Jesus was blessing those who mourn vol 2

JESUS WAS BLESSING THOSE WHO MOURN VOL 2
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
MATT. 5:4 Blessedare those who mourn, for they will
be comforted.
DAVID LEGGE
Matthew chapter 5 again, Matthew chapter 5 - and we've been looking at the
beatitudes of the Lord Jesus Christ, His opening words of His greatSermon
on the Mount. We spent our first week looking atthe Preacherand His
preaching, and then the secondweek we thought of this little word
'blessedness'that is repeatedso often, what it meant. And it simply meant 'to
be approved of God', 'to have God's smile', 'to have the applause of heaven' -
not simply happiness, because happiness is affectedby the things outside of us,
our circumstances -but this approval of God is something that transcends
simple happiness and externalities of circumstance. Blessedness is to have
God's hand resting upon you, God's smile and approval in your life. Then last
week we beganlooking at the first beatitude, verse 3, 'Blessedare the poor in
spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'.
Mournfulness is an endangeredspecies, it is something that you don't come
across oftenin these days that we live in - why is that?
Let's begin reading againat verse 1: "And seeing the multitudes, he went up
into a mountain: and when he was satdown, his disciples came unto him: And
he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessedare the poor in spirit:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessedare they that mourn: for they
shall be comforted. Blessedare the meek:for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessedare they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:for they shall

be filled. Blessedare the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessedare the
pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessedare the peacemakers:for they
shall be called the children of God. Blessedare they which are persecutedfor
righteousness'sake:for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessedare ye, when
men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
againstyou falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for greatis
your reward in heaven: for so persecutedthey the prophets which were before
you. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith
shall it be salted? It is thenceforth goodfor nothing, but to be castout, and to
be trodden under footof men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set
on an hill cannot be hid. Neitherdo men light a candle, and put it under a
bushel, but on a candlestick;and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your goodworks, and
glorify your Fatherwhich is in heaven. Think not that I am come to destroy
the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil", or to 'fill
them up', "Forverily I sayunto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these leastcommandments, and shall teach men
so, he shall be calledthe leastin the kingdom of heaven: but whosoevershall
do and teachthem, the same shall be called greatin the kingdom of heaven.
For I sayunto you, That exceptyour righteousness shallexceedthe
righteousness ofthe scribes and Pharisees,ye shall in no case" - no way -
"enter into the kingdom of heaven".
Let us pray: Our dear Father, we thank Thee for Thy truth, and we know that
Thy word is truth, that it has power. We would ask as we read it that the Holy
Spirit of the Living God may fall afresh on us, in Jesus name. Amen.
We're looking at verse 4, the secondbeatitude, verse 4: 'Blessedare they that
mourn: for they shall be comforted'. Perhaps you could translate it like this, it
sounds paradoxical, it sounds contradictory, but really what it's saying in
everyday terms is this: 'Happy are the unhappy. Happy are the sad'. What a

paradox that is! They seemabsolute opposites, thatsomeone who is mournful
should be comforted, or should be happy, should be joyful, should have
satisfactionwithin them from being mournful, from being sad, from being
downhearted. How could this be? It's an absolute paradox. Someone has
defined the word 'paradox' as this: 'A paradox is truth standing on its head
calling for attention'. That's exactlywhat this is - the Lord Jesus Christ, in
verse 4, is saying: 'Approved, blessed, acceptedwith God are they who mourn,
for they shall be happy, they shall be comforted, they shall be satisfied'.
We saw lastweek that to be poor in spirit was to be humble, and to be humble
because you have been humbled by a vision of your own sinfulness before
God...
Martin Luther, the greatreformer, said: 'Mournfulness is a rare herb'. It's an
endangeredspecies, itis something that you don't come across oftenin these
days that we live in - why is that? Well, first of all - if you look at verse 3 - you
will see that, as we said last week, allthe beatitudes relate to one another.
There is almostlike a knock-oneffectas we read them: verse 3 leads to verse
4, verse 4 leads to verse 5, and so on. None of them are exemplary, we must
take them all, we must believe them all, we must practise them all, we must
look for them all in our lives - but there is seeminglya progressionas we look
from one verse to another. You see, in verse 3 - look at it: 'Blessedare the
poor in spirit' - we saw lastweek that to be poor in spirit was to be humble,
and to be humble because you have been humbled by a vision of your own
sinfulness before God.
That greathymn, 'Rock of Ages', we sang it twice - and that verse that says:
'Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling' - there is nothing
that I canbring to God that cancommend me to Him, nothing that I have that
can make me acceptable and bring me to heaven. 'Simply to Thy cross', His
work on the cross, 'I cling. Nakedcome to Thee for dress, helpless look to
Thee in grace. FoulI to the fountain fly, washme Saviour or I die!'. It's a
knowledge - if you like, the first beatitude, number one beatitude in verse 3, is

intellectual - it's knowing your sin, coming to a knowledge ofit and a
realisationof it. But verse 4, number two beatitude, is emotional - it is the
effectof what happens to your soul and your spirit when you realise that
you're a sinner. When you have the intellectual knowledge the emotional
experience kicks in and not only do you know that you're a beggarin the sight
of God, but you begin to feellike one. That's the difference. 'Blessed are the
poor in spirit' - intellectual. 'Blessedare they that mourn' - emotional.
What a devastating experience this is. I want you to notice that the first words
that the Lord Jesus Christuttered, almost, in His public ministry as we see
Him here in the Sermon of the Mount - the first words that He spoke were not
'Peace!Peace!'. They were not particularly comforting words, but - as He
enters into this greatsermon describing what the nation of Israelneeded to do
if they were to come back to God - they are violent words, they are destructive
words, they are words that cut to the quick, that deal a deathly blow to any
form of self-reliance, any form of self-righteousness, anything that would say:
'In us, myself in my hands I bring, and then to Thy cross I cling'.
I want you to see the devastating nature of these words. It's unbelievable to
think that we - for us as prideful human beings - that we can't come to God by
ourselves. You see, that knocks it - that's why the world around us doesn't like
it, because it means that I can't do anything to be saved. People don't like that.
To know it is one thing, but when the Holy Spirit enters - not just into your
mind, but into your heart - and brings to you the emotions that you cannot
come to God - the feelings of your rottenness, ofyour beggarliness andyour
sinfulness before the face of a holy God - it is destroying!You see, it needs to
be destroying - because if there was anything left of you or I as we came to
God for salvation, we wouldn't be saved. All of self, all of pride, all of self-
reliance and self-righteousness,all of the things that we think are acceptable,
God has to destroy them - it's sad that He has to do it, but He has to.

All of self, all of pride, all of self-reliance and self-righteousness, allof the
things that we think are acceptable,Godhas to destroy them - it's sad that He
has to do it, but He has to...
What are attitudes today? We've seenover the pastweeks that the attitudes of
the Lord, and the philosophies and the doctrine that He is presenting here, is
the absolute antithesis to everything that societybelieves today. If you went
out into the streetand you gotthe microphone in the open air and you
shouted: 'Blessed, happy are they that are unhappy', they would lock you up!
It doesn't make sense, it doesn't seemto be logical, it doesn'tfit in with our
way of life, our thought pattern, our system of reasonand logic. You see, we in
our societytoday - and especiallyin our society - to be unhappy is not in
vogue. It's a pleasure-mansociety, it's a societythat wishes to bring
everything to them to satisfy their fleshly lusts. No matter what it is, goodtime
is the goal - as long as you have a goodtime, no matter whether it's sin, no
matter whether you break the law, as long as it gives you a buzz, well, then it's
OK.
Moral, immoral, amoral man today - no morals at all - is building around
himself this structure, to be appeasedand appealedto by every maximum
entertainment and amusement, in an attempt to make his life one big party. Is
that not true? Is it not true that the next step, and stage, and goalthat every
person strives to is the next high that they canhave? And if they can't find
that high in their own personallives, in their own lives and their family as it is
in the moment, they have to take substances withwhich to bring, falsely, that
high within their life and their mind, and to make them feel better than they
really are. What a sad societywe live in - but to be mournful, to be unhappy,
to be sadis to be a wet blanket. At any costthe world will try and attempt to
avoid unhappiness - and when the world should be, and is meant to be, crying
they are laughing! And when they ought to be laughing and rejoicing they are
crying.

I want to speak to the young people, just for a moment, before we look and
expound this verse, there's something that bothers me. As I was (or am!) a
young person, as I grew up through the Young People's Fellowshipand
through University and schooland so forth, I found a quality within young
people - there are many good qualities within them, and sometimes we don't
praise them enough- but there was one quality (and it's not particularly their
fault, because they have grownup within a generationand a societythat has
depicted this to be the way to be). It's simply this: that everything must be
laughed at, everything! Everything must be made a joke of, everything must
be poked fun at. There is nothing sacred, there are not things that are to be
sad - there are things that we are to express sorrow and sadness and morning
about. Look at the television: I guarantee you that if you turn Channel 4 on at
about eleven o'clock atnight after an atrocity, they would be poking fun at it -
I've seenit happen. Taking things that are serious, loss oflife, great
catastrophes,and the vogue of today is to laugh at things that we should weep
at, and to weepat the things that we ought to laugh at!
It has even infiltrated the church of Jesus Christ, that people laugh at
spiritual things - even within the sanctuarywe are looking for a continual
buzz, a feeling of happiness, of pleasure. We feel pressure that we always have
to be happy if we're a Christian, we have to wearthe plastic smile! Some of us
feel such pressure - some seeming 'defenders of the faith', leading evangelicals
in our world today, will not preachsin or guilt because it makes people in the
pew feeluncomfortable. 'We don't want to feel uncomfortable, we don't want
to feel unhappy, we don't want to mourn, we don't want to be sad - tell us
something that makes us happy, tell us something that changes ouremotions!'.
Let me tell you would Jesus said:'If you don't mourn for your sin, and if
you're not poor in spirit, and if you don't feel sad, you'll never be saved'. You
will never be saved! Becausein order to be savedyou must see your sin, and if
seeing your sin doesn't make you sad, you haven't seenit!

We feelpressure that we always have to be happy if we're a Christian, we
have to wearthe plastic smile!
Neil Postman- he's not a believer, but he has written a book and the title
explains the whole book that he has written, do you know what it's called?
'Amusing Ourselves To Death' - amusing ourselves to death, we laugh at the
things we should weepover, don't we? And we weepat the things we should
laugh at. There was a train crash a few years ago acrossthe water, and it was
televisedand it showedafter this crashthe carnage that there was. It showed
you the Fire Brigade and the ambulances coming to rescue the people, and
there was a shot of a mother that was sitting in her passengerseat, strappedin
with a little child in her arms, and the mother was dead. But the child was still
alive, and the rescue men came in and they lifted the child and - think of this -
as they lifted the child, the child began to laugh and giggle!But then, as they
lifted her, they found they couldn't lift her because she had chocolate in both
of her hands, and they took the chocolate outof her hands - and when they
took it out of her hands she beganto squeal and wail. Is that not like us? Is
that not like human nature? At the tragedies ofthis spiritual world that we
live in, we laugh! We can't see it! We're blinded by it! But immediately our
little candy bar is takenaway from us - whether it be health, whether it be
wealth, whether it be status - whateverit may be, we wail and we cry! But the
Lord Jesus Christ said this: 'Blessedare the mournful, for they shall be
comforted'.
I want us to look, first of all, at what mournfulness is not, and then we're
going to look at what it is, and then we're just simply going to look at the
phrase 'they shall be comforted'. Let's look at what it is not. Mournfulness is
not Christians being perpetually morose, not downtrodden, downhearted,
boring, depressing Christians that trip over their faces!It is not being full of
self-pity, weeping continually - that is not what the Lord Jesus Christ is
talking about. First of all, this blessedmournfulness is not cheerlessness -not
cheerlessness.RobertLouis Stevenson, many of you know him, the author, he
wrote this - listen to this: 'I've been to church today and I'm not depressed'.
BecauseofChristians that he had experiencedin his life he thought you had to

be depressed, you had to have a long face, you had to be boring, dull, morbid
to go to the place of God to worship - and let me ask:can you blame him? It's
like the little girl that was walking in the country with her mother, and she
pointed over to a horse and she said: 'That horse must be a Christian, look at
the long face on it!'. And sometimes we are like that - now that is not
mournfulness that the Lord Jesus Christ is talking about, that is
miserableness.
In Proverbs chapter17 and verse 22 we have wise words from Solomonwere
he says this: 'A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit
drieth the bones'. And it is true that a laugh - there's nothing wrong with a
laugh in the right place, and there is a time to laugh and a time to cry - there's
nothing wrong with a smile on your face, and if you're savedtoday and there's
not a smile on your face, something's missing. But OswaldSaunders goes on to
say - and here's a warning for us all - that we have already, in the Christian
church, allowedto much that is goodto be lost to the church, we've casttoo
many pearls before swine, and the church is in a bad way when it banishes
laughter from the sanctuaryand leaves it to the cabaret, the nightclub and the
toast-maker. We needto be happy, and mournfulness is not cheerlessness.
The church is in a bad waywhen it banishes laughter from the sanctuaryand
leaves it to the cabaret, the nightclub and the toast-maker...
But secondly, look at this: mourning, neither, is mourning about the
difficulties within our lives. Think about it: the Bible never says that
mourning in itself is a blessedstate. In fact, mourning within the word of God,
at times, is cursed of God. You remember Amnon? You remember how he
lusted after his half-sisterTamar, and it said that because he couldn't have
her - because it was againstthe law, it was againstthe law of nature and his
family, and it was againstGod, it was a sin - but it says that he mourned
because he couldn't have her. That's not good. It says that Ahab mourned
because he couldn't get his hands on Naboth's vineyard. He coveted, he lusted

after it and that wasn'tgoodeither - so mourning is not mourning over the
difficulties of life.
But thirdly, look at this: nor is mourning - in this context - bereavement.
Mourning is bereavement, but not here. So, what is it? There are nine words
within the New Testamentused for the word 'mourning', all of them are used,
all the Greek words, nine of them, are used in the New Testament. But the
word that is used in verse 4 is the strongestand most descriptive word that
you canuse. It's found in Genesis 37 verse 34, and if we had time we could
turn to it, it describes Jacob'ssorrow and mournfulness over his sonJoseph
who had died. You remember, his brothers took him and they casthim into a
pit, and they took his beloved coatof many colours and they splattered it with
blood, brought it back to his father and said: 'Your beloved son, he's dead
now'. And it says that he mourned - and the word that is used is the most
descriptive word. It's the word that's used in Mark chapter 16 and verse 10,
where the women who had been to the tomb after the Lord Jesus had rose
from the dead, they came back to the disciples and they told that He was risen
- and they found them mourning and weeping, they had lostthe Saviour!
What mourning that was.
This is not simply cheerlessness, this is not simply difficulties in life, this is not
only bereavement - because bereavementis a natural sorrow. These other
mournings that we can have at times are unnatural, they are deeperthan they
ought to be, and we do weepabout things that we ought to laugh in the face of
- but this is spiritual sorrow. I want to illustrate it by turning to Psalm32,
Psalm32 and if you look at verses 3 to 5 you see here this godly sorrow, this
spiritual sorrow. Psalm32 and verses 3 to 5, and this is the wayyou feel - it is
kickedout of your intellect and into your emotions, and when you keepsilent
your bones wax old through your groaning all-day long: 'For day and night
[God's] hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of
summer'. That's the way you feel, and the only happiness, the only comfort,
the only relief that you can have is found in verse 5: 'I acknowledgedmy sin

unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my
transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavestthe iniquity of my sin' - and
the result is, you're comforted, verses 1 and 2: Blessedis he whose
transgressionis forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessedis the man unto whom
the Lord does not credit iniquity, in whose spirit there is no guile.
This is ceasing from rationalising your sin, this is - in your life - calling sin sin,
calling it what it is, admitting what it is...
Do you know what this is? And I'm speaking as much to Christians now as I
am to anyone here that's not saved. This is ceasing from rationalising your sin,
this is - in your life - calling sin sin, calling it what it is, admitting what it is
and letting the horrors, the desolation, the degradationof sin penetrate right
into our very soul until we weepand mourn about it! Have you ever done
that? It was Cranmer - Archbishop Cranmer - when he wrote the prayer book
in 1662, and he wrote the Holy Communion part to put into the lips of church
people words to say as they broke bread, was he exaggerating whenhe said:
'We acknowledge andbewail our manifold sins and wickedness'? Is that too
strong a word? 'Bewail'? Thatis mournfulness.
It says of John Bradford, that was burned at stake by the papists in 1555, that
scarcelya day passedin which he did not weepfor his sin. Isn't that powerful?
It says of David Brainerd, the greatmissionary in the 1500's to the American
Indians, as he walkedin the forestone evening and contemplated his sins and
his depravity before God, that he felt that the very ground of the forestwould
open up and swallow him into hell! It says as he went back to the mission
station he could hardly show his face in case the other missionaries knew what
had happened to him, or saw the look of sinful shame upon his face. Spurgeon
said: 'The best of men are men at best, and apart' - listen to this - 'apart from
the work of the Holy Spirit and the power of divine grace, hell itself does not
contain greatermonsters than you and I might become'!I remember hearing
about the old preacher Alan Redpath that stoodon a platform and he said:
'As I stand here this evening I am capable of committing any sin under the

sun' - that is realising how big a sinner you are!And it was Paul - in his late
years, now, not after he had murdered Christians - but as he thought and
contemplated what he was, that he could saythat he was the chief of sinners!
As believers, as unbelievers, do we see our sin? Do we see ourselves as we
really are? Do you know what the old puritan called sin? 'The Devil's
excrement' - that describes it wonderfully. Do we see ourselves like that? That
this is all we are - but often, and it's not wrong to make much of the grace of
God, but at times we make much of the grace of God and we make light of our
own sinfulness before God.
I want to point you to the Man of Sorrow. It's interesting as we read Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John - the gospelrecord- that the Lord Jesus Christ is never
recordedas laughing or smiling. Don't getme wrong - I'm not saying He
didn't laugh or smile, I'm not saying He couldn't laugh or smile. But why do
the gospelrecorders,why does the Holy Spirit, not bring that thought to us?
Simply because He wants Him to be describedas the Man of Sorrows!He was
hungry, He was tired, He was going to bear the sins of the world, He heard in
His ears day by day blasphemy, profanity, He saw it with His very eyes - the
One who could not look upon iniquity, He saw all those things in His very
midst. He was thirsty, He was weeping, He was poor, He was angry, He was
hungry - but chiefly, He mourned because of our sin and He mourned for a
sinful, lost world. We see that in Luke 23, if you look at it quickly, Luke
chapter 23 - and you remember the women were weeping for Him, canyou
imagine this? They were weeping for Him, the crucified Saviour - verse 28:
'But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weepnot for me,
but weepfor yourselves, and for your children'. What a Man of Sorrows,
acquainted with grief.
Do we see the sorrow of our sin? Do we see what our sin did to Christ? Do we
see it? Do you know some of the reasons why we don't see it? One: our love
for sin. Let's be honest, put your hand up here if you don't love sin - you're a
sinner, so you're bound to love sin! Love for sin stops us letting go. Two:

despair. We may think that we have sinned so much, or in such gravity, that
God cannot forgive us - no! Thirdly: it could be conceit. 'I don't need to be
forgiven. I don't need to turn from my sin, I'm not that bad! Why should I
mourn about my life?' - self-righteousness.Four:presumption. 'The grace of
God can covermy sin' - true...but if you talk like that you may have never
seenthe grace of God! Five: procrastination. Putting it off, putting it off,
living with sin, continuing - as John says - in sin and not putting your sin
under the blood of Christ. And six: frivolity. 'I don't care!'. Is that not why
the greatapostles keptemphasising sobriety within your walk with Christ?
Realise the sinfulness, the awful sinfulness of sin!
Is that not why the greatapostles keptemphasising sobriety within your walk
with Christ? Realise the sinfulness, the awful sinfulness of sin!
Do you want to know how to mourn for your sin? Do you want to know? Meet
with us at a quarter past ten on a Sunday morning - that's how. Look to the
cross, look to a sinless, spotlessSavioursuffering for sins that were not His
own - Christ dying for you, being made a sacrifice for your sin - and if that
doesn't break you, if that doesn't humble you, if that doesn't put your face
and your life and your soul and your walk on its face before God in the dust, I
don't know what will! Christina Rossettiput it like this - so often we can
suffer from hardened hearts, can we? We were talking about sinners and
hardened hearts last Sunday evening, but there's many of us have hardened
hearts, many of us. Some of us no more than when we look upon the cross, we
know it so well, we've heard about the blood so often, and we've heard about
the sacrifice forsin, that it rolls off us like wateroff a duck's back. Listen how
Christina Rossettiputs it:
'Am I a stone and not a sheep?
That I can stand, oh Christ, beneath Thy cross
To number drop by drop Thy blood's slow loss,

And yet not weep?
Not so these women, loved,
Who with exceeding grieflamented Thee.
Not so fallen Peter, weeping bitterly.
Not so the sun and moon, which hid their faces in the starless sky
A horror of greatdarkness at broad noon - I, only I.
Yet give not o'er, but seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock,
Greaterthan Moses -turn and look once more and smite a rock'.
If you look to the cross youshall be comforted. If you mourn for your sin, if
you let it eat within you, you will be comforted - and what the comfort means,
simply, is forgiveness. Your life will be changed, the Holy Spirit will enter in -
and interestingly the word for 'comfort' is the root word, and has the same
root as the word for the Holy Spirit, 'parakletos'. And 'parakletos'simply
means 'to come aside', 'to come beside, arm in arm and to comfort you' -
that's what the Holy Spirit does. If you mourn for your sin the Holy Spirit of
God will come beside you, and comfort you, and take you all the way to the
cross. You'll have forgiveness in the Holy Spirit and you'll have salvation, and
your mourning will elevate you to Him. Christian and non-Christian, just like
the prodigal - Luke chapter 15 and verse 18 - what did he say? 'When he came
to himself, he said, I will arise and go to my father, and will sayunto him, I
have sinned in thy sight and am no more worthy to be calledthy son'. What is
it to be comforted? As I close:
'Because the sinless Saviourdied,
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God, the just, is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me'.
Praise the Lord! Let us pray. Perhaps there is someone here that's not born-
again, and you know what it is to feel the mournfulness of your sin and the
emotion of a dying soulwithin yourself. Look to Him and be savedthis
morning. Lord, we say with the poet: 'Lord, bend this stiffneckedI, help me to
bow the head and die, beholding Him on Calvary who bowed His head for
me'. Lord, help us to be poor in spirit, but to mourn our sin - and if we do
we'll inherit the kingdom of heaven, and we'll be comforted by none other
than the Holy Spirit of God in His blessedfullness in our lives. Bless us now as
we part, for Christ's sake. Amen.
Don't miss Part 5 of 'The Beatitudes': "BlessedAre The Meek"
-----------------------
Transcribedby:
PreachThe Word.
January 2001
www.preachtheword.com
This sermon was delivered at The Iron Hall Assembly in Belfast, Northern
Ireland, by PastorDavid Legge. It was transcribed from the fourth tape in his
Beatitudes series, titled "BlessedAre They That Mourn" - Transcribedby
PreachThe Word.
JOHN STEVENSON

HAPPINESS COMES WHEN YOU MOURN OVER YOUR LOST
CONDITION.
“Blessedare those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4).
Notice the tense of this verse. It is present tense. It doesn’t say: “Blessedare
those who use to mourn but are now over it.” No. It says, “Happy is the one
who is mourning now, for he will find comfort.”
What kind of mourning is this? I want to suggestthat this describes the one
who is mourning overhis spiritual condition. These two verses go together.
Verse 3 describes the one who recognizes his spiritual poverty
Becauseofhis spiritual poverty, he now mourns
This is not the sorrow of the world. The sorrow of the world is usually sorry
only about getting caught. The world says, “I didn’t do anything wrong and I
promise never to do it again.” This is a godly sorrow that brings about
repentance.
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a
repentance without regret, leading to salvation;but the sorrow ofthe world
produces regret. (2 Corinthians 7:10).

The sorrow of the world produces death. This is illustrated in the case of
Judas Iscariot. He betrayed the Lord and then became sorry for his sin. But
it was not a sorrow that produced repentance. It was not a sorrow that
brought him back to God. Insteadit drove him to commit suicide.
Godly sorrow is a sorrow over sin that brings us to the point where we turn to
God and acceptHis forgiveness. This is a sorrow that brings life. And as a
result, we find comfort in the arms of a Savior.
I love the story of the ProdigalSon. You know the story. He went from the
love of a father to the stench of a pigsty. An inheritance squandered. A life
wasted. Forlornand dejected. And then he resolvedto return home. We
read about the speechhe had prepared. He would recount his own
unworthiness. He would offer to take the position of a humble servant. He
would make amends. He must have recitedthat speecha hundred times on
the road home.
He never gota chance to use it. His father was waiting and watching and
came running to meet him. Before he could saya word, the father’s arms
were around him. Loving. Forgiving. Comforting.
Those arms were never stretchedso wide as they were on the cross. They
were stretchedfor us. Saving. Loving. Forgiving. Comforting. Welcoming
us home.
You see, the Christian is one who mourns over his lost condition. But he
doesn’t remain in that attitude of mourning. Sorrow is turned to joy in the
light of forgiveness. And the result is described by Jesus as happiness.

JOHN GILL
Verse 4
Blessedare they that mourn,.... For sin, for their ownsins; the sin of their
nature, indwelling sin, which is always working in them, and is a continual
grief of mind to them; the unbelief of their hearts, notwithstanding the many
instances, declarations, promises, and discoveries ofgrace made unto them;
their daily infirmities, and many sins of life, because they are committed
againsta God of love, grace, and mercy, grieve the Spirit, and dishonour the
Gospelof Christ: who mourn also for the sins of others, for the sins of the
world, the profaneness andwickedness thatabound in it; and more especially
for the sins of professors, by reasonof which, the name of God, and ways of
Christ, are evil spokenof: who likewise mourn under afflictions, spiritual
ones, temptations, desertions, and declensions;temporal ones, their own,
which they receive, either more immediately from the hand of God, or from
men; such as they endure for the sake ofChrist, and the professionof his
Gospel;and who sympathize with others in their afflictions. These, how
sorrowfuland distressedsoeverthey may appear, are blessed
for they shall be comforted: here in this life, by the God of all comfort, by
Christ the comforter; by the Spirit of God, whose work and office it is to
comfort; by the Scriptures of truth, which are written for their consolation;
by the promises of the Gospel, through which the heirs of promise have strong
consolation;by the ordinances of it, which are breasts of consolation;and by
the ministers of the word, who have a commissionfrom the Lord to speak
comfortably to them; and then are they comforted, when they have the
discoveries ofthe love of God, manifestations of pardoning grace, through the
blood of Christ, and enjoy the divine presence:and they shall be comforted
hereafter;when freed from all the troubles of this life, they shall be blessed
with uninterrupted communion with Father, Son, and Spirit, and with the

happy societyofangels and glorified saints. Isaiah61:1 seems to be referred
to, both in this, and in the preceding verse.
MATTHEW HENRY
They that mourn are happy (Matthew 5:4) Blessedare they that mourn. This
is another strange blessing, and fitly follows the former. The poor are
accustomedto mourn, the graciouslypoor mourn graciously. We are apt to
think, Blessedare the merry but Christ, who was himself a greatmourner,
says, Blessedare the mourners. There is a sinful mourning, which is an enemy
to blessedness--the sorrow ofthe world despairing melancholy upon a
spiritual account, and disconsolate griefupon a temporal account. There is a
natural mourning, which may prove a friend to blessedness,by the grace of
God working with it, and sanctifying the afflictions to us, for which we mourn.
But there is a gracious mourning, which qualifies for blessedness,anhabitual
seriousness, the mind mortified to mirth, and an actualsorrow. 1. A
penitential mourning for our own sins this is godly sorrow, a sorrow
according to God sorrow for sin, with an eye to Christ, Zechariah 12:10.
Those are God's mourners, who live a life of repentance, who lament the
corruption of their nature, and their many actual transgressions, andGod's
withdrawings from them and who, out of regard to God's honour, mourn also
for the sins of others, and sigh and cry for their abominations, Ezekiel9:4. 2.
A sympathizing mourning for the afflictions of others the mourning of those
who weepwith them that weep, are sorrowful for the solemn assemblies,for
the desolations ofZion (Zephaniah 3:18; Psalm137:1), especiallywho look
with compassiononperishing souls, and weepover them, as Christ over
Jerusalem.
Now these gracious mourners, (1.) Are blessed. As in vain and sinful laughter
the heart is sorrowful, so in gracious mourning the heart has a serious joy, a

secretsatisfaction, whicha strangerdoes not intermeddle with. They are
blessed, for they are like the Lord Jesus, who was a man of sorrows, andof
whom we never read that he laughed, but often that he wept. The are armed
againstthe many temptations that attend vain mirth, and are prepared for the
comforts of a sealedpardon and a settled peace. (2.)They shall be comforted.
Though perhaps they are not immediately comforted, yet plentiful provision is
made for their comfort light is sownfor them and in heaven, it is certain, they
shall be comforted, as Lazarus, Luke 16:25. Note, The happiness of heaven
consists in being perfectly and eternally comforted, and in the wiping awayof
all tears from their eyes. It is the joy of our Lord a fulness of joy and pleasures
for evermore which will be doubly sweetto those who have been prepared for
them by this godly sorrow. Heavenwill be a heavenindeed to those who go
mourning thither it will be a harvest of joy, the return of a seed-time of tears
(Psalm 126:5,6)a mountain of joy, to which our way lies through a vale of
tears. See Isaiah66:10.
A. PINK
THE SECOND BEATITUDE
"Blessedare they that mourn, for they shall be comforted"
Matthew 5:4
Mourning is hateful and irksome to poor human nature. From suffering and
sadness our spirits instinctively shrink. By nature we seek the societyof the
cheerful and joyous. Our text presents an anomaly to the unregenerate, yet it
is sweetmusic to the ears of God’s elect. If "blessed,"why do they "mourn"?

If they "mourn," how can they be "blessed"?Only the child of God has the
key to this paradox. The more we ponder our text the more we are
constrainedto exclaim, "Neverman spake like this Man!" "Blessed [happy]
are they that mourn is an aphorism that is at complete variance with the
world’s logic. Menhave in all places and in all ages regardedthe prosperous
and gayas the happy ones, but Christ pronounces happy those who are poor
in spirit and who mourn.
Now it is obvious that it is not every species ofmourning that is here referred
to. There is a "sorrow of the world [that] workethdeath" (2 Cor. 7:10). The
mourning for which Christ promises comfort must be restrictedto that which
is spiritual. The mourning that is blessedis the result of a realization of God’s
holiness and goodnessthat issues in a sense of the depravity of our natures
and the enormous guilt of our conduct. The mourning for which Christ
promises Divine comfort is a sorrowing overour sins with a godly sorrow.
The eight Beatitudes are arranged in four pairs. Proof of this will be furnished
as we proceed. The first of the series is the blessing that Christ pronounced
upon those who are poor in spirit, which we took as a description of those who
have been awakenedto a sense oftheir own nothingness and emptiness. Now
the transition from such poverty to mourning is easyto follow. In fact,
mourning follows so closelythat it is in reality poverty’s companion.
The mourning that is here referred to is manifestly more than that of
bereavement, affliction, or loss. It is mourning for sin.
It is mourning over the felt destitution of our spiritual state, and over the
iniquities that have separatedus and God; mourning over the very morality in
which we have boasted, and the self-righteousnessin which we have trusted;

sorrow for rebellion againstGod, and hostility to His will; and such mourning
always goes side by side with conscious poverty of spirit (Dr. Pierson).
A striking illustration and exemplification of the spirit upon which the Savior
here pronounced His benediction is to be found in Luke 18:9-14. There a vivid
contrastis presented to our view. First, we are showna self-righteous Pharisee
looking up toward God and saying, "God, I thank Thee that I am not as other
men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fasttwice
in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. This may all have been true as he
lookedat it, yet this man went down to his house in a state of condemnation.
His fine garments were rags, his white robes were filthy, though he knew it
not. Then we are shown the publican, standing afar off, who, in the language
of the Psalmist, was so troubled by his iniquities that he was not able to look
up (Ps. 40:12). He dared not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote
upon his breast. Conscious ofthe fountain of corruption within, he cried,
"Godbe merciful to me a sinner." That man went down to his house justified,
because he was poor in spirit and mourned for sin.
Here, then, are the first birthmarks of the children of God. He who has never
come to be poor in spirit and has never known what it is to really mourn for
sin, though he belong to a church or be an office-bearerin it, has neither seen
nor entered the Kingdom of God. How thankful the Christian reader ought to
be that the greatGod condescends to dwell in the humble and contrite heart!
This is the wonderful promise made by God even in the Old Testament(by
Him in whose sight the heavens are not clean, who cannot find in any temple
that man has ever built for Him, however magnificent, a proper dwelling
place—seeIsa. 57:15 and 66:2)!
"Blessedare they that mourn." Though the primary reference is to that initial
mourning commonly called convictionof sin, it is by no means to be limited to
that. Mourning is ever a characteristic ofthe normal Christian state. There is

much that the believer has to mourn over. The plague of his own heart makes
him cry, "O wretchedman that I am" (Rom. 7:24). The unbelief that "doth so
easilybesetus" (Heb. 12:1) and sins that we commit, which are more in
number than the hairs of our head, are a continual grief to us. The barrenness
and unprofitable-ness of our lives make us sigh and cry. Our propensity to
wander from Christ, our lack of communion with Him, and the shallownessof
our love for Him cause us to hang our harps upon the willows. But there are
many other causes for mourning that assailChristian hearts:on every hand
hypocritical religion that has a form of godliness while denying the power
thereof (2 Tim. 3:5); the awful dishonor done to the truth of God by the false
doctrines taught in countless pulpits; the divisions among the Lord’s people;
and strife betweenbrethren. The combination of these provides occasionfor
continual sorrow of heart. The awful wickednessin the world, the despising of
Christ, and untold human sufferings make us groan within ourselves. The
closerthe Christian lives to God, the more he will mourn over all that
dishonors Him. This is the common experience of God’s true people (Ps.
119:53;Jer. 13:17; 14:17;Ezek. 9:4).
"They shall be comforted." By these words Christ refers primarily to the
removal of the guilt that burdens the conscience. This is accomplishedby the
Spirit’s application of the GospelofGod’s grace to one whom He has
convictedof his dire need of a Savior. The result is a sense offree and full
forgiveness through the merits of the atoning blood of Christ. This Divine
comfort is "the peace ofGod, which passethall understanding" (Phil. 4:7),
filling the heart of the one who is now assuredthat he is "acceptedin the
Beloved" (Eph. 1:6). Godwounds before healing, and abases before He exalts.
First there is a revelation of His justice and holiness, then the making known
of His mercy and grace.
The words "they shall be comforted" also receive a constantfulfillment in the
experience of the Christian. Though he mourns his excuselessfailures and
confesses themto God, yet he is comforted by the assurance thatthe blood of

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses him from all sin (1 John 1:7). Though he
groans over the dishonor done to God on every side, yet is he comfortedby the
knowledge that the day is rapidly approaching when Satan shall be castinto
hell foreverand when the saints shall reign with the Lord Jesus in "new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter3:13).
Though the chastening hand of the Lord is often laid upon him and though
"no chastening for the presentseemethto be joyous, but grievous" (Heb.
12:11), nevertheless, he is consoledby the realizationthat this is all working
out for him "a far more exceeding and eternal weightof glory" (2 Cor. 4:17).
Like the Apostle Paul, the believer who is in communion with his Lord can
say, "As sorrowful, yet alwayrejoicing" (2 Cor. 6:10). He may often be called
upon to drink of the bitter waters of Marah, but Godhas planted nearby a
tree to sweetenthem. Yes, mourning Christians are comfortedeven now by
the Divine Comforter: by the ministrations of His servants, by encouraging
words from fellow Christians, and (when these are not to hand) by the
precious promises of the Word being brought home in power by the Spirit to
their hearts out of the storehouse oftheir memories.
"They shall be comforted." The best wine is reservedfor the last. "Weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Ps. 30:5). During the
long night of His absence, believers have been calledto fellowship with Him
who was the Man of Sorrows. But it is written, "If... we suffer with Him.., we
[shall] be also glorified together" (Rom. 8:17). What comfort and joy will be
ours when shall dawn the morning without clouds! Then "sorrow and sighing
shall flee away" (Isa. 35:10). Then shall be fulfilled the words of the great
heavenly voice in Revelation21:3, 4: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God
Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe awayall
tears from their eyes;and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed
away

PHIL NEWTON
THE BLESSING OF MOURNING
MATTHEW 5:4
APRIL 7, 2002
Frivolity, amusement, laughter, mirth, and jest all describe the commonplace
atmosphere in our nation. Whether on radio talk shows ortelevision
programs, amusement and jest comprise most of the substance. The people
that seemto be admired most in the world are those that can make people
laugh. This is not just restricted to the world at large, but it's also a large part
of the Christian community. I was talking with a lady recently who
commented on a minister in her church that had responsibility in directing
services. She said, "He's one of the funniest people I know!" She went on to
speak of his involvement in preaching. Somehow I wondered how the funny
man would be able to deliver serious expositions of God's Word, or at leastbe
takenseriously.
By no means would I imply that Christians must take on a morose appearance
in life. Don Carsontold about the little girl that saw a horse and said that it

must be a Christian because ofits long face!This Beatitude is not counselfor
developing a long face, but rather understanding the seriousnessoflife, of
God, of sin, and of eternity [The Sermon on the Mount, 18].
Yet standing in sharp contrastto this life of frivolity and amusement is the
secondBeatitude, a paradoxicalstatementof comfortin mourning. Think of
the words, and how strange they sound in our culture. John Stott says that it
can almostbe translated, "Happy are the unhappy" [The Bible Speaks
Today: Christian Counter Culture, 40]. The words have been applied in all
manner of situations, yet often applied in ways not intended by Jesus Christ.
To understand this Beatitude we must not lose focus on what Jesus was doing,
setting forth in the Beatitudes a description of the radical characterofthose
who are part of his kingdom. Here is Christianity expressedin simple, yet
profound terms. This Beatitude exposes much about the reality of our hearts.
As Kent Hughes asks, "In our hearts, what do we weep about? What do we
laugh about?" Then he asserts,"True Christianity manifests itself in what we
cry over and what we laugh about" [The Sermon on the Mount: The Message
of the Kingdom, 29]. Spiritual mourning sets the heart aright in crying and
laughter.
Spiritual mourning naturally follows poverty in spirit. As one faces the reality
of his own spiritual bankruptcy he becomes overwhelmedby his own offense
toward God. Like Isaiah, he cries, "Woe is me! ForI am undone!" And like
Paul, he laments, "Oh wretchedman that I am! Who will deliver me from this
body of death?" Spiritual mourning discovers deepcomfort as it turns the

heart and passionfrom sin in true repentance, and dependence upon God's
mercy and grace through Christ. Do you know the blessing of mourning?
I. Delusions ofspiritual mourning
The term that is used, "Blessedare those who mourn," is one of a number of
words in the Greek language formourning. This particular one implies
lamenting or grieving. It was usedfor those mourning the loss of someone to
death. The expressionof grief is not a simple pain in the bosom, but it so takes
possessionofthe whole being that it cannot be hidden; it is evident in the
whole of life [Rienecker& Rogers, Linguistic Key to the Greek New
Testament, 12]. But this verse has often been used improperly to assure people
of temporal comfortin all kinds of situations.
1. Loss
This is a favorite verse at funerals, "Blessedare those who mourn, for they
shall be comforted," as the assurance thatin the time of bereavement and loss,

they can be certain that God will give comfort. But this verse is not speaking
to that issue.
Others suppose that it is the assurance ofcomfort for some deprivation in life
or some loss of perceived privilege. You have been treatedin ill fashion or
have been duped in a business deal or have been denied liberties because of
your identification with a particular culture or race or ethnicity, so you appeal
to this verse for comfort. But that is not its focus. I recallattending the service
in an African-American Baptistchurch in which the guestpreacher's theme
was "Hold on!" He endlesslywhoopedthe phrase, "Hold on," as the
congregationswayedrhythmically to his intonations, and the preacher
drenched himself in sweat. His entire thesis was 'hold on because things will
eventually getbetter'. That kind of talk could be given at a civic club meeting
or a Unitarian church. That's not what this Beatitude is about!
Some mourn because ofbeing caught in a sin or deed that brings about
certain consequences ofgreatdiscomfort. So they comfort themselves that as
they mourn they will eventually be comforted from this time of distress. They
mourn over the penalty not overthe deed. As the Puritan pastorin London,
Thomas Watson, penned, "To mourn only for fear of hell is like a thief that
weeps for the penalty rather than the offense" [The Beatitudes, 62]. There is
no promise of comfort in this situation.

Some mourn due to hurt feelings or perceivedwrongs or personal injustices
or the inability to accomplishpersonalgoals, but that is not the type of
mourning spokenofin this text.
2. Habit
Mourning also has nothing to do with the habits of our lives. Some people are
naturally melancholy so that they can easilyweepor easilyfeel pity over a
situation or quickly shed tears for a loss. But this is not a promise of blessing
for a particular type of personality. Some have a habitually morose
countenance, the long-facedhorse look that might be calledthe blessing of
mourning. But that just happens to be their disposition that can change on a
whim, not a spiritual quality. Spiritual mourning does not mean that you are
able to best everyone else at a grimacing look. This Beatitude does not laud a
sour disposition. It also does not commend the tongue that continually
complains in woefultones. If this were the case then the most comforted group
on the face of the earth would be political actiongroups of all stripes that lead
the pack of perpetual complaining!
To sum it up in one phrase, "It is not the sorrow of bereavementto which
Christ refers, but the sorrow of repentance" [JohnStott, 40-41].

II. Descriptions ofspiritual mourning
So what is spiritual mourning? "Blessedare those who mourn, for they shall
be comforted." Watsontells us, "Mourning is put here for repentance" [59].
And so we learn that it has nothing to do with worldly comforts but with our
relationship to God in regardto our sin and enmity with God. It flows out of
spiritual poverty. As our recognitionof personalbankruptcy in worth and
merit before God seizes us, we grieve that we have offended God. We lament
our sin. We mourn over the loss of clearvision of God's holiness and faithful
obedience to God's law. It begins inwardly then continues by adding an
outward focus and dimension.
1. Inward focus
By inward focus I am implying that spiritual mourning does not begin by
pointing at everyone else's sins and shortcomings. It starts with me. And it
does not begin because ofsome kind of morbid introspection but it is
prompted when we begin to see God. Take forinstance that famous scene of
Isaiah's encounterwith God in Isaiahchapter six. For the first five chapters

he had been pronouncing woes upon everyone else. Then in the sixth chapter,
Isaiahgot his ownglimpse of God. It stunned him! In words now familiar to
all of us he explained,
In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty
and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood
above Him, eachhaving six wings: with two he coveredhis face, and with two
he coveredhis feet, and with two he flew. And one calledout to another and
said,
"Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory."
And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called
out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
The scene ofGod's holiness overwhelmedthe prophet. He thought upon the
majesty of God and saw his own lowliness. He thought of Yahweh's holiness
and saw his own uncleanness. He thought upon the Lord's glory and saw his
own sullied characterand conversation. He thought upon the beauty and
dignity of the Lord, and then saw his own ugliness and blackness ofsoul. Not
even the Seraphim that live continually in the glory of the Lord's presence
could gaze upon Him. Isaiah's response is recognitionof his spiritual poverty
and the vocal expressionofhis spiritual mourning:
Woe is me, for I am ruined! BecauseI am a man of unclean lips, and I live
among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seenthe King, the Lord of
hosts [6:1-5].

Martyn Lloyd-Jones noted, "The way to become poor in spirit is to look at
God," and I would add, that is the way to spiritual mourning as well [Studies
in the Sermon on the Mount, 52]. Isaiah is a clearexample, as is Paul when
confronted by the holiness of God's law expressing that same sense ofinward
anguish of soul, sounded a cry of desperationat his own sin in light of God's
holiness:"Wretchedman that I am! Who will set me free from the body of
this death?" (Rom 7:24). How does this deep, inward spiritual mourning
develop and continue in our lives?
1. It results from seeing God as holy. Sinclair Fergusonconcurs, "Itis this-his
sight of God-that has made him mourn. Paradoxically, it is the same sight of
God that will bring him comfort" [The Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Life
in a Fallen World, 19]. Where do we see God? We look into the pages of God's
Word, that infallible revelation of God. We meditate upon Scripture. We
contemplate the Lord; see how he has workedin creationand most of all, in
redemption. We look at the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, to his perfectly holy
life, and then to the cross. Gaze upon Him who is so utterly holy that for Him
to forgive just one sinner, it required that He pour out the vials of His wrath
upon His own Sonin a propitiatory fashion.
2. It is the apprehensionof the nature of sin. David's penitential Psalm51
expressedthis so clearly: "'for I know my transgressions, andmy sin is ever
before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your
sight, so that You are justified when you speak and blameless when You
judge" (Ps 51:3-4). Sin is ultimately an offense againstGod and his holy law.
Thomas Watsonadds, "David, that he might be a mourner, kept his eye full
upon sin. See what sin is, and then tell me if there will be not enough in it to
draw forth tears" [87]. It is God who is offended by our sin! It is God the
Creatorwho lovingly sustains us, who even restrains us from following

headlong after our own lusts, who tenderly places roadblocksin our way lest
we face more of his judgment-it is this God againstwhom we sin!
3. It is the comprehensionof sin as the source of our enmity with God, and
consequentlyour hopelessness to change our own hearts. That produces
spiritual mourning as we see the heavy toll requited for our sin: enemies of
God; dead in trespassesand sins; children of wrath.
4. Spiritual mourning focuses upon sins in particular and not just general. It is
not terribly difficult for a person to join the crowd by saying, "I'm a sinner,"
for he generallyadds, "I'm a sinner like everyone else." But to get more
specific, to address our own deeds, our thoughts, our attitudes, our tongue,
our mistreatment of others, our neglectof spiritual disciplines, our
ingratitude, our lusts, our impure thoughts, our disobedience to parents, our
greed, our self-centeredness, ourpride, and our arrogance,will bring us to the
shocking reality of our sinfulness. Watsonwrote, "A wickedman will sayhe is
a sinner, but a child of God says, I have done this evil" [64].
5. Spiritual mourning produces hatred for sin and a repentant heart that
desires to be holy. The American myth of Christianity without holiness
knows nothing of spiritual mourning. When the sins of the world are just as
prevalent within the church as outside the church, it tells us that true spiritual
mourning-this characteroftrue conversion-has not been near as widespread
as statistics would state. Spiritual mourning targets sin, applies the cross of
Christ, pleads with the Lord for deliverance, and exercises the spiritual
disciplines that will help to shape the believer in conduct and characterlike
that of Jesus Christ. He takes seriouslyPaul's exhortation to the Ephesians,
"Therefore be imitators of God, as belovedchildren" (Eph 5:1).

Do you know something of this spiritual mourning as a reality in your life?
My friend, without it there will be no repentance, and without repentance
there is no life (Luke 13:3).
2. Outward focus
There is a natural consequence to our inward focus of spiritual mourning. We
are affectedoutwardly as well. Like the Psalmist we cry, "My eyes shed
streams of water, because they do not keepYour law" (119:136). We realize
that the kingdom of God encompassesthe globe, and we desire to see the glory
of the Lord coverthe earth as the waters covers the sea (Habakkuk 2:14).
"Blessedare those who mourn, for they shall be comforted," projects the
prayers, proclamations, witnesses,gospel-conversations, courageous stands,
sacrificialoffering of lives into the desire to see God's glory throughout the
world.
I was reminded of this vividly lastThursday evening as I joined some of our
folks and others in the community at a Pro-Life Rally held at Riveroaks
Reformed PresbyterianChurch. Carol Everett, a former abortion provider,
spoke of how she oversaw hundreds and thousands of murders of the unborn.
She had evenhad an abortion herself, and in an effort to assuagethe guilt she
threw herself into the work of convincing others that abortion was an
appropriate action. She was even involved in going into schools, andteaching
5th and 6th graders to distrust their parents and trust her as a sexeducator,
so that later they would turn to her clinics for abortions. But a church prayed
for her, and reachedout to her with the mercy of God in the gospel. She
testified that the Lord came after her and savedher right in the midst of that
despicable career. A group of believers mourned over the sin that had
engulfed this lady until they all were comforted by the powerof the gospelof
Jesus Christ.

There are countless areas thatought to lead us into mourning, and mourning
into sanctifiedaction for the glory of God.
III. Dimensions of spiritual mourning
Spiritual mourning is not just an isolatedor limited actin life. It is a continual
part of the believer's life. The present tense of the participle, "Blessedare
those who mourn," shows that spiritual mourning has lasting dimensions in
the life of the Christian.
1. In conversion
Spiritual mourning begins in conversion;it is the pathway to repentance. It
comes as a gift of God's grace that enables us to see our sin as an offense
againstGod, and to understand the judgment of God that weighs againstus.
This is where the promise, "for they shall be comforted," shines. When a
person faces his own lost condition before God, and sees his unworthiness of
forgiveness, andyet God in His mercy saves him, then you can be assuredthat
he is "comforted!" The word implies that Godcomes near to him with great
consolations.It is not a comfort that leads to cockiness as thoughhe deserved
what God did, but a comfort that humbles him, that spills forth in continual
gratitude as he is converted to Christ.
But perhaps some among us have not known that comfort that has followed
spiritual mourning. There are some things that will hinder us along the way,
things that we must recognize and turn from.

1. The love of sin "makes sintaste sweetand this sweetnessin sin bewitches
the heart" [Watson81]. Your need is for grace to hate sin, to see how it has
damned you before God, and to see how it is keeping you from knowing the
Creatoras your Redeemer.
2. The deceit of the smallness ofsin, that attitude that causes youto think that
sin is really no big deal, will inevitably keepyou from spiritual mourning and
conversion. Watsonreminds us, "The leastsin without repentance will be a
lock and bolt to shut men out of heaven" [83].
3. Procrastinationin dealing with sin or taking care of your soul or becoming
earnestabout your salvationwill keepyou from spiritual mourning and
conversion. Delays do not make Christianity easier. The folly of taking your
time when you stand under divine judgment makes less sense than purposely
sleeping in a house that you know is on fire.
4. Mirth and music can keepyou from knowing spiritual mourning and true
conversionto Christ. Watsonpoints out, "Many sing away sorrow and drown
their tears in wine. The sweetwaters ofpleasure destroy the bitter waters of
mourning" [86]. Some of you may be on that very path in which you pursue
mirth, frivolity, and amusement with a vengeance becauseit keeps you from
taking a goodlook at your soul. Would you castawaythe day of salvationto
follow the pleasures of the world for a moment?
2. In sanctification
Spiritual mourning continually operates in the life of the Christian. For as he
sins it brings grief, and grief causes him to turn to Christ and the sufficiency
of His death; then he is comfortedagain. "Wheneverthe Christian is

conscious ofhis own sin," writes Ferguson, "he will be grieved by it" [20].
Grief leads to repentance, and comfort. Watsonadds, "The soul of the
Christian is most easedwhenit can vent itself by holy mourning" [76]. It was
this same idea that Martin Luther put at the top of his Ninety-five Theses that
he nailed to the church door at Wittenberg. "When our Lord and Master
Jesus Christ said, "Repent" (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to
be one of repentance." JeremiahBurroughs, another Puritan, offers us great
insight on why mourning is part of our sanctification.
As weeds grow very rank in summer time, now in the winter the frost nips the
weeds and keeps them under; but if it be a long frost it kills them. And so doth
a mournful condition; if it be sanctified, it kills the vermin, it kills our lusts,
and is a specialmeans of mortification in the soul; and therefore blessedare
they that do mourn, and carry themselves graciouslyin a mourning condition
[The Saints' Happiness, 38].
3. In glorification
You can easilysee the progress, going from conversion-andthe justification
that takes place, to sanctification, and finally to glorification. It is not that
spiritual mourning follows into glorification, but it is the pathway to it. For
the ultimate comfort promised by Christ, "for they shall be comforted," has a
future dimension that points to that time of glorificationforever in the Lord's
presence. It is that blessedhope of the Christian, that time in which the mortal
shall put on immortality, death will no longer be in the pictured; sin and death
will have long been put asunder as enemies under the feetof Christ. And who
can describe the measure of Christ's eternalcomfort? Noteven the Apostle
John could do it, so he wrote, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and as
yet it has not appearedwhat we will be. We know that when He appears, we

will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is" (I John 3:2). And that
is comfort enough!
Conclusion
Have you mourned your sin? Have you been comforted by Jesus Christ in the
sufficiency of His death for you? Or are you so steepedin frivolity that you
dare not give attention to your sin, and you especiallydo not look at Christ?
My friend, there will be no comfort for you for the ages ofeternity apart from
spiritual mourning that leads you to Christ. What hinders your spiritual
mourning? Turn from it. Cry to God for mercy to see Him with eyes of
repentance, and a heart of faith in Jesus Christ.
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Mat . Mourning.—
I. An assertion.—Thatmourners are blessedpersons. There is a twofold
mourning which is far from making one blessed.
1. A carnalmourning, when we lament outward losses.
2. A diabolicalmourning.
(1) When a man mourns that he cannot satisfyhis impure lust (2Sa ; 1Ki
21:4),
(2) When men are sorry for the goodwhich they have done (Exo ). There are
two objects of spiritual mourning:
1. Sin.—
(1) Our own sin. Its guilt. Its pollution. There is a five-fold mourning which is
false and spurious: (a) A despairing kind of mourning, like that of Judas. (b)

A hypocritical mourning, (c) A forced mourning, when tears are pumped out
by God's judgments. (d) An extrinsical mourning (Mat ). (e) A vain, fruitless
mourning. What is the right gospelmourning? (a) It is spontaneous and free.
(b) Mourning for sin rather than suffering, (c) It sends the soul to God. (d)
Mourning for sin in particular, (e) Gospeltears must drop from the eye of
faith. (f) Gospelmourning is joined with self-loathing. (g) Must be purifying.
We must so weepfor sin as to weepout sin. (h) Must be joined with hatred of
sin. (i) In some casesis joined with restitution. (k) Must be a speedy mourning.
(l) Constant.
(2) The sin of others.
2. Misery.—Including the afflictions of the church. Specialseasons of
mourning.
(1) When there are tokens ofGod's wrath breaking forth in the nation.
(2) Before performing the solemnduties of God's worship, as fasting or
receiving the Lord's Supper.
(3) After scandalous relapses.
II. A Reason.—"Theyshallbe comforted." Observe:
1. Mourning goes before comfort, as the lancing of a wound precedes the cure.

2. God keeps His bestwine till last.
3. Gospeltears are not lost; they are seeds ofcomfort. Reasonwhy the
mourner shall be comforted. Becausethe mourning has this as its end and the
mourner is the fittest person for comfort. The comforts two-fold:—
1. Comforts here.—The Spirit comforts mediately, by the promises; or
immediately, by a more direct actpresenting God to the soul as reconciled.
These comforts are
(1) real,
(2) sanctifying,
(3) humbling,
(4) unmixed,
(5) sweet,
(6) satisfying,
(7) glorious, (1Pe ),

(8) infinitely transporting and ravishing,
(9) powerful (Heb ),
(10) heart-quieting,
(11) abiding (Joh ). God's mourners sometimes want comfort,
(1) through mistake; they go to their tears when they should go to Christ's
blood; or they slackenthe strings of duty;
(2) through discontent and peevishness;
(3) through not applying the promises;
(4) through too much earthly-mindedness;
(5) through falling asleepin security.
2. Comforts hereafter.—The greatnessofthese celestialcomforts is most fitly
in Scripture expressedby the joy of a feast(Rev ).—Thomas Watson.
The mourners blessed.—

I. What is meant by them that mourn.—In general, I take it to be something
that guards us againstthat frolicsome, jovial, carnalmirth, of which the
people expecteda large share in the kingdom of the Messiah. And with this
view it will take in severalvery considerable Christianvirtues, as to which
their wrong notions of Christ's kingdom gave their minds a very bad
disposition and temper. I shall name the chief of them.
1. Sobriety and temperance.—He who is endowedwith these virtues is
prepared for the hardest fare and the meanestentertainment he can meet
with in this world. As luxury effeminates a soldier and unfits him for the
laborious part of his office, so it is in the spiritual warfare;pleasure
effeminates a soldier of Christ, whereas a steadypreparation of mind for
bearing the cross, hardens and confirms him in his duty.
2. Contrition and penitence, by which I understand not any transient actof
sorrow, but such a deep repentance as leaves lasting impressions and makes
us put on the habit of mourners. There are many things contribute towards
the begetting and keeping up of this serious penitent temper.
(1) The considerationof past sins.
(2) A sense ofunmortified corruptions.
(3) Imperfect graces.
(4) The sins of others.

(5) A sense ofGod's judgments, either threatened or impending, or executed.
3. A distaste of the world and a longing for heaven.
II. Considerhow blessedthey are from the comforts they shall reap both here
and hereafter.—This mourning or penitential sorrow is like ground well
prepared, ready manured and watered, fit to receive the seeds and to bring
forth the fruits of all Christian virtues, which bring in a rich harvest of
comfort and felicity. If the fruits of this temper are so great in this life, what
will they be in heaven?
III. Draw some inferences from the doctrine of this beatitude.—
1. The folly of those who place their happiness in an affluence of everything
that may gratify their luxury.
2. That we should endeavour to be always deeply affectedwith a godly sorrow
in regard of our past sins and follies, and a holy fear of falling into the like
again.
3. The sweetnessand easinessofChrist's yoke, the hardest of whose service
(i.e. repentance)is attended with so much inward peace and satisfaction.—
James Blair, M.A.
Mourners comforted.—

I. The mourning which is here specified.
1. Negatively.—
(1) It is not the mourning of a melancholy disposition, that continually
murmurs, whines, and rebels.
(2) It is not a sorrow that springs from afflictions, disappointments,
bereavements, destitution, adversity, etc.
(3) It is not a mourning in view merely of the consequencesofsin.
(4) It is not therefore an affectedpenitence. "I am the chief of sinners," said
the cardinal to the confessor. "Itis true," said the monk. "I have been guilty
of every kind of sin," sighed the cardinal. "It is a solemnfact, my son," said
the monk. "I have indulged in pride, ambition, malice, and revenge," pursued
his Eminence. The confessorassentedwithout one word of pity or doubt.
"Why, you fool!" at last said the exasperatedcardinal, "youdon't imagine I
mean all this to the letter?" "Ho! ho!" said the monk, "so you have been a liar
too, have you?" Many profess to be under deep conviction, and cry aloud that
they are sinners, but when it comes to the point, will not own that they have
broken one of the commandments.
2. Affirmatively.—

(1) It is a sorrow for sin. "Realrepentance consists inthe heart being broken
for sin and from sin." The old divines used to describe it as consisting of
attrition and contrition. Attrition is when a rock is brokenby the springing of
a mine. Contrition is when an iceberg floating southward is gradually melted
by the warmth of the Gulf Streamand the sun. The first comes by the law,
which reveals to us our sin; the secondcomes by the gospel, whichdiscloses to
us the loving mercy of God.
(2) It is sorrow on accountof the sins we see around us (Jer ),—the sins of the
world; inconsistencyofthe church.
(3) It is a sympathising sorrow for others' afflictions and distresses.
II. The comfort which is here promised.—Self-love, pride, and covetousness
have their tears, but God wipes awayonly those of humility and repentance.
"Out of the saltestwaters Godcan brew the sweetestliquor." "The bee
gathers the best honey from the bitterest herbs." "The darkesthour is nearest
the dawn."
1. The Saviour's promise is already realisedin this life.—Godis to them "the
God of consolation" (Rom). "When God comforts," says Chrysostom, "then,
though sorrows come upon thee by thousands, like snowflakes, thou wilt
surmount them all."
2. The Saviour's promise is destined to have its complete fulfilment in the life
to come.—"Holymourning," says St. Basil, "is the seedout of which the
flowerof eternaljoy doth grow."—J. Harries.

Sorrow the pledge of joy.—
I. Grief, sorrow, pain of heart, mourning is no partition-wall betweenman
and God.—The Lord congratulates them that mourn. There is no evil in
sorrow. True, it is not an essentialgood, a goodin itself, like love; but it will
mingle with any goodthing, and is even so allied to goodthat it will open the
door of the heart for any good. The gladsome child runs farther a field; the
wounded child turns to go home. The weepersits down close to the gate;the
Lord of life draws nigh to him from within. God loves not sorrow, yet rejoices
to see a man sorrowful, for in his sorrow man leaves his heavenwarddoor on
the latch, and God can enter to help him. So gooda medicine is sorrow, so
powerful to slay the moths that infest and devour the human heart, that the
Lord is glad to see a man weep. Grief is an ill-favoured thing, but she is Love's
own child, and her mother loves her.
II. The promise to them that mourn.—Is not the kingdom of heaven, but that
their mourning shall be ended, that they shall be comforted. To mourn is not
to fight with evil; it is only to miss that which is good. It is not an essential
heavenwardcondition, like poorness ofspirit or meekness.Mourning is a
canker-bitten blossomon the rose-tree oflove. Is there any mourning worthy
the name that has not love for its root? Men mourn because they love. The
Greek word here used means those that mourn for the dead. It is not in the
New Testamentemployed exclusively in this sense, neitherdo I imagine it
stands here for such only; there are griefs than death sorer far, and harder far
to comfort—harder even for God Himself, with whom all things are possible;
but it may give pleasure to know that the promise of comfort to those that
mourn may speciallyapply to those that mourn because their loved have gone
out of their sight, and beyond the reachof their cry.—Geo. Macdonald, LL.D.
Preacher's Complete HomileticalCommentary

RAY PRITCHARD
Happy are the Sad
Matthew 5:4
“Blessedare those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” This is one of the
strangeststatements in the Bible. It is a paradox and a mystery. “Blessedare
those who mourn,” said Jesus. Happy are the sad! What do these strange
words mean? Who are the mourners, why are they sad, and how are they
comforted?
I. The Mystery of Human Suffering
This week I had severalunique experiences. OnMonday I spent all day at
Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital, arriving about nine in the morning
and leaving sometime after six that night. Marlene and I stayedwith Roberta
Hoppe during Len’s nine-hour cancersurgery. As we sat there waiting for
news from the operating room, it occurredto me that this was the longesttime
I had stayedin any hospital since my father died twenty-two years ago. Many
of us had prayed earnestlyfor Len eversince he was diagnosedwith cancera
few weeksago. At his request, we prayed for a miracle of divine healing so
that he would not have to go through the surgery, but that request was not
granted. But God did spare him through the surgery, which in its own way
was a gracious miracle.
Why one miracle but not the other? This is a mystery beyond human
knowledge.
But that was only the beginning of the week. On Wednesdaymorning we had
Mike Ferrelli’s funeral here in this sanctuary. Mike died of cancerlast
Saturday. He was only 42. Although many of us prayed for Mike, most people

did it by faith because he came to Calvary less than three years ago, and for
the pastyear his cancerhas made it difficult to attend services.
I’ll never forgetthe first time I met him. We were still having the Wednesday
night Bible study in the chapel and one evening a nice looking couple walked
in. I had no idea who they were. It turned out to be Mike and Barb. When I
askedif anyone would like prayer for healing, Mike came forward. He told us
that he had just been diagnosedwith cancer. It was hard to believe because he
was a big, well-built fellow. I’ll forgethis reactionwhen I askedhim if wanted
to say anything before we prayed for him. With tears rolling down his face, he
said, “I’ve been awayfrom the Lord for awhile, but I’m coming back tonight.
And whether God heals me or not, I’m going to dedicate my life to him no
matter how long I live.”
Mike and I talkedmany times over the past two years. A few months ago I
dropped by to see him at home. It was clearthat the end was near. Cancer
had reduced him to a shell of the man he had once been. But he was still
smiling. As he sat in his rocking chair, we startedtalking about what it’s like
to die. I told him about heaven and gave him the promise of God that to be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And I did something that
afternoonthat I’ve never done any other time. I told him what I was going to
say at his funeral service. It only seems fair that the guestof honor should
know what is being said about him. BasicallyI told him that I was going to tell
them about his rededicationto Jesus Christ and how he had died as a
Christian and gone to heaven according to the Lord’s own promise.
About three weeksago I had the privilege of going to Mike’s home and
serving him his last communion. Then a week ago WednesdayBarbcalledand
askedme to come over because he was fading fast. I got there about 10:30
P.M. and I held his hand and we talkedabout heaven. “Mike, you don’t have
a thing to worry about. When you die, you are going directly into the presence
of Jesus Christ. Before Barbcan get to the phone to call me, you will already
be in heaven.”
His funeral on Wednesdaymorning was a triumphant affair. Barb played the
organand Rex Welshsang “How GreatThou Art” and “Finally Home.”

When my time came to speak, I kept my promise to Mike and said exactly
what I had told him I was going to say. And I told them not to say, “We’ve lost
Mike.” That’s not right. A thing is lostonly when you don’t know where it is.
Mike’s not lost. We know exactlywhere he is. He’s in heaven.
Then I came to the Wednesdaynight supper and pickedup the prayer list. It
seemedto have a record number of sick people on it. I was struck by the fact
that I didn’t know almost half of the names on the list.
All week long I’ve been pondering this. Len Hoppe and Mike Ferrelli. And all
the other names on our prayer list. Why does one man live and another man
die? Why does one personget sick and his brother stays healthy? Two men
riding in a jeep roll over a mine. One is spared, the other loses a leg.
It is mystery hidden in the mind and heart of God. All human explanations
must ultimately fail. “The secretthings belong to the Lord our God.”
(Deuteronomy 29:29). Is there an answerto the question Why? Yes, there is,
but the answeris hidden from our view. Considerthe words of the
magnificent doxologyin Romans 11:33-36,
“Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge ofGod! How
unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” In one of his
last sermons, PeterBlakemore preachedonthis very text last summer. He
said that God doesn’tleave a trail in the sky. You don’t know where he’s
coming from or where he is going.
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?” Answer: No one!
“Who has been his counselor?”Answer:No one!
“Who have ever given to God, that God should repay him?” Answer: No one!
No one knows the mind of the Lord, no one gives him advice, and God doesn’t
owe anyone an explanation for why he does what he does. Thus the great
conclusionto the doxology:“From him and through him and are all things.
To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”
This is the only solid answerto the mystery of human suffering. To all our
questions, God replies, “I am that I am.” The answeris a Person, not an

explanation. Someone may reply, “But that’s not enough. I want an real
answer.” To which I reply, If Godhimself is not enough, then no answer
would ever satisfy you.
II. The Ministry of Divine Comfort
But to leave the matter there would not be fair because the Bible does have a
greatdeal to say about the ministry of divine comfort. It tells us a number of
important truths we need to remember:
First, God himself draws near to those who hurt.
Psalm34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the brokenheartedand saves those
who are crushed in spirit.” Here is a promise of God’s specialpresence in the
midst of our pain. Through the Holy Spirit, the Lord himself draws near to us
in times of greatsuffering. We sense his presence in a way that goes beyond
the natural. We hear his voice though there is no sound in the room. Many
Christians cantestify to this specialsense ofGod’s nearness felt during a time
of greatsuffering.
Second, Goduses suffering to draw us to himself.
In this same Psalm David said, “I soughtthe Lord, and he answeredme; he
delivered me from all my fears” (v. 4). Suffering turns us to the Lord as
nothing else can. I think it was Ron Dunn who said, “You’ve never know if
Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have. And when Jesus is all you
have, then and only then will you discoverthat Jesus reallyis all you need.”
We pray more, and we pray more fervently during a time of crisis because we
know that if God doesn’t help us, we’re sunk. Sometimes I think that God
allows certainthings to happen to his children in order to get our attention
focusedcompletely on him.
Third, we grow fasterin hard times than we do in good times.
Romans 5:2-4 describes the process Goduses to develop godly characterin
our lives. In fact, Paul says that “we rejoice in our sufferings.” That may
appear to be a misprint, but it isn’t. He isn’t suggesting thatwe should
become masochists who rejoice in the hard times as if we enjoyed the pain.

That wouldn’t even be a Christian idea. He doesn’t say, “We rejoice because
of our sufferings” but rather, “We rejoice in our sufferings.” Even in the most
moments, God’s people can rejoice because he is at work doing something
important in us. The next few verses explain the process. Suffering produces
perseverance,perseveranceproduces character, characterproduces hope, and
verse 5 says, “Hopes does not disappoint us.” Why is that, Paul? “Because
God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” What starts
with suffering ends with the love of God. This is a wonderful progression, but
you can’t getto the love of God without starting in the place of suffering.
More than one person has said to me, “I wouldn’t trade my pain for the things
God has shownme.” If that doesn’tmake sense to you, it’s only because you
haven’t been there yet.
Fourth, our sufferings qualify us to minister to others.
II Corinthians 1:4 tells us that God “comforts us in all our troubles, so that we
can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received
from God.” The word translated “comfort” in this verse is the same word
Jesus usedin Matthew 5:4. He uses our sufferings to comfort us so that when
we are better, we canthen minister to others in his name. Severaldays ago
when Barb Ferrelli heard about Len Hoppe, she calledClaudia Eatonand
volunteered to go and sit with Roberta because she knows whatRoberta is
going through. She doesn’t even know Roberta but she was willing to go.
Why? Because no one understands cancerlike someone who has been through
it. No one understands divorce like a personwho’s been through it. No one
understands the pain of a miscarriage like a mother who lost her child. No one
knows the pain of losing your job like someone who lost his job.
God will take care of you. I know, because he took care of me.
There are people in this church who are superbly qualified to minister to
others. They are the ones who have been deeply hurt by the troubles of life
and through it all, have discoveredthat Godis faithful. Those folks have an
important messageto share. They can saywith conviction, “God will take care
of you. I know, because he took care of me.”

They earned their degree in the Schoolof Suffering and now they are
qualified to minister to others who enrolled after they graduated.
III. The Majestyof God’s Sovereignty
I want to close by suggesting whatthese things teachus about the characterof
God.
Mostof our questions will never be answeredin this life.
First, because he is sovereignand we are not, most of our questions will never
be answeredin this life. Some people can’t live with that truth, so they devise
human answers to explain suffering and death. Those answersalmostnever
work and sometimes they hurt more than they help. When I am calledto the
hospital, I never try to answerthose hard questions. They are quite simply
beyond me. Betterto sayless and be silent before the Lord than to try to
explain the mysterious ways of God.
Second, because Godis good, we know that he has our best interests at heart.
That in one sentence is the meaning of Romans 8:28. The older I get, the more
I am convincedthat the goodness ofGod is the centralissue of life. If you
believe God is good, you can endure things that would break most people. You
can live with unansweredso long as you believe in the goodness ofGod. But
once you doubt his goodness, youmust either become a secretatheistor a very
angry Christian. And really, there’s not much difference in those two
categories, ifyou think about it.
If you believe Godis good, you can endure things that would break most
people.
In stating it that way, it’s important to remember that God’s goodnessdoesn’t
depend on our happiness. I have heard people say, “God was goodto let my
husband survive that wreck.” True, but God would have been just as goodif
your husband had died or if you had lostyour job. God’s characteris not on
trial in your sufferings. You may think it is, but it isn’t. Jobtried to put God
on trial, but the Lord ended up putting Job on trial.

God is goodand his mercy endures forever. This is true regardless ofour
moment-by-moment experience.
Third, because Godis wise, nothing is everwastedin our experience. Romans
8:29 tells us that God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of
Jesus Christ. I often think of the sculptor sitting down before a hunk of
marble. On the outside, the marble looks ugly and unformed. But the sculptor
sees something beautiful inside that hunk. So with a hammer and chisel, he
begins to chip away. Formany weekshe shapes, cuts and polishes until little
by little an image emerges from the marble. On and on he works, never
stopping until the sculpture is complete. What was once ugly is now a thing of
breathtaking beauty.
Even so the Lord God takes the hammer and chiselof human suffering to
shape us into the image of Jesus Christ. And in those moments when we feel
that God has simply hammered us into the ground, we discoverlater that
nothing was done in anger, nothing in haste, but everything according to his
plan so that in the end, we might be beautiful–like Jesus himself.
I can testify that the most beautiful Christians I know are not the young, the
rich, the educated, the successful, orthe influential. They may be happy but
their lives are shallow because the sculptor has not yet pickedup the hammer
and the chisel.
No, the most beautiful Christians I know are those who have been through
suffering and come through it with their faith in Godintact. They may not
laugh as much as others and their faces may be lined with care, but the beauty
of Christ is in their eyes and their voices testify to God’s amazing grace.
If this morning you feelthe heavy weight of God hammering down on you,
rest assuredthat nothing is being wasted. Everything has a purpose. In the
end, God will be glorified and you will be more beautiful than you ever
dreamed possible.
BecauseGodis love, he will not leave you alone in your pain.
Fourth, because Godis love, he will not leave you alone in your pain. This is
the promise of the SecondBeatitude. “Blessedare those who mourn, for they

will be comforted.” He will come to you. You may not feel it or believe it, but
it is true because Godhas promised it. If it were necessary, I could produce a
long line of witnesses who would stand this morning and testify to God’s
comfort in the midst of greatsuffering.
But it is not necessaryto do that. I know God will come to you, because he
came for you 2000 years ago. There’s anold gospelsong that contains the
whole truth in just a few words:
Out of the ivory palaces, into a world of woe,
Only his greateternallove made my Savior go.
God proved his love when he senthis Son Jesus into this sin-cursed world. He
didn’t have to do it. He chose to do it. He did what we would never do–he
voluntarily sacrificedhis only Son. He not only sent him to earth, he stoodby
and watchedhim die a terrible, bloody death.
After Calvary, God has nothing left to prove to anyone. How can you doubt
his love after you look at the bleeding form of Jesus hanging on the cross?
See from his hand, his hands, his feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’ersuch love or sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
I realize that this may not answereveryquestion, but it does answerthe most
important question: Does Godcare for me in the midst of my suffering? The
answeris yes, God cares for you and if you doubt his love, look to the cross
and be comforted.
We understand these strange words a bit better when we see them refracted
through the bloody haze of Good Friday. See him on the cross, “a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He knows what you are going through, he
will personallycomfort you, and in the end, you will be blessed.

Matthew 5:4
by Grant | Apr 1, 2008 | Matthew | 6 comments
ReadIntroduction to Matthew
“Blessedare those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
5:4
“Blessedare those who mourn,
This mourning has to do with mourning over sin and not over a loss of a
person or object. This is mourning over loss of fellowshipwith the Lord. The
word for “mourn” is the strongestwordin the Greek for mourning. It is the
word used for mourning for the dead.
Mourning here is not self-pity. We do not use pity for self as the instrument of
forgiveness. Ourforgiveness comes from the One who died on the cross for
our sins. That is why there is blessedness in convictionover sin.
“Blessed” emphasizes God’s part in forgiveness. Ourcomfort does not rest in
who we are or even in the act of mourning but in God’s provision. God

provides for us in grace. God frees us from the penalty of sin through the
death of Christ on the cross. There remains no barrier betweenGod and man.
God forgives us because ofwho Jesus is and what He did on the cross. He does
not forgive us because ofthe sincerity or intensity of our mourning.
for they shall be comforted.
The comfort here has to do with forgiveness. Goddirectly comforts His people
by forgiving their sin.
In the immediate context, all mourning will ceasewhenthe King sets up His
kingdom because He will pardon the sins of Israel.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that
she has receivedfrom the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. Is 40:1-2
PRINCIPLE:
Those who mourn sense their personalbankruptcy and utilize God’s
forgiveness.
APPLICATION:
Spiritual poverty comes from convictionof personal sin. Those who seek close
fellowship with the Lord mourn over their sin by seeing sin the way God sees

it. They sense their spiritual poverty and unworthiness before God. Note how
David viewed his adultery with Bathsheba.
The sacrificesofGod are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God,
you will not despise. Ps 51:17
God blesses us because we have His forgiveness by the death of Christ for our
sins.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness ofour
trespasses, according to the riches of his grace… Eph1:7
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6 Comments
Dorothy and John
Dorothy and John on August 4, 2012 at8:24 am
I love your explanation of Matthew 5:4! It resonates in my heart with what
the Holy Spirit has been telling me, I am so tired of people explaining
Scripture with a "Greeting Card" mentality! I had just read one of these
articles that used this scripture to relate how sad they were because ofthe
death of their dog!
I have been meditating on Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reasontogether,
saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Isaiah55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
my ways, saiththe Lord. Foras the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
I have also been thinking about the scripture in Isaiah where God says,
"Comfortye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.Speakye comfortably to
Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her
iniquity is pardoned: for she hath receivedof the Lord's hand double for all
her sins." Speak comfortablymeans speak kindly…. you are already forgiven!
You are forgiven! You are forgiven! So you choose!I set before you life and
death… choose life!
Aren't you thankful that He fulfilled the Law and now we can live in victory
because ofGrace!We can see sin the way Godsees it: AS IF WE HAVE
NEVER SINNED!Now that's something to shout about!
emmanuel papanii ashrifie
emmanuel papanii ashrifie on August 5, 2014 at7:49 am
i didnt understand it very much but i think in the spirit that thats whats it
means..
Bino
Bino on June 30, 2016 at3:50 am
Indeed been remorsefulabout your sin and genuinely repenting invokes the
mercy of God on us. It is only in this that we receive comfort in our spirit.

Sherry Cote
Sherry Cote on May 29, 2017 at9:46 am
This is such a revelation to me !!…i am studying Beautitudes…whata blessing
Jan
Jan on February 15, 2019 at9:53 pm
I do not agree!!! Mourning means loss of a dear close one. — not your seeing
your sin and repenting. Mourning in the English dictionary says nothing
about recognizing your sin and being sorry. I have acknowledgedmy sin to
the Lord and He has forgiven me at the cross — not over and over again. Yes,
the blessings ofbeing a child of God are wonderful. The blessings a Believer
receives whenmourning a husband, wife or close one are marvelous. In over
50 Bible translations, only 1 (AMP) interprets this verse as related to sin. I am
sorry — I have experienced both of the above and there is no comparison.
With sin you create the situation and go to God for salvation. With mourning,
you did not create the situation and God acts for you bringing wonderful
blessings, peace andjoy — may take years, but God is good, all the time.
Grant
Grant on February 16, 2019 at10:45 am
Jan, your interpretation may be right; that is, your thoughts are a possible
interpretation. However, “mourn” in the NT is used both ways:for those who
sorrow over a personalloss and for grief over sin. Note these verses on the
latter meaning: 1 Cor5:2; 2 Co 12:21. The reasonI chose the latter option
was the context of Mt 5 dealing with spiritual issues. You are right in that the
believer has been once for all positionally forgiven his or her sin. However, the
believer may not be experientially forgiven and must confess their sin (1 Jn
1:9). See my study on 1 John 1:9.

Chuck Smith
Sermon Notes for Matthew 5:4
"BLESSEDARE THEY THAT MOURN"
I. THE DIFFERENCEBETWEENTHE CHRISTIAN AND THE WORLD.
A. The difference betweenliving after the flesh and living after the Spirit. The
difference betweenliving for the now and living for eternity.
B. The world in living after the flesh and for the now, seeksto find happiness
and ignore anything that might take awayfrom that happiness.
1. The word has bought into the hedonist philosophy. "Eat, drink, and be
merry, for tomorrow we die.
2. There is a belief that happiness canbe found in things.
a. The bumper sticker"The man who dies with the most toys wins."
b. The womenwith their shopping sprees, and bumper stickers "Bornto
shop."
3. Some believe that happiness is found in excitment.
a. The pleasure mania.
b. People talk about the exciting game. The exciting finish of the game. At
every game, about 50% of the people go home happy while another 50% go
home sad.
c. The excitment of being airborne. Skiing, snowboarding, the motocross
races, skydiving.

d. The excitment of a free ride on nature. Surfing, where the force of the wave
is propelling you; sledding, where the force of gravity is propelling you;
sailing, where the force of the wind is propelling you.
e. They spend their life looking for excitment.
f. Things that once excited have a way of ultimately becoming boring. Thus a
person seeksto press to the absolute limits and so many lose their lives in the
pursuit of the thrill.
4. It is not rational to believe that we are living in a happy world.
a. We are living in a world that is cursedby sin.
b. James asked, "Where do the wars and fights come from?" Do they not
come from your own lusts. You lust and you have not, you kill and cannot
obtain, you fight and you war, still you do not have.
5. How does the world dealwith this irrationality?
a. One waythey deal with it is through denial. They say, "Look how happy we
are." "We are having fun."
b. A secondwayis through an irrational optimism.
1. The politicians prey upon this irrationality in man. "If you electme, things
will getmuch better. Betterschools, betterliving conditions, better pay, more
jobs."
2. At the end of the sports season, there is always the thought that next year
things will improve.
3. This is why we have establisheda day that we call new year, so that people
can live in a hope for improvement.
4. The surfer is always looking for the next wave, the skierthe next slope, the
romanist the next love.
5. We had a friend who sent out wedding announcements of his fifth wedding
that said, "Once in a lifetime that specialone comes along that you know was
meant for you."

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