that

grief is, is natural to life. And we grieve for all kinds of

reasons. We, we grieve him.

It's tragedy, rightly so. Abraham grieved when Sarah, his

wife died. Well, you understand that,

right? You have a loved one who dies.

You grieve you. You realize that Jesus at the

tomb of Lazarus, he wept. Jesus wept.

John 11, shortest verse in the Bible and he wept.

He wept over the consequences of sin.

I mean, after all, He knows he's going to raise Lazarus from the

dead. Why is he weeping?

He should be joyous because he's going to perform a resurrection,

then proclaim that He is the resurrection and the life, but

yet He weeps because of the consequences of sin and the

devastating effects upon mankind.

Even anticipating his death on Calvary for the sins of man, who

for the most part would reject his his sacrifice on Calvary,

but he wept. He wept of its tragedy.

We we weep against or amidst calamities, and rightly so.

If there is a disaster causes great grief in people's lives.

Some people even grieve amidst their anxieties.

They get so overwhelmed, so anxious in their thoughts, so

anxious in what is going to happen next.

They can't help but just burst out in tears and grieve.

Some people weep because of their loneliness.

They're all alone. Some people, Some people weep

for all the wrong reasons. Remember, Ahab in First Kings 21

wept because he was unable to obtain Nabos vineyard.

Even Ammon, he wept over his lustful desires for Tamar, A

very unhealthful, unhealthy weeping.

But the Bible records all kinds of incidences of people, people

weeping mothers who who lost their sons.

The the the widow's son at Nain that widow, she, she wept for

the loss of her son. And Christ says to her, stop

weeping, stop crying. Now.

If you go to a funeral and your your son's dead, you're crying.

If I go up to you and say stop weeping, you're not going to

come back to church next week because you're going to think I

don't care about your life. I'm not going to say that to

you. But that's what Jesus said to

the widows, to the widow who lost her son at Nain.

But there are all kinds of reasons for us to grieve, and

yet none of that grieving brings the comfort that Christ is

speaking about in Matthew chapter 5 verse #4 It's a whole

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

different kind that those are. Those are natural kinds of

things which cause us to weep, natural things that cause us to

grieve. But what kind of sorrow is

Christ speaking about? Well, the answer is found very

simply in Second Corinthians Chapter 7 verse #10 which says

2 Corinthians 7 · chapter mention

for the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces A

repentance without regret, leading to salvation.

But the sorrow of the world produces death.

There's there's a sorrow that produces life.

It's a godly sorrow. It's a godly sorrow that leads

you to repentance. Well, what kind of repentance?

Well, he tells you, for behold, what, what earnest is this very

thing, this godly sorrow? There, there is a sincerity

behind it. There there was an earnestness

for that which is righteous and true.

And that he says, what vindication this godly sorrow

brings a desire to be vindicated from all the things that you

have done in the past. What, what indignation, this

godly sorrow? Well, what does that mean?

That there's a hatred for the sin that you committed that you

have to repent of? And then he says, what fear?

Godly sorrow produces fear. What kind of fear?

Fear of God. What longing?

What kind of longing? The kind of longing that

relationships would be restored, that were destroyed because of

your sin? What zeal, zeal for holiness,

what avenging of wrong in everything.

You demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

Ezekiel would speak about this way back in in Ezekiel chapter

Ezekiel 20 · chapter mention

20 when he talks about Israel's restoration before he ever gives

anything concerning the the new covenant promise.

He says this verse 43 of Ezekiel 20.

There you will remember your ways and all your deeds with

which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe

yourself in your own sight for all the evil things that you

have done. You will loathe yourself.

This is a godly sorrow that leads you to repentance.

The problem is we love ourselves.

We don't loathe ourselves. And Ezekiel is giving a prophecy

about Israel's restoration that they will come to a point that

they will learn to to weep and mourn because of the the

severity of their sin. In fact, he says these words in

the book of Zechariah. He talks about in Zechariah 12

and Zechariah 13. Zechariah 14 he talks about in

that day 17 times. In chapter 1314, 1213 and 14, he

used the phrase in that day. In that day is the day of the

Lord, in that day is the day of tribulation.

It's that day where Israel will be restored and Israel's enemies

will be destroyed. And in that day he says, verse

10, I will pour out in the House of David and on the habits of

Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of suffocation, so that they

will look on me whom they have pierced.

And they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son.

And they will weep bitterly over him, like the bitter weeping

over a first born in that day. There will be great mourning in

Jerusalem, like mourning of Haddadraman in the plain of

Megiddo, like Israel mourned over the death of King Josiah.

There will be weeping, there will be mourning, there will be

bitter grieving over what? That they killed their Messiah.

They they will look on the one whom they pierced and they were

realized. What have we done?

He was already here. We missed him.

Now he's coming back. He's he's been pierced.

And now they begin to realize that they killed their Messiah,

and they begin to grieve. And it says this verse 12 The

land will mourn every family by itself, the family of the House

of David by itself and their wives by themselves.

The family of the House of Nathan by itself, and the wives

of themselves by themselves. The family of the House of Levi

by itself and their wives by themselves.

The family of the Shemites by itself and their wives by

themselves, and all the families that remain, every family by

itself and their wives by themselves.

And then that day he says, I will pour out a fountain of

blessing. In that day, Israel will be

restored. In that day, Israel will be

saved. Why?

Because there will be a godly sorrow that leads them to

repentance, that leads them to have sorrow for the sin.

They will have loathed themselves to such a degree that

they can help but weep over their spiritual condition and

how they could ever crucify their Messiah.

That's the sorrow that Christ is talking about.

That's the morning that Jesus is speaking about.

It's the morning that comes because there's been poverty of

spirit. Verse three, that happens

intellectually, which leads you to mourning, which effects you

emotionally. Now each of the the beatitudes

intertwine one with another. We are taking them one verse at

a time. We are tackling them one

beatitude at a time. But in reality, they all flow

together. They're all intertwined together

because they all speak about entrance into the Kingdom and

how to grow up in that Kingdom. It's almost as if Jesus is

mapping out everything line by line for the people that are

listening. I want you to be a part of my

Kingdom, but it begins because you are utterly destitute.

You are poverty of spirit. You are so poor.

You are so bankrupt. You have nothing to offer me.

When you get to that point, the Kingdom of heaven is yours.

But when you get there, you will mourn profusely because of your

sin. You have nothing to offer

because all you have is sinful desires, sinful attitudes,

sinful actions, because all your righteousness, as Isaiah says,

is like filthy rags. All your righteousness is not

worthy. And everything you want to offer

does nothing. And you'll begin to weep.

You'll begin to cry and grieve A godly sorrow that's demonstrated

by its zeal for holiness, It's indignation against sin.

It'll be it'll be characterized by your your wanting to avenge

all the wrongs that you've committed.

There's this great desire to heal broken relationships.

Why? Because you have you have

brought grief to the heart of God and you sinned against the

Holy One of Israel and he's the King.

And because he's the king, you want to be a child of the king

and therefore you recognize the severity of your sin.

Those are the ones who receive comfort.

I love what Warren Weirsby says in his commentary.

He says we must distinguish between repentance, remorse and

regret. When my consciousness of sin

rest only in my mind, then it is regret.

When it affects my mind and my heart, it is remorse.

And remorse is a dangerous thing.

But when my concern over my sin brings me to the place where I'm

willing to turn from it and obey God, when my concern effects my

will as well as my mind and heart, then I've experienced

true repentance. Think about Judas.

Judas had regret. Judas had remorse, but Judas had

no repentance, did not turn from his sin.

He went out and hung himself amidst all of his sin.

Weirdsby goes down to say this. You may remember the story about

the Sunday school teacher who asked the pupil to define

repentance, and the boy replied repentance means sorrow for sin.

That's right, said the teacher. But then a little girl spoke up.

She says excuse me, but it means being sorry enough to quit my

sin. She knew that repentance

involves not only a change in my feelings and thinking, but also

a change of the will. If a person truly changes his

mind about sin, then he will act completely different from here

on. Now, isn't that interesting?

Have you ever got to a point where you repented of your sin

or you at the point where you just kind of regret what you did

and it might cause a little bit remorse because somebody's

feelings got hurt, but there's no turning away from your sin.

With the Church of Thessalonica. They turned to God from idols,

right? They turned their back on their

idolatry. They turned to God from their

sin. They waited expectantly for the

Lord's return. They understood true biblical

repentance. David in Psalm 51 after a sin

with Bathsheba wailed because of a sin, and he said against thee,

and the only have I sinned. He understood that his sin was

against God. Over in Psalm Psalm 32, the

psalmist says this in verse #1 Psalm 32 verse #1 psalmist says

blessed is the man. How blessed is he whose

transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, How blessed is

the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in his

spirit there is no deceit. David says.

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my

groaning all day long for day and night your hand was heavy

upon me. My vitality was drained away as

with the fever heat of summer. I acknowledge my sin to you and

my iniquity. I did not hide.

I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and

you forgave the guilt of my sin. David understood repentance, and

David was a major Sinner, but yet he was a man after God's own

heart. Why?

Because David, although he was a major Sinner, he was a major

repenter of a sin and knew what it meant to confess and turn

from his sin. And that's why he was

characterized as a man after God's own heart, because he

truly wanted to rectify all that was done wrong, knowing that he

had sinned against his God and grieved his God and so God would

forgive him. That's why he says how blessed

is a man whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are

covered. Because when I wouldn't, I

wouldn't confess my sin. God's hand was heavy upon me.

My own vitality was drained from my body.

I would soak my bed with tears. Because you see, when you're a

child of the Lord, He does never allows His children to sin

successfully. He allows you to sin, and He

never allows you to sin successfully and continually.

His hand will be heavy upon you, and you'll begin to weep and to

mourn because of your iniquity. And as Ezekiel says, you will

loathe yourself. That's not a message people want

to preach today in church. Hey, come to church and learn to

loathe yourself. No, we want to go to church and

learn to love ourselves, the loath.

Who wants to do that? But you see, those are the only

ones who receive comfort, and that's the consequences.

So let's describe the consequences to you.

How? How is the Lord going to comfort

you? How?

How does God bring comfort into your life?

This is just so important. First of all, God himself is a

comforter. Second is 1.

Verse 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

right? Blessed be the God who's the

Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, the God of all

comfort. Listen to what Isaiah says.

Isaiah chapter 55, verse #6 Seek the Lord while he may be found,

Isaiah 55 · chapter mention

call upon him while he is near, Let the wicked forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to

the Lord, and he God will have compassion on him and to our

God, and he will abundantly pardon.

Why are mourners comforted? Because they are the only ones

who are truly forgiven of their sins.

They are the only ones who experience the joy of of

salvation. That's why they are blessed.

The blessing doesn't come in the morning.

The blessing comes in what God does in response to your

morning. He brings you comfort, and with

that comfort, He brings forgiveness.

He brings the cleansing from your sin.

He cleanses away the guilt of your sin.

For once there is freedom, there is joy.

There's the opportunity now to to live a holy and in righteous

life before my holy and righteous God.

So first of all, God is a comforter #2 the Spirit of God

is a comforter. Remember John chapter 14?

John 14 · chapter mention

It says in verse 16, I will ask the Father, and He will give you

another comforter, another helper.

The Spirit of God is a comforter.

And the word for another is, alas, another of the same kind,

not heteros, another of a different kind.

In other words, Christ, I'm going to give you another just

like me, identical to me. The Spirit of God is God, Jesus

is God, and I'm going to give you another identical just like

me. That will be your helper, that

will be your comforter, that will be the one called alongside

of you, the, as the Bible says, the paracletos, the one called

alongside to bring comfort and joy.

That's the Spirit of God that he may be with you forever.

He goes on to say, verse 25, These things I have spoken to

you while abiding with you. But the Comforter, the Holy

Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach

you all things and bring to you remembrance all that I said to

you. Verse 26 to chapter 15, when the

Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,

that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He

will testify about me. Verse #7 of chapter 16.

But I will tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I

go away, for if I do not go away, the comforter will not

come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

The Spirit of God is a comforter, and the Spirit of God

produces joy. Galatians 5.

The fruit of the Spirit is love for the Spirit is peace for the

Spirit is joy, self-control, gentleness, meekness.

God's Spirit produces those things because he comes

alongside of you. He dwells on the inside of you

and produces nothing but the characteristics of Christ

himself in you because he's identical to the Christ.

And so you have God who is the the shepherd, the Savior.

And by the way, he says, David says in Psalm 2023, Thy rod and

thy staff shall comfort me. The shepherd, the God of Israel,

carries a rod, which is that which is given to, to, to guard

you. And the staff is given to guide

you because the staff would be used by the shepherd to move his

sheep along and guide them in the right direction to make sure

they didn't go off track. And so the Lord says, I'm your

shepherd and, and I carry a, a rod and a staff because I'm into

protecting you and watching over you so much.

So I go way beyond that and give you another helper, a comforter

of the Spirit of God, who will actually dwell in you and bring

you the joy and peace that you so desperately need because

you've repented of your sin. Oh, by the way, then it's the

Scriptures on top of that that bring comfort, because without

the Lord giving us His Spirit to teach us the Scriptures, we

would be absent when it comes to comfort.

So listen to what the psalmist says in Psalm 119, verse #50

this is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has

revived me. Verse 28 Psalm 119 My soul weeps

because of grief. Strengthen me according to your

word. Psalmist knew that when he

grieved, the only strength that would come would come from the

word of the living God. Because God's Spirit always

works in conjunction with the Scriptures and the Savior gives

us the Spirit, and the Spirit uses the scriptures to bring

comfort into our lives. Look what it says over in verse

#76 it says, Oh, may your loving kindness comfort me according to

Your word to Your servant. May Your mercies comfort me

according to as you've already spoken in Your word.

In other words, Your word is true.

I'm claiming the promise of Your word about the mercies that come

and comfort me because of what Your word says.

And then over in verse #92 If Your law had not been my

delight, then I would have perished in my affliction.

Verse 93. I will never forget Your

precepts, for by them You have revived me.

Verse 107. I am exceedingly afflicted.

Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word.

So the psalmist new that amidst my affliction, amidst my grief,

amidst the need to be strengthened, it comes one way,

through the truth of God's Word. Remember, we've quoted it over

and over again. 2nd Thessalians 213 that God's Word effectively

works in those who believe. It doesn't work in those who

don't believe, except when it comes to convicting them of the

sin and bringing into a point of salvation.

But for those who believe, God's Word is always at work in your

heart. So when you read it, you study

it, you memorize it, what happens amidst your grief,

amidst your affliction, amidst your sorrow, amidst all the

things that trouble you, God says, I will comfort you.

I will let you understand the strength of my word.

That's why Romans 15, four says these things in the earlier

times were written for your instruction, that through the

encouragement and the perseverance of Scripture, you

might have hope. God says I've written all this

stuff down for you so that you can have hope, so you can read

about the people who went through times of affliction and

grief and know what it means to have my word to comfort you.

And then of course, outside of the Savior himself and outside

of the Spirit himself and outside of the Scriptures

itself, you have other Saints. And over in 2nd Corinthians

chapter 1 it says these words in verse #3 Blessed be the God and

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father of mercy is the God

of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction.

So we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction

with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

For just as a suffering through Christ our ours in abundance, so

also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

Paul says the reason you go through your affliction so the

God of a comfort will comfort you, but it isn't in there.

He comforts you so that you will be able to comfort those who go

through similar afflictions. And so when someone mourns

because of the sin, and they grieve over the fact that they

have turned their back against God, and they repent of their

sins, other Saints come alongside of them and they

comfort them by explaining to them what God did in their life.

And God comforted them and it's their sin.

When they turn from their sin and they're able to be

encouraged because they see what God did in fellow believers,

life can happen in their life as well.

It's the God of all comfort who comforts those who mourn over

their sin, which really is a true godly sorrow, a repentance

from their sin #3 detail on the characteristics.

Real quick. Are you confessing your sin?

Are you confessing your sin? That's a characteristic of those

who've mourned over the sin that they that there's this continual

confession, not you just don't mourn at the point of salvation

when you turn from your sin, there's always this

consciousness of reoccurring sin and how it grieves my God that

I've sinned against him. And if we are the ones

confessing our sins, verse John 19 says, then God is the one who

is continually forgiving us our sins.

We are completely aware of the fact that we sin against God.

And so we ask ourselves, are we confessing our sins?

It was Paul who said, O wretched man that I am because he knew

that he was a Sinner. In fact the first ever 1 He says

he was a chief of all sinners. He understood that confession

was good for the soul. Ask yourself, are you confessing

your sin number #2 are you certain of God's forgiveness of

your sin? You should be.

Why? Because God is a God of truth,

and God pardons iniquity. God Forgives sin.

Do you have the peace and joy that comes from forgiveness?

You sense God's comfort when you go to Him and confess your sins.

Remember Jesus said in Matthew 1128, Come unto me, all ye that

labor and heavy laden, I will give you a rest.

Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me.

But all those of you who are weighed down because of your

sin, you're carrying this burden around that you cannot do

anything with. Come to me.

My yoke is easy. It's light, it's kind, it's

merciful. Come to me.

I will forgive you. Our God is a forgiving God.

God holds no grudges. God gives no paybacks.

God's a forgiver. He is an avenger of the evil.

Yes. And by the way, there is no

peace for the wicked. We understand that.

Isaiah is pretty clear about that.

But for those who come to Christ in repent of sins, there is

comfort. Are you confessing your sins?

Are you certain of God's forgiveness?

Or are you concerned about sin and even in your own life?

That's number three. Are you concerned about sin even

in your own life? That that is just so, so

important. Why so many times we just

Passover sin as if it doesn't matter.

It's not that big a deal, but it is because it offends the true

and living God and that should always grieve us.

Psalm 97 verse #10 it says hate evil.

You who love the Lord, do you hate evil enough to turn away

from evil? And then lastly, are you, are

you crying over the sins of the world?

That's that's a, that's a characteristic of those who have

truly mourned. They cry over the sins of the

world. Isaiah 53 three says that our

Lord was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

Not only did he weep at the tomb of Lazarus, he wept over the

city of Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

If only, only if you'd known on this day what had come to you, I

would have gathered you together as a mother hidden gathers your

chicks. But you were unwilling to come

to me. It caused him to weep because

they chose their sin over a Savior.

They chose their rebellion over a Redeemer.

That's how they live their lives.

And it caused our Lord to weep over the city.

This is Psalm one 19136 River, a river of waters ran down my eyes

because they keep not by law and that's just amazing.

When was the last time you cried because someone in your family

didn't keep the law of God? When was the last time someone

in your you cried because someone in your church decided

to not follow the law of God? When was the last time you wept

because you live in a country that doesn't follow the law of

God? There's a reason Jeremiah was

called the weeping prophet, because he wept profusely over

the sins of Israel. They would not turn and follow

their God. So point #4 determining my

course, what's my course of action?

Number one, realize your condition.

Realize your condition, poverty of spirit and sorrow because of

my sin and my condition. Have you realized that?

Have you realized that your sins have separated you from your

God? God hasn't been separated from

you. Your sins have separated you

from God, and therefore your sins are a barrier between you

and your God. Have you recognized that?

Do you realize that? Have you come to a place where

you you, you've mourned over your sin that that your

condition is is ugly, destitute. I, I have nothing to offer my

God, because I'm such a, a wretched Sinner and I cry out

for mercy. Lord, have mercy upon me.

Forgive me of my sin. And, and and that happens as as

you enter into heaven, but it's something that is habitual with

those who are Kingdom citizens that they, they still, they

still don't think they're anything.

They realize that they're nothing and and that that they

are still sinners and they need to continually turn from their

sin to follow the Lord. Have you realized your condition

#2 research sin in the Scriptures.

That's always a good way to to determine your course of action.

Sometimes we don't recognize the severity of sin, but if you read

about it in the Scriptures, read about David and Bathsheba, just

understand what took place and everything that he lost because

of his sin and how it affected his family so devastatingly that

the sword never left his home. You see you, you.

You don't mourn because of the consequences of your sin, you

mourn because of the sin itself. Those who regret what they did,

those who have remorse, do so because of the consequences, but

those who repent, repent because of the sin itself.

It offends the true and living God.

Research sin in the scriptures from the guy this past week came

to Christ 3 weeks ago and he came to Christ 3 weeks ago

reading the book of Ezekiel the 36th chapter verses 2425 and 26

about the New covenant. He read that he realized I need

God's Spirit in me to follow the Lord.

I need a cleansed heart. My heart's filthy.

They got down on his knees in his bedroom and he cried out to

God and God saved him. He didn't do anything but read

what the Bible says, because the law of the Lord is perfect,

converting the soul, right? Faith cometh by hearing hearing

by about a word concerning the Christ.

Romans 10/17. He read the scriptures and

realized that he needed cleansing and that without that

cleansing he would not have the Spirit, and without the Spirit

he could not follow God. So he cried out to the Lord.

Research sin in the scriptures. Read about Paul's life and the

struggle that he had in Romans 7 because he struggled.

Things I'm supposed to be doing. I'm not the things I shouldn't

be doing. I am, O wretched man that I am,

who will free me from this life of sin.

He recognized his sin, and he was a great prophet of God,

great apostle for the Lord, great preacher of the gospel,

wrote 13 books of the New Testament.

But he recognized how sinful he was and cried out to God.

And lastly, request a contrite heart, Psalm 51.

A broken and contrite heart God will not despise.

Have you ever requested God to break your heart?

The shatter the hardness that's there to break up all the the

rocky soil that's there and shatter your inner man?

Request a contrite heart because God promises blessing to those

who mourn, joy to those who mourn because they and they only

will be the ones who are truly comforted.

Let's pray to God. Father, we thank you, Lord, for

for tonight and for your word and but it means so much to to

cover so little time to do it. But I pray for everyone in the

room. I pray that Lord, you'd work in

their hearts. Those who are here have never,

never turned from their sin, never, never mourned over the

sin of their lives because they are separated from you.

Cause them, Lord, to see how their sin, it's only going to

lead them to hell, not to heaven.

They need a Savior, someone who will forgive them of their sin.

That's what you do. You're a Savior, You're a

Redeemer. You will deliver them from their

sin. Cause them to cry out to you,

Lord. And may all of us realize, Lord,

that that turning from our sin, as Martin Luther said when he

nailed those 95 theses on the Wittenberg door in Germany, that

when God calls his people to repent, he means that it's a

lifelong action of repentance. It's a constant turning from our

sin. Maybe be that way Lord, that we

might understand the true comfort that comes from the God

of mercies, the God of all comfort.

Pray in Jesus name, Amen.